Recent Comments:
Meizu's miniOne packs more acronyms than you can handle {Engadget}
May 18th 2007 10:53PM Ummm, couldn't you just as easily say that the iPhone copied HTC who has been making touchscreen phones for ages? Apple has some additional unique features, but so does the minione. Apple is innovative, yes, but they are also taking what someone else created and improved it. Isn't that also what Meizu is doing? Not like apple was the first to create a Personal Computer or an mp3 player or a laptop. I say all this and I own a MacBook and love it. Apple is inovative, yes.
So if Samsung, or Nokia, etc. came out with a touchscreen phone with a stylish interface and onboard memory, would they be copying the iPhone as well? At what point does it end? Did Microsoft ever complain that Apple was "copying" their OS back in the day? They both had menus and a desktop with backrounds, etc. I could go on and on. If it is illegal then don't fret my little Applefreaks, they will go at them full force with their lawyers that are employed from all the dollars you spent on their product. Apple didn't invent the computer, the touchscreen phone, the mp3 player, etc. They just made it different and in some cases better. So is Meizu want's to make a phone that's better than the iPhone, let them. If you think it is just cheap Chinese crap, why do you even worry about it? Do you really think that Apple will suffer and loose millions of dollars and go bankrupt because of this? I'm sure there are plenty of fanboys and girls to snatch up thousands of iPhones and allow apple to run the airconditioning in their building and pay the rent.
MTI Whirlpools' Stereo H2O throws tunes in the tub {Engadget}
Apr 1st 2007 9:26PM This has been around for a while(at least 4 years that I know of). Arctic Spas has had a system called the Aquatremor that use transducers attached to the fiberglass shell and basically make the sound come right out of the water. You can get some EXTREME lows with these. Ipod connector as well! http://www.arcticspas.com/index.php/en/show_content/3/53/
Guangzhou crime dog "trained" to swipe cellphones {Engadget}
Jan 21st 2007 9:08PM I have a friend that lives in Panyu, about 45 minutes from me. Story is true, local police have issued warnings. It's not uncommon for people in apartments and such to leave their doors wide open when they are home. Trust me, I just love the sights, sounds, and smells that come out of my neighbor's domiciles....Panyu/Guangzhou seems ridden with criminals, Panyu is home of cleaver yielding bandits that have chopped a few limbs off for watches and bags before. Guangzhou has now banned all motorcycles from the city mainly due to the thousands of motorcycle drive by purse snatchings and I have personally been and caught pockpicketers at least a dozen times. Some of this stuff never leaves China in the news you know.......this one was funny, so they must have let it leak....
Engadget HD giveaways: win a Philips 42PF9631D 42-inch plasma! {Engadget HD}
Sep 22nd 2006 10:40PM Bikini Destinations on HDNet....there's nothing quite like High Def......Destinations
Engadget's Cleaning Out Our Closet Contest {Engadget}
Aug 16th 2006 9:56PM 20. Philips Personal Sound System
I recently took a job in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. The only alarm clocks here are the annoying electro-buzzer types that sound like if you don't turn it off it will explode(as well as the owners manual only being in Chinese)-or- the ever famous old school alarm clocks with the two little bells on the top. Which ONLY come in varieties that a snoopy, mickey mouse, winnie the pooh, HELLO KITTY(quite popular) lover could proudly display on their night stand(and still try and get laid? Hah!). Oddly, I did find one clock/radio and then realized that waking up to the annoying types of programming they have in China, that I would be hard pressed to find one that actually wouldn't make me feel like I was waking up in a POW camp scared I would be getting the water tourture as soon as they found me concious. Of course I understand that the contest is not for the overseas type which is good, because I am still a US citizen with a legal address and will be headed back for a few months next week! This was on my s**t list of things to get for my trip back and ths baby looks compact and ready to jam out all those rockin classics that will remind me why I love western music and miss it soooo much while over here. Ooohhh! I suppose this thing has a sleep mode, which means Marvin Gay and NIN-Closer could help me get my groove on with the ladies! Sweet! And besides, whoever can't wake up after playing 256MB worth of music needs their head checked.
Skunk Works' Polecat printable robotic plane {Engadget}
Jul 23rd 2006 9:33PM I live and work in China for a plastics facility. We own a rapid prototyping machine using ABS strand that looks like weed whacker line material. The material is quite expensive. It has to be the coolest thing ever. My engineers can draw just about anything and print it. These abs parts when more than 2mm thick are extremely solid and durable too.(comment on the brittle parts is not true anymore.) The last couple of years there have been huge advances in this process and prototype machines(3D printers) can be had for as little as $25,000 bucks. Forget buying an new car and pick up one of these babys.... www.dimensionprinting.com This allows us to test parts in real life applications before investing in an injection mold that is commmonly between $4,000 and $7,000. You name it, I can probably prototype it.
Chinese workers reportedly toil in "iPod City" {Engadget}
Jun 14th 2006 1:44AM ...typo...."Well 700RMB($-88-USD)"
BTW, Cry Havoc,
I do agree that stress is a major issue, but here....they don't push the workers hard, they just hire ANOTHER ONE. Again, at the factory I work at, they eat breakfast at 7:30, start at 8am-12pm lunch/sleep/family time resume at 2pm-6pm have dinner, if over time is needed, it is on a volunteer basis and they are compensated. In my area in Guangdong, this is how most factories work it, unless they do two shifts.
I really do understand the concern some of you have, but stories like this are total BS. $80 a month here is like someone in the US making $25-$30K a year. REALLY.
Chinese workers reportedly toil in "iPod City" {Engadget}
Jun 14th 2006 1:05AM Cry Havoc,
I WORK IN CHINA! 12 hours a day 6 days a week and make the same as any other factory manager and live comfortably off it. And I never went to college.
Say someone in the US makes $30,000 a year.
Uncle Sam takes about $7,500 before you even see it.
$22,500 is what you are left with
-$2,400 insurance(maybe more)
-$4,200 rent
-$2,000 utilities
-$3,650 food($10 per day)
-$1,800 transportation
=$8,450 you got left
that's $704 bucks a month, right?
Well 700RMB($80USD) is pretty much the damn same.
Your $10 t-shirt costs less than 10RMB($1.20)
Your bottle of soda$1.50- here 2RMB(about $.25)
A toy car for your kid $10.00- here, yep about 10 RMB
I could go on forever.
The difference is westerners have become such massive comsumers of other things like Social Acceptance, Going to a movie, buying lots of useless crap really. Here they are happy to be alive and can put a roof over their familys head. They don't waste all their money on silly gadgets(sorry engadget!), fast cars, new clothes, etc. We could all learn a little from the way of life in China.
Oh, And I don't want to hear that my numbers a a little off, I was just approximating, give me a break, they're close enough!
Chinese workers reportedly toil in "iPod City" {Engadget}
Jun 13th 2006 10:09PM I actually LIVE in China and watch over 6 factories daily. When I first came to China I thought....what a shitty life! they make next to nothing! BUT... When talking to even our lowest paid employee, about the the same $50 US, he is happy that he doesn't live ina village where you make absolutley nothing and live in a bamboo hut with no heating or airconditioning or doctors for 100s of miles. He feels so lucky as do all our employees to have a job that he would do even if he didn't get paid the $50. You must realize that the $50 is pure spending money to buy gifts, buy big beers for $0.20 USD. So do the math. I hate reportings like this that produce this type of trash. But it makes a good news story to spin something like this against a company making a product that is all the craze!
All in all, I must say that I have never seen factory workers mistreated, out of the 12-16 hours a day they work 6 days a week, they also recieve TWO-2 hour breaks, all their meals covered in a cafeteria(which I, yes I, eat at daily and it is delicious), most get paid hourly, heath care is covered, workers are happy to have such a secure job and not be living in the middle of nowhere starving and living off the land.
