Based on videos and user comments on various sites, the issue appears to be directly related one of the newest design features of the iPhone 4 — the stainless steel frame that doubles as antennae for the phone’s radios. As I understand it, completing a circuit between the left side and the bottom side of the frame causes major signal degradation, but not on all units. Without an iPhone 4, I can’t test it, of course. Some people report that adding a rubber bumper, which Apple sells for $29, resolves the issue. But if this is indeed a problem, I’d call it a major design flaw.

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UPDATED: They say you should never mess with a good thing, but that’s exactly what Google appears to have done by adding background images to its default search page. For the next 24 hours, Google is featuring images from Dale Chihuly, Jeff Koons, Tom Otterness,  Yann Arthus-Bertrand and National Geographic, to name a few. This Bing-ification — Microsoft has also displayed artwork on its search engine – is the subject of today’s water-cooler talk, as people seem to either love it or hate it. I personally prefer a lean and mean look without such images (although I use Google’s Chrome browser and search directly in the address bar, so I rarely visit Google.com directly).

Unfortunately, after a few minutes of futzing, I see no easy way to go back to the old standard of no image. Google support indicates there’s a “Change Background Image” link at the bottom right, but none of the options currently include setting the page to no image. The closest I saw to the plain old Google page is choosing the White background, but even that isn’t right — the Google logo is transparent and links have shadows. I anticipate Google will add a no-image option fairly quickly, because the company tends to allow for choice rather than lock-in when it comes to user interface and features. Until then, however, I’m stuck looking at floating globes and lily pads when I really want to be looking at a clean entry form for fast search results.

Clearly, there are more pressing issues in the world than Google’s background image implementation, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t ask your opinion on the matter, as Google owns the lion’s share of search. While you think it over, enjoy some of these choice quotes from Google support threads on the matter:

• aspenjohnson: “Google, are you listening? You’re freaking us out! I like the simplicity of Google. Everything else on the Web is too busy and complicated. It was nice to at least start searching from a simple and peaceful place. It’s like catching your dear, sweet Grandmother in way too much make-up, and a bright red négligé! Forcing us to see that, even just once, is too much.”
• Arcadi7609: “Hate Hate Hate the background image. I LIKE having a blank white page for my search. It’s nice; it’s simple and no nonsense. It means this page will get the job done and not pose unwanted distractions while it’s doing it. If I’d wanted to use Bing, I would have gone to Bing.com. I have a ‘Change Background Image’ link, but there’s no option to remove. Ugh!”
• staticlean: “WTH Google!! Why are you forcing every new thing on us???  No Options??  I am starting to get sick of this!!!  I hate your everything tool bar that is redundant.  I hate this background crap.  Who is the idiot that makes the decisions for this stuff???  This elitist attitude needs to stop!!!”

Update: As some commenters have noted, Google has reverted back to the standard, no-image background. However, the “Change background image” is still available in the bottom left of the search page. You are now able to add an image and then remove it back to the plain, image-free look as a result. Score one for choice, which is mainly what the issue was for most commenters. As of this time, Google hasn’t updated its post on the new feature to reflect this change. Now that things are back to normal, we’ll close our poll — nearly 75% of the respondents ought to be happy because they didn’t like the forced background image.

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With the launch of the Apple iPad just days away, magazine and newspaper companies are putting the finishing touches on their apps for the tablet, hoping to lure both new and existing readers to this new format of multimedia device, and possibly even get them to (gasp!) pay for digital content. As the Wall Street Journal has described, magazine publishers are falling all over themselves to create iPad apps, in part because advertisers are eager to get on the device, and also because a comScore survey showed that a surprisingly large number of potential iPad buyers were actually interested in paying for content on it. So what would you most like to read on the iPad? Take our poll, which is embedded below, or leave your thoughts in the comments:

Magazine giant Conde Nast has apps for Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, Glamour and The New Yorker in the works, and others to come soon. But probably the most eagerly awaited magazine in that group is Wired, which showed off its iPad prototype at the TED conference.

VIV magazine also came up with a prototype of an interactive feature spread, as described in the New York Times Bits blog:

And one designer came up with a mockup of what a magazine cover could look like on a multimedia device like the iPad, as described at TUAW:

Whether the iPad will in fact be a game-changer for the media industry remains to be seen, but even Dan “Fake Steve Jobs” Lyons has changed his mind as to whether he wants one or not — although former Engadget editor-in-chief Ryan Block says the iPad probably won’t change your life. Meanwhile, GigaOM Pro research analyst Michael Wolf estimated in a recent report (subscription required) that the launch of the Apple device could kickstart an $8 billion tablet app market (that report is just one of several iPad-related GigaOM Pro reports you can find here).

Early rumors tagged March 23 as the date of availability and although Google hasn’t confirmed that date, it coincides nicely with the first real day of CTIA activities. This is the biggest telephony trade show in the U.S. While Google isn’t exhibiting at the event, bear in mind that they didn’t show any wares at January’s Consumer Electronics Show either. In fact, it typically doesn’t attend these types of trade shows. Yet on the first day of CES, the Nexus One for T-Mobile was announced — I remember it clearly because I ordered one from my phone as I waited in the taxi line just after landing in Vegas for the CES.

Google has always said that a Nexus One for the Verizon Wireless network will arrive in Spring 2010, and that season just kicked off this weekend. Of course, Google has nearly three months to meet the Spring claim, but there isn’t another or bigger U.S. phone show this season. Now is the perfect time to make the announcement, assuming the phone is ready. And we already know that a CDMA phone very similar to the Nexus One ran through the FCC certification process last month, so the timing all adds up. I’m picking tomorrow for the win — unless Google pulls a fast one and announces it later today, that is. How about you?

The big unknowns — aside from the release date, of course — are the details of the eligible plans and the unlocked nature of the device on Verizon. And on Sprint, for that matter, since both carriers use a CDMA network. Sprint has already mentioned how well the Everything Data 450 plan will work a Nexus One but Verizon has stayed mysteriously mum, with very few statements so far.

I’m mainly curious what life would be like without Wi-Fi, as well as what the impact to the phone’s battery and the overall experience would be. Obviously, there are wireless hotspots all over the place and I’m not recommending that anyone walk down this path with me. Besides, there’s plenty of evidence that shows how smartphones are fueling the demand for Wi-Fi. This isn’t an attempt to buck the tide, I’m just experimenting.

I’ve already seen one impact — the battery on my Nexus One is draining faster, although I did order a spare battery today — they’re now available direct from Google for $25 each. Having a second battery for devices is a common practice for me and not related to my 3G lifestyle. But when home, my Wi-Fi radio is active and I can stretch my phone usage through a full day, even though it’s my most used device when I’m not in front of a computer. But over the past few days while using 3G-only, I’m making it to around dinnertime with the device. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, but again, it’s nice to see some measurable indication of the drain. I’m not concerned about hitting any 3G bandwidth cap — the base data plans for smartphones in the U.S. are generally unlimited at this point. It’s the data plans for larger devices like netbooks and notebooks that come with the 5 GB monthly cap. With a larger display and a less-limiting operating system, these computers are likely to eat through more mobile broadband over the course of a month.

Again, I’m not advocating anyone else wean their smartphones off of Wi-Fi. Why wouldn’t you use a free or low-cost alternative to 3G that’s often faster? But I am curious if you’ve looked at your own 3G usage. How much 3G bandwidth did your smartphone consume last month or during your last billing cycle? Is it more, less or about what you expected? I’ve broken the smaller amounts down into chunks because I suspect very few folks are actually using more than 1 GB of 3G data on their smartphones. Unless they tether for modem use, of course. ;)

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That gives us a chance to pick your brains and see if you’re planning to purchase an iPad. Have at it in the poll! And if you’re not yet sure, just see what everyone else is saying in these comments — there’s quite a few interesting opinions there!

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In the aftermath of the terrorism attempt on an international flight on Friday, there are new restrictions on airline travel, reports The New York Times. While these restrictions are pretty vague, various airlines are taking steps that include limiting passengers to only one carry-on item, asking them to remain in their seats for the last hour of flight without any personal items (including electronics) on their laps, and more.

The Transportation Security Administration issued a pretty ambiguous statement, which is going to result in extra time for check-in. Now that isn’t going to help travelers, but an extra hour is worth our safety. Nevertheless, it’s going to be tough for people on the go. I, for one, plan to be smart about my flight plans — traveling only when I absolutely must. How is this going to impact your travel plans?

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About four years ago, I used a phone as a wireless broadband modem all day long. It worked perfectly well over USB or over Bluetooth. But I was in a relatively fixed location, and I had access to an electrical outlet for my computer, which in turn charged my phone over USB. These days, the only times my mobile devices see outlets is overnight, so I’m not so sure I’d rely on phone tethering for all of my 3G needs. For occasional use it would work just fine for me. And I do have Internet tethering on my iPhone as a backup, which really saved the day once before. I’m curious — would you consider using the Droid or another tethered phone for a primary 3G connection?

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The point is, netbooks are great little machines for experimenting with operating systems. Sure, you can use any machine for these activities, but the devices — and their prices —  are relatively trivial by comparison and that can lend a more reckless experimental attitude when it comes to operating systems. At least, for me it does.

Matthew Dillon has a nice summary of netbook operating system choices today at Gotta Be Mobile and after reading it, I got to wondering what you folks are running on your netbooks. Our polls don’t allow for multiple choices, so if you have a multi-boot system, choose the OS that you use the most. And if you have multiple netbooks, base your response on your primary netbook. These days, I’m using Windows 7 far more than XP on my device. Even more now that the gigantic trackpad has proper drivers! :) For the poll, it’s not possible to list out oodles of Linux distros, so I’m lumping them all together for now — don’t hesitate to be specific with your distro in a comment. Perhaps we’ll chat about which distro is best suited for mobile devices in the future!

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