Apple recently acknowledged and offered condolences and their sympathies to one of Foxconn’s employees that committed “suicide” a few weeks ago. Foxconn, as some may have already known, is the manufacturer of Apple’s market-shaking device, the iPhone.

Normally, I would let this type of news simply blow-over without even batting an eyelash, but this recent news from Engadget has compelled my inner conspiracy theorist into overdrive and now I must share my delusion. With all due respect, this is not a post to humor the victim or their families. This is, pure and simple, a speculation of sorts.

Anyway.

A young male Foxconn employee initially received 16 prototypes, and after a few days, one went missing. He reported it to his employer, and it was all downhill from there. His house was searched without warrant, was detained, and allegedly, abused. Soon after, the young man jumps to his death from his apartment window. The apparent reason was, of course, the loss of an iPhone prototype that may have been slated for next year. It was all a rumor then, until an Apple spokesperson confirmed the incident.

“We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told CNET on Tuesday. “We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect.” (Source)

Everything is vague at this point, but the news from Engadget about this incident made me dig more. The Hon Hai Group, a company with a 72 percent stake in Foxconn, suspended and turned over to Chinese government authorities a security official suspected of harassing the suicide victim.

Alarm bells, I hear them ringing. If I were an employee in a company that allows me to be a witness, front and center, to new technologies that may shake up the market and start a new golden age of technology, I would never fuck around with something as mundane as stealing a prototype that, in time, will be changed radically before it is released publicly. A prototype is a proof-of-concept, at best. And although it may see the light of day of being mass produced, there’s still the off-chance that it will be shelved permanently. It’s not worth it. And to commit suicide simply because douchebags who consider an Apple partnership is more important than an employee’s self-worth? Fuck that. Being a young man at the forefront of technology is something to regard highly, especially at these challenging times. Nope. I call foul play in this “suicide” case.

Apple should reiterate with their manufacturing partners that devious tactics in keeping NDA’s enforced will have consequences. Of course, Apple nor Foxconn will admit that someone got killed because of a lost iPhone prototype. It’s just plastic and silicon, for crying out loud. I suspect the next headline that will NOT be published will be that the family of the “suicide” victim gets very-well compensated to keep them from talking.

I can almost smell a movie off of this case.

Related Reading:
Chinese Employee Commits Suicide Over Lost iPhone Prototype [Switched]
Apple confirms and expresses sadness over death of Chinese iPhone prototype handler [Engadget]
Apple confirms death of iPhone worker in China [CNET]
Security Guard Arrested in iPhone Suicide Case [Switched]
Security official suspended, turned over to authorities in apparent connection to Foxconn employee’s suicide [Engadget]

Earlier today, Google announced that it will start, or has started, developing an operating system dubbed Chrome OS. The web giant finally confirmed the rumors that have been floating around for a long time.

Last September of 2008, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch stated that Google Chrome, the browser, is going to be the future of the operating system and that it will be a Windows killer. I agreed with his statement, but not entirely, since an operating is more than just software, or in this case, a browser, running on a computer.

But still, it quite made sense, especially when Google introduced Android, the operating system for mobile phones. Android ports for MIDs, netbooks, and other devices started popping up everywhere on the web. I thought to myself that Google has done it without everyone noticing that they released their operating system for computers. One can only imagine how I felt when I read the announcement in Google’s blog of Google Chrome OS.

The announcement indicated that the new operating system will be fast, lightweight, and secure. That, in any case, is the holy trinity of what makes a great operating system.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. (SOURCE)

First off, let’s differentiate Android with Google Chrome OS. Android was developed with mobile phones in mind. Chrome OS is going to be developed for computers, netbooks, AND smartbooks. If a netbook, with low processing power and a single core, can boot up a Linux distro in 10 seconds, how would a Core i7 computer fare with the same distro? I. KNOW. RIGHT?

This made me wonder how I would develop Chrome OS if I was given the chance. An operating system, to my understanding, consists of two parts: a kernel, and applications. There is no doubt that a Linux kernel will be used, since it is one of the most readily available kernels going around. First part of the OS: DONE. As for the applications, one that would allow me to run Chrome without any hitches, I would then need a robust, yet lightweight GUI or window manager. There are a number of options here: xfce, fluxbox, blackbox, window maker, etc. GNOME and KDE are out of the question since both window managers are a lot heavier than the previously mentioned WMs. Xubuntu comes to mind, since it is Ubuntu using xfce as the window manager instead of GNOME.

Anyway, another factor that should be considered is how to make Chrome, the browser, work in Linux. Pre-alpha and Alpha releases of the browser are showing a lot of promise with regards to speed and stability. I’ve tested the Pre-alpha of Chrome in Linux and it simply is fast. Making Chrome work in Linux is one thing. Making Chrome work WITH PLUGINS is another. So far, Chrome for Linux still doesn’t have support for Flash, nor Silverlight. And with rich Internet applications relying heavily on one of those two plugins, it’s going to be one heck of an obstacle. And Chrome, the browser, has to be updated for HTML 5 support, to be able to do what Firefox 3.5 is capable of. To make it future-ready, in other words.

A question that bugged me was if the new operating system will support external devices, such as cameras, external drives, and mp3 players, or simply put, “will it be able to detect, support, and give me options to sync my iPod/iPhone?” Maybe not initially, since Google will be focusing first on netbooks and devices that rely more on cloud services. I respectfully think that they should, and I sincerely hope they would. And it maybe sooner than I might think, since Debian, as far as I know, is including support for installing and running Android apps.

All in all, Google’s operating system, Chrome OS, has been a long time coming. And based on the company’s track record for releasing quality products, it’s going to be one heck of a wait that is well worth it.

Other worthwhile reads:
Google Chrome: Redefining The Operating System [TechCrunch: Michael Arrington]
Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome. [TechCrunch: MG Siegler]
Google Releasing Chrome Operating System [Lifehacker: Kevin Purdy]
Google announces Chrome OS, coming to netbooks second half of 2010 [Engadget: Ross Miller]

It has been a few months since I purchased Bruce, my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone, and after a few software upgrades, I notice that performance and usability has been improved. That, or I simply got used to the user interface. So far, I’m happy with it. With the launch of the Ovi Store, Nokia’s application site, I can now further enhance and extend Bruce’s usability.

One of the apps I installed was Nokia Messaging, a free application that lets you “send and receive email automatically from up to 10 personal email accounts, each in its own easy-to-use mailbox.” When I launched it, it asked me if I wanted to connect to the network. I said Yes, and it connected via 3G. I have a WiFi network at home, and was puzzled by it not asking me how I want to connect to the network. I cancelled the configuration and put it in the back burner for a while. Until today.

So I recently configured my Ovi Mail account with Nokia Messaging. Take note that the two are entirely different services. After a few minutes, it was up and running. I was confused with the email I received when I decided to activate my Nokia Messaging account, something I wasn’t expecting to do for an app. I mean, why should I need to activate an app that is basically a simple email client? The email also mentioned that I’m currently using Nokia Messaging on a trial basis. This confused me further. An app that was listed as free in the Ovi Store now says I’m using it in a trial basis.

However, after some research, I found out that what I installed on Bruce, the Nokia Messaging App, is free, while the account that was activated was the Nokia Messaging Service, in which the latter will be offered by the Operator in the future. Here’s where my speculation starts: the Operator will handle data transfers of emails, checking the 10 personal email accounts that was set up in the Nokia Messaging site, and then pushed to the App. So essentially, this app is free, while the service of checking those emails and letting you know if there’s new email by connecting to the app, is still on trial basis and will eventually be bundled with an Operator’s subscription plan.

In my humble opinion (and know that only my opinion is humble), the Nokia Messaging service shouldn’t be bundled with subscription plans as I assume it will use push email, and a lot of S60-based Nokia phones still aren’t capable of handling this. At least, that’s how I think it works.

All in all, I’ll just enjoy this ride while it lasts.

Source: Nokia Messaging FAQ