Jeff and Bryan talk about making iPhones, factories in China, and manufacturing in the U.S. relating to a first hand report from a Pegatron factory. They also talk about internet myth and Snopes, as well as some of the cool Mac Pro mockups that are circulating.
ARMOR-X One-Lock Air Vent Car Mount: $12.99
We have a deal on the ARMOR-X One-Lock Air Vent Car Mount. This smartphone mount for your car allows you to rotate your iPhone 360 degrees. It’s $12.99 through us.
Apple's Swatch Lawsuit, NVIDIA's New macOS Drivers - TMO Daily Observations 2017-04-12
It’s trademark lawsuit time again because Apple thinks Swatch’s «Tick Different» campaign is too similar to «Think Different.» Jeff Butts and Kelly Guimont join Jeff Gamet to talk about Apple’s latest trademark fight, plus they dive into NVIDIA’s new macOS video card drivers and the hackintosh scene.
NY Grad Student Goes Undercover at Pegatron iPhone Factory
Every wonder what it’s really like to make iPhones in a Chinese factory? New York University student Dejian Zeng found out by working in one for 6 weeks for a summer project. BusinessInsider interviewed him about the experience, where he discussed the daily life of a worker. He shared a dorm with 7 people, worked 12 hour shifts, did repetitive tasks, and got paid more than the minimum wage. «I mean, it’s simple,» he said, «but that’s the work that you do. Over, over, over again. For whole days.» He also described being on an assembly line ramping up a new product, an experience that was punctuated by hours of boredom waiting for the next unit to work on. It’s an excellent read—I’m writing it up as a Cool Stuff Found, rather than a full article, because I want to encourage everyone to read it. Plus, these kinds of manufacturing jobs are not going to come back to the U.S., at least not for humans to do.
Air Vinyl Lets You Decorate Your AirPod Case
Check out Air Vinyl Design‘s self titled product, Air Vinyl. They’re simple vinyl decorations for your plain white AirPods case. Sure, a lot of people would never sully their pristine Apple design, but a lot of people love to decorate their Apple devices. Since the AirPods case is something you need to use all the time, I can definitely see folks wanting to personalize them. Especially if you want a way to quickly identify your case from everyone else’s. Air Vinyls are made of vinyl, and they’re designed to be removable. There are currently eight designs, as shown, but the designer told me he has ones coming for San Francisco, New York City, and Chicago, and when I suggested Cupertino, he thought it a splendid idea. They’re being sold in sets: Los Angeles, CA; Music Mixer; and Rorschach Drops, as grouped below. Each set is $5.99.
Ten Year Illustrated History of iOS
German software company fournova has put together a delightful illustrated history of iOS to mark its ten hear history. It starts with the Steve Jobs introducing a device that runs on special version of what was then called OS X. Each iteration of iOS through iOS 10 then gets its own panel highlighting what was new and some of the people involved with presenting it. It’s a fun look through the years, and I saw a couple of things I hadn’t thought about in a long time. Check it out!
Apple Music Nails It, Dumping Dialog Semiconductor - TMO Daily Observations 2017-04-11
Bryan Chaffin says Apple pretty much nailed it with Apple Music. Bryan and Jeff Butts join Jeff Gamet to look at Apple’s streaming music service, plus they dive into the company’s tactics to bring more chip design in house.
The Swift 3 Master Coder Bundle
Check out the The Swift 3 Master Coder Bundle, a collection of four training courses for iOS developers. This includes: Hacking With Swift 3 – Beginner to Pro: Build 17 Apps, Swift 3: Exploiting the Latest iOS 10 Features, iOS 10 and Xcode 8: Complete Swift 3 & Objective-C Guide, and Learn iOS 10 Development with Swift 3 & Xcode 8: Build 14 Apps. That’s more than 94 hours of video training content for $36.
Microsoft Opens Minecraft Marketplace For In-App Purchases
As part of the Discovery update, Microsoft is also bringing a new feature to the game called Marketplace. Minecraft Marketplace is coming to the Windows 10 platform, as well as Minecraft Pocket edition for mobile platforms. Players can create and sell items in the Marketplace using a form of game currency called Minecraft Coins. When a player creates an item to sell, they can set their own prices as well as take a small percentage of the sale. Once you sell something, such as a custom skin or a map, the app platforms will take a 30% cut. Players can access items they buy through their Xbox Live account. This means that you can access your purchases no matter what platform you use. Microsoft will launch a public beta on Android in mid-April. The beta will test the Microsoft Coins so you won’t see any player creations yet. Microsoft is also hosting a Reddit AMA on April 20 from 9AM-12PM PST.
TMO Background Mode Interview with KGW TV Anchor & Digital Trends Host Stephanie Stricklen
Stephanie Stricklen has been a career-long KGW TV Portland, OR News Anchor. She tells the story about how when she was younger, it wasn’t her plan to be in front of a camera. «It just worked out that way.» But the seeds were there. She became the EIC of her high school’s newspaper and decided on print journalism as a career. In college, via internships, she discovered the «adrenalin inducing» experience of TV news. Stephanie has covered the Olympics for KGW, and that took her to Salt Lake City, Greece, Italy, China, Canada and Russia. A tech nerd and Apple fan, she’s also into aviation and has flown with the Navy’s Blue Angels. Today, she works with Digital Trends as a host and still anchors with KGW. Amidst all that? Raising a daughter with her husband.
