factories

A day after a report detailed harsh working conditions at one of Apple's component suppliers in China, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company cares about every worker in its supply chain and that any suggestion to the contrary was "patently false and offensive."

Yesterday, The New York Times published an exhaustive report that profiled hazardous factory conditions linked to scores of injuries and a handful of deaths. The report recounted an explosion at a plant in Chengdu that killed four, focusing on the final months for Lai Xiaodong, a 22-year-old who had worked a few months … Read more

American speaker manufacturer Magnepan has just launched a program to reach potential customers who would like to test out their speakers, but don't live near enough to a store to hear them in person.

The program, "Maggie Dealer-Direct," relies on dealer expertise to advise customers, but Magnepan ships directly to the customer for a 30-day home trial (in the U.S. only). You might say Magnepan will be acting as the dealer's shipping department.

Some might wonder why Magnepan doesn't just eliminate the dealers and sell speakers factory direct, but they value the depth of … Read more

Production of the iPad may have been at least temporarily affected by an explosion today at a yet-to-open factory in China.

The blast, which occurred at a plant belonging to Pegatron subsidiary Riteng in Shanghai, injured as many as 61 people, according to a Reuters report. The explosion didn't cause a fire, but 23 workers needed to be hospitalized. Machinery was also reportedly damaged.

"The factory has not started operations yet. Part of the facility is still under pre-operation inspection and part is running trial production," Pegatron Chief Financial Officer Charles Lin told Reuters.

Production of current … Read more

Think the world needs another you but can't cough up the $225,000 for your own android clone? Japan's Clone Factory has an alternative in the form of little doppelganger dolls that will set you back a mere $1,770.

The Jibun-san (me) dolls won't model your voice, facial expressions, and upper-body movements like Kokoro's lifelike robots do. But they might make good gifts for friends, family, and fans who can't seem to get enough of you in person.

To get a doll made, you'll need to stop by the Clone Factory office in Tokyo's Akihabara district. The staff will take high-resolution photos of your head from multiple angles and feed the resulting detailed 3D model into a 3D printer.

It, in turn, will spit out a plaster head that's painted and styled to look like you, down to teeth, makeup, and hairstyle, and put atop a body wearing clothes that reflect your style.

Clone Factory is pitching the dolls as souvenirs of special occasions, such as weddings. They stand up to 20 inches tall.

Sadly, we couldn't convince CNET to send the Crave staff to Tokyo just to get dolled up, so we had to settle for Culture Japan writer Danny Choo's firsthand account of the experience. That's him below in flesh form and doll form--and other than the plastic packaging and Stormtrooper body, it's kind of hard to tell the difference. … Read more

Dear Krispy, I'm breaking up with you. Thanks to the new Automatic Mini Donut Factory, there is no longer any reason to venture out into the world.

The $179.99 doughnut maker from Nostalgia Electrics sits on your kitchen counter and magically transforms raw doughnut batter into little halos of sin. All the flipping and frying is handled automatically, with your treats popping out at the far end of the machine.

Safety windows let you observe the action without accidentally frying your fingers. It even has a component called the "donut slide."… Read more

Performing a security wipe, also called a factory reset, on the BlackBerry PlayBook is a fairly straightforward process. Resetting the device to a like-new state is ideal if you want to sell your PlayBook, or if you are running into issues and want a fresh operating system install. … Read more

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wisc.--To Harley-Davidson riders, the Powertrain Operations facility here just north of Milwaukee is hallowed ground. It's where the hearts of their favorite bikes start beating.

Engines for most of the Harley-Davidson line come alive here before they head to bike assembly plants in Pennsylvania and Missouri. To help promote Harley-Davidson's emerging Dark Custom line, CNET was invited to stroll through the plant as part of its Steel Toe Tour this past weekend to see how the company's V-Twin engines come together.

Harley-Davidson began offering the Powertrain Operations tour in 2010, escorting a small number of motorcycle lovers through the factory floor to see the various stages of V-Twin engine construction. The tour builds chronologically from the construction, refinement, and inspection of engine components, including cam heads and pistons, to the fly wheel assemblies and overall engine build. About 100 employees work in two shifts at Powertrain Operations alongside Swedish-made industrial robots that perform assembly and inspection. … Read more

There are many different reasons that a phone may need to have a factory reset performed. You may be experiencing too many issues with apps loading slowly, or malfunctioning when they finally do load. Or perhaps a friend or customer service person suggested the process to help with connection issues. Luckily, a factory reset doesn't actually involve sending your phone off to the factory, just these few steps that you can do at home:

Important note: Make sure you save any information that does not sync to the cloud on your phone before performing this process. Your photos … Read more

Until the past year, it's safe to say that many of us had never heard of the Taiwan-based company Foxconn, whose Chinese factories (they also have a few, smaller facilities in the U.S. and other countries) make a huge amount of our gadgets for companies like Apple, Dell, and Amazon. That was, until the company was besieged by a string of negative revelations, mostly focused on working conditions and employee suicides--something the company tried to address by having workers sign a pact not to kill themselves--and most recently, this month's deadly explosion at an iPad polishing … Read more