still not perfect, but getting better. it will replace flash, just like PDF.js can replace PDF plugins in browsers
For those who don't know, PDF.js is the "built in PDF viewer" in recent Firefox builds. It's not an Adobe-provided thing. It's a new Firefox feature to convert PDF to HTML5 using Javascript using a mozilla foundation "community driven" javascript project.
I gleefully support the goals of the project.
And yet I regret to report that from my work-related test cases, PDF.js is badly broken with long technical documents with diagrams.:-(
For those who don't know, you can disable it!
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
2. Press the big button to bypass the warning.
3. In the Filter bar, paste pdfjs.disabled
4. In the search results, double-click pdfjs.disabled to set its value to true
5. Restart Firefox for the changes to take effect.
It says out the guy had been fired/laidoff ("released") from his job. His WORK was spying on his searches AT WORK from his WORK computer.
They reviewed his searches and freaked out and reported him to the county cops to investigate.
" Suffolk County Criminal Intelligence Detectives received a tip from a Bay Shore based computer company regarding suspicious computer searches conducted by a recently released employee. The former employee’s computer searches took place on this employee’s workplace computer. On that computer, the employee searched the terms “pressure cooker bombs” and “backpacks.”
I'm not saying it wasn't unfortunate for the guy, but let's be clear that for THIS issue this was NOT it turns out a "the feds spy on me" story.
> The website will be a therapist -- telling you only what you want to hear
this was a surprising comment to me. If that was your experience with a therapist, please don't assume that all therapists would have such a useless strategy!
Good well-trained and empathetic therapists do challenge assumptions and help move you towards useful and new perspectives not merely ego stroking.
Everyone if possible should shop around for therapists and find someone that is a good fit, and that includes getting the right amount of insightfulness and independence of thought, with rapport but also without fear of speaking truthfully in your presence.
The popular belief these days is that everyone is allowed to a have 'democratic' opinion on any subject regardless if they have any clue as to what they are talking about
Most tales about YHWH aren't painting a picture of a nice guy. It's not that unreasonable to even half-seriously suggest that YHWH was an alien; too many of his actions and orders are pretty inhuman by anyone's measure, but fit a heartless robot just fine.
Yeah, because when you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
I am not sure what the "extensible type system" means
It means that you can add methods or properties to a class without subclassing it. This feature is one of the very few things that I actually like about Objective C.
It also means that Gosu supports custom type loaders that dynamically inject types into the language so you can use them as native objects in Gosu.
For example, custom type loaders add Gosu types for objects from XML schemas (XSDs) and from remote WS-I compliant web services (SOAP). Later versions of the Gosu community release will include more APIs and documentation about creating your own custom type loaders.
Modules of code containing type loaders can create entire namespaces of new types. This means that a type loader can import external objects and let Gosu code manipulate them as native objects.
There are two custom type loaders that included in Gosu: (1) Gosu XML typeloader. This type loader supports the native Gosu APIs for XML. For more information, see "Gosu and XML". (2) Gosu SOAP typeloader. This type loader supports the native Gosu APIs for SOAP.
The first Gosu community release does not yet include these add-on typeloaders that support these APIs due to in-progress changes in bundling add-on typeloaders. The Gosu documentation describes the XML and web services APIs right now so you can become familiar with these upcoming APIs.
New languages for the JVM are cool and all, but still no syntax fixes the problems inherent in the JVM. Mainly, the lack of generics.
Actually there are several improvements to the Gosu generics system that workaround JVM limitations.
In Java, when you use generics, the true type like MyClass is erased and it just becomes MyClass at run time. This called type erasure.
In Gosu, if you do the same thing, assuming MyClass is a Gosu type, the run time type is really MyClass. This is called reified generics.
(Note however that if the type is a Java type to start out with, like java.util.ArrayList, then the generic version ArrayList in Gosu follows the type erasure route as you'd imagine.)
But if you are playing in the Gosu world with Gosu types (for example, a Gosu class ), the language adds code that really does preserve generics even though the JVM doesn't natively think that way.
"could of used a screenshot or two of the historical operating systems."
What the fuck does "could of" mean?
Native speakers know that he really meant "it could have", which in verbal English becomes "coulda" or "could've", the latter of which sounds like what he typed.
There's no need to be mean about it. And certainly no need to score the parent post as "Score: 3 Insightful".
I can see it now... the ships land at the UN and...
Alien: Greetings. We come in peace.
UN: Where do you come from?
Alien: A distant galaxy nearly 10 billion light years away. Our
world has no crime, no disease, no wars; we value learning as the pinnacle
of achievement. We have been waiting 2,000 of your years for the moment
when Humanity is ready for contact. We feel the time is right.
UN: Why are you here?
Alien: We came to be baptized. Praise Jesus!
or not...
I can see it now... the ships land at the UN and...
Alien: Greetings. We come in peace.
UN: Where do you come from?
Alien: A distant galaxy nearly 10 billion light years away.
UN: Why are you here?
Alien: To escape religious persecution! Most of our galaxy are ZYZYZYYZ-ists and we dont' feel safe to practice the Tarvu religion. We came to be baptized on the planet of our many-tentacled prophet. Praise Tarvu!
Suppose you buy an expensive piece of industrial equipment. Once you get it home, you open the box and an EULA falls out. It says you didn't buy the device, you licensed the ability to use it. It says you may not sell the device, or return it for a refund, it is yours now once and for all time. Further, you agree that you can't sue for any injury that happens, even if such an injury is a result of a defect in manufacturing.
How would that be any different? How would that be at all legal, based on existing contract law?
i'm not a lawyer, but i've been told that you can't sign away your rights to sue for negligence or dangerous products and things like that. so even if someone convinces you to sign, that clause isn't enforceable in the US, or so I've been told. for example, if you rent a parachute and it turns out that they stuffed your parachute with old rags and not a parachute by acident, your survivors can still sue even if you've signed a thing waving your rights.
if someone else knows more about the details about how this is handled in different jurisdictions, please speak up...
Pretty much what we would expect from any company in Apple's shoes. Damage control at minimum cost.
Apple's numbers are suspicious. Everyone I know with an iPhone 4 has the issue(s) but NONE of them have called AppleCare or gone to the Apple store to complain. They have all been patiently waiting for Apple to take care of them.
I call shenanigans. Your numbers are even more suspicious than Apple's! So, you're saying that your prediction based on your data set is that all iPhone 4s have some deadline serious problem that destroys the ability for the phone to work? This is just implausible on the face of it. You're implying that 3 million out of 3 million phones have this issue?
How many of these people you know really had the "issue" of dropped calls, or did some of them just confirm that they can see bars go down when touching some parts? And for the record, that does NOT happen on my iPhone 4, and I've dared other people to try with my phone with their own hands.
I know several people with iPhone 4s, including myself, and NONE of them have *actually* reported more dropped calls in real life or dreadful data rates. My cell reception is surely better now than my iPhone 3G was in my area. And the times I had crappy coverage with the new phone it wasn't because of antenna touching -- i could put it on a table and see i had no reception no matter what! And one time it showed no coverage weirdly at home (while not touching it) and I had to restart the device. Lame, but probably fixable in a software update.
And I did the speedtest.net iPhone app tests and did it 3 or more times with each hand position and found no significant difference between holding the iphone in my left versus right hand (the AT&T network speed was very different each time, but the average was about the same).
Bottom line: the Anantech article seems basically right, and well researched, and matches my tests. YES, there is a loss in signal, but it starts at a higher point and the overall effect is that the iPhone does NOT have a big issue. And why all the fuss when you can get a bumper/case and it fixes even that mild issue in low signal areas if you really want to.
And because people keep posting falsehoods on Slashdot about this, WIRED did not rip them a new one over this. They mostly expounded on other people's complaints. What about their OWN tests at WIRED? Their summary of their own tests was "And in our own tests [...] the antenna problem is not especially serious .
I've tried many binaural beats CDs, including esoteric expensive ones I borrowed from a friend into them. Most of them suck because although they probably (?) have the right difference in frequency between left and right ear, the two frequencies were fairly high up in frequency, and I find it dissonant and irritating pretty quick. My guess is that most CDs do this because they can't assume that you have good headphones that can really do deep bass. If you have both L and R sides at low frequencies, it is **powerful** and it is less irritating, or at least it is for me. Also a bunch on the market have crappy new agey chimes or amateurish music that is lame the first time you hear it, and way more so the 20th time you've heard it.
In contrast, there are TWO CDS THAT ARE AWESOME, which I continue to use, with my big headphones that can do the low bass...
I listen to these two CD repeatedly and enjoy the meditative and sorta head-trippy effect. I find they tend to calm me and focus me. It feels like it is increasing cooperation between my brain hemispheres. Like, when I'm doing very left brain stuff like programming, I feel more creative. And sometimes I feel more grounded, and more social (less shy and less self-involved) afterward so it's easier to do other things in life.
I'll listen to both of these in quite varied settings. Not just meditation, but also cleaning the house, or programming code, or blocking out sounds at work, or running on a treadmill.
As I mentioned, these two CDs require headphones with GOOD BASS RESPONSE. For the record, I'm extremely fond of my Ultrasone 650 headphones, which btw do not need a headphone amp to have deep bass with iPod / iPhone, btw. Ultrasone is a brand not well known outside recording studio / pro audio worlds. Here's a link to more of their headphones.
I strongly recommend these two CDs to geeks and non-geeks alike, and to those who like traditional drugs and for those who are 'straight edge'!:-)
I hope you enjoy them!
I'm not affiliated with the guy who made them, I just like his work.
Real-world tests by Wired, Engadget, etc. all show that you can have 4 bars and great signal. Hold the phone and have zero signal.
What real-world use are you talking about? I'm not even activating my iPhone 4 until I get my bumper in the mail I just ordered.
I also hate this notion that Apple products always just work.
Moderators: parent post is insightful?
1) You haven't even activated it and so you can't even verify the claims yourself, so you are basing your views on self-admitted anger about previous products and other people's reports only. And all that despite the fact that you could choose to gather actual good data simply by activating it and being a good nerd and doing your own tests? To focus on the phrase "real-world tests" and then mock the possibility of you actually doing real-world tests seems to denigrate the scientific method, and the approach of geekiness in general. Unlike you, I actually activated my iPhone 4, have made tons of calls with BETTER reception than my iPhone 3G. And I even downloaded the speedtest.net app and tested with left hand, right hand, and not touching the phone, and didn't see much of a real world difference when holding it **naturally**. I am open to the possibility that there is more of a problem for some people, but everyone I know with an iPhone 4 does not have this problem when they hold the phone naturally. (my experience is consistent with the excellent anantech article based on a fairly thorough and nerdy testing process.
2) I have gotten crappy reception a few times, but as an experiment put the phone down on a non-conductive table and demonstrated that the AT&T crappy reception is independent of any antenna touching issue. I can still say that AT&T sucks ass, but that doesn't mean that it's some touching-the-phone issue.
3) And then you quote WIRED to back up your vitriol. WIRED, like most of the media, for the most part has been reporting about other people's reports, not their own testing, and in summarizing their experience WIRED says "And in our own tests, as well as the reports of many readers, the antenna problem is not especially serious.". That is hardly the indictment you make it out to be in your post. I'd go so far as to say your post is entirely misleading about Wired's assessment.
Dude, RTFA! They clearly state that the iPhone 4 excels in several areas. It just sucks in its primary function as a cellphone and thus they can't recommend it. I don't think Consumer Reports has any vested interest in seeing the iPhone fail or succeed.
I don't get it. Why would they not just say "iPhone 4 is great. We recommend it only if you also get a bumper or a case too. And if so, it does quite well on all counts."
I don't see how this is much different from saying for a PC review.... "We really liked such and such cheap computer for Windows 7 Pro, but with the basic specs it doesn't have enough memory for real-world applications. Thus Consumer Reports recommends it only if you also buy the upgrade from 400Meg RAM to 1gig RAM, which changes the price to the less competitive cost of $____"
If anyone here wants to support journalism in the public interest (not Corporate controlled or all about supporting the status quo) donate to the organization Pro Publica and/or read their stories and forward them to your friends and colleagues.
Pro Publica is "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them." See Pro Publica.
BTW, I just saw on their site a recent award...
[[ProPublica is pleased to be the recipient of the first Edward R. Murrow Award for Media Entrepreneurship from Washington State University’s Murrow College of Communication. ProPublica is being recognized for its work as a "nonprofit provider of hard-hitting online journalism," according to Lawrence Pintak, the founding dean of Murrow College, which is named for the legendary CBS News broadcaster and journalist.
Slashdot Mirror
html5 can replace flash, check this link on how firefox can replace flash
still not perfect, but getting better. it will replace flash, just like PDF.js can replace PDF plugins in browsers
For those who don't know, PDF.js is the "built in PDF viewer" in recent Firefox builds. It's not an Adobe-provided thing. It's a new Firefox feature to convert PDF to HTML5 using Javascript using a mozilla foundation "community driven" javascript project.
I gleefully support the goals of the project.
And yet I regret to report that from my work-related test cases, PDF.js is badly broken with long technical documents with diagrams. :-(
For those who don't know, you can disable it!
1. Type about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
2. Press the big button to bypass the warning.
3. In the Filter bar, paste pdfjs.disabled
4. In the search results, double-click pdfjs.disabled to set its value to true
5. Restart Firefox for the changes to take effect.
You really need to ask this question? Or you just playing stewpit?
The article has an update posted now a day later:
It says out the guy had been fired/laidoff ("released") from his job. His WORK was spying on his searches AT WORK from his WORK computer.
They reviewed his searches and freaked out and reported him to the county cops to investigate.
I'm not saying it wasn't unfortunate for the guy, but let's be clear that for THIS issue this was NOT it turns out a "the feds spy on me" story.
This is a "your EMPLOYER spies on you" story.
Aliens built the Pyramids Teach The Controversy
http://controversy.wearscience.com/
Also, babies really come from STORKS not sex. Teach the controversy!!!! http://controversy.wearscience.com/
And btw... About this line
> The website will be a therapist -- telling you only what you want to hear
this was a surprising comment to me. If that was your experience with a therapist, please don't assume that all therapists would have such a useless strategy!
Good well-trained and empathetic therapists do challenge assumptions and help move you towards useful and new perspectives not merely ego stroking. Everyone if possible should shop around for therapists and find someone that is a good fit, and that includes getting the right amount of insightfulness and independence of thought, with rapport but also without fear of speaking truthfully in your presence.
The popular belief these days is that everyone is allowed to a have 'democratic' opinion on any subject regardless if they have any clue as to what they are talking about
These links may also be enlightening:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/12/confident-dumb-peopl.html
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_Effect
Most tales about YHWH aren't painting a picture of a nice guy. It's not that unreasonable to even half-seriously suggest that YHWH was an alien; too many of his actions and orders are pretty inhuman by anyone's measure, but fit a heartless robot just fine.
Yeah, because when you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfellas
This is just a part of the evangelical fundamentalist echo chamber.
This is just a part of the evangelical fundamentalist echo chamber.
I am not sure what the "extensible type system" means
It means that you can add methods or properties to a class without subclassing it. This feature is one of the very few things that I actually like about Objective C.
http://gosu-lang.org/doc/wwhelp/wwhimpl/api.htm?&context=gosu&src=enhancements&topic=Using_Enhancements
It also means that Gosu supports custom type loaders that dynamically inject types into the language so you can use them as native objects in Gosu.
For example, custom type loaders add Gosu types for objects from XML schemas (XSDs) and from remote WS-I compliant web services (SOAP). Later versions of the Gosu community release will include more APIs and documentation about creating your own custom type loaders.
Modules of code containing type loaders can create entire namespaces of new types. This means that a type loader can import external objects and let Gosu code manipulate them as native objects. There are two custom type loaders that included in Gosu: (1) Gosu XML typeloader. This type loader supports the native Gosu APIs for XML. For more information, see "Gosu and XML". (2) Gosu SOAP typeloader. This type loader supports the native Gosu APIs for SOAP.
The first Gosu community release does not yet include these add-on typeloaders that support these APIs due to in-progress changes in bundling add-on typeloaders. The Gosu documentation describes the XML and web services APIs right now so you can become familiar with these upcoming APIs.
For more information http://gosu-lang.org/doc/wwhelp/wwhimpl/api.htm?&context=gosu&src=intro&topic=Extensible_Type_System
But I really like my semicolons (as much as lispers like their parenthesis)
Good news then!!!
Because you CAN use your semicolons in Gosu!
They are optional, although not the standard Gosu coding style. http://gosu-lang.org/doc/wwhelp/wwhimpl/api.htm?&context=gosu&src=intro&topic=Gosu_Statement_Terminators
New languages for the JVM are cool and all, but still no syntax fixes the problems inherent in the JVM. Mainly, the lack of generics.
Actually there are several improvements to the Gosu generics system that workaround JVM limitations.
In Java, when you use generics, the true type like MyClass is erased and it just becomes MyClass at run time. This called type erasure.
In Gosu, if you do the same thing, assuming MyClass is a Gosu type, the run time type is really MyClass. This is called reified generics.
(Note however that if the type is a Java type to start out with, like java.util.ArrayList, then the generic version ArrayList in Gosu follows the type erasure route as you'd imagine.)
But if you are playing in the Gosu world with Gosu types (for example, a Gosu class ), the language adds code that really does preserve generics even though the JVM doesn't natively think that way.
"But it IS a piece of Gosu!"
Don't worry: the language will probably be cancelled before it has a chance to really get going.
Anyway, that was my first thought too, then I wondered if it was an invitation to Oracle's lawyers...?
regarding the "chance to really get going", Gosu is already used by multi-billion dollar companies around the world already, for a bunch of years.
See a list of companies here: http://www.guidewire.com/our_customers
It's just that the language now available to a wider audience who want it, not just Guidewire Software customers.
"could of used a screenshot or two of the historical operating systems."
What the fuck does "could of" mean?
Native speakers know that he really meant "it could have", which in verbal English becomes "coulda" or "could've", the latter of which sounds like what he typed.
There's no need to be mean about it. And certainly no need to score the parent post as "Score: 3 Insightful".
I can see it now... the ships land at the UN and... Alien: Greetings. We come in peace. UN: Where do you come from? Alien: A distant galaxy nearly 10 billion light years away. Our world has no crime, no disease, no wars; we value learning as the pinnacle of achievement. We have been waiting 2,000 of your years for the moment when Humanity is ready for contact. We feel the time is right. UN: Why are you here? Alien: We came to be baptized. Praise Jesus! or not...
I can see it now... the ships land at the UN and...
Alien: Greetings. We come in peace.
UN: Where do you come from?
Alien: A distant galaxy nearly 10 billion light years away.
UN: Why are you here?
Alien: To escape religious persecution! Most of our galaxy are ZYZYZYYZ-ists and we dont' feel safe to practice the Tarvu religion. We came to be baptized on the planet of our many-tentacled prophet. Praise Tarvu!
http://www.tarvu.com/
It's so easy to join!
Suppose you buy an expensive piece of industrial equipment. Once you get it home, you open the box and an EULA falls out. It says you didn't buy the device, you licensed the ability to use it. It says you may not sell the device, or return it for a refund, it is yours now once and for all time. Further, you agree that you can't sue for any injury that happens, even if such an injury is a result of a defect in manufacturing.
How would that be any different? How would that be at all legal, based on existing contract law?
i'm not a lawyer, but i've been told that you can't sign away your rights to sue for negligence or dangerous products and things like that. so even if someone convinces you to sign, that clause isn't enforceable in the US, or so I've been told. for example, if you rent a parachute and it turns out that they stuffed your parachute with old rags and not a parachute by acident, your survivors can still sue even if you've signed a thing waving your rights.
if someone else knows more about the details about how this is handled in different jurisdictions, please speak up...
What would an XKCDsort look like?
I dunno what it would look like, but when they run the sound algorithm on it, it would sound like some awesome song from Guitar Hero.
At least they didn't call it,
iMagic.
Yet.
It is prophesied! Or prophesized! Or prophephizizzle! Or whatever that word is!
Someday I'll link back to this post and say we warned you all!!!!
Dragon is not open source. It is not even multi-platform.
What? Their technology is on multiple platforms and trivially confirmed with google in seconds with queries like: dragon speech mac
WINDOWS: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/editions/default.asp
MAC: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/macintosh/for-the-mac.asp
iPhone/iPad: time-limited note recording, but impressive accuracy : http://www.dragonmobileapps.com/
Phone via calling like, as a regular phone: http://jott.com/
Also...
Blackberry: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/8108
Dragon is not open source. It is not even multi-platform.
What? Their technology is on multiple platforms and trivially confirmed with google in seconds with queries like: dragon speech mac
WINDOWS: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/editions/default.asp
MAC: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/macintosh/for-the-mac.asp
iPhone/iPad: time-limited note recording, but impressive accuracy : http://www.dragonmobileapps.com/
Phone via calling like, as a regular phone: http://jott.com/
Pretty much what we would expect from any company in Apple's shoes. Damage control at minimum cost.
Apple's numbers are suspicious. Everyone I know with an iPhone 4 has the issue(s) but NONE of them have called AppleCare or gone to the Apple store to complain. They have all been patiently waiting for Apple to take care of them.
I call shenanigans. Your numbers are even more suspicious than Apple's! So, you're saying that your prediction based on your data set is that all iPhone 4s have some deadline serious problem that destroys the ability for the phone to work? This is just implausible on the face of it. You're implying that 3 million out of 3 million phones have this issue?
How many of these people you know really had the "issue" of dropped calls, or did some of them just confirm that they can see bars go down when touching some parts? And for the record, that does NOT happen on my iPhone 4, and I've dared other people to try with my phone with their own hands.
I know several people with iPhone 4s, including myself, and NONE of them have *actually* reported more dropped calls in real life or dreadful data rates. My cell reception is surely better now than my iPhone 3G was in my area. And the times I had crappy coverage with the new phone it wasn't because of antenna touching -- i could put it on a table and see i had no reception no matter what! And one time it showed no coverage weirdly at home (while not touching it) and I had to restart the device. Lame, but probably fixable in a software update.
And I did the speedtest.net iPhone app tests and did it 3 or more times with each hand position and found no significant difference between holding the iphone in my left versus right hand (the AT&T network speed was very different each time, but the average was about the same).
Bottom line: the Anantech article seems basically right, and well researched, and matches my tests. YES, there is a loss in signal, but it starts at a higher point and the overall effect is that the iPhone does NOT have a big issue. And why all the fuss when you can get a bumper/case and it fixes even that mild issue in low signal areas if you really want to.
And because people keep posting falsehoods on Slashdot about this, WIRED did not rip them a new one over this. They mostly expounded on other people's complaints. What about their OWN tests at WIRED? Their summary of their own tests was "And in our own tests [...] the antenna problem is not especially serious .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIcaejkpD4&feature=player_embedded
The iPhone 4 song video that started the press conf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIcaejkpD4&feature=player_embedded
Moderators: I am not joking, the New York Times report from the press conference reported this...
I've tried many binaural beats CDs, including esoteric expensive ones I borrowed from a friend into them. Most of them suck because although they probably (?) have the right difference in frequency between left and right ear, the two frequencies were fairly high up in frequency, and I find it dissonant and irritating pretty quick. My guess is that most CDs do this because they can't assume that you have good headphones that can really do deep bass. If you have both L and R sides at low frequencies, it is **powerful** and it is less irritating, or at least it is for me. Also a bunch on the market have crappy new agey chimes or amateurish music that is lame the first time you hear it, and way more so the 20th time you've heard it.
In contrast, there are TWO CDS THAT ARE AWESOME, which I continue to use, with my big headphones that can do the low bass...
I listen to these two CD repeatedly and enjoy the meditative and sorta head-trippy effect. I find they tend to calm me and focus me. It feels like it is increasing cooperation between my brain hemispheres. Like, when I'm doing very left brain stuff like programming, I feel more creative. And sometimes I feel more grounded, and more social (less shy and less self-involved) afterward so it's easier to do other things in life.
I'll listen to both of these in quite varied settings. Not just meditation, but also cleaning the house, or programming code, or blocking out sounds at work, or running on a treadmill.
As I mentioned, these two CDs require headphones with GOOD BASS RESPONSE. For the record, I'm extremely fond of my Ultrasone 650 headphones, which btw do not need a headphone amp to have deep bass with iPod / iPhone, btw. Ultrasone is a brand not well known outside recording studio / pro audio worlds. Here's a link to more of their headphones.
I strongly recommend these two CDs to geeks and non-geeks alike, and to those who like traditional drugs and for those who are 'straight edge'! :-)
I hope you enjoy them!
I'm not affiliated with the guy who made them, I just like his work.
Real-world tests by Wired, Engadget, etc. all show that you can have 4 bars and great signal. Hold the phone and have zero signal.
What real-world use are you talking about? I'm not even activating my iPhone 4 until I get my bumper in the mail I just ordered.
I also hate this notion that Apple products always just work.
Moderators: parent post is insightful?
1) You haven't even activated it and so you can't even verify the claims yourself, so you are basing your views on self-admitted anger about previous products and other people's reports only. And all that despite the fact that you could choose to gather actual good data simply by activating it and being a good nerd and doing your own tests? To focus on the phrase "real-world tests" and then mock the possibility of you actually doing real-world tests seems to denigrate the scientific method, and the approach of geekiness in general. Unlike you, I actually activated my iPhone 4, have made tons of calls with BETTER reception than my iPhone 3G. And I even downloaded the speedtest.net app and tested with left hand, right hand, and not touching the phone, and didn't see much of a real world difference when holding it **naturally**. I am open to the possibility that there is more of a problem for some people, but everyone I know with an iPhone 4 does not have this problem when they hold the phone naturally. (my experience is consistent with the excellent anantech article based on a fairly thorough and nerdy testing process.
2) I have gotten crappy reception a few times, but as an experiment put the phone down on a non-conductive table and demonstrated that the AT&T crappy reception is independent of any antenna touching issue. I can still say that AT&T sucks ass, but that doesn't mean that it's some touching-the-phone issue.
3) And then you quote WIRED to back up your vitriol. WIRED, like most of the media, for the most part has been reporting about other people's reports, not their own testing, and in summarizing their experience WIRED says "And in our own tests, as well as the reports of many readers, the antenna problem is not especially serious.". That is hardly the indictment you make it out to be in your post. I'd go so far as to say your post is entirely misleading about Wired's assessment.
3) Showing low bars doesn't == more dropped calls. The excellent anantech article has demonstrated this using a fairly thorough testing process.
Your post almost seems like a Poe's Law post in the voice of a Mac Hater.
Dude, RTFA! They clearly state that the iPhone 4 excels in several areas. It just sucks in its primary function as a cellphone and thus they can't recommend it. I don't think Consumer Reports has any vested interest in seeing the iPhone fail or succeed.
I don't get it. Why would they not just say "iPhone 4 is great. We recommend it only if you also get a bumper or a case too. And if so, it does quite well on all counts."
I don't see how this is much different from saying for a PC review.... "We really liked such and such cheap computer for Windows 7 Pro, but with the basic specs it doesn't have enough memory for real-world applications. Thus Consumer Reports recommends it only if you also buy the upgrade from 400Meg RAM to 1gig RAM, which changes the price to the less competitive cost of $____"
If anyone here wants to support journalism in the public interest (not Corporate controlled or all about supporting the status quo) donate to the organization Pro Publica and/or read their stories and forward them to your friends and colleagues.
Pro Publica is "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them." See Pro Publica.
BTW, I just saw on their site a recent award...
And they are a 501c3 tax-deductible organization. Donate to them here.
(for the record, I'm not affiliated with them, I just think they are groovy.)