Steve Jobs created quite the empire with Apple. But could it have gone a little too far in Chengdu, China? At one of the factories where iPad's are assembled, an explosion killed two and wounded over ten workers over the weekend.

It has always been known that labor conditions are rough in the Eastern nations but the NY Times exposed alarming facts regarding workers treatment. On top of safety problems within the factory, the employees worked overtime, stood so long their legs swelled, lived in dorms in poor conditions, and were forced to used hazardous chemicals to clean to products.

Apple was warned of conditions before the explosion. The company has a supplier code of contract that made some improvements within their factories. But a lot of problems still remain. 

Yet factories jump at the chance to get involved with the billion dollar company. The sub-company that runs any factory creating Apple products grows in worth by millions. 

Tee shirts, vehicles, kid toys, and many other things in our daily lives are also made in less than ideal conditions. It is pretty impossible to avoid all sweatshop labor but you can take some steps to avoid the cruelty.

We all love our Apple gadgets so let's bring back the positivity with a Timeflies tuesday throwback.