Apple’s iPhone 4 Fix: Free Case…

Posted on July 19, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple announced on Friday that free cases aill be given to those users suffering from the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

Apple will give free cases to all customers who buy an iPhone before the 30th Sept 2010. If you?ve already bought a bumper you can get a refund. Apple has not been able to make enough bumpers for all those who have purchased an iPhone 4, so some cases will be sourced from third party manufacturers. There will be now hardware fix, just free cases.

If you want to claim you free bumper you?ll need to register through the Apple website. The site is expected to go live at the end of this week.

For those who are not happy with this solution, Apple is offering a full refund. Phones must be returned undamaged and within 30 days of purchase.

So, the answer everyone has been waiting for almost a month for is a free case for your phone?

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iOS 4.0.1 and 3.2.1 Relaesed

Posted on July 16, 2010 by sophieparker

iOS 4.0.1 for the iPhone and iOS 3.2.1 for the iPad are currently rolling out to devices. iTunes will be prompting users to download the latest update for their mobile OS. The full 4.1 version is expected to be released later this quarter. However this incremental release should solve some issues iOS 4.0 users are experiencing. Weighing in at 579MB, it?s a biggey for a minor release.

The iOS 4.1 beta has been reported by users to not fix the signal issue it was though it would do on the iPhone 4, but just the bar representation on screen.

The update for the iPad is also out, which addresses a number of issues including the WiFi connectivity issue. Bellow is a list of what it will address/add:

- 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

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Steve Jobs Knew The iPhone 4 Had Issues

Posted on July 16, 2010 by sophieparker

Bloomberg has reported that chief engineer Ruben Caballero, Apple?s senior antenna expert and chief engineer, had informed Steve Jobs of the reception issue early on in the phones design. Bloomberg’s source has remained anonymous. The external antenna of the iPhone 4 was a controversial design statement. Apple?s innovation would make for a lighter thinner phone, and gave a unique look setting it apart from other Smartphones on the market. But it seems that they are now paying the price for this.

Bloomberg has apparently tried to contact Apple about the issue being known to them early on. They were told that Caballero would not be allowed to speak with them on the issue.

This latest bit of bad news will only add to the mounting pressure on Apple to act. Apple?s image is certainly looking more and more tarnished, which for a company that prides themselves on it, is not good news. It will be most interesting to see what today’s conference will bring.

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iPhone 4 Is Apple’s Vista

Posted on July 15, 2010 by sophieparker

A senior employee at Microsoft has compared Apple?s issues with the iPhone 4 to their own Vista disaster.

Vista suffered from allot of issues and was labelled as Microsoft’s worst OS yet. The general feeling though, is that Vista was rushed. Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.

Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, made a few comments when speaking at Microsoft’s WPC in Washington D.C., that compared the iPhone 4?s reception disaster to the doomed Vista.

"It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that,? He went on to say,  ?One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call."

Apple has still not admitted to an issue with the iPhone 4s hardware. There have been unconfirmed reports that slight adjustments to fix the device have been made on newer units. Apple are still insisting it?s a software issue, and iOS 4.1 beta was released to developer today. But early reports do not look good. Reception is still dropped when the device is held covering the left.

If I were Microsoft, I don?t think I could help but feel a little smug.

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iPhone 4 Conference To Be Held By Apple

Posted on July 15, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple has announced that a special conference will be held this Friday in regards to the iPhone 4. No details ahve been released about what will be discussed, but I guess the key points are pretty obvious.

Rumours of a new manufacturing technique are flying around the web that may be discussed. This technique would apply a non conductive coating to the phones external antenna. This might spoil the aesthetics of the phone, but could fix the signal issues.

We now know that the iOS 4.1 beta does not fix the issue. Which, when the update/fix was announced, AppleCare said would not work. So, the word pointless springs to mind.

The invitation-only event on Friday will hopefully see the issue addressed by Apple. And their plans to fix the hardware issue revealed, which could well be a recall of the device.

Analysts have predicted losses of $1.5 billion plus for Apple if they don?t announce a recall and and additional $200 million a day until that announcement is made.

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iOS 4.1 Beta Fails To resolve Antenna Issue

Posted on July 15, 2010 by sophieparker

iOS 4.1 has been released to developers today in a bid to resolve the antenna/signal issue. But it seems Apple?s hopes have been dashed.

iPhone 4 users at Mobilecrunch installed and tested the update straight away hoping that it would fix the death grip problem for their phones. But unfortunately the signal still drops as easily as it did before. The signal bars however are easier to see?

iPhone4_signalbars

Bare in mind that this update is still in the beta version?it still doesn?t bode well though does it.

You can get a look at Mobilecrunches demo of the unresolved issue here.

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iPhone 4 Recall: Apple Under Pressure

Posted on July 14, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple is under pressure to either recall or fix the iPhone 4 according to public relations experts. The brand name of the iPhone and consumer opinion of the company are at risk.

With the reception issue of the iPhone 4 remaining unresolved, the iPhone?s market share has fallen. Consumer sentiment towards the iPhone 4 has turned negative, users seem to be turning away from the usually popular device.

In America, leading public relations experts have commented that a full hardware recall is inevitable. And if not announced soon, the effects may be devastating.

Expert in crisis communication, Professor Matthew Seeger said "Apple will be forced to do a recall of this product. It?s critically important. The brand image is the most important thing Apple has. This is potentially devastating.? when speaking to Cult Of Mac.

Author of Crisis Leadership Now and a leading expert in crisis management, Dr. Larry Barton commented that Apple needs to adopt a "military-like response" to the issue. Consumer Reports have also posted a blog stating that they can no longer recommend the iPhone 4 to consumers, and urge Apple to provide a fix:

"Apple suggested owners mitigate the problem by holding the phone differently or purchasing a case. But those solutions put the onus on consumers and skirt Apple’s obligation to offer a product that works consistently and reliably out of the box. We think it’s the company’s responsibility to provide the fix?at no extra cost to consumers."

There is speculation that Apple will simply offer free bumpers to all users to avoid a recall.

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Forum Discussions On iPhone 4 Consumer Reports Deleted

Posted on July 14, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple forum moderators began deleting threads about the consumer Reports on the same day that they changed their recommendation on the iPhone 4.

Originally Consumer Reports recommended the iPhone 4, but after the company recently ran tests they have changed their stance. Now they say they can?t recommend the iPhone 4 to consumers.

When the iPhone 4 is held in the left hand it suffers substantial signal loss. Touching the lower left hand corner blocks the antennas incoming and outgoing signal.

Apple discussion forum users decided to post the report once it had been released, But Apple moderator have been deleting these threads. And as fast as members post them again they are removed.

Tuaw.com has reported that at least 6 discussions have been removed. When trying to access the topics the following error is received: ?Error: you do not have permission to view the requested forum or category.?

The debacle continues as Apple will not admit a hardware fault. A software update was said to be being worked on, but Apple later admitted that this will not resolve the issue.

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New Zeus Crimeware Toolkit Out Now.

Posted on July 13, 2010 by sophieparker

A new version of the Zeus crimeware toolkit has been created by Hackers. It has been design to steel account etails for UK, US, Spanish and German banks.

CA has named the malware payload as Zeus v3 which is more selective about the banks it targets. Before, Zeus targeted financial institutions around the world. But this latest variant has two strains. One targets banks in Spain and Germany, and the other, banks in the UK and US.

this new version also makes it far harder for security researchers find out what it?s doing. The Zeus zombie drones operate in a more covert manner.

Senior research engineer with CA’s Internet Security Business Unit, Zarestel Ferrer says: "In earlier versions, Zeus handles this configuration file in a way that security researchers can easily manage to reverse engineer and capture the actual full configuration content. This is no longer the case for the latest Zeus bot version 3, which is already in the wild. It employs layers of protection by applying the principle of least privilege. It means that the bot must only access remote command, information and resources that are necessary to a specific function and purpose."

The command and control servers for the bot seem to be mostly located in Russia. In previous version UK,US Spanish and German banks were targeted the most. The cyber crooks have concentrated this focus with v3 to meet customer demand it would seem, by releasing localised versions to key geographical markets.

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Public beta For Windows 7 SP1 Released

Posted on July 13, 2010 by sophieparker

On Monday Microsoft announced that the public beta of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is now available.

Tami Reller, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Windows Live, announced the public beta at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington. Plans for W7 SP1 and 2008 R2 SP1 were announced at Microsoft’s annual Tech-Ed conference last month.

The service packs will include the usual hot fixes and previous updates for both OSs, and will bring better virtualization tools for W7 and Remote FX to 2008 R2. You can read more about what the service packs will bring here.

You can download the service pack for your self here.

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Older iPhones Drained By iOS 4

Posted on July 13, 2010 by sophieparker

It seems that older gen iPhones are having their batteries drained by the new iOS 4. A thread on Apple?s support forum discusses the issue, which seems to have been slightly over shadows by the infamous iPhone 4 reception issue. User of the forum re complaining that the battery life is being drained at a much higher rate than with iOS 3.

The obvious starting point is how many apps are the user running, but the discussion seems to indicate that the issue is still present when all running apps are closed. ?There is something seriously wrong with this update. I have my phone in sleep for about 10 min and the battery went down 4% more.?

Other issues that are also coming to light in the discussion include devices locking up when trying to tether and applications not being truly killed when taken out of multi-tasking. ? I just went back in there and hung in until it connected with ATT (and told me to contact ATT if I wanted to add tethering..duh) and I hit ‘cancel’ and the activity finally stopped?.

It?s becoming apparent that the battery issue is widespread and not just isolated to a batch. Yet again, no official word from Apple and no known fix. User will have to hang in there until an update is released to resolve the issue.

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Apple Is A Winner In The Competition Of Most Security Bugs

Posted on July 12, 2010 by sophieparker

Secunia has reported that the number of security bugs recorded in the first half of 2010 is close to the total number for 2009.

Surprisingly (or not) Apple has ranked first ahead of Oracle and Microsoft, for the total number of security bugs found in all their products. in the first half of this year Secunia have logged 380 vulnerabilities in the top 50 most prevalent packages on typical end-user PCs. That equates to 89% of the total number to 2009.

Secunia also believes that security threats are shifting from being OS based to bugs in third party apps. They theorise that a typical PC with 50 application will be exposed to 3.5 times more security bugs in the third party programs installed than in the native applications. Secunia expects that this rate will increase to 4.4 in 2010.

Patching against these vulnerabilities is also complicated by the different software update mechanisms running on each PC. Between 2007 and 2009 the number of vulnerabilities affecting a typical PC has pretty much doubled from 220 to 420. And according to Secunia, this number is likely to increase at the same rate for 2010, to reach 760.

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Fring Brings 3G Video Chat To iPhone 4

Posted on July 12, 2010 by sophieparker

The front facing camera and video chatting of the iPhone 4 was received with much excitement by Apple lovers. But when it was announced that Facetime will only work over Wi-Fi, Apple lovers sighed with disappointment.

However, with the release of the new version of Fring users no longer have to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot to use video chat. Fring is a free third party app that works much like Skype. With Fring, users can make calls over an internet connection using VoIP without racking up the minutes. It also does video chat. Android users are have already replaced the native app Qik with Fring, because Qik only did video chat. Also Android users have never been bound to Wi-Fi. So the release of Fring is a bit of a big deal for iPhone users.

So I guess the real question for the US is, will AT&T cripple the functionality of Fring. They couldn?t step up to the challenge with Facetime, so it?s likely that they?ll be just as keen on Fring. The word is that ATA&T are notorious for doing away with apps that give free minutes too. Such as Google Voice, that also allowed VoIP calls to be made without using minutes. AT&T haven?t said anything yet.

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Windows 7 64-Bit Accounts for nearly 50%

Posted on July 12, 2010 by sophieparker

Microsoft announced last week that nearly half of all W7 machines are running 64-bit versions of the OS.

Signs that the adoption of 64-bit was picking up pace over 32 began early in the year. Valve?s steam gaming software released statistics in January that showed W7 x64 was popular with gamers. Microsoft confirmed that as of June, 46% of all W7 PCs globally are running 64-bit versions. Brandon LeBlanc said "Compared to Windows Vista at 3 and a half years after launch, only 11% of PCs running Windows Vista worldwide are running 64-bit."

Windows 7 success began before the product even became widely available. It was released in October 2009 to much praise, and in November 2009 it has overtaken Apple?s Snow leopard in market share in just two weeks. In February Windows 7 had reached 10% market chare in just three months. And has become the fastest selling OS in History. Microsoft projected that 300 million copies would be sold by the end of 2010.

Windows 7 is a driving force in the uptake of 64-bit computing. ChangeBASE research showed that 65% of businesses are hoping to migrate to W7 within the year and over 50% of those will go the 64-bit route.

The first service pack for Windows 7 is currently worked on by Microsoft, and has been released to beta testers. A public version should hit this month.

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Global Job Cuts For Microsoft

Posted on July 8, 2010 by sophieparker

Rumours of possible job cuts for Microsoft filtered onto the web yesterday, now it seems that these rumours are true. The redundancies have not been publicly announced by Microsoft, but today hundreds of workers were told they would loosed their jobs.

The redundancies are said to be spread throughout the company and across the globe. Seattle is said to have been the hardest hit, where cuts are reported to be in the low hundreds. With a large amount of cuts in the cuts in the marketing department.

At the end of June Microsoft employed 88,596 people globally and had originally planned to cut 5,000 jobs by this time. Microsoft started these layoff at about this time last year, when they announced the 5,000 job cuts. At that time they cut 1,400 with 3,000 more to follow.

Those that lost their jobs today were told they could apply for other position within the company .

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Android Vs iPhone: The Tests Begin

Posted on July 8, 2010 by sophieparker

The iPhone 4 with iOS 4 and Android 2.2 Froyo have now launched, and the tests have begun. Ars Technica have tested JavaScript performance on both platforms, it doesn?t look good for Apple.

Safari on the iPhone 4 gave results almost 2x slower than for Froyo?s web browser on a Nexus One. The V8 tests were over 4x better on the Nexus One that the iPhone 4. this is said to be due to a JIT update and optimizations included in Froyo.

When the iPhone 4 was announced, Apple made a point of the fact that it uses their A4 chip which is also used in the iPad. But even with that onboard the iPhone 4 is still being whipped when it comes to JavaScript rendering. We all know Safari isn?t the greatest of browsers, but it?s based on the same web kit architecture as the Android browser. So, with a bit more effort Safari should be able to support these new JavaScript runtimes much better.

Some people argue that frequent updates cause fragmentation in the Android Marketplace. But this just goes to show what frequent updates can offer to older handsets.

ios_v_android-thumb-640xauto-15275

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Update Won’t Resolve Signal Issue According To Apple Care

Posted on July 7, 2010 by sophieparker

The reception issue on the iPhone 4 seems to be continuing to snowball. Apple publicly acknowledged the issue, but said that it can be fixed with a software update. They have since backtracked on this, and now say that it can’t be fixed with an Apple software update.

Gizmodo contacted Apple dare on three separate occasions, who told them that the update will not fix the reception issue. Apple said: ?the incoming software update will not fix this antenna problem, only change the way the phone displays the available signal, make it more accurate?.

We all knew this already, but it?s the first time Apple have admitted it, that the software update will not fix the problem. So, Apple are essentially saying that there is a design flaw.

What Apple are going to do about the issue is still unknown. Free bumpers for all, extended return period? Apple are going to have to do something pretty decent to appease users. this isn?t going to send Apple down the pan by any means, but it does represent a failure for them, which is rare. And may take some time to eliminate from the consumer mind set.

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iTunes Fraud: Apple’s Response

Posted on July 7, 2010 by sophieparker

You may have read about the iTunes hack scandal in one of our earlier blogs. A fraudulent developer managed to get his books in for 42 of the top 50 sales positions on the iTunes Store. Apple have officially responded to the incident to confirm that developer Thaut Nguyen hacked accounts in order to get his books downloaded. Although it?s not known for definite if Nguyen was behind the account hacking himself.

?The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.
Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.
If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about cancelling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.?

To catch up on the story read our blog.

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iTunes App Store And Accounts Hacked

Posted on July 6, 2010 by sophieparker

Reports are flying around forums on the web that some user account on the iTunes store have been exhibiting fraudulent activity.

Reportedly, a Vietnamese developer  called Thaut Nguyen (company name ?mycompany,?) has published a number of books on the App Store. These book have started to appear on users invoices from iTunes. All of Thaut Nguyen?s books have now been removed from the App Store.

Some users are claiming that over $600 worth of purchases have been made on their accounts without them knowing. Most of these purchases were for Nguyen?s books, and various other applications from the store. Single purchases have been as small as $1 and some over $90. One forum post from a user states:

?Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equalling to $558?

Apple has not commented on the issue yet, but it seems safe to say that if you are a user you should check your account fro suspicious activity.

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iPhone 4 reception Issues, Apple’s Official Response

Posted on July 6, 2010 by sophieparker

It been a bit too long to wait for those that have purchased an iPhone 4, but finally Apple have made an official response in regards to the reception issues. So here it is:

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple?s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don?t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T?s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone?s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same? the iPhone 4?s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Apple

Apple have admitted that there is an issue, but continue to deny that the hardware is at fault. So, fingers crossed for Apple that the software update does the trick. If not, some very angry consumers will be even angrier.

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