David

Member since: Feb 3rd, 2006

David's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
TUAW.com	82 Comments
Engadget	197 Comments
Download Squad	1 Comment
Engadget HD	1 Comment
Autoblog Green	2 Comments
Spinner	1 Comment

Recent Comments:

Google and iCloud calendars don't play nicely together (TUAW.com)

Nov 10th 2011 6:19PM I don't see why you'd want iCloud & Google Calendar to play together. You just set up two distinct accounts, one for for iCloud and one using Exchange (Google Sync) or CalDAV for Google Calendar. iDevices sync to each and keep them separate yet allow them to be overlayed together in the same calendar view. This has worked perfectly for me since the early iOS 5 betas.

Google releases official iOS Gmail app, then pulls it (updated) (TUAW.com)

Nov 2nd 2011 1:39PM It feels hastily designed. For instance, start typing a "To:" address. Each autocomplete option is on a single line so that you can't see the full email address for people with long names. It's a problem for recipients with multiple email addresses that differ only in the domain. Also, "Important and Unread" is cut off instead of wrapping or implemented in a smaller font. Finally, all the scrolling feels wrong in some way, like it's been custom implemented instead of trusting the UIKit frameworks.

iTunes Match beta data to reset on Monday (TUAW.com)

Sep 24th 2011 11:11AM Testers were told in advance that such resets would happen periodically as required, so few should have actually deleted their local store. Plus, almost no unmatched tracks have been actually uploading (Apple appears to have focused more on the matching algorithm until now and not wanting to waste bandwidth on errors). So, this reset is mostly just the database of matched tracks.

10 apps you should install FIRST on your iPhone (TUAW.com)

Jun 4th 2011 1:05PM I'd recommend Camera Genius over Camera+ for its more (IMHO) ergonomic and straightforward interface and inclusion of video. Also, LastPass is my preferred password locker, integrating with every major browser (and MobileSafari via bookmarklet) for a great cross-platform experience.

iPhone: What is DFU mode, and what's the difference from recovery mode? (TUAW.com)

May 25th 2011 5:15PM "Jailbreak your iPhone or unlock your SIM" isn't really the right way to put this. Unlocking is not something that interacts with DFU mode directly. There are only 3 ways to unlock. The official way, if your carrier permits it, doesn't require the iPhone to be put into DFU at all. iTunes simply and automatically unlocks the phone upon connection once Apple's database records the phone as being unlocked. Unofficially, you can run a software unlock, such as ultrasn0w. This requires that you already be jailbroken and is done from a booted phone (typically running Cydia), not one in DFU mode. That is, ultrasn0w is just one of many tweaks that may be installed from an installer such as Cydia. Finally, there's the hardware or SIM interposer method such as the recent Gevey SIM. These physically sandwich between the carrier SIM and the phone's electrical contacts to intercept and modify the signals being exchanged and don't require any modification to the phone beyond insertion of the part. So again, no DFU mode.

Apple Store 2.0 launches with interactive iPads (TUAW.com)

May 22nd 2011 1:35PM There's a good likelihood that the stores are using refurbs or units rejected for retail but fine for this purpose (such as scratches on the backside).

iOS developers hit by patent infringement complaints for using in-app purchase (TUAW.com)

May 13th 2011 11:13AM The term for US patents (at least those filed after 1995) is 20 years, which is a long time. However, as someone who worked a long time for a technology company that does some of the most patent filing (I have over a dozen myself), there are downsides for over-filing and companies actually don't do it at the drop of a hat. The first downside is the cost of the filing and paying for the attorney that shepherds the application through. The second is the commitment to policing for patent infringement and paying the legal fees should it become necessary to defend the patent.

So, there are some hoops inventors go through. For instance, an inventor may have to present the idea to a panel consisting of a mixture of engineers and lawyers. The panel will want to know that prior art has been well researched in advance, that the idea works and relates in some way to what the company does, that infringements would be easily detectable and not too hidden to notice, etc. They may ask the inventor to return with more info or research at a later date. After passing the panel, the inventor then needs to do more thorough prior art research to make sure the filed disclosure (patent application) addresses and distinguishes itself from it.

New York Times website harvests iPhone location data (TUAW.com)

May 5th 2011 6:07PM Linkbait much?? I don't think an opt-in program requiring explicit user upload fits the description in your title.

iPhone 101: Location data and GPS (TUAW.com)

Apr 27th 2011 7:43AM A "101" style article on this hot topic should get one thing 100% right: the iPhone consolidated.db does NOT record user location. It's amazing that this is still bring reported.

Rather, the cache file contains the best-guess position of the cell towers and wifi APs themselves. Further, each is represented by only one entry in the file, so past connections to these reference locations are overwritten when the phone reconnects and updates the location estimate. Thus, there's no actual travel path stored.

There is now a tool to plot the consolidated.db data, unfuzzed, from any HTML5 browser: http://markolson.github.com/js-sqlite-map-thing/

Folks can see for themselves that the recorded points typically come nowhere near their actual travels and cluster near their local antennas.

The purpose is to speed up the process of looking up this info prior to triangulation when GPS is absent. The on-phone cache is quicker to access than an internet database transfer.

iPhone 4 overheating continues to plague some users (TUAW.com)

Apr 5th 2011 11:00AM I know contrary reports prove little for uncommon issues, but, between my iPhone 4 and others owned by family members, none have grown more than warm (and then only after being on a call for a while). I've never had unusual power drain or heating and wonder if these issues are merely hardware defects that ought to be fixed simply by exchanging the phone back at the store as with any other such issue. If it were a design issue, it'd be far more prevalent.