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World’s top tech firm brought to book by minor monologuist over working conditions in factories that make its gadgets

These days Mike Daisey is run off his feet. “I don’t even have time to listen to my voicemail now. That’s a phenomenon I have not experienced before,” he told the Observer with an amazed laugh. Perhaps he shouldn’t be so surprised. In the past fortnight, Daisey has gone from being a gifted but obscure solo act in the US theatre to the public face of a backlash against one of the iconic corporations of the 21st century.

Daisey’s latest work, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, has triggered off a spasm of soul-searching about the sometimes appalling labour conditions in China under which many of America’s most cherished products are made. Specifically, the shiny, sleek iPhones, iPods and iPads produced by Apple.

The Agony and the Ecstasy was devised after exhaustive research talking to exploited and abused workers in China, for almost 18 months. Daisey played to small but appreciative crowds across the US, winning critical praise but stirring little trouble, not even with the target of his ire: Apple itself.

But everything changed in January when a discussion and partial performance of Daisey’s monologue appeared on the National Public Radio show This American Life. It rapidly became the most downloaded episode of the show’s history and an online petition calling for Apple to reform its practices began. Within 48 hours it attracted 140,000 names. Then the New York Times ran an exhaustive investigation of Apple’s supplier network in China that revealed industrial accidents, brutal working conditions and child labour. Daisey had briefed the newspaper’s reporters and they had watched his show last year. Suddenly, Apple’s Chinese supplier network was huge news.

That has turned him into an unlikely nemesis, sending tremors of fear through one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. It is an amazing shift. After all, for 15 years the New York-based Daisey has crafted his art as a gifted monologuist, winning praise but little mass appeal on a variety of topics from his first job at Amazon to his views on Oprah Winfrey, or recounting a trip to the South Pacific.

But now, arriving apologetically late and harried in a trendy Brooklyn restaurant near his home in New York, Daisey is a man in intense demand. He has appearances lined up on CNN and other TV shows. On his blog he has been updating the story regularly and fending off criticism from Apple’s defenders, including comedian Stephen Fry and Forbes columnist Tim Worstall.

Daisey is delighted but exhausted, having been up until 5am composing a response to a public attack from Worstall. “I am tired but I am encouraged to see traction. The only way you can fight for a thing like this is when you know the truth is on your side,” he told the Observer.

Daisey’s sudden catapult on to the world stage as the public face of criticism against Apple is an astonishing development, especially for such a rarely practised art as the theatrical monologue. It has also likely made his Steve Jobs piece one of the most remarkable performances of recent years, not least because of its leap from the stage to real world activism. “It’s the first time maybe in a generation that the American theatre has affected change.”

The play’s premise is simple enough. It blends Daisey’s own backstory as a nerdy geek who loved – and continues to love – Apple products, with the story of how Jobs ran the company with a mix of tyranny and genius before he died last year. But then it heads into dark territory as Daisey recounts how he became obsessed with photographs that emerged from inside the giant Foxconn factory in which many Apple products are made.

His fascination with how his beloved gadgets were built ends up with a subversive trip to southern China and interviews with ordinary workers who describe the physically and mentally crippling conditions in which many toil. On the trip Daisey was stunned that he, as a playwright, was the one digging up the truth. “I wanted journalists to tell the story. I am a monologuist and it’s not the same thing. But I had to act as a journalist,” he said.

Daisey is scathing about many of the journalists who cover Apple. He claimed they were often cowed by the firm, given strictly controlled access to the latest product launches but subject to intimidation over writing about anything that might hurt Apple’s public image. He recites the story of one tech journalist who agreed to appear on a panel with him, only to be contacted by Apple and warned off doing so. “Apple has built an incredible institution of secrecy and people understand that when Apple threaten them they mean it. Everyone knows that,” Daisey said.

As a performer, though, Daisey is immune. Yet he confesses he still has a complex emotional relationship with the company. He still uses an iPhone and does not tell people to boycott the company, just spread the word about Chinese labour practices in the hope that they change. When people email him to ask what phone they should buy – and they do in large numbers – he tells them to make an “ethical” choice they are comfortable with. He himself no longer upgrades his devices and is considering buying secondhand in the future.

Apple for its part says many of the stories emerging from China are not true and that it already is acting to monitor its suppliers’ behaviour and bring in greater transparency. Other defenders of the firm point out that many other electrical goods firms are equally as culpable as Apple, if not more so.

For Daisey, perhaps because he loved Apple’s caring and cool public image so much, that is not good enough. “It is like watching a friend lose his way. It is hard to imagine the Apple of a generation ago making this ham-fisted error.” He believes the firm could have acted years earlier to improve its supplier network in China and would have reaped a PR bonanza, rather than the current global whirlwind of bad publicity.

“Now all they have to do is clean up the mess, but if they had got ahead of it they could have looked fantastic,” he said.

Daisey himself is not stopping his charge. His monologue is still on stage and will remain so for at least the rest of the year. He may take it to bigger venues for one-off shows, aiming at 2,000-3,000-seat venues so the ticket prices can be driven down. He is also seeking to turn the monologue into a film. As a final way of spreading the word, he is soon to release a transcript of it and allow anyone in the world to adapt his show or put it on in as their own live performance. “People can tell this story to other people. This is exactly how the environmental movement really took hold. People realised these values mattered and they began to tell the story from person to person and that’s what caused change,” he said.

Though Daisey has other ideas for future monologues he knows the success of the Jobs show and the issue of Chinese labour practices that it illustrates is going to dominate his life for the foreseeable future. As he got up to leave the restaurant he left behind a half-eaten sandwich. He was headed to a car that would whisk him to a TV studio for another interview. “It’s like that feeling you get when you climb a mountain and you get to the top and it turns out you are in the Alps, and there’s a whole series of mountains ahead of you. Then you sharpen your stick and keep walking,” he said.

We will be taking a good look at a product dubbed as the “fastest, most versatile I/O ever” in this Apple Thunderbolt Display review. Via a compact port, the Apple Thunderbolt device can be used to turn the Mac mini, MacBook air, iMac, and MacBook Pro into a desktop workstation with one cable for convenience.

Users can enjoy incredibly fast transfer of data between the computer and high performance devices by using the Apple Thunderbolt devices. There are two Gbps throughput channels. Comparatively, it is significantly faster than a USB 2.0. In fact, it is up to 20 times faster. As a result, this also means that the FireWire 800 is no match for the Thunderbolt in terms of speed, being approximately 12 times faster.

Users will be able to connect up to six different devices to the Thunderbolt, through one port. The Apple Thunderbolt Display provides users with an amount of power and flexibility that until now, has been unheard of and simply not available to the public.

The company involved with the creation of the Apple Thunderbolt Display was Intel. The In an attempt to create an input/output technology that exceeds anything available in the market, Intel was going to do that through the Thunderbolt. In addition to creating an extremely fast I/O, another goal was to have it virtually plugged into anything. Because of this goal, Apple and Intel decided to work together toward this goal. The project ended with a success, and the company’s Mac computers now enjoy this device.

This project was not Intel’s or Apple’s first venture into the data transfer technology. The invention of the PCI Express and USB by Intel were partially credited while Apple was acknowledged for the FireWire. Using this knowledge, the companies collaborated to come up with the fastest, most impressive I/O technology to hit the market.
Two familiar and effective technologies, the DisplayPort and PCI Express, were combined for the first time via the Thunderbolt. Because of this combination, this became the first I/O device to be incredibly fast and complex while supporting high resolution displays.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display is a great device overall. The device was created through a combination of the very best and most advanced technologies from some of the industry’s most successful companies.

Because it is an incredible device, the Apple Thunderbolt Display has a lot of people talking about it. For people who need the best data transfer speed and high quality resolution, the device is amongst the most wanted devices. Hopefully, this Apple Thunderbolt Display review has been helpful and will aid individuals in deciding whether or not the Apple Thunderbolt Display device is right for them.

Plants vs. Zombie and Angry Ninja Birds removed, but other misleading apps remain

Played Plants vs. Zombie yet? It’s available for iPhone and iPad for £1.99 – a snip, given its promise of “proffessional characters and levels design. Fun and colorful animation. Full retina display support. Very intuitive and addictive game with simple touch control. Many bonuses and extra points!”

It’s strange to see a company as experienced as PopCap Games mis-spelling the word professional in an App Store listing, though. And hang on, isn’t it Plants vs. Zombies? What happened to the rest of the undead?

As you may have guessed, this game has nothing to do with PopCap. Plants vs. Zombie is the work of a developer called Anton Sinelnikov.

He’s also the man behind an array of other familiar-sounding iOS games, including Angry Ninja Birds, Temple Jump, Numbers With Friends, Tiny Birds and Zombie Air Highway. Not to mention non-game apps with alluring titles like Lovely Girls, Sexual Offenders HD, The Horse Woman (“Warning: Adults 21_ ONLY!”) and Victorian Sexy.

It’s the games that are causing a stir among mobile developers though, especially those whose games Sinelnikov’s titles and icons have been clearly inspired by.

He’s not the only iOS developer playing this game. Another firm, Top Best Adult Entertainment, boasts a portfolio including MoonCRAFT, Little Pet Pony, Bens 10 BattleTime and Talking Bunny Bugs.

Links to both these developers’ portfolios have been doing the rounds among iOS developers in recent days, often accompanied by suggestions that Apple should be doing more to stop them.

There is evidence that the company is. Imangi Studios founder Keith Shepherd – it makes Temple Run, which is the game that seemingly inspired Temple Jump – has tweeted that “Apple has pulled ‘Plants vs Zombie’, ‘Angry Ninja Birds’, and ‘Zombie Air Highway’ from the same seller but not ‘Temple Jump’ yet.”

In earlier tweets, Shepherd had pointed to reviews of the latter indicating that some people have bought it expecting Temple Run – currently one of the most popular and lucrative games on iOS – and posted one-star reviews on the App Store to express their disgust.

The existence of these kinds of apps is provoking an important debate about how Apple moderates its App Store, and by extension its rivals with their stores too.

Apple may have the reputation of being pretty hands-on with its approval process, but it has tended to leave IP infringement to be policed by developers. They make a complaint, and Apple removes the infringing apps from its store if that complaint is upheld.

The process has seen Atari criticised in recent months for forcing the removal of games like Vector Tanks, which it sees as too similar to its classic title Battlezone. Yet this is the same process that Imangi and other developers will need to use to petition for the removal of so-called “scam-apps”.

There are safeguards built into the App Store – chief among them its rating system. Temple Jump’s average rating here in the UK is 1.5 stars from 18 ratings, while Temple Run’s is five stars from more than 86,000 ratings. It doesn’t seem that hard to spot which is the kosher title.

Should Apple be playing copyright cop before apps are released onto its store? It’s a can of worms, especially when such moderation would pre-empt any legal process.

Far better to ensure that its takedown process is fair and speedy: although judging by our interview with P2 Games in December 2011 about its struggles with apps ripping off brands like Peppa Pig, there is still work to do on this front.

Plagiarism is a hot topic in the iOS development community at the moment, with a separate debate around Zynga’s new game Dream Heights, and its perceived similarities to independent developer NimbleBit’s Tiny Tower.

Rather than sue or demand a takedown in that case, NimbleBit chose to call Zynga out on Twitter with some side-by-side screenshots, sparking a return volley from Zynga chief executive Mark Pincus, who compared Tiny Tower to older (non-mobile) game SimTower.

That debate is ongoing, as is a lawsuit between Spry Fox and 6waves Lolapps over similarities between the former’s Triple Town and the latter’s Yeti Town.

Here’s why apps like Temple Jump, Angry Ninja Birds and the rest are different, though. For developers, the Zynga/NimbleBit row is about harm that may be caused to the smaller developer, if it loses players (or potential players) to Zynga’s new game. The players will likely have a good experience whichever one they play.

In the case of Temple Jump, it’s not just Temple Run developer Imangi that is losing business. Apple’s customers are being harmed if they pay for an app that isn’t what they think it is from developers like Top Best Adult Entertainment or Anton Sinelnikov.

If, as Shepherd tweeted, these apps are disappearing from the App Store, that is likely to be the main reason: harm to consumers, rather than to developers.

With so much money swashing around the iOS ecosystem though – $700m paid out to developers in the final quarter of 2011 alone – Apple will need to keep its big red takedown button to hand for the forseeable future.

We will be taking a good look at a product named as the “fastest, most versatile I/O ever” in this Apple Thunderbolt Display review. Via a compact port, the Apple Thunderbolt device can be used to turn the Mac mini, MacBook air, iMac, and MacBook Pro into a desktop workstation with one cable for convenience.

Users can transfer data between their computer and high performance devices very quickly through the Apple Thunderbolt devices. Two Gbps throughput channels are utilized in the system. Comparatively, it is significantly faster than a USB 2.0. It is actually up to 20 times faster. It also leaves FireWire 800 in the dust in terms of speed, clocking in at up to 12 times faster.

Via one port, users can connect up to six different devices when using the Thunderbolt. The amount of power and flexibility that was unheard of and inaccessible is now available to users via the Apple Thunderbolt Display.

The creator of the Apple Thunderbolt Display was Intel. Developing an input/output technology that far exceeds any current product on the market was the goal of the device. While the company would like to create the extremely quick I/O technology, it also wanted the device to be virtually plugged into anything. It was then that Intel and Apple worked on the project together. As a result, it is perfectly suited for the company’s Mac computers.

This project was not Intel’s or Apple’s first venture into the data transfer technology. The invention of the PCI Express and USB by Intel were partially credited while Apple was acknowledged for the FireWire. Using this knowledge, the companies collaborated to come up with the fastest, most impressive I/O technology to hit the market.
Two familiar and effective technologies, the DisplayPort and PCI Express, were combined for the first time via the Thunderbolt. Because of this combination, this became the first I/O device to be incredibly fast and complex while supporting high resolution displays.

Overall, the Apple Thunderbolt Display is an excellent device. The device was created through a combination of the very best and most advanced technologies from some of the industry’s most successful companies.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display is an incredible device that has lots of people talking. For quick data transfer rates and high quality resolution, many users are talking about the Apple product, making it one of the most sought-after device. Hopefully, this Apple Thunderbolt Display review has been helpful and will aid individuals in deciding whether or not the Apple Thunderbolt Display device is right for them.

We will be taking a good look at a product dubbed as the “fastest, most versatile I/O ever” in this Apple Thunderbolt Display review. This Apple Thunderbolt device, via a compact port, can be used to transform the Mac mini, MacBook Air, iMac and MacBook Pro into a desktop workstation with single cable convenience.

Users can enjoy incredibly fast transfer of data between the computer and high performance devices by using the Apple Thunderbolt devices. There are two Gbps throughput channels. It is significantly faster compared to the USB 2.0. The comparison showed that the Apple product is up to 20 times faster. It also leaves FireWire 800 in the dust in terms of speed, clocking in at up to 12 times faster.

The Thunderbolt is capable of connecting up to six different devices, all through one port. The Apple Thunderbolt Display provides users with an amount of power and flexibility that until now, has been unheard of and simply not available to the public.

The creator of the Apple Thunderbolt Display was Intel. Developing an input/output technology that far exceeds any current product on the market was the goal of the device. The company wanted to create an I/O that was super fast and which virtually anything could be plugged into. Because of this goal, Apple and Intel decided to work together toward this goal. As a result, it is perfectly suited for the company’s Mac computers.

This Apple Thunderbolt Display is neither Apple’s nor Intel’s first foray into data transfer technology. Apple was credited for creating the FireWire, and Intel was credited to an extent for the USB and PCI Express inventions. Because of the collaboration between Apple and Intel, they have created the fastest and most impressive piece of I/O technology.
The Thunderbolt was the first device to utilize the two familiar and effective technologies, the DisplayPort and PCI Express. Because of this combination, this became the first I/O device to be incredibly fast and complex while supporting high resolution displays.

Looking at all of its dimensions, the Apple Thunderbolt Display is a fine piece of technology. The device was created through a combination of the very best and most advanced technologies from some of the industry’s most successful companies.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display is an incredible device that has lots of people talking. For quick data transfer rates and high quality resolution, many users are talking about the Apple product, making it one of the most sought-after device. By checking this Apple Thunderbolt Display review, hopefully this has been helpful in your decision about purchasing the device.

Scrolling down a recipe on screen during hands-on cooking is a mixed experience

My favourite cookbooks show the scars of countless mealtimes: the singed flyleaf from the time I panicked with a hot roasting tray; the dubious gravy stains; the dried fingerprints of flour from that ill-fated Victoria sponge.

So how practical is it to use recipes on cookery apps? Can a phone or iPad cope with the splatters of the kitchen? And how do you scroll to the next stage of a recipe when your hands are covered in flour or lemon juice or potato peelings?

First, I try out Epicurious, the app attached to the popular American foodie website. With more then 30,000 recipes, it’s much more comprehensive than the average book, and it’s free (though it costs £1.49 to sync the app with recipes you may have stored on the site). It’s easy to navigate: there’s an index featuring everything from “weekend brunch” to “bubbly cocktails”, and useful graded sections labelled “I can barely cook” and “I cook like a pro”. There’s also a nifty “shopping list” function: select a recipe, and the app imports the ingredients into a list, which you can then tick off as you go round a shop.

Many of the recipes sound exotically American (savoury pumpkin pie soup with cinnamon marshmallows, pepita streusel and whipped crème fraiche) or Hispanic (salmorejo; tacos al pastor). The measures, too, are all US-style – cups, 15-ounce cans – so when I do finally select a recipe (butternut squash and cannellini soup with bacon) and get cooking, I waste a good while frantically Googling the conversions.

I’ll blame this – as well as the fact that my phone keeps going to sleep, meaning I’m forever jabbing at the screen with squash-covered fingers – for the fact that I put in double the correct quantity of chicken stock, and the soup bubbles out all over the hob.

I fare better the next day with a British-designed app, Dishy (priced at £2.99). It has only 95 recipes, but you can search by course, ingredient, time or dietary requirements; there’s a shopping list tool; and the step-by-step guides are easy to follow. I make a rustic sausage casserole for dinner; not only is it delicious, but a built-in countdown timer ensures that I fry the sausages for exactly the right time. Best of all, the app somehow manages to override my phone’s sleep function, so I don’t keep having to rinse my hands to avoid slathering the screen with gunk.

Day three is the turn of Great British Chefs (also £2.49), a much-praised app featuring around 180 recipes devised by Michelin-starred chefs such as Marcus Wareing, Nuno Mendes and Tom Aikens. It looks fabulous – lots of sumptuous photography – but most of the recipes are pitched far above my basic skill level and budget (since when were cheese beignets and a burrata, pea, grapefruit, caviar and leek salad classed as “easy”?).

But Daniel Clifford’s cheese scones sound good, so I have a go; the method is easy enough, and there’s a handy voice-activation tool, so you can shout at your phone rather than cover it with sticky dough. The scones turn out almost perfect.

Last I try another British chef known for keeping things simple. Jamie Oliver has a number of apps out. I go for Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals. At £4.99, it’s pricey, but it’s well-designed and simple, and the videos are definitely pitched more at my level. The pea and prawn risotto recipe makes an easy and delicious weekday lunch (though it takes me a lot longer than 20 minutes). But there’s no voice activation, so I’m back to having to wash my hands every few minutes to scroll to the next stage.

Almost 150,000 people sign online petition which calls for tech giant to clean up its act on alleged human rights abuses in China

Mark Shields, a communications worker in Washington DC, did not intend to become an activist calling for Apple to clean up its act over allegations of brutal labour abuses in its Chinese supplier network.

But, listening to a recent radio show on the subject, Shields, a dedicated user and fan of Apple products, felt he had to act. He was going to write a letter to Apple until a friend suggested he start a petition at change.org, an online group that facilitates campaigning on controversial subjects.

In its first 48 hours, Shield’s petition attracted more than 140,000 signatures. Now more 147,000 people from all around the world have signed up, and it has become one of the main focuses of consumer discontent at the way Apple makes its sleek computer products that have become a mainstay of much of modern life. “I am an accidental activist here. I have never started a petition before,” Shields, 35, told the Guardian. “I am an Apple person, I have my MacBook and iPhone. I love all that stuff. These products have changed my life,
but they are coming at a cost in human suffering,” he added.

Apple is current facing a wave of bad publicity over a New York Times story that exposed many problems with Apple suppliers in China. They included industrial accidents, abuse of workers for long hours and the use of underage labour. Though such problems also occur at many other western consumer electrical companies that have their products made in China, Apple’s position as a brand leader – and its huge profits – make it a high-profile case.

The Times story itself followed on the work of playwright Mike Daisey, whose one-man show, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, has highlighted the issue, and was featured on the National Public Radio show that Shields listened to.

Some columnists and observers of the American tech scene have warned that Apple might now face a boycott of its iPhones, iPads and iPods: products that have made it one of the biggest companies in the world. Shields said that he himself did not advocate a boycott. “I don’t think they really help,” he said.

But at the same time he had found himself unable to buy a new Apple gadget. “I would really like to go and buy an Apple TV and I can’t do that right now in good conscience. I would feel bad about it,” he said.

Instead, Shields’ petition asks Apple to release a new worker protection strategy for the period around its product releases, when the huge pressure to deliver a high volume of sought-after new products could potentially cause a spike in worker abuses. It also asks Apple to increase transparency and publish the names of its suppliers who have violated labour standards and exactly what those violations were.

“Please make these changes immediately, so that each of us can once again hold our heads high and say: ‘I’m a Mac person,’” the petition said.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the petition. However, last week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook did send an email to the firm’s staff – leaked to the media – which promised to crack down on problems, while admitting that issues had occurred. “Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are,” Cook said in the email.

He added that the firm was working hard to resolve things and discover abuses.

“No one has been more up front about the challenges we face. We are attacking problems aggressively with the help of the world’s foremost authorities on safety, the environment and fair labour,” Cook wrote.

However, the rapid growth of the petition shows the depth of the potential PR disaster that Apple is facing. Many comments written on the petition expressed similar sentiments to Shields’ views, coming from dedicated Apple fans.

“Apple, you have the power, and most certainly the resources to change things,” wrote “Gabrielle” of Grandville, Michigan, who confessed to standing in line for hours to buy an iPad when the tablet was first released. The success of the petition was also hailed by organisers at change.org for its swift growth.

“It has been incredible to see the resonance Mark’s campaign has had with other Apple users, and to watch him become part of a growing movement of consumer-driven change,” said Amanda Kloer, change.org’s director of organizing.