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That army of robotic assembly line workers we mentioned yesterday apparently can't get started soon enough. As many as 3,000-4,000 workers are on strike at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory, upset at stricter quality control requirements with the iPhone 5 and having to work through a national holiday this week. 'According to workers, multiple iPhone 5 production lines from various factory buildings were in a state of paralysis for the entire day,' China Labor Watch said. Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo are both blocking searches in Chinese for 'Foxconn strikes.
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/12/1...e-5-production
...

For this month’s release of Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Linux distribution, [Limor], et al. decided to build a web-based IDE for the Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi WebIDE is a web server that runs on the Raspi. By connecting to your raspi in a web browser, you’re able to create your own Python programs that are able to interact with the GPIO pins. All the code is stored in the cloud with the help ofbitbucket.
The WebIDE is in its early Alpha stage right now; there are a few bugs and minor issues, but in the video after the break, [Limor] shows us it’s possible to push code to a Raspi through the Internet and view the result in a web-based serial terminal.
For fear of editorializing, we have to point out that Adafruit’s web IDE – along with other Arduino web IDEs such as Codebender and the Wifino - work on the cloud. If you’re planning a long-term project that relies on a web-based IDE, you might be in for a world of hurt if only because you can’t host a cloud on a personal server. We’d love to see a package that allows us to have the same functionality as bitbucket on a personal server. If you can find a project that does something similar, or have written your own, send it in and we’ll spread the word.

http://hackaday.com/2012/10/06/web-ide-for-the-raspi/ ...

Every company in the console business - publisher, developer, platform holder - is on a steep learning curve right now, but none more so than Sony. Since the departure of PlayStation founding father Ken Kutaragi, whose shadow had loomed large over the organisation for many years, Sony's performance has been far from impeccable - indeed, financially, it's often verged on the disastrous - but nobody can deny that the company is learning and adapting.
"PS3 hasn't done badly; it hasn't crashed and burned, as some feared at the outset; but by god, it's had to endure a rough few years"

Of course, Kutaragi left the company in a position that required a hell of a lot of learning. PlayStation 3's launch was the culmination of a development cycle that was suffused with extraordinary hubris. The console was birthed from an almost wilful ignorance of the realities of the games market, with Kutaragi and those around him choosing to believe that Sony's market-dominating form with the PlayStation 2 ensured that no matter what they did with the PS3 - its extravagant price point, its alien architecture - the company would continue to rule supreme.
Well, it didn't. In the end, the new management who took over after Kutaragi's departure have managed to turn the generation around to a degree - which is no mean feat, especially given the awful business conditions for Japanese export companies - but even at that, Sony has had a miserable generation in the home console market. It's watched Nintendo run away with the kind of sales the PS2 enjoyed once upon a time, while it carves up the rest of the market with Microsoft - an also-ran last time around, yet now easily a match for Sony. PS3 hasn't done badly; it hasn't crashed and burned, as some feared at the outset; but by god, it's had to endure a rough few years in order to ensure a "joint-second" market position, and that's no fun for the former all-conquering champion.
In that time, though, the company really has been learning. It's learned that off-the-shelf components and technologies may limit your engineers' imaginations, but they keep your price tags low and your developers happy, since they don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you launch a console. It's learned that if it's going to outpace Microsoft, online services will be a big part of things - and it's notable that while Sony's core online gaming experience may not rival Microsoft just yet (not shipping with a headset still feels like a crucial mis-step to me in this regard), it's streets ahead of its competitor in terms of its digital content offerings. PlayStation Plus has matured into an excellent and high-value service, in content terms, while the company's investments into developers like thatgamecompany have also paid rich dividends.
The problem is, there's still more to learn. There's more to learn every day, because the industry is changing faster than ever - and even if Sony today is clearly a chastened and vastly wiser company than the Sony of six years ago, I'm not sure if the company is learning fast enough.
PlayStation Vita, of course, is the canary in the coalmine. It's the first Sony console to be created and launched in the post-Kutaragi era, by the team that had supposedly learned from his mistakes. It does a lot of things right. It's packed with technologies that are pretty developer-friendly, it's got a host of flexible, interesting control systems, and it's even relatively cheap for a new piece of hardware. It supports the idea of launching cheaper software that has been forced on the industry by the uptick in mobile games. It takes all the great hardware design that runs deep in Sony's DNA and combines it with a degree of understanding of the market that was painfully lacking from the PS3's launch.
"Third parties are agnostic, and in some ways, they recognise that Apple and Google are better platform holders for them"

It's also doing genuinely miserably in the market. I wish that wasn't true, because the console is a joy to hold and plays host to a handful of genuinely great games, but it's unavoidable - the sales figures are extremely weak, even in Japan, which was the bright point on the global map of PSP sales.
This week, Shuhei Yoshida told Gamasutra that he was disappointed and surprised at the poor support for the system from third parties. "In retrospect," he said, "there are so many options for publishers now that we cannot take it for granted that our new platform would be supported by third parties, like [it would have been] many years ago."
Learning. Learning fast, even, and let's not underestimate what a difficult recognition this is for a company like Sony - which formerly had every major third-party publisher and studio hanging from its every word. It must be even tougher for a man in Yoshida's position; as Worldwide Studios president, he would have regular contact with many of the third parties who now seem to have hung the Vita out to dry. All the same, he understands. He knows that the question for publishers is no longer "how ...

Full download titles, online sales, DLC – such things are rarely discussed in the same sentence as Nintendo platforms.
But there were signs of change in last night's European Nintendo Direct broadcast, in which NoE president Satoru Shibata revealed plans for all three on 3DS.
Following its experiment with New Super Mario Bros 2, Nintendo has made a number of first-party games available to download directly from the eShop.
3DS owners can now purchase digital copies of Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Mario Kart 7 and Star Fox 64 3D.
However, each one has a price point of £39.99 – something that ruffled feathers when New Super Mario Bros 2 launched in August.
Shibata also reminded fans that DLC for NSMB2's Coin Rush mode is also on the way, as well as new tutorials for New Art Academy, which launched alongside the 3DS XL this summer.
And amongst talk of new digital titles – such as Fallblox, a sequel to the acclaimed Pullblox – Shibata announced that for the next six weeks, Nintendo would be offering selected eShop titles for a reduced price.
This week's discounted game is the original Pullblox, down from £5.40 to £4.49.
Clearly pricing is still something Nintendo may face out complaints over, but it's encouraging to see the platform holder taking its digital strategy more seriously – particularly ahead of the upcoming Wii U console.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ninte...on-3ds/0104045 ...

Excitement for Wii U is building, but Nintendo is spending significant marketing money to ensure 3DS grows this season, too.
Speaking to MCV in her first interview since taking the role of marketing and PR director at Nintendo UK, Shelly Pearce said the firm expects the handheld to do good business for retailers.
“We are spending significantly this Christmas – it is in peak season where 3DS will come into its own.
“There is lots of excitement about our new console hardware, of course, but from a retail point of view a lot of dollars are going into tills this year thanks to our handhelds.”
Pearce, a 14-year veteran of Nintendo who previously ran European comms, said that the growing range of games – including new Mario, Pokémon, and Layton titles – will be championed in wide-reaching marketing campaigns to attract kids, parents and female gamers.
Those key Nintendo franchises will be promoted heavily with mainstream TV, social media, print and sampling as part of the 3DS masterplan.
“We want 3DS to be up there as the No.1 Xmas gift for kids, and have campaigns ready to engage children, reassure parents, reach female gamers, and tempt older players back into games,” explained Pearce.
“We’re targeting DS owners and non-upgraders who have held out for a new Layton – which has a massive audience amongst over 45-year-olds – to convince them to try 3DS.”
And when it comes to the much-debated issue of fresh competition for dedicated games handhelds from smartphones and tablets, Pearce was confident.
“They are very different devices – we make dedicated video games consoles, those other devices out there aren’t games devices.
“And we believe in our products, that’s the key thing. We have absolute confidence in how we deliver. We know people enjoy the hardware we make and the games for it – that’s what Nintendo is all about. Other devices aren’t necessarily good for games.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ninte...or-3ds/0104053 ...

The Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon’s newest e-ink reader featuring a touch interface with a higher contrast display, is now officially jailbroken.
[geekmaster], the geek master behind this hack, based his jailbreak off [Yifan]‘s previous hack to jailbreak the Kindle Touch. Installation is a snap, and only requires you to upload the data.stgz file to the root directory of the Paperwhite and restart the device. On the next boot, the Paperwhite will be jailbroken, allowing you to do tons of cool stuff with a tiny Linux device connected to an e-ink screen.
We’ve already seen a few really cool uses for jailbroken Kindles including a weather station display and a serial terminal for your Raspberry Pi. Cracking the newer and better Kindle Paperwhite means those e-ink projects you’ve been thinking about building just became much more attractive.
One word of warning from [geekmaster], though: USB downloader mode isn’t yet enabled. If you brick your device, you’ll need to connect your Kindle to a serial port. This shouldn’t be a problem for Hackaday readers, but it is something to watch out for.

http://hackaday.com/2012/10/05/jailb...le-paperwhite/ ...

The Surface tablet will also be… er…. surfacing.
Microsoft has officially sent out invitations for the launches of Windows 8 on Friday, October 25, and Windows Phone 8 on Monday, October 29.
The Windows 8 event will be held in New York, while the WP8 one is scheduled for San Francisco.
Here at Mobile Entertainment, we've been waiting for Microsoft to seriously join the war for the planet's tablets and smartphones, and now we have a date for when battle will commence.
A Microsoft spokesman says that the Surface tablets will be launched on midnight, October 26th from Microsoft's web site and at Microsoft stores.
Pricing isn't yet known, so we will presumably find out how much the Surface will cost on October 25th. In the summer a rumour appeared suggesting that the Windows RT version of the Surface will cost just $199, while Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has previously stated that the sweet spot for tablet pricing is $300-$800.
A variety of Windows Phone 8 devices are expected to be announced at launch (though none are manufactured by Microsoft itself), and there will be two versions of the Surface tablet: the Microsoft Surface (RT) is powered by a ARM related NVIDIA Tegra 3+, taking aim at the iPad and higher-end Android slates, while the Microsoft Surface (8 Pro) model is designed to be a mobile version of a Windows 8 PC.
Earlier this week, we got to play with a Windows 8 tablet and were pleasantly surprised.
Are you interested in Windows Phone 8 and the rumours that Microsoft is producing its own WinPho device? Has the Surface and it's low-key marketing grabbed you? Let us know in the box below.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...phone-8/019547 ...

Late yesterday the Fandroids started wetting themselves over a screenshot that apparently showed an entry in the inventory of UK retailer Carphone Warehouse.
That entry? A 32GB Nexus 7.
Today, the same product has appeared on the sites of a couple of other online retailers, each time labelled as "unavailable" or "out of stock".
Details on the devices are sparse (1.2 GHz Tegra 3 processor, Android 4.1, Bluetooth), although one of the retailers has it priced at $260, just $10 more than the 16GB's RRP.
The timing is right for an updated Nexus 7; it's made an impact, sold a bucketload, and we're just entering the Christmas gift-buying season.
It would also take a little bit of the attention off the iPad Mini when it is announced later this month.
This also ties in with the other rumours that have been circulating that Google is planning on bringing out a 3G Nexus 7 before Christmas.
If you're thinking of buying a Nexus 7, you might want to hang on for a couple of weeks.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...-likely/019550 ...

On this day in 2011, Steve Jobs died.
Although everyone was aware it was only a matter of time until he succumbed to the pancreatic cancer that had plagued him since 2003, it was still a shock, and the outpouring of grief on websites, social media and even traditional media was stunning in its volume.
Today, thousands upon thousands of tribute articles are piling up on the internet, like binbags on Boxing Day, each one saying the same as the last: "RIP Steve, the world isn't the same without you".
And it's this that led me to think; just how much has Apple changed since Jobs left?
The Apple founder and CEO died on October 5th 2011, but he stepped down as CEO in August 2011 and since then, Apple seems to have lost its way.
Now, whether you agree with Jobs' business practices, behaviour towards others and his status as an innovator, there's one thing that cannot be denied: for more than five years his company dominated the mobile industry, not to mention the way it shook up the music and home computing markets too.
Can the same still be said of Apple today?
The company is certainly as lucrative. New CEO Tim Cook has worked hard to make sure new products continue to roll out and the PR and marketing machine is as relentless as ever.
But is there still that sense of magic?
Think of Apple now, and what's the first thing that comes into your mind? The Apple maps debacle, theunderwhelming iPhone 5, the endless litigation?
It's impossible to say these problems wouldn't exist if Jobs were still here, but it's hard to imagine that the issues would be piling up in the way they are.
Perhaps it's the lack of Jobs' uncanny ability to wave problems away ("You're holding it wrong"), or maybe there is just more focus on Apple now that there are a number of serious rivals, but that aura of invincibility, that specialness, is missing.
Later this month we're going to get the iPad Mini - a device that would not have made it past Jobs. He said that a seven-inch tablet would be "dead on arrival" and that they are "too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad".
Of course, a company cannot stand still and only ever act in the manner an ex-owner would. That way madness lies. But Tim Cook's eagerness to rush out a smaller iPad and the speed with which rumours of the device leaked, feel all wrong.
Many of these issues smack of "me too". Other companies are doing it, why aren't we? Nokia has its own maps service, why don't we? Google Voice seems cool, let's do Siri. Amazon has a seven-inch tab, we should have a seven-inch tab.
In 2012, Apple doesn't have to release anything groundbreaking to be successful, no matter what, the money will pour in, but that seems at odds with Jobs' way of thinking. Even if the product or feature wasn't innovative, at least he tried to make it appear as if it was.
And now I find myself looking at more of the Steve Jobs tributes, crushing my Twitter feed and clogging up Reddit. Even Apple's getting in on the act and carrying a tribute video on the homepage - I've embedded it below.
It's a classy piece of work, but I can't help but think it's the sort of sentimentalism that Jobs himself would have classed as a waste of time. Get back to work. Why are we focusing on the past when we should be looking at the future?

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...bs-died/019551 ...