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Iphone

Experts Explain iPhone 4 Antenna Problem 427

CWmike writes "Reports of call and data signal strength problems in the new iPhone 4 have a basis in fact, a hardware expert said Thursday. Later in the day, Apple acknowledged that holding the iPhone 4 may result in a diminished signal that could make it difficult to make and maintain calls or retain a data connection. 'Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone,' Apple said in a statement issued to several media outlets, including PC Magazine, which had run tests earlier Thursday. 'If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.' Scores of new iPhone owners confirmed the reception problem in a string of more than 360 messages posted to a thread on Apple's iPhone 4 support forum." A blog post from an antenna design company explains that the reception problems are probably the direct result of phone design adapting to FCC requirements.

Comment Curse you imprecise intervals! (Score 3, Interesting) 543

I chose 6-10 because I still regularly use a computer that I built in the summer of 2000, just prior to attending university. Give it a couple months and it will be in the 10-15 category.

It's had some parts changed out in the meantime (video card, extra memory, case, extra harddrive, new CD drive) but the guts are still the same that I put together way back when, an Athlon XP 800 processor with slot mount causing the heatsink to dangle precariously over my video card.

Despite being moved ~18 times over its lifetime (I've lived in a lot of places), one of the CPU/heatsink supports breaking, and once completely coming loose and smacking around the interior of my case while dangling by its heatsink fan connection... it still works!

It now does its part as a database server for my website, and its used on a daily basis.

Comment Re:Why write something people give away for free? (Score 2, Insightful) 393

Umm, if I am a customer buying a software product I do not care if the code is good quality, or cleverly engineered, as long as it doesn't impact the cost, security, or usability of the product.

All I care about is whether or not it works and meets my needs.

I am saying this as a consumer (end user), producer (developer), and requirements creator (analyst).

Comment Re:Go go Nanny State... (Score 1) 794

Not really. If you take a careful look at most drug laws all the way back to prohibition they explicitly outlaw the sale and possession of certain substances, not the consumption. It effectively produces the same result, but avoids the thorny legal issue around legislation of what you can do to yourself.

Comment Re:Landis grew up a Mennonite (Score 4, Informative) 259

Please readjust your thinking about Mennonites... you are so very wrong that you almost circle completely back again.

I will state for a fact that I am Mennonite. I got my first computer when I was 6 (1988) and I am currently employed as a software developer.

Although the Amish and the Old Order are Mennonites (which are among the few sects that have community restrictions on technology) the reverse is not true. It is equivalent to me saying that you are Christian, sometimes mistaken as Mormon. I'm not saying it's impossible for you to be monagamous, but I'm sure you were raised in a polygamous cult.

I will further add to my comment in saying that I do know some Old Order and Amish people, and have had a nice long conversation with an Old Order deacon and teacher who explained that it is not technology that they shun, but anything new that may split their community. They take a very long time to evaluate new techology (usually about 300 years or so) but they do use some modern equipment. The Old Order community that I was on used modern combines (computer controlled) in order to quickly and efficiently harvest their fields.

Comment Re:Password strength vs. how often you change it (Score 1) 499

I need to change my company password every month, but the password strength for my company account remains strong.

My password strength for a website forum where I never need to change it however, is usually weak.

The password strength I use is highly correlated with the sensitivity of the information it allows access to and the importance of the systems.

I would fall into the 96% of people who don't use non-alphanumerics for "Rockyou.com"

Comment Re:One person's myth is another person's fact. (Score 1) 580

Yes, I've done that more than a few times myself. Under pressure of a deadline, and the code just needs to work is a situation I have found myself in more times than I would like. But given the nature of my job, it is entirely possible that the code gets done, and then not looked at again for years. Just recently a client came to us for enhancements to a codebase that hadn't been touched in close to 5 years, and there are a few spots that are 'make it work' instead of 'clean and pretty'.

In this situation I will often flag the section of code with a "TODO" and write a brief explanation regarding how the code SHOULD be structured such as: //TODO: Future Rev. restructure by abstracting common elements from X, Y, and Z and merge object creation into a factory.

This serves very well as a 'this is a hack' flag to me but also reminds me why it was a hack and what I was thinking on how to improve it.

Comment Re:Hmm (Score 5, Interesting) 511

There are religions that don't accept members (through baptism) until they reach adulthood. They are called Anabaptists (many sects began during the Reformation because they believed that Martin Luther didn't address all their grievances with the Catholic Church).

One of the more widespread of the Anabaptist sects are the Mennonites (of which I am one). I was baptized at the age of 26, because prior to then I didn't have a reason or desire to attend church. But, things happen, and I found a reason and a need in my life to be part of the church. It hasn't changed my belief structure (I still am agnostic/athiest) but that does not preclude the need for the belonging and philosophy of church. I may not believe there is a god, but a small hope that it might be true can give strength in trying times.

Comment Re:Cool tech, but... (Score 1) 162

I use a (homemade) grid mat, erasable markers, and little colored stone gems that I got at the dollar store that I wrote numbers and symbols on with a paint pen.

The only reason I started using this setup was that my players preferred it because it gave them a better ability to visualize a combat area and *gasp* speed up combat! They no longer had to ask me about positioning, if they could do one thing or another, they could see it and decide for themselves. Made combat quicker because everyone was now prepared when their turn came.

I would love to have the surface to facilitate the kind of game I already run, so that I don't have to:
- Remember my 'stone' miniatures
- Remember to bring paper-towel and a spray bottle
- Remember to bring markers
- Easily create creatures that are bigger than a single space (its a pain moving a 3x3 grid size monster across the board that uses 9 stones).

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