Apple - page 26

I just confirmed that the iPhone 4 loses reception when the antenna band is touched. Plus, it’s enough to make the iPhone drop calls. This is a serious problem, and I can’t believe Apple let this slip through.

My new iPhone 4 drops from full reception (four-to-five bars) to just one bar in a matter of a few seconds when my fingers and thumb are touching the antenna band. See the video above. But when I take my fingers off the sides and hold the iPhone by its glass back, the number of bars quickly climbs to five again. The problem was first reported by Gizmodo, and seems to widespread, if not universal.

It’s enough to make the iPhone drop calls. I just tested it by calling my office phone. Holding the iPhone in my left hand, reception plummeted and the call dropped.

iPhone fail!

Today is iPhone 4 day and like the rest of you I got up early today. I’d say way to early since it was 4:00 am and I was surprised to find out that my alarm clock on my iPhone could be set to such an early hour. The engineers at Apple HQ in Cupertino could not have done a better job on that alarm, but for once I was wishing they’d screwed it up since I think it should be a crime for an alarm clock to ring before 5:00 am.

The best corporate profile of Apple since, well, Leander Kahney’s book Inside Steve’s Brain is in the July/August 2010 issue of Fast Company, published Thursday on the magazine’s website.

Author Farhad Manjoo does a fabulous job of “capturing something that feels like magic” behind Apple and the company’s success by delving into its relationships with current partners such as San Francisco design firm Eight, Inc., by speaking with former employees and others who have watched the company for years, and coming away with 10 essential lessons for any company wanting to become the Apple of its industry.

Of course it’s well known the secret to Apple’s success — notwithstanding Steve Jobs’ personal direction — is nothing more than “discipline, focus, long-term thinking and a willingness to flout the rules that govern everybody else’s business.” And yet, as Manjoo discovers, it’s also much more.

There’s a great series of photographs showing everyday, normal people dressed in the Steve Jobs “uniform” of jeans, running shoes and long-sleeve black mock turtleneck, from which one comes away amazed that only Jobs himself doesn’t look like a total dweeb wearing it. There’s a fabulous graphic by Jeremy Caplan, the iCensus (possibly available only in the print article), depicting who matters (and who doesn’t) in Apple Nation.

And in the end we learn how clues to the future are already built in to Apple’s most current products, and why “we’ll only be able to spot them in retrospect.”

Highly recommended.

Following the steps of their comic book competitors Marvel, DC Comics has just released their own iOSself-branded comic reading app for iOS, built for them by Comixology.

Like the Marvel app, comics cost between $0.99 and $2.99 an issue, and there are some free comics available… although the selection of those is quite paltry compared to Marvel’s offerings, although no doubt this will change. The best freebie right now is probably a black-and-white comic by Neil Gaiman and Simon Bisley that portrays the Joker and Batman as actors working on a television series.

Otherwise, if you’ve used Comixology or the Marvel app, you’ll be pretty familiar with how the DC Comics app works. It really only trades in Spider-Man for Superman.

Apple:

White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

Just in case the iPhone 4 thought it was going to steal the iPad’s thunder, Apple has shot out a preemptive press release proudly proclaiming that in just eighty days, they’ve managed to sell three million iPads.

That’s pretty incredible. To put that in perspective, a million iPads were sold within the first four weeks of the iPad’s (demand limited) availability. About thirty days later, that number had creeped to two million. Apple sold the third millionth iPad just three weeks later.

Demand is picking up… which only makes sense, with the device being more widely available in the United States thanks to increased supply, as well as the iPad’s long-awaited international launch finally putting the iPad in the swarthy, wildly gesticulating hands of those weirdo foreigners.

If anyone thought Apple’s “big iPhone” wasn’t going to be a success, these numbers should certainly help to garnish their steaming plate of crow.

With yesterday’s major update to iOS comes a major new source of revenue for both Cupertino and app developers: iAd, Apple’s new mobile advertising service.

In a best case scenario, iAd will result in cheaper apps that deliver interesting, interactive advertisements finely targeted enough that you’ll actually want to play around in them. The worst case? Invasive, privacy-invading ads spreading across all ads that are just as annoying and irrelevant as the braying flash banners splashed across a Yugoslavian torrent site… just with no way to install AdBlock.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to get rid of iAd on your device… at least until the jailbreaker community comes up with their own iAdBlock. That said, you can easily prevent Apple from using your personal details to serve you up user-targeted iAds. Just click this link on your iOS 4 capable device, and Apple will no longer use your personal information to serve you up user-targeted ads.

To be fair, all this is likely to do is make iAds more irrelevant and annoying than they would be otherwise, but if you’re worried about privacy — or just don’t want to help Apple along as they try to build a Google-challenging advertisement empire — it’s good to know Cupertino’s made it easy to tell them to shove off.

The UltraSn0w iPhone unlocking software has been updated to support iOS 4.0.

The iPhone Dev-Team’s has updated Ultrasn0w to version 0.9.3, allowing you to unlock your iPhone running iOS4.

The update was announced on the Dev-Team’s Twitter stream. According to the release notes, it works with all basebands from 04.26.08 through 05.13.04:

iPhone DevTeam’s 3G and 3GS software unlock, now with added PwnApple. Compatible with basebands 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01 and 05.13.04! Thanks to @sherif_hashim and @Oranav for contributing baseband crashes.

We will have an easy-to-use unlocking how-to guide coming soon.

NOTE: This post has been edited. It incorrectly said Ultrasn0w was for jailbreaking iPhones.

Apple knows where you are and plans to put that information to work.

The Cupertino company updated its privacy policy today to disclose that it may now “collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.”

The new terms of service will pop up as a prompt next time you try to download or buy anything on the iTunes store — there is currently no opt-out option. (As Cult reader Joh pointed out — iOS4 users can opt out of iAd, however, online here.)

The only service to users mentioned in the privacy policy update is the recently-announced  “Find my iPhone” for MobileMe subscribers.

It was a big disappointment to many when it became apparent that the white iPhone 4 would not be available at launch, forcing many to choose between waiting to upgrade their handset or getting a different color.

According to iClarified, though, there may be one big box retailer with some white iPhone 4s on hand come June 24th: Best Buy.

According to their intel, there are between 10 to 20 white iPhone 4s ordered by each Best Buy location. It’s unclear if Best Buy will actually get these white iPhone 4s, but it appears they at least expect to receive a limited number of them.

Who knows? If you’ve got your heart set on a white iPhone 4, you might want to try your luck at Best Buy later this week.

The clusterflug continues. If you were one of the few prospective buyers who managed to successfully order an iPhone 4 from AT&T last week before their whole untested system crashed, you may well have gotten an email from AT&T over the weekend, claiming your order had been canceled for no particular reason.

Apple has taken MobileMe Mail out of beta and made it available to all me.com members.

The iPad-inspired three-column view is especially nifty. See the screenshot above.

The new web mail also includes a couple of features not available in the beta: mail forwarding from another account and improved junk mail filtering.

Here’s the full list of features:

Over at the EE Times, they have posted an interesting comparison between Apple’s A4 CPU and the Samsung S5PC10.

The end results are that they find that the CPUs are similar in design, Apple has taken a chip originally engineered to meet the demands of a broad range of OEMs and reduced the complexity and footprint to suit Apple products, thanks to their partnership with Intrinsity.

[via Engadget]

Apple put together a video love letter to itself where app developers from A-list firms talk about how delighted they are to work with the Cupertino company.

About halfway through the 5-minute or so video, the execs start talking about how much they don’t like working with other platforms. (Read: “Android?”)

“We’ve actually spent some time working with other platforms, it’s a night and day difference,” says Calvin Carter of Bottle Rocket apps who made the NPR app. “They are more difficult for the user, they don’t have the power or the tools available, they don’t have the distribution network. They don’t have the standards, both in hardware or software.”

“It is that handset fragmentation, if you will, that causes developers a lot of problems,” says Skarpi Hedinsson of ABC TV. “Because you’re now targeting individual devices.”

“It’s really evident in Apple’s APIs, in the developer’s tools, that you’re working with something really mature,” remarks Tom Conrad of Pandora. “Not something that was invented two years ago.”

Via Jordan Stark

The Atlantic has posted an article discussing the iPad’s appeal to Baby Boomers, and makes some good arguments as to why the newest iDevice may be a huge hit with this demographic:

1. It isn’t that hard to use.

Your mom is awful with a computer. That time you taught her how to use e-mail, you felt like you needed a fifth of Jack to quench your frustration. But downloading an app is much, much easier than installing a program in Windows. You just go to the app store, download it, and — voila! If she thought a Mac was easy to use, wait until she sees an iPad in action. Just pray she doesn’t discover Facebook.

Currently my Mom doesn’t see the need for an iPad at all – she’s yet to be convinced that an upcoming switch from dialup to cable modem will make a difference in how she uses her computer.  But as the article notes, perhaps that may change…

Thanks to Digg for the tip.

Our favorite unibody vivisectionists over at iFixIt have done their usually thorough job tearing down the new Mac Mini.

A lot of the Mini’s biggest changes are already obvious: the transition to aluminum unibody and the ability to easily access the Mini’s internals with a single counter-clockwise twist, making it very easy to replace RAM. In fact, there aren’t really any big revelations, except one: running at just 10 watts idle, the new Mac Mini is one of the most energy-efficient computers around, and Apple’s most frugally power-sipping desktop yet.

Apple announced 600,000 pre-orders for iPhone 4 on Tuesday, a number “far higher” than the company anticipated.

In a short press release, the company said the unexpectedly-high demand caused many system malfunctions and apologized for any difficulties and frustration.

Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.

Earlier, AT&T said it had received 10-times the number of iPhone pre-orders than last year’s iPhone 3GS, and is suspending pre-orders.

“Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we’re suspending preordering today in order to fulfill the orders we’ve already received,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegal told the New York Times. “The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking preorders.”

Radio Shack has also suspended pre-orders, it said on Twitter.

SAI: AT&T: iPhone 4 Pre-Orders 10 TIMES Higher Than First Day Last Year

Just as Apple’s servers are finally accepting pre-orders of the iPhone 4 after being down most of the day, the device may be selling out.

AT&T sold its stock of the pre-order iPhone 4s this afternoon, and now Apple appears close to running out also. In certain parts of the country, the east coast especially, the online Apple Store has pushed shipping dates for the device back to the July 6-8 timeframe, according to reader reports.

The device appears to also have been sold out in the UK and Germany, according to MacRumors.

Let’s hope you were able to order or reserve one — delivery dates for latecomers have been pushed back to July 4 at the earliest.

Earlier today, AT&T said Tuesday was the busiest online sales day in the company’s history:

“Because of the incredible interest in iPhone 4, today was the busiest online sales day in AT&T history. As of Tuesday afternoon, customers who preorder iPhone 4 moving forward will receive their device on June 25 or later, depending on when the order is placed. We’ll email customers with confirmation once their order is placed, and again when it ships. In addition, we will have devices available on a first-come, first-serve basis in our stores beginning on June 24.”

Engadget: AT&T sold out of iPhone 4 pre-orders for launch day

Trying to distract attention from the iPhone 4 pre-order flustercuck, Apple has just released the Mac OS 10.6.4 update, whoch has been expected for weeks.

Weighing in at 315.5 MB, the update includes a bunch of minor fixes, including stability issues with Adobe’s Creative Suite 3, SMB file servers and DVD Player.

The Mac OS 10.6.4 update can be downloaded via the built-in Software Update application.

Here’s the full details:

Even though Apple’s and AT&T’s pre-ordering systems are crashing due to high demand, several people have reported success pre-ordering the iPhone 4 through the new Apple Store iPhone app.

However, that too is over-subscribed. Attempts to pre-order the iPhone through the app are returning the following message:

“Due to high demand, we are not currently accepting iPhone 4 reservations via the Apple Store app. To pre-order or reserve yours, please visit apple.com/iphone/pre-order.

But Apple and AT&T’s systems are still down, with attempts to reserve an iPhone resulting in error messages and timeouts.

Anyone had success using a different method? Radio Shack?

After a morning of spotty service, both Apple’s and AT&T’s iPhone processing systems have crashed, leaving customers unable to order the iPhone 4.

Instead, customers are lining up at retail stores belonging to Apple and AT&T. There are lines in New York, Louisiana and Japan.

We have been unable to preorder an iPhone despite dozens of tries and, and neither is anybody else, according to a surge of #ATTFAIL messages on Twitter.

Above is a line outside a New York AT&T store. “Check out this line of people waiting to pre-order iPhones at our local AT&T store. This isn’t even to take them home or anything — it’s for the right to wait in another line next Friday (to pick up the phone),” Business Insider notes.

Apple and AT&T’s systems have been choking all morning, returning error messages saying orders cannot be processed. This, of course, is good news/bad news for the companies.

From the way Apple protects its iTunes business to theirefforts to block Google from competing equally on the iOS mobile advertising marketplace, Cupertino’s been provoking a lot of anti-trust talk lately.

Now it looks like the first official investigation into Apple’s business practices is about to be underway, courtesy of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, who has completed negotiations with the Department of Justice to examine whether Apple’s limitations on software that can be submitted to the App Store unfairly harms competition.

The Cult of Mac team had a rollicking good time at BoxTone’s iNSpired party, checking out the machines and chatting to devs.

There were about 20 Apple machines on show, from the Apple I to the iMac. The best part, they were working machines — something the organizers probably regretted with a room full of people intent on playing with them while downing beer and inhaling scrumptious mini-sandwiches.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBQJ7eLx1Jo

We start with Wendell Sander, Apple employee no. 16, who fires up his Apple I for a memory dump using an iPod.

Apple has set up the most astounding wall we’ve ever seen. It is filled with 30 24-inch Apple Cinema displays that are synchronized and powered by 30 Apple Mac Pro workstations is a Matrix movie like waterfall that displays the top 50,000 apps in the iTunes App Store.

Steve Jobs rolled out Apple’s iPhone 4 Monday at the WWDC 2010 Keynote in San Francisco, calling his company’s “new baby” a device that “changes everything. Again.”

But does it?

When Apple introduced the original iPhone in 2007, it altered the entire mobile phone market by emerging into a near vacuum, creating need and desire in millions of consumers who had no idea they needed or desired what the iPhone had to offer.

Today, some believe the iPhone has become passe based solely on its relative ubiquity across the landscape it both created and has managed to dominate for three years.

Others believe competitors such as Google, Palm and Blackberry have in the meantime produced equally effective, if not superior products that will, over time, equalize the distribution of market share among Apple and its rivals.