Foxconn

With the working conditions at overseas factories still in the public eye, Apple says it's picking up the pace on when we'll see the results of its first third-party audits.

Earlier today, the company said that the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a nonprofit labor rights group Apple joined last month, is already in China doing its first round of auditing at Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China.

The first results from those audits will go up on the FLA's site next month, with reports on additional suppliers used by Apple and other technology companies to follow … Read more

Google Wallet puts hold on prepaid cards, Samsung unveils the Galaxy Tab 2 and Apple launched independent investigations into the working conditions at its overseas factories.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Apple said it has asked the Fair Labor Association to audit the company’s Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. The move comes after Apple has taken heat for working conditions in its supply chain.

According to Apple, a team of labor rights experts started inspections Monday at Foxconn City. Foxconn makes the iPad and iPhone for Apple. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) described itself this way:

Incorporated in 1999, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) is a collaborative effort of socially responsible companies, colleges and universities, and civil society organizations to improve working conditions in factories around the world. … Read more

Apple has heard the critics and is now ready to dig deeper into Foxconn's working conditions.

The iPhone maker announced today that it has asked the Fair Labor Association (FLA), an organization "dedicated to ending sweatshop conditions in factories worldwide," to investigate Foxconn facilities in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China.

The first inspections began this morning in the Shenzhen factory known as Foxconn City.

"We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we've asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers," … Read more

Apple supplier Foxconn now has another crisis on its hands.

A group of hackers known as Swagg Security is taking credit for a breach of Foxconn network security, resulting in the theft of usernames, passwords, and other private information.

In a series of Twitter posts yesterday, the group boasted that it publicly released the information on the Pirate Bay Web site as well as on Pastebin. The attack grabbed the credentials of every Foxconn employee, according to 9to5Mac, including Terry Gou, CEO of parent Hon Hai Industries.

Beyond damaging Foxconn internally, the stolen information could also create trouble for some … Read more

Apple and Foxconn have both been on the hot seat over reports of the supplier's poor factory conditions. But a CNN interview with one of the factory workers brings a personal story to the controversy.

Working at a Foxconn factory in southwestern China, an 18-year-old student named Miss Chen (her name has been changed to protect her identity) told CNN about the conditions she faces each day.

The young girl was initially excited about an opportunity to work for one month at Foxconn, her head filled with visions of nice benefits and little overtime. But despite what she was … Read more

Facebook filed to go public this week and the entire tech world turned its attention to the filing document, the S-1. It revealed some impressive numbers: 845 million monthly users on Facebook, about half of them on mobile devices.

It also showed that Zynga accounted for 12 percent of Facebook's revenue.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter embedded in the S-1, also took pains to tell potential investors that Facebook would try to maintain its "hacker culture," as well as its focus on connecting people to each other, as opposed to connecting shareholders just to revenue.

There's a lot to unpack in the Facebook filing, and we have two great guests to help us walk through it:

Bonus: Shervin was an early investor in Klout, so I asked him some questions on that product, after the main show. The video is embedded at the end of this post.

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… Read more

It's the tale of two Apples. One is a shining fruit that recently reported $13 billion in profits.

The other has potential worms inside in the form of a New York Times report on injuries and poor working conditions at Chinese manufacturing plants that make the company's products.

The Times story delves into a history of explosions, accidents, cramped living conditions, and brutally long work weeks at plants that make products for Apple.

In response, a petition has been launched demanding an "ethical iPhone 5." Donald Trump has even weighed in, saying that Apple should manufacture its devices in the United States, rather than overseas.… Read more

A new online petition is demanding that Apple clean up its act overseas in time to make its next iPhone "the first ethical iPhone."

Watchdog group SumOfUs last week put up a petition asking Apple to "make the iPhone 5 ethically," referring to the company's use of overseas manufacturing from companies such as Foxconn, which have recently come under fire for their working conditions and practices.

The petition, which the group says garnered more than 35,000 signatures in its first 24 hours, asks Apple to "overhaul the way its suppliers treat their workers,&… Read more