iPhone 4 reception problems

There have been lots of news stories and blogs about reception problems and signal strength with the new Apple iPhone 4. Read this Mashable article or this Engadget story for example. There's even a video clip showing the problem and it looks serious. I was out with my iPhone when I first read this, so I immediately tried it. All the bars were showing and even using two hands to completely cover the phone, I couldn't get the signal strength indicator to change at all. The signal must have been too strong. I tried it later at home where the signal is weaker and managed to get the signal strength bars to drop by wrapping my hand around the base of the phone. It wasn't a natural way to hold it though. I got my BlackBerry out and wrapped my hand around it and the bars dropped as the signal was blocked just the same. So this isn't an iPhone problem, it's a mobile phone problem. Try it with some other mobiles and you'll probably see a similar effect.

Whether this is worse with the iPhone 4 than with other mobiles is hard to say without testing them all. And really you've got to hold the phone to your ear rather than to a video camera because your grip is different.

Apparently most, if not all mobile phones have the antenna in the bottom of the phone because it is then as far away from your brain as possible when making a call. Of course, your hand is at the bottom of the phone and not the top, which makes it bad for reception, but putting the antenna in the top would fry your brain.

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The death of Microsoft

The news that apple has sold 3 million iPads has led to lots of people predicting the death of Microsoft and that the Windows PC era is over. It's just a matter of time before Microsoft plumets into oblivion. The iPad is the computer we'll all be using from now on and it will completely replace the desktop and laptop computer. This couldn't be further from the truth. Anyone that has bought an iPad will know that when you take it out of the box and turn it on, the first thing it tells you to do is to plug it into a computer and sync with iTunes to activate it. And what's the cheapest way to do this? Using a Windows PC! Won't iPad sales therefore boost Windows PC sales?

The iPad is not a stand-alone device and it cannot be used unless you first buy a computer. Isn't it odd that you have to buy a computer, which plays games, gets your email, browses the web, and so on, before you can use an iPad that plays games, gets your email and browses the web?

Reports of Microsoft's death are clearly exaggerated. There are lots of things the iPad cannot do and for them you need a computer. When Apple produces an iPad that works as a stand-alone device that doesn't require a computer, then we can talk about the death of the computer. Maybe several generations down the line the iPad will be a stand-alone device, but predicting what Apple will do in the future is impossible.

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Adroid vs iOS - it's Microsoft vs Apple all over again

I was reading an interesting article on the PC World website called It's Android vs. Apple: Will You Switch Sides? It's all about who has the best phones, who will grab the market share, one person's experiences with an iPhone and trying to order the latest iPhone 4. It got me thinking about the mobile phone market and it is beginning to look like the old Microsoft vs Apple battle all over again, but this time Apple is taking on Google with its Android OS. It will loose this battle just as it lost against Microsoft and for the same reasons.

Microsoft designed Windows to run on any computer and there are hundreds, if not thousands of PC makers worldwide. There are therefore thousands of Windows PCs to choose from and new models appear every month, and probably every week or even every day from someone somewhere in the world. Apple has a small number of high priced computers that run OS X. It's not surprising that the market share is around 95 in Microsoft's favour (Apple's US share is higher than its global share though, but not much higher). Apple updates its computers infrequently.

The same situation is developing in the mobile phone world. Google has designed Android to run on any hardware and most, if not all mobile phone makers are developing Android phones. Lots of them are planned for this year, and LG alone is rumoured to have 20 in the pipeline. Not all Android phones are cheap, but some of them are, and every month or even every week there will be a new one from someone somewhere. They'll flood the market. Apple has just one high priced phone that it updates once a year (and only one carrier in the US too). How can Apple compete?

The mobile phone market isn't the PC market and there are other players too, such as BlackBerry and Microsoft's new mobile OS. However, because there will be so many competitors offering so many different models and prices, with new ones coming up with exciting new features, Apple will never grab the largest share of the market. It will do well and it deserves to because the iPhone is a great mobile, but it might just become a niche product like the Mac instead of a mass-market one. There are just too many alternatives.

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Two useful free tools for Windows

There are lots of free utilities for Windows and some of them are excellent. The problem is that hardly anyone knows about them because they are tucked away on some website in a corner of the web that people seldom visit. They deserve a bit of publicity so here are a couple of great utilities that you can download and use for free. The first is PC Usage Viewer and the second is ADS Scanner. Both are from Pointstone Software.

PC Usage Viewer makes use of the fact that Windows logs whenever you start up and shut down the computer. It reads this information and then displays it in a calendar view that shows when and for how long you have used the computer. I'm not sure what you would use this information for, but it's interesting to see how much use the computer has had, how many hours it has been running and so on.

The second utility is ADS Scanner and ADS stands for Alternate Data Stream. It is a hidden place where programs or data can be stored that are not visible by normal means. Many programs store information in alternate data streams in addition to the normal file storage that you can see in Windows Explorer. It is a bit like the data and resource forks that the Apple filing system uses.



There are lots of tools that offer to securely delete files on the disk drive that you don't want others to be able to access, but do they also delete the associated alternate data stream? Private information could remain in this storage area, so it is worth checking before you use or buy this type of software.

It is possible for malware to hide in alternate data streams too and your anti spyware and anti virus software should look for alternate data streams and check them for malware. If it isn't doing this, then you aren't fully protected.

ADS Scanner will scan the files on disk and then display the alternate data streams associated with them. You can then select them and view the contents. Of course, most are safe and it's a legitimate way to store data. What you need to look out for is malware using it.

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Can Apple make video calling work in iPhone 4?

It has been possible to make video calls for a long time and mobile phones with video capabilities have been around for years, but when did you last make a video call? You've probably never made one. In fact, your current mobile phone may not even have video call capabilities. It's not because of any technical limitations, it's just that mobile phone manufacturers tried it and nobody wanted it. I remember the TV ads promoting mobile phones with video calling, but the devices never took off. Mind you, 10 years ago the mobiles and networks were a lot less capable than they are now. Apple's new iPhone 4 has built in video calling capabilities called FaceTime, so can the company do what everyone else has tried and failed at? Do the networks and mobiles now have the capabilities to make this a feature you'll really use or will it continue to be ignored?

FaceTime is in some ways brilliant and it is the best video calling capability from a mobile phone yet, but it is unlikely to be a feature that you will use very often and it probably won't change the world. The reason is because of its limitations.

The first is that this is an iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 feature only. Both you and the person you are calling must have iPhone 4s. This will be the biggest limitation and different people like different phones, so it is quite likely that half the people you know won't have iPhones. Of the people you know that do have iPhones, how many will immediately upgrade to the latest version 4? Probably very few initially, although over time as people change their phones, some may opt for the iPhone 4. It's going to be quite some time before a significant number of the people in your contact book have iPhone 4s.

The second limitation is that it only works over Wi-Fi. Not only do you have to be connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, but also the person you are calling too. What are the chances of you both being connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot at the same time? You would probably have to arrange for both you and the other person to be at a certain place at a certain time. For example, you could call home from a hotel if you are away traveling say, but really this is only slightly more convenient than a video call using your computer and webcam.

FaceTime is definitely a step in the right direction and someone has to take the first step. Apple may kick-start video calling in the long term even if it's not going to be used much right now. Just imagine if this feature was on all mobile phones and it wasn't limited to just Wi-Fi. People then might just use it. Of course, you won't always want to speak face to face with people, so most calls will still be voice only, but occasionally being able to use video calling and not having to think about whether the other person has an iPhone 4 and they are at a Wi-Fi hotspot would be cool.

I suspect that in the future the vast majority of calls will still be voice only and video calling will only ever be used to call your closest relatives when they are either working or living far away, a bit like the way people use their computer and webcam today.

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Safari 5's new reader view

While Steve Jobs was talking up the latest iPhone at WWDC, Apple quietly released a new version of the Safari web browser for Windows and the Mac. This wasn't a point release indicating a few minor bug fixes, but a whole new version. Version 5 has some fantastic new features like the new Reader view. It's a brilliant idea that works like a dream for some, but it is also very worrying and it may provoke criticism from others. It might even get taken out.

First the good news - it lets you browse the web without adverts. Now the bad news - many websites depend on adverts to generate the revenue to enable them to exist. If people can view web pages without the ads then ad revenue with fall and websites could go bust, or perhaps turn to a different model, such as subscription only.

From a user's perspective, it is a great feature. Safari detects when you are on a web page that has an article. It's not clear how it does this, but it must have some fuzzy algorithms to detect the main page content and distinguish it from the rest of the page components. When it detects an article, a Reader button appears in the address box at the top of the browser and clicking it opens a pane that displays just the article. The rest is hidden or dimmed.

It's the best idea to be added to web browsers for ages and it's brilliant being able to focus on the main content of a web page without all the rubbish that gets in the way like buttons, adverts, animations and so on. On this page, for example, you get a clear and simple display of the text without all the other components on it. You can resize the text, email it, print it and so on. It's amazing.

The downside is that it hides the adverts and if you're not seeing the adverts or clicking on them, then no revenue is generated by the page. Websites cost money to create and maintain and big websites cost big money. What's the point if it doesn't make any money and is just costing you?

As a webmaster, what is the point of me designing web pages and sticking to accepted standards so that they are displayed in a particular way if Safari will simply take my content and display it in a completely different way? It's redesigning my web pages and redisplaying the contents in a way that I do not want or desire. Not only do web designers now have to think about how web pages will display in different web browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox, but also the way that Safari displays it in Reader view. It unnecessarily complicates matters for web designers and it's a feature that will not be liked. I want web pages to be displayed how I want and I don't want Safari to rewrite it and display it in some other completely different way. This is bad news for websites, webmasters and web designers.

Just think of all those iPhone and iPad and iPod Touches that don't display Flash content, some of which is advertising, and now Reader view in Safari on desktop and laptop computers will hide the rest of the adverts. This could seriously affect some websites.

Safari has a small market share, mainly because most computers on the internet are running Windows and Safari isn't that popular on Windows. It's the default for Mac users though and so Mac websites will feel the impact of Safari 5 first. Will they find that ad revenue declines as Mac users upgrade to Safari 5? How will this affect them? Will web pages be redesigned to try to get around the new Reader feature of Safari? Is it even possible? Will companies complain to Apple and put pressure on it to disable the Reader view? Maybe there's a hidden feature, like a special tag, that enables website developers to disable Reader view? It's possible, and probably desirable too. At least by website owners.

It's too early to say what will happen, but this is a feature that's worth watching and seeing how people react to it.

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OSX/OpinionSpy spyware in Mac apps

There is no doubt that the Mac is more secure than Windows computers, but this isn't because the operating system is more secure, but because hardly anyone bothers to create spyware and viruses for the Mac. It's mostly security through obscurity. It's not the whole reason of course, but the small number of Macs relative the Windows PCs plays a big part in its security. As the Mac's popularity increases, we'll see more security threats and you'll need to be on your guard. Intego, a security company, has recently found OSX/OnionSpy Spyware in many Mac apps at popular Mac download websites. Read the security memo here and see the list of infected apps here.

Of course, we are nowhere near the situation that exists on Windows and there is still so little malware for the Mac that it's not time to panic and buy tons of security software. The most worrying aspect of this malware outbreak is that that the OSX/OnionSpy Spyware has been found at websites like Version Tracker and Softpedia, which you would assume were trustworthy.

It is common for big software distribution websites to routinely scan Windows files for malware before they are posted and I've not found any malware in the tons of Windows software I've downloaded from them over the years. If you can't trust sites like Version Tracker and Softpedia for Mac software then is it worth using them? I think we need some reassurance from these sites that the Mac software they post has been checked for malware. It certainly makes you think twice about downloading an app for your Mac from either of them.

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