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Friday
Jul162010

AnandTech avoids the current trend, continues to report on iPhone 4 antenna "issue" with real analysis.

Gotta love the guys over at AnandTech. During this ridiculous trend of "piling on" from many of the news sources & blogs, AnadTech has been consistently looking at this "issue" with a keen analytical eye and have conducted some of the best testing I've seen anyone report (including Consumer Reports).

This follow-up post from them just goes to show that this issue has been blown-up larger than it really is due to a faulty signal level indicator, which leads people to believe that they are loosing more signal than they really are when holding the iPhone with the ridiculously named "death grip". Is it an issue? Well, people can definitely make the antenna attenuate by holding it a certain way. But overall, the iPhone 4's antenna design has been leading to better reception for most users. This is based on a full week of reading numerous blog posts from actual users who are now claiming that they are receiving calls where they were unable to receive them before with previous phones.

I, like everyone else, am looking forward to how Apple will handle this issue. But I hope more people will make an effort to read AnadTech's post and get a better idea of exactly how much of an issue this really has turned out to be. The iPhone 4 is flat out the best iPhone released to date, with better reception, an industry-leading screen, and much more speed. It would be a shame if this issue ended up distracting everyone from all of the benefits of owning the phone. The "Pros" definitely outweigh the "Cons".

 

Check out AnadTech's post here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3821/iphone-4-redux-analyzing-apples-ios-41-signal-fix

Monday
Jul122010

Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer hypes Windows 7-based slates, makes no mention of HP when touting partners.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNN1217743120100712?rpc=44 At Microsoft's annual partner conference in Washington, D.C. today, CEO Steve Balmer stressed that Windows 7-based "slate" devices are one of the most important things that his company will do this year. According to the Reuters article credited above: “This year, one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates,” said Ballmer. “This is a terribly important area for us.” He then went on to list the partners who have plans to release Windows 7-based tablet devices this year, mentioning Acer Inc, Dell Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Toshiba Corp, Sony Corp and several other PC makers. But he failed to mention Microsoft's largest partner by far -- HP. Was this an unlikely oversight, or could it be that HP has elected to pass on using a desktop OS from Microsoft and instead has chosen to pursue tablets running their recently acquired WebOS. For years, tablets running a desktop OS have failed to attract customers beyond a small niche group. This has been primarily due to the fact that a desktop OS is not ideally suited for a touch interface.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
May262010

It's the end of the world as we know it... and Apple feels fine.

The inevitable has happened. Apple has officially overtaken Microsoft in market capitalization, becoming the world's largest tech company.

Via AppleInsider:


Apple's market capitalization hit $222 billion on Wednesday, leaving it ahead of rival Microsoft as the largest technology company in the world when the closing bell rang on Wall Street.

The dethroning of Microsoft now makes Apple -- for now -- the second largest American company, behind only Exxon-Mobil. Apple has a ways to go to catch the oil giant, which has a market capitalization of nearly $280 billion.


Microsoft is in dire need of fresh blood with new ideas about how to compete in markets that would give them room for growth. And by the way, shoving Windows 7 on tablet devices is NOT the way to do it. I hear 2 positions opened up recently!

Of course, market capitalization doesn't tell the whole story. But it definitely proves one thing...


"The times, they are a-changin'."

- Bob Dylan


Full story via AppleInsider HERE.

Monday
Apr262010

And so it begins: California authorities seize the computers of Gizmodo editor.

This was bound to happen. And now it has.

Jason Chen's computers, servers, and other equipment was seized by authorities with a felony warrant last week. According to AppleInsider, Chen and his wife were not home during the seize but later came home while it was in process. Chen was not arrested.

This has been expected after the much hyped story of Gizmodo's acquisition of a prototype iPhone. The phone was purchased for $5000 from an individual who came to possess it after an Apple engineer lost it in a German bar.

This whole story has stunk to high heaven of shady journalism and blatant illegal activity on the part of Gizmodo and the individual who sold them the stolen phone. I use the phrase "stolen", because the individual (and Gizmodo) did nothing to return the phone to the rightful owner. And purchasing a prototype that is so obviously the property of a company from a shady individual who was looking to turn a buck is inexcusable...and ILLEGAL!

This is the tech story that keeps on giving. Personally, I have deleted my Gizmodo bookmarks, unsubscribed from their RSS feed, and am now using Engadget as my gadget fetish blog. I recommend others do the same if they value quality blogging, the cannons of journalism, and the law.

Full Story: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/26/california_authorities_seize_computers_of_gizmodo_editor.html

Friday
Apr232010

Well said: John Gruber's post on "Gizmodo and the Prototype iPhone"

John Gruber has posted a well-researched analysis of the recent Gizmodo Lost iPhone story that has been the talk of the tech industry this week. I am referencing Gruber's post because it perfectly reflects my views on the whole situation, especially the point about Gizmodo's "dick move to end all dick moves".

I lost much respect for Gizmodo and Gawker Media this past week and will refer to Engadget's more professional approach to gadget blogging from this point forward.

This is a must-read. Well said, John. Well said.

http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/gizmodo_prototype_iphone