Apple stops using teen labor in China

imgres-2Apple said a Chinese labor agent forged documents on behalf of underage workers as the world’s most-valuable technology company seeks to improve conditions at suppliers making iPhones, iPads and Macs. Bloomberg News reports that

“The electronics company also stopped doing business with a manufacturer that employed 74 people younger than 16 who used the faked papers, according to its annual Supplier Responsibility Report released today. The recruiter was reported to provincial authorities, fined and had its license suspended. ‘Underage labor is a subject no company wants to be associated with, so as a result I don’t believe it gets the attention it deserves, and as a result it doesn’t get fixed like it should,’ Jeff Williams, Cupertino, California-based Apple’s senior vice president of operations, said in an interview. Continue reading “Apple stops using teen labor in China”

Where the Apple falls

Not that everyone follows financial news, but dropping Apple stock prices have dampened enthusiasm about the company so many love (and others hate). Recent reactions could well result from a number of factors: the inevitable fall of any huge success, suspicions about the company without Steve Jobs, or simply the fickle nature of a stock market driven by flash-trading and emotion. Today’s Slate.com added a few more ideas:

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“On Wednesday afternoon, Apple announced that during the last three months of 2012, it earned more money than any other non-oil company has ever earned in a single quarter. (Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, and ExxonMobil have each topped Apple’s earnings one time.) What’s more, during all of 2012, Apple’s profits topped $41.7 billion, which is also a record for any firm outside the oil industry. (ExxonMobil earned a few billion more in 2006, 2007, and 2008.) Continue reading “Where the Apple falls”

Airline pilots use iPads, not disabled passengers

imgres-2All American Airlines pilots are permitted to use iPads as they fly.

In the interest of safety on a recent American Airlines flight, an attendant required a non-verbal teenager to put away the iPad she relies upon to speak.

News of the incident –  and the irony – has created an uproar on the internet and considerable acrimony over the airline’s policies.

Carly Fleischmann, a 17-year-old with autism from Toronto, lambasted American Airlines on her  Facebook page earlier this week.
“On her way home from Los Angeles last Friday, Fleischmann said that a flight attendant told her to put away the tablet for takeoff and landing and was unwilling to bend even after Fleischmann’s aide explained that it was a communication device,” reports DisabilityScoop , Continue reading “Airline pilots use iPads, not disabled passengers”