Remember the last “big” time that the public was concerned about iPhone reception?

Apple: "... simple and surprising."

“I think there was ‘something’ about– er…”

“Um, yeah, I think there was something…”

So, folks, if you’ll recall (or dive into our archives here), there were the iPhone 3G reception issues that tracked back to issues with firmware installed on those smartphones.

So, now, about two years later, with the latest iPhone 4 release, there are those “new” problems with reception, that very-early reports about the problem have cited being hardware-related… in particular, the steel band antenna that serves as the smartphone’s binding border.

Now, as many of you can attest, while you may have heard about people having trouble with their iPhone 4′s, you may have not experienced any issues whatsoever. So, if it was hardware problem as alleged during the previous 3G reception problem, shouldn’t everybody with an iPhone 4 be experiencing the same difficulties? Curious, right? And if you are one of those unlucky souls with a flaky iPhone 4, why are some of your buddies with iPhone 4′s doing well?

But Apple [AAPL] sheds some light on what it considers to be the real problem, in a letter to the public, as well as its plans for a fix.

So, now it becomes a waiting game, as the afflicted and the media (and yes, even other curious parties, such as Javamancy) wait for Apple to reveal its fix to the world.

And, in a related question: Are signal bars the solution to the world’s ills? Ask Conan O’Brien!

N.B.

Here are other Javamancy related posts, in reverse chronological order:

• iPhone 3G Reception Problems Related to Network Traffic
• iPhone 3G Update Released
• iPhone 3G Problems Reported
• Apple iPhone Activation Woes in U.S.

As I’m tracking a variety of media channels at the same time as the Apple [AAPL] iPad announcement, I find it curious as to how the human condition, and certainly all of these so-called tech pundits, keeps wanting to compare new tech with old tech.

When I’ve been using the iPod touch in the practice, I kept thinking, “Yeah, the iPod touch is nice, but I really could use a larger touchscreen, and some more compute power”. But all of these “pundits” keep talking about netbooks and cheap 13″ notebooks and iPhones and BlackBerry devices… But given that my needs are more specialized (and some of you will call them “advanced”), the iPad may be the missing link in my product usage roster.

Something that fits the 8.5″x11″ form factor with a much thinner profile. Something that allows me to use my hands, enclosed in disposable nitrile and latex gloves, along the touchscreen. Something that does not require me to have an attached, or even wireless, keyboard and mouse to manipulate the viewpane and enter data. Something that allows me to quickly retrieve data from the Internet as well as my LANs, wirelessly. Something that lets me manage scheduling and patient data quickly and conveniently.

I’m not looking for a Kindle or mere e-reader. I’m not looking for a BlackBerry. I don’t need an iPhone in my office, or my lab, or my practice rooms. I don’t need yet another notebook with the keyboard and mouse/touchpad.

Certainly, I need to get a hold of an iPad to see if it really lives up to my requirements. But next to the Axiotron Modbook, this may be the frontrunner.

During the holiday season, there’s always that frantic search for that cool, new gadget to give your friend or significant other, who happens to be a technical bent.

And, like it or not, there is always that discussion about what should be the “latest and greatest” from Apple [AAPL]… It seems to have escalated during the holiday season, despite the typical timeframe for Apple product announcements starting in mid-Januarys (generally at least twice a year, sometime in January and in September). There was quite some frustration and confusion this past September, since there was no news about a Mac tablet.

But never fear: if you want/need a tablet-based Mac, there’s still Axiotron’s Modbook. For many folks who are getting a new Mac or MacBook this holiday season who already have a MacBook, this may be a pleasant extra gift for yourself: transforming your MacBook into a Modbook.

One thing you should consider, however, is that you are exchanging a “regular” notebook for a tablet notebook. Although the display surface now becomes your main input interface as well, it shares many common characteristics with a portable computer. If you are looking for something significantly different, in terms of functionality, you may be forced to consider an iPod touch (despite its much smaller size factor) instead.

Neil at the AppleInsider blog reported yesterday that Apple [AAPL] has posted a job opening for a full-time employee with significant game development expertise to work on iPhone and iPod touch projects.

This is an interesting bit of news, given that Apple has not focused much on accumulating in-house gaming talent in the past. Is this is a sign that Apple has decided to take the next, serious step into the ever-important gaming sector? Or just acknowledgement that having a skilled arbiter in-house is vital to maintaining relevant rapport with the gaming industry?

Wow… you heard the plans from Microsoft [MSFT] that they were going to launch a retail store, a la Apple [AAPL], going as far as to woo Apple Retail Store employees, especially managers, from Apple. And with the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft has executed their plan with their first outlet in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Management Perspective

While Apple has the single-source advantage, Microsoft continues to struggle on multiple levels against essentially all challengers. However, today’s Windows 7 launch may help the hardware vendors and VARs to realign on a unified operating system for their products, which have been long fragmented between the XP and Vista platforms for several years. Closing the functionality gap on Apple’s OS X will introduce a degree of uniformity that consumers have been demanding for almost a decade.

Other Pressure

And while having the new retail presence would play an important long-term survivability role for Microsoft, there is that immediate-term pressure from the likes of Google [GOOG] that must be addressed.

N.B.

• Microsoft Retail Store Opening Today (Javamancy mini)
• Windows 7 Released Today (Javamancy mini)

A few news outlets reported earlier that they spotted new price reductions in several of the iPod models on the online Apple Store. Some of the iPods received a modest $20 reduction, while items like the 32 GB iPod touch was marked down as much as $120. It seems that only the iPod shuffle was not discounted.

But, as you’ve probably guessed by now, the online Apple [AAPL] Store is now closed for the new product SKUs and site updates, so you’ll have to wait until after today’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” media event to place your orders. It is possible that, to prevent ordering of the older supply of iPods, those SKUs will be removed entirely to make room for the new versions.

N.B.

Also today was, of course, the release of the Beatles Rock Band title, as well as several re-mastered Beatles albums and compilations. It appears to be quite the day for music media products.

For those of you who are old enough to remember the monumental three-way product/platform wars between a variety of different players, as well as the various face-offs between heated contenders, you can often slot the threesters into that ol’ Good-Bad-Ugly trifecta.

Perhaps not this time, however.

Apple’s [AAPL] Snow Leopard OS release on August 28, 2009 has an opponent in the game console arena from none other than Microsoft [MSFT], in the form of a decent amount of price-slashing, which improves market/player share and reduces inventory nicely. This allows Microsoft to offset the later availability of their own OS replacement coming, Windows 7. And the same-day alert of price cutting on August 28, 2009 steals a lot of the thunder from Sony’s [SNE] own announcement earlier this month about the upcoming PlayStation 3 Slim, which is now announced for a September 1, 2009 North American release. Although the Xbox 360 Elite remains fundamentally the same, it is still a strong contender against the PS3 Slim, so the pricing and software libraries will ultimately decide this latest round in console supremacy.

Admittedly, this is a crooked kind of comparison, but there is a lot of convergence going on, primarily to set the stage for future products and services in the pipelines. It also opens up the possibility of niche players potentially making a play for a greater presence in the realms of gaming, general computing, and mobile computing and entertainment.

Could there possibly be any company willing to step up on August 28, 2009, the official release date for Apple‘s [AAPL] new version of their popular operating system, OS X. This new version, codenamed Snow Leopard, is 10.6, but it seems to provide quite a few new features and revisions for existing capabilities.

What is quite intriguing is the server OS release, timed to be simultaneous with the “regular” client version: the Mobility Access Server and the Podcast Producer packages, incorporated with the new version, may be quite the darlings of the SMB and creative designer crowds (which may experience quite a bit of convergence as a result of this).

And while rival Microsoft [MSFT] has been keeping their OS prices relatively steep for the anticipated Windows 7, Apple is clearly aiming to keep the OS upgrade affordable for the masses, at a paltry $29.99 USD. In addition to just a single-user license, it will also be available in its multi-user family pack version; and the newer “boxed set” version of OS X bundled with iLife and iWork will also be available (although there is some question as to whether the boxed set represents a multi-user licensing scheme or not).

And even more fierce: OS X Server Edition is also discounted, down to $499 USD for its unlimited user edition, which is a dramatic 50% price discount.

If you’re like me and sometimes really tax your Mac (this is assuming you are, in fact, a Mac owner), you may experience a kernel panic.

They’re not fun.

Some people have observed that they have occurred while using seemingly innocuous applications like Firefox 3.0.x, or a mixture of PowerPC-based and Intel-based applications. But, unfortunately, the causes for kernel panics may not be so obvious. And just as unfortunate, there are some disagreements about what causes or leads to kernel panics.

Here’s an example: a seemingly straightforward tutorial for identifying kernel panic causes. While the article presents itself as somewhat authoritative, you may notice that there are several points of contention in the comments section. Curious, eh?

Apple’s [AAPL] iPhone OS 3.0, shipping on the new iPhone 3G S devices, is also available today as software upgrades for the iPhone and iPod touch devices.

Have you seen this error dialog lately?

A lot of people are unfortunately reporting a lot of errors when trying to fetch their upgrades via iTunes, getting that less-than-helpful error dialog. The (somewhat) good news is that if you get one of these (or something that looks similar to it), you can try again in a few minutes, and hopefully your subsequent request will get past the massive demand for the software upgrade (and all of the other traffic going through iTunes) so that you can download your copy.

Good luck, folks!