It’s absolutely brilliant. After having been caught storing cell phone location data in an unprotected database, Apple just flatly denied everything and go on to unapologetically contradict their own denial. They certainly don’t charm their accusers either: “Users are confused.” I mean, it’s really absolutely amazing that they published this Q&A! This is exactly what John Cleese would do in a response meant to irritate someone.

Having just bought my second iPhone yesterday since my First-Gen finally gave up the ghost, I’m annoyed when Mac users don’t apply the ridicule they serve Microsoft to their own toys. Has everyone forgotten the Windows 98 scare when the millennium changed? Turned out, nothing happened. Now, iPhones, the most pervasive technology in the Solar System and most used mobile web browser device, suffers alarm fails without warning or apology.

First DST when the clocks rolled back an hour, and now, if your alarm is not recurring, for the New Year. Apple Computer has achieved “PC” status; it’s not so easy, is it? The good news? The phone fixes itself on January 3rd. Huh?

New Year’s 2011 breaks non-recurring iPhone alarm clocks

I’m just wondering here, but where is the dynamic shift in ergonomics and laptop design that we’ve been waiting for? Google just announced it’s Chrome-powered laptop, the cr-48 which is available for OS testing purposes only, and it looks like Batman’s ThinkPad from 1998. Seriously? Even if this is only a tester, where’s the tease? Where’s the sexy? Why aren’t any laptop makers redefining that flippin’ brick that’s off-center in weight, flimsy to open and close and awkward to plug peripherals in to?

Apple has never said why the white iPhone is so troublesome to produce. From The Daring Fireball comes the Anthropomorphized true story of the White iPhone 4’s delay.

INT. Early Morning, Today. The Lobby Bar of a Top-Tier Las Vegas Casino Resort

    The White iPhone 4 is slumped back in a chair, alone, playing a table-top video poker machine embedded in the bar. He is up late, not early.We see from behind as a metallic roundrect — slightly scratched, a small dent in one corner, but otherwise in fine condition — walks into the hotel lobby and surveys the scene. It is the Original iPhone. He is up early, not late. He approaches the bar and sits next to White iPhone 4.

Original iPhone: Look at you. You’re a fnikcug mess.

read more…
Daring Fireball: An Anthropomorphized White iPhone 4 Is Confronted Regarding Its Inability to Be Shipped

Those of us at Dinarius have long seen tablet shaped, touchscreen personal computers as the next step in what most users would prefer. Our darling was the Gateway M280. Despite the sense that tablets make, few folks bought in to it. The industry swallowed R&D on tablets and UMPC’s (another brilliant next step that went largely unadopted) and instead found a public ga-ga for smart phones.

See Gizmodo’s YouTube sneak of Microsoft’s kick-ass Courier and see HP’s already realized tablet that left the gate long before Apple.