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Foxconn confirmed on Friday that it has raised wages for its factory workers by 16% to 25%, Reuters reports. The original device manufacturer, which is the No.1 maker of Apple’s iPhones and iPads, has raised wages to 1,800 yuan ($285) per month and may again raise them above 2,200 yuan ($349) for workers who pass a technical examination. In comparison, pay three years ago was 900 yuan ($143) per month. “As a top manufacturing company in China, the basic salary of junior workers in all of Foxconn’s China factories is already far higher than the minimum wage set by all local governments,” the company said in a statement. Foxconn has come under fire on numerous occasions due to allegations of poor working conditions, however the company is working to improve. “We will provide more training opportunities and learning time, and will continuously enhance technology, efficiency and salary, so as to set a good example for the Chinese manufacturing industry,” a company spokesperson said. Foxconn’s announcement comes on the heel of the Fair Labor Association’s preliminary assessment of the company’s plants, which are said to have conditions that are better than most.

Google and other leading advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of unknowing Safari users, reports the Wall Street Journal. Using “a special code,†the companies were able to bypass the browser’s privacy restrictions and install cookies on a user’s computer, even when such actions were supposed to be blocked. Companies such as Google use cookies to track browsing habits across websites that it places advertisements on. Apple’s Safari Web browser blocks these third-party cookies by default, only allowing them on a website that a user directly interacts with. Read on for more.

Apple on Thursday unveiled the next major version of its desktop operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The new operating system for Mac desktops and notebooks will feature a wide range of changes from new apps to redesigned visual elements, but one of the most highly anticipated features Apple unveiled was iMessage integration thanks to a new Messages app that will replace iChat. Apple released a beta of its Messages app to users running OS X 10.7.3 Lion, but French blog Consomac on Friday discovered that Lion users will only have access to the new app during the beta period. “Thank you for participating in the Messages Beta program. With the inclusion of Messages in OS X Mountain Lion, the Messages Beta program has ended,” a text string within the app’s resource files states. “To continue using Messages, please visit the Mac App Store and purchase OS X Mountain Lion.” Apple’s OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion upgrade will be available this summer for what will likely be a $29 fee, but a number of recent Intel-based Macs will not support the new OS, so these users will not have access to Apple’s new Messages app.

Apple posted the most profitable quarter ever among technology companies to close out 2011 and according to a number of industry analysts, the Cupertino-based company is on track for another huge quarter to kick off the new year. Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron on Friday raised his price target on shares of Apple stock to $570 from his earlier target of $510, maintaining his Outperform rating. Though Apple managed to ship a record number of iPhones and iPad tablets in its first fiscal quarter — more than 37 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPads —the analyst believes the market is anything but saturated. During Apple’s second fiscal quarter, Kidron sees the company selling 31 million iPhones and 11 million iPads into channels, which would ensure yet another huge quarter for the world’s most valuable company. “The iPhone 4S is consistently the most sought after phone at all three carriers in the U.S. based on our store checks,” Kidron wrote in a note to investors, according to Barron’s. ”International demand also looks good with ample room to expand, particularly in China.” Apple recently lost smartphone share in China for the second straight quarter according to Gartner.

The Fair Labor Association has uncovered a number of issues that need to be addressed at a Foxconn’s Shenzhen factory, reports Bloomberg. “We’re finding tons of issues,†FLA chief executive officer Auret van Heerden said after a multi-day inspection of the plant. “I believe we’re going to see some very significant announcements in the near future.†On Wednesday, however, the FLA’s preliminary assessment stated that the company’s plants had conditions that were better than most. “The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm,†van Heerden previously said. “I was very surprised when I walked onto the floor at Foxconn, how tranquil it is compared with a garment factory. So the problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory. It’s more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps.â€Â The FLA plans to release more information regarding its inspection in the coming weeks.

Following various leaks and rumors, it has been widely speculated that Apple’s next generation iPad will feature a new high-resolution display. Now, using a purported iPad 3 display that was examine under a microscope, MacRumors has confirmed everyone’s suspicions: the iPad 3 will have an ultra-high resolution Retina Display. The iPad 3 display is the same 9.7-inch size as the panel used on its predecessor and looks similar to the naked eye. When compared under a microscope, however, the iPad 3 display’s pixels appeared to be one-quarter the size of those on the iPad 2. The next-generation iPad is rumored to be equipped with a new quad-core A6 processor, 4G LTE, better cameras and a larger battery, and Apple is expected to announce the slate on March 7th. An image comparing the iPad 2 and iPad 3′s displays under a microscope can be found after the break.

Amazon is reportedly preparing to launch a follow up to the company’s wildly successful Kindle Fire. The specs have not yet been finalized, however Amazon is expected to deliver samples to manufacturers by March, according to the China Times. The publication states that a 10-inch OEM device from Foxconn could be the final product. The report comes just after Pacific Crest analyst Chad Bartley claimed that Amazon plans to release an updated 7-inch tablet and a brand new 9-inch slate in mid-2012. BGR exclusively reported last May that Amazon was working on a 10-inch tablet, although a later report would suggest that Amazon was focusing on launching a new 8.9-inch device first. The next-generation Kindle Fire is expected to launch by the end of the second quarter.

Rovio on Friday teased the next frontier for the company’s massive Angry Birds franchise. The fourth major Birds release will be called “Angry Birds Space” and is scheduled to land on mobile devices on March 22nd. In the newest edition, users will be flinging birds on zero gravity planets with new gameplay features such as slow-motion and lightspeed destruction, according to Yahoo Games. ”We think fans are really going to love it because we’ve already gotten amazing feedback on the physics of our games,” said Rovio’s GM of North America Andrew Stalbow. “They’re so accurate and easy to grasp that some teachers use Angry Birds in their lessons about projectile motion.” Rovio has confirmed that the game will have completely new birds along with some originals, who now possess various super powers. Since debuting in 2009, the franchise has been downloaded over 700 million times on iOS and Android alone. Read on for a video teaser from Rovio.

Rumors surrounding a possible Facebook phone have been swirling for years, and the social networking giant has repeatedly denied reports that it is planning to launch an own-brand handset. While a number of industry watchers thought the company would fare well with a Facebook phone, a recent survey suggests that consumers are largely uninterested in a Facebook-branded smartphone. Baird Equity recently surveyed 875 consumers and found that just 12% said they were “very interested” or at least “interested” in a Facebook phone while 73% said they were “probably not interested” or “not interested.” Meanwhile more than 40% of those polled said they were either “very interested” or “interested” in a smartphone from retail giant Amazon, and 29% weren’t interested. Amazon has been rumored on several occasions to have a smartphone in the works. With consumer interest in an Amazon smartphone at a seemingly healthy level and Kindle Fire adoption having exploded last quarter, 2012 could be a good year for the retailer to enter the smartphone space. A table showing Baird’s findings follows below.

Apple on Friday initiated a countdown to 25 billion iTunes App Store downloads. The running total currently sits just under 24.3 billion downloads and Apple is offering a prize to the user who downloads the 25 billionth application. “As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks,” Apple wrote on its website. “Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card. Just visit the App Store and download your best app yet.” Apple’s iOS App Store opened its doors in July 2008 alongside the launch of the iPhone 3G, and the company would later launch the Mac App Store in October 2010.

HTC on Friday announced via the company’s Facebook page that the Thunderbolt, Rhyme and DROID Incredible 2 will all be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. “We have more good news related to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, and can confirm that upgrades are planned for Verizon Wireless customers with the HTC Rhyme, HTC Thunderbolt, and DROID Incredible 2 by HTC, as well as the already announced HTC Rezound,” the company posted on its Facebook page. Earlier reports excluded these devices, among others, and it is nice to see a company including earlier models in its list of devices that will receive the highly anticipated update. HTC also announced that the Raider will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update for Rogers and Bell in Canada. No information is available regarding a release schedule, however the company promises “more news on Ice Cream Sandwich releases in the coming weeks.”

Earlier this month, images of the next-generation ASUS Eee Pad Transformer tablet leaked onto the Internet. The slate’s “TF300T†code name was in line with the original naming convention used on the Transformer (TF101) and the Transformer Prime (TF201), indicating it was next in line in the Transformer family. According to a purported screenshot of the tablet’s spec sheet obtained by Polish site Tabletowo, the TF300T is will feature a 1.2GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with a 10.1-inch 1200 x 800-pixel IPS display and 1GB of RAM. The slate will also come equipped with 16GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera (no flash), a 1.2-megapixel front facing, a microSD slot and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Oddly enough, the device is both heavier and thicker than the Transformer Prime, measuring 9.9 millimeters and weighing 640 grams. The Polish site’s leaked document also indicates that the new high-resolution Prime will be equipped with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060A processor clocked at 1.5GHz, rather than the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3. ASUS is expected to reveal its new Transformer tablet at this month’s Mobile World Congress trade show. Tabletowo’s screenshot follows below.

Apple unveiled the next major release of its OS X desktop operating system on Thursday, giving the world a rare early look at what the company has in store for Mac computer users this summer. A revamped Messages app with iMessage integration, the Notification Center and enhanced iCloud integration are among the exciting new features users can look forward to in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Apple loves naming versions of its desktop platform after jungle cats, of course, so Apple deal-hunter DealMac decided to line up the technology giant’s new OS against its namesake. This tale of the tape is definitely good for a few laughs, and a link to the full comparison follows after the break.

Apple deviated from its standard closed-door approach to unveiling new software earlier this week and gave a number of media outlets early access to an upcoming version of its OS X operating system for Macs. Apple’s OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will launch this summer, featuring a wide range of enhancements that will see Apple’s desktop platform look and behave more like its mobile platform. Executives from the Cupertino, California-based technology giant even met with reporters personally to demonstrate the new software, perhaps in an effort to help foster the same type of enthusiasm for OS X that iOS enjoys. During one such meeting with The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook shed some light on the PC industry from Apple’s point of view. Read on for more.