Just read it later! Take advantage of the full power of Safari’s Reading List

Sometimes you run into a great article that you want to read, but you don’t have the time to do it right away. The Reading List is an iOS feature built right into Safari that allows you to keep a list of articles or websites that you wish to access later.

Reading lists sync to iCloud, so you can use Safari on the iPhone to keep a list for later access on your other Apple devices. After all, some people prefer to do the majority of their reading on their iPad or MacBook. Let’s take a closer look at exactly how the reading list works in iOS.

Are you looking for more iOS tips? Here are 27 iOS 11 tips and tricks that will start you on your way to being a true iOS master.

How to add to your reading list

Step 1: Launch Safari on your iPhone or iPad and go to the desired article.

Step 2: Tap the Share icon  located at the bottom.

Step 3: Select Add to Reading List form the resulting menu.

Third-party apps

Some third-party apps are compatible with Safari reading lists. In this case, we have Flipboard as an example. You can see that at the bottom of the article we also have a Share icon. Tap the Share icon  and select Add to Reading List from the resulting menu.

One of the best third-party apps to take advantage of reading lists is an app called If This Then That, also known as IFTTT. If you’re not familiar with this app, please read our beginner’s guide to IFTTT.

How to find the reading list?

Accessing the reading list is very simple. You will also find anything you added to your Safari reading list from third-party apps here.

Step 1: Tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom.

Step 2: Select the Reading List icon from the top menu. It looks like a pair of glasses.

Step 3: Tap the story you want to read, and Safari will take you back to that website.

What about offline reading?

Another advantage of the reading list is that you can save a lot of articles to read later offline. Maybe you will be on an airplane, or somewhere else you can’t get a data connection. It’s very simple to do.

Step 1: Go to Settings > Safari.

Step 2: Turn on Automatically Save Offline.

If you would like to save only some articles to read offline, you can tap Edit in the lower right-hand corner while you’re on the reading list, tap the articles you want to save for later, and select Save Offline at the bottom.

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Back to the grind: How to quickly and easily clean your garbage disposal

Your garbage disposal is a handy tool to have while you’re in the middle of cooking meals, but over time they can start to grind your gears. Disposals can grow slow, get filled with gunk, and start making the kitchen stink, especially when used frequently. When this happens, your disposal needs a good cleaning. Fortunately, this is an easy do-it-yourself process, and you probably already have everything you need to get rid of those smells and reinvigorate your disposal’s performance. We’ll show you how to do it in six quick steps!

Required items: ice cubes, salt, white vinegar, baking soda, reliable scrubbing brush. Total time for cleaning: about half an hour.

Prep work

Flickr | picasso1387

Start by turning off power to the garbage disposal – a process that may differ based on what type of disposal you have. If you have a plug-in disposal under your sink, you can simply unplug it. If your garbage disposal is more built-in, then head over to your breakers/electrical panel and shut off power to that area of the kitchen. This is a little more annoying, but safety comes first. You may also want to grab rubber gloves, a few towels, and a couple scrubbing tools — we’ve found that narrow, long-handled kitchen brushes and toothbrushes work well for later steps.

Now, take a closer look at your impellers to see if there are any obvious problems. To do this properly, grab a flashlight, pull back the flaps, and peer inside to take a look at what’s going on. This is useful for two reasons: First, if there’s anything large or inappropriate in the disposal (trapped fibers, pieces of metal, etc.) you can see them and work on digging them out before you begin cleaning. Try using a pair of pliers or similar tool to pry out any unwanted objects — and never, ever stick your hand fully down that drain, because we’ve all seen those horror movies.

Second, use the flashlight to take a look at the impellers: It’s probably not what you expected, right? Many people picture spinning blades down at the bottom of their disposal. Actually, most disposals use a series of grinding plates to work their magic. Seeing this in person is beneficial in practicing proper disposal behavior and understanding what happens when things go wrong. Remember, if any serious problem is interfering with disposal maintenance, contact a plumber or other professional. Even a thorough cleaning can’t fix every problem.

Ice and salt

Flickr | Barta IV

You can turn your garbage disposal back on for this step. Start by applying an ice and salt combination. Take around 10-15 ice cubes and pour them into the disposal. Measure out about half a cup of salt and pour it in after the ice. Many people prefer to use rock salt, but don’t worry if you only have table salt to work with. Now flip on your garbage disposal and let it run for a few minutes. This is going to be loud: Don’t worry, the ice won’t damage your disposal, but it will take time to grind it all up.

The ice helps grind and break apart any bits of matter that may have become stuck in your disposal. (There’s also a theory that the cold temperatures help make those particulates more brittle and easier to break.) The salt helps melt the ice down a little and, to a lesser extent, also scours the inside of the disposal.

Vinegar and baking soda

patrickhastings/123rf

We all remember this trick from building classroom volcanoes or experimenting in the kitchen. Vinegar is acidic enough to help wear down stains and kill germs, while baking soda acts as a scouring agent that also deals with bad smells. Combine them, and the resulting chemical reaction creates foam that helps drive the vinegar deeper into the crevices of your garbage disposal. Start with half a cup of baking soda down the drain, and then slowly pour in a full cup of vinegar (preferably white vinegar). If the ensuing chemical reaction still makes you giggle like a kid, you can add some more.

It’s worth noting that some people like to use as much vinegar as possible to ensure a fuller cleaning. This includes freezing vinegar to create the ice cubes from our second step. If you have the time, vinegar, and curiosity, you can try that out. If not, don’t worry about it.

Scrub

Flickr | David K

Don’t rinse out that vinegary foam! Instead, take your scrubbing brush and toothbrush and go to work. Scrub down the rubber folds of your garbage disposal and all their related crannies, rinsing when necessary. Clean all the grime away, and then clean any other parts of your disposal that your brush can reach. If you need additional cleaning agent, add a little more vinegar and baking soda, this time in your sink, and use the resulting paste to help your scrubbing efforts.

Flood

Flickr | Dean Hochman

Finally, it’s time to wash it all away. Plug up your garbage disposal (if you do not have a plug that fits in your disposal, you can usually find a plastic dish that will block it safely for this step). Fill your sink mostly full of hot water. Add a drizzle of your dish soap while the sink is filling up to create some suds. Then unblock the drain and let the water flood through the disposal all at one time. The water should carry away any bits of debris, leaving your disposal clean and smelling much better.

Maintain

Flickr | Rhonda Fleming Hayes

Run your garbage disposal frequently to help keep it clean. Every couple of weeks or so, pour some dish soap down the disposal, or add a few lemon peels and let it run with cold water to help deal with any unpleasant smells. Remember, we tend to use our garbage disposals more around the holidays, so more frequent maintenance may be necessary if the disposal is seeing a lot of action.

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How to find the IP address of your router and login info

Tired of being the only wireless network in your apartment building without a clever name like “Wu-tang LAN,” or “Bill Wi the Science Fi?” Or maybe you just want to add a password to your network that prevents your neighbors from mooching off your internet connection. You’re not the only one who needs to.

Most routers come with a default IP address and login credentials, which vary from one manufacturer to the next. If you haven’t bothered to go in and make changes to your network settings, you may find that you can still access the admin panel using that information. To be able to do that though, you need to know how to find the IP address of your router.

After you’ve gained access to your router’s settings, you can change how your network is displayed, who can access it, and make sure your connection is secure. It would also be a great time to change that default username and password so that no one else can use this guide to change the access protocols back.

Linksys

Most Linksys routers have the same default settings. The admin panel can be accessed on most Linksys routers by entering http://192.168.1.1 in the address bar of your browser. If you own a smart router, enter http://myrouter.local instead. Then, log in using “admin” for both the username and password, assuming you haven’t changed the default username and password already.

You’ll want to make sure to change your router passwords the first time you log in, lest you leave yourself susceptible to anyone on your Wi-Fi network accessing your router’s admin page.

If you need more help, use Linksys’ official support portal.

D-Link

You’ll be able to log in to your D-Link router by using either one of two web addresses: http://mydlinkrouter.local or http://192.168.0.1. The default username is “admin,” and you’ll want to leave the password field blank. Since most D-Link routers are not password-protected by default, you’re going to want to add a password as soon as possible to prevent hackers from accessing your network.

D-Link also has a dedicated support knowledge base should you need more help.

Belkin

For almost all Belkin routers, the default web setup is located at http://192.168.2.1, though, http://router may also work. Due to the method in which login credentials are set up, you likely won’t have to enter anything in the username and password fields when trying to access the admin panel. By default, Belkin routers have no password on the admin account. This means the username field should be left blank, though you may have to enter “admin” instead.

You’ll definitely want to change the username and password if you have a Belkin router. It’s simple for someone with access to your network to make changes in the admin panel that could open security holes or allow them to install malware and hacking software.

More information can be found for specific router models on the Belkin support site.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Netgear

A number of Netgear routers feature the login credentials on the bottom or back of the device, but if yours does not, the company has still made it easy to access your admin panel. If you’re using a Netgear router, simply enter http://www.routerlogin.net in the address bar of your browser or navigate to 192.168.0.1. The username is almost always “admin,” and the password will either be “password” or “1234” if you’re using an older device.

Having a text URL makes things easy to remember, but it also makes your router’s settings more vulnerable. If someone has access to your network, they don’t need to determine its IP address. For this reason, it’s particularly important to change the default login to prevent any unwanted changes to your network settings.

Netgear’s support knowledgebase will give you more information on specific router models if you need it.

Asus

Nearly all Asus routers use 192.168.1.1 as the default IP, which makes it easy to access the admin panel in your browser. Newer routers, however, will direct requests to http://router.asus.com to your local router’s setup page. The username and password should be “admin” on almost all models and firmware revisions. The default passwords can help if you’ve never changed your settings before, but it’s recommended that you change them the first time you access the admin panel to prevent unauthorized access by anyone who’s able to access your Wi-Fi network.

The support team at Asus can give you more help if you need it, as well as access to various articles on the company’s range of devices.

Other routers

Regardless of your router’s manufacturer or model, there is a surefire way to find its IP address, even if it isn’t operating on the default settings. If you’re running Windows 10, you can enter “cmd” in the search field and click the top result to access the Command Prompt. Then, in the resulting window, type “ipconfig” to bring up a page with information on your network’s connection.

It’s one of the most important commands to know when it comes to using the Command Prompt interface.

The field marked “Default Gateway” shows the IP address of whatever router you’re connected to at the time. For almost all routers, you can enter this IP address in your browser’s URL bar to access your router’s login page.

If you’re running MacOS, this information can be found in System Preferences. Under Network, select the tab that corresponds to your current connection (wired or wireless), and then click on “Advanced.” Click the TCP/IP tab, and the IP address of your router will appear either as “Router” or “Default Gateway,” depending on which version of MacOS you’re currently running.

There are many different companies that make routers, and if yours isn’t listed here, RouterPasswords has compiled a large database of default usernames and passwords sorted by make and model. If you find that you aren’t able to log in to the admin panel with one of these, then your login credentials may have been changed at some point.

If this is the case, you’ll need to perform a factory reset on your router. The exact process for doing so varies from router to router, but you should be able to find instructions on the manufacturer’s support, site or in the documentation provided with your router. If you’ve lost the physical copy of the instructions, just Google “manual” or “pdf” along with the make and model of your router.

Updated 01/12/2018 by Jon Martindale with added support links and updated structure.

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Split Facebook News Feed doesn’t decrease fake news, report says

As Facebook gears up for another News Feed algorithm change, a new report suggests tests of the platforms earlier algorithm tests aren’t going as planned. In the fall, Facebook began testing a split News Feed, with posts from friends in one location and posts from news publications in another. Now, months into the test, a New York Times report suggests the split design not only brought less views for news, but inadvertently promoted fake news. The report offers some insight into potential pitfalls for the algorithm changes Facebook is planning to roll out in the next few months.

The split feed is only a test and at the time Facebook first shared the test, the company didn’t yet have plans to bring the setup worldwide. The tests, running in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia, place all the posts from publishers such as news companies inside a new Explore section, requiring users to navigate outside the News Feed to see the posts unless they are shared by a friend.

News outlets quickly began reporting a loss in website traffic after the change and now the same outlets are suggesting the change actually helped promote fake news rather than fight it. In one example from Slovakia, the police released a statement to disseminate fake news of a terrorist attack. The problem? Releasing the official information put the story in the Explore section rather than the news feed, where it didn’t have as much traction as the fake story. Publications from Bolivia also reported seeing an increase in fake news within the News Feed because of user engagement.

Facebook’s upcoming News Feed change isn’t that same split feed, but the goal of promoting more posts from friends and fewer posts from publishers and businesses could have similar consequences, The New York Times suggests. While many users may welcome more posts from friends and fewer memes, posts from news outlets encourage political conversation on the social network, the report says.

Fake, sensationalized news also tends to see higher engagement on social networks, one news editor said, which means the fake stories are the ones that are still around when algorithms prioritize posts from friends. One newspaper that was part of the discussion added that while the government may be able to afford to boost posts on the platform, their newspaper could not.

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Sweatcoin is the fitness app that pays you in digital currency to work out

At the start of a new year, many of us vow to work out more, lead healthier lives, and lose some weight. Unfortunately, studies show that most of us also abandon those goals only a few weeks later. But a new app called Sweatcoin has a unique way to keep users exercising by offering virtual currency that can be used to purchase real products and services.

Available for iOS and Android, Sweatcoin uses your smartphone’s GPS capabilities and onboard accelerometer to track your movement. For every 1,000 steps that it records, the user earns .95  “sweatcoins,” which can later be spent on a wide variety of things, including electronics, workout classes, fitness gear, gift cards, and so on.

Sweatcoin was created by of a London-based company called Sweatco and launched in the summer of 2017. The idea behind the app is to give smartphone users an incentive to actually exercise by offering tangible items as a potential reward. This approach seems to be working because, according to The New York Times, Sweatcoin was the most downloaded fitness app by September 2017 and has consistently stayed on the charts ever since.

Of course, there are a few caveats to using Sweatcoin that potential users should be aware of. For instance, in order to get credit for the steps you take, you have to run or walk outside and you have to have the app running in the background at all times. The outdoor stipulation means that those who run on treadmills or indoors at a gym won’t be able to accumulate sweatcoins for their efforts. Having the software running on your phone at all times also means that GPS services will put a serious hit on the battery as well.

The Sweatcoin app is free to use, but its lowest tier — dubbed a “Mover” account — limits users to accumulating just five sweatcoins per day. If you want to earn enough digital currency to buy a Fitbit or Apple Watch, it will take forever at that rate. The next level up is the Shaker account, which costs 4.75 sweatcoins a month, but allows earnings of up to 10 coins per day, while the Quaker and Breaker tiers cost 20 and 30 sweatcoins per month, respectively, but up the earning potential to as much as 15 and 25 coins each day.

For runners and walkers who are already working out on a daily basis, sweatcoin seems like a bit of a no-brainer, allowing them to earn virtual dollars that they can spend on all kinds of things. But for those looking for a little extra incentive, this app just might be the key to stay motivated and healthy throughout the year. Visit the Sweatcoin website to learn more.

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Best Tempered Glass Screen Protectors for the Moto G5 Plus

What are the best tempered glass screen protectors for the Moto G5 Plus?

The new Moto G5 Plus is an awesome budget phone with a 5.2-inch LCD screen that’s sure to impress — but only if you keep it safe from scratches and cracks.

Your best bet? Buy a tempered glass screen protector.

• Sparin tempered glass screen protectors (two-pack)
• Supershieldz tempered glass screen protectors (three-pack)
• Mr Shield Tempered glass screen protectors (five-pack)
• LK tempered glass screen protectors (three-pack)

Sparin tempered glass screen protector (two-pack)

Sparin has consistently produced great tempered glass screen protectors, so you should be good to go with this two-pack of tempered glass screen protectors.

Designed to cover the flat portion of the screen while leaving no unsightly halo around the edges, these leave room around the edges for a case which is good for those looking to completely protect their new phone. You’ll also enjoy the 2.5D round edges on these, which are kind on your fingers and looked cleaner when you look up close. This screen protector features cutouts around the ear speaker, front-facing camera and fingerprint sensor, so you’ll feel the difference of those softer edges.

This is a dry-install screen protector should go on easy with a bubble-free installation, and thin enough to maintain the full touch sensitivity of the screen. Get your two-pack for just $7.

See at Amazon

Supershieldz tempered glass screen protector (three-pack)

Two is good, but three is better! This bundle from Supershieldz comes with three tempered glass screen protectors for your Moto G5 Plus. If the value is your main goal, you simply can’t beat this bundle.

You’ll get near edge-to-edge coverage here with enough room to accommodate a case, along with 2.5D edges for a nice smooth feel for your fingers.

Supershieldz is known for making really quality screen protectors that are anti-scratch, hydrophobic, oleophobic and backed by Supershieldz no-hassle lifetime replacement warranty. If you’re a serial phone abuser and feel like you might run through more than a couple screen protectors during your phone’s life, this is a great, affordable option at just $7.50.

See at Amazon

Mr Shield Tempered glass screen protectors (five-pack)

If two or three screen protectors aren’t enough, or you know a couple of accident-prone Moto G5 Plus owners, we suggest this 5-pack of screen protectors from Mr Shield.

There’s nothing better than a bulk deal, and this is your absolute best value deal if you plan on keeping your Moto G5 Plus as your main device for some time. Each of these screen protectors is cut impact-resistant tempered glass and laser-cut to fit the dimensions of your phone. Available for just $7, these protectors work out to just over $1.50 each, so even if you’re notorious for damaging phones you’ll have plenty of backups at your disposal. These are also backed by Mr Shield’s lifetime warranty so if they arrive with any defects don’t hesitate to reach out to customer service.

See at Amazon

LK tempered glass screen protector (three-pack)

While the other three options on this list offer a very similar design, this three pack from LK takes a different approach, doing away with the thin ridges around the cutouts and just swooping right down around the ear speaker and camera at the top, and cutting up from the bottom edge around the fingerprint scanner.

On one hand, this leaves more of your screen exposed, but it also should help improve the overall integrity of the screen protector by removing those weak points around the cutouts.

Scratch resistant, shatterproof, and oleophobic, these screen protectors will keep your Moto G5 Plus screen protected, and are backed by a lifetime, no-hassle replacement warranty. Get yourself a three-pack for just $6.99!

See at Amazon

Updated January 2017: Added the Mr Shield bundle to our list and updated the pricing information.

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See at Amazon

Facebook will ‘massively’ simplify Messenger in 2018

Messenger is a mess, and Facebook has finally acknowledged this.

Like a lot of people, I use Facebook Messenger on an almost daily basis to communicate with friends and family members. Although it’s not my preferred form of communication, it’s just what a lot of folks happen to use. However, I’ve been doing so with the Messenger Lite app on my phone since it was widely released last October.

If you’ve used the regular Messenger app at any point over the last couple years, you’re well aware of the fact that it’s a bit of a nightmare. Between in-chat games, bots for Spotify and Uber, a Snapchat-like stories feature, and way more than we have time to get into, it’s quickly become bloated and filled to the brim with feature after feature that gets in the way of basic conversations.

In a blog post talking about trends to look forward to in 2018, Facebook finally addressed this, saying:

Over the last two years, we built a lot of capabilities to find the features that continue to set us apart. A lot of them have found their product market fit; some haven’t. While we raced to build these new features, the app became too cluttered. Expect to see us invest in massively simplifying and streamlining Messenger this year.

Facebook doesn’t hint at what features will be staying and which ones have met their maker, but even so, I’m 100% on board for this to happen.

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How to customize your Chromebook launcher

Make your Chromebook look the way you like it with these tips.

If you’re using a Chromebook that has Google Play, you might be downloading a bunch of Android apps. If you don’t yet have Google Play on your Chromebook, you’re probably thinking of Android apps you want to install when it comes. With all those apps — and your Chrome apps — you’ll probably want to tidy things up a bit. Here’s how you can do it.

Set your wallpaper and choose a theme

Like your Android phone, your Chromebook has a launcher. It’s not an app that can be replaced with a third-party offering, it’s more like the desktop and start menu you would find on a Windows laptop. We’re not going to dig into the technical details here, but for our purposes, your Chromebook app launcher is your wallpaper, your “shelf” (the taskbar across the bottom) and the app drawer. There’s quite a bit you can do with these to make your Chromebook fit into your flow a little better. Let’s start with the obvious — the wallpaper and the theme.

Changing the wallpaper is easy. Just right click (remember, that’s a two finger tap on the trackpad) and choose “Set wallpaper …” from the menu. You’ll see a new window with a good many bundled wallpapers, and you can use the tabs at the top of it to sort through them. If you would like to use your own wallpaper, make sure it’s in Google Drive or stored locally on your Chromebook and click “Custom.” You’ll be able to choose any image that the file manager can get to. You can also tick the box that says “Surprise me” and you’ll get a random wallpaper from the included images each time you log in to your Chromebook.

If you’re using your own picture for the wallpaper, you can use an image editor to size it to the same dimensions as your Chromebook screen to keep it from stretching or cropping. You can find images the right size through Google image search by choosing the resolution in the Search tools at the top of the page.

To change your theme, click the status area (down by your account picture). Choose Settings > Appearance > Browser themes. The Chrome Web Store will open to the themes category, where you can browse through and find one you like. You’ll only see themes that will work with your Chromebook, and to install it you only need to click the Add to Chrome button on the theme’s page in the Chrome Web Store. If you choose a new theme your old one will be uninstalled, and if you don’t want the same theme on every computer you use, you can selectively sync through the settings.

Customize your shelf

You can customize the shelf in a few ways, too. Some folks want the bar on the side of their screen instead of the bottom. Again, right click on your desktop and get to the menu. Choose “Shelf position” and pick where you want the shelf to live. You can put it on the left, the right or keep it at the bottom.

You can also set the shelf to autohide so that it stays out of the way until you move the cursor to the screen edge. Note that if you don’t have any other apps open, the shelf will stay visible.

Finally, you can add shortcuts to the apps you use most frequently on your shelf as well as bookmark web pages there. To add an app shortcut, find the app in your drawer and right click on it. Choose “Pin to shelf” and a shortcut will be placed on the bar. To add a bookmark, in the browser choose More > More tools > Add to shelf.

You can arrange the items on your shelf by clicking and dragging them. To do this on your trackpad, click or tap with one finger, then slide left or right with another finger. When the item is in the position you like just let go of it by removing your fingers from the trackpad.

Add folders to the app drawer

Making a folder is done the same way as Android. All you need to do is drag one app on top of another to create a folder, or drag an app on top of a folder to add it. To name your folder or edit the existing name, open it and click the area under the search bar where it says “Unnamed folder” (or where the existing name is) and type your new name. You can’t add a folder to the shelf, or merge one folder into another to nest them.

A quick tip here — if you are trying a lot of Android apps on your Chromebook, I’ve found it’s handy to make a folder named “Testing” and put them all in there until I decide if I want to keep them or not. This way I know only apps that work to my liking live outside of it, and nothing is there eating my precious disk space.

Uninstall unused apps

Out of the box, most of the “apps” on a Chromebook are just links to various websites. In this case, “uninstalling” these apps doesn’t do anything more than remove the icon and link inside your launcher. You won’t free up any space, but your launcher will be tidyer, and a tidy launcher is a happy launcher.

If you download any Android applications, you may need to uninstall those if you run low on space inside your Chromebook. This is done the exact same way: just right-click (or two-finger tap), then click uninstall.

While there are no complete home or desktop environment replacements on your Chromebook, you can do a lot to make it easier for you to use. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments or in the forums.

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Apple supplier accused of chemical safety and overtime violations

Apple is still struggling to improve working conditions at its suppliers. Both China Labor Watch and Bloomberg report that Catcher, a key supplier for iPhone and MacBook casings, makes workers endure harsh safety conditions and unfair work terms in a factory in Suqian. According to observers and discussions with workers, the machines are not only loud, but spray fluid and metallic particles that frequently hit workers’ faces (only some of which have access to safety goggles and gloves). Workers suffer health issues such as vision problems, irritation and discoloration. Beyond this, the facility reportedly pumps out wastewater that violates local safety levels, and workers return to cold dorms with no hot water or built-in showers.

CLW adds that the work requirements run afoul of local laws. Factory staff are legally supposed to work 40-hour weeks, but they’re actually made to work 10 hours a day for 6 days each week. The scheduling approach also conveniently lets Catcher avoid paying double for overtime, as the law demands. Training frequently stopped at 4 hours when it’s supposed to last 24 hours. Even quitting is difficult, according to the report. Contract workers may have to wait weeks to receive their expected wages, and the contracting company frequently refuses to accept resignations.

Both Apple and Catcher say they’ve investigated CLW’s claims, but found no evidence to suggest that the working conditions had violated Apple’s code of conduct. It’s not clear why that’s the case, though, given the multiple reports of illegal activity and Catcher’s history of labor violations.

Whatever the exact story, the findings highlight the problems that Apple, and the tech industry at large, have with maintaining reasonable working conditions. They frequently depend on wide networks of suppliers to make the parts that go into products, and these suppliers often feel compelled to do whatever it takes to meet production quotas. That usually means hiring temporary workers willing to endure brutal hours and unsafe conditions to make an income they would never get in rural China. And while robotics can help, they also leave many people out of work. Companies like Apple can tighten their labor controls, but they don’t have any easy answers.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: China Labor Watch

‘Far Cry 5’ limited edition includes new art and vinyl soundtrack

If you get excited by cool vinyl video game soundtracks like we do, you’re in luck. Mondo, the company behind the amazing Contra vinyl and that fantastic The Last of Us box set, has just partnered with Ubisoft on Far Cry 5. Starting today, January 16th, you can pre-order the “Far Cry 5 x Mondo Edition” of the game for $100. The special edition is set to release alongside the title itself on March 27th of this year for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

There are only 4,000 of these units available worldwide, so if you’re interested, you’ll probably want to jump on it. You’ll get the title itself in an attractive, durable SteelBook case designed by the creative director of Mondo, Jay Shaw, a vinyl record with the original Far Cry 5 soundtrack, a code for the digital version and a nice little box to hold it all in with an illustration of the game’s main villain Joseph Seed. You’ll also receive special in-game cosmetic and consumable items in the Doomsday Prepper Pack and Chaos Pack as part of your pre-order.

Source: Ubisoft