Interesting article on the conditions for high tech manufacturing in China:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Normally, the launch of a new Apple device such as the iPhone 4S would make Mike Daisey salivate. But not this year.
Daisey, a monologuist in the vein of Spalding Gray and a recovering "Apple fanboy," hasn't upgraded his phone since flying to China to investigate how those smooth, beautifully designed hand-held gizmos are made.
What he found was horrific labor conditions, impossibly long hours and the use of crippling, repetitive motions. He met very young factory workers whose joints in their hands were damaged because they performed the same action thousands of times a shift.