Comment Re:Apple = cash cow for scumbags (Score 1) 304
Or maybe Apple should engineer their products better.
Insightful? Really???
It's only Apple that doesn't regard a wake up call for good engineering as insightful.
Comment Re:Apple = cash cow for scumbags (Score 1) 304
Or maybe Apple should engineer their products better.
It would seem that Apple astromodders running rampant. And why not? It is worth $billions to Apple to spin this issue away. Why not shed a little ethics to achieve such a worthy goal?
The pattern is pretty much all the same. The paid astromodders show up a day or two after the article, to protect Apple's shiny reputation from any tarnish by truth.
Comment Re:It is not, so no... (Score 1) 304
But don't you think it's kind of crappy that the iPhone 6 is so flimsy, especially for the price?
If it were flimsy, perhaps , but in reality it's not - some Android phones are worse, and if you pick one up you can tell "flimsy" does not describe it at all.
But you can bend the iPhone 6+ in half with your fingers. I call that flimsy.
Comment Re:Android phones bent long before the iPhone 6 (Score 1) 304
Android phones bend too...
Apple bills its latest product as a premium phone and brags endlessly about the supposed build quality, apparently justify the high price tag. But the truth is, Apple's latest product is a questionably engineered flimsy thing that costs just $200 to make. Not premium at all. Nothing to distinguish it from the competition, quite the contrary. Apple is now engaged in a desperate dance to hide that rather obvious fact from joe idiot apple consumer.
Hey Apple astromod, what is not accurate about that? I would say the odour of desperation is getting pretty thick.
Comment Re:I still don't get this. (Score 1) 304
Practically everybody puts their phone in a case. Which makes wonder: why is phone thinness such a huge issue?
Apple especially acts like the thinness of the phone is one of, if not *the* most important feature. But once you put the phone in a case, then shaving 2mm off the thickness means nothing.
Perhaps. By making the iPhone 2 mm thicker Apple could have avoided bendgate and also the embarrassing situation where the camera sticks out so the phone can't lie flat. But Jobs is dead, so...
Comment Re:Exactly, reality says "not an issue" (Score 1) 304
But don't you think it's kind of crappy that the iPhone 6 is so flimsy, especially for the price?
Comment Re:Android phones bent long before the iPhone 6 (Score 0) 304
Android phones bend too...
Apple bills its latest product as a premium phone and brags endlessly about the supposed build quality, apparently justify the high price tag. But the truth is, Apple's latest product is a questionably engineered flimsy thing that costs just $200 to make. Not premium at all. Nothing to distinguish it from the competition, quite the contrary. Apple is now engaged in a desperate dance to hide that rather obvious fact from joe idiot apple consumer.
Comment Re:Apple = cash cow for scumbags (Score 0) 304
Or maybe Apple should engineer their products better.
It would seem that Apple astromodders running rampant. And why not? It is worth $billions to Apple to spin this issue away. Why not shed a little ethics to achieve such a worthy goal?
Comment Re:Apple = cash cow for scumbags (Score 4, Interesting) 304
Hmm, this is for Apple astroturfers downmodding that inconvenient truth. New video posted by the bendgate dude to rebut the swarm of camp followers claiming the test was somehow faked or exaggerated. If anything, worse results for Apple this time.
OK, spin that Apple.
Comment Re:Nice round numbers (Score 1) 304
Watch the vid, there is a legit reason for round numbers.
You mean, there is an "excuse" for the the round numbers, not a legitimate reason. Consider that upping the force in 1 pound increments would have scarcely increased the cost of the experiment while dramatically improving the quality of the result.
Now, finding that the 6+ is significantly stiffer than the smaller and only slightly thinner 6 is really surprising isn't it? So surprising that you wonder about the repeatability of the result. Notice in the video that the right hand side of the 6+ is positioned noticeably past the pencil mark, while the HTC one is positioned perceptibly inside the mark. Oops.
So... these guys found that the 6+ is stiffer than the 6. Wow, what a surprise considering that the length/thickness ratio of the 6+ is 22.27 while the 6 is 20.01. OK, I am going to have to raise a flag here. Sorry, just calling themselves "consumer" does not mean they are immune to bad science, or worse.
Comment Nice round numbers (Score 1) 304
Obviously, the consumer reports testing was completely scientific, after all, they are known to be on the side of the consumer, right? It is nothing less than astonishing that the HTC One happened to tie the iPhone 6 exactly. And of course, this video must have been faked.
Comment Re:Apple = cash cow for scumbags (Score 1, Insightful) 304
Or maybe Apple should engineer their products better.
Consumer Reports: New iPhones Not As Bendy As Believed 304
An anonymous reader writes: Over the past several days, we've been hearing reports about some amount of users noticing that their brand new iPhone 6 Plus is bending in their pockets. The pictures and videos shown so far have kicked off an investigation, and Consumer Reports has done one of the more scientific tests so far. They found that the iPhone 6 Plus takes 90 pounds of pressure before it permanently deforms. The normal iPhone 6 took even less: 70 lbs. They tested other phones as well: HTC One (M8): 70 lbs, LG G3: 130 lbs, iPhone 5: 130 lbs, Samsung Galaxy Note 3: 150 lbs. The Verge also did a report on how Apple torture-tests its devices before shipping them. Apple's standard is about 55 lbs of pressure, though it does so thousands of times before looking for bends. One analysis suggests that Apple's testing procedure only puts pressure on the middle of the phone, which doesn't sufficiently evaluate the weakened area where holes have been created for volume buttons. Consumer Reports' test presses on the middle of the device as well.
How the NSA Profits Off of Its Surveillance Technology 83
blottsie writes: The National Security Agency has been making money on the side by licensing its technology to private businesses for more than two decades. It's called the Technology Transfer Program, under which the NSA declassifies some of its technologies that it developed for previous operations, patents them, and, if they're swayed by an American company's business plan and nondisclosure agreements, rents them out. The products include tools to transcribe voice recordings in any language, a foolproof method to tell if someone's touched your phone's SIM card, or a version of email encryption that isn't available on the open market.
NSF Awards $10 Million To Protect America's Processors 48
aarondubrow writes "The National Science Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation announced nine research awards to 10 universities totaling nearly $4 million under a joint program focused on secure, trustworthy, assured and resilient semiconductors and systems. The awards support the development of new strategies, methods and tools at the circuit, architecture and system levels, to decrease the likelihood of unintended behavior or access; increase resistance and resilience to tampering; and improve the ability to provide authentication throughout the supply chain and in the field. "The processes and tools used to design and manufacture semiconductors ensure that the resulting product does what it is supposed to do. However, a key question that must also be addressed is whether the product does anything else, such as behaving in ways that are unintended or malicious," said Keith Marzullo, division director of NSF's Computer and Network Systems Division.
