February 23, 2012
We're all becoming increasingly reliant on consumer cloud services, as cloud storage providers like Dropbox make it easy to share and store files, folders, images, sync between platforms, and more. They make our lives easier, but because they store an enormous amount of potentially sensitive data, there are some inherent risks. While Dropbox is for personal use, it and services like it are increasingly being used by businesses -- another example of the ongoing consumerization of enterprise and IT.
That's why virtualization provider AppSense has created DataLocker, a set of mobile and desktop apps for iOS, Windows and Mac that enable users to encrypt sensitive information in their Dropbox accounts for free -- without giving up the convenience of cross-platform syncing. See full story at MobileCrunch...
February 23, 2012
Mobile video now accounts for half of all mobile traffic; and on some networks, that number is as high as 69 percent -- a testament to the rise of smartphones and tablets as the mobile devices of choice for consumers, and their growing interest in using these devices to do a lot more than just make phone calls.
The data, from a new report on mobile data usage by mobile analytics firm Bytemobile, also found that Android is generating more mobile ad volume than iOS devices, and that Google now accounts for 75 percent of ad-generated data across all platforms.
See full story at MobileCrunch...
February 23, 2012
LG was the first company to show off a dual-core smartphone last year, and it has once again beaten the rest of the pack with tonight’s announcement of the Optimus 4X HD, the world’s first quad-core phone.
The news heralds …
See full story at Venturebeat...
February 23, 2012
OnLive promised that it would one day run Windows desktop computer apps on an Apple iPad, and today it is delivering on that promise. As an added benefit, it is also launching the world’s fastest web browser on the iPad.…
See full story at Venturebeat...
February 23, 2012
If you live in California, you're soon going to have a chance to read a privacy policy for every single app you download onto your mobile phone.
That's thanks to a "Global Agreement" signed by California Attorney General Kamala Harris and six big companies in the mobile space: Google, Apple, RIM, Microsoft, Palm, and Amazon.
Just one question.
Who reads privacy policies?
You probably don't. Just like you don't read the terms and conditions when you download and install software, or sign up for an online email account, or rip the tag off a new mattress.
But!
The 1% of you who do read privacy policies are probably the exact same 1% who are losing sleep because information from your iPhone address book was secretly being uploaded to the servers of Path and some other app makers.
So the Attorney General and the six companies win for looking aware and concerned about online privacy, and the privacy zealots get to rest a little easier before going off on their next crusade. (Probably against Google.)
Plus, apps makers now all have to hire lawyers to write up these privacy policies and interns to put the policies online and build links to them in their apps. Which increases employment!
Wins all around. Well done.
See also: THE TRUTH ABOUT ONLINE PRIVACY: Who Cares?
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February 22, 2012
It was true in January and a month later it's still true: your iPad was built in part by teenagers working 12-hour days for under $2 an hour.
So was your iPhone, and in all likelihood, your Xbox, your Windows phone and other devices from likes of Dell, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard.
On Tuesday, ABC's Nightline broadcast its tour of Foxconn, the Chinese contract manufacturer that reportedly builds 40 percent of the world's electronics. It accompanied Fair Labor Association inspectors on their first look at the Foxconn facility.
While Nightline's anchor Bill Weir billed the report as "unprecedented access" to Foxconn, this was, however, a planned inspection.
The Nightline special was brought on by a previous visit to Foxconn which aired last month. PRI's "This American Life" did a special on Apple's manufacturing, in which it pointed out that the people making our electronics are working under conditions that would be illegal in the U.S.
A 13-year old interviewed by "This American Life" said Foxconn doesn't really check ages. She pointed out that there are on-site inspections, from time to time, but because Foxconn knows they are coming, before the inspectors arrive, Foxconn just replaces the young-looking workers with older ones.
So, it's not surprising, perhaps, that Nightline painted a fairly rosy picture of Foxconn's Apple factory. Weir did express surprise at how young the workers were "17, 18, no one looked over 30," he said, but he didn't find any that admitted to being 13.
They make a promised starting wage of $1.78/hour. Apple raised pay this month by 16% to 25%.
They work 12-hour shifts with two meal breaks for which they pay 70 cents a meal and they pay $17.50/month for a room in a dorm with 7 strangers.
The facilities are not inhuman. There's a swimming pool and classroom where workers can take classes -- such as learning English.
But the dorm's biggest feature is their suicide nets.
Weir also visited the villages that many of these young workers come from lest you forget life can be harsh in China. It showed that some villagers live in crowded, dirt-floor rooms with no heat.
Compared to that, by American standards, the dorms are an upgrade.
But excessive, oppressive work for meager pay isn't a way for a teenager to live, even if it offers more creature comfort than impoverishment.
American's love electronics. We love the low prices we pay and we love high margins and profits from American companies that sell them to us.
So where does that leave the laborers that make them? In China, with no labor unions, it leaves them using suicide as a form of labor negotiation. At least, that's how Foxconn CEO Terry Gou characterized an incident in January when 200 employees working on Microsoft Xbox consoles threatened suicide .. a labor negotiation tactic.
As for the Nightline look-see, remember that Apple paid $250,000 to join the FLA and also paid the tab for the inspection. The FLA inspectors said that even though they would expect Foxconn to put on a show for them, their investigation will uncover true working conditions because they interview workers.
"When we publish the report any whitewashing will be obvious," the inspector promised. He said he's looking for clues about working conditions such as "Will workers look up?" Foreign visitors are "objects of curiosity .. can they steal a glance?" In other facilities they won't look indicating they are "really intimated."
For those looking to feel better about the lives of the people making their electronics, the Nightline report delivers.
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