There have been some stories in recent weeks suggesting that Apple is readying an all-new iPhone 5 for introduction at the WWDC this June. This is the "real" iPhone upgrade that so many industry pundits suggested Apple would deliver last October, only Apple doesn't operate by the same timetable they do. To them, the iPhone 4S, which looked the same as the iPhone 4, must therefore have been an unsatisfactory upgrade.

Well, the public clearly doesn't pay attention to industry pundits. They certainly don't pay attention to me, and I don't expect them to. Instead, they looked at the value proposition of the iPhone 4S, compared the specs and the look and feel to those dozens of other smartphones, and decided to go (or stick with) Apple.

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There was an article this week that proclaimed so-called "Ultrabooks" as "The Next Big Thing in Portable Tech," as if such products are brand new and thoroughly innovative. Such stories were inspired by the pomp and circumstance of the presentations of these thin and light notebooks during the recent Consumer Electronics Show.

In case you didn't know there's an "Ultrabook craze" happening right now. It's the alternative to tablets that might appeal to people for whom such gadgets as the iPad aren't sufficient for their needs.

Unfortunately, the people who believe that the Ultrabook is something new and different seem to be living in a time warp, since such a product has been out since 2010, only it first came from Apple in the form of the MacBook Air.

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When Apple released a totally new version of Final Cut Pro last spring, at a bargain basement price of $299.99, a frightening number of video editing professionals howled. How dare Apple destroy their work tool in order to expand the market to consumers?

This unfortunate decision struck many as similar to what Apple did when they totally overhauled iMovie several years ago. As with that switchover, critical features that loyal users depended on were lost, with only vague promises that some might return in a future update. You couldn't even import projects from the previous version, Final Cut Pro 7.

A blog from Danny Greer summarizes the worst of Apple's lapses in reinventing FCP. Apple clearly was tone deaf about the potential impact, because they stopped selling the previous version, so customers who couldn't wait for FCP X to be fixed would still be able to purchase a version that would suit their needs.

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So the headlines loom large and threatening in the U.S.'s newspaper of record, The New York Times. Workers at Apple's contract factories, particularly those owned by Foxconn Technology of China, are little more than slaves existing in unsafe conditions. They may suffer injuries and possibly commit suicide because the are forced to work hard day in and day out with little rest or relaxation. Indeed, they have to live in dormitories, not apartments or regular homes.

Now America's image of the factory worker is cemented in the 1950s. People who worked in steel mills and auto plants were relatively comfortable citizens of the middle class. They were able to earn enough money to buy a modest home and, perhaps, even save a little to help send their kids of to college. That way, the next generation could use their minds instead of their hands to earn a paycheck. What's more, two-income families weren't always necessary to help cover the mortgage and pay for food. Extra income from a second job would help cover family vacations and luxuries, perhaps even a new car or TV set.

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