safety

Apple has severed its relationship with a China-based third-party labor supplier after discovering a conspiracy to employ dozens of underage workers there, Apple reported in its latest Supplier Responsibility report, which was released this evening.

The iPhone maker said it discovered the violations during an audit of the supplier, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics (PZ). In addition, Apple reported the labor agency that knowingly provided the child labor to PZ to local authorizes.

The agency, which allegedly conspired with the children's families to falsify age-verification documents, had its license suspended and was levied a fine.

"The children were … Read more

Norovirus is a particularly nasty virus that causes severe gastrointestinal upset. It's famous for turning cruises into nightmares. It's a tough little number that spreads easily and is hard to kill. To study it, you can't just ask a bunch of sick people to pop down to the lab and vomit on demand. That's where a robot nicknamed Vomiting Larry comes in.

Larry is a one-robot upchucking machine in residence at the Health & Safety Laboratory in Buxton, U.K. He's an anatomically correct model and his favorite hobby is barfing for science. He helps scientists determine how far the norovirus can spread. … Read more

Thirteen cars earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) new Top Safety Pick Plus award, while another 117 vehicles were named as Top Safety Picks. Top Safety Pick Plus winners included such cars as the Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, and Volkswagen Passat.

To earn the Top Safety Pick Plus award, cars must get the top rating of Good in four of five crash tests, while achieving at least Acceptable in a fifth test. The IIHS recently added the Small Overlap Frontal crash test, and has only subjected 29 cars to it, which limited the pool of … Read more

Your car's tires are, simply put, the most important bit of equipment on your car; they are literally where the rubber meets the road, and keeping them in their best condition is paramount in maintaining your vehicle's performance and safety. Tires are a consumable part that eventually wears out, but it can be difficult to tell how worn a tire is simply by looking at it. Designers Gao Fenglin and Zhou Buyi hope that their Discolor Tyre concept can help with that.

The Discolor Tyre is a conceptual tire design that looks like your average black rubber tire, but features a layer of bright-orange rubber that is molded and embedded within.

When the tire has worn down to the legal minimum level (after about 20,000 km or 12,400 miles) that orange rubber is exposed and can be easily seen from curbside by the driver. When you see orange, then it's time to replace the tire. It sounds simple, yet effective.… Read more

Here's another signal that might be pointing to a BlackBerry swan song -- the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is ditching the device for Apple's iPhone 5. This is the latest in a growing number of government agencies that have turned their backs on the mobile phone.

The government agency announced its plan in a government filing last week, according to Bloomberg. The reason it gave for dropping the phone is that it is not reliable.

BlackBerry devices have been "failing both at inopportune times and at an unacceptable rate," the NTSB wrote, according to … Read more

Parents are more worried about advertisers having access to their children's online data than about their children talking to strangers online, according to a report published today.

The Pew Internet Project and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University collaborated on the report, which is based on a survey if 802 parents of children aged 12 to 17 with questions about social-networking sites, namely Facebook. As more and more teens and pre-teens use social media as a part of their every day communications , the study finds that parents worried about a variety of online dangers -- … Read more

If you've ever lost track of your child or an elderly relative, it's hard to forget the panic of not knowing where he or she is. This GPS watch is designed to help prevent your loved ones from going missing.

Besides telling the time, the Leo wristwatch from Guardian Lion Wireless is also a phone, GPS locator, and 911 panic button. It can be used as a tracking device to find your wayward child or older relative with dementia.

As an option, the titanium strap can be locked. It has a tamper alert, so you'll know if anyone tries to take the watch off. A criminal would need bolt cutters to remove it. … Read more

Tor Browser Bundle for Mac is a package that installs and manages the Tor project software on your Mac. Tor allows you to hide your identity and prevent IP address-tracking back to your device. The Tor Browser Bundle for Mac comprises a number of files, but it's easy enough to install.

Tor uses a set of servers around the world, most maintained by individuals, that reroute your URL request through two, three, or more different servers in an attempt to make your path from your Mac to the destination URL difficult to track back. Each hop in the Tor … Read more

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast, it's time to start thinking about your safety -- and that means stocking up on helpful apps.

First up, turn your iDevice into a flashlight. CNET's Lance Whitney just rounded up flashlight apps for the iPhone, which could prove to be the handiest thing you install all day.

Next, keep up on the latest hurricane news and warnings -- at least while there's still power to nearby cell towers. Kitty Code's Hurricane, one of the top-rated hurricane trackers in the App Store, features everything from animated satellite … Read more