An 83-year-old Queens woman is suing Apple for negligence, claiming that the glass doors at the company's retail stores are a danger to the elderly.

Evelyn Paswall collided with one of the doors at the Manhasset, Long Island, NY Apple Store, breaking her nose. She's now seeking $1,000,000 from Apple.

Paswall's attorney, Derek T. Smith, told the New York Post that "Apple wants to be cool and modern and have the type of architecture that would appeal to the tech crowd, but on the other hand, they have to appreciate the danger that this high-tech modern architecture poses to some people."

Apple hasn't commented on the lawsuit, but the glass doors at the Manhasset Apple Store are now equipped with "warning strips" to make them easier to see.

[cbs]

Apple isn't the only big U.S. tech company whose retail stores are being copied by Chinese entrepreneurs. A fake Google Android store has apparently opened for business in Zhuhai, China, billing itself as a "celebrity smartphone experience" store.

Two things worth noting about the faux-Android outlet: First, Google hasn't opened any Android-branded retail stores, save an experimental "Androidland" partnership with Australian mobile provider Telstra.

And second, this ostensible Android shop has a fake Apple kiosk inside, which is guaranteed to raise the eyebrows of both iOS and Android fanboys.

Considering how quickly fake Apple stores are shut down once photos hit the web, this Android kiosk may not be around much longer.

[engadget]

Although "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" performer Mike Daisey admitted last week that he made up reports that he saw child workers and guards with guns at the factories of Apple's Chinese manufacturing partner, Foxconn, working conditions at the company are still being watched closely.

According to a spokesman for the workers' rights group China Labor Bulletin, the workers who make iPads and iPhones still face long hours, abusive management, and unsafe working conditions, even after Apple allowed independent inspections of Foxconn plants.

"All those things are very much in place. I don't think there's been any alleviation in the past few months. I don't think Foxconn's done anything, really," he said.

Foxconn says that even though This American Life retracted Daisey's piece, the company's "corporate image has been totally ruined" by his allegations. Despite that claim, Foxconn isn't considering legal action.

Meanwhile, Daisey says that the admitted fabrications in his story don't invalidate his basic message about the poor conditions under which our iDevices are made remains true. On his blog, he promised to "make a full accounting" of his monologue's "origins, construction, and details."

"If people want to use me as an excuse to return to denialism about the state of our manufacturing, about the shape of our world, they are doing that to themselves," he wrote.

[reuters / mikedaisey]

Apple held a press conference this morning to announce what it intends to do with some of its $98 billion in cash, and the plan starts with a quarterly dividend for shareholders and a $10 billion share repurchase program.

The quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share kicks off in Q4 2012, which begins in July, and Apple will begin buying back its shares in September. The combination of the two measures is expected to use up $45 billion of Apple's cash reserve over the next three years.

According to a press release, the stock repurchase program is meant to help prevent dilution from any future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs Apple may want to launch.

"We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead," said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer.

With the new iPad having what Oppenheimer called "a record weekend" for the company, it sounds like he's got good reason to be confident.

Now, how much cash does Apple have to amass before they decide to build us a hoverboard?

[macrumors]

This American Life has just released its latest episode, where host Ira Glass confronts Mike Daisey about lies in Daisey's now-retracted report about working conditions at Apple manufacturer Foxconn, which aired on TAL in January.

In the episode, Glass explained the reasoning behind the retraction thusly:

As best as we can tell, Mike's monologue in reality is a mix of things that actually happened when he visited China and things that he just heard about or researched, which he then pretends that he witnessed first hand… And the most powerful and memorable moments in the story all seem to be fabricated.

Daisey's defense was that his monologue, "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," is "true in the context of the theatre," which Glass felt was "a really hedgy answer."

Also appearing on the show was Marketplace reporter Rob Schmitz, who explained how he confirmed the fabrications in the Apple story by tracking down the interpreter who accompanied Daisey on his factory visits.

Glass concluded the discussion by saying that, although Daisey shouldn't have lied to This American Life's fact-checkers, the show also shouldn't have run the episode before checking Daisey's story with the interpreter.

The full transcript and audio of the full show are available at This American Life's website.

[theverge]

This American Life has retracted a January piece about the working conditions at Foxconn, the Chinese company that assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, after learning that it "contained significant fabrications."

In a blog post, TAL host Ira Glass explains that the piece in question an excerpt from Mike Daisey's acclaimed one-man stage show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," and that TAL "can't vouch for its truth."

This American Life's website now lists an upcoming episode where Glass "talks with Mike Daisey about why he misled This American Life during the fact-checking process," and the show ends by "separating fact from fiction, when it comes to Apple's manufacturing practices in China."

Daisey has responded to the retraction in a post on his blog, writing, "What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism. For this reason, I regret that I allowed This American Life to air an excerpt from my monologue."

The retracted show has been pulled from TAL's website, but it's still available elsewhere online.

The followup episode airs today, and it will be available online Sunday evening.

[kottke]

Another new Apple product released, another sighting of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak first in line to get one.

Technically, Woz's wife was first when they showed up to an L.A. Apple Store around noon yesterday -- expecting the kind of lines they normally see in San Francisco, no doubt -- but we'll let him slide this time.

[mashable]