Leander Kahney - page 39

Would you like to ask Jason Fried, founder and CEO of 37 Signals, a question? Tomorrow is your chance.

Tune in at 11AM, Thursday, July 22, to a livestream of an interview with Fried, courtesy of HP’s Input|Output series.

Fried’s 37signals is behind the popular, Web-based workgroup services Basecamp, Highrise, and others. But in addition to Web apps, Fried is also an expert on the modern workplace, and how “the new workplace in the new normal.”

Fried is becoming well-known for his strong opinions about the inefficiencies of the typical workplace and how it’s designed for distractions. His ideas are spreading via his popular blog and Twitter feed. This story from Inc. magazine — The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals — serves as an introduction to Fried’s approach.

I’ve been invited to live tweet during the webcast with Fried, and would like to invite you to submit your questions. Fried will be discussing everything about the modern workplace, from physical layouts to management practices and what tech-tools are indispensable.

The interview will be livestreamed on Thursday at 11 AM PST or 2 PM EST. Tune in using this link.

To ask a Jason a question, post it in the comments below or on Twitter. Address your question to @lkahney with the hashtag #hpio, or do it yourself during the webcast using the #hpio hashtag.

HP’s Input|Output series has featured Chris Anderson of Wired; Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class; and John Battelle, Federated Media. Coming up soon is Clay Shirky, the renowned author and teacher.

Nice parody of an expensive Apple accessory (which makes a flaw into a feature) from designer Aaron Draczynski, aka @papermodelplane.

Via OS X Daily.

T-Mobile USA is very close to getting the iPhone in the fall, ending Apple’s exclusive relationship with AT&T, according to a highly placed source at the wireless company.

Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced stage, our source says, and it’s 80 percent likely that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile in Q3.

The source works at T-Mobile but asked not to be quoted directly and to remain anonymous because they aren’t authorized to talk to the press.

T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, which carries the iPhone in Germany, was able to influence, the source said. T-Mobile USA is the fourth-largest U.S. carrier with 33.7 million customers.

Apple’s massive data center in North Carolina will come online early next year, Apple execs said during an analyst conference call on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s on-schedule,” said Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. “We expect it completed by the end of the calendar year.”

The $1 billion center is as big as the world’s biggest data facilities, and has been the subject of much speculation since construction started in August 2009. Occupying 500,000 square feet, the data center is about five times the size of Apple’s data center in Newark, California.

Two months ago, Apple passed Microsoft as the most-valuable tech company. Soon, it may pass its rival in terms of revenues. Microsoft makes about $61.5 billion a year: Apple is on track to make $60 billion.

Question is: As Apple gets bigger and bigger, is it in danger of becoming the new Microsoft?  Did you prefer the old, underdog Apple?

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The iPad is a runaway hit and it’s going mainstream faster than anything they’ve seen, Apple execs are saying.

“It is not following a typical early adopter curve and taking a while to cross over into the mainstream,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during an analyst conference call.

The iPhone 4 is Apple’s fastest-selling device to date and there’s no sign whatsoever that the antenna issue is impacting sales or returns, Apple executives said.

“The demand for iPhone 4 is stunning,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during a conference call with Wall St. analysts. “Let me be very clear on this: We are selling every unit we are making.”

Cook said the antenna issue has had no impact on sales.

“My phone is ringing off the hook with people who want more supply,” he said.

He also said there is not a significant number of returns of the iPhone 4. In fact, there are fewer returns than iPhone 3GS.

“The ones for this specific (antenna) issue are extremely small,” Cook said.

Giving iPhone 4 customers free cases will cost Apple about $175 million, Apple executives said during a conference call with Wall St. analysts.

Apple reported another blockbuster quarter thanks to record sales of iPhones and Macs, making the most money ever in company history: $15.7 billion.

Even more unbelievable, Apple is projecting $18 billion in revenue next quarter—and the company is known for lowballing estimates.

Apple is likely to equal Microsoft in annual revenues this year, and may even pass it’s long-time rival. Apple is on track to make more than $60 billion in revenue this year, which is almost equal to Microsoft’s $61.5 billion. Apple already surpassed Microsoft two months ago as the world’s most highly-valued tech company.

Apple sold boatloads of Macs and iPhones. The iPad is also a big hit: Apple has shifted 3.27 million iPads since launch. The only downside was iPod sales.

Here are the key numbers:

• Macs: 3.47 million Macs sold, the most ever in a single quarter, and 33% more than last year.
• iPhones: 8.4 million sold, up 61% year-over-year.
• iPods: 9.41 million sold, down 8% from the year-ago quarter.

In addition, Steve Jobs hinted at even more new products this year:

“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” Steve Jobs said in a statement. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

Here’s the full press release:

The Pogoplug is a great little gadget that connects up to four hard drives to the Internet. It’s very handy for serving up files, music and movies to anyone, anywhere. We reviewed it very favorably.

Now there’s about to be a business version, the Pogoplug Biz, which adds a bunch of features for small and medium business (SMB) users. It’s like Dropbox, except the data is not on some other company’s servers. The Pogoplug Biz is available for pre-order for $299 and includes lifetime Pogoplug service.

What It Is: The Bubble Slider case is a distinctive hard shell from Hard Candy Cases that’s saved my iPhone 4 on several occasions now.

Why It’s Cool: When I show people my iPhone 4, they often spend as much time admiring the Bubble Slider case as the device itself.

PR expert Matt Seeger said Apple did issue a recall last Friday by providing iPhone 4 customers with free Bumper cases.

“From my perspective, this was a classic case of a recall,” said Seeger, who is chair of the Department of Communication at Wayne State University in Detroit. “They said, ‘Bring the product in, we’ll retrofit it.’ It’s not what most people think of as a recall, which is a safety issue. But this was a recall.”

The FCC has approved Apple’s Magic Trackpad, which means the device could be announced as early as this week.

A device known by the model number A1339 and described as a “Bluetooth Device” has just shown up in the FCC’s database. Given how quickly Apple has in the past announced devices that have just approved by the FCC, the Magic Trackpad could be officially launched within days.

The device would act as a big touch-sensitive trackpad for desktop computers, such as an iMac. It looks as though the device supports handwriting recognition, as well as the swipes and gestures found on the Magic Mouse and MacBook Pro trackpads.

Here are some more leaked photos of a prototype:

Don’t miss this: it’s a scream.

That hilarious animated Taiwanese news segment on Steve Jobs and the iPhone 4 we posted earlier now has English subtitles, thanks to reader Michael Chang.

It shows Jobs defeating Bill Gates in a lightsaber battle and donning a Darth Vader mask; cops breaking down the door of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s apartment; and Jobs cutting of the fingers of customers who complain about iPhone reception issues. “Just get rid of those fingers,” Jobs tells the customer. “Then there’s no problems.”

This is a guest column by Dan Burcaw, founder and CEO of Double Encore, which develops apps for iPhone (and now iPad). Dan is extremely passionate about why developers should work on iPhone apps instead of Android. Here he explains why Android developers don’t make money, and why Android apps will always be secondary to iPhone/iPad apps.

A few years ago, apps were novelties – a cute idea. Now there are over 250,000 of those cute ideas in the App Store alone – and the Android Market is catching up quickly.

Apps are like the Wild Wild West – and from a developer’s perspective, there’s definitely a shoot-out coming. Google vs. Apple. iPhone and iPad vs. Android. Who should you code for, and why? For that matter, as a consumer, which phone and apps should you choose?

On one hand, you’ve got Apple with the newly released iPad and iPhone – a well-established if tightly controlled platform. On the other, there’s the Shiny New Android platform, with its open-ended promise of apps and plenty of freedom – freedom of handset, freedom of carriers. It sounds like a developer’s paradise … which is in fact how Google markets it. But I predict that a year from now, developers and consumers alike are going to find the Android platform really disappointing.

Apple has posted video of this morning’s press conference about the iPhone 4’s antenna. You can watch it here. However, it does not include the juicy Q&A session, where Jobs rips the tech press for creating Antennagate.

This is Apple’s $100 million state-of-the-art antenna test lab. It has 17 different antenna characterization chambers (or anechoic chambers) for measuring antenna performance.

Our anechoic chambers are connected to sophisticated equipment that simulates cellular base stations, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices — even GPS satellites. These chambers measure performance in free space, in the presence of materials simulating human tissue (“phantom” heads and hands, for example), and in use by human subjects. Over a one- to two-year development cycle, Apple engineers spend thousands of hours performing antenna and wireless testing in the lab.

Apple has also published several new pages on its website explaining smartphone antennas, including pages showing off the company’s antenna design and test lab. There’s a video of the lab here.

And here’s some more pictures:

Steve Jobs’ press conference this morning tried to address two problems: reception and perception.

He failed on both counts.

Apple will not recall the iPhone 4 at it’s 10AM press conference tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reports:

Apple doesn’t plan to recall the phone, a person familiar with the matter said.

The story has media-management written all over it. The leak is from Apple’s PR department; the company is setting expectations for tomorrow’s event.

WSJ: Apple Knew of iPhone Antenna Risks

Apple just released iOS 4.0.1 — the day before its big iPhone 4 press conference. The update fixes the signal dislay algorithm, which Apple has said is behind iPhone 4 reception issues.

So it seems likely that the 4.0.1 update — and this alone — will be the subject of tomorrow’s press conference. Steve Jobs will use the event to explain (slowly and carefully) how this bug update fixes the problem.

No recall, no free bumpers, no admission of a hardware issue.

Who do you guys think? Will the 4.0.1 update be the subject of tomorrow’s press conference?

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Hot on the heels of the iOS 4.0.1 bug fix update, Apple has released a 3.2.1 update for the iPad.

The update fixes several issues, including Wi-Fi connectivity problems. It also adds Microsoft’s Bing to Safari’s search box.

– Improved Wi-Fi connectivity
– Fixed an issue that could prevent copy and paste of single-page PDF attachments in Mail
– Addressed an issue that could cause video playback to freeze
– Improved reliability of video-out when using iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
– Added Bing as an option for Safari’s search field

The update is available through iTunes (plug in your iPad via USB) or can be downloaded here: iPad iOS 3.2.1.

Apple has just issued the 4.0.1 iOS update, which includes a new formula for displaying reception bars.

The update includes a new signal strength algorithm, which is Apple’s answer to the iPhone 4 death grip issue. It doesn’t appear to improve reception strength, just the way it is displayed. According to Apple, the iOS used an old, outdated algorithm that incorrectly calculated signal strength, a problem that was exacerbated when user’s cover the external antenna.

The update fixes this problem, and is available for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G. It can be downloaded through iTunes when the device is connected via USB. (Hit the “Check for Updates” button).

The update can also be downloaded here:

• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 3G

Thanks Don!

A wireless expert with ties to Apple’s senior antenna engineer says the company is in a pickle. It cannot fix the iPhone 4 antenna issue without completely redesigning the hardware.

Earl McCune, a leading RF expert — and former colleague of Apple’s Sr. Director of iPhone/iPod engineering, Ruben Caballero (who is in the news today) — says the iPhone’s antenna will have to be moved.

“The only way to solve the problem is to not have your hand within a wavelength of the phone — about a foot and a half away,” said McCune, a RF/wireless consultant, author and entrepreneur. “It’s the law of physics.”

McCune is the former boss of Apple’s top antenna engineer, Ruben Caballero. Last year, Caballero tried to warn Steve Jobs that the iPhone 4’s external antenna may drop calls.

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Apple has invited a select group of journalists to a press conference about the iPhone 4 on Friday.

The press conference will be held at 10AM at Apple’s Cupertino campus. It will likely address controversy surrounding the device’s antenna performance, which degrades if the phone is held in the so-called death grip.

It’s not clear if Steve Jobs will host the press conference.

No other information about the conference is available. According got Macworld, the invite simply says it’s a “press conference about iPhone 4,” nothing more.

The iPhone 4 Antennagate went into overdrive this week after Consumer Reports tests showed the issue is hardware related, and not a software problem as Apple had claimed earlier this month.

In a statement published on its website, Apple blamed a faulty reception algorithm for displaying incorrect signal strength. The company has promised a software fix.

Given the bad publicity surrounding the device, a voluntary recall is expected.

Macworld: Apple to hold iPhone 4 press conference Friday