Hasta La Gadget!

The New York Times has investigated the reported suicide of an employee of Foxconn, which manufactures Apple’s iPhones in China. The most illuminating piece of the story is buried at the end, where the reporter discloses that a security officer threatened to “beat up” his translator if she persisted in questioning the victim’s family.

Taiwanese company Foxconn is under fire for the death of Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old employee who reportedly jumped from a 12-story building on July 16 after misplacing a prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone. Sun’s peers say they received e-mails from the victim, who complained Foxconn employees had beaten him, placed him in solitary confinement and searched his home for the missing iPhone.

Near the end of NY Times‘ piece, Sun’s father said he was still in shock that his son could leap from a building. But Sun’s brother said Sun had sent e-mails to his friends saying he “planned to do something big” to humiliate Foxconn — presumably, his suicide.

Most disconcerting is a paragraph describing a threat the reporter’s translator faced during interviews:

Soon after, a security guard, who was joined by two men wearing Foxconn shirts, threatened to “beat up” a journalist’s translator if she persisted in asking the family questions. Foxconn officials later said the guard was not on their staff and might have been with the police bureau.

However, NY Times interviewed 15 Foxconn employees, and only one admitted to being forced to work overtime above the legal limit; the rest said they were well treated by the company.

See Also:

• Report: Missing iPhone Prototype Pressured Chinese Worker to …
• Foxconn: We Got the iPhone Contract!
• China IPod Journos Speak
• After a Decade of Secrecy, Apple Reluctantly Tries Out …

Photo: Bert van Dilk/Flickr

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn’t want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back — so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We’ll be handing out a new gadget every day to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got a 500GB ioSafe Solo on offer, ideal for protecting even your most intimate interoffice love letters from hell and high water. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!

Big thanks to ioSafe for providing the gear!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) 500GB ioSafe Solo external hard drive. Approximate retail value is $199.98.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, July 27th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Continue reading Engadget’s recession antidote: win a 500GB ioSafe Solo!

Filed under: Storage

Engadget’s recession antidote: win a 500GB ioSafe Solo! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ericsson, the world’s largest maker of cell phone networks, has agreed to buy Nortel’s wireless network equipment unit for $1.13 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The deal gives Ericsson a larger slice of North America’s wireless market in time for carriers to expand to LTE (Long-Term Evolution), a next-generation 4G network. The move also signals Ericsson’s commitment to the North American market, the article said.

“The Nortel unit is very profitable,” said Pierre Ferragu, a London-based analyst with Sanford Bernstein, in the report. “I was very surprised to hear that Nokia Siemens let Nortel go to Ericsson for such a low price. It will have a positive impact on Ericsson’s earnings.”

LTE looks to be a significant improvement over Verizon and Sprint’s current CDMA network here in the states. Verizon should be first out of the gate with LTE phones sometime in 2010. (Image credit: Nortel)

Nissan’s started showing off its latest prototype electric car, based on the Versa. This one will house a 108 horsepower / 206 pound-feet electric motor to drive the front wheels, and a 24 kWh, lithium ion battery pack will be fitted under the floor for storing electricity, with an expected range of 100 miles. To top things of nerd-style, the newest prototype will have a navigation system which will show the current life of the battery, and the mile range its current amount of juice will support, and will boast the ability to download info about nearby charging station locations. And need we say, “there’s an app for that?” That’s right, Nissan also has a working prototype of an iPhone app making the rounds in Japan which would allow users to communicate with their car remotely and find out the state of the battery’s charge. Can this get any cooler?

Read – Nissan shows off new Versa-based electric vehicle protoype
Read – Nissan dials iPhone for car remote control

Filed under: Transportation

Nissan shows off latest electric car prototype with battery monitoring system, iPhone app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic is going at it from all angles today, with three new 12.1 megapixel LUMIX cameras with surprisingly distinct aims:

• LUMIX FZ35 (pictured) – The requisite “superzoom” of every lineup, the FZ35 doesn’t disappoint on features, but the $400 pricepoint certainly pushes the limits of “consumer” camera. Features include 18x zoom and HD video recording, including a Creative Movie Mode with shutter speed and aperture settings for video. It also expands on typical facial recognition functionality with a “Baby mode” for… finding babies.
• LUMIX FP8 – While it can handle HD video, the FP8 is more about looks. Still, the 12.1 megapixel sensor and 4.6x zoom aren’t bad for the form factor — though the $300 pricetag isn’t nothing.
• LUMIX ZR1 – Featuring the “world’s first 0.3mm thin aspherical lens,” the ZR1 manages a full 8x optical zoom while keeping its girlish figure when extended. There’s also room for a 12.1 megapixel sensor. The cam goes for $280.

All the cameras pack optical image stabilization and facial recognition, and the ZR1 and FZ35 have a “High Dynamic Mode” which presumably emulates HDR photography to some extent. All three will be out in September. Full PR is after the break.

Continue reading Panasonic’s new LUMIX consumer lineup: the high-powered FZ35, fashionable FP8 and thin-lensed ZR1

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Panasonic’s new LUMIX consumer lineup: the high-powered FZ35, fashionable FP8 and thin-lensed ZR1 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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