Consumer Reports tested the iPhone 4

Engineers ran a series of tests on the phone and other comparable smartphones. They found that the iPhone 4’s reception dropped dramatically when the bottom left corner was covered by a hand or finger. This is especially problematic for left handed people. The signal drops so much that it is very possible for a call to be lost.

These results disprove Apple’s claim that there is no reduction in signal, but that the signal is weak to begin with. Apple released a statement at the beginning of July claiming they found the source of the reception problems:

“Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”

Not only did Consumer Reports test comparable smartphones, but also multiple iPhone 4s. However, they cannot conclude that all iPhone 4s have the signal problem based on their sample of three iPhone 4s… That sample size is just too small to make any definite, final conclusions.

Consumer Reports’ engineers recommend using a strip of non-conductive tape wrapped around the bottom-left corner of the phone for a quick fix. Apple also suggested using a case or just trying to avoid holding the phone with your hand over the sensitive spot.

But Yahoo–the former champion in the search engine races–still holds a commanding lead over Google in one key area:  email.

Yahoo mail is the most-used email service in the world, with over 100 Million people using it last month (July 2009).  Microsoft’s Hotmail service is second, with a number closer to 50 Million.  Google is in third, at 42 Million.

But taking a closer look at the month-to-month numbers, it’s clear that Yahoo’s stranglehold won’t last long.  Gmail is the fastest-growing email service on the planet, rising over 40% from June to July of this year.

That has to kill Yahoo’s spirits.  Just one more thing that Google has been late to the party on but still besting the rest of the pack.  Oh well… there’s at least one thing that Yahoo will always do better than Google… fantasy sports!  I kid… I kid.  Yahoo still has a lot they offer that Google isn’t even trying to compete with, from news to home-page services–in fact, Yahoo’s homepage still gets more unique visits on a given day than Google’s does.

Of course, we at Keystone would be remiss if we didn’t point out what a good idea it is to avoid using Yahoo Mail, Gmail, or Hotmail for your business correspondence.  Yes… the allure of “free” can be powerful, but the benefits from branding your email with your own domain name outnumber the stars.

Through Quest Software’s ScriptLogic, Microsoft surveyed 1100 IT administrators about their new OS, Windows 7. The survey was made up of just four questions and two breakdown questions.

Windows 7 was announced to become publicly available on October 22^nd of this year. The survey from ScripLogic Corporation suggests that the majority of IT administrators may not want to adopt Windows 7 as their operating system. Results show that 59% of IT administrators have no plans of using Windows 7 at all and 34% are planning to convert to Windows 7 by the end of 2010. The 1,100 responses came from pool of 20,000 surveys originally sent out. The survey also reveals that the top spending cuts made by companies are skipped upgrades and delayed purchases, which sheds some light on the high number of administrators planning to skip the Windows 7 upgrade.

The current economic situation is probably a great contributor to these results. Time and resources was the number one barrier for adopting Windows 7 as an operating system with almost 43% of respondents agreeing. Just behind time and resources, application compatibility is another great barrier for using Windows 7, with a 39% response.

Windows 7′s predecessor, Windows Vista, did not live up to the hype it had created before its launch back in January of 2007. Windows 7, however, is already receiving good reviews from outside sources. It is easy to speculate that this worthy product might not get the sales it deserves because of the economy.

Computers are one of the leading causes of toxic wastes piling up in Third World countries. When you throw away an old computer, do you know where the parts go? If the parts cannot be recycled, they end up in huge piles in small countries around the world, such as India (Slumdog Millionaire anyone?). The problem is that most of these parts contain mercury, lead, and all kinds of heavy metals that are very unsafe for humans.

Dell has been working toward bettering this situation by using more parts that are biodegradable and recyclable and by establishing a successful recycling program. Last Thursday, they were named first place among 40 of the biggest IT companies in Technology Business Research’s first Corporate Sustainability Index Benchmark Report. Dell excelled in the areas of recycling, which they have been recognized for before, renewable energy, and their sustainability strategy giving them the score of 317.9. Just behind Dell came British Telecom with a score of 265.2, followed by IBM, and Hewlett-Packard. Not only did Dell come in number one overall, but they also took the top spot among the Computing Sector vendors.

Note:  Keystone is a Dell Value added reseller and we have always recommended their products.  Therefore, we reserve the right to retain some of the credit for Dell’s accreditation. True, they could have done it without us, but let’s be honest they couldn’t have.

Facebook will rot your brain… according to a new study released this week.  Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield has revealed results from her study that show some alarming things about how social networks affect teenagers.

From the article:

Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred.

Another neuroscientist quoted in the article, Baroness Greenfield from Oxford University, suggests that these websites might actually be “rewiring” the brain.

Excuse me for a second while I go delete my Facebook account.

But seriously, this news–while disturbing–shouldn’t be that big of a surprise.  How many of us have left a comment on a blog somewhere and then spent the rest of the day refreshing that page to see if anyone has responded to our comment?  Facebook is like that… on crack.

Are social networks popular because they connect people, or because they train us to selfishly log in contstantly to check for comments, bulletins, IM’s, and status updates?  Certainly there is plenty of positive power in a site like Myspace or Facebook… the ability to educate, connect, share knowledge, and build community.  But the fact that there might be some dangers for teenagers who are major users of these networks is not terribly surprising.  Sad, yes.  Surprising?  Not so much.

Plenty more studies to come, I’m sure, so probably not grounds for panic or banning Facebook from your household computer.  But definitely something to keep an eye on.

Yahoo has just released their list of the most searched phrases of 2008, and it basically reads a lot like last year’s list.

Britney Spears is still the most searched phrase on the Internet.  Wonderful.  Are there really any secrets left about this woman?  How can there be such a high demand for information about someone whom the whole world already knows inside and out?

Six of the top ten phrases are carry-overs from last year’s list.  There are a few new ones, like “Barack Obama,” “Miley Cyrus,” and “American Idol.”  Basically, our society is compeltely obsessed with celebrity… celebrity culture, celebrity scandal, celebrity gossip… it’s all we care about.  You would think there would be something news-related in the top-ten, like “gas prices” or “recession”… but you would be dead wrong.

People who search for news-related phrases are far outnumbered by the folks desperate to know the kind of baby food Angelina Jolie is feeding her youngest child.

Here’s the full list, if you’re really in the mood for a depressing piece of cultural trivia:

• Britney Spears
• WWE
• Barack Obama
• Miley Cyrus
• RuneScape
• Jessica Alba
• Naruto
• Lindsay Lohan
• Angelina Jolie
• American Idol

Don’t expect this list to change much over the coming years.  Sure, someday I fully expect us to tire of Britney Spears, and replace her at the top of the list with some other starlet like Miley Cyrus.  But honestly, I would have thought that would have taken place by now, and it hasn’t.  So what do I know?

Anyway, this is a good reminder that we don’t always know the common search user as well as we think we do.  I’m constantly telling SEO clients to think outside the box when it comes to predicting what people will search for, and here’s why.

A new study shows that using Google, Yahoo, and other online search engines is actually quite good for your brain.  Who knew?

They basically tested search-savvy people versus folks who aren’t all that Internet-inclined, and found that the savvier users had twice as much “neural activation.”  That’s a fancy way of saying their brain was more stimulated.

So, presumably, the more you use search engines… the more that use will trigger brain activity.  If you’re scared of search engines and the Internet in general, then using them doesn’t do much for your mind.

And here I thought they were going to say that Googling makes you smarter because of all the great information you can access via search engines.  Shows you what I know.  Guess I need to Google more.

A new study claims that most of you are using your phones more for texting than for talking.  Texting is quite popular with the teenage crowd, but this data suggests that popularity crosses generational boundaries.

And I don’t completely understand it.  It takes far longer for me to type/text something than it would take me to say it.

However, the person you’re trying to communicate isn’t always able to talk on the phone.  Nor are you.  If you’re at your child’s school play, for instance, it’s far more discrete to text your buddy that “man this is boring” than it would be to actually speak those words–especially if you’re sitting near the lead actor’s parents!

Anyway, from the article:

For the second quarter of 2008, U.S. mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month, according to Nielsen. The new statistic is a clear indication that Americans have jumped onto the SMS text bandwagon.

This is just part of the reason you should be paying attention to mobile phones.  People love the instantaneous nature of using their phone, and more and more businesses are beginning to make mobile versions of their websites so the on-the-go consumer can connect with them more easily.  The iPhone has made mobile browsing mainstream, and the recent announcement of the so-called Google Phone is simply more evidence of the merging of mobile devices and the PC.

Text-speak may be difficult to understand sometimes, but it’s a language that isn’t going away anytime soon… not by a long shot.