I've talked before about the great NPR documentary program This American Life and I'm a huge huge fan. Recently their one-hour program turned their eye to the story of FoxConn, the huge Chinese manufacturer who builds most of the technology products geeks use. Monologist Mike Daisey bluffs his way into meeting with workers and former workers of FoxConn and other Chinese technology manufacturers, gaining access that regular journalists have either been unable or unwilling to obtain. Since Daisey is an Apple fan, the story focuses a lot on the Apple devices FoxConn manufactures, but the reality is that many of the shiny devices we use are made by slave-like Chinese labor. If you care about how you impact the world, you owe it to yourself to listen to this story.
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David Brooks from Granite Geek reminds us that it is the tenth anniversary of the announcement of the Segway, the two-wheeled self-balancing scooter from New-Hampshire inventor extraordinaire Dean Kamen. It is unfortunate that when most people think of Kamen they think of the Segway, rather than his many medical inventions such as the iBOT mobility chair, the AutoSyringe, or advanced prosthetic limbs. Kamen is also the founder and major booster of the FIRST robotics competition, who refuses to grant interviews unless he is guaranteed the opportunity to talk about FIRST during the conversation.
Amazon waded into the tablet market today, announcing the $199 Kindle Fire. The Fire is a 7-inch tablet running a custom Android OS. Amazon has started taking pre-orders and will ship the device in mid-November.
The Fire appears positioned to appear as the high-end version of the existing Kindles, so it will not take on the iPad's 10-inch form factor directly. However, with its $199 price point, and with the massive content delivery power of Amazon, the Fire could take a lot of sales away from Apple this holiday season. Apple will probably counter that the Fire is an inferior device, but I see a big segment of the population who would jump on this device quickly. Depending on the success of the Fire, we may see a 10-inch version optimized for magazine delivery down the road.
Former IBM laptop-maker Lenovo has decided to enter the tablet market with the IdeaPad K1. Wired has a review.
The IdeaPad comes pre-loaded with a bunch of helpful Android apps, which may help it win over retail customers viewing it side-by-side with other Andoid tablets. The IdeaPad may also help Android tablets gain some market share as Lenovo is a major corporate PC supplier and companies that haven't gone the iPad route may decide to get their feet wet with the IdeaPad. Wired says there's nothing groundbreaking about the IdeaPad but it does what it does well, which has been a hallmark of the Lenovo/IBM approach to laptops in the past.
The Concord Monitor recently profiled Bill Hunt, a 17-year-old Gilmanton teenager who has founded his own robotics kit company called Photon Robotics. Hunt cut his robotics teeth early by raiding second-hand electronics and Radio Shack, as well as competing in the FIRST Robotics competition and taking college level math and engineering courses with New Hampshire Technical Institute. Hunt's parents encouraged his talents at an early age without pushing him into something he wasn't interested in, and his passion is paying off now with his first entrepeneurial venture. Hunt hopes that the kits Photon sells will encourage other kids to follow the same path as he has. I hope he is hugely successful and goes on to do even bigger things.
Evergreen Solar, the company given $50 million by the Commonwealth of Massachusets to build a factory in Devens, MA, filed for bankruptcy on Monday. The company's failure has given the politicians who backed it a black eye. The bankruptcy is blamed on the decreasing prices for the manufacture of the current generation of solar cells, a crowded manufacturing field, and failure by Evergreen to adjust to changing market conditions. It's a shame that the company's management failed to properly run the business - it would be nice to have a solar-manufacturing powerhouse in our back yard.
A national project funded by the Department of Energy will bring 150 electric vehicle charging stations to the greater Boston area. The charging stations will be installed within the 495 beltway, and members of the ChargePoint program will be able to use mobile apps to locate their nearest charging station. The company deploying the technology, Coulomb Technologies, is partnering with electric vehicle makers to ensure the success of the program.
British newspaper The Daily Mail recently revealed that workers at Chinese tech manufacturer Foxconn have been forced to sign pledges not to commit suicide. This comes after fourteen Foxconn workers have committed suicide in the past sixteen months, allegedly because of substandard working conditions. Foxconn's troubles have been extensively covered by Ars Technica and Wired.
The Daily Mail makes much of the fact that Foxconn is the manufacturer of Apple's products, but the environment in Chinese manufacturing is not unique to Foxconn and Apple, but rather the norm for China. Unfortunately, our drive for cheaper and cheaper gadgets has led to a pursuit of super-thin margins and aggressive manufacturing targets. It's questionable whether the climate in China will change, and whether people will be willing to accept higher prices for their technology in return for acceptable working conditions for the people who manufacture them.
Yesterday I posted a story about an MIT Media Lab project that used the Kinect to add some useful tools to a video conference.
Engadget provides another interesting story about a project that combines a room-mapping program with a with a Kinect-enabled quadrocopter developed at UC Berkley. The result is a device that can model a room (or any 3D object) autonomously.
One of the best features of the XBox Kinect has been its hackable platform. Kinect's tools have been used in a variety of applications that are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible when devices can be sensitive to changes in their environment.
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