SevenBite Tech Blog

My Initial iPhone 4 Questions (Lots of Them!)

2010-06-08T16:09:00.001+07:00

Apple holds the most carefully-choreographed product launches on the planet–but boy, did the gremlins in charge of messing up tech demos have fun with this one. The fact that much of the reality that Steve Jobs planned to distort was revealed a few weeks ahead of time was only the beginning. The presentation itself was interrupted by the same type of crippling Internet-access glitches I’m accustomed to witnessing at other industry events–such as last month’s Google I|O–but which Apple has seemed immune to until now. (I always assumed it had a top-secret method for pumping a wired T1 connection directly into an iPhone.)

Given the circumstances, today’s WWDC 2010 keynote was…not bad. Nearly all the major news had slipped out via Gizmodo or other sources, but it was still worthwhile to actually see the dang phone–especially its super-high-resolution display–and hear Apple confirm every apparent fact about it. There were some medium-sizes surprises, such as the built-in version of iMovie and the gyroscope. And until today, all we knew about the app known as FaceTime was that the front-facing camera was a sure tipoff that it existed in some form.

As usual, I came out of the event with as many questions as answers, which I’m taking as a sign that today’s unveiling was more than an unavoidable formality. After the break, some of the items that are on my mind.

How big a deal is the new display over the long run?

In the demo area I visited after the keynote, it was a knockout–the text was some of the crispest I’ve ever seen on any device that wasn’t made out of ink and paper. My hope is that it’s going to make reading books on the iPhone’s screen a lot easier on the eyeballs. And I’m already wondering how long it’ll be until the iPad catches up with the iPhone 4's dots-per-inch figure.

Is the iPhone 4 going to feel fast?

It packs a version of the A4 CPU that helps make the iPad feel so zippy. But Jobs didn’t tout the phone as a faster handset than the 3GS. He did quote impressively better battery life figures, so presumably the A4 is tweaked for efficiency over maximum theoretical performance. For what it’s worth, in the few minutes I played with an iPhone 4 after the keynote, it felt speedy. But it didn’t feel any speedier than the 3GS, whose performance advantage over the 3G was instantly obvious.

The emphasis on longer battery life over raw horsepower makes for a striking comparison with Google’s Android 2.2, an upgrade in which the big news is major speed gains over Android 2.1. I haven’t tried a Nexus One running 2.2 yet, but am already curious whether it feels quicker than the iPhone 4.

Are FaceTime and iMovie for iPhone as good as they look?

Hope so–they look like they have the potential to be two of the best iPhone apps that Apple or anybody else has released to date.

How big a limitation is it that FaceTime only works from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 (for now), and only over Wi-Fi (for now)?

To hear Jobs and Apple design honcho Jony Ive tell it, the idea of video calls hopped directly from Jetsonian science fiction to reality in the form of FaceTime. Um, even if FaceTime is the slickest and easiest video chat to date, the idea has been around on phones for years in one form or another. If FaceTime is a breakout hit, it won’t be because it’s video chat–it’ll be because it’s great video chat. And I’m curious: Can a video call app be transcendent if it’s nowhere near as pervasive as something like Skype, and only works when you’re in the vicinity of Wi-Fi?

Will other companies embrace FaceTime as a standard?

Submitting FaceTime as an open standard makes sense from a PR standpoint–Apple is clearly tired of the rap the iPhone has gotten for being a proprietary, standards-avoiding walled garden. (Jobs’ presentation felt more defensive than usual, and he also argued that complaints about the iPhone app approval process are overblown.) But making FaceTime open is also a move that’s in keeping with long-standing Apple tradition: From FireWire to Wi-Fi to WebKit, the company has a pretty impressive track record of getting worthwhile standards rolling. It’s in its own best interest to popularize FaceTime–the more people you can video-call from an iPhone 4G, the more likely you are to buy one.

How will people react to the new industrial design? The original iPhone was a good-looking handset. The iPhone 3G was a step backwards, since it lost its metal backside in favor of more reception-friendly plastic. The iPhone 3GS looked exactly like the 3G. And the iPhone 4 is a major departure from all the iPhones before it. It’s a striking-looking beast, with distinctive curves, angles, and surface sheen–you’ve got to see it before registering an informed opinion. I’m pretty sure that Apple wasn’t going for a design that would be universally adored.

How sturdy is the new design? The glass that Apple makes the fronts of iPhones out of is remarkably sturdy stuff; the plastic backs, however, are susceptible to cracks (at least if you knock your phone around as much as I do). I’m hoping that the 4's all-glass-and-steel construction will make it uncommonly durable. (I have the sneaking suspicion my pals at PCWorld will attempt to find out.)

Will Netflix on the iPhone breed AT&T pricing-change discontent?

The app that was demoed looked nifty–nifty enough that I can imagine Netflix devotees watching it a lot over the course of a month. But new iPhone 4 buyers who aren’t grandfathered into flat-rate data won’t be able to gorge on Netflix when they’re away from Wi-Fi: AT&T’s own example of the activities you can complete on its $25 Data Pro plan include 200 minutes of video. That works out to less than seven minutes a day.

(More and more, my take on AT&T’s pricing shift is: “The new plans are almost certainly sufficient for how you use a smartphone today, but in the long run, it’s how you’ll use a smartphone tomorrow that matters.”

What’s next for the iPod Touch?

When the iPhone 4 hits the streets, it’ll be so strikingly different and better than the Touch will feel a lot less like “an iPhone without the phone.” I hope/guess that it might catch up at the iPod-centric event which Apple is likely to hold in September or thereabouts.

What’s the deal with Bing?

Adding a major search engine to Mobile Safari’s options makes sense simply from the standpoint of making as many people as possible happy. But is Apple trying to tell still-the-default-search-engine Google anything?

Why the Wi-Fi meltdown at Moscone?

I kind of assumed it was the plethora of MiFi mobile hotspots in the audience. So, apparently, did Steve Jobs–he said there were more than five hundred hotspots in the room, which would mean that about ten percent of the attendees had a MiFi, a Palm Pre, a Sprint EVO 4G, or another device capable of delivering Internet access over Wi-Fi. But James Kendrick of the excellent mobile blog JK on the Run isn’t so sure.

Was this the last Apple event anyone will liveblog?

When Steve Jobs couldn’t get his Safari image-quality comparison to work, he asked attendees to turn off their Wi-Fi connections and put their laptops on the floor–and he specifically included bloggers in his request. Some complied, others didn’t; I kept blogging, since I was using a MiFi connected directly to my notebook via USB, and was therefore positive I wasn’t mucking up Steve’s Wi-Fi. I’m already curious what measures Apple will take to ensure smoother proceedings onstage next time around. (Then again, I may just be paranoid–I attended one Apple event a few years ago and left convinced that the company had somehow blocked cellular signals for the duration of its presentation.)

Why no Mac stuff?

We knew this would be an iPhone-centric event, but I expected at least a nod to Apple’s most venerable platform. Nope–you could have attended this event and left unaware that the company makes traditional computing devices, even though Safari 5 was released today for both OS X and Windows. More thoughts about this in another post soon.

What’s the deal with the Verizon iPhone?

Actually, scratch that one–I’m sick of writing about the whole topic. But if you have thoughts about it–or anything else relating to things that were or weren’t announced today–I’d love to hear them.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/198279/my_initial_iphone_4_questions_lots_of_them.html

Top Today : Stephen Hawking: stay away from aliens

2010-04-27T14:54:00.000+07:00

British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking claims in a new documentary that aliens do exist but humans should stay away from them, according to media reports Tuesday.

The physicist, 68, suggested that extraterrestrials exist not just on planets but also in many other parts of the universe, perhaps in the center of stars or even floating in space.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," Hawking warned in the documentary.

Hawking also suggested that while most aliens are probably microorganisms or simple animals some could be intelligent and pose a threat to humanity.

via Xinhuanet

Topic Today : Police poised to expand iPhone prototype probe

2010-04-27T14:51:00.000+07:00

The criminal probe into Apple's errant iPhone prototype is expected to broaden, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNET.

San Mateo County's investigation may expand beyond Gawker Media's Gizmodo.com, which acknowledged buying the prototype for $5,000, and the unknown person who sold it to the gadget blog, the source said. Police obtained a warrant to search a Gizmodo editor's home on Friday evening. CNET was the first to report an investigation was under way earlier that day.

One reason for an expanded investigation is obvious: law enforcement wants to learn who found the so-called 4G prototype and offered it for sale. California law makes it a crime for someone to find lost property but not return it.

Josh Topolsky, Engadget's editor-in-chief, said police haven't contacted anyone in his organization as of Monday evening. Engadget had communicated with the person who found the iPhone prototype, reportedly in a Redwood City, Calif., bar in San Mateo County, and posted a handful of photographs on April 17.

CNET has not been able to confirm whether the felony investigation is targeting Gizmodo staff, the iPhone seller, or someone else. A blog post at NYTimes.com, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, said charges could be filed against the buyer of the phone--meaning Gizmodo employees.

"If I were prosecuting, I'd go after (any blogger who bought the phone) vigorously," said Michael Cardoza, a prominent San Francisco defense attorney and former prosecutor. "I'd fight them tooth and nail to see that they wouldn't get protection under the shield law. I'd play hardball in this case. They didn't find the phone as part of their reporting but instead bought property that they knew or should have known wasn't the property of the seller."

Cardoza, who has represented high-profile clients including the partner of a woman mauled to death by two of her neighbor's dogs in 2001, said that Gawker Media and Gizmodo have a moral obligation to reveal the seller. "Why wouldn't you reveal the name?" Cardoza said. "Unless you're planning on receiving stolen goods in the future and want to make sure anyone who comes to you with stolen property knows that you will protect their identity, why wouldn't you identify them?"

Gaby Darbyshire, the chief operating officer of Gawker Media, said on Monday that she and others had "met in person with the authorities today." Darbyshire wrote a letter to Detective Matthew Broad over the weekend asserting that the search warrant was invalid because it targeted a journalist.

Editors at Gizmodo, part of Gawker Media's blog network, last week said they paid $5,000 for what they believed to be a prototype of a future iPhone 4G. The story said the phone was accidentally left at a bar in Redwood City, Calif., last month by an Apple software engineer and found by someone who contacted Gizmodo, which had previously indicated that it was willing to pay significant sums for unreleased Apple products.

Soon after Gizmodo disclosed details of the raid by the San Mateo County Sheriff's office, including the search warrant for editor Jason Chen's Fremont, Calif., home, a debate erupted over whether bloggers qualify as journalists and should benefit from federal and state laws limiting newsroom searches.

To understand this debate, know three things:

    • Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be--but "appropriates such property to his own use"--is guilty of theft. There are no exceptions for journalists. In addition, a second state law says that any person who knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally can be imprisoned for up to one year.

    • A federal Privacy Protection Act broadly immunizes news organizations from searches, effectively requiring police to use subpoenas in most cases instead. It applies not just to traditional media but anyone "reasonably believed to have a purpose to disseminate to the public a newspaper, book, broadcast, or other similar form of public communication."

    • A similar California law prevents judges from signing warrants that target writers for newspapers, magazines, or "other periodical publications," a definition that a state appeals court explicitly extended (PDF) to shield Apple rumor sites.

"I don't think a lot of law enforcement are aware of" the Privacy Protection Act, says James Chadwick, a partner in the Silicon Valley offices of Sheppard Mullin who specializes in media law and litigation. "This is a federal law. It's been on the books a long time but doesn't get enforced a lot."

For their part, San Mateo County prosecutors say they are reviewing Gizmodo's legal claims.

"What Gizmodo is saying has been addressed to us and is being looked at by us and the prosecutor assigned to the investigation," Stephen Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County, told Bloomberg on Monday; TechCrunch reported that the forensic examination of the seized computers was on hold until the legal analysis was complete. Wagstaffe did not return immediately calls from CNET on Monday evening.

Jennifer Granick, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has said she believes the search warrant aimed at Gawker was problematic. But, Granick said, because Gawker already appears to have retained lawyers, "we are just watching at this point."

One possible hitch: newsroom search laws are intended to protect only journalists. And as the Village Voice's blog pointed out, the site's editors have previously said: "We may inadvertently commit journalism. That is not the institutional intention."
Via Cnet

Topic Today : No Mac App Store, Says Jobs

2010-04-26T14:33:00.000+07:00

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has confirmed that a Mac version of the iPhone/iPad "App Store" is not in the works, qualming fears that the mobile platforms' draconian censorship might creep its way to the computer platform.

According to MacNN, Jobs sent an e-mail to developer Fernando Valente after Valente asked if the app store would overtake the current Mac OS X infrastructure. Jobs's reply: "Nope." It's typical of Jobs to strike down rumors by providing terse, one-word responses.

Apple has extremely strict security measures in place when it comes to the iPhone, which don't make sense to carry over to the Mac platform. It simply would not work to require all Mac programs to be sent to and distributed through a centralized App Store.

With the evolution of mobile phones and explosion of netbooks, though, the huge dividing line between computers and phones is becoming exceedingly muddled. Intel is already working on incorporating Nokia's Meego operating system to netbook PCs to make it easier to find small apps.

Via I4U

Israel ends ban on iPad imports

2010-04-25T17:27:00.000+07:00

Israel has ended its ban on Apple's iPad tablet computer, imposed over concerns its wireless signal could be disruptive.

Israel's Communications Ministry says that after a technical review, officials have decided to allow the popular device into the country.

Israel banned iPad imports after their U.S. release earlier this month, after fears that the powerful gadget's wireless signals could disrupt other devices. At least 10 iPads were seized at the country's international airport.
The ministry says officials determined the iPad meets local standards. Beginning Sunday, they were to be allowed into the country.
The iPad combines the features of a notebook computer with the touch-pad functions of the iPod. It is set to launch internationally in late May.
Via WashingtonPost

Lost iPhone? Get Free Beer, Anyway

2010-04-24T13:35:00.000+07:00

It hasn't exactly been Gray Powell's week. Losing an iPhone prototype in a bar, only to see it appear on Gizmodo, is enough to give you a pretty bad case of the Mondays. Someone out there thinks he could use a break, though -- specifically, the offer comes from Lufthansa Airlines.
In an open letter posted to Gawker tech blog Vallywag on Friday, Lufthansa's Nicola C. Lange offers Powell a free flight to Munich, where he is invited to check out Lufthansa's new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge.
"We all know how frustrating it can be to lose personal belongings," the letter states, "Especially when it is such a unique item." (Is that the understatement of the year, or what?) The letter goes on to note, "with great interest," Powell's "passion for German beer and culture."
Powell reportedly lost the iPhone prototype in , a German beer garden located in Redwood City, California, right after updating his Facebook status to say: "I underestimated how good German beer is."
"We thought you could use a break soon -- and therefore would like to offer you complimentary Business Class transportation to Munich, where you can literally pick up where you last left off."
Not a bad deal, Gray -- sure, it probably doesn't make up for the fact that you lost Apple's, um, super-secret iPhone, but it's not a bad deal at all.
Some of the comments over at Valleywag are skeptical, noting that "it does not include a free trip back HOME!" and suggesting it might be a in which Powell will conveniently "disappear" in Germany. One of the commenters is definitely on the money, though: "Lufthansa . . . I salute you, you magnificent bastards! Well played. Some employee deserves a big raise. You can't buy this kind of publicity."
As Apple now knows, you certainly can't buy this kind of publicity.
And, of course, just in case any of us still think that perhaps the Gawker blog network went too far for the scoop by throwing Gray Powell under the bus -- Valleywag throws in a note about how, "now that his name has been made public, the company won't be able to fire the emerging accidental celebrity without a significant PR backlash."

Keep telling yourself that, Gawker.
via PCWorld

Youtube delete parodies downfall clip.

2010-04-23T14:23:00.000+07:00

The company that produced Downfall. the movie that led to the legendary "Hitler finds out..." Internet meme, has explained why after all these years it finally pulled down the successful YouTube parody videos. The Hollywood Reporter got in touch with Constantin Film head of film production Martin Moszkowicz and said that they have received

"Downfall," a German film released in 2004 about Hitler's last days, has been adopted for wildly popular YouTube parodies that have spanned mock rants about topics as varied as playing Xbox video games to Kanye West to Apple's new iPad.

"Sometimes we have been asked to take certain ones down -- by companies whose products have been ridiculed or from Jewish associations who were offended by certain neo-Nazi parodies using 'Downfall' footage," said Moszkowicz.

However, YouTube promotes the ability to monetize such videos and allow the copyright holder — if it chooses to allow the user-uploaded videos to remain — to earn a percentage of advertising from the clips. YouTube claims that the majority of the more than 1,000 media companies using its Content ID technology opt for this route.

via AP and TG Daily