Lives of the iPhone Workers

I think it’s easy for us, as privileged Americans, to believe that our gadgets appear from God. iPhone broken? Well, I needed to upgrade to a G4 anyway. Plop down the credit card; like magic, the new technology appears.

Joel Johnson provides a more sobering view of where our technology comes from. In Shenzhen, China, more than 420,000 (nearly half a million!) workers manufacture the parts that power our iPhones, laptops, and a whole slew of gadgets. One of the more particularly sobering facts is the knowledge that 11 suicides took place at the factory earlier this year. Nets surrounding the dormitory buildings have curbed the suicides.

The facilities seem run-down but clean. Conditions for the workers in the factory aren’t visible–I guess we’ll have to wait for Johnson’s article in Wired later this month.

Filed under: china, consumerism, technology, work, china, foxconn, iphone, joel johnson, manufacturing, shenzhen, technology, wired

Father and Son Launch Homemade Camera into Space

Vodpod videos no longer available.

God, I love (and am addicted to) the Internet. Found this cool video made by a father-and-son team of their home science project: a weather balloon-powered spacecraft capturing spectacular images of the earth at 100,000 feet.

An ordinary weather balloon, foam insulation, an iPhone and HD video camera. Luke Geissbühler, the father, said that the project did not require FAA approval. Pretty darn cool.

Filed under: media, science, technology, earth, iphone, luke geissbuhler, spacecraft

A New York Streetscape via iPhone

I’ve blogged about artist Jorge Colombo in the past. He’s got a wonderful eye for the dynamism that is New York and uses his iPhone to sketch fast, evocative images of the city.

In this new video entitled “Traffic Light,” check out Colombo’s process as he sketches a typical streetscape at night. Small things–like the choice of painting in purple and blue hues first–intrigue the non-visual artist in me.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Filed under: art, technology, artist, brushes, iphone, jorge colombo, new york, new yorker, painting, streetscape

Jane Lynch Spoofs the iPhone 4

It’s hard not to love Jane Lynch.

Her perfect timing, hard-edged exterior, and outrageous, foul-mouthed utterances–all delivered with an impish smile. This spoof of the new iPhone is hilarious. Happy Tuesday.

Filed under: comedy, consumerism, technology, iphone, jane lynch, spoof, technology

Finger-painting New York on iPhones

Jorge Colombo, a regular artist for The New Yorker, has been sketching glimpses of New York City since May. Not so unusual, save for the fact that he makes these images on his iPhone: dead-end streets beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, sunsets over the East River, families watching that iconic train schedule board at Penn Station.

He uses an application called Brushes on his iPhone. What was his inspiration?

“I got a phone in the beginning of February, and I immediately got the program so I could entertain myself,” says Colombo, who first published his drawings in The New Yorker in 1994. Colombo has been drawing since he was seven, but he discovered an advantage of digital drawing on a nighttime drive to Vermont. “Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner’s hat, I could not draw in the dark.” (When the sun is up, it’s a bit harder, “because of the glare on the phone,” he says.) It also allows him to draw without being noticed; most pedestrians assume he’s checking his e-mail.

The artist at work is a joy to watch: Colombo begins in broad strokes of color, then adds layers that might contain skylines and geometric shapes, finally ending with specific details. There’s a neon-like quality to the Brushes application that also intrigued me. Read more about Colombo and his New Yorker covers.

Filed under: art, apps, art, finger, iphone, jorge colombo, new yorker, painting