life

A new study entitled Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Networks confirms much of what we already know about cyberbullying. Most kids aren't bullied and most kids don't bully either online or off.

In fact, the study--conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project for the Family Online Safety Institute and Cable in the Classroom--concluded that "[m]ost American teens who use social media say that in their experience, people their age are mostly kind to one another on social network sites." Nearly seven in ten (69 percent) of teens said that peers are mostly … Read more

The iPhone 4S on Verizon offered a good balance between call quality and data speeds during travels in California.

Question: Which is more important, call quality or data speeds? Let me state my bias up front: The Web running on 3G is really important to me. On any device. Whether it's a MacBook connected to a MiFi hot spot, a 3G iPad 2, or an iPhone. That said, is it important enough to justify sacrificing voice call quality?

This week I spent a lot of my time obsessing about the Web performance of my new Verizon iPhone 4S during … Read more

Cupertino, we have a problem.

This morning I woke up to a dead iPhone 4S. When I went to bed last night, the battery gauge showed at least 50 percent.

I did see a few vampires roaming the streets (it was Halloween, after all), but I didn't expect them to sink their fangs into my iPhone.

I do expect this kind of overnight power loss from Android phones, as I've seen it happen with any number of models. But I've owned every iPhone since the original, and this has never happened with any of them.

Last night was the second time with my 4S.… Read more

AT&T gets its first LTE smartphones this weekend, Google Reader is integrated with Google Plus, and we learn more about the death of Microsoft's Courier tablet project.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

The other day I encountered a serious problem with my iTunes account that seemed to require major surgery, so I figured I'd stop in at my local Apple Store and mosey up to the Genius Bar downstairs to see if there was a less draconian fix than the one I'd read about online.

Since I was there during Happy Hour, I figured I'd go for the two-for-one special and also ask why the battery on my new iPhone 4S was puttering out in about 12 hours (with only minimal use), well short of what I was getting with my old 3GS.

For the uninitiated, the Genius Bar is the place where you take your Apple problems. You actually need to make an appointment, and like the doctor's office, the knowledgeable Apple reps who help fix your problems don't necessarily see you right away, especially if you make an appointment at 5:50 p.m. when the place is a madhouse. At least in Manhattan, anyway. … Read more

commentary Apple's silence on a problem that appears to be affecting a number of iPhone 4S users is bringing back memories of last year's "antennagate," something that could give hope to those expecting a fix.

As noted last week, users have flocked to Apple's support site to complain about lower than advertised battery life on the new phone, which went on sale in mid-October.

On paper, the new phone beats out its predecessor by one hour of 3G talk time, yet falls 100 hours shorter when it comes to standby--the time a phone will continue … Read more

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S last month, company execs proudly promised that the new handset would offer the longest battery life of any iPhone yet.

Apple fans greeted the news warmly, but now, less than three weeks after the 4S went on sale, some iPhone owners are seeing red. And by that I mean the red battery indicator on their devices.

As CNET's Josh Lowensohn reported last week, Apple is investigating user complaints that the iPhone 4S' battery is draining faster than it should. Though the company claims that the 4S will deliver 8 hours of 3G talk … Read more

Today is Halloween and parents are getting bombarded with messages that their kids are at risk. So is CNET News.

"One night every year, parents let their guard down in the U.S. and allow their children to wander the streets of town for hours in the dark," begins a pitch from a location-based app maker to CNET News. "The reality is that every 40 seconds someone's son or daughter is reported missing, totaling 800,000 missing children in the United States each year."

These stats are scary, for sure. They're also misleading* and … Read more

As I wrote earlier this year, Android battery life can be atrocious. Most of the Android-powered phones I've tried end up dead overnight if they're not left on a charger, and Android tablets are just as bad.

I can understand phones having power issues, what with all their syncing and pinging and fetching. But tablets aren't phones; they should be able to last for days--maybe even a week--before needing an AC assist.

Witness my iPad: it consumes almost no power when it's not being used, so even if I don't touch it for a week, it'll have juice left when I pick it up--nearly as much as when I last put it down. But every Android tablet I've ever tested? Dead after a day--maybe two--whether I use it or not.

The culprit for this, it turns out, is a couple of "phone services" baked into the Android OS. They have no business on a tablet, but there they are, sapping the battery unnecessarily.… Read more