Google unleashes Solve for X website
X-rated?
The mystery has been, er, solved. Kind of. We think we know what’s going on. Maybe. What we’re mumbling our way towards is that the covers have been taken off of the Google “Solve for X” website.
Well, sort of. Rather than the whole website going live, visitors are treated to a teaser splash complete with [...]
New York Times Goes Deeper on Chinese Apple Factory Working Conditions
Charles Duhigg and David Barboza, reporting for the New York Times:
“Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost,” said Li Mingqi, who until April worked in management at Foxconn Technology, one of Apple’s most important manufacturing partners. Mr. Li, who is suing Foxconn over his dismissal, helped manage the [...]
Why Apple Products Are Manufactured in China
Fascinating well-researched investigative report by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher for the New York Times, on the rise of China as a manufacturing power and the corresponding effect on middle class jobs in the U.S., with Apple as the case study. Includes this heretofore unknown (to me, at least) story on the original iPhone’s last-minute [...]
Should The New York Times Be a Truth Vigilante?
New York Times public editor Arthur S. Brisbane:
I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times
news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by
newsmakers they write about.
That The Times, along with all other major US newspapers, doesn’t already do this is probably a surprise to most readers — those who haven’t really [...]
‘A Donkey’s Got Nothing to Lose’
This week’s episode of America’s favorite electrical engineering podcast:
This week, John Gruber and Dan Benjamin discuss the TSA,
Siracusa’s and The New York Times’ possessives, financial
transaction processors, Apple Geniuses killing flies with
flamethrowers, an Apple announcement in New York, coin-op arcade games,
and bring the episode to a shocking conclusion.
Brought to you by the fine folks at MailChimp [...]
Accounts of a Massacre in Iraq Found in Junkyard
Michael S. Schmidt, reporting for the NYT:
The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets
of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last American
troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered along
with reams of other classified documents, including military maps
showing helicopter routes and radar capabilities, by a reporter
for The New York [...]
Kindle Fire software update to fix US issues – great news for UK release
Performance and UI improvements
Amazon has responded to negative user comments by promising a software update for its Kindle Fire tablet in the next 2 weeks.
Since launch, it is believed that the device has sold well, with Amazon claiming that it has had to reorder stock already, but much of the feedback posted on the product’s [...]
Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
Amazon:
With Prime, Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books
to borrow for free including over 100 current and former New
York Times Bestsellers — as frequently as a book a month, with
no due dates.
You need to own an actual Kindle, though, not just use the Kindle app on another device. And, publishers need to opt-in, [...]
Kindle Owners’ Lending Library goes live in the US
Prime = free books
Over in the land of the free (and the home of the brave) Amazon has unleashed its much rumoured ebook lending platform, entitled Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
And there’s a heavy emphasis on the word “Owners” as you’ll actually have to be rocking one of Amazon’s devices to get in on the fun, [...]
Apple’s Siri powered TV as imagined by 30 Rock
Rumours suggest when, not if
Ever since Steve Jobs was quoted in his biography saying that he “cracked” the final piece in the Apple TV puzzle the inter webs have been buzzing with rumours that it’s not a case of if, but when will Apple launch a full blown television.?
The latest rumour, coming from the New [...]
