Exciting news for the factory workers of the electronics company Foxconn.  After much-needed involvement from both foreign and domestic governments, the people who work long, and sometimes draconian, hours to produce the technology that we get to enjoy everyday will be happy to know that their salaries and wages will be raised to a reasonable amount, as well as having their hours reduced to provide a more workable schedule.

"BEIJING — The announcement Saturday that Foxconn Technology — one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers — will sharply raise salaries and reduce overtime at its Chinese factories signals that pressure from workers, international markets and concerns among Western consumers about working conditions is driving a fundamental shift that could accelerate an already rapidly changing Chinese economy.

But the true meaning of Foxconn’s reforms, analysts say, will depend in part on how effectively the company can remake an economic system that has relied for much of the last decade on luring migrants to work cheaply for long hours in mammoth factories building smartphones, computers and other electronics."

Source: New York Times

It seems Microsoft has been receiving some pressure from software critics, some are saying that Windows 8 bears a strange resemblance to the open-source operating system Linux.  Now we won't go into the history of all the business deals made by Microsoft, but there is some amount of suspicion, maybe not without reason, from some speculators.

"Here in the world of technology, there's no denying that developers of even the most creative new products and ideas "stand on the shoulders of giants," just as innovators in most other realms do too.

New ideas inspire more new ideas over time, after all, so it's not surprising to see myriad commonalities and linkages among them.

Lately, however, that notion is being examined a little more closely than usual in light of recent revelations about Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) forthcoming Windows 8 and -- in particular -- how much it has in common with Linux.

'Does Windows Do It Better?'

"Eight features Windows 8 borrowed from Linux" is the name of the ITworld article that kicked off the conversation in the Linux blogosphere earlier this month, and the ruckus hasn't died down since.

File copy dialogue and ISO mounting are among the features the article names while asking provocatively, "Linux got there first, but does Windows do it better?"

Individual comments could barely be heard over the sound of the thundering stampede of the Linux masses, rushing to share their thoughts. More than 600 comments appeared on Slashdot in short order, so Linux Girl knew it was time to learn more."

Source: Tech News World

In recent news, the main-stream sale of the Apple iPad has been halted by a legal ruling set forth by the People's Court.  Of course Apple will not be taking this lying down, and it only makes sense that they will be striking back with their own legal team. 

"A court in China has ruled that retailers should cease iPad sales, dealing a setback to Apple in its battle for the iPad trademark in that country.

Xie Xianghui, a lawyer for Shenzhen-based Proview Technology, told the Associated Press that the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Huizhou made the ruling Friday.

However, the report says the ruling is not expected to have a far-reaching effect, noting that Proview has asked commercial authorities to block iPad sales in 40 cities. Apple representatives did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the ruling, but the company has previously stated that it made a deal with Proview that the Chinese company refuses to honor.

"We bought Proview's worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter," an Apple representative told CNET."

So you've probably heard about the cyber-attack orchestrated by the group Anonymous on the Department of Justice following the rise and fall of SOPA; now, however, they've set their sights a bit higher.  This time, instead of a singular website, multiple government websites were hacked.  As with before, Anonymous has made clear their opposition to any such type of legislation, and understandably so.  As always, we'll keep you posted should any new updates come our way.

"The hacker group Anonymous has struck again -- this time taking down the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection business center website as well as one touting National Consumer Protection Week.

In their place was a German language video mocking ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

The FTC promptly removed the video, which has been described as violent and bloody: A man in a ski mask guns down people for downloading copyrighted music. In a profanity-ridden statement, Anonymous threatened to "rain torrential hellfire down on all enemies of free speech, privacy and internet freedom" if ACTA is approved."

Source: Tech News World

This war on patents is getting a little ridiculous now! Come on! I mean ... slide to unlock is patented? And those "unlock" features found on other smartphones too?

I could patent ... "shake to unlock". Anyone want to loan me some cash so I can file it to the patent office, and sell it to Google or Apple.

"The patents present four (somewhat) novel forms of unlock that range from simple to complex. The "Big Three" of the Android world -- HTC Corp. (TPE:2498), Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KS:005930), and Google Inc.'s (GOOG) nearly-acquired subsidiary-to-be Motorola Mobility -- all share a common legal adversary -- Apple, Inc. (AAPL).  Apple has asserted a slew of claims against the Android phonemakers, and they haven't been shy about firing back, sometimes quite successfully (other times not so much)."

Source: Dailytech

LG UNVEILS UNIQUE 4:3 RATIO, 5-INCH OPTIMUS VU: AT MWC 2012 - With Productivity in Mind, LG Demonstrates its LTE and Display. Leadership with Device that Does, Well, Everything.

SEOUL, Feb. 19, 2012 – LG today unveiled one of the most anticipated LTE devices, the Optimus Vu:. Equipped with LG's advanced LTE and IPS display technology, the Optimus Vu: offers a unique combination of tablet-like viewing with smartphone portability. Running on a powerful 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 32GM internal memory and a large 2,080 mAh battery, the Optimus Vu: is a multimedia lover's dream device.

"The Optimus Vu: was designed to maximize what customers could do with a smart-phone," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. "By offering an optimal 4:3 ratio viewing experience, 5-inch display combined with superfast LTE technology, Optimus Vu: is just one example of what we can achieve when we combine our best technology with customer needs."

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Hey gang, it's that time of the week again where we compile a list of all this weeks hardware offerings:

Motherboard & CPU:

ASRock X79 Extreme9 on HWSecrets.

MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) LGA20111 Motherboard Review on [H]ard|OCP

Video Cards:

MSI Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozer III review on Guru3D

Cases:

Raidmax Aeolus VL Mid Tower on ThinkComputers.

NZXT Crafted Series Phantom 410 Mid-Tower on FutureLooks.

CPU Cooling:

Spire Gemini Rev 2 on TechReaction.

Ahh yes, back again to the halls of congress, otherwise known as the WWF of politics.  Well most of you, I'm sure, are familiar with PIPA and SOPA and the hooplah that was stirred up by those those; however, we now are faced with a newer, and perhaps subtler, method of increasing government control over the world-wide-web.  We'll keep you posted.

"With SOPA and PIPA on the back burner (at least for now), ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, has become the world's eminent piece of online piracy legislation. A slew of countries, including the U.S., have signed the agreement, but skepticism rages on. There have been protests throughout Europe, threats from Anonymous and resentment from Web users the world over.

To get a better idea of what's going on, TechNewsWorld hosts a multi-part podcast about what ACTA is and what it might mean moving forward.

In this podcast, we chat with David Meyer, a freelance journalist for ZDNet, BBC News, The Guardian and others. Meyer dissects the language, evolution and future of ACTA."

Source: Tech News World