Apple’s iPod supplier Foxconn has admitted to breaking Chinese employment law.

The Hon Hai Industry-owned company has been under the microscope since the Mail on Sunday published claims that many workers on its iPod production lines were poorly paid and overworked.

Apple has launched an investigation into the Mail’s claims, and Foxconn executives have moved to quash any such rumours. However, a report on China CSR reveals that Foxconn has confessed that its employees work about 80 extra hours each month, “which is against the law in China,” the report claims. Under Chinese law a company cannot ask its employees to work more than 36 hours overtime each month.

Product purpose: The PodsPlus Aluminum Case is an anodized hinged aluminum case for the Fifth Generation iPod.

Positives: Full access to all ports and controls. Built-in clear hard plastic screen protector. Built-in rubber click-wheel protector which ca be scrolled through easily. Works well with or without included belt clip and included lanyard. Soft internal lining protects against metal-on-metal issues. Choice of silver or black metal; choice of click-wheel protector colors. Read more » »

Podcaster Adam Kempenaar’s first clue that something was afoot came when his internet host alerted him that he was at 80 percent of his bandwidth capacity.

Next came the note from a co-worker congratulating him for landing his movie-reviews show on the front page of the iTunes podcast directory. Then came the server crash, followed by a half-day of phone calls and negotiations to get it back up and running — and the e-mails, hundreds of them, from new listeners. Read more » »

New York: The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has launched a podcast series that will feature interviews with the creators of the planned Memorial Museum at Ground Zero as well as first hand accounts from those affected by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The podcast, launched ahead of the fifth anniversary of the attack, offers an insider’s view of evolution of museum project as also 9/11 stories which will eventually be included in the museum. Read more » »

55% of iPod shipments in Q1 of 2006 were NAND Flash-based players

Strong growth in the portable media player market is expected in 2006, as the market is forecast to reach 187.7 million units, up from 134.5 million units in 2005, according to Gartner, Inc. The demand for portable media players, especially the Apple iPod, is a significant driver of sales of NAND flash memory. NAND flash-based players accounted for 80 percent of the market in 2005. Hard disk drive (HDD)-based portable music players made up the remaining 20 percent of the market. Read more » »