Seth Weintraub

Sometimes Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion field is glorious and strong.  This is not one of those times.

According to Macrumors, Steve Jobs said in an email:

Bluray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD – like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats.

OK.  Internet compressed 720P sounds great, I’ll be snobbily over here watching my 1080P movies on the HDTV. Get back to me once North Carolina lights up and I can buy 100Mb Fiber for a reasonable price.

It is a shame that the whole ‘Retina Display’, ‘pixelation is bad’ philosophy applies to iPhones and not movie watching.  

OK, now we’ll go back to agreeing with everything the man says.

Some nice updates for iPhone 4. Still no iPad. (iTunes)

woops.  Duplicate.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz_9Jn7MYG4&w=640&h=505]

I can’t help but think of the opportunity lost by Apple not including a camera on the iPad.  Cisco unveiled its Enterprise Android Tablet, called Cius, today.  We’ll withhold judgement until we see one, but have a feeling that corporate IT is going to be pushing these down people’s throats rather than thinking outside of the box and buying iPads.

The usage case seems pretty interesting, but again, it is all about the execution.

Firefox 4.0 beta for Linux, Windows and Mac has hit the servers and, besides the instability warnings, you get 64 bit support on Macs. Grab it from Mozilla’s nightly builds portal. This is a very (repeat VERY) early beta so use caution until it becomes a public beta or the real deal. 

Be sure to grab one of these with “.dmg” at the end, and yes… the application file is called “Minefield.”:

The UI is also a little bit cleaner.  The PC version has Chrome-like tabs above the URL.  Not the Mac.  Yet.  

Preliminary Sunpider Javascript tests are pretty impressive, below. Via Life Hacker.

Minefield 4.0B blew away Firefox 3.6

The Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff Legal firm have opened up their own investigation into the iPhone 4’s well-known reception issues. The firm urges customers experiencing issues to contact them via live instant message chat, by phone, or by e-mail.

This particular firm has dealt with some high-profile class-action lawsuits in the past such as an $87 million wage settlement involving UPS drivers.  Apple has settled a high-profile class-action lawsuit in the past for $22.5 million, when the original iPod nanos were very susceptible to scratches.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg&w=640&h=385]

via TechCrunch

Once you knew iMovie was coming to the iPhone 4, you knew this was coming.  “Apple of my Eye” by Michael Koerbel.  For the Flash averse. via DF.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=12819723&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Straight from some Microsoft internal leaked slides. A little more complementary than they publicly acknowledge.

Oh, and get a load of their touch iMac wannabe:

via BGR

Remember that Thinkgeek iCade Arcade box that was ‘demo’ed on April Fools? Turns out that it may actually exist:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGq9Vlx_NnU&w=700&h=505]

via Engadget

The Daily Mail in the UK this weekend published a story claiming the iPhone 4 may be subject to a product recall, basing its story on one solitary Tweet published by a FAKE Steve Jobs. (The newspaper later retracted the tale).  In the Twitter user’s bio it says: “Of course this is a parody account.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLreo24WYeQ&w=640&h=385]

If you

Say what you will about their pricing scheme, those AT&T Femto cells work great for dead spots around the house…that is unless you are a lefty with an iPhone 4.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K42FkKuKXYw&w=700&h=400]

Thanks Mike!

Perhaps a reason for the outrages?  Distance from tower (below)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_4Gdtul5cU&w=700&h=400]

iTunes now has a new iOS 4 Apps section with 42 (currently) featured apps that are built with new features in mind:

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/app/skynewsflash/OBU_Player_30.swf?type=embedded&baseColor=6710886&highlightColor=16711680&channel_key=News&ad_channel=2169867&ad_alias=pre_NewsHub&networkId=999.1&unique_id=015463&media_title=iPhone4:IsItWorthTheHype?&attrib_url=http://news.sky.com/skynews/video&video_url=http://static1.sky.com//feeds/skynews/latest/flash/240610-iphone-package.flv&smoothing=true&tracking_account=DM530320KARC

WTF? How are these people on Sky News (1:23 and 1:31) rolling with white iPhones? Were these store models? We haven’t even been able to check out white iPhones at our local Apple Store.  (Thanks Conner)  What say you, UK shoppers?  Were there any White iPhones for sale?

Other interesting UK tidbits: Reports say that only 16,000 were sent over for launch, wat.  That might have been because of antenna issues according to one bloke.

Update: Shane Richmond clears it all up for us.  They were review units for Sky news.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03PQyWp0mWE&w=700&h=400]

The iPhone 4 antenna issue is a very real one for Apple.  While no one is certain what is causing the issue, it appears that when held with the left hand, assumedly connecting the two antennas, the signal drops significantly, often cutting off data and any phone calls.  

I’m visiting Ohio for my brother’s wedding and I can reproduce this just about anywhere I’ve tried.  It is very real, at least on my iPhone in this town.  I can do it with dry hands and other people I’ve let test it can also reproduce it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNmXrVNeGzs&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

(BTW, AT&T service here overall is insanely great compared to the New York City area, it is like a whole other experience.)

Macrumors is doing a poll and it appears that significantly over half of iPhone 4 users are having this issue.  This is no joke and a significant issue for Apple.  

Some have suggested that a software update may be able to help.  That seems unlikely, however, as it appears to be a hardware problem.  Maaaybe a baseband update could solve the issue if it is related to switching channels due to interference, but that is just a hopeful guess at this point.

Steve Jobs’ suggestion that people are holding it wrong isn’t going to please those above.  A free protective case might make sense for some, but it adds some bulk to the product which is otherwise wouldn’t have (and can Apple still say that its iPhone is as small as it is if it requires a case?).  With the case, the iPhone 4 no longer fits into docks either, which is a pain.

Could Apple have missed this issue entirely because their test units were wrapped in case disguises?  Were all of their testers righty?  Has AT&T artificially pumped up its service around Cupertino so much that it went un-noticed by Apple’s testers?

Could Apple be looking at a recall issue here?   It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.  

Say what you will about the other perceived iPhone 4 shortcomings, one area which there is no question of improvement is the camera. The iPhone 4 is both a 5-megapixel still gem and 720P video recorder.  Tests have been done around the web and every single one of them puts the iPhone 4 at the top of the best smartphone class near the dedicated point and shoots.  In video, it again rates above all other smartphones and just below dedicated Flip HD recorders.

• BGR puts the iPhone 4 up against the Droid X in video
• Matt Buchanan did stills vs. Droid x, EVO and Canon S90
• The Washington Post has a contest comparing DSLR vs. iPhone 4
• Macworld has extensive tests in both video and stills (and even audio)
• CNET has a gallery of pictures.
• PCworld puts iPhone 4 up against Droid x

A funny one for the weekend. Not for the kiddies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SMP2LnmkEs&w=700&h=400

Update: according to the commenters, Hitler is funnier.  We aim to please:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=12858526&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1

Mosspuppet joins below:

Some more issues are popping up with iPhone 4 users. Seems the proximity sensors are a little less sensitive than their predecessors, causing hang-ups from people who hold the iPhone close to their ear, move it slightly away and then touch their cheek to it.   Also some people are muting by accident.  Apple discussions are growing.

Is this another iPhone 4 issue or just a learning curve thing?  We’re not getting this problem but it is apparent that many people are having the issue.

9to5mac reader, Christopher Menendez writes:

Yesterday, after camping out 13.5 hours in jacksonville, a 2 hour drive from Tallahassee where I’m currently attending FSU, I noticed my calls were hanging up out of nowhere. I didn’t attribute this to the antenna problem because not only do I have a bumper but the call also did not show up as failed, merely as hung up (would return me to my recent calls page). I then started thinking i might be cheek dialing…a quick call to moviefone to give me a chance to mess with the proximity sensor using my hands showed it is COMPLETELY out of wack. It takes too long to turn off once you put it to your face (thus hanging up on people with my cheek) and would turn on immediately after pulling it away from my face half an inch. A quick search on google and the macrumors forums show that many people are experiencing the problem

According to Droid Life, you can forget about your Verizon iPhone 4.  It ain’t happening.  Along with deleting the ‘Wireless’ from their name, Verizon will also be touting the ‘Summer of Drooiid’ which will also include absolutely zero iPhone 4’s.

From what sounds like a pretty amped up webcast, Verizon Wireless has announced that as of Monday, they will just be

Shocking coming from the source.  Gizmodo says the iPhone 4 is fatally flawed because it is all glass and poorly engineered antenna on the outside, no matter how nice the Retina Display and new features and size are.  Apparently, they’ve already experienced some breakage.

This time, despite creating perhaps the best smartphone available and one of the most beautiful industrial objects in their history, the Apple industrial design team has failed. This time, Dieter Rams won’t be happy, just like consumers won’t be happy when their iPhone’s back break or the signal drops just for holding it.

From our point of view, we’ve dropped our previous iPhones many times and never had a screen breakage.  We’re not sure why those would start happening now.  Although we can reproduce the antenna issue, we’re not bothered by the simple tape or case fix.  And the volume keys?  Who cares!

What do you think?