Cody Fink

1547 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.

[email protected]

Apple Not Paying Foxconn Employees Additional Extension as Rumored

Apple news seems to come in waves. Before we had all the negative iPhone 4 press, there was a period of time when Foxconn was constantly making headlines among Apple sources, and near the end of the bad press, there was a rumor that Apple would be paying Foxconn an additional 2% so that employees could receive wage increases. This never happened.

Foxconn officially denies any involvement with Apple concerning the wages of their employees, stating that they never received any subsidies from Apple. “This isn’t true.” 9 to 5 Mac reports,

The intention of these payments was to end a wave of suicides among Foxconn workers, reportedly unhappy at long hours, long wages, anti-social working conditions and authoritarian management practises.

Foxconn has moved to offer workers large pay hikes, while breaking some of its production units into plants it owns elsewhere in China.

[via AppleInsider and 9 to 5 Mac]

Firefox Home Approved, Mozilla Fans Rejoice

Looking to access your Firefox profile in the cloud? Firefox Home, approved by Apple yesterday, can now be found on the App Store. While I don’t touch Firefox too often, I still appreciate some of its features and am looking forward to the latest update. For those still using the mighty fox, Firefox Home for the iPhone can collect your open tabs, bookmarks, and other related data so that you have a portable carry-on for that workflow.

You can download Firefox Home at this link.

[via TechCrunch and CNET]

Mozilla Explains Why Tabs on Top is Better for Everyone

Firefox isn’t removing the choice of placing tabs on the bottom. Rather, they’ve been debating on where to place tabs after a fresh installation. They’re arguing about default settings if you will, and while it’s not the most exciting news, Mozilla has decided that Firefox will come shipped with tabs on top as the default preference. Being a Chrome user, it’s certainly what I prefer.

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Analyst Claims Apple is Fixing the iPhone 4’s Design Flaw

We’re not talking about a software fix folks. MacRumors via TheStreet is reporting that Apple is altering the manufacturing process to include a component that dampens (and hopefully eliminates) the iPhone 4 antenna issue. TheStreet reports,

Apple has told its manufacturers to alter the iPhone production process to include an internal component that will insulate the defective antenna connection that has disrupted the phone’s signal reception, said Kumar. This internal bumper will give Apple a non-cosmetic solution and will presumably avoid the need to change the appearance of the phone, said Kumar.

MacRumors indicates that further iPhone 4 delays may be caused by Apple’s manufacturing fix as they prepare new models with the insulating component. It’s also mentioned that the Rodman Renshaw analyst (Kumar) doesn’t have an established track record yet in the industry, implying that it’s possible these rumors are completely false. Again, this is an extra rumor to look forward to tomorrow. If all Apple has to do is add an extra part, then a fix should be relatively quick as there’s no major change required in the assembly process.

[TheStreet via MacRumors]

Review: IconBox 2.0, Icon Management for your Mac

I know quite a few of you MacStories readers are die hard icon fanatics. The Mac community is full of young and vibrant designers willing to get down and dirty with Photoshop, and entire communities are built around various Mac themes, icon sets, and related design mischief. Though after folders and folders of icons, you might be wondering if there’s a better way to organize your collection of icons. Today, I’d like to introduce you to IconBox, a full featured icon library for your Mac. If you haven’t heard about IconBox and their latest 2.0 release, or you’re on the fence about an application like this, I think you’ll enjoy this review.

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Apple Engineer Reportedly Warned Steve Jobs about the Antenna Issue

Bloomberg writes this morning on Apple’s senior antenna expert, Ruben Cabellero, who personally warned Steve Jobs (a year ago) about the potential antennae issues with the iPhone 4.

Last year, Ruben Caballero, a senior engineer and antenna expert, informed Apple’s management the device’s design may cause reception problems, said the person, who is not authorized to speak on Apple’s behalf and asked not to be identified. A carrier partner also raised concerns about the antenna before the device’s June 24 release, according to another person familiar with the situation.

Nothing else is revealed about the Caballero other than he was made unavailable for comment. Apple’s press conference is tomorrow, so it looks like Bloomberg will just have to wait.

[via Bloomberg]

Boy Genius Claims that FaceTime is Coming to iPod and iPad

We pretty much figured that FaceTime would eventually end up on the iPod relatively soon, but we didn’t think we’d hear millings about the iPad just yet (considering it doesn’t have a front facing camera). Sure the iPad would make the perfect FaceTime device – but this leads us to ponder whether Apple will release an updated model this Fall.

Questions aside, Boy Genius Report does ask a valid question: how the heck can you call an iPod touch or iPad without a phone number? The answer lies in your Apple ID. Using your email address (which I do not like the idea of at all), people will be able to make FaceTime calls to your device. Kind of like how Textie on the iPhone and iPod touch works. Push Notifications will alert you to calls, and Boy Genius Report admits that there’d have to be some minor changes in iOS 4.x to make it happen. Chalk another one up on the rumor mill kids - this one is pretty good.

[via Boy Genius Report]

Archetype a Huge Success: 160,000 Players in First Week

Another success story in the making, Archetype has managed to garner 160,000 players within a week of launch according to TUAW. Amidst a massive advertising campaign, Archetype has become somewhat of an behemoth in mobile gaming, delivering a “big budget” experience Apple’s mobile devices, directly competing with titles like Nova and ngmoco’s Eliminate.

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