Why I Hate the iPad

Matthew Yglesias: Steve Ells is to fast food what Steve Jobs was to tech

(NEWSER) - Steve Jobs, meet Steve Ells. Both men founded companies that have revolutionized American culture: Chipotle is doing for fast food what Apple did for technology, writes Matthew Yglesias at Slate . First of all, "Chipotle’s growth since its 2006 IPO should be seen as a great American success story," especially in such a difficult economic climate. The firm added 67 new stores in the fourth quarter of last year alone, and its stock has soared 500% in five years. More»

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint lose out by subsidizing Apple's cell phone

(NEWSER) - Apple's profits are soaring , but at the expense of cell phone carriers who subsidize iPhone sales. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all pay about $600 for iPhones that they resell to customers for $200. The carriers figure they'll make up the loss with monthly cell phone bills—but Verizon and AT&T stock have both dropped, and Sprint's losses have ballooned by 40%, since they started selling the coveted iPhone, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

Apple founder's character questioned by many interviewees

(NEWSER) - Steve Jobs had an FBI file, assembled during a 1991 background check when Jobs was being considered for an appointment by George HW Bush, and the agency has just made it public after a FOIA request from the Wall Street Journal . Read all 191 pages here , or check out highlights below from the Journal and Gawker :

• Jobs' past drug use is a frequent topic in the file, but interviewees seem to agree that he had left that lifestyle behind him.
• One man calling himself a former "good friend" of Jobs said that the Apple founder is "basically … honest and trustworthy," but that "his moral character is suspect." Jobs, the man continued, "alienated a large number of people at Apple, as a result of his ambition."
• Another source did not want to discuss Jobs, due to "questions concerning his ethics and morality."

6 stores will be hit in protest of suppliers' treatment of workers

(NEWSER) - Consumers are planning to flock to one of a half-dozen Apple stores around the globe today—and not to wait in line for the latest gadget. Protests are set to hit "marquee locations" in Washington, DC; New York City, San Francisco, London, Sydney, and Bangalore. The gripe? The way Apple's foreign suppliers—particularly frequently-in-the-press Foxconn —treat their workers. CNN explains that the protests were born from two online petitions, one at Change.org (just shy of 200,000 signatures) and one at SumOfUs.org (about 57,000). More»

Eolas Technologies patent claims interactive web is its brainchild

(NEWSER) - A case is being tried in Tyler, Texas, this week that could determine the future of the Internet. On one side: The world's top web companies, including Google, Amazon, Yahoo, and Apple. On the other: A tiny company called Eolas Technologies that claims it patented the "interactive web." In its telling, a program by Chicago biologist Michael Doyle allowing doctors to view embryos, developed in 1993, was the first to allow users to interact with images in a browser, Wired explains. More»