Week in review: iPhone 4's reception
Apple's next-generation smartphone arrives and complaints pop up immediately, while Google beats Viacom in a landmark copyright case. Also: privacy pitfalls.
Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
3 min read
Apple's latest phone hit stores Thursday to lines of people--some of whom waited six hours to buy one.
But almost as soon as the device arrived on the doorsteps of customers who placed early preorders came scattered reports of reception problems, discolored spots on the screen, easily scratched exteriors, and issues with third-party accessory connections.
Being popular and being perfect are definitely two different things.
• Long lines mark phone's arrival
• Apple acknowledges antenna issue in iPhone 4
• iPhone 4 owners reporting yellow, discolored screens
• Full review: iPhone 4
• Getting a look inside the iPhone 4
• AT&T delays retail iPhone 4
• Apple: White iPhone 4 coming 'second half of July'
• Apple's iOS 4 already hacked
More headlines
Road Trip 2010
CNET's Daniel Terdiman is on the road again. This time, he's driving a Porsche loaded down with tech gear and searching the East Coast for the most interesting spots for technology, military, R&D, naval shipbuilding, and more.• Photos: The gear of Road Trip 2010
Google defeats Viacom in landmark copyright case
Judge grants summary judgment in favor of Google's YouTube, deciding that it is protected by the DMCA safe-harbor provision against copyright infringement claims.• Biden to file sharers: 'Piracy is theft'
• Jammie Thomas lawyer not hopeful on mediation
FTC says current privacy laws aren't working
In a preview of what may be in a forthcoming report, a senior FTC attorney says existing U.S. law unreasonably places "too much burden" on people to understand privacy policies.• Congressmen query Apple on privacy policy changes
• ACLU fights N.C. quest for Amazon customer data
• Facebook boosts D.C. ranks with public policy hire
• Twitter, FTC reach agreement on security
Motorola takes wraps off its Droid X
Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the new Android device, made for video, should have people "thinking mobile first instead of desktop first."• Verizon keeps unlimited data for new Droid X
• Inside the Motorola Droid X
Amazon drops Kindle price to $189
After Barnes & Noble drops the Nook's price to $199, Amazon answers back with a price chop of its own.• B&N adds $149 Wi-Fi-only Nook, cuts Nook 3G to $199
Why Twitter still has to get its game on--fast
The media's love affair with Twitter could take a sharp turn for the worse if it continues to crash embarrassingly in the wake of unexpected World Cup victories.• Facebook blocking parts of Twitter's FB app
• Facebook, Twitter no place for the lonely
Google Voice now open to all in U.S.
The Web-based call-forwarding and voice mail translation service has been invitation-only for the past year and a half, but no longer.• Four major holes in Google Voice
Microsoft adds music to Bing search results
An update to Microsoft's search engine adds playable songs and lyrics to search results and expands the Zune Marketplace to the Web.• Microsoft shoots for the stars with Bing update
• Microsoft, Hollywood debate future of entertainment
What's Adobe's 64-bit Flash plan?
Adobe Systems pulled the plug on its only 64-bit version of Flash, an experimental version for Linux. But the project remains a "high priority."• Adobe moves mobile Flash from rhetoric to reality
• Flash arrives in Google's Chrome browser
French regulators: Google snagged passwords, e-mail
Privacy regulators in France determine that Google stored some people's e-mails and passwords when it was collecting data from unsecured Wi-Fi hot spots.How Microsoft foresaw--and still missed--the iPad
In a little-remembered speech from 2005, Bill Gates showed a concept for a tablet much like the iPad. So how did Microsoft miss the boat?• Apple: 3 million iPads sold in 80 days
• Analyst estimates 16.5 million iPads sold by 2012
Smart grid security to become multibillion-dollar industry
Report predicts that a total of $21 billion worldwide will be spent on cybersecurity for smart grids between 2010 and 2015.Also of note
• Intel, FTC in talks to settle antitrust claims
• Sears, Kmart to offer streaming movie service
• Mars cave opening found by 7th graders