Techs-on-Call Computer Blog Keeping you informed about the world of computer issues

The iPhone 4 "Death Grip" Explained

Update 7/16/2010: Apple isn't recalling the iPhone 4. Instead they are offering a free case, which is actually a surprise to me. I knew they wouldn't recall the iPhone 4, but Steve Jobs did try to make the claim that all phones have the death grip problem; they do not, this is a problem specific to the iPhone 4.

What is the iPhone 4 "death grip"? When you hold the new iPhone a certain way, your cellular signal is greatly reduced. The old iPhones were great devices, but they had trouble with the phone part. The result was AT&T was being blamed for what was an Apple design flaw. Granted, AT&T doesn't exactly have a great network. But bashing AT&T was already popular before the iPhone, so this just fed the stereotype. The new iPhone planned to fix that issue by placing the antenna on the outside of the phone. In fact, there are two antennas on the exterior of the phone: One for the cellular network and the other for the GPS. The result is the iPhone works as well as every other phone, a big improvement over previous iPhones.

But the death grip is caused by holding the phone in such a way that your finger makes contact between the two antennas thus causing a short between the two. The fix is simple. Consumer Reports recommends duct tape all around the iPhone 4. You can also buy a case for the phone for $30 to $40. Many people think that such a case should be given for free, but have fun making Apple do that.

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Posted by Wade Burchette at 4:50 AM - Categories: General | Hints and Tips

Updated Experienced Office 2010

This is an update to my previous blog entry about Office 2010. If you haven't read that one yet, start there and then continue on.

The more I use Office 2010, the more I like. It still is not worth upgrading from Office 2007. Be that as it may, Office 2010 continues to show why Office is by far the best office suite available. The best new features I have found is the already mentioned Outlook improvements, as detailed in the previous blog entry, and the print menu. The print menu is excellent, but it does requires an adjustment. The new print menu puts the most common print features right there in front of you. You do not have to dig for them. Below is an example of the old style print menu. To get any print options, you must push the properties button, as shown in the second picture.

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0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 7:30 PM - Categories: General | Reviews

New Study Shows People Read Slower On E-book Readers

Thinking about getting a Kindle or iPad to read your books? (Techs-on-Call is getting an iPad soon, just so I can give an objective opinion and help you use your iPad.) A new study suggests paper is still better, but not by much.

The study took 32 individuals were asked to read a short story by Ernest Hemmingway. The only individuals that were asked were people who read liked reading. Because of errors for some of the participants, only 24 individuals were actually used to record the time it took to read the story. Each person was asked questions about what he or she read to make sure they were really reading the story and not skimming over the material. Every participant did read the story properly.

The study concluded that reading on an iPad is 6.2% slower than reading on paper and reading on the Kindle is 10.7% slower. However, because of the small sample size and statistical margin for error, it cannot be said that reading on the iPad is faster than reading on the Kindle or other e-book readers that use e-ink. What can be said is that reading on paper is still the fastest way to read. All of the participants said reading on a computer screen was not enjoyable. However, reading on the iPad or Kindle was just slightly less enjoyable than reading a book.

What this study did not address is the eye-strain from looking at a backlit screen such as on the iPad and computer monitor.

Link: iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds

0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 11:30 AM - Categories: General

Windows 8

Windows 7 isn't even a year old yet and already Microsoft is talking about a Windows 8. From what Microsoft is saying Windows 8 is more revolutionary than evolutionary. What does that mean? When the next version of a software package is evolutionary, that means the next version is just an improvement over the previous release. For example, Windows XP was Windows 2000 at its core, but with some performance tweaks and usability enhancements. Windows 2000, in turn, was Windows NT at its core, but with expanded capabilities. Windows 7 is really nothing more than Windows Vista optimized plus a few extra features. These are examples of something that is evolutionary. When the next version of a software package is revolutionary, that means it has major changes. For example, the core of Windows NT was revolutionary because it was so much different than the Windows 95/98/ME core. The Windows NT core was so good, that it was used until Windows XP; it was revolutionary. But the Windows XP core had major security holes. To fix that, Microsoft started from scratch and made the Windows Vista core; that also was revolutionary. Microsoft is proclaiming Windows 8 to be revolutionary.

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Posted by Wade Burchette at 8:10 PM - Categories: News | Windows

The War Between Apple and Adobe

There has been a lot of words exchanged between Adobe and Steve Jobs. At issue is Steve Jobs' ban on Adobe's Flash on the iPhone and iPad. There is a lot of obfuscation and confusion about this fight, mostly from Apple-land. Steve Jobs claims he is banning Flash on his i-Whatever because of security reasons. He also says that new web page designing standard, HTML5, does what Flash does and thus Flash is irrelevant. That is a misdirection.

Flash has been around for a long time. Flash enables you to play games, watch videos on YouTube, and do all sorts of neat tricks. Web pages are coded in a language called HTML, Hyper Text Markup Language, and managed by the W3C. The web page designing standards are purposefully kept simple. This is because a simple design ensures compatibility and consistency among a broad range of devices. The new standard, still being designed, is called HTML5. HTML5 supports video playback without Flash and provides some other visual improvements to web pages. One of the benefits of Flash is that it picks up where HTML leaves off by providing neat effects. Many internet games now use Flash. Of course, Flash has been used to deliver annoying ads that take a long time to load. But the benefits of Flash are worth the abuse by advertisers.

Flash does have many security problems. But that isn't the reason why Apple will not allow Flash, or Microsoft's version of Flash called Silverlight, on their i-Products. The real reason is if Flash was allowed, Apple could not control what is allowed to go on the iPad, iPhone, or iPod. There would millions of apps that will flood the marketplace that use Flash, and Apple won't see one cent of that money. In the current system, Apple makes a cut of all the apps sold. If there was Flash on the i-Something, Apple would lose millions each year. That is why Flash and Silverlight are banned.

Of course, Techs-on-Call does not have an iPad or an iPhone to play with, so we cannot give you an objective review of the products. We are planning to get an iPad soon so that we can help you with yours and make an objective opinion about it. We really are waiting for it to be out a while so some of the kinks will be ironed out. More information about our opinion when Techs-on-Call buys one.

Posted by Wade Burchette at 8:51 AM - Categories: Annoyances | News

Clearing Up Cell Phone Confusion

You cannot help but see the commercials. "Our 3G is better than your 3G." "Yeah but we have more 3G." "Oh yeah, we have 4G." What does it all mean? The G part means generation. So 4G means 4th generation. But you need to know that there is no standards organization that defines what 3G and 4G really is. Be that as it may, there is a consistency to the generation reference.

To fully understand 3G and 4G, you will need to have a basic knowledge of cell phone technology. Obviously, the first cell phones were analog and voice communication was much like FM radio. Each tower had an area for which it would operate, which is called a cell. Thus the name cell phone. However, analog phones were prone to static and people could listen to your conversations with little effort. Thus the need for digital phones.

However, you don't just say "be digital!" Sound is analog, thus there needed be a standardization in converting analog sound to a digital signal. Plus there needed to be standards on how the phone will transmit that digital signal because towers were going to be receiving many digital signals. In the US and Canada, two standards are currently being used: GSM and CDMA. Most of the world uses only GSM. All you need to know is that G in GSM stands for Global. Verizon and Sprint chose CDMA; however, Verizon is converting to GSM. AT&T and T-Mobile chose GSM. Altell used CDMA in some in some markets and GSM in others, but they were CDMA primary. The original GSM and CDMA standard is now called 1G, 1st generation. 1st generation technology could only be used for voice, no internet. All things being equal, GSM is much better.

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0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 2:33 PM - Categories: General

Hackers Compromise Jerusalem Post Website

Yesterday hackers attacked the Jerusalem Post website and planted malware on it. While it appears this attack has nothing to do with the recent events between Israel and the Gaza strip, this does highlight the tactics used by malware creators. They want to target as many people as possible, which is why Windows is attacked and why popular websites are attacked. They also run ads for real well-known companies by actually carry malware. Malware is highly profitable and effective. And unfortunately, the bad guys have the time and ability to study every little weakness in every system. They are always two steps ahead. Greed does that the people.

The tricks malware creators use are both direct and indirect. Hacking a website is an indirect way of planting malware because they must exploit a system to secretly install the malware. These attacks are harder, but more difficult to shut down and trace. Direct attacks involve tricking you into carrying out some action. These attacks exploit the weakness of the person.

One of the most effective tools against Malware is to use the FireFox browser along with the NoScript add-in. NoScript is complex, but when used it can block just about every form of indirect secret attack on your computer. FireFox sometimes warns you when a website is compromised; a warning is a great defense against malware.

Sophos labs has a report on the Jerusalem Post attack.

0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 4:51 PM - Categories: Malware | News