Hasta La Gadget!

Apple isn’t much of one for customer surveys, but this recent missive to select MacBook Air owners has all sorts of goodies inside it. Most notable is the large amount of questions on 3G data connectivity, a feature that Apple has so far avoided adding to any of its laptops, even though it sells a tablet computer with the functionality. Interestingly, Apple has waited so long on this feature that its primary objection — the need to pick a specific carrier over another — has disappeared thanks to Qualcomm’s Gobi chipset. On the other hand, most people get 3G data onto their laptops these days through tethering, whether it be with their phone or a dedicated MiFi-style device, and Apple’s survey seems to be designed to pick up on the prevalence of all these tendencies. Other aspects of the survey deal with data storage and syncing (MobileMe and Dropbox get shout outs), missing functionality that keeps the Air from being a primary computer, and other miscellany. If you want to get overanalytical with the whole thing, Apple might actually be trying to feel out the dividing line between an iPad and a MacBook Air, instead of the dividing line between a MacBook Pro. Perhaps this year’s expected Sandy Bridge or (we wish) Fusion refresh of the MacBook Air could have something more in store? Check out the source link for the whole thing.

Apple MacBook Air survey gets chatty about 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to an annual manufacturing report released by Apple, the company found 91 children working in 10 supplier factories in 2010. The number marks a pronounced jump over the year prior, when 11 children were discovered in factories that supply parts for the company’s gadgets.

Apple is requiring most of the factories to pay the cost of the educations for the employed minors. In one case, the company fired a contractor employing 42 under aged workers. 2010 also marked an increase in the number of factories checked by the company, from 102 in 2009 to 127 in 2010.

The increased scrutiny comes in the wake of a number a number of suicides amongst employees of major Apple supplier, Foxconn. Apple has also been called out for pollution amongst its Chinese suppliers.

The report also revealed that 137 employees were poisoned at one of its Chinese suppliers.

Apple is now offering the same subscription service used by The Daily to all publishers. Despite all the predicted gloom and doom for the magazine industry, Apple’s terms seem fair: publishers would be able to keep using whatever subscription methods they want. More »

Thus far we still know surprisingly little about the next generation iPhone (or iPhone 5 for lack of a better name) expected this summer in keeping with Apple’s traditional launch cycle. We’ve heard that the completely redesigned handset will boast a next generation A5 processor and Qualcomm chipset that will unify the CDMA / GSM / UMTS radios. Others have heard that it’ll also feature NFC integration along with the possibility of a “universal SIM.” But what about the display? How will it size-up to the existing iPhone 4’s rather puny 3.5-inch display and the smaller and lighter iPhone model that the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg say is in the works? Well, if DigiTimes and its chatty “upstream component suppliers” are to be believed then the next generation iPhone will be sporting a 4-inch display. While DigiTimes can, at times, be a suspect source for Apple information, the idea of a larger 4-inch iPhone flagship to help differentiate itself from a smaller iPhone nano and legacy iPhone 4 (that becomes the budget model) does make some sense.

iPhone 5 to feature a bigger 4-inch display? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just like Boxee, Verizon’s rolled out a February 14th update to users with the FiOS DVR Manager for iPhone, who might actually be on Verizon for their phones now too. It adds support for controlling multiple DVRs, a refreshed UI to match the latest version 1.9 on set-top boxes, access for non-DVR users, and a “What’s Hot” feature showing what others in your area are watching. Our friend Dave Zatz has already gone hands-on with the new version 1.5.0 and reports an improved experience with a smoother login process to boot, although he noted it could still improve by integrating itself into the remote control app that’s also available.

Verizon’s FiOS DVR Manager for iPhone gets a facelift and some new features originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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