Blog 13: US officials warn failed North Korea missile launch paves way for future tests

The very public failure of North Korea's latest missile launch lays the groundwork for more testing and potentially more provocative acts by the budding regime of Kim Jong-un. The rocket tested last week failed about a minute after it was deployed. Kim Jong-un, in his first public speech, went on to declare that his "first, second and third" priorities are to strengthen the military as the regime unveiled a huge display of weapons in a Pyongyang military parade including a purportedly new missile. "The acknowledgment of failure was unprecedented, but it lays the groundwork to say more testing is needed to validate research. We probably haven't seen the last North Korean provocation," the official said. Regional observers saw the public display on Sunday as another example of the importance North Korea's leaders place on their weapons-development program, though it's unclear whether the missile on display was real. U.S. officials are not denying that preparations have begun for a third nuclear weapon test. They do not deny that activity had been picked up through satellite imagery that shows North Korean workers digging tunnels into the existing mines that were used for tests in 2006 and 2009.

Throughout this semester, I’ve been very interested in this story and have been following the events happening. Since it seems like North Korea is very persistent to keep going with this missile launch, despite the recent failure, this could only result into conflict. Hopefully a war with North Korea isn’t in the near future, but many see this as a problem that needs to be stopped and who knows what lengths the United States and other countries that are trying to stop this will go. Optimistically North Korea will start to cooperate and end this missile launch but this is very unlikely. 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/16/us-officials-warn-failed-north-korea-missile-launch-paves-way-for-future-tests/

Blog 12: Foxconn Auditor Finds ‘Serious’ Violations of Chinese Law

An audit of Foxconn Technology Group found “serious and pressing” violations of Chinese labor laws, prompting the biggest maker of Apple Inc. Apple devices to pledge to cut working hours and give employees more oversight. Inspectors found at least 50 breaches of Chinese regulations as well as the code of conduct Apple signed when it joined the Fair Labor Association in January after deaths of workers at suppliers, the monitoring group said today. Foxconn will bring hours in line with legal limits by July 2013 and compensate its more than 1.2 million employees for overtime lost due to the shorter work week. Assessors found cases of employees working longer hours and more days in a row than allowed by FLA standards and Chinese law. They uncovered inconsistent health and safety policies and instances of unfair pay for overtime work. To meet its commitments, Foxconn must hire, train and house tens of thousands of workers to assemble products for Apple. Foxconn’s responded by saying, “we are committed to work with Apple to carry out the remediation program, developed by both our companies”. “Our success will be judged by future FLA audits and the monitoring of the implementation of the remediation program, by reviews carried out by Apple and other customers and by future employee surveys.”

Throughout this semester, I’ve been following this issue of violation of labor laws in China, and it has finally been recognized and something is being done about it. It is great that Foxconn has finally taken the initiative to change these horrible conditions and treat these workers the way they are suppose to be treated. Hopefully these laws will stick and Apple won’t go back to treating workers like they used to. Now that the eyes of the world are on companies mistreating their workers, like Apple, there is just no way they cant deliver. 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-29/foxconn-auditor-finds-serious-violations-of-chinese-law

Blog 11: North Korea Is Set to Launch Satellite Despite Criticism

On Tuesday, North Korea said that it had completed preparations to launch a satellite into orbit, as South Korea and other Asian nations told their airlines and ships to change their routes to avoid the North Korean rocket. South Korea had previously refrained from issuing such directions while it joined its allies, particularly the United States, in urging North Korea to cancel the launching of the satellite. They said it violated a United Nations Security Council resolution prohibiting North Korea from testing intercontinental ballistic missile technology. Despite what South Korea and its allies said, North Korea has remained disobedient, and has placed the three-stage Unha-3 rocket at its launching pad. Since all the assembly and preparations for the satellite are done, North Korea would not change its plans. The launching jeopardizes a recent United States agreement with North Korea in which the North agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, thereby slowing its nuclear program, in return for food aid. American officials have reported that they explicitly said during negotiations that North Korea could not launch satellites. Analysts see this satellite as a cover for testing missile technology, and such missiles could eventually be fitted to deliver nuclear weapons.

Since North Korea is so determined to launch this satellite, and countries like the United States and South Korea are determined to stop it, this could ultimately turn into a war. Hopefully this will not happen, but the United States and North Korea have been known to have some problems in the past. War is one thing we really need to stay away from, especially over something like this, which is why I really hope officials make the right choices when it comes to this decision. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/world/asia/north-korea-satellite-launch.html?ref=world#

Blog 10: Electronic Giant Vowing Reforms in China Plants

Foxconn, the manufacturing giant, has pledged to sharply limit working hours and significantly increase wages inside Chinese plants making electronic products for Apple and others. The move could improve working conditions across China. The shift comes after an inspection by the Fair Labor Association, a monitoring group, who found widespread problems including at least 43 violations of Chinese laws and regulations, and numerous instances where Foxconn challenged industry codes of conduct by having employees work more than 60 hours a week, and sometimes more than 11 days in a row. The monitoring group, which surveyed more than 35,000 Foxconn employees and inspected three large facilities where Apple products are manufactured, also found that 43 percent of workers had experienced or witnessed accidents, and almost two-thirds said their compensation “does not meet their basic needs.” Apple, which recently joined the Fair Labor Association, had asked the group to investigate plants manufacturing iPhones, iPads and other devices.

After writing numerous blog on how Apple is mistreating these labor workers, it is great to finally write a blog on how this is finally recognized and something is being done about this. Even though Apple isn’t the only big company that is mistreating these workers, they are one of the biggest and hopefully they can be role models to others who have this same problem. I hope the Fair Labor Association will crack down on these other companies doing the same thing. These conditions are very unfair and no one should be treated with this kind of disrespect. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/business/apple-supplier-in-china-pledges-changes-in-working-conditions.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=technology

Blog 9: Nokia Siemens, German unions agree on 1,600 job cuts

On Friday, Nokia Siemens reached a deal with German unions to cut 1,600 jobs in Munich. This was a part of the telecom equipment maker's ongoing restructuring program, which includes 17,000 job losses globally. The company, formed by Nokia and Siemens in 2007, said last November that it wanted to cut a quarter of the group's workforce as it struggles to make a profit amid fierce pricing competition from Chinese rivals and Sweden's Ericsson. Nokia Siemens said it plans to cut 1,300 jobs at its other sites in Germany to reach the 2,900 cut target for the country. Unions are strong in Germany and any hiccups in restructuring process could be costly for the loss-making venture. It is said for the remaining 1,600 employees working in Munich, alternative solutions would be found, including part-time contracts for those who are approaching the age of retirement.

         Unemployment is a huge social problem and the fact that 1,600 people in Germany will be losing their jobs is terrible. Big job cuts like this are not only happening in Germany but all around the world. Unemployment can lead to even bigger social problems such as poverty and homelessness for families. It is a pleasant surprise to hear that alternative solutions will be found for the 1,600 people who are going to lose their jobs. This is something that is very rare to hear but is great because this will hopefully help out those people who will be getting this bad news by the end of the year. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-nokia-siemens-germany-idUSBRE82M0ZJ20120323

Blog 8: Companies Pledge Not to Help Pakistan Filter the Web

In India, Facebook, Google and several other American technology companies are in court on charges that they failed to block “objectionable” material that showed up on their sites. In a country with a rapidly expanding Internet market, the case is an important test of whether and how Internet companies should police the user-generated content that appears on their sites. In Pakistan, the government’s open call for global companies to provide Web filtering technology has met with a bizarre civil society campaign. A group based in Pakistan that calls itself “Bolo Bhi” wrote to eight companies that make a variety of security products, asking them not to satisfy Pakistan’s demand for a firewall that would censor the Web. In less than a month, five of those eight companies have said they will not respond to Pakistan’s request for proposals, known as an RFP. McAfee was the latest company to do so, with a message on Twitter on Monday afternoon: “McAfee has confirmed that it is not pursuing the Pakistan Firewall RFP.”

The fact that social networking sites like Facebook and big websites like Google are the causes of these charges really shows how technology is taking over the world and how small it is making it. It is very interesting to see how something that is normal for us here in America is so “objectionable” in other places around the world such as India and Pakistan. 

Blog 7: Germany battles over the future of solar energy

Last year, Germany produced a record amount of energy from solar panels installed on rooftops and in fields across the country. Germany now has half of the world's entire solar energy capacity, with a total of about 25 gigawatts of installed panels. An extraordinary 7.5 gigawatts of panels were added to the country’s energy system in 2011, twice the government’s target. One would think that for a country that is so committed to targets for renewable energy and emissions reductions, this would be a good thing. Instead, politicians in Berlin are negotiating to find a way to slow down this rapid expansion, due to the huge costs involved in paying for solar power. Critics argue that the costs have shot up, as solar expanded from just 1 percent of energy in 2009 to 3.5 percent in 2011. It’s on target to rise as much as 4.5 percent this year. This expansion is pushing up energy costs in general for the German economy. In a sense, Germany’s solar energy policy is a victim of its own success. This is a very hard choice to make for Germany because solar energy is so helpful for the environment but is very costly. This doesn’t seem to be a very big social problem but in the long run if Germany stops using solar energy and stops buying these panels this could result in the closing of many businesses and the loss of jobs. Hopefully Germany can decide upon an alternative decision that involves keeping the solar energy systems without spending a fortune on them.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/120217/germany-battles-over-the-future-solar-energy

Blog 6: Japan plans snail-paced space elevator for 2050

A Japanese construction company, Obayashi, wants to build an elevator to space and transport passengers to a station about a tenth the distance to the moon. According to Obayashi, this elevator could be ready as early as 2050. This elevator would zip along at speeds of 125mph and would be able to carry about 30 people. The elevator would use super-strong carbon nanotubes in its cables that stretch some 60,000 miles, about a quarter the distance to the moon. These cables would be attached to Earth at a spaceport anchored to the ocean floor and the other end would dangle a counterweight in space. Up in space, the station would have living quarters and lab facilities. Solar panels connected to the station would generate electricity that would be transmitted to the ground. NASA also investigated this idea of a space elevator in 2009 awarding $900,000 to LaserMotive for developing a laser-powered robotic climber. In the end they realized that this infrastructure could cost billions to build. An Obayashi official stated that at the moment they could not estimate the cost of this project, but they are going to make a steady progress so that it won't end just up as simply a dream.

            This idea is truly innovative and genius but the biggest question is will Obayashi be able to pull it off? This makes me a little skeptical because NASA has already put thought into this idea and given up because of the tremendous amount of money that they would have to spend. I would love to see this idea come to life but until I see it, chances are many people wont believe it. If this were to happen, how many people would actually go on this elevator? And how expensive would this ride be? Not to mention the safety hazards that this elevator might have. I guess we will just have to wait until 2050 to see if this idea will actually become a reality. 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57383872-1/japan-plans-snail-paced-space-elevator-for-2050/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

Blog 5: Are Chinese factory workers getting just $8 for every iPad sale?

      After a South Korean newspaper today reported that Chinese factory workers are paid substantially less than their counterparts elsewhere around the world, Apple's supply chain is once again in the center of interest. According to the Korea Daily, the factory workers in China who are producing iPads collectively earn about $8 per unit among them, or about 1.6 percent of the cheapest iPad's selling price. Korean factory workers, on the other hand, share about $34 per unit among them, giving them 6.8 percent of the sales price. Over the last several months, complaints about working conditions in factories across Asia that produce Apple products have grown louder. Last week, the criticism hit a tipping point when watchdog groups SumOfUs and Change.org protested outside Apple stores, calling on the iPhone maker to improve supplier working conditions. 

      CNN recently conducted an interview with an 18-year-old employee at Foxconn, a key Apple supplier. The young woman, called "Miss Chen" to protect her identity, described forced overtime and the inability to receive benefits and sick days. She added that her work, affixing stickers onto iPad screens, makes her feel dehumanized. It seems as though Apple isn’t doing much to stop these horrible working conditions even though they know that this is a huge problem. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook said yesterday during an investor conference "No one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple”. Cook went on to say that child labor is "abhorrent" and is extremely rare in the Apple supply chain. Hopefully these conditions will soon be changed or Apple’s sales will being to suffer. 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57378208-17/are-chinese-factory-workers-getting-just-$8-for-every-ipad-sale/?tag=mncol;mostRead

Blog 4: Nokia to Cut 4,000 Jobs at 3 Factories

On Wednesday Nokia, the biggest maker of mobile phones by volume, said that it would eliminate 4,000 manufacturing jobs, or 7 percent of its global work force, as it moved to streamline operations and save money from its production of smart phones. The company said the cuts would be made at three Nokia factories — in Komarom, Hungary; Reynosa, Mexico; and Salo, Finland — as it transferred the assembly of smart phones to factories in Asia, which are closer to component makers.

Nokia, which is based in Espoo, Finland, said it planned to cut 2,300 of 4,400 jobs at its Hungarian factory, 700 of 1,000 in Mexico and 1,000 of 1,700 in Salo, its largest production facility in Finland. Niklas Savander, the Nokia executive vice president responsible for smart phones said “Shifting device assembly to Asia is targeted at improving our time to market,” “By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive.”

Many times Americans feel like they are the only ones being affected by this troubled economy, but from reading this article, it is clearly happening all over the world. Eliminating 4000 jobs is something a company never wants to do, but with all the steep competition with mobile phones these days and the terrible economic situation they aren’t left with many options. If cutting jobs and moving the factories closer to suppliers is what is best for the company, then this is the step that Nokia is going to have to take if they want to continue the success they have had. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/technology/nokia-to-cut-4000-jobs-at-3-factories.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Blog 3: South Korean Indicted Over Twitter Posts From North

This week, South Korean prosecutors indicted a social media and freedom-of-speech activist for reposting messages from the “enemy’s” (North Korean) government’s Twitter account. Park Jung-geun, a 23 year old photographer who specializes in taking pictures of babies, was taken in custody last month on charges of violating South Korea’s controversial National Security Law. This law bans “acts that benefit the enemy” but does not clearly define what constitutes such acts. The Twitter account, Uriminzokkiri.com, Mr. Park was accused of reposting is run by the North Korean government Web site, which South Korean news media regularly cite for their reports. Park was indicted on Tuesday.

Detectives raided Mr. Park’s photo studio in eastern Seoul in the fall. They later interrogated him several times for resending such North Korean propaganda postings as “Long Live Kim Jong-il!” the longtime North Korean dictator that died December 17. In his Twitter postings, Mr. Park compared himself to “The Young General,” the North Korean term for Kim Jong-un, the third son of Kim Jong-il. He posted this to simply because he inherited his photo studio from his father as Kim Jong-un inherited the dynasty from his father. He also posted Web links to North Korean propaganda songs. In a North Korean poster that he altered and uploaded on Twitter, he replaced a North Korean soldier’s face with a depressed version of his own and the soldier’s rifle with a bottle of whisky.

Mr. Park, a member of the Korean Socialist Party, said he supported its platform, which criticized the Pyongyang government’s human rights policy and its hereditary transfer of power. In an interview in December, Mr. Park said his Twitter posts were meant to ridicule the North Korean regime. Mr. Park could face up to seven years in jail if convicted. This law should definitely be repealed or revise because something like this should not be seen as a crime but as a form of expression which every person should be entitled to have. 

Blog 2: In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad

Last May, an explosion ripped though a building in China killing two people immediately and leaving a dozen people injured. The explosion came from the area where employees polish iPad cases. Chengdu, a city in southwest China, has become a place where millions of people work to power the largest, fastest and most sophisticated manufacturing system on earth. That system has made it possible for Apple and hundreds of other companies to build devices almost as quickly as they can be thought up. In the last decade, Apple has become one of the most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple, as well as other American companies, has achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history. Behind all the success of these companies are workers like the ones in China who risk their lives everyday to make these products. The workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions and are surrounded by serious, sometimes deadly work environments.

Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some employees say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Groups say that the suppliers are disregarding the workers health and well being by doing nothing about this. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Apple had been warned that these chemicals weren’t safe before the blasts happened, and nothing was done about it according to a Chinese group that published the warning.  

Apple is not the only company that is doing business with work conditions like this, but is one of the biggest. Apple executives say that Apple has made significant improvements regarding these problems but if they are, then why do these problems still remain? If this continues, Apple and other businesses that run his way could see bigger problems in their future. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?ref=technology

Blog 1:At $400 billion, Apple is worth more than Greece

     These days, it’s hard to come by someone who has never heard of Apple, let alone not have one of their products. Apple products are wildly popular all over the world, so it comes as no surprise that Apple's value stock rose to a record high of $400 billion on Thursday. Apple is not only huge in the United States, but in countries all over the world. Already being known as the world's most valuable technology company, Apple's market cap is higher than the gross domestic product of countries like Greece, Austria, Argentina, and South Africa. Unsurprisingly, Apple topped CNNMoney's survey of technology analysts about the best tech company to invest in for the future. From the launch of the iPod to the iPhone, iPad and line of Mac computers, Apple's growth is a stunning achievement for a company that is only 35 years old. 

      Being an owner of a couple Apple products, I can say that their products will only continue to grow and get better and better. If they maintain to make such phenomenal, in demand products they will definitely continue to be one of the worlds fastest growing companies. Apple has in a sense brought the world closer together with their top of the line products, and shocking the world with every new creation they come out with. Their latest incentive is to reinvent the textbook and make it assessable through the iPad as an e-textbook. With inventions like these, Apple will definitely impact the world and save some trees at the same time. 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/19/technology/apple_market_cap/index.htm