iqwsf

Did Apple make a lemon? On Monday, Consumer Reports, America’s trusted source of product reviews, said it would not recommend the iPhone 4 because of a hardware flaw with its antenna that sometimes resulted in dropped calls. The independent consumer magazine also cast doubt on Apple’s recent explanation that a software bug had caused the widely reported problem. Apple did not return requests for comment. Consumer Reports did not slap the iPhone 4 with a “don’t buy” warning, which it sometimes issues for shoddy or unsafe products. But it said that because of the design flaw, it would not recommend it as it did the previous version of the iPhone, the 3GS. The next question is, Will any of Apple’s customers even care? The various versions of the iPhone have been panned a number of times for myriad problems, real or perceived: slow network, cracked screens, dropped calls and no support for a popular Web video format. But iPhone sales have surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts and helped make Apple the most valuable company in the technology industry. And despite early reports of problems with the iPhone 4 antenna, Apple sold 1.7 million units in just three days, making it the best-selling new technology gadget in Apple’s history. “It’s iconic, it’s cool, it’s the ‘it’ device and people want it,” said A. M. Sacconaghi Jr., an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. Still Mr. Sacconaghi and other analysts said Apple could eventually suffer from the bad publicity it had received over the antenna problems and for its seemingly contradictory responses. Apple has promoted the iPhone 4’s innovative design, including its antenna, which is built into a steel band that encases the phone. After users reported problems with signal strength and dropped calls when they touched the lower-left portion of the phone, however, Apple suggested that consumers hold the phone differently or use one of many bumpers to insulate the antenna. It also said that all phones suffered from similar problems when they were cradled a certain way. These comments were widely laughed at in gadget blogs. A week later, Apple said it had found that because of a longstanding software bug, 传奇sf the iPhone 4, and its predecessors, often overstated signal strength. The company promised a fix soon. In a blog post on Monday, Consumer Reports challenged those explanations. Michael Gikas, a senior editor for electronics, said engineers performed a series of tests on three iPhone 4 handsets in a lab. They found that when a person touched the lower left portion of the antenna, signal strength “can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal,” Mr. Gikas wrote. Consumer Reports also said that it had tested other smartphones that ran on AT&T’s network, including the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3GS, and that none had the same problem. Mr. Gikas also wrote, “Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4’s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software.” The review from Consumer Reports, which has eight million paying subscribers, comes 10 days after the magazine played down the problems with the iPhone 4 antenna. But in an interview, Mr. Gikas said the earlier report had been based on first impressions, not thorough testing. Mr. Gikas said the problem with signal strength could be fixed by insulating the antenna with a bumper or even a piece of duct tape. And he said that the phone, as many happy users have reported, is better than earlier iPhones on multiple levels. “The iPhone 3GS was always recommended. The iPhone 4 isn’t, even though it scores higher on a number of areas,” he said. “We think either Apple should supply free cases for the phone or come up with another solution. That’s why we are not recommending the iPhone 4.” In comments posted on sites across the Web, dozens of iPhone 4 users dismissed the findings as unimportant. But other consumers said the problems with the iPhone 4 and Apple’s response gave them pause. “I’ll buy it the day Apple fixes it,” said Bruce Namerow, the owner of a Web consulting company based in Washington. “I don’t see how they can sell a phone that you can’t hold any which way you want. That to me is unbelievable.”

Government stimulus spending is a contentious issue right now in Washington. But the $7.2 billion in the last stimulus package for extending high-speed Internet access is just beginning to be spent, and the beneficiaries could not be happier. Cynthia K. Wegener and her husband, owners of a farm and horse-breeding business in western Kansas, will be able to upload a photograph of a horse to show a potential buyer in seconds, not the 20 to 30 minutes they now need with dial-up service. “I just cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it is to do anything with it,” she said. And in remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska, with limited Internet access, the program will bring more fundamental changes, expanding the health care options, for example, to allow doctors in Anchorage, 400 miles to the east, to see patients via videoconference. “This is the first time in my 25 years in health care where technology has a direct impact,” David P. Hodges, the chief information officer for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. “It sure gives you a new perspective on what you do for a living.” The types of Internet activities that most Americans take for granted — watching videos, downloading songs, social networking — are out of reach for millions of homes across the United States. These people — many in poor, rural pockets — either have outmoded dial-up Internet service or have no affordable high-speed service. Sometimes the nearest high-speed connection is at the local library, 10 miles away. The $7.2 billion plan in the last stimulus package was approved without significant debate. The program is intended to extend broadband service to what is known as the “middle mile,” which can connect to institutions like schools and hospitals, and the “last mile” — homes and businesses — that big Internet providers have bypassed because the expected revenue was too small to justify the big investments needed. For some of the beneficiaries, the program will mean the difference between isolation and being connected to the rest of the world. “If you don’t have a high-speed Internet connection, it’s almost impossible to get anything done anymore,” said Martin Cary, vice president for broadband services at GCI Communication Corporation of Alaska, the largest Internet provider in the state. Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the extension of Internet service was a significant moment in communications. “Extending broadband in rural America is as important to jobs and growth in the 21st century as extending electricity was in the 20th century,” he said. So far, more than 200 projects have been awarded about $3 billion in grants 传奇私服 and loans from the program’s administrators — the Agriculture and the Commerce Departments — mostly to small carriers. The stimulus law requires that all the money in the program be allocated by Sept. 30. Even so, many remote homes will still not get high-speed access. For those who will be connected, there are some mixed feelings. While most seem impatient for the greater access and many businesses are eager to attract new customers, some are concerned about the unintended consequences of their new connections. James W. Rowh, for instance, who owns an organic farm and natural foods store not far from the Wegeners in Norton, Kan., is wary that the Internet will lure his customers away. “You can find pretty deep discounts online,” he said. “There are only 3,000 people in this town. When you start losing people to the Internet, it’s going to have an effect on your bottom line.” Even the small companies that have been awarded the grants and loans to extend the broadband fiber lines and build the microwave towers are aware that once they do all the work and sign up the customers, the big carriers may move in with lower rates and lure their business away. “Typically, when we go into a town, competition will come on our heels,” said H. Rusty Irvin, the chief executive of StratusWave Communications, a small carrier in Wheeling, W.Va. “The Verizons and Comcasts may target that area for deployment.” The company won a $1.5 million loan and a $1.4 million grant to provide wireless service to three West Virginia counties in rural Appalachia. Bjorn Jones, a librarian in Salinas, Calif., an hour south of Silicon Valley, said that while the Web offered access to a seemingly limitless array of educational resources, it was also a source of mindless entertainment. “If broadband is contextualized within a library, then you are creating learning opportunities,” he said. “Without a plan, it’s going to be just kids watching YouTube.” The greater Salinas Valley, whose residents are mainly Hispanic immigrant farm workers, has limited high-speed Internet access mainly because of the expense of laying fiber optic lines. The surrounding mountains and beach make extending lines especially challenging for neighboring Santa Cruz County. Officials said they realized the need for additional fiber lines in April 2009 when the entire county, including its emergency services, lost the Internet for 21 hours after vandals cut cables miles away. The joint application with Santa Cruz County, Monterey County and San Benito County to extend access was rejected by the Commerce Department in the first round and officials are awaiting word on the second round. (The rejection was not all that unusual; the 传奇世界私服 department received 1,885 applications in the first round and awarded only 82 grants.) While the stimulus program will reach hundreds of rural areas in all 50 states, there are people like R. Mark Fair, who lives in Leicester, N.C., in the mountains northwest of Asheville, who will not be helped. Mr. Fair and his neighbors have been trying unsuccessfully since 2006 to persuade AT&T to replace their dial-up service. “I go online every day for e-mail,” said Mr. Fair, an electrical engineer. “I can generally get around those O.K., but when it comes to online meetings and file transfers, it ’s really frustrating.” In Elon, N.C., Chad Sowers said he had exhausted his options for a reliable and fast connection, even offering to pay $2,000 toward that goal. He works in information technology, and he and his wife, a registered nurse, both need high-speed Internet for continuing education, he said. They also want their children, 9 and 12, to have access for their schoolwork. “Broadband is no longer a luxury,” Mr. Sowers said. In a statement, Clifton Metcalf Jr., an AT&T spokesman, said, “We’ve taken efforts to still deliver the benefits of broadband to these customer locations, such as through our satellite-based broadband service, which reaches the vast majority of rural markets in our 22 states.” Since many of the new broadband recipients live in isolated, rural areas or are poor, the F.C.C. is proposing that money from its Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes telephone services for high-cost areas, low-income consumers, schools, libraries and rural health care providers, be expanded to broadband services. The fund receives its money from a monthly fee of about $2.78 a household — the fee is part of the telephone bill — and is expected to disburse $8.7 billion this year. “The biggest challenge is converting a fund that’s been focused for a very long time on telephones to one focused on broadband communications as quickly and as efficiently as possible to make sure we can extend broadband to rural America,” Mr. Genachowski of the F.C.C. said. Alaska is the largest recipient of rural health care Universal Service 传奇私服 Fund subsidies, and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation is the largest recipient in the state, with $1.5 million in 2008. Mr. Hodges, of the health corporation, said many of the 48 villages it served did not have running water or roads between villages because they were on unstable tundra. “We can ’t put in telephone lines,” he said, “and there are environmental issues because you don’t want to damage the tundra.” Mr. Hodges said his network of telepsychiatry through microwave and satellite would expand with the federal funds. The health corporation, which has a dearth of health professionals, offers behavior health services from psychiatrists in Minnesota, Seattle and Anchorage, he said. “We’re now able to increase the amount of time we spend with a patient,” he said. “We’re not limited by the lack of daylight in the winter and when planes because of weather can come in. We’ve taken those barriers out of the equation.” As for Mrs. Wegener, the horse breeder, she said she believed she was losing money by having to drive her horses to auctions as far away as North Dakota and Nebraska to be seen by potential buyers. The Internet could change that, she said. “We would love to sell them off the farm and not haul them anywhere.”

For a day, at least, Wall Street got its groove back. The stock market staged its biggest rally since May on Wednesday, driving the Dow Jones industrial average above 10,000, as investors rushed to buy blue-chip shares near their lowest levels this year. The hope was that coming quarterly earnings reports would show major corporations were weathering these hard economic times better than many had expected. Many ifs remain. A disappointing showing by any number of companies could easily send the market tumbling anew. So could worrisome developments in Europe, where authorities are in the midst of assessing the financial strength of major banks. But on Wednesday, the old worries were cast aside. The broad stock market jumped 3.13 percent as investors concluded the recent sell-off was overdone and that the economy might be stronger than many had believed. To some, stocks simply seemed too cheap to resist. Investors who for weeks had sought shelter in the relative safety of United States Treasury securities reversed their trades and headed back into stocks. Adding to the buoyant mood was news suggesting that retail sales were growing briskly this year, a sign that recession-weary consumers were spending again. Sales probably grew at an average annual rate of 4 percent during the first five months of retailers’ current fiscal year, the sharpest gain since 2006, the International Council of Shopping Centers said. And so a few hard numbers — and a lot of hope — sent the market soaring. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, which only two days ago had sunk to a 10-month low, rose 32.31 points, or 3.13 percent, to 1,060.27. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 274.66 points to 10,018.28, its first close above 10,000 since June 28. The Nasdaq composite index rose 65.59 points to 2,159.47. Financial shares paced the gains after the State Street Corporation, the big custody bank, posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter profits. The results — 93 cents a share, excluding one-time items — raised hopes that other big banks would report similarly robust results over the next two weeks. Shares of State Street rose 9.9 percent. JPMorgan Chase, which reports second-quarter results next week, increased 5 percent. American Express and Bank of America each rose more than 4 percent. Small and midsize regional banks posted even bigger gains. Retailers also gained on the news from the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group. Thirty of the 31 stocks in the S.& P. retail industry index advanced. But beyond the outlook for a particular company or industry was a sense that investors 传奇私服 were regaining their nerve after a dismal first half for the stock market. Treasury securities, which had soared in recent weeks, driving the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries below 3 percent, abruptly reversed course and tumbled. The 10-year Treasury fell 14/32 to 104 13/32. Its yield rose to 2.98 percent from 2.93 percent. The euro rallied to a six-week high against the dollar. “It looks like the ‘re-risking’ trade is coming back on,” said Matthew S. Rothman, global head of quantitative equities strategy at Barclays Capital. Analysts said the prospect of authorities in Europe releasing details this week of so-called stress tests of some of the Continent’s banks also fueled the day’s optimism. Even if the tests identified problems within some of Europe’s banks, at least they would end the uncertainty about the state of the financial system that had been weighing on world markets, analysts said. “The market is just happy the tests are coming out,” said Win Thin, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. “There has always been this suspicion about whether they are hiding something or not.” After the broad stock market lost about 7 percent during the first six months of the year, various market indicators started to suggest that the market had fallen too far, too fast. For instance, the so-called relative strength index for the S.& P. 500, which measures the index’s advances and declines, registered just above 30 on Monday. A reading of 20 to 30 is generally considered a sign that the market is oversold. In a research note, UBS analysts said: “Stock investors were probably looking for a decent excuse to re-enter the market in a new quarter at more attractive levels.” Mr. Rothman of Barclays Capital said that sentiment had “really just changed on a dime for reasons that are difficult to figure out.” But he said that it was investors’ evolving view about the health of the United States and European economies, rather than news on specific companies or industries, that was driving the market’s moves. “It’s about the question, are we in an early cyclical recovery, or going back to depression?” he said.

Few cities are as generous as New York when it comes to matching political contributions raised by candidates for public office. In big election years, the city has given anywhere from $4 million to $42 million to candidates in an effort to limit the influence of special interests and level the playing field for candidates of modest means. There were, though, supposed to be limits to the city’s generosity. Candidates who accepted taxpayer money and did not empty their campaign accounts in the course of their election fights were obliged by law to return all surplus money to the city. But the city, while handing out a total of roughly $120 million to candidates over the years, has been unable to recover much of the money it is owed. Tens of thousands of dollars that candidates initially reported as surpluses appear to 传奇私服 have dribbled away as the city took years auditing campaigns to determine how much might be owed. There are also candidates who have seemed to be in no hurry to settle up. Today, for instance, two dozen candidates owe a total of $800,000 from publicly subsidized races in 2001, 2003 and 2005. Though it has sought to clarify its rules, the city has also struggled to stay a step ahead of candidates who avoid meaningful repayment by using surplus campaign funds to hire lawyers during the audits to challenge the city’s calculation of what they owe, or by paying penalties with surplus funds they would otherwise owe the city. And to this day the city cannot keep publicly financed candidates from using legal loopholes to funnel leftover money to political or charitable causes of their choosing. Quirks in the rules governing runoff elections, for instance, have allowed two former City Council speakers, Peter F. Vallone Sr. and A. Gifford Miller, to shift six-figure surpluses of campaign money into political action committees they controlled. For their part, some candidates correctly point out that the city’s Campaign Finance Board, which is responsible for protecting tax dollars and the public interest, is not always careful to make sure that what it publishes about candidates’ finances on its Web site is accurate and up-to-date. Responding to that criticism, Eric Friedman, the board’s spokesman, said: “There are 1.2 million transactions in the database available for public view, and 1,700 campaigns over the course of the program. Anybody in a government agency or any long-running concern that deals with this kind of volume will have challenges assuring everything is accurate.” Given that, it is nearly impossible to say how much money the city has missed out on over the years in repayments from candidates it helped underwrite. What seems clear is that the city is in no position to lose track of even small sums when it is cutting library hours and closing senior centers to balance its budget. June M. Eisland, an unsuccessful candidate for Bronx borough president in 2001, spent years in court fighting the city’s attempts to recover some of the $300,000 it had given her campaign. Helping her do battle were two of the city’s pre-eminent election lawyers, Henry T. Berger and Laurence D. Laufer, a former general counsel of the Campaign Finance Board who now advises campaigns. Ms. Eisland and her lawyers succeeded in carving out $130,000 she had raised in prior 传奇私服 races, depriving the city of much of what it thought it was due. Under New York law, the Campaign Finance Board approves all public matching contributions, under formulas that have become sweeter over time. Currently, the city gives candidates $6 for every $1 in qualifying gifts raised from private donors. In certain circumstances, candidates can receive as much as $8.57 for every $1 raised on their own. “It is an extremely generous match,” said Mr. Laufer, the lawyer. The board monitors the use of the public money — demanding and examining candidates’ detailed expenditure reports — and is the ultimate bill collector when it finds that campaigns have unspent funds or other debts to the city. But less than $10 million of the $120 million that the board has handed out since its inception in 1988 has come back to taxpayers, judging from campaign reports and other statistics posted on the board’s Web site. To be sure, a lot of the money is properly spent on campaigns, and board officials argue that the benefits of publicly financed elections far outweigh what they contend are the smaller amounts that may get lost in the process. “At the end of the day, New Yorkers can have confidence that their politics are cleaner and freer from influence, and that’s what their investment gets them,” said Mr. Friedman, the spokesman for the board. “There will always be challenges in collecting money from people who do not want to pay,” he acknowledged. But he said, “We’re here to watch that investment pretty closely.” He and his colleagues also reject the idea that they take any of the shenanigans lying down. They point to more than 40 cases they have litigated in court, and more if small-claims court is counted. Eight staff members, they said, are dedicated to collecting surplus money, and Thacher Associates, an investigative firm, is on call for occasional help. One oft-used weapon for trying to recover money is publishing the names of those who resist the board’s demands for repayment or remittance of penalties. As of last month, a couple dozen individuals who ran for city offices from 2001 to 2005 were listed as owing a combined $797,293 in “outstanding repayments of public funds,” reflecting unspent funds and other overdue obligations. Michael Roth was one. He garnered a mere 3 percent of the vote when he ran for 传奇私服 City Council in 2005 but has hardly faded from view. The board initially ordered him to repay all $20,392 of the public funds he got, once auditors found scads of expenses he had charged to the campaign, including dog food and liquor bought during the race, and sushi dinners and airline tickets bought months after the election. According to Mr. Friedman, Mr. Roth paid the last of what he owed on June 23, nearly five years after his race. Some candidates seem to be less receptive than others to the public shaming or to the board’s ability to withhold future financing. Miguel Martinez is listed on the board’s Web site as owing $128,786 from the 2001 race that put him on the City Council. Currently serving five years in federal prison for misusing money intended for nonprofit organizations in his district, he may not be concerned about repaying the city for its help in getting him elected. There are also 13 instances in which the board has granted extensions to candidates who “are engaged in efforts” to resolve debts or other obligations totaling $594,000. Lawyers familiar with the deferred payment plans say the recipients pay no interest and sometimes have as long as 10 years to settle up. The Rev. Edward J. Norman, a 2001 contender for the City Council, was the beneficiary of one such deal. Troubled by sloppiness in his campaign spending reports, the board initially dunned him the entire $65,496 that he had received in public matches. But the board reduced what he owed to $39,179 once he had better documented his spending, and gave him until last year — eight years after his race — to pay off the last of it. “If they added interest, I’d still be paying back,” said Mr. Norman, the pastor of the Union United Methodist Church in Brooklyn. He chalked up his errors to the inexperience of a first-time candidate, unsupported by party operatives or professional advisers. In more than a few cases, candidates argue that the board’s assessment of their financial performance is flawed or mistaken. And sometimes those candidates are right. Just the other day, the board confirmed that information on its Web site 传奇私服 concerning Norman Siegel’s 2001 race for public advocate and William C. Thompson’s 2001 race for city comptroller was incorrect. Double-counting by its computer program had made it inaccurately look as if both campaigns had hung on to huge six-figure surpluses. “The numbers in 2001 are just wrong,” Mr. Siegel said in an interview. He later said the board had acknowledged its error and was correcting the data. Proud he had run clean campaigns and was on good terms with the board, he said, “I’ll have to re-evaluate them now in light of this.” The board’s next challenge will involve trying to collect some $9 million in potentially recoverable funds from the $27 million it gave campaigns in 2009. But it looks as though it will be years before it is clear how much the watchdogs actually win back.