'iPhone Does Not, Droid Does' have a weird 24. 5 day bug cycle ;>)
Locked into a Droid with BIG RED...$350 will buy your freedom
* By Charlie Sorrel Wired.com Author
* November 18, 2009 |
* 6:39 am |
* Categories: Phones
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/verizon-accused-of-remote-controlling-droid-truth-somewhat-stranger/
A rather odd bug in the Droid phone has been mistaken for a secret,
silent, over the air invasion by Verizon’s software update police.
When a problem with the Droid’s auto focus mysteriously disappeared
overnight, paranoid Droid owners assumed that a secret update had been
sent over the air to fix it. This would be rather creepy. It is also
wrong. In a comment on an Engadget story about the mystery fix,
Android developer Dan Morrill explained what had happened, and the
truth is rather stranger than the fiction.
There’s a rounding-error bug in the camera driver’s autofocus
routine (which uses a timestamp) that causes autofocus to behave
poorly on a 24.5-day cycle. That is, it’ll work for 24.5 days, then
have poor performance for 24.5 days, then work again.
The 17th is the start of a new “works correctly” cycle, so the
devices will be fine for a while. A permanent fix is in the works.
Not only is the bug itself an odd one, so is the lack of an internet
hissy-fit about the imagined reach of Verizon. This is exactly the
kind of thing that sends blogs and Twitter into a frothing frenzy, yet
the net has remained mostly quiet. As Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
points out, imagine if this had been Apple suspected of reaching into
the iPhone from afar:
Am I the only one who thinks that if Apple issued an over-the-air
iPhone software update — no notice, no confirmation — that it would
generate a Category 5 shit storm?
If you want to try this, set your Droid’s clock back a few days and
experience the thrill of a non-focusing camera for yourself.
--
Remember Verizon advertising says...'iPhone Does Not, Droid Does'
John Doe
include the iPhone group.
"Locked into a Droid with BIG RED...$350 will buy your freedom" <vic.healey gmail.com> wrote:
> Path: news.astraweb.com!border5.newsrouter.astraweb.com!news.glorb.com!news2.glorb.com!postnews.google.com!s15g2000yqs.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
> From: "Locked into a Droid with BIG RED...$350 will buy your freedom" <vic.healey gmail.com>
> Newsgroups: misc.phone.mobile.iphone,alt.cellular.cingular,alt.cellular.t-mobile,alt.cellular.verizon
> Subject: 'iPhone Does Not, Droid Does' have a weird 24. 5 day bug cycle ;>)
> Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:51:34 -0800 (PST)
> Organization: http://groups.google.com
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> iPhone software update - no notice, no confirmation - that it would
Todd Allcock
> Verizon Accused of Remote Controlling Droid: Truth Somewhat Stranger
>
> * By Charlie Sorrel Wired.com Author
> * November 18, 2009 |
> * 6:39 am |
> * Categories: Phones
<Snip>
> Am I the only one who thinks that if Apple issued an over-the-air
> iPhone software update — no notice, no confirmation — that it would
> generate a Category 5 shit storm?
Perhaps, but it'd be tempered by the sheer joy that a minor bug could be
fixed without having to waste an hour or two backing up the device,
reflashing the entire OS image and restoring all user data like iPhone
owners seem to have to go therough every couple of months. 3.0 was
released in July- by October how many minor revisions have been thrown at
us? Three? Four?
Certainly the iPhone set the bar higher as to the painlessness of
upgrading compared to Blackberry and WinMo, but Android and its
background OTA upgrades knocked that bar into the stratosphere.
Larry
@newsfe17.iad:
> Certainly the iPhone set the bar higher as to the painlessness of
> upgrading compared to Blackberry and WinMo, but Android and its
> background OTA upgrades knocked that bar into the stratosphere.
>
>
The only thing you'll notice about the N900 upgrading Maemo Linux is when
it's first turned on the processor seems very preoccupied at times for a
couple of minutes as the operating system and every app installed are
upgraded to the latest version in background without your pressing
anything. This started with OS2008 Diablo, including the OS. The only
time it would be reflashed is if you really trashed it fooling around as
root. Reflashing a dead Maemo box is a non-event if you've backed up your
apps as you should to a memory card. Reflash the OS and run the restore
and you're back where you were at the backup in just a few
minutes...painlessly.
I'm sure more automation of upgrades has been expanded in the new version
of Maemo Linux. Sure works good on a Diablo-based N800....(c;]
--
Larry
Locked into a Droid with BIG RED...$350 will buy your freedom
What are you talking about?
That bug hasn't been fixed, as well as a whole lot more.
If one can introduce new OS firmware code automatically without your
consent it seems to me the prefect vector for a Russian mob hacker
attack at some time in the near future when enough of these are out
there to make it worth while.
Apple gives you a choice to upgrade or not. They do not force you to
do anything. You have freedom of choice with Apple.
Bill Kearney
> fixed without having to waste an hour or two backing up the device,
> reflashing the entire OS image and restoring all user data like iPhone
> owners seem to have to go therough every couple of months.
And don't forget discovering that apple has crippled your external
interfaces and cables. Perfectly working inexpensive video output cables
suddenly stopped working when Apple decided to require an 'authorization'
chip be present on the otherwise dumb cable. All to gouge the cable makers
and customers for profit.
I'm looking foward to the day when Apple gets bitch-slapped for
anti-competitive trade practices like this. Apparently they've forgotten
the Carterphone vs Ma Bell case. It's really despicable what selfish
bastards they've become at Apple.
NightStalker
@hotmail.com says...
>
> I'm looking foward to the day when Apple gets bitch-slapped for
> anti-competitive trade practices like this.
>
I know it's off topic, but the same goes for Apple's use of region-
locked DVD drives in all their computers. And they can't be hacked with
firmware flashes either. I'm talking about the Matshita drives in
MacBook Pro and iMac models.
Region locking is a total PITA
Sorry - back to the iPhone thread.... ;)
--
NightStalker
nospam
NightStalker <NightS...@somewhere.or.other> wrote:
> I know it's off topic, but the same goes for Apple's use of region-
> locked DVD drives in all their computers.
blame the mpaa
> And they can't be hacked with
> firmware flashes either.
of course they can. they're off the shelf mechanisms. google for
firmware hacks, or use software that ignores it.
Petro Gibraltar
"NightStalker" <NightS...@somewhere.or.other> wrote in message
news:MPG.2572f28b...@news-europe.giganews.com...
> I know it's off topic, but the same goes for Apple's use of region-
> locked DVD drives in all their computers. And they can't be hacked with
> firmware flashes either. I'm talking about the Matshita drives in
> MacBook Pro and iMac models.
>
Here's your solution:
http://macosx.com/forums/hardware-peripherals/297480-my-powerbook-g4s-dvd-region-free.html
WindsorFox<[SS]>
> iPhone software update — no notice, no confirmation — that it would
> generate a Category 5 shit storm?
>
No, 80% of iPhone users would not notice, 8% of the remaing 10 would
not care.
--
.
Well, it was important enough for several folks to
comment on. Fortunately, they were not burdened
by Microsoft shitware which fails to properly
implement a decade-old standard. - Sam
Not Me
>> Am I the only one who thinks that if Apple issued an over-the-air
>> generate a Category 5 shit storm?
>>
>
> No, 80% of iPhone users would not notice, 8% of the remaing 10 would
> not care.
>
The jailbroken soon-to-be-brickphone users sure would.
NightStalker
nos...@nospam.invalid says...
> In article <MPG.2572f28b...@news-europe.giganews.com>,
> NightStalker <NightS...@somewhere.or.other> wrote:
>
> > I know it's off topic, but the same goes for Apple's use of region-
> > locked DVD drives in all their computers.
>
> blame the mpaa
>
It is actually illegal here in Australia to sell region-locked drives,
following a case against Sony that Sony lost. But Apple ignore it
anyway.
> > And they can't be hacked with
> > firmware flashes either.
>
> of course they can. they're off the shelf mechanisms. google for
> firmware hacks, or use software that ignores it.
>
Nope - all the newer MacBook Pro and iMac models can NOT be hacked. I'm
extremely familiar with firmware flashing - done it numerous times over
many years on PCs and older Macs. Also, on PCs, one can use a piece of
software called DVDIdlePro that sits between the hardware player and the
software player. Excellent solution. But not on Macs.
The newer Matshita drives - eg the UJ-875 - can NOT be hacked. At least
not yet, and they've been around for a couple of years now.
--
NightStalker
NightStalker
says...
Thanks for the effort, but that is NOT the solution. That method is for
older Powerbooks and older Matshita drive models. The MacBook and
MacBook Pro models using the much newer Matshita UJ-875 drives, and the
even newer UJ-868 (latest MacBook Pro) can NOT be hacked. There is NO
firmware flash for these drives, although they've been around for some
time now.
Sorry - still straying off topic here....
--
NightStalker
Bert Hyman
<NightS...@somewhere.or.other> wrote:
> It is actually illegal here in Australia to sell region-locked drives,
> following a case against Sony that Sony lost. But Apple ignore it
> anyway.
That can only happen if your government ignores it too.
--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN be...@iphouse.com
Larry
news:MPG.2576e258d...@news-europe.giganews.com:
Why not just download the movie before the DVD is ever released from
alt.binaries.movies.divx? There's no regional restrictions after it's
converted to open DivX format and you can burn 6 full movies on a single
DVD as data straight from the single file that has all the
chapters/audio with sometimes tiny separate subtitle files for foreign
films in other languages than yours. No DVD drive hacking and screwing
your warranty is necessary. The region locked burner will burn the DivX
files from anywhere as their just data files, now.
--
Larry