Chinese Quarters, Barry Steakfries, and Procrastination

Hello there!

Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a while since I’ve done a post like this. ARME threw me off my routine that I’d gotten into, but that’s no excuse for not getting back into it sooner than I have.

Anyway, this past week and a bit has been fairly uneventful, but the events that have been going on have been pretty exciting…for me.

The first was that for the past few weeks, I’ve been eyeing Halfbrick‘s app entitled ‘Age Of Zombies: Anniversary’ on the App Store. I got it. It features their very own mascot ‘Barry Steakfries’ in a Zombie obliterating fast-paced game that I just can’t seem to put down. It’s become such a hobby that I’ve found myself climbing the Game Center leader-boards in the survival levels at a relatively slow, but assuring, rate. It’s well worth the price, and retina enabled, too. I suggest you buy it…like, now.

Second is that I’ve, as stated in my earlier post, become quite attached and interested in ‘bokeh’. So much so that I spent quite a few hours trolling though, favouriting, and downloading photos from Flickr to a special ‘Bokeh‘ folder that I use simply as wallpapers for my devices. So far the count is 254, but I hope to expand on it soon. I may need a bigger hard drive at this rate, come to think of it.

Lastly, I managed to get over to Birmingham yesterday, and not just any part of Birmingham. The Chinese Quarter part of Birmingham! It’s most easily my favorite part of the city, not that I’m exactly sure why. Maybe it’s the buildings, the writing that I can’t make sense of…or just the all over oriental feeling of it, I really don’t know. Of course there’s always that reminder that you’re in the UK. You know, the blatant prescience of native English people, the view of the 80′s flats in the distance, and the lack of blaring lights that the dense cities like Tokyo sport. It was more of a taster I guess, but it was enough to make my day. I took quite a few photos, too. Some of which will be at the end of this post. If you want all of them , then just check out my Flickr photo stream. The link should be in the sidebar.

Anyway, I’m off. Chores to do, a day to finish, Spiral Knights to play. You know the drill. Oh, by the way, just forgot to mention earlier, I’ll be away from Friday 5PM till Monday…sometime. No, I won’t tell y’all where I’m off to right now, I think I’ll leave you hanging on that one till I get back.

Chao!

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Newsspot – For Apple, Pressure Builds Over App Store Fraud

Morning guys! Yeah, sorry for the inactivity over the last couple of days, but I’ve been busy with my house, and going to events. Sorry I don’t have the time or will to divulge, but if you want to know more, search for the hash-tag #NECYouthDay . Trust me, it went in. Anyway, today’s post deals with a common problem that seems to be happening with Apple these days. Fraud. I’ve been a victim of this happening twice, myself, so I know how it feels. Thing is, bot my cases had different cards, which was strange. Each lump transaction was around £300-£500, which was…well…a real dent. It seems that Apple seem to be letting too many of these cases slip, and more often, the consumer gets the worst of it. If you’re lucky, like me, you’ll get the money refunded, and a new card. Problem is, this can only happen so many times before the bank decides that you’re on your own. I happen to have no chances left. Another thing is that immediately after notifying Apple, your Apple ID gets permanently disabled. Harsh, huh? You can’t get your stuff off iCloud, and you’ve gotta re-purchase those apps on a different account, seeing as you can’t even update the ones you have. Rant over, here’s the post!

For Apple, Pressure Builds Over App Store Fraud

Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times

Jian Huang, head of Hoolai Game in Beijing. Hoolai, a game developer, discovered that it was missing payments from Apple.

By EVELYN M. RUSLI and BRIAN X. CHEN

Published: March 15, 2012

In a little over an hour, Ryan Matthew Pierson racked up $437.71 in iTunes charges for virtual currency that he could use to buy guns, nightclubs and cars in iMobsters, a popular iPhone game. One problem: Mr. Pierson, a technology writer in Texas, has never played iMobsters.

“This was fraud,” said Mr. Pierson, recalling the November incident. “I woke up, checked my e-mail, and I could see these purchases happening in real time.”

Mr. Pierson raised the issue with Appleand his bank, and the problem was eventually resolved. But his experience is hardly unique, as reflected by hundreds of online complaints saying that Apple’s iTunes Store, and in particular its App Store, which the company portrays as the safest of shopping environments, is not so secure.

The complaints come from consumers like Mr. Pierson, who say that their accounts have been hijacked or that some apps are falsely advertised. And they come from creators of apps, who say they are having to deal with fraudulent purchases that drain their time and resources. Software makers also complain that competition in the App Store has become so brutal that many companies resort to artificially inflating their popularity rankings to grab attention.

It’s a change for Apple, which was once criticized for its micromanaging of the App Store. Now the problem is not too much control, but too little.

“This kind of thing just happens any time a platform is successful,” said David Edery, chief executive of Spry Fox, a small software company that sells games in the App Store. “People start flooding into it and it starts to get crazy.”

The App Store offers more than 600,000 applications for iPhones, iPads and iPodTouches, and has already generated billions in revenue for Apple and its developers. That makes it both the best deal going for software makers and consumers, and also a hulking target for those looking to manipulate the system and cheat people.

Apple declined a request for an interview, but said in a statement that it was working to enhance security. It advised customers whose payment information had been stolen to change their iTunes passwords and to contact their financial institutions.

In the shadowy world of hacking, it’s often unclear how criminals get iTunes passwords or credit card information. But the App Store, and Apple’s broader iTunes Store, have become playgrounds for illicit transactions. And the Web is rife with App Store scams. On Chinese online marketplaces, like Taobao or DHgate, some sellers are offering access to iTunes accounts for as little as $33. One seller on DHgate, for instance, has sold 56 iTunes accounts for less than $35 each, promising thousands of dollars in “credit.”

Newsspot – In China, Human Costs Are Built Into An iPad

Well, here I am again! This evening’s been quite dry, in my opinions, and all I’ve been doing is playing Jetpack Joyride (get it, if you haven’t got it already), and reading up on the news. This article caught my attention though, seeing as it was on the front page, and also because it had the word ‘iPad’ in the title. I have to admit it brought many things to light for me, and it also made me pretty distraught to see that the big companies still tolerated this kind of working conditions. You can see the first part of the article below, as normal, and the link to the actual page can be found underneath. Enjoy!

THE IECONOMY

In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad

By CHARLES DUHIGG and DAVID BARBOZA

Published: January 25, 2012

 

The explosion ripped through Building A5 on a Friday evening last May, an eruption of fire and noise that twisted metal pipes as if they were discarded straws.

When workers in the cafeteria ran outside, they saw black smoke pouring from shattered windows. It came from the area where employees polished thousands of iPad cases a day.

Two people were killed immediately, and over a dozen others hurt. As the injured were rushed into ambulances, one in particular stood out. His features had been smeared by the blast, scrubbed by heat and violence until a mat of red and black had replaced his mouth and nose.

“Are you Lai Xiaodong’s father?” a caller asked when the phone rang at Mr. Lai’s childhood home. Six months earlier, the 22-year-old had moved to Chengdu, in southwest China, to become one of the millions of human cogs powering 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 dreamed up.

“He’s in trouble,” the caller told Mr. Lai’s father. “Get to the hospital as soon as possible.”

In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.

However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.

Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.

More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health. 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. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning.

“If Apple was warned, and didn’t act, that’s reprehensible,” said Nicholas Ashford, a former chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a group that advises the United States Labor Department. “But what’s morally repugnant in one country is accepted business practices in another, and companies take advantage of that.”

Here’s the full article: NY Times – In China, Human Costs Are Built Into An iPad

I’m gonna be off this for now, so I think it’s safe to call it a day for this blogging addict. You’ll hopefully get more posts tomorrow though, so stay tuned. Oh, and George? You really need to open those emails and actually comment… >_>

Alex Out!

The Morning Mail – Issue 7

Image Via Wikipedia

Hello dear readers!

It seems that I haven’t done a morning mail post in quite a while, so I thought I’d treat you to one. To be honest, I’ve got little to nothing to talk about this morning, and my original plan was a photo and quote to start your day, but then I thought ‘Hang on, what about Siri?’, and so here I am. Yesterday, I was employed by my cousin to set up her iPhone 4S, and move all her contacts and other info from her 3GS. I have to admit, it was pretty simple, and it didn’t take long to get that part of the process done. The real time-consumer was when she asked if she could have some apps put on there, and since she doesn’t have a computer at the moment, it would be synced to mine, which would cause no problems. Since the apps were taking their time installing (anyone else found that with iOS 5?), she decided to leave and come and pick it up sometime today, and so I busied myself getting everything ready, but when you’re Alex, sometimes you just get sidetracked too easily, and so I met Siri.

She’s an intelligent girl, Siri is, and she really does take the ‘touch’ out of the touchscreen. I ask, and she delivers. I say, and she does. The only thing is that it seems to be more of a one-way relationship, which I’m not keen on, so it looks like anyone who was looking for a chance at love with Siri will be sorely disappointed. To satisfy my curiosity, I decided to ask some questions whilst I was up, and I got (in some cases) some very strange answers. Look for yourself down below.

Anyway, I’d best be off, but I’ll be posting a quote and photo of the day soon enough, so keep that web browser open! Not really, you can close it, so long as it remembers your last tabs.

Ciao!

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The Evening Post – Issue 14

To all those who actually read this,

How’s your day been? Nice? Good, good. Mine’s been alright too, actually, so that’s something we have in common. You know when I said before that I was hoping that there wouldn’t be another day in 2012 where it dragged on as long as the last one did? Well, I’m afraid to say that life broke it’s promise. My day was as dry and long as anything. It did spruce up towards the evening though, when I had a nice conversation (spanning a good few hours) with Sadia, and also managed to get some games on my iPod to work again. To be honest, I was unsure of what to post really, since I don’t want to just become a re-posting service for photos and news articles. I like how you guys are enjoying them, but if I just re-post, then it’s not really ‘my’ blog then, is it? The problem is that life’s not going anywhere fast. The most exciting things I did today (besides talking to Sadia) were getting the new iBooks 2 and iTunes U apps, and re-tweeting some #IfTheyShutDownTwitter foolishness. Now, I’m going to cut this post short at this time, so I big you all farewe-

Oh, that’s my cue…

Ciao!