Apple : Week in Tech: Is Amazon's Kindle Fire 2 on the way?

Week in Tech: Is Amazon's Kindle Fire 2 on the way?

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Is Amazon's Kindle Fire 2 on the way?

While the outside world panic-buys pasties, we've got greater things on our minds: new stuff! For tech fans the last week's been like Christmas: we've been inundated with exciting new things.

The most obviously exciting shiny new thing is the Techradar website itself, which has been completely redesigned - and we mean redesigned in a "Windows 8 Metro" way, not a "New Apple TV user interface" way.

As Editor Paul Douglas explains, "There was a lot of content on the old site, but finding it wasn't always that simple." Now, it is. The Techradar site is faster, cleaner and can get even the most stubborn stains out of your clothes at just thirty degrees.

In Depth
Amazon Kindle Fire 2 release date, news and rumours

We're not the only shiny thing that's got people excited this week. The new Sony Alpha e57 camera is looking pretty tasty, as is the new Nikon D800.

As Amy Davies says, the D800 is "probably one of the most highly anticipated DSLRs, and most widely rumoured cameras, of the past few months". Now it's finally official we've got one squirrelled away in our labs, and Davies has been uploading stacks of images as well as a video run-down for your excitement and delightment.

New Apple TV reviewed

There's also a new and shiny Apple thing: the new Apple TV, which our Apple expert Graham Barlow looked at until his eyes went boggly.

That, er, distinctive interface aside, it looks like the new Apple TV is a pretty solid bit of kit, but he was honest about its shortcomings: if you've got other Apple kit it's a handy thing to have - "at this price you should really consider getting one because it integrates wonderfully with your current setup", but "for everyone else, even with the addition of 1080p HD, there's no compelling reason to buy an Apple TV over other media streamers right now."

New Apple TV

Meanwhile Apple's arch-enemy Amazon is up to something: instead of a Kindle Fire 2, it seems the retail giant intends to launch a Kindle Fire 2, a Kindle Fire 2 and -- wait for it -- a Kindle Fire 2. That's what the latest reports suggest, anyway: the firm is apparently working on three Kindle tablets for three different price points.

The cheapie gets an 800 x 600 seven inch display, the mid-range one a 1,280 x 800 seven-incher and the top-end one an 8.9inch, full HD 1,920 x 1,200 screen. No other details have leaked just yet, but they will sooner or later.

Can a digital locker really work?

Remember UltraViolet, the digital locker service that would take the movie business by storm by giving everybody a digital licence for the content they buy on disc? While it hasn't exactly set the world on fire, 20th Century Fox says it's going to be a big deal - which is why it hasn't provided any content to the service.

Eh? "We have been working on UltraViolet since the beginning, and we view it as a very serious work in progress," the studio's Danny Kaye said. "We want to make sure that [it] is as good as it can be."

There's something of a chicken and egg scenario here, we reckon: Fox won't provide the content until the service is better and more widely supported, but the more content it has the better and more widely supported it will become.

As Marc Chacksfield reports, the Fox executive vice president just wants to see a few tweaks: "the improvements that need to be made are everything from how UltraViolet works [to] the support it has been given." In other words, it's absolutely brilliant and every aspect of it needs to be changed. That's promising, isn't it?

While Fox isn't currently providing content, Sony is: its first UK UltraViolet discs will ship in June. Meanwhile Dixons says UltraViolet is here to stay. Senior category manager Gary Hearns told us that the entire retail industry is behind the service. "This thing is not going to disappear in 12-18 months. This is permanent," he said.

Should we believe him? Dixons, you may recall, told us that HD-DVD's future hadn't been decided when everybody and their dog were dumping it back in 2008. To be honest, we didn't recall it either: we used Techradar.com's new, improved search system. We told you the new site was good.

Foxconn working conditions audit reveals 'serious concerns'

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Employees at Apple's Foxconn plant are working overly long hours, unpaid overtime and are falling victim to poor health and safety practices, an independent report has found.

The probe by the US Fair Labor Association, undertaken at Apple's request, had been investigating working conditions at the controversial factory in China, where the iPhone and iPad are assembled.

The FLA report has revealed "serious and pressing concerns" and says employees often go more than 11 days without time off and work up to 70 hour weeks, which is illegal in China.

The FLA has agreed with Foxconn that hours will be reduced to fall in line with China's legal limit of 49 hours, while employees will now be paid overtime in 15 minute increments instead of 30.

Apple fully accepts recommendations

Apple, who's CEO Tim Cook has been visiting the plant this week, says it "fully accepts" all recommendations made by the report.

"We share the FLA's goal of improving lives and raising the bar for manufacturing companies everywhere," Apple said in a statement.

Apple's relationship with Foxconn has come under increased scrutiny in 2012 following an outcry akin to the sweat-shop scandals of the 1990s.

Suicides have been prevalent at the company in the past and an explosion at the plant killed three workers last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook added: "Our team has been working for years to educate workers, improve conditions, and make Apple's supply chain a model for the industry, which is why we asked the FLA to conduct these audits."

You can read the full FLA report here.

Yahuui Blog

Friday, March 30, 2012