Technology

Foxconn turnaround?

When you think of factories what comes to mind?  Surely not over worked and under-compensated workers, right?  Most of us know that employees of factories work hard; however, in most circumstances the hours are fair, at the least.  On the other hand, this is untrue of Foxconn, an electronics manufacturing company that has its headquarters in Taiwan.  They have been involved in several controversies regarding treatment of their employees and now Apple is stepping in.

Tim Cook has paid a visit to the Apple supply chain and brought along the Fair Labor Association to audit work conditions.  However, Apple Inc. is not the only company that has electronics manufactured here, they are joined by Acer, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and Vizio.

Employees deal with a lot of mistreatment such as:

  • Living in crowded dorms
  • 50+ hour work weeks
  • Unfair compensation for overtime; Read more [HERE]

Bottom line:  For a true difference to be made all of the above companies need to band together and show Foxconn that the people producing their products deserve to be treated with respect.

Mobile Operating Systems, Technology

Smoked by Windows Phone; Smoked by Galaxy Nexus

Microsoft has been hosting the Smoked by Windows Phone Challenge where the company is challenging that WP7 is faster than competing smartphones at everyday tasks.  The challenge is hosted at participating Microsoft stores and winners can get a variety of prizes.  In many cases that are posted by Microsoft the WP7 platform comes out victorious; of course.  However, one brave opponent garnering a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 won.  How so?  The task was to show weather from two different cities at the same time at the fastest rate.  See example video below:

However, in this case for the weather showcase the Windows Phone was already setup to have two live tiles pulling weather information so by default it would’ve won; however, our friend with the Galaxy Nexus was prepared.  The Android competitor had the screen lock disabled and two weather widgets by default which caused him to win and create a small uproar.  The winner was even offered a phone and a laptop.  Read more [HERE].

Bottom line:  I am a fan of WP7, but this just shows that setting things up in your favor do not always constitute a win.

Mobile Operating Systems, Technology

WiFi Tethering and Carriers

WiFi Tethering, carriers offer it but they charge those that use it.  True, tethering is a service; however, when the data you are using has ALREADY been paid for, it makes less and less sense.  Our smartphones can do great things — one of those is to become a mobile hotspot in a time of need.

Many early free tethering apps required you to root your Android or iOS device; however, FoxFi has caused a recent storm for Android users by bringing this convenient app to a variety of devices and let’s not mention the apps for iOS that allow the same option once jailbroken such as MyWi.

As long as there are users that believe that tethering should be part of their monthly data allowance there will be apps that allow it.  I have never understood why you have to add the mobile hotspot to your data plan in order to use the ability that your device has without it.

Bottom line:  Carriers, please wake up.  We will tether…for FREE.

Social Networking, Technology

Death of Print Media

It is 2012 and for some reason people still insist on killing trees.  How is it possible for a media centric society that believes that everything should be at their fingertips continue to use paper?

Print items that are slowly fading away:

  • Encyclopedias
  • Traditional Office Forms
  • Applications
  • Books
  • Newspapers
  • Magazines

As a society, we need to accept that paper has lost the prominence it once had; besides there are so many issues surrounding paper:

  • Loss of integrity (getting ripped, soiled, etc.)
  • Not secure (anyone can sign a document for someone — electronic links can be embedded with users email addresses to ensure credibility)
  • Costly
  • Takes up valuable space

Bottom line:  Paper is going the way of the dodo bird; fact.  Now, let’s move on.

Mobile Operating Systems, Operating Systems, Technology

Will Windows 8 tablets do well?

Microsoft is really pushing that Windows 8 will truly unite their platform across all devices and really give it a consistent look.  However, the biggest issues are how well will Windows 8 tablets (slates) do and how will the OS fair on the desktop.  Honestly, there shouldn’t be another OS that is better fitted for the enterprise than Windows 8.  Sure there is a learning curve; but that SAME learning curve is there when one would hand an executive an iPad.

Things that could really work in Microsoft’s favor:

  1. Unified across devices
  2. Able to support many Windows applications; not just 500,000 apps
  3. Windows tablets will provide more accessibility via USB input etc.
  4. Multiple arenas for running applications (Metro or Windows desktop)

Bottom line:  If Windows 8 turns out to be truly portable and is not overly expensive on a tablet this could potentially be a shifting in the tides.

Tech for the masses, meant to empower, educate and inform by Dexter Johnson.