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I stopped reading at "Without Explaining How"

> Without explaining how, *iFixYouri* says it came into possession of a complete iPhone 4 shell with its glass face in tact, but minus its internal componentry. It then performed several drop tests of the device from 3 and a half feet above ground, which [shattered the glass panel](http://www.ifixyouri.com/blog/?p=59) on the third attempt, as can be seen below. > > The firm did not disclose the surface onto which the unit was dropped, nor did it perform any investigation into whether the device was more susceptible to damage sans its internal components and the added density and structural resistance they may provide. > > Nevertheless, the firm is using the experiment to generate attention and challenge Apple’s stated claim that the iPhone 4’s all-new design and build quality are “like no other mobile device.” The iPhone maker said earlier this week that the device’s [aluminosilcate glass front and back](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/07/apple_unveils_redesigned_thinner_iphone_4_with_two_cameras.html) are “chemically strengthened to be 30 times harder than plastic, more scratch resistant and more durable than ever.”
via [appleinsider.com](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/10/shattered_iphone_4_photographed_to_challenge_apples_durability_claims.html)
If you want to have any sort of credibility, you need to disclose every detail about your tests. First and foremost, where you got this so-called iPhone that you tested. We know Apple didn’t give it to you. So what are the chances that this is a)an authentic iPhone 4, or b) representative of the final shipping product, even if it did come from Apple originally.

This is junk science at its worst.

Now, if two weeks from now, people start buying iPhone 4s in droves, and there are numerous reports of people accidentally breaking them very easily, then you MAY have an argument. But until then, you’re just trying too hard.

AppleInsider | Designer of notification system for Palm's WebOS hired by Apple

> **One of the key players in creating Palm’s WebOS mobile operating system, a man who designed its non-intrusive notification system, is now Apple’s Senior User Interface Designer.** > > Rich Dellinger [worked as](http://www.precentral.net/father-webos-notifications-leaves-apple) the User Interface Design Architect at Palm for nearly 4 years. During his time there, he invented the WebOS notification system and co-developed the application framework used by the operating system found on Palm’s Pre. > > Dellinger was also the visual designer, interaction designer and engineer of WebOS, and he created the icon suite for Palm, Sprint and other partner applications.
via [appleinsider.com](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/09/designer_of_notification_system_for_palms_webos_hired_by_apple.html)
This is bad for HP and Palm, obviously, but great for Apple. The notification system in WebOS is one of the few things that is undeniably better than Apple’s. No argument. Flat out, 100% better.

I seriously hope a notifications UI overhaul will be a major “Tentpole” of iOS 5 next year. I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t make the cut for iOS 4.

Meanwhile, HP had better start thinking about how to retain its talent from the Palm acquisition. Makes no sense to buy the company for its IP and then let all the top minds go elsewhere.

The Incredible/Evo, and battery life - some tips from mobilecrunch

> I read every single comment on [my EVO 4G review](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/05/31/htc-evo-4g-sprint-review/) with the hope that I was wrong about the phone’s battery issue and was simply doing something wrong. But none of the suggestions significantly improved my EVO 4G’s battery life. However, by doing a bunch of little things, I extended it’s idle life from about 12 hours to 14:30 — this is the phone’s battery life with everything turned off besides 3G and it just sits. All the tweaks are easy to do, but you’re going to have to forgo some of the more fun things about Android. It’s a shame, really, that a user has to give up fun widgets, advance wireless connections, and auto setting just to squeeze a few more hours from their phone. > > **Phone settings** > > - Get rid of the large HTC widgets like bookmarks and FriendStream > - Turn off widget animation > - Use a static background rather than a live background > - Turn off auto brightness, set screen backlight at 10% > - Decrease screen timeout from 1min to 15 seconds > - Keep WiFi, GPS, 4G off until it’s needed > > **Apps** > > Advanced Task Killer > > - Flame me in the comments if you want, but ATK should be installed. Without it, there’s no way to kill the Sprint apps the randomly launch and drain the battery. All of a sudden on the EVO 4G, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, or Nascar Sprint App will run. But it’s just not those apps that need ATK. There’s no way to kill the camera without a task killer like ATK. Yes, Android is based on Linux and  manages apps efficiently blah, blah, blah, but I’ve found that ATK does improve battery life when managed properly. > > SetCPU > > - This app allows users to tweak the CPU in various ways. Either you can overclock the chip, and kill the battery faster, or set the CPU to downclock when the phone’s idle. The only problem is that the phone [has to be rooted](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/06/03/evo-4g-root-released/).
via [mobilecrunch.com](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/06/03/tips-and-tricks-to-extending-the-htc-evo-4g-and-incredibles-battery-life-and-what-this-says-about-android/)
This is just too easy, so I’ll let it speak for itself.

My favorite part is the Sprint Apps that launch automatically at random and drain the battery. People criticize the Apple/AT&T relationship, but they fail to realize just how hard it must have been to talk AT&T out of loading up the iPhone with crap apps by default.

Opinion: It's time to call up Akamai

I’m sure I’ll be yammering on over the next few days about the announcements at WWDC today. But first, I wanted to put a suggestion out there to Apple for the next big Keynote presentation (which should be the music event in September, if we follow the usual Apple pattern). And that suggestion would be to bring back the live Quicktime video feed.

I say this knowing that streaming a live broadcast to that many people must be very, very expensive. Streaming is not cheap to begin with, and to do it well for a large audience is even more expensive. Not to mention, a technical nightmare.

But Google just did a live feed for the I/O event at Moscone, which led many people to wonder why Apple can’t do it if Google can. Well, that’s not really a fair comparison. Big as Google may be, it doesn’t generate a live audience like Apple does. My guess is that if today’s Keynote had been broadcast live over the Internet, Apple would have had several times more viewers than Google had for I/O. Not because Google doesn’t have more overall users—they almost certainly do; Google just doesn’t have that kind of draw for these kinds of events. They have no marketing panache. So no one cares if they find out what’s new a few hours, or even days, later. With Apple, people want to know NOW NOW NOW. It’s just a cultural difference.

Having said that, I think Apple should pony up whatever it costs and do the live video again. Why? I’ve got a number for you: 570.

There were 570 wireless devices floating data through the air in that little auditorium today. Most of those were there to fill the void created by the lack of a live video from Apple. That is, they were there to broadcast live blogs, so that the many of us who couldn’t be there could get our Apple fix in real time, or at least seconds after each announcement, rather than waiting a few hours for the full stories to be released.

To be clear: we’re not talking about 570 devices hooked up to the same WiFi network. We’re talking about 570 different WiFi networks, many probably pocket MiFi boxes from Sprint or Verizon, which create their own networks via 3G. That’s a lot of different routers in one room. And that’s a lot of data being passed around at once.

At I/O, Google ran into an issue where it couldn’t continue with its demo of Google TV. At the time, I mocked Google, wondering how such a big company could possibly let its demo fail so epically. Had they not tested their network properly? Were they not prepared? Well, now I realize that maybe they just were victims of a similar WiFi mania themselves.

I’m 100% certain Apple didn’t show up today unprepared.

So the way I see it, Apple basically has a few options. They could ban personal WiFi networks, or render MiFis useless by installing some sort of cell phone blockers in the room, so that MiFis couldn’t work.

The problem is that people outside of that room would be stuck waiting until the presentation was over to hear any news at all about what was going on inside. You’d literally kill the “gotta have it now” feeling that people get for Apple announcements. Years of carefully cultivated marketing buzz, down the drain.

Or, Apple could stream the video on its own web site, thus feeding the media monster while eliminating the need for all of these web sites to try and create a live blog. They might still try and do a live blog of their own, but who will really be paying attention to their text while a live video is going on at Apple?

That would certainly put a dent in the traffic—and thus ad revenue—of a lot of sites like Engadget and AppleInsider. (Just ask Gizmodo how many people showed up to its site this morning.) Apple has never really shed too many tears for the tech press, so I could see this happening.

Or, option 3: Apple could shut down all MiFis with a blocker of some sort, and then do its own LiveBlog from apple.com, rather than a full video. Get some intern to type in lines as Steve speaks them, like a closed-caption sort of arrangement. Toss in some photos, and most people will be happier than they are now with liveblogs from other sites. Make it a showcase for HTML5 standards by having it work on Mobile browsers, as well. Another marketing victory.

Either way, I expect *something *to be done by September for Apple’s next event. I can’t see Steve letting this one go and risking further embarrassment if there’s any way it can be avoided. Can you?

Daring Fireball Linked List: 'I Wish Microsoft Had Their Evil Genius Back' - My Take

His chart comparing Microsoft’s stock price under Bill Gates vs. Ballmer is devastating. How much longer can Ballmer last? Is the problem that Gates doesn’t want to return? That Gates doesn’t want to concede that it was a terrible error to hand the company to Ballmer? That he doesn’t want to fire his friend?

via daringfireball.net

I have a theory: It’s not that Gates is afraid to fire his old friend. I think he expected Microsoft to falter after he left. I think that’s why he left in the first place. He saw the writing on the wall.

Microsoft hasn’t had a successful product since Office. That’s a long time, and a long list of products, including every version of the mobile OS, the XBox (sells well, but still loses money, many years after introduction), Search (Now called Bing, but also known as about ten other names prior to that), PlaysForSure, Zune, and on and on. Many of those products debuted under Gates.

It’s not like Bill Gates ever REALLY cared about the quality of the products, anyway. He was in it for the money, and to get back at all the bullies in high school who beat him up relentlessly when he was a kid. If he had stuck it out at Microsoft, or if he were to return now, Microsoft would be HIS failure. As it stands now, he looks like the heroic founder who made the company great, and the blame for Microsoft’s downfall all lands on Ballmer, which is nice and convenient for Bill.

I’m not saying Ballmer is a great CEO who was handed an impossible mission. Ballmer has always gone along for the free ride, and has never had any real talent. So I don’t feel sorry for him in the least. But I do think of Gates as a business man first, and a technology guru second. And thus I believe he made the last good business move of his life by retiring when Microsoft had passed its prime—especially since very few recognized that Microsoft was on its way out back then.

Gates’ greatest “vision” was seeing that keeping a giant monopoly like Microsoft alive much longer would have been more trouble than it was worth. How much easier was it to turn his legacy into “the generous philanthropist” that everyone admires? Money can’t buy happiness, maybe, but it can buy reputation and legacy.

Not to downplay the man’s generosity, because he is helping some great causes. But let’s not be naive. The man had PR problems, and they’ve all disappeared now.