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.

Yes, HAS BEEN all this time. New iPhones, it’s just discovered, have a little, tiny SQLite database file tracking your Lat. and Long. and Altitude almost constantly. The IT Forensics community has known about this a long time but thought nothing of it – they thought we all knew. It seems that even Uber geeks, however, didn’t know; and they’re ringing the alarm on Apple.

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

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.

I’m normally very happy to see the Wall Street Journal and NYTimes and Washington Post make it to the leaderboard of Techmeme.com where tech-news is filtered via secret algorithm to form a lovely (not perfect) Page A1 TECH Section but today, I totally disagree with the WSJ’s article: “Time To Leave The Laptop Behind”

Perhaps I’m not the last to know, but when trying to find anything local that’s been reviewed by locals, YELP looks like the way to go! As I was cruising through some free apps to download on the iPhone (and iTouch if you’ve got it), several caught my eye and Yelp! was deservedly in the Top 25 of downloaded and rated apps.

In sticking with Things Geeks Should Know, you outta know that you can get Pandora on your iPhone. Sure the iPhone 2.0 software apps have gotten a bad rap, but Pandora just released 1.1 of their app and I’ve gotta say … ! Wow. … Want kick-ass, a little folksie, a little Top 40, little swanky SoCal cowboy Mexicale Latin that’s uber-catchy even if you don’t know the words? Jarabe de Palo (La Flaca makes me cry.)