'Antenna gate, what stinking antenna gate', seems to be the conclusion of Norway's largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, after recently conducting thorough tests of the iPhone 4, and as reported by AppleInsider.
According to the newspaper,' antenna gate must be some kind of U.S. problem' because they could find no real issues with the iPhone 4 and its so-called "Death Grip". They also concluded that the iPhone 4 was just as good as any of the competition, and was certainly no worse than any of the HTC and Nokia models which they pitted against it. The tests were done in a remote section of northern Norway and they noted that all of the models exhibited some kind of signal drop when held a certain way, but all of the phone were able to sustain conversations.
Even though the paper found that the iPhone 4's call quality was a little less than the others, the iPhone 4 itself was much better when it came to data services such as rendering web pages and it was the only model that 'was close to having a stable connection,' successfully pulling up a page where the other models reported no service.'
In conclusion, and as far as I'm concerned, VG's extensive research and reporting only helps to confirm, as Jobs and many others have asserted, the antenna gate is a non-issue and was being completely overblown by the media in hopes of garnering greater numbers of hits and Apple's competition trying to take advantage of the situation. In other words, when it comes to antenna gate: case closed!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, July 30, 2010
UPDATE: AppleInsider is now also reporting that another newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, one of Australia's largest, is now also reporting that they found NO RECEPTION ISSUE"S either with the new iPhone 4! Over all, the large Autralian newspaper gave a glowing review of the new iPhone 4 as it makes its way into Australia, Canada and over a dozen other countries today.
When it was discovered that Apple had a kill switch all hell exploded in the media. The media and all of the Android fan boys made a big deal of the situation, and took the opportunity to shout from the roof top about the superiority of their open source, idea and patent stealing platform really was over that of Apple's so called propriety and close system.
When it was discovered, however, that Google's Android also had a kill switch it was reported, but it hardly caused what I would call a media flurry. I also knew that Android fans and the media wouldn't make too much of a deal that some 20% of all Android apps were able to access your private data either, or that it's also plagued by bloat and crap ware.
Well, as bad as all that might seem, it has now been learned that anywhere from one million to over four million Android users may have had their security compromised recently by a Chinese website (www.imnet.us). While people thought that they were simply downloading some nice wallpapers, their private details, including texts, voicemail passwords and SIM card info, were being systematically sent to far away China for who knows what fiendish purposes!
Well, you can say all you will about Apple's so called draconian App Store policies, but they do at least help it to better protect its users from all of the above scourges. When it comes to Apple, for some people the fly-in-the-eye is that Apple not only deletes spyware, trojans and other such malicious apps, but also their right to morally decide for themselves what is right or wrong. Apparently, they don't seem to care about protecting the the 70% of iPod Touch users who are mere children 17 years old and under! Apparently, these people believe that six, seven or eight year old boys and girls are morally able to judge what is right or what is wrong!
Even though I think that there is definitely a lot to like about open source platforms like Android, there is one big fly-in-the-ointment..... anybody, and I mean anybody is free to add anything that they want behind your back. That, unfortunately, includes all of the bad guys and girls out there who have free and open access to the inner workings of Android and other open source projects, enabling them in the process to more easily infect said platforms. In fact, most of the security risks that Apple faces comes not from its software but from the open source aspects that it incorporates into its own!
Yes, in conclusion, I think that Android is still a great platform, so don't get me wrong. However, just like other Linux and open source initiatives it's a little too open for me, all of which is backed upped by the recent Chinese incident and the other problems listed above.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, July 29, 2010
Costa Coffee recently did an interesting poll to see what people thought where the top 100 coolest things in the world.
At the top of the list:
The iPhone!
Interestingly enough, as you can see in the list below, was what many deem to be nothing but an oversized iPhone, the iPod Touch, came in at number 17. This I find somewhat strange.
Their top 100 coolest things on the planet:
1. iPhone
2. Apple
3. The internet
4. iPod
5. Aston Martin DB9
6. Cadbury's chocolate
7. Sky+
8. eBay
9. Mobile phones
10. Facebook
11. Google Earth
12. Audi R8
13. Coca-cola
14. GHD hair straightners
15. Bugatti Veyron
16. Nintendo Wii
17. iPad
18. Friends
19. Concorde
20. Television
21. Johnny Depp
22. New York City
23. YouTube
24. Northern Lights
25. Lego
26. James Bond
27. Mini Cooper
28. Plasma TVs
29. Top Gear
30. VW campervan
31. Glastonbury Festival
32. Dyson vacuum cleaner
33. David Beckham
34. The Simpsons
35. Boeing 747 400 jumbo jet
36. Converse All-Stars
37. Michael Jackson
38. The Beatles
39. Las Vegas
40. Jimi Hendrix
41. The Harry Potter series
42. Pulp Fiction
43. Sex and the City
44. Stonehenge
45. VW Beetle
46. Christian Louboutin shoes
47. Harrier Jump Jet
48. Cheryl Cole
49. Lamborghini Diablo
50. Primark
51. The Wonderbra
52. Ant and Dec
53. Quentin Tarantino
54. Clint Eastwood
55. Avatar
56. Chanel No 5
57. Bang and Olufsen Beolab Speakers
58. David Bowie
59. John Lennon
60. The A-Team
61. Ray Ban sunglasses
62. EastEnders
63. Glee
64. Barack Obama
65. Johnny Cash
66. Calvin Klein underwear
67. Times Square, New York
68. Beyonce
69. Spitfire
70. The Fonz
71. Elvis Presley
72. Ferrari Enzo
73. Harley Davidson motorbikes
74. The X-Factor
75. Dr Martin boots
76. Muhammad Ali
77. Sean Connery
78. Stilettos
79. James Dean
80. The Matrix
81. Frank Sinatra
82. The Twilight Saga
83. Blu-Ray
84. BMW X5
85. Abercrombie and Fitch
86. Topshop
87. Lost
88. Jack Nicholson
89. Jeremy Clarkson
90. Big Brother
91. Cosmopolitan cocktail
92. Diesel jeans
93. Michael Caine
94. Simon Cowell
95. Stevie Wonder
96. The Rolling Stones
97. Leather jackets
98. Dolce and Gabbana
99. Rolex watches
100. Rubix Cube
Apple itself, by the way, was considered after the iPhone to be the second coolest thing on the planet followed by the internet and iPod. The iPhone beat out all comers from the like of Aston Martin, the Lamborghini Diablo, the Simpsons, Sex and the City, Lego, Television, Google Earth and even the Wonderbra!
In conclusion, what more can I say... it beat Wonderbra for heaven's sake! A very special thanks to Newslite, a cool site where things that barely qualifies as news makes the news. I love it!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Well, looky, looky what we have here, in the above video. Yes, its exactly what it looks like, a really cool gaming case for the iPhone that gives it some extra retro gaming powers by adding some physical buttons and controls.
Its called the iPhone Game Pad and you can get the scoop here.
This clever case can allow a massive library of arcade and consoled games to be ported to the iPhone while not losing any of that old school interface that people have grown accustomed while growing up in the 80's and the 90's.
At this stage of the game, sadly, its still just a prototype and only designed to work on the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but, hopefully, if this thing ever takes off commercially and makes it to market, and I sure hope it does, then I'm also equally sure it will also be made compatible with the new iPhone 4 and the iPhone as well.
Depending on the price, providing its not too much, then I'm sure this cool little case will be making a big splash with all of those 17 and under kids that comprise over 70% of the iPod Touch market. I see kids now-a-days using and playing iPod Touch games just about everywhere I go these days and I'm sure that most of them would love to get their hands on one of these cool little gaming cases.
In conclusion, I think the iPhone Game Pad is one nifty idea that I hope will be perfected and selling like the proverbial hot cakes soon, so I give a special thanks to CultofMac and Obamba Pacman for bringing this to my attention.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Yes sir, and hot doggy, the new Apple Magic Track Pad has finally arrived to bring all of that MacBook Pro track pad goodness to the new and updated Mac Pro and new iMacs!
The Magic TrackPad is a $69 accessory that gives desktop Macs users essentially what MacBook Pro owners have been enjoying for some time now, although its a somewhat of an oversized version.
The updated iMacs are essentially the same as the ones that were just updated less then a year ago, but only faster! Gone are the old Duo Cores. Now, the the lowest spec iMac comes with with a 3.06 GHz Duo Core i3 - yeah baby! The ultimate iMac, the desktop swallowing 27 incher, can now be had with a four-core i7, screaming along at a blazing 2.93 GHz! Unfortunately, one highly anticipated upgrade, namely that of the inclusion of the newer version of USB 3.0 didn't quite happen this time around.
The Big Mac of the family, the Mac Pro, has essentially the same nice, but now some what time worn design that it has had for the, oh, like, I don't know ..... the last one-million years or so, but hey..... just look at those included Westmere 4-core Intel Xeon processors babies, like you can up to 12 cores of those number-crunching little suckers at your beck and call, provided of course, that you can afford the minimum $2,500 entry fee, of which I sadly can't!
Last, but not least, is the new and long desired 27 inch Cinema Displaythat wasdesigned to wow your eyes and impress your friends all while slimming down your bank account at the same time! This glorious monster has a 2560 x 1140 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, a built-in iSight cam and USB hub, speakers, microphone and MagSafe connector for your MacBook, and all at the unbelievable Apple price of only $999 US!
Wow!
Well, there you go, some all-round nice, but not exactly revolutionary upgrades to some outstanding Apple devices, with the new Magic TrackPad being the only big and new exception. I like that little sucker a lot, and I can't wait to get my grubby little Canadian, and German loving hands and fingers on!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, July 27, 2010
AppleInsider and others are reporting that both the 21.5 and 27 inch iMacs are unavailable, meaning that most likely, newer models are about to soon replace the current ones.
AppleInsider is also pointing out that potential configurations could see the now aging Duo Core processors retired and replaced with newer and faster i3 and i5 processors, and that to my way of thinking is a good thing indeed, not that the older Duo Cores were bad mind you.
Another configuration possibility, and one that I would dearly love to see is that they will both also be including the newer and faster USB 3.0 and FireWire connections. However, AppleInsider and others are still indicating that Blu-Ray support is still probably not going to be happening any time soon. Bummer!
This is just speculation on my part, but I'm hoping, and I mean really, really hoping that Apple will finally be giving us what PC users have had for some time now, and namely the option of having a decent desktop multi-touch screen!
I've tried several of the newer PC touch screens out there and as nice as some of them are, none of them really shine or work in the way that I feel they could. However, if anyone could produce a stellar performing multi-touch desktop I feel it's got to be Apple. No doubt too that any Apple multi-touch desktop screen could and would put all other comers to shame and set a new bench mark. After all, no body, and I mean nobody does multi-touch better then Apple, the very company that brought multi-touch to the market in the first place.
In conclusion, mimicking Apple in every way has become an absolute imperative for PC makers these days, including their use of multi-touch, but PC makers have beaten Apple at its own game when it comes to multi-touch on the desktop. It's now time, I believe, for Apple to equal the score, and show them how it's really done. Finally, with the possibility of new iMacs I'm hoping that day is close at hand.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, July 26, 2010
A lot of people, privately and especially in the media, love to bitch and complain to no end about Apple's so-called draconian App Store Policies, but what they don't want you to know about is how this strict enforcement policy helps to protect its users from a lot of the crap that others are forced to put up with on other devices.
Take for example the fact that it is now believed that up to 20 whopping percent of all Android apps may now be completely exposing their users to some vary serious privacy issues, and, according to this report by PCWorld, it can get even worse than that, as they state:
"Besides the 20 percent of applications that let third parties access private or sensitive information, 5 percent of applications have the ability to place a call to any number, and 2 percent of applications can send an SMS to an unknown premium number, in both cases without user involvement."
Well, as bad as the above may sound, the really bad news, doesn't stop here either. Being the so-called open system that it is, well it is now totally possible for one of the worst scourges from the PC era to now also afflict open source devices, namely that of ...... bloatware, or as some might prefer to call it, good-old-fashion crapware!
Since open source is, well open sourced, and free for anybody to do pretty much any dang tooting thing that they want, including offering poor quality apps which may also include dangerous spyware, and now bloat ware as well, I guess that anything is possible. This is in stark contrast to Apple's method where it strictly monitors and blocks out such crap.
Bloatware, as you already know, is not only inconvenient and irritating, but at the same time, it can readily eat up your system's resources, be its memory, cpu or what have you, thus making your overall device run buggy, slower and a lot more cumbersome in which to use..... and yet all of this without your expressed desire or permission!
Of course, as Gizmodo pointed out recently, not all Android phones necessarily come with all of this crapware pre-installed, but being the so-called open platform that it is, it still means that any phone supplier can easily add it, at anytime, if they so disire. Not all do, of course, but a large number of companies are more than happy to install this junk regardless of whether your happy about it or not. After all, it may bug up your system, but whether you like it or not it's still a very lucrative source of advertising revenue for them, so you can probably expect a lot more of this crap in the near and long term future. And the real bummer is..... you can't even delete most of it! As it has been said: "You can't remove it because Android is open."
Well, you can say all you want about Apple's App Store rejection polices, but if it helps to deliver me some peace-of-mind, top-notch security, less hassle and a cleaner, faster and smoother running device than I'll take it anyday! However, if you don't mind an opens source platform where anyone can pretty much do anything they please, any old time they please, and one that potentially includes them pre-installing as much or as little bloatware as they wish, and which can potentially compromise your system's functionality, speed and, most important of all..... your security, well, then forget about the true cost of the iPhone, because there's always Android.
So, until next Monday or Tuesday, that's my 2 cents 4 today, Friday, July 23, 2010
For what seems like the one millionth time now, Apple has beaten, and by a good country mile, Wall Street by reporting its biggest quarterly profit and revenues ever..... some $3.25B in profits on an astounding $15.7B in revenues!
As far as the so-called "antennagate" fiasco goes, well it seems that Apple's biggest problem these days isn't any glitch in reception, but rather it's simply the task of trying to build the little suckers fast enough, as people continue to buy them the second they come off one of its Chinese assembly lines!
Hopefully, Apple's short term solution of providing each and every iPhone 4 purchaser with a free Bumper case will continue to do the trick until Apple can come up with a better and a more permanent solution, such as see-through coating or film strip, such as the ones provided by Zagg.
One of the more interesting things coming out of Apple's recent quarter, however, hasn't been the vastly overblown reception problem with the iPhone 4, but rather that the fear that the iPad would cannibalize Mac sales was also vastly overblown as well. As TechCrunch pointed out, if anything the opposite was the case as Apple reported a dramatic increase in its Mac sales, and one that had help to contribute in obliterating Wall Street's Apple's Q3 estimates. Apparently, rather than hurt or cannibalize any Mac sales, the iPad has had more of a halo effect, boosting its sales rather dramatically.
One of the more interesting statements to emerge from Apple's Q3 was that Apple has promised that even more amazing products are coming..... and this year!
What they could possibly be is up for speculation, but one rumor that has come to the surface is the possibility of Apple releasing a multi-touch track pad, something of which I've personally have long been interested in, and especially one that could also be included in a future keyboard. My biggest wish, however, and one that I've long wanted is for Apple to release an iMac like docking station either for the iPad or a MacBook that would allow you to slide either device into a dock that would instantly transform your mobile device into a full-blown iMac desktop, and, hopefully, complete with a large touch screen.
In conclusion, regardless of what Apple's next mystery product may or may not be, all I will say, in the meantime, about Apple's Q3 results ..... WOW and way to go Apple!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Steve Jobs has just toppled Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin for the top spot on the MediaGuardian's top 100 power list, and thus dethroning in the process Google's dynamic dual who have formerly held it for the past three years.
It's the first time for Jobs to hold the title on the MediaGuardian's list, and it comes despite all of the recent backlash over the issues of the iPhone 4's so-called faulty antenna.
The Guardian of London states that the game changing impact from both the iPhone and the iPad as being the main reason for Jobs ascendency to the top of the annual list.
Speaking of the ruckus from the iPhone 4's antenna, many have complained that all Apple needed to do to solve the problem was to give its users a free $29 Bumper case. Apple's Bumper case, along side those of other cases, has been proven to completely solved any issues with the iPhone 4's antenna reception, one that, by the way, seemed only to effect a very small portion of iPhone 4 users. Well you guessed it, now that Apple has done exactly just that...... they are still complaining and demanding more from Apple.
The reason is, as I'vepointed out before, has nothing to really do with the overblown issue from the iPhone 4's antenna, because, quite frankly, there' nothing that Apple can say or do to satisfy them. That's because what they really want isn't to see the iPhone antenna problem fixed, but rather what they really want is to see the iPhone and Apple itself kicked to the ground, the truth be damed!
Yes, the real answer is that there simply are a lot of Apple haters out there, and especially from its competitors, that would love to say or do anything that they can to damage Apple's credibility and brand image and thus allow them to do what they have so far failed to do very effectively, namely to compete head-to-head with Apple's world class innovation! Yes, what they are really guilty of is coveting Apple's hard earned position in the market place and the record profits that come from such a position.
I'm not the only one, of course, who can see through a lot of their sheer baloney in their iPhone 4 antenna reports either, many of which are designed to specifically help Apple's competitors by hurting it's brand image, or to simply garner a lot more eye ball to hit their various web sites. In other words: this isn't really about the so-called faulty iPhone 4 antenna, but its about them either selling more BlackBerries, Nokia's or Android phones, or getting more web hits for their respective web pages! The BBC, for instance, reported that people much more qualified than I can easily see through a lot these bias media reports, and these include people such as the president of Brand Builder Marketing, Olivier Blanchard, who the BBC quotes as saying:
"Apple is probably one of the most important brands of the last 50 years," said Olivier Blanchard, president of Brand Builder Marketing.
"They are rock stars in that sense and I believe that this fiasco with the iPhone 4 is an excuse to attack a company that is becoming such a giant. Five years ago when they were the underdog this would have been a non-issue."
The ruckus over the iPhone 4 has gotten so bad, in fact, that one competitor, Microsoft, has now retaking its former top spot as the world's most valuable tech company. Of course, that's only by a sliver and then I suspect that when Apple reports its next breaking financial quarter, one that should include breaking iPhone 4 sales, Apple will once again, and by a wide margin, reclaim its place as the world's most valuable tech company, and not to mention the world's most innovative.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, July 19, 2010
People have been making a big issue of the iPhone 4's antenna reception, and so much so that it has had a very big, big impact on Apple's stock and market cap, and helping to literally wipe out billion of dollars of value in the process.
Of course, even though some believe that the whole affair will eventually blow over, a lot of Apple haters out there, and especially those of its competitors, are doing all they can do, in the meantime, to make the situation appear to be far worse than it really is.
Of course, this is to be expected. Apple, after all, in the past, has done pretty much the same thing such as it did with Vista. In the case of Nokia, for example, they have recently gone out of their way to advertise that their phones can be held in any position that you might wish without any problems what-so-ever. Of course, this is highly hypocritical of them considering that their own mobile phones have suffered from exactly same flaw as you can read here or here, and, as well, as you can plainly see in this video below:
The iPhone 4 isn't the first or only mobile phone to experience such issue's either, but, for some strange reason, it does seems that Apple will be guaranteed to get most of the heat, and a lot more so than any of its competitors! Google'sNexsus One, for instance, also had a similar reception problem awhile back, but who would have ever known, because no one seemed to care or bother to report on it, but whoa....... when it comes to Apple then suddenly all the knives seem to come out of nowhere! In other words, there seems to be two standards when it comes to reporting on tech companies these days - one that is heavily biased against Apple; the other favorably bias towards that of its competitors.
This is nothing but sheer and utter hypocrisy! To me, it seems that there is a media war going on at Apple's expense. Maybe it's just my imagination, but something seems to be fishy and completely unfair and hypocritical going on here. The media, as far as my pee-brain goes, seems to love to accentuate the negative, while downplaying anything positive about Apple.
I just love how the media loves to report on how Steve Jobs loves to rewrite history, when, in fact, it is others who are the ones trying to do exactly that! Of course, not all the media is doing this, but so many of them are that this seems to be the case.
When Consumers Report says, for example, that they can't recommend buying an iPhone because of the reception issue, well guess what? The media will jump all over these negative reports, and virtually shout this and other negative Apple stories from the roof tops. However, on the other hand, if some like Wired.com mentions that, in the very same breath, that Consumers Reports also says that the iPhone 4, despite the reception issue, is still the best dang-tooting mobile phone of them all, this story, trust me, will get very little play as they say in Peoria.
When Consumer Reports a negative story on the iPhone, like the one above, it will be repeated the world over by the rest of the media big time. However, when it comes to a story like this one, you can be sure it will barely get on the radar screen andwill end up getting buried and totally ignored and forgotten by the rest of the media.
From many of the negative iPhone 4 reception articles out there you would think that every single iPhone was somehow plagued and crippled by these same reception issues, when in actual fact it is only a small portion of them. You'll hear little, however, that these so-called reception problems are readily fixable by simply applying a protective case or one of Apple's Bumpers (even though I admit they are overpriced!), or even by simply applying a bloody piece of duck tape!
Regarding all of those so-called reception issues, Engadgetreported:
Joshua Topolsky (Brooklyn): "Having reviewed the phone before the general launch, I've been on high alert about the issues being reported from the start. While there are clearly problems with other people's devices, I can't seem to replicate the experience with the phone I have. I've been using the phone for about a month now without any notable reception or data rate issues -- no matter where I hold the device. In testing for our review (which you can read here) I found the reception to be as good if not better than the previous version, and I had far fewer dropped calls. That hasn't changed in the weeks since the review was posted, and though I can get the signal to show attenuation in Erica Sadun's app if I really squeeze the phone in the left corner, I cannot get it to drop a call or show a notable impact on data up- or downstream. At this point, I cannot even remember the last time I had a dropped call."
Also, regarding several iPhones owned by the Engadget staff further goes on to report:
".......... it's not at all clear what the real-world effects of the antenna issue actually are for most people -- as we've repeatedly said, several iPhone 4s owned by the Engadget staff (including our review unit) have never experienced so much as a single dropped call, while others suffer from signal issues that results in lost calls and unresponsive data in a dramatic way. What's more, at this point Apple's sold well over two million iPhone 4s, and we simply haven't heard the sort of outcry from users that we'd normally hear if a product this high-profile and this popular had a showstopping defect. Honestly, it's puzzling -- we know that the phone has an antenna-related problem, but we're simply not able to say what that issue actually means for everyday users."
So, in conclusion, just let me say that even though Apple has clearly invested a lot of time, effort and money in making the iPhone 4 the very best that it can be, you can also bet, on the other hand, that a lot of others out there will be just as gladly spending a lot of time, effort and money in making it appear that the iPhone is absolutely one of the worst phones ever! Believe me, you can count on it!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, July 14, 2010
P.S., please note: Even though I reported that my health had probably resulted in me writing my last blog post on June 21, I, am now both confident and happy to report that I should be able to write one or two posts per week, with, hopefully, more to follow in the near future.
