Two nano PCs, actually, and both expected to be announced officially this week according to FanlessTech. The first is the Foxconn AT-5300, running off a 2.13GHz dual-core Cedar Trail D2700, while the second -- the AT-5600 -- is powered by AMD's popular (but last-gen) 1.65GHz E450 APU. Each one consumes around 15W idle and 24W under load, which is the equivalent of somewhere between an Ultrabook and a regular laptop and low enough to be passively cooled. What's distinctly unlaptop-like, though, is the 190 x 135 x 38mm form factor, which should sit discreetly on your desk, below your TV or on a VESA mount, and also the price, which is expected to be under $200 with worldwide availability. As with similar mini-ATX budget barebones, you'll need to add your own HDD (or maybe a hybrid) to that, but you do get a pair of USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit LAN, a multilingual card reader and built-in 802.11n WiFi. The only thing missing? You guessed it.

Foxconn builds a fanless nano PC, forgets to put someone else's name on it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 May 2012 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The unique privilege of jumpsuiting up and prowling the Foxconn factory floor may be reserved for the likes of Tim Cook and Nightline's Bill Weir, but thanks to American Public Media's Marketplace, we can all take a peek at the iPad production line. The above video is part of Rob Schmitz' ongoing look at Foxconn's factory conditions. Schmitz is partially responsible for debunking Mike Daisey's "theatrical" deception, and now hopes to educate readers on the reality of Foxconn's Longhua facility.

"When I gave examples of some of the American media coverage of the working conditions at Foxconn, many workers laughed, telling me it's not really that bad" Schmitz writes. "But that doesn't mean the workers don't have complaints." Through a series of interviews, Schmitz unveils how workers feel about their supervisors, jobs, pay, family back home and their dreams for the future. So, how's that iPad made? Check out the source link below, and find out.

Marketplace takes a look at how the iPad is made and who, exactly, builds it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In response to one of the largest investigations ever conducted of a U.S. company’s foreign partners, Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn has agreed to hire tens of thousands of new workers, eliminate illegal overtime, improve safety condition and upgrade workers’ housing and other amenities, Reuters reported on Friday. After probing three Foxconn plants and interviewing over 35,000 workers, the Fair Labor Association reported that it found serious violations of Chinese labor laws, such as illegal and unpaid overtime, and extreme hours. Foxconn plans to reduce workers’ hours to 49 per week, which includes overtime, and it does not plan to raise salaries. The company will also hire additional workers and build more housing and canteens to combat overcrowding. While some of the company’s efforts have been praised, the changes have received mixed reactions from Foxconn’s employees. Read on for more.

Chen Yamei, a 25 year old worker who has been at a Foxconn for four years, complained that her salary will drop from 4,000 yuan a month to just over 2,000 yuan, roughly $317. “We are here to work and not to play,” she told Reuters. “Our income is very important.” Another worker had a different opinion on the matter, though. “Working here is just so-so. Working conditions and the pay are all right,” said 20 year old Li Wei, who has worked at the Foxconn factory for about a year. “However there are around 100,000 people in there, so sometimes the feeling can be oppressive,” Li said.

When 23-year-old Foxconn worker Wu Jun heard the news about working hours, she was filled with worry rather than joy. “We are worried we will have less money to spend. Of course, if we work less overtime, it would mean less money,” she said.

48% of employees said that their working hours were reasonable, 34% wanted to work more to increase pay and only 18% said their hours were too long, Bloomberg reported. 91% of employees polled said there was no need for more rest days, and 94% saw no need to change shift arrangements.

Sharp on Tuesday announced that is has entered into an manufacturing partnership with Foxconn that will see the manufacturing giant take a 10% stake in the Japanese electronics company. Hon Hai has invested nearly 67 billion yen ($809 million) in Sharp in exchange for roughly 121.65 million new shares, which will be spread out between four Foxconn companies. Sharp CEO Takashi Okuda said, “Until now we have handled all of our R&D and manufacturing, but going forward we will need to include partnerships in our approach,” pledging to leverage both companies’ strengths to get products to market efficiently. Each company will hold a 46.5% stake in Sharp’s Sakai plant in western Japan, with the remaining 7% owned by Sony.

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Lenovo's been hard at work with various phones and tablets so far this year, and here's yet another one that's just popped up in FCC's database. Dubbed the IdeaTab S2109 (or S2109A-F, to be specific), we're told by a reliable source that 'tis an Android 4.0.3 tablet assembled by Foxconn, and it'll come with a 9.7-inch, 4:3 IPS display (supplied by Chi Mei), a TI OMAP chip and four powerful SRS-ready speakers as featured on the beefy K2010. The above diagram suggests said slate has a microSD slot accessible from the outside, and if you take a closer look at the product label, you'll see that the device requires a whooping 2.5A input at 5V, which means it'll come with a 12.5W adapter -- a lot more powerful than many tablets' consumption at 10W (including the new iPad) or below. Here's hoping that this is an indication for a faster charge time.

As for availability, we heard that this S2109 will launch at some point this month, though our shy friend didn't specify which market it'll debut in -- the FCC document lists Germany, Canada, US, India, Russia, Turkmenistan, Mexico, Chile, Japan and China. If Ice Cream Sandwich on a 4:3 screen sounds like your cup of tea then stay tuned for more news.

Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 teased by FCC, launching with 9.7-inch display this month? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple and Foxconn have each responded to various claims made in ABC’s Nightline segment that took a look inside two Foxconn factories in an effort to shed light on their working conditions. Responding to a comment made by one worker who claimed she carves aluminum shavings from 6,000 iPad cases each day, Apple said this was likely the result of a miscommunication. “In manufacturing parlance this is called deburring. Her line processes 3,000 units per shift, with two shifts per day for a total of 6,000. A single operator at Ms. Zhou’s station would deburr 3,000 iPads in a shift,” Apple told ABC. Read on for more.

ABC noted in its report that the starting wages at Foxconn’s factories are so low that workers don’t even have to pay income taxes. “We have over 75 percent of the employees in the category of earning at least 2,200 RMB ($349/month) basic compensation standar,” a Foxconn spokesperson told ABC. “That means they are earning 13.75 RMB ($2.18) per hour. If they work overtime on the weekend, they will earn 27 RMB ($4.28) per hour. In order to reach 3500 to be taxable, they will have to work 47 OT hours to reach 3,500.â€�

The spokesperson continued, “If the overtime hours are in weekdays, they have to work around 63 hours per month to reach that level of salary to be taxable. Your statement is only true when applying to the entry-level workers while over 75 percent are already over the probation and earning more than 2,200 RMB basic salary.â€�

While nothing startling was uncovered by ABC’s look inside the “iFactory,” a number of concerning reports surrounding facilities maintained by Apple’s supply and manufacturing partners have emerged recently. The Fair Labor Association’s preliminary inspections found “tons of issues” in Foxconn’s factories, one report alleges that Foxconn hid underage workers while ABC filmed in its factories and two workers claiming to have been poisoned by a cleaning agent while working in a plant that assembles iPhone displays on Wednesday pleaded for the public to demand action.

Foxconn confirmed on Friday that it has raised wages for its factory workers by 16% to 25%, Reuters reports. The original device manufacturer, which is the No.1 maker of Apple’s iPhones and iPads, has raised wages to 1,800 yuan ($285) per month and may again raise them above 2,200 yuan ($349) for workers who pass a technical examination. In comparison, pay three years ago was 900 yuan ($143) per month. “As a top manufacturing company in China, the basic salary of junior workers in all of Foxconn’s China factories is already far higher than the minimum wage set by all local governments,” the company said in a statement. Foxconn has come under fire on numerous occasions due to allegations of poor working conditions, however the company is working to improve. “We will provide more training opportunities and learning time, and will continuously enhance technology, efficiency and salary, so as to set a good example for the Chinese manufacturing industry,” a company spokesperson said. Foxconn’s announcement comes on the heel of the Fair Labor Association’s preliminary assessment of the company’s plants, which are said to have conditions that are better than most.

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Internships suck, whether you're in New York, LA, DC, or wherever. You do menial work for token payment (or none), all in the name of experience. At Foxconn, it's about the same—but you great free housing and more money. More »

Internships suck, whether you're in New York, LA, DC, or wherever. You do menial work for token payment (or none), all in the name of experience. At Foxconn, it's about the same—but you great free housing and more money. More »

On Monday, Apple announced that the Fair Labor Association would be conducting audits of facilities managed by its Chinese suppliers. Foxconn Technology Group, whose factories manufacture the iPad, has come under fire after a rash of worker suicides, fatal explosions and allegations of poor working conditions. Working conditions at Foxconn, however, were found to be far better than other facilities throughout the country, reported Reuters. “The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm,” said FLA president Auret van Heerden. “I was very surprised when I walked onto the floor at Foxconn, how tranquil it is compared with a garment factory. So the problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory. It’s more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps.” Roughly 30 FLA staff members will be visiting two Foxconn factories in southern China and one in the central city of Chengdu. Over the course of three weeks, the FLA will conduct anonymous interviews with 35,000 workers who will be questioned about pay, living conditions, emotional condition and management. In addition to Foxconn, the FLA will investigate facilities belonging to Quanta Computer, Pegatron and Wintek.

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Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, Ltd., parent company of original device manufacturer Foxconn, reported huge revenue growth of nearly 50% for the month of January, Taiwan Economic News reports. The manufacturing giant enjoyed performance that beat forecasts last month, with revenue ballooning 47.9% year-on-year to NT$274.6 billion, or approximately $9.1 billion USD. Revenue was down 13.3% sequentially after a big December capped off a hot holiday quarter, but the seasonal decline was expected and well below the average 20% fall off Hon Hai typically sees between December and January. Hon Hai’s nearest competitor Quanta Computer saw revenue grow 2% to NT$78.3 billion in January, and rival Compal Electronics reported a dip of 22% to NT$43.7 billion in January.

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Foxconn has more to worry about. As well as struggling to deal with allegations of exploitative working conditions in its factories, it's now had the bad fortune of being hacked, having login and password information spread across the web. More »

Pegatron Technology has reportedly received a small volume of orders for the upcoming iPad 3, which is set to launch in March, according to Digitimes. Apple has reportedly revamped the company’s outsourcing strategy and will have Pegatron focus on production of the iPad series, with Foxconn serving serving as an auxiliary in 2013. Foxconn‘s primary focus will be the iPhone, with Pegatron only producing a small number of smartphones. The new strategy is meant to decrease risk and increase the quality of products, according to the report. The Cupertino-based company has already visited Pegatron‘s plants in China several times. The publication also claimed that Pegatron is expected to see a “significant increase” in orders for an iPad 4 launch reportedly scheduled for October with an initial volume of 7-10 million units. However, last week John Gruber of Daring Fireball called the March launch of the iPad 3 “completely accurate,” but claimed an iPad 4 report was “completely made-up nonsense.”

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Speaking with The San Francisco Chronicle recently, the deputy general counsel of Microsoft’s intellectual property group, Horacio Gutiérrez, discussed his company’s decisions to chase down other firms for Android-licensing agreements and the current state of patent wars. Gutiérrez doesn’t think Microsoft should be viewed as a “patent troll” for its recent agreements with Samsung, HTC, ViewSonic and Acer (among others) and its ongoing lawsuit with Foxconn and Barnes & Noble over the Nook. He also does not think the current patent system is broken. “Every time there are these technologies that are really disruptive, there are patent cases,” Guitiérrez explained. “Licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about. Licensing is, in fact, the solution to the patent problem that people are reactive so negatively about.” Read on for more.

Guitiérrez says that Microsoft invented a number of functions used in Android, including the “ability to synchronize the content that you have in your phone with the information in the server of your company or in your computer at home,” and the “efficiency of operating systems” as a whole. “I think the most important part here is that a lot of the innovation that is happening today is really happening in the software space,” Gutiérrez noted. “So the question of whether software should be patentable is, in a sense, the same as asking whether a significant part of the technological innovation happening nowadays should receive patent protection.” The San Francisco Chronicle’s full interview can be found via the read link below.

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See that? That just might be the cheaper iPhone that Apple's rumored to formally unveil on Tuesday. Gizmodo Brazil managed to get a hold of a purported iPhone 4s from within a Brazilian Foxconn factory, and while the hardware itself looks just about identical to the iPhone 4 that exists today, there's a new SKU that's leading to understandable speculation. The N90A model number that popped up has certainly emerged before, but where things really get interesting is the "reprovado" ("disqualified") labeling. Is this batch an early set of prototypes that didn't quite pass QA? Will the eventual iPhone 4s even look anything like the iPhone 4 that's on shelves today? You can bet we'll be on hand in Cupertino to find out, and there's no time like the present to clear out your Tuesday morning / afternoon / evening schedule (depending on time zone, of course) to find out with us.

Is this Apple's cheaper iPhone 4? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It appears that Apple is about to expand its manufacturing operations to Brazil, where a new Foxconn factory is already in place and ready to churn out iPads, according to a report from national media outlet UOL. Aolizio Mercadante, the country's minister of science and technology, confirmed the news this week during a hearing held by the Commission of Economic Affairs. "At first many doubted, but it will be the first time that [Apple] will produce iPads outside Chinese territory," Mercadente said. "We are taking a big step for digital inclusion in the country." Located in Jundiaí, the new facility was constructed under a joint venture between Foxconn and the Brazilian government, with the former reportedly contributing $12 million to the initiative. Rumors of a South American expansion began circulating earlier this year, with many expecting Foxconn's Brazil-based operations to get underway during Q1 of 2012, according to DigiTimes. Construction, however, appears to have wrapped up ahead of schedule, with Mercadante claiming that iPad shipments will begin in December. Apple, for its part, has not commented on the report.

Report: Foxconn's Brazil factory ready for business, will begin shipping iPads in December originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn has reportedly ramped up iPhone 5 production as the next-generation smartphone finally approaches launch next month. Citing anonymous industry sources, DigiTimes on Thursday reports that production of Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone has reached 150,000 units per day. An earlier report stated that Foxconn will be responsible for approximately 85% of iPhone 5 production while Pegatron will handle the remaining 15% of production, though DigiTimes now reports that Pegatron will not begin building iPhone 5 handsets until next year. According to the site’s sources, Foxconn will ship between 5 million and 6 million iPhone 5 handsets this month, and fourth-quarter shipments are expected to surpass 22 million units. It is estimated that Apple will ship between 86.4 million and 95 million iPhone smartphones this year, making Apple the top global smartphone vendor by shipment volume.

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