By Rebecca Seel 1/29 9:15am

I Tumbl For You

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Petition for Tumblr to Stop ‘Alienating Their Entire Userbase’ Gets More Than 18,000 Signatures

Late last week, David Karp announced a number of changes to Tumblr triumphantly billed as “An upgrade, years in the making…” In order to make room for “BIG new” features, such as customizable drag-and-drop photoset creation, faster uploads, and inline reblogging, he said, “we’ve reduced creation on Tumblr to its essence, while carrying over every single feature.”

But a number of Tumblr users–more than 18,000 of them, in fact–don’t see the change as an improvement. They’ve signed a petition on Change.org–a platform more typically used to advocate for social justice–to “Undo the 1/24/2013 update that screwed up the posting procedure.” Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 2/09/12 9:11am

Apple in Your Eye

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Apple Protest Over Conditions at Foxconn Planned for Grand Central Terminal at 10 AM Today

Consumer groups are planning to protest Apple stores this morning in the wake of The New York Times explosive investigation into working conditions at Foxconn, Apple’s primary manufacturer. We’re curious what took everyone so long, considering Wired magazine’s similarly eye-opening feature about Foxconn came out almost a year prior. (Perhaps they wanted to see whether that iPhone 4S was going to be 4G?) But regardless, blood iPhones are the new Nike sweatshops and people are thinking about the hidden costs of coveted objects again.

Leading the charge are the lobbying group SumOfUs and social activism site Change.org. As part of the effort, they’re staging a protest at 10 am today outside the gleaming crown jewel in Apple’s retail empire: its new store inside Grand Central Terminal. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 1/25/12 10:36am

Please Retweet

(twitter.com/echriqui)

We Must Stop the Trade in Blood iPhones

Actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, star of the HBO show Entourage and self-described “actor/activist,” just announced her support for the campaign on Change.org calling on Apple to make products with conflict-free minerals sourced from Eastern Congo. The petition has more than 56,000 e-signatures, but Apple is already orchestrating its own efforts: the company just released a sustainability report identifying the conflict minerals, tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold, and their origins. Read More