Chris Trumbo

After reading the article I can clearly see there are some misconception about the  Iphones antenna. The iPhone has had many issue in the release of their new product annually, but this is to be expected when you are the leading pioneer in the phone industry. The Iphones issues are not just because of a cheap antenna, but also have to do with static electricity and the software programing of the phone. Firstly every body has small amount of electricity following through their body. One of the issue the iPhone had was that the electricity from our bodies was interfering with the cell reception of the phone. That is why Apple offered to either compensate the customer with cash or a free case to fix the problems. The case was used to eliminate the direct contact between the user and the phone which fixed the problem. Unfortunately some people decided that taking responsibility for their actions was to much and tried suing apple which resulting in nothing. The result of the lawsuit turned out to be what Apple had originally offered “$15”, and actually the people got less because they had to pay court and lawyer fees which probably ended up costing them money. Also the most people don’t know that the iPhone for Verizon and the iPhone for AT&T are different. When making a call the Verizon version make the call is primary goal and stops trying to update new information such as text messages, emails, ect. While the iPhone for AT&T continuos to search for incoming updates and that is another major reason for dropped calls. If Apple knows its product is not as strong as in some areas as other than it is still ok for them to it put it on the selves.

Blog #2 - Sarah Start

The article I chose was titled “Should you feel guilty about buying you iPhone” from CNN.com by Steve Kovach and was published on January 31, 2012. The ethical issue about poor working conditions in China at the company who manufactures most of Apple’s products, Foxconn, is brought to light. It has been reported that this company is a 24-hour operation with twelve hour shifts with most workers on the job 6 days a week. You do the math that is a 72 hour work week, and that is, in my opinion, is way too much. Employees and their families live in a village at the factory and their lives revolve around producing Apple products. Working conditions are so bad supposedly that several employees have attempted suicide. They tried committing suicide by throwing themselves off the buildings. Others have died or were severely injured in accidents such as explosions. The public is outraged that there are such working conditions and that they are being allowed in China. The reason the company keeps things the way they are is to keep the prices down. Kovach makes an excellent point that the price can only be raised so much before consumers stop buying their product. It is a difficult situation because Apple’s products are the best in the industry, so we basically turn a blind eye to the unethical working conditions in the oversea factories. The company is pocketing millions of dollars every year and has $100 billion just sitting in a bank. I think that some of this money could be put towards improving working conditions and employee benefits overseas. The problem with this is that the companies are abroad and not owned by Apple and therefore they can’t make the rules. So they would have to pay Foxconn to do those things and that is what the money would be going to. Since the money would be coming out of excess profit I do not think that the price of Apple products would have to be increased a significant amount. I think consumers would still pay prices that are slightly higher because Apple simply has the best products in the market.

Apple settles class-action suit over iPhone 4 antenna problem By Doug Gross, CNNTech Wed February 22, 2012

IPhone 4 owners will have the opportunity to be reimbursed by Apple for the major reception problem with the phone. The popular IPhone 4 came out in June 2010 and complaints arose immediately about frequent dropped calls. Apple realized that the problem was caused by the location of the antenna which is on the edge of the phone, in order to make it slimmer. Holding the phone in a certain spot would cause it to drop calls. Apple attempted to resolve this problem by offering a free case to all IPhone 4 owners that would protect the antenna and resolve or greatly reduce the problem. Many people did not take advantage of this offer and many lawsuits came up that were all merged into one case. Under the settlement Apple is offering 15 dollars to all eligible customers that can be redeemed online over a 120 day period. I would be really upset if I bought a new cell phone for hundreds of dollars and I could not hold a conversation on it. I understand the lawsuits that became of this problem. In my opinion, everyone who bought the IPhone 4 should have been upgraded with a free IPhone 4S. I doubt that a case could completely solve the reception problem and what would 15 dollars solve? You would think that Apple would have better business ethics to solve this problem. With the amount of money that people spend to get these high technology phones, they should not have to deal with performance problems. I understand that problems like this can happen but they should also be taken care of much more professionally. It is not like Apple does not have enough money to reimburse their customers. It also surprised me that Steve Jobs said that the problem was just as bad on other phones and did not look to resolve the issue right away. You would think that a company who is competing to take over the technology industry would look to make their products noticeably better than other companies. This would definitely make me and probably many other consumers think twice before I bought an apple product in the future.

blog#3 mataiah crossley

Mataiah Crossley

ITM 123, 03

Blog #3

Apple settles class-action suit over iPhone 4 antenna problem

By Doug Gross, CNN

Updated 5:36 AM EST, Wed February 22, 2012 |

                The article was about the company apple and the iPhone 4 when it was first released. The iPhone was receiving complaints from customer because their calls were being dropped. The antenna on the phone was cheap and apple still sent it out. This is wrong because if a company knows that there is something wrong with their product they should not continue to sell that product. Unfortunately the Apple company did not feel the same way and they let out there product to the public.

                Blogs were screaming out “antenna gate” due to their problems that they were receiving with the iPhone 4’s reception. Not only that but Apple’s new release the smartphone also had antenna problems but the company did not quickly respond to that. The Apple Company however, did respond to the iPhone 4 problems they gave out the option for 15 dollars or a new case for the customers who purchased the non-working cell phones. The problem seemed to be, the antenna on the phones were dropping calls because the way people would hold the phones would block the signal leaving no service reception and that was a big problem. They called this the “death grip” meaning the way someone held the cell phone. Most people refused to take the free case and the money that was being offered by the company which started the lawsuit. Apple did indeed put off the complaints and refused to help until there CEO’s became involved. Multiple lawsuits were combined onto one which made the lawsuit pretty huge. The whole lawsuit concluded to the 15 dollars as before and the customers will have 120 days to respond and receive their cash .Apple released, www.iPhone4Settlement.com, has been set up and will allow customers to respond.

                I believe that if a company has knowledge that their product is not effective they should not be able to sell it. It is really hard to believe that a company that has so much success has low ethics. As we discussed in class ethics is very important to have. Just like the blog about Facebook it seems to me that very big companies seem to be doing something in a way that they should not be doing.

Facebook pictures

(Ars Technica) -- Facebook is still working on deleting photos from its servers in a timely manner nearly three years after Ars first brought attention to the topic. The company admitted on Friday that its older systems for storing uploaded content "did not always delete images from content delivery networks in a reasonable period of time even though they were immediately removed from the site," but said it's currently finishing up a newer system that makes the process much quicker. In the meantime, photos that users thought they "deleted" from the social network months or even years ago remain accessible via direct link. The problem: "deleted" photos never go away When we first investigated this phenomenon in 2009, we discovered that photos "deleted" from Facebook seemingly never go away if you have a direct link to the image file on Facebook's servers. Users who might have had second thoughts about posting a photo -- whether it was because they didn't want retaliation from an employer, wanted to avoid family drama, or uploaded a photo of a friend without their permission—could certainly remove the image from Facebook's main user interface, but as long as someone had a direct link to the .jpg file in question, the photo would remain accessible for an indefinite amount of time. When we asked Facebook about it, we were told that the company was "working with our content delivery network (CDN) partner to significantly reduce the amount of time that backup copies persist." But when we followed up on the story more than a year later, our "deleted" photos were still accessible via direct link. That's when the reader stories started pouring in: we were told horror stories about online harassment using photos that were allegedly deleted years ago, and users who were asked to take down photos of friends that they had put online. Facebook striking it rich Should you buy into Facebook's IPO? Unveiling Facebook 'secrets' There were plenty of stories in between as well, and panicked Facebook users continue to e-mail me, asking if we have heard of any new way to ensure that their deleted photos are, well, deleted. For example, one reader linked me to a photo that a friend of his had posted of his toddler crawling naked on the lawn. He asked his friend to take it down for obvious reasons, and so the friend did -- in May of 2008. As of this writing in 2012, I have personally confirmed that the photo is still online, as are several others that readers linked me to that were deleted at various points in 2009 and 2010. (Amusingly, after publishing the 2010 followup, Facebook appeared to delete my photos from its CDN that I had linked in the piece. The company never offered me any explanation, but my photos were the only ones that were deleted at that time. Other "deleted" photos that I had saved links to -- ones that weren't from my account and were deleted even earlier than mine—remained online.) Facebook has admitted that the site has never worked properly when coming to deleting photos. Suprisingly atleast admitting to that because it seems to be a pretty big deal. I would have thought facebook would have done a better job of hiding that fact. It seems like it is a pretty big deal to people because they dont want there photos stuck on facebook or floating around the internet. At the same time does it really matter. People are going to still use facebook no matter what it does with its pictures. They could have them all on google and people would still use the site. It's an addiction to people, it's kind of pathetic really. This article just shows that because no matter what bad things you here about facebook people are going to still use the site. Facebook also even said that yes they have been so called working on the problem for three years. There trying to tell us that the problem is so hard to deal with it's been three years and they cant come up with something to delete photos permanetly. To me it seems they really dont care about the issue because ultimatley does anyone, like I said evveryone is still going to keep there facebook. They do say though that they are working on a system that will completley delete pictures after 45 days. 45 days thats crazy, they cant figure something out in less time. The problem they say is that the photo storage needs a newer system. They say they have this feature almost completed. I guess will see if that actually happens. I agree with the guy writing the article who says I'll believe it when I see it. Facebook has said a lot about what might happen, they need to do something and be practive and actuall do something. If they mess this one up it actually may look bad on the company. For everyones privacy and for facebooks sake I hope the issue gets resolved, although no matter what I think facebook will be OK. At the same time I think people should watch what pictures they put on the internet. If you are going to post something on the internet be prepared for people to see what you put up there. All it can do is hurt you. Someone will see a dumb photo of you and make judgement. No one really looks at facebook and thinks that a picture will make you "look good." Anything on the internet is most likely going to stay in circulation somehow so watch what you put on the internet.

iPhone 4 Antenna Issues

"Apple settles class-action suit over iPhone 4 antenna problem"

February 22, 2012

CNN.com

by Doug Gross

The wildly popular and technological sensation iPhone 4 was released and like its predecessors, had huge sales. The new Apple product was headline news and rose to the top of the sales charts as the number one selling smart phone. The phone had issues though as many customers reported calls being randomly dropped. The problem was found to be a faulty antenna. Apple tried slimming the phone down compared to it'd predecessor, the iPhone 3 and 3Gs.

However, by making the phone thinner, the antenna was warped to fit in the phone and caused it to lose reception at times when being held in a certain position, which became known as the "death grip".

Customers responded with anger as the phone cost several hundred dollars and is supposed to be the elite smart phone. Apple responded slowly but eventually answered, apologizing and eventually fixed the problem. Many customers however were still dissatisfied as they were still stuck with they're faulty iPhone. Lawsuits were filed against Apple and were finally solved recently with Apple agreeing to give customers $15 a piece or a new phone case.

I think this is a very poor result of a lawsuit as $15 seems like chump change compared to the $600 that the phone is worth. On a larger scale though it seems like a very generous solution as more than 20 million people are eligible for the $15 payout meaning Apple could shell out over $300,000,000 over a faulty antenna that drops calls, sometimes.

It is Apple's fault for making a flawed product but they are not 100% to blame. The cell phone market and demand for smart phones today is increasing at an alarming rate. The demand for slimmer, more compact, but also more powerful and efficient phones must be very stressful for phone companies. This is especially true for Apple as they have received the reputation among consumers to have the most elite products, most advanced technology, and the best products. With competitors also trying to give consumers better products, the smart phone industry is, in my opinion, the most hostile market in the economy. In the past 10 years the level of advancement in cell phones has been astronomical and beyond impressive. It's the competition between companies and the demand from consumers that has caused the advancement. It is because of this hostility that drives Apple to create the most elite products and it is completely understandable, in my opinion, for at least one flaw to happen under so much pressure.

It was Apple's fault and they should have tested the iPhone 4 more extensively before releasing it to consumers. However it is very generous of them, on a broad scale, to give something back to consumers as an apology. $300,000,000+ in reparations would severely cripple other companies, probably even fault production of future products. This may damage Apple financially, but in the long run, on a broad scale, this will make Apple viewed as a better company who takes blame for their mistakes and continues to develop better products at an elite company. It's of these reasons I commend Apple for their actions in the lawsuit and consider them the best corporation in the world.

10 Steps to Smartphone Privacy

10 Steps to Smartphone Privacy
By: Eric Zeman
February 18, 2012
9:05 AM
Information Week

Smartphones have become a very big part of our society. Whether you have an iPhone or any other smartphone, it is a big advantage to have one now. You can check your email, use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and even play games. Smartphones offer a lot but there can be a lack of privacy at times. There are in fact a few ways to keep your smartphone contents private though. Every time you are done using your phone, you should lock the phone and put a password lock on it. This will prevent anyone from getting into your personal data. Also by making your screen lock after 1-5 seconds it will be much better for the user. Many people don’t take the time to lock it so a quick lock time would be good for those people. Many people leave their smartphones unattended and that is a good time for someone to swipe it and get into the phone and look at everything that you have. If you get up to go get something then simply just take it with you. Another way that smartphone users can keep their phones private is by being careful about what apps they download. Not all apps are from trusted sources. Some apps have not been approved by an official app store and they can be more invasive. An easy tip for any phone user is to not give your phone to a stranger. If a stranger comes up to you and asks you to make an emergency call home may be someone that you cannot trust. If they need to make a call then make the call for them and put the phone on speakerphone. These are all very good tips. As a smartphone user, I feel like I have to keep my phone as close to me as possible because it can be very easy to lose and easy for someone to take it. I always make it a priority to lock my phone when I am done using my phone because you never know when someone is going to try to do. Smartphones are a huge part of our generation and it is important to keep your privacy with all of the apps and information on them.

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