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Consumer generated marketing content for Apple's ipod Touch by 1n 18 year old from the U.K. based on a Brazilian Song that has the words "Music is where I want you to touch me."

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Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai is moving quickly to address higher costs for workers at its manufacturing sites in coastal regions of China. After extensive media coverage of conditions at Foxconn factories, a number of suicides, and Chinese government policy that encouraged higher wages for workers in foriegn owned plants, Foxconn has moved to sharply increase wages at its plants. By the end of 2011 production in cities in the interior of China- Chengdu, Chongqing, and Wuhan, where costs are one third less- will be 25% of production, up from 10% in 2010. By 2012, this will be up to 50% of Foxconn's production, according to Yuanta Securities of Taipei. Hon Hai is lowering dividends to finance the shift. Fourth quarter 2010 earnings of Hon Hai were $742 million, down 26% over the prior year, even though revenues went up by 56% to $33.1 billon- reflecting the higher costs. Hon Hai's stock is down 20% in the past year on the Taipei stock exchange. Other locations being considered by Hon Hai are Brazil, Turkey and Slovakia. Brazil's President Dilma Roussef, said that Foxconn is considering a $12 billion plan for Brazil. Hon Hai is the only manufacturer of Apple iPads and one of two manufacturers of the iPhone....

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Design for aesthetics, for simplicity, elegance, and functionality, the Apple Way, with no buttons and no clutter. How users learn how its to be used like the ipod and become fluent in its use like how to start and stop or turn off the device.

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Hon Hai, a Chinese company which makes IPads and IPhones for Apple has grown by doing high quality work for lower prices than anyone else. In the process Hon Hai has generated a culture that is tough even by Chinese standards. About 250,000 workers are employed in its factories in Shenzen alone. A series of suicides at the plant has attracted attention to the tough conditions. One worker says conversation on the production line is banned, bathroom breaks are limited to 10 minutes for every 2 hours, and the discipline is strict. Hon Hai won Apple's order says one supply-chain search expert, by pricing low. Its CEO Gou was willing to sell some components at zero profit according to people familiar with his actions. Workers come from rural areas, are very young, the first time they are away from their families, and live in dormitories, eight to ten people to a room. Hon Hai's response is to increase wages 30%. But a report about a college graduate who was asked about conditions reflects the general feeling. This graduate makes twice as much in product development, at 2000 yuan a month, or $293 a month. But the monotonous life and the feeling of no future affects this worker and may be a sign of something changing in China's factories. The unwillingness to accept the conditions that existed in the past....

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Apple has 42% of the smartphone market in the U.S. A larger iphone with 5.5 inch screen could generate a meaningful upgrade cycle, say analysts, increasing Apple's market share by 11%. The larger device is especially important in emerging markets where the iphone serves as the main computing device. Samsung currently dominates the larger screen market with 34%, followed by Lenovo. The shift to larger screens is significant- market research firm Canalys estimates that 40% of global smartphone shipments were larger than 5 inches in the 2nd quarter of 2014, up from 21% the prior year quarter. This is the one area in which Samsung holds an advantage.

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Intel is expecting 8-10% growth in its forecast for unit PC shipments for 2011. For the second quarter 2011 revenue of the Intel PC unit increased by 11% from the prior year. Two factors are enabling this growth. PC shipments in emerging markets are growing fast, with increases of 70% in Turkey and Indonesia in the second quarter. Profit margin is at 60.6%. Third quarter revenue growth was given by CEO Otellini at $14 billion, and the total revenue for 2011 is expected to show growth at the mid-20% range.

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This review of the Microsoft Surface tablet says the hardware is good but the software is a weak point for the tablet.

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Melinda Gates says even though she spent years at Microsoft immersed in technology she was not prepared as a parent when she had her youngest child, who is part of what is called the iGeneration. This term is used for children born between 1995 and 2012. Many of the children born since 2000 find themselves in a new world of smartphones, iPhones, iPads and social media apps. Melinda Gates says she would have preferred to put computer devices in children's pockets at a later age, and worries about their effects on children. It exacerbates the problems of growing up and reduces some of the empathy that comes from face to face human contact. Parents have to find other ways of giving their children much needed empathy and understanding that is missing when children spend many hours in front of such tech devices. The professor who coined the word iGeneration says many of this group spend as much as 6 hours in front of these devices with different apps. Yet the development of these children lags behind that of children of previous generations. It is hard not to say out loud that one worries about this- that the tech devices after all the hype really aren't that great when it comes to giving children an advantage in life. That human interaction, the use of imagination, motivation from family and school, live human interaction, cannot be replaced by staring at a screen for hours at a time. After all the hoopla about tech making children smarter and better, it is a huge let down. One must depend more on the basics that have served children and parents well over generations- the human interaction that spurs the imagination and motivates leading to exploration, reading on one's own, and curiosity to learn. Tech is just a tool, not the real thing. ...

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The success of Apple's stores in Beijing, Shanghai. Apple plans to open stores throughout China. China's rising upper middle class and its passion for premium products. Fot the first three quarters of the fiscal year, Apple revenues in China were $8.8 billion. This is a six fold jump in revenues. China is now the second largest market after the U.S. for apps that run on the smartphone and the tablet, according to Distimo.

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Mossberg says look for 500 gigabytes of storage, 4 gigabytes of memory, an i3 to i5 or i7 Intel processor, in buying a PC or laptop. He suggests waiting till fall 2012 for the new Windows 8, and summer 2012 for the newer PC's designed to use Windows 8. This will be a big change from before, because Windows 8 is designed to use the touch feature of tablets. Ultrabooks are a bit pricier, making PC's and laptops the lower cost option. Laptop makers are trying to increase margins on the machines. Mac's also will get a newer operating system called Mountain Lion by the fall.

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Friedman describes the development of a tablet computer by a team led by Prof. Kalra and two professors of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, which costs less than $50 to produce. The new price point is needed to reach over 200 millon students in India who need such a device to escape poverty and poor teaching. The new tablet computer enables them to reach out to knowledge in language, sciences and math, and the humanities in the world outside them. This is an I-Pad like, internet enabled, wirlessly connected tablet. The average Indian family in rural areas saves $2.50 a month, and government support for its educational benefit could subsidize a portion of the cost. The tablet would bring distance learning, teach English, to students and help track commodity prices for farmers. The invented device uses the Android 2.2 operating system, a 7 inch touch screen, 3 hours battery life, and can download YouTube videos, PDFs and educational software. The governmment is expected to subsidize wireless connections to students. The name of the tablet is Aakash, Hindi for sky....

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The transformation of Fiat Auto. Marchionne relying on "my kids", getting good people throughout the Fiat global operations and outside of a younger generation, who were open to doing things in a new way. He had the courage to unassumingly go about the business of remaking Fiat, by removing middle and upper managers who produced a kind of paralysis or sclerosis in Fiat, making change impossible after years of a failed culture embedding itself. And in their place he brought in an energetic courageous bunch of younger managers and designers. It would be fair to say that he tore up the old plans, tore up the old organization charts, tore up the car plans and designs in the pipeline, tore up the failed models and put in place new ones- the Bravo for the Stilo, and tore up the old management, put in new people and tasks and wedded them in an informal way, with their own culture developing along the way. The were teams and their tasks, all wedded together in an informal arrangement, in close proximity, with informal communication. Marchionne saw his role as helping people reach decisions, setting stretch goals, and encouraging levels below him to take responsibility and make courageous decisions. He saw the Cinquicento as his version of the Apple iPod, and benchmarked Fiat against Apple, so he was looking outside the auto industry for people to emulate and for new ideas. He himself was from outside the auto industry. ...

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Jenkins sees risks to Apple's closed ecosystem and decline in margins of $300 on devices priced at $600.