brazil

Foxconn iPad factory in Brazil may not open

Foxconn is again in the news, this time in Brazil, as its $12 billion factory deal reportedly may not go through due to demands of tax breaks and special treatment.

According to Reuters, Apple's plan to produce iPads in Brazil is in trouble. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced Foxconn's plans to build the plant in April, and, "Senior officials hailed the deal as a sign of growing economic ties with Asia, and proof that Brazil was moving up the value-added manufacturing chain as its economy grows," said Reuters' Brian Winter.

Problems have now arisen as Brazil … Read more

Hackers: Here's Zimbabwe, Brazil, UMG, Viacom data

Hackers today released data they said was from the governments of Zimbabwe and Brazil, entertainment giants Universal Music Group and Viacom, and a municipal government in Australia.

Meanwhile, the Anonymous group also reportedly temporarily shut down a tourism Web site for Orlando, Fla., with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack today to protest the arrest of Food not Bombs volunteers for serving food in public in Orlando without a permit.

Later in the day the data dump, which the hackers said was the first official release from the AntiSec campaign launched by Anonymous and LulzSec last week, appeared on The Pirate Bay … Read more

LulzSec takes down Brazil government sites

Hacker group LulzSec said it has taken two Brazilian government Web sites offline. The sites Brasil.gov.br and Presidencia.gov.br were both unavailable as of the time this story was written, ZDNet UK can confirm.

"TANGO DOWN brasil.gov.br & presidencia.gov.br LulzSecBrazil", LulzSecBrazil tweeted in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The outage, which probably stemmed from a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, follows the arrest yesterday by the Metropolitan Police's Central e-Crime Unit of a 19-year-old man who they suspect is involved with the group.

LulzSec has denied that the individual, who … Read more

Foxconn looking into $12 billion Brazil investment

Foxconn Technology Group, the company responsible for the manufacturing of Apple's iPod, iPhone, and iPad, is said to be in talks with Brazil to invest $12 billion over the next five to six years for building new manufacturing facilities within its borders.

The plans, reported by Reuters today, were unveiled by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff while on a visit to Beijing. Rousseff told reporters there that Foxconn was looking to "invest" in the country in the form of new manufacturing facilities, creating jobs, and providing the Brazilian government with additional tax revenue.

The details of those plans, … Read more

VW Brazil builds little Gol for little people

Volkswagen Brazil builds a subcompact car that's smaller than the Golf, smaller even than the Polo. It's called the Gol, and it is the entry-level vehicle for VW's South American offerings. Here is a vehicle that would probably be too small for North American roads, but there exists a buyer for which even the Gol may be too large: little people.

With this in mind, VW Brazil has built the Mini-Gol, a little car for little people. The Mini-Gol has been scaled down by about 30-percent--overall length is down to 7.4 feet from 12.8--to better … Read more

The 404 713: Where we're ready to believe you (podcast)

Wilson's taking a day off to devote more time to early-morning photography, so Mark Licea sits in his seat to fill in. We received a handful of listener responses about yesterday's TSA scanner conversation, so we spend part of the first half clarifying our stance on the issue, but also discuss our typical Friday stories--Asians, vacations, video games, Apple, Kool-Aid, and paper airplanes just a few things you can expect to hear on today's show!

A 17-year-old geek bearing a striking resemblance to Wilson in middle school is getting heat from Apple after running a six-figure business out of his home selling white iPhone 4s. Six months ago, high school senior Fei Lam contacted Apple's Chinese supplier Foxconn and somehow convinced them to sell him white iPhone 4 parts.

He used those parts for Whiteiphonefournow.com, a site specializing in converting black iPhone 4s into the missing white version. After selling more than $130,000 worth of parts since, Lam just received a letter from a private investigator hired by Apple to investigate accusations of stolen goods, but there's no word yet from Apple about what they plan to do with the litigation. Another reason explaining Wilson's absence today!

Social networks are all fun and games until someone gets outed for digging Asian girls--that's the lesson of the week for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose old Friendster profile is making the rounds on the Internet for comments made about Asian females under the "What I Enjoy Doing" heading.

We'll grant Zuckerberg some slack since he was just a 19-year-old teenager at the time, and the rest of the content is equally lighthearted--he also lists "coding," "IN n Out," "bad life decisions," and "defeating nemeses" under the same category.

Our final story of the day comes from South America, where Brazilian Christians have banned the use of all USB connections and their associated products after claims that the logo for USB resembles the Satanic trident.

The Web is divided on the origin of the USB logo, but some suggest that the artist based the design on Neptune's Trident, with three shapes adorning the points that symbolize several connections to one destination.

Unfortunately, the ban on USB devices means that flash drives, mice, keyboards, and printers all fall under the same devil-worshiping umbrella, so hold onto your parallel port cords and PS/2 extensions--someday you might need them in Brazil.

Episode 713 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

More bodies (and other strange sights) on Brazil's Street View

When Google Street View launched in Brazil last week, it seemed as if it revealed so much about life in one of the world's most vibrant and fastest-growing countries.

Images of four dead bodies, in Rio and Belo Horizonte, were, for some, stunning and, for others, sadly normal.

A Tumblr feed called Street Viu was set up so Brazilians could offer their most interesting images from the new service. In just a few days this feed has offered quite a fascinating look at what the Google cameras captured.

Tumblr contributors have sent in shots of more bodies, lying in … Read more

Google Street View captures dead bodies--real ones

Whenever Google sends its Street View cameras to a new country, there is always more revealed than was anticipated.

And so is the case with the launch of Google Street View in Brazil.

Just a day after the service launched, up popped a couple of corpses. One, on the Avenida Presidente Vargas in Rio, the other in Belo Horizonte.

The images, which first reportedly surfaced on Gizmodo Brazil are disturbing because of their apparent normality. They are not in deserted areas, but in places where people and cars can be seen, places where city life just goes on.

Google moved … Read more

Your own yellow submarine

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

Amazon gets an exclusive publishing deal for e-books Barnes & Noble launches the Nook reader for Android phones YouTube revamps YouTube Music Orkut is in hot water in Brazil for allegedly hosting illicit material Your toilet can generate energy to power your home A two-seat yellow submarine could be yours for the bargain price of $2 million