So the news comes down this week that Adobe has at last updated Flash for the Mac to bring it closer in alignment to the Windows version at least in one key respect. There’s now limited support for H.264 hardware acceleration, but you have to wonder why it took them so long to get it […]

The other day I read yet another sharp critique of the iPhone 4, this one maintaining, that despite all the posted evidence to the contrary, the antenna is far inferior when judged against the competition and, worse, that the built-in cellular radio is of extremely poor quality. In other words, except for the flashy extras, […]

If you accept the conventional wisdom, Consumer Reports is the best product review publication in the U.S. The reason is that it’s run by a non-profit corporation that not only doesn’t accept advertising, but actually purchases the items it tests, most often from regular dealers. In other words, it’s incorruptible. So how can you beat […]

As I speculated in yesterday’s column, the makers of competing smartphones are trying to mirror Adobe’s approach on the Flash controversy with smoke and mirrors responses to Antennagate. Whether HTC, Motorola, Nokia or Samsung, the spin control reads the same, using near-identical talking points playbooks. They know all about antennas, and Apple doesn’t, and is […]