Many people think of television antennas as relics of the past: bunny ears and ugly wires, black and white, and fuzzy snow pictures. So, instead, we’re happy to plop down upwards of $50 (or $85, or $100) a month to get cable, which comes loaded with HD content and (sometimes) high quality programming.

Turns out, TV antennas are a lot more useful than most people think: most of the shows people watch are actually available over broadcast networks like FOX, NBC, CBS, and NBC — Boxee says 89 out of the top 100 shows appear on these freely available networks.

And soon owners of the Boxee Box will have an easier way to take advantage of them, thanks to a new $49 USB TV tuner that’s being released in January (the feature was first spotted by GigaOm in a leaked software build last week). Plug in the USB stick into the Boxee Box, wire up the antenna, and you’re set — with one more reason to ‘cut the cord’ and rid yourself of your monthly cable bill.

Broadcast channels are generally local, so they give you access to your local news programs. They’re also home to the biggest sporting events (Superbowl, The Olympics), political events (like the debates), and so on. And, provided you have adequate reception, an HD channel received over broadcast will actually be higher quality than it would over cable (broadcast content isn’t compressed).

There are two potential caveats though. The first is that not everyone can receive broadcast channels, at least for all the networks they want — it’s up to where you live, which direction your attention would be facing and how far it is from a window, and other factors (you’ll probably just need to test it out).

And second: at this point Boxee hasn’t included DVR functionality, so you can’t yet record from over-the-air broadcasts. You can, however, take advantage of Boxee’s social features, and the company has licensed data so that the channels you receive over broadcast are clearly labeled.

Boxee CEO Avner Ronen says that the service has 2 million cumulative users, around a quarter of whom are active. Most of the active users are using Boxee’s software installed on a PC or Mac (they can’t use this antenna), but he says the dedicated Boxee Box, which launched a year ago, is the fastest-growing way to use the service.

Boxee will make a small amount of money for each USB Tuner and Boxee Box sold, but Ronen says this isn’t the way the business will scale — rather, its longer term vision is to generate revenue through its software.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Mobile applications developer Antenna Software this morning announced it has acquired mobile Internet software company Volantis. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The move allows Antenna to position itself as an end-to-end mobile solutions provider for enterprises and carriers, and also ensures geographic expansion (particularly in Europe and Asia).

Antenna earlier has done similar acquisitions in the past, most recently purchasing Vaultus Mobile Technologies, a provider of consumer-facing enterprise mobile applications.

The combined company, which will carry the Antenna name, says it will continue to provide support of Volantis’ products to its current customers, prospects and partners through its existing teams in the Volantis offices in Guildford, Seattle, Krakow, Pune and Hong Kong.

Volantis brings to Antenna carrier and enterprise customers such as T-Mobile, 3 and Telenor.

The company has raised a$7.5 million funding round, with Accel Partners and Kennet Venture Partners as principal investors, back in September 2005.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

In the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing more and more iPhone 4s out in the wild. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Apple has added a least a couple million more to the 3 million sales figure they revealed at their press conference three weeks ago. But despite there being millions of devices out there, one thing that has been odd the past couple of weeks has been the lack of talk about the iPhone 4′s antenna issue. Reading the headlines three weeks ago, you would have thought Apple was finished — that the iPhone 4 would be a dud. There was absolutely going to be a recall, remember?

Instead, talk has died down about the issue. Those still talking about the issue seem to be those who don’t actually own the device. Those that do own it seem to be happy. Again, we’re talking millions of people. I still have yet to hear of anyone I know returning one. Meanwhile, Apple still can’t make the device fast enough to meet demand. And their stock price is up over 10 points since the “Antennagate” press conference. The world has moved on.

Or it had.

The most peculiar thing about all of this iPhone 4 antenna stuff is the way Apple is handling it. Specifically, they keep doing things to bring it back into the news, ensuring the story won’t die.

The latest is the removal of Mark Papermaster, the man who was the head of Apple’s mobile device hardware operations. While neither Apple nor Papermaster have given an official reason for the departure, word is that he was fired because of the iPhone 4 antenna issue. And naturally, that’s the way everyone in the press is covering the story. The man behind the iPhone 4′s antenna screw-up has been fired.

Apple had to know that’s the way this would play out. And they had to know it would bring the antenna issue back to the forefront of the news. So why on Earth would they want that?

Well, obviously, they don’t. But perhaps they felt by sacrificing the lamb, as it were, they would placate even more people that they were doing something to remedy the situation. But again, with the story having died down, I’m not sure anyone was really looking for that.

So perhaps Apple did just really want to axe Papermaster for the screw-up. Okay, but again, the timing here is awful. Just wait a few months and then do it quietly – maybe around the time you launch the Verizon iPhone. It would be a much smaller story at that point — at the very least, far removed from Antennagate.

But maybe Apple actually sacked Papermaster a while ago. Maybe The New York Times was only now able to dig up the information and confirm it. After all, it was SVP Bob Mansfield (the exec taking over Papermaster’s role) that was in Apple’s initial promotional videos talking about the iPhone 4′s hardware. Those videos were obviously made before anyone (in the public) knew about the antenna issue. And it was also Mansfield that was on hand during Apple’s press conference three weeks ago. Papermaster was nowhere to be seen. So maybe it has been a while since Papermaster actually worked at Apple.

But here’s something else that’s odd: we were told during our tour of Apple’s antenna testing facilities that the iPhone 4 had been in testing for two years. That means it was being tested before Papermaster actually worked for Apple. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber adds a bit more to this today by saying an “informed source” told him that the antenna issue “bug” was filed two years ago — again, before Papermaster worked at Apple. So perhaps Papermaster’s dismissal was about more than the antenna issue. Or, again, maybe it was just Apple making a move to show that they’re holding someone accountable.

Regardless, assuming Papermaster didn’t leave on his own, Apple was in control of the timing of all of this. Why not just wait to make this move until Antennagate was far in the rearview mirror? Instead, a story that was fading just came roaring back to life.

And this is hardly the only time Apple has rekindled this fire.

First of all, Apple CEO Steve Jobs emailing concerned customers and telling them to hold it different was obviously a mistake. While Jobs was undoubtedly trying to be helpful, he was also undoubtedly annoyed at having to answer such a question. And the press (including us), rightfully teed off on that. Apple has a history of being completely silent as external situations involving them swirl. That would have been the better approach until they had finalized their official response.

Second, that official response, the Antennagate press conference, was a bit odd. While I correctly predicted what it was likely to be all about (explaining to the press what the facts were from Apple’s perspective), doing so in such a grandiose manner simply amplified the whole situation further. And it led people to believe that a recall was indeed coming (which Apple likely had to leak out that it wasn’t).

Instead, we got free bumpers. While I said this was necessary, I didn’t believe we needed a press conference to notify people of that. The whole press conference just led to the perception that something was indeed wrong with the iPhone 4 — the very message Apple was trying to counter with that very press conference.

Third, Apple’s decision to call out rivals for having the same attenuation issues may have made sense on paper, but in practice it also largely backfired. It led some of those other companies to defend themselves (like RIM). This also perpetuated the story.

Worse, Apple kept posting more of these rival attenuation videos even after the press conference was long over. Each one of these also kept reigniting dying flames. Apple seems to have realized this last week when they removed all traces of the videos from their website. But then that too became a story.

So this really is the story that won’t die. But it’s not because everyone is so outraged at the issue itself — it’s because Apple keeps bringing it to the forefront with all of these related moves.

To put it more clearly: this story will eventually die — but it should have already, were it not for Apple.

[photo: flickr/timmezies]

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Well this is interesting. One of the key points at Apple’s recent press conference to discuss the iPhone 4′s antenna, was that the problem (called “attenuation”) is not unique to the iPhone 4. To highlight this, Apple showed videos of the problem on smartphones by rival companies. Those videos were then posted to a special antenna page on Apple’s website. Those videos are now gone.

As you can see on this page, the videos are nowhere to be found. Instead, the page now only shows the overview of the antenna design and test labs. A search of Apple’s website brings up a few of the landing pages where the videos used to be — here’s the Droid X one, for example — but now those just redirect to the antenna design page as well. Odd.

Here’s what else is interesting: the original page with these videos still does reside on the Canadian version of Apple’s website. Here’s you’ll find the videos for the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the HTC Droid Eris, the Motorola Droid X, the Nokia N97 Mini, the Samsung Omnia II, the iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4. However, the Asian version of Apple’s site has the videos removed as well.

The videos are still up on Apple’s official YouTube channel, but they are no longer featured, and are a little bit trickier to find.

We’ve reached out to Apple for an official response as to why they removed them from the website. Obviously, they caused quite a bit of controversy – with some rivals, like RIM (makers of the BlackBerry), even responding. Has the threat of lawsuits from rivals forced Apple to take them down? Or did they take them down due to some of the negative backlash they were receiving? Or perhaps Apple is simply trying to move on from the situation — but again, the antenna design and test lab page is still there (though it doesn’t call out rivals specifically).

At the top of this post, find what the /antenna site currently looks like in the U.S. Below, find what it used to look like — and still does for the Canadian version of the site.

[thanks Noah]

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Today at Apple’s headquarters, CEO Steve Jobs took the stage to address the issues surround the iPhone 4 antenna. How did he do that? With numbers.

Jobs rattled off some key numbers about how the iPhone 4 is doing overall since its launch three weeks ago. The gist? Compared to the iPhone 3GS, which Jobs noted is the most successful smartphone ever, the iPhone 4 is basically doing even better. Complaints to Apple Care are extremely low, returns are down, and the amount of calls dropped is up — by less than 1 call in each 100.

According to Jobs, 0.55% of all iPhone 4 users have called Apple Care to complain. Yes, one half of one percent.

What about AT&T return rates? If people are having a major problem with the antenna, they’re going to return it right? Well, they’re not. The iPhone 3GS had a return rate early on of 6% — which Apple was very happy with. With the iPhone 4, that return rate is 1.7%. The return rate is one-third of what it was for the iPhone 3GS.

Finally, Jobs mentioned the drop call rate. In this case, Jobs admitted it was higher than with the iPhone 3GS. How much higher? According to AT&T, the iPhone 4 is dropping less than one more call per 100 calls when compared to the iPhone 3GS.

And while it’s only slightly higher, Jobs has a theory as to why this is. He thinks that because the iPhone 3GS was the same form factor as the iPhone 3G, there were a ton of cases available out there for it at launch. In fact, 80% of people who bought an iPhone 3GS at Apple stores left with a case, he says. The iPhone 4 is a new form factor, so there aren’t a lot of cases out there yet. And so only 20% of people who buy iPhone 4 are leaving with a case.

Jobs says he isn’t sure that’s the reason for the bump in dropped calls, but that’s what he believes.

So it should be no surprise that Apple is giving away cases for free to iPhone 4 users from this point on.

“There is no Antennagate,” says Jobs.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Editor’s note: Guest author Steve Cheneyis an entrepreneur and formerly an engineer & programmer specializing in web and mobile technologies.

Leading up to Apple’s press conference tomorrow, there’s been endless speculation about the iPhone 4 antenna issue. Amidst all the wrangling, both sides have been pretty bipolar about the solution—suggesting either a complete recall, or a hand-waiving session, free bumpers, and a general denial of the hardware issue.

The best solution lies in between both of those extremes: a full admission of the hardware issue, together with a voluntary recall and an immediate manufacturing fix. Here’s why:

The antenna issue is not only very real, but it’s also open-ended. To date, only 3M iPhone 4 units have shipped. PC World estimates that 40M units will ship by 2011.

This staggering forecast quantifies the true issue for Apple—it will never really go away. With each iPhone 4 sold, the installed base grows. And since the issue appears to be fairly fickle, presenting itself differently depending on location and signal, the potential for problems grows geometrically as shipments increase. And continued negative mainstream press could actually expand Apple’s woes exponentially.

There is a simple solution:

ODMs (original design manufacturers) in Taiwan are incredibly deft at making quick changes to their manufacturing runs. In my visits to Foxconn and Taiwanese ODMs, I was always completely blown away by how they made changes in the middle of product cycles. Most people aren’t aware that components inside consumer electronics equipment change as often as every 3-6 months. And these are component and software level changes, which are much more difficult than simple changes to the industrial design.

A person only needs to think of HTC (part ODM, part OEM) to witness this. If HTC is capable of producing entirely new models of phones every 1-2 months on average, then it’s very clear that Foxconn and Apple should be able to implement a mid-run manufacturing tweak to modify the design of the antenna.

What would this tweak constitute? It’s fairly straightforward: An insulating coating should be applied to the stainless steel antenna. Surely Apple design God Jonathan Ive has an arsenal of materials at his disposal which could coat the steel, yet retain the look, feel, transparency, and hardness of the stainless steel band.

Together Foxconn and Apple should be able to complete this in a month or less. Foxconn can stage the runs of new iPhone 4’s, and switch the manufacturing line over as soon as new antennas are ready. Since there is no shortage of stainless steel (unlike Retina displays for instance), this solution would only be gated by how quickly Apple and Foxconn can move.

Considering the antenna issue is quickly becoming the worst gaffe in Apple’s history, mobilizing the required resources should be Apple’s No. 1 priority.  In fact, if Steve Jobs announces tomorrow that such a fix is already under way, it will go a long way towards silencing the uproar.

This is imperative for Apple, since the installed base is rapidly growing, and since Apple’s lack of attention to quality assurance threatens to become a permanent blemish. Both the lack of testing and Job’s email response were extremely sloppy. The antenna issue stands in complete contradiction to Jony Ive’s recent interview in which he boasts about Apple’s command of materials—it doesn’t take an RF engineer to know that stainless steel is conductive.

It’s much better to fix the antenna now. Apple can then do a “voluntary recall” after a certain date once manufacturing has hit its stride. For example, the voluntary recall is announced now, and starting September 1st, customers can exchange their iPhone 4 at a genius bar for up to three months.

Such a voluntary recall would only produce a modest financial hit since it would be spread between two quarters (the September and December quarters), muting any hit to earnings. And since many newly-educated customers will be using bumpers or after-market cases by that time, plenty of people won’t even bother with the recall.

Fix the antenna Apple. Or the issue will damage your brand and become much worse. By the way, I talked to iFixit, the self-repair site, and they think Apple is using some sort of coating.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The PR storm Apple is in after it turned out users were running into reception issues with their iPhone 4 devices due to a flaw in the antenna design appears to be destined not to blow over anytime soon, hastily scheduled press conferences and unhelpful software updates notwithstanding.

Bloomberg this morning published a report saying Ruben Caballero, one of Apple’s senior engineers, actually told chief exec Steve Jobs in the early design phase of the fast-selling smartphone that the antenna design could lead to dropped calls, citing a person familiar with the matter who requested to stay anonymous.

Not only that, another unidentified source tells Bloomberg, but a carrier partner also voiced some concerns about the antenna design before the device’s June 24 release.

There are only so many carriers this could be, obviously. The exclusive carrier in the United States if of course AT&T, and Apple’s European partners include Vodafone, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, while Softbank carries the iPhone 4 in Japan.

Here’s the key part of the Bloomberg report:

Apple’s industrial design team, led by Jonathan Ive, submitted several iPhone designs before Jobs and other executives settled on the bezel antenna, said the person familiar with the company’s design. Caballero, the antenna expert, voiced concern in early planning meetings that it might lead to dropped calls and presented a serious engineering challenge, the person said.

The metal bezel surrounding the handset would need to be separated in sections to create individual antennas capable of handling particular ranges of the radio frequencies for different wireless networks, the person said. If a user covered one of the seams between the sections, their finger would act as a conductive material, interfering with the signal, the person said. Consumer Reports suggests iPhone 4 users cover the antenna with duct tape to help mitigate reception woes.

Can someone please email Steve Jobs to verify if he really dismissed concerns voiced early in the design process by a senior member of staff and a carrier partner, and ask him why?

Thanks!

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Word is breaking that Apple is calling a special press conference on this coming Friday to talk about the iPhone 4. Yes, you can probably guess what this is about.

Apple blog The Loop has the (basically non-existent) details right now — that it will be in California on Friday morning and about iPhone 4. A small group of press are reportedly getting the invites right now. Update: We just got the call, we’ll be there at 10 AM PT on Friday to cover it live.

The big question that everyone must be wondering is if Apple will announce a recall of the iPhone 4 based on the antenna problems — which are very real. We still believe that’s pretty unlikely. That said, it’s very, very, very rare (in fact, I don’t think it has ever happened) that Apple would call a special press conference at the last second. If they didn’t have something very major to say, they’d much more likely issue a release.

But with all the talk and speculation flying around out there, perhaps Apple (and CEO Steve Jobs in particular) just wants to sit people down to talk about the issue. Apple has been widely criticized for saying basically nothing about the issue beyond Jobs’ quotes that users should buy a case or hold the phone different.

Apple released the first beta of the iOS 4.1 software today. As our sister site MobileCrunch noted, it does not fix the antenna issue. Instead, it simply does what Apple said it was going to do: make the signal strength indicator more accurate.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

As consumers and journalists begin to wonder if the iPhone 4 is a lemon due to the ongoing antenna issues with the phone, Apple’s stock has taken a hit this morning. The stock started trading this morning at $255.84 and dropped by nearly ten points to $246.55 in mid-morning trading, losing as much as $9 billion in market cap. Shares seem to be recovering now at $249 per share.

Clearly, this issue is spiraling beyond just tech blogs into mainstream media. In fact, our own MG Siegler spoke to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann last night about the issue with the iPhone’s signal strength (see video below). And as the antenna issue gains momentum, the markets are reflecting the concerns over this flawed device.

New iPhone 4 users have been complaining of problems with dropped calls and connectivity due to the Antenna issues. Apple tried to sweep this under the rug with a software update, but yesterday Consumer Reports slammed the new device. Consumer Reports concluded that the signal degradation from the antenna is real when you put your finger over the gap on the lower left-hand side of the phone, calling it a design flaw. And already there are lawsuits brewing.

For a company that seems to be very meticulous about its marketing strategy, Apple’s brand may be suffering damage from ‘Antennagate.’ The iPhone 4, which was touted as the marquis of iPhones, will now be partly remembered for this flaw unless Apple takes serious action on fixing the problem. Could there be an iPhone 4 recall in the near future?

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Apple recently posted job openings for not one, not two but eight Antenna Engineers, according to its website. Some of those engineers would be working on the antenna system architecture of the iPhone and iPad, according to the job postings, in order to “optimize the radiation performance for wireless portable devices”.

Still according to the postings, candidates will be expected to “performance radiation performance measurements (SIC), create test plans, execute them, publish test reports, provide feedback to the other design engineers, and lead some of the manufacturing of antenna”. You’d need 10+ years of experience and possess “strong problem solving skills and strong working knowledge of radiation performance” if you want the job.

In addition, Apple is looking for two people to fill the role of ‘iPhone OTA Wireless Systems Engineer’, who would be “validating the radiation performance of wireless portable devices” and three people to serve as ‘RF Systems Validation Engineer iPhone’.

Update: Engadget also got tipped about (some of) the job postings.

It’s hard not to see the job postings in relation to the recent antenna / reception problems with the new iPhone, which are plaguing a subset of owners. Conspiracy theorists will even point out that some of the jobs were posted on the exact same day Gizmodo and others starting reporting that users were having reception issues when holding the iPhone 4 in a certain way (June 23).

Which makes it possible Apple posted the engineering jobs after seeing media reports on the hardware design flaws, but it would’t explain why the other 3 antenna-related positions were posted on June 16. Food for speculation abound, but I’m skeptic.

Just yesterday, Boy Genius Report published Apple’s internal iPhone 4 antenna troubleshooting procedures it had obtained from a source. The documents show that the company is keen on continuing to say there is absolutely nothing wrong with the antenna.

If anything, these job postings may suggest they’re effectively aware of the issues at hand and that they need fixing – or they want to make really sure the iPhone 5 can’t be held “the wrong way” anymore.

Stay tuned

(Thanks to @tuuukka for the tip)

Article courtesy of TechCrunch