I’ll admit that it came as a bit of a shock to learn that 79 slaves are apparently working on my behalf around the world.

That’s the number that Slaveryfootprint.org – a website that tracks the forced and unpaid labour that goes into producing the things we take for granted – conservatively estimates have toiled to produce the raw materials used to make my clothes and food to my car, bike and the iPad I’m writing this on.

Slaveryfootprint uses a general survey to chart the type and quantity of products you use and the type of food you eat and produces results based on the number of exploited workers it knows are used to produce those type of goods. Most of the slavery occurs way down the supply chain in the mines, fields and factories that produce or process the raw materials that go into making your jeans, morning latte or your smartphone.

Most of my “slaves” appear to be in China as clothing and gadgets figure more prominently in my results. Many of China’s 150 million migrant workers toil illegally in mines and kilns producing everything from silicon, silk and silver to pearls, pig iron and polyester.

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Posted: November 11, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Help me grow a MO!

Posted: November 1, 2011 in Bermuda

Starting today I will be growing a moustache in aid of Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre’s MOvember fundraiser for Men’s Health Month. I’m aiming to raise $5,000 by end of November in memory of my father-in-law, who passed away recently.

Above are how I might look with a classy MO! Post a comment on my Facebook page for which idiotic facial hair you’d like to see me with – but only if you pledge your support! I’ll do my best to cultivate the favourite!
Donations gratefully received at my MOpage: http://www.cancer.bm/event-fundraisers/5431. Make sure you “Like” the official MOvember Facebook page too.
Thanks!

Death of a visionary

Posted: October 6, 2011 in Apple, Mac
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We all knew he had serious health problems. The absences, resignation as CEO and his increasingly gaunt appearance told their own story. But I don’t think any of us expected Steve Jobs to die now. Not at 56.

His legacy not only as a business leader and a technologist but also as a major influence on popular culture is without question.

I never met the man but his DNA is everywhere in my life.  I am writing this on the iMac I work on every day. I rarely go anywhere without my iPhone. Every member of our family has an iPod of some description and one is usually jacked into the car stereo. We have MacBooks and Mac Minis. We download movies every week on Apple TV. The iPad goes with us on every trip.

Millions of others will have a similar inventory of Apple products they never knew they needed but now can’t live without. We’re not all myopic Apple fanboys – we buy the products for the simple reason that they are well-made, innovative and intuitive to use. You just don’t sell more than 28 million iPads [at June 2011] if it isn’t any good.

Jobs and Apple did not invent the personal computer, the MP3 music player, the mobile phone or the table PC. Jobs’ genius – and there is no question that he drove Apple’s transformation over the last 10-15 years – was to redefine what those devices looked like and how they functioned. So radical and successful has this been that the very names – iPod, iPhone and iPad – have become synonymous with those market segments and rivals stumble over themselves to copy and catch up. To do that in one industry segment (Blackberry, Hoover, Sellotape, for example) is an achievement. To do it across three is astonishing.

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