Well this is disappointing
When I first heard someone had made an Optimus Prime iPad Stand, naturally I got pretty excited. However, upon seeing what basically amounts to some guy bending the G1 Optimus Prime toy in half and laying an iPad on it, I have to say this doesn’t even warrant an “E” for Effort.
via Tweet Photo
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence
Here’s something odd… As we all know, the iPhone 4 does NOT have a reception issue with its antenna. Yet The New York Times is reporting that Mark Papermaster, that hot shot engineer that Apple wanted so badly to head up their iPhone Hardware Engineering department they had to fight IBM for him, and who coincidentally appears to be the driving force behind the iPhone 4’s “non-issue-having” antenna design, has left Apple.
There’s no official word from Apple or Papermaster as to whether he left on his own accord or was fired, but… he was fired.
Of course that’s just my educated guess. However I’m sure it had nothing to do with the iPhone 4’s antenna design or bad press. Odds are he was stealing Post-Its or something.
via 9to5
OK, so is Apple OK with exploitive App Store content or not?
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Cynicism, Double Standard, Girls, iPhone
I have a theory that there is ONE guy on the iTunes App Store Submission Approval Team (I call him Larry) who has decided to just say “Screw it” and is stamping “Approved” on all the sexually risque Apps that have been recently slipping back onto the iTunes store. Case in point, My Virtual Girlfriend.
Now to be clear, I have no problem with this app or Larry’s decision to approve it, nor do I consider it to be “porn”. But I certainly didn’t consider any of the 1000’s of bikini girl apps Apple pulled to be porn either, and I think one could argue that this app “objectifies women” far more than a slideshow of girls on the beach. Here’s hoping Larry is still on duty if and when we finally get our Mac Chick of the Month app going.
(Oh, and for the record, Playboy, Hooters
, and Sports Illustrated
all still have their “come ogle the ladies” apps on iTunes.)
Burglar-proof your iPhone with these “Jersey Shore” cases
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Cynicism, iPhone
Back in MY day, It used to be you could let the world know that you had arrived simply by owning the iPhone. But with iPhone prices dropping and everyone and their sister sporting one now, the air of exclusivity has somewhat disappeared. However, imagine the looks of jealousy, respect, and sexual longing you will receive when people see you have slapped one of these ultra-classy “Jersey Shore” MusicSkins onto your iPhone!
Not buying it? Well, at least no one will steal your iPhone. Personally, even if I removed the stickers, I would still worry I could catch something.
Apple pulls those deflection videos from their site
As noted by Tech Crunch, Apple has pulled all those beautifully shot “But their phones do it too!” comparison videos Apple was using to show how common the iPhone 4’s drop in reception is when held “in a certain way”.
I don’t know why, but I decided to go over to the Canadian Apple site and grab all the videos before they disappear from that site too. I guess since they are being pulled they feel more special, like collectors items – sort of like how Michael Jackson’s album sales soared after he died. Maybe I’ll sell a DVD of them on eBay and retire.
Will the white iPhone 4’s have the horrible reception issues that plague the black model?
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Cynicism, design, iPhone
In light of the completely real, verifiable, and not-fixable-via-software iPhone 4 reception problem, I got to thinking about Apple’s comments on the delay of the white iPhone 4.
“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. “
When Apple said the white iPhone 4’s were trickier to manufacture than anticipated, it didn’t really make a lot of sense. Given that the only difference in manufacturing the two models SHOULD be finding black plastic and white plastic, the idea that the “challenging” aspect to manufacturing a white iPhone is a matter of color doesn’t seem all that convincing (especially for a company who is known for making multi-colored versions of their devices).
But now that we see there are inherent design problems to the iPhone 4’s antenna placement, we can’t help but wonder/hope that there’s a chance that Apple has figured out a fix and the white iPhone 4 will NOT have the antenna issue.
Unfortunately for Apple, at this point fixing the antenna in the new model will be tantamount to a confession that it not only admits the black models suffer reception issues, but that it knew of them pre-launch, and released them anyway. This would more or less force Apple to recall/replace all 4 million or so black iPhone 4’s it has sold.
Or Would it?
While the optimistic Apple fanboy in me would like to think Apple would do the right thing – suck up a (comparatively) small loss in exchange for an untarnished iPhone reputation – the realist in me can also totally imagine the Apple press release that would accompany a fixed white iPhone 4:
“CUPERTINO, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple is pleased to announce the availability of the highly anticipated white iPhone 4. For the new white models, Apple was able create a revolutionary new white plastic compound that allows for THREE TIMES the amount of cellular reception found in most “black” plastics”. Apple’s revolutionary antenna design remains unchanged, although we would prefer you do not open it and look around. Thank you.”
© 2010 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh and iPhone are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Unfortunately, the way Apple’s been spinning this thing, I think the above press release is not that unlikely.
iTunes book store hacked?
A quick look at the books category on iTunes and it’s no wonder that rumors of an iTunes hack are surfacing.
It seems that suddenly a certain Thuat Nguyen (who has no website or contact info on iTunes) now has 40 of the top 50 books being sold on iTunes, and what’s more he/she is buying them with other people’s iTunes accounts (up to $200 worth per account) if the comments being left on the titles are any indication.
Now of course, we COULD all just be jumping to conclusions, and maybe these 40 Vietnamese/Manga titles just happen to kick so much ass that they are rocketing up the US charts on their own merit, BUT… it still might be a good idea to check your recent purchases and freshen up that password.
[via TheNextWeb]
Apple formally responds to iPhone 4 reception issues – and it’s AWESOME!
Ok, so Apple just released the following statement on the iPhone 4 reception issues that (almost) everyone is reporting (Including me). My thoughts after the jump.
Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4
CUPERTINO, Calif., July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –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. Read more
Putting the latest Verizon iPhone rumor into perspective
Filed under: Cynicism, Rampant Speculation, Rumors, iPhone
Call me crazy, but I just can’t seem to get too excited about the latest Verizon iPhone rumor…
(headlines via MacRumors)
Sure, eventually someone’s going to be right… but can’t we just wait for an official announcement?
Prediction: Apple will begin giving away bumper cases with iPhone 4’s and issue $30 credit for early buyers in the next 2 weeks
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Cynicism, Steve Jobs, WTF, You Bet I'm Pissed, design, iPhone, stupid
When I first heard Gizmodo’s report that iPhone 4 cell reception was adversely affected by touching the stainless steel band that surrounds the iPhone 4 and serves as the antennae for the device, I was a bit skeptical. The fanboy in me wanted to think that since Gizmodo clearly has a bit of an ax to grind with Apple, they may be exaggerating the claims, or perhaps it was a problem affecting only a select number of handsets. Besides, everyone knows Apple would never sacrifice function over form, so they MUST have tested this design beforehand, right?
Well, one hour after getting my iPhone 4, and THREE dropped calls later (I am one of the rare iPhone customers for whom AT&T service has been rock solid), I began to worry. A quick test of my own revealed that Read more
