A New York University college student took a summer job at Pegatron and his experience is very interesting, to say the least.

Dejian Zeng, a graduate student at New York University (NYU), got a job at Pegatron factory in China as part of a research project he is working on. Zeng worked with China Labor Watch to gather information about what it is like to work at one of the largest iPhone manufacturing plants in China. He spent six weeks as a plant worker for Pegatron and came back with a detailed experience of his time there.

Business Insider sat down with Zeng for a one-on-one interview and has published the transcripts of that conversation.

Zeng describes an average work day on the assembly line, which includes a lot of repetitive work (his first position was inserting one screw into the back case of an iPhone over and over again). It also includes very short breaks, strict security rules, and no phones allowed. That means no podcasts, no music, and nothing to stimulate the brai…

Apple has achieved significant advantages through owning its own silicon. But where can it go next?

Rumor has it Apple might start shipping its own graphics processors. The G-series components to its long-running A-series systems-on-chips (SoC), so to speak. But G is only one of the twenty-one letters left in Apple’s growing alphabet of custom silicon.

It’s often said that owning the complete widget from chipsets to hardware to OS to app interface gives Apple an advantage in modern mobile computing. The hardware, OS, and app parts of the stack have been true for Apple for decades. The chipset foundation, though, is relatively new. It’s also growing, from SoC at the beginning to sensor fusion hubs and, most recently, wireless chips. Rumor also has it there’s more on the way.

Services, everything from Apple Music to iCloud Photo Library are likewise growing and are interesting from a convenience and recurring revenue perspective. Those face stiff competition from Google, Amazon, and o…

Apple on Wednesday highlighted the sports-themed artwork of Robert Generette III, who was profiled in Mashable earlier this year.

I love seeing Apple personally highlight artists and creators who use the iPad Pro to do great work — and it was awesome to see the NBA artwork of artist Robert Generette III pop up on the company’s newsroom page earlier Wednesday.

The Washington DC area native, who goes by the name ”Rob Zilla,” is an art teacher and illustrator who uses iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Adobe Illustrator Draw app to create work that Mashable has described as ”bright, arresting sports imagery.”

The Golden State Warriors, as part of Warriors Fan Night at tonight’s regular season finale in Oakland, will feature Rob Zilla’s illustrations of Warriors players, legends, coaches and fans designed on iPad Pro. The Warriors will also recognize the artist and his work at halftime.

The Washington Wizards have also commissioned Rob Zilla to cre…

Even if your iPhone is in the other room, you can see how much juice it has left with a neat little Option + Click trick.

9to5Mac’s Zac Hall discovered a neat little trick you can do on your Mac. You can check the battery life of your iPhone (and not just the battery indicator icon) right from the Menu bar. You don’t need a third-party app. Your iPhone doesn’t need to be connected to your computer. You just need to hold Option + Click from the Wi-Fi menu.

Normally, when you click the Wi-Fi icon in your Menu bar, you can turn Wi-Fi on or off, enable your personal hotspot from a supported iPhone or another cellular device, see all Wi-Fi networks nearby, and access more network preferences.

When you hold down the Option key while clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the Menu bar, you’ll get a little more detailed information, like your IP address and other internet data.

Under Personal Hotspot, you can see your iPhone, it’s cellular connection, and a battery indicator icon showing a rough e…

The fitness company has the vision, but it has been struggling with products and engineering as of late.

I’ve wanted to love Fitbit since long before the Apple Watch: I bought my first tracker (a Fitbit Zip) in 2012, in theory to help me stay active while working from home — but secretly because I wanted to see if a step tracker could track roller derby. I quickly found my answer: not if you don’t plan to kill it with sweat in a few practices.

After my unfortunate experience with the Zip, I stayed abreast of Fitbit’s offerings at work but didn’t have the spare cash to justify getting one for personal use. And, of course, once I got an Apple Watch, any Fitbit hardware lust I had faded into the distance.

Muddling the message

The thing is, I still love Fitbit’s message and community; it was one of the first companies to really capitalize on everyday fitness, focusing on getting people moving daily without needing to be a gym nerd. Like the Tamagotchi craze of the 90s, Fit…

As part of iOS 10, Game Center evolved from stand-alone app to third-party integration — which has, unfortunately, made for a few headaches on the part of its users.

Before iOS 10, Game Center was Apple’s gaming-themed social network that connected through your iCloud account: It was built around a standalone app that let you add friends, challenge their high scores, and invite them to play games. It may never have been a great social network — but it was there.

When Apple axed the app as part of its 2016 software upate, the company turned Game Center into an optional integration service for third-party games. Unfortunately, in doing so, Apple crippled a lot of Game Center’s functionality — including adding and deleting friends.

What can you do with Game Center now?

Game Center in its current state is nothing more than a tool that developers can choose (or not) to incorporate into their games. If a developer decides to use Game Center, you might have the fo…

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time with a sweet deal on the BeatsX wireless in-ear headphones!

Bluetooth headphones continue to become more popular, especially since several manufacturers have begun removing headphone jacks from phones. This year Apple released a new lineup of Beats headphones, and right now you can pick up a set of the BeatsX wireless in-ear headphones for as little as $99.99 at Amazon. If you’d rather get them right away, Best Buy has them for the same price, and is offering the over-ear Beats Studio wireless headphones for just $199.99.

Some of the features of the BeatsX headphones include:

Connect via Class 1 Bluetooth with your device for wireless listening
Up to 8 hours of battery life for when you’re on the go
With Fast Fuel, a 5-minute charge gives you 2 hours of playback when battery is low
Take calls, control your music and activate Siri with RemoteTalk
Only the gray pair is available at the lowest price, though some of the other options …

The Lightning cables that come with your Apple devices are decent cables that are guaranteed to work perfectly, but they’re not exactly durable. We’ve all seen the effects some use has on these cables; they get dirty and grungy-looking, they can get pinched, and use finally start to see some of the wiring being exposed around ends. Once that happens, they stop working properly and eventually crap out.

Connect your Apple devices to all the things for $30 Learn more

If you live the rugged life or just used your Lightning cables a lot, then you’ll want a third-party cable that’s MFi-certified and that can stand up to daily wear and tear and then some. A braided Lightning cable is the perfect solution, because the braided wire covering is durable, flexible, and better insulates the wires inside, making them last longer.

The Toughlink MFi-certified metal braided Lightning cable 2-pack is only $30 from iMore Digital Offers. You get two 4-foot cables that are made of metal and braide…

Apple Music has been on Android for a while now, and it’s now on par with its iOS counterpart.

When Apple acquired Beats Music as part of its takeover of Beats, the service went away and was replaced by Apple Music. Windows is still out in the cold, but Apple surprised us by creating an Apple Music app for its main competitor, Android.

Apple Music on Android has, until very recently, had its own identity that fit in with the platform it calls home. Recent updates have brought it into line with what you’ll find on iOS, so it’s time we took a fresh look at it from across the mobile nations (see what I did there?) and see what it looks like from an Android users perspective.

Almost identical siblings

Apple Music on Android has had a visual overhaul which brings it straight into line with the iOS version. So we’re looking at a lot of white, some red accents, and very bold headers. The biggest visual difference is in where you find the navigation bar — Android prefers a hamb…