An iNflection Point?

Many US schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks - Yahoo! Finance: "For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.

A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky texts.

While iPads have rocketed to popularity on many college campuses since Apple Inc. introduced the device in spring 2010, many public secondary schools this fall will move away from textbooks in favor of the lightweight tablet computers."

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Treating workers with dignity and respect, but overworking them at minimum wage

Group Criticizes Apple’s Environmental Record in China - NYTimes.com: "The report, which the group said was based on visits to many of the factories’ regions, said that factories that the group suspected were Apple suppliers often “fail to properly dispose of hazardous waste” and that 27 of the suppliers had been found to have environmental problems.

An Apple spokesman said Wednesday that the company had been aggressively monitoring factories in its supply chain with regular audits.

“Apple is committed to driving the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply chain,” said Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, which is based in Cupertino, Calif.

He added: “We require that our supplier provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.”"

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Obama- Caught in the (Re)Public(an) Smog

Obama halts tighter smog standards - US news - Environment - msnbc.com: "President Barack Obama on Friday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to shelve a proposal to tighten smog standards.
"I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover," Obama said in a statement announcing the order.
Environmental activists immediately pounced on the move as a retreat by a weakened Obama administration trying to cut deals with Republicans in Congress. And the American Lung Association vowed to fight the move in court.
The withdrawal of the proposed rule comes two days after the White House, at the request of Republicans, identified seven such regulations that it promised to review after finding each would cost industry at least $1 billion."

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att-plays-jobs-card-obama-marketwatch: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

att-plays-jobs-card-obama-marketwatch: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance: Did AT&T Corp. really think that its 11th-hour offer to bring 5,000 wireless call-center jobs back to the U.S. if its $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA was approved would work?

Probably not, but it was worth a shot. A government so hobbled by the lack of jobs created since the financial crisis might consider anything if it could boost payrolls, even allowing a massive mobile telecom deal envisioned by AT&T Inc. (T - News) and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.DE - News)."