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ABC News introduces VR initiative with 360-degree tour of Syria
ABC News is experimenting with immersive journalism. On last night's episode of their news program, Nightline, viewers had the option to watch an accompanying 360-degree video piece on their mobile phones or computers. The in-depth story, by reporter Alexander Marquardt, took viewers on a virtual journey through Damascus, Syria, where curators are struggling to protect the country's antiquities from destruction. The network collaborated with Jaunt VR, a California-based studio that creates live-action virtual reality experiences, to produce the video that was shot on a special 16-camera device.
Nightline investigates GamerGate, online harassment
ABC's Nightline aired interviews with Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, Tim Schafer and a handful of video game critics and players on Wednesday, in a segment titled, "What It Feels Like To Be A Gamergate Target." It presented an overview of the issues involved in GamerGate, including the portrayal of women as sex objects in games, harassment toward women who play games, the growing market of women within gaming, and the argument that all games (or players) can't be represented by a few extreme examples alone. Nightline highlighted "signs of change in the industry" with a visit to Double Fine co-founder Tim Schafer and a look at Broken Age. "Once you've sat down and tried to play a game with your daughter and tried to find games where she can play a character that she identifies with, you start to feel bad about not putting that option in your own game," Schafer said. Watch the complete segment below.
ABC's Nightline looks at AAPL
After a botched Maps launch and limited supplies of its flagship iPhone 5, Apple's stock has sunk to a five-month low, and the company has lost almost US$130B in market value since September. A piece on ABC's Nightline profiles this drop in Apple's stock and offers its take on why AAPL is not as hot as it used to be. It's a short clip that brings up Samsung, Microsoft and a lack of innovation from the folks in Cupertino. You can check out the video below and sound off in the comments about ABC's report and the state of Apple's stock. [Via MacRumors]
Nightline uses Find My iPad to sting sticky-fingered TSA officer
Oops! It seems the folks at ABC News set up a little sting with TSA agents and wayward iPads. Spoiler alert: it doesn't end well for the agent (warning: auto-play video at that link). The iPad, however, survived both the abduction and the "generous" pat-down. The news show Nightline intentionally abandoned an iPad at an Orlando, Fla., checkpoint (among others). They then used Apple's Find My iPad app to track its movements once it had been recovered. Unfortunately, it traveled to a TSA agent's home, where it remained for two weeks until a camera crew and reporter arrived to retrieve it from a much chagrined employee. This was just one story from an investigation that had Nightline leave 10 iPads at security checkpoints in major airports across the US. The full story will air on Nightline this evening.
Apple responds to ABC News' Foxconn report
Earlier this week, ABC News aired a Nightline report that explored the Shenzhen Foxconn factory where Apple products are assembled. Now, Apple, Foxconn, and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) have all issued statements in response to the report. At one point, Nightline reporter Bill Weir asked Foxconn line worker Zhou Xiao Ying about her job at the plant. She reported (via translation) that she carves the aluminum shavings from 6000 iPad logos per day, which Apple corrected. "In manufacturing parlance this is called deburring," Apple said. "Her line processes 3,000 units per shift, with two shifts per day for a total of 6,000. A single operator at Ms. Zhou's station would deburr 3,000 iPads in a shift." Foxconn and the FLA also offered corrections to the report. The former addressed the question of pay, noting that, "We have over 75 percent of the employees in the category of earning at least 2,200 RMB ($349/month) basic compensation standard. That means they are earning 13.75 RMB ($2.18) per hour. If they work overtime on the weekend, they will earn 27 RMB ($4.28) per hour. In order to reach 3500 to be taxable, they will have to work 47 OT hours to reach 3,500." The FLA noted that discussions with Apple actually started back in 2007, not when it recently joined.
Daily Update for February 20, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
ABC's Nightline goes inside Foxconn's Apple factory (video)
Nightline's Bill Weir managed to get his feet inside manufacturing behemoth Foxconn: the infamous plant where iPads, Xboxes and Kindles are constructed. Following multiple explosions and employee suicides, the factory is being inspected by the Fair Labor Association to examine working conditions exposed by the efforts of journalists like Liu Zhiyi. In the show, we learn that on a quiet day, 3,000 prospective employees will linger outside the factory in the hope of earning just $1.78 an hour. Weir himself manages to coax the concession from company advisor Louis Woo that the multiple tragedies were a belated catalyst for change in the company's working conditions. The full special will air on ABC tomorrow but we've got a sneak peek for you after the break.
ABC News to air firsthand report on Foxconn factories next week
Next Tuesday, February 21, the ABC News program Nightline will air an in-person report covering the conditions at Foxconn factories that manufacture Apple products. Per PCWorld's story, Apple arranged "exclusive access" for Nightline anchor Bill Weir to tour the factories, meet with workers and interview a "top executive." Apple's new glasnost around its contract manufacturers has extended to the Fair Labor Association, which began its audits of Foxconn and other vendors this past week. While initial reports from the FLA audits cited above-average conditions at Foxconn and improvements in aluminum polishing operations, yesterday Bloomberg reported that the organization's CEO now believes there are "tons of issues" at Foxconn facilities.
ABC's World News Tonight and Nightline enter high definition tonight
ABC's push for HD evening news comes to a head tonight, when World News with Charles Gibson and Nightline both hit your screen in 720p from the Democratic National Convention. Besides covering both conventions in HD -- and there'll be plenty of that in the '08 campaign -- when they return to the studio in September the HD love continues. 20/20, Primetime and World News on the weekend will all be HDTV-ready shortly after. B & C reveals ABC News is deploying the same Sony XDCAMs -- full HD newsgathering is on hold 'til 2009 -- used to bring home high definition Survivor this fall, add in a tropical location and it would likely be hard to tell which one we're watching.
ABC moves top technical exec to NYC for HDTV news production
Look for a new focus on HD in ABC's national news coverage, as its moving top technical executive Jeff Corwin from D.C. to New York City and work on HDTV production there. Nightline and other programs should be in sweet 720p before long, not to mention plenty of upcoming campaign coverage. That said, it's not that we have anything against New York City (Git a rope), but why not upgrade the studios in D.C.? Even ESPN is opening a West Coast branch.[Image courtesy of richardmasoner]
Pentagon: Fear good, facts bad in machinima mix up [update 1]
In their usual sensationalist form, the Pentagon decided to take a machinima fan film of Battlefield 2 and spin it off as a real danger to our national security during a presentation on May 4 in front of the U.S. House intelligence committee. Coming prepared with video clip and fear mongering in tow, these Internet and terrorism "experts" explained how the video was an advertisement for evil doers around the globe simply because it appeared on some insurgent-related Web sites. More specifically, Eric Michael, an Internet specialist with Science Applications International, said the game mentally conditions users to kill coalition forces. Keep in mind, Michael and his SAI buddies are part of a $7 million project to "monitor insurgent Web sites."The real story first broke with a post over at GamePolitics soon after the presentation and recently the original creator of the video -- who goes by the name of Samir -- spoke to ABC's Nightline about how the video was originally intended to be a spoof of Team America: World Police. Oooops. These are your tax dollars at work folks. Why is the government so ready to blame video games for all the world's ills nowadays? I can't wait for the topic of video games and their relationship, or lack thereof, to violence to finally sour as flavor of the day.[Thanks, Rad][Update 1: You can watch the Nightline video here. Also check out Water Cooler Games for Georgia Tech professor -- and Nightline talking-head -- Ian Bogost's thoughts. Thanks, SickNic and Jarbwock]
