Although much was made of the iPhone 4 antenna at launch, it turned out to suffer from a technical defect, and a much larger public relations problem. At the same launch, the glass on the iPhone 4 also received a little publicity. Made of aluminosilicate glass, it was described as “20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic” and “comparable in strength to sapphire crystal.”

Not so, says Block, who cites “sources both inside and outside Apple” as confirming “another potential design flaw,” resulting in a “quiet panic” within the company. The issue is supposedly that the glass backing is prone to scratching, cracking, and fracturing, especially when used in conjunction with certain cases, specifically slide-on cases.

According to Block, to prevent another “Antennagate,” Apple temporarily halted sales of almost all third-party cases, and slide-on cases for the iPhone 4 are still “conspicuously absent” from the Apple Store. Further, there may not be a solution to the “design flaw,” and Block suggests that this will be the end of the glass backing for the iPhone.

While it’s difficult to disprove any of those assertions, mostly because they are based on somewhat questionable data, it’s hard to see how the so-called “Glassgate” situation could be as big a problem as the iPhone 4 antenna. First, unlike with the antenna, there haven’t been nearly as many anecdotal reports on the issue, either in the media or in discussions at Apple Support.

While you can still find some discussions on the issue, the number of views and participants are insignificant compared to what happened with the antenna. Apple also hasn’t tried to cover up the issue by removing discussion threads, as was the case with the iPhone 4 antenna. More importantly, unlike the iPhone 4 antenna, the glass backing can easily be replaced should it fail.

That doesn’t mean the glass backing is impervious to harm, just that an alleged design flaw in this area hardly seems comparable to the antenna issue. Nonetheless, for those who own an iPhone 4, or are thinking of buying one, a survival kit is a good way to protect your iPhone 4′s surfaces from scratching.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

• Handwriting Recognition: A Killer App for the iPad?
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• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

China Plans Charging Standards for Electric Cars: The Chinese government plans to introduce standards for technical requirements for charging stations for electric vehicles in October, according to news reports citing an unnamed official in China’s State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

UN Board Could Rein in $2.7 Billion Carbon Market: Carbon offsets are under more scrutiny. The United Nations panel overseeing a $2.7 billion carbon credit fund are asking five Chinese chemical plants to prove they aren’t overproducing, then destroying, ozone-harming chemicals merely to claim the income from offsetting their greenhouse gas impact.

40% of Consumers Want to Test Drive EVs: “Forty percent of consumers report they are likely to test drive an electric vehicle, according to a new study of online American adults from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).”

Southern California Edison’s Smart Energy Center: Utility Southern California Edison (SCE) will open up its smart energy exhibit tomorrow that features smart appliances, smart meters and a smart home.

Image courtesy of BONGURI’s photostream.

Senate Bill Would Make Energy-Efficient Mortgages Mainstream: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) plans to introduce the SAVE (Sensible Accounting to Value Energy) (PDF) act, a bill that would force lenders to calculate household energy costs before issuing a federally insured mortgage, after the August congressional recess.

Yingli Quarterly Profit Tops Wall Street View: Chinese solar company Yingli Green Energy posted second-quarter earnings of $32.1 million, or 21 cents per share, beating Wall Street expectations of 19 cents per share.

Largest U.S. Ocean Device Generating Electricity: Ocean Renewable Power Co. reports that its 60-kilowatt tidal turbine off the coast of Maine has been delivering consistent power to the state’s grid, good news after a previous first test turbine broke down in the Bay of Fundy.

Tesla Co-founder Eberhard on 500-Mile Rang EV: “Electric vehicles will have a range of more than 500 miles within the next 10 years. That is the view of Martin Eberhard, a man who sprang to prominence when he co-founded the Tesla electric sports car company in July 2003.”

10 Year VC Returns Turn Negative: “U.S. VC funds posted their first negative 10-year returns in a decade, according to new data from Thomson Reuters.”

Image courtesy of BONGURI’s photostream.

The top entries will be selected by PayPal and invited to showcase their applications at the PayPal X Innovate 2010 conference to be held Oct. 26 and 27 in San Francisco. PayPal and external judges will select the $100,000 Grand Prize winner from among these top entries based on criteria that includes app innovation and business potential.

The Developer Challenge also includes several $10,000 X Awards honoring innovation in key areas such as use of the eBay Developer API, integration with Yahoo!, cross-border payment systems, and more. X Awards are judged independently, so one app could conceivably win multiple awards.

The public will also have a chance to weigh in on certain awards. Online voters will determine the winner of the People’s Choice Award, while conference attendees will be able choose which app will receive the best-at-show Innovate 2010 Audience Choice Award. Although these awards carry no monetary prizes, winners will be recognized on stage, featured on the x.com blog, and may be involved with PayPal promotional activities.

To learn more about the PayPal X Developer Challenge and to view the official rules, visit the Developer Challenge page on X.com.

Comcast stood by earlier statements it made when the deal was announced, that its online properties would be complementary and not competitive to its traditional cable distribution business. “[B]oth programmers and consumers view online video as a complement to, rather than as a substitute for, traditional linear MVPD [multichannel video programming distributor] service,” it wrote in the filing.

But furthermore, Comcast said it doesn’t see online video emerging as a competitive threat any time soon. There are “several impediments — technological, pricing-related, and rights-related — [that] make it highly unlikely that online video will become a substitute for MVPD service in the foreseeable future,” the cable company writes.

Due to the complementary nature of online video, Comcast says it is important to use this channel to promote views of its content online as a way to create interest in its linear programming, which means having as wide a distribution network as possible. As a result, it says the combined entity will have no incentive to withhold content from other online distributors.

Comcast said that not only does it not have any incentive to disrupt the nascent online video market, but that it lacked sufficient market power to do so. With the proposed GE transaction, the combined assets would account for just 13.7 percent of all cable viewing, and significantly less share in the burgeoning and extremely fragmented online video space.

Even if it withheld content from competing services, Comcast says that “there is no evidence that content created by any single cable programmer is necessary for the viability of an online video distributor.” It pointed out, for instance, that Viacom’s withdrawal of Comedy Central content such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report from Hulu hasn’t had an effect on the size or growth of the online video site.

But what about keeping others from being able to distribute their content on Fancast or other Comcast-owned properties? That was one concern of independent content creator WealthTV, for instance. Comcast again points to its small share of the online video market, saying that independent content creators have innumerable outlets through which they can get their content distributed, such as YouTube and CBS’s TV.com. “Comcast’s online video sites account for less than one percent of professional videos viewed, NBCU’s video sites account for less than two percent of professional videos viewed, and Hulu accounts for approximately ten percent of professional online videos viewed.” As a result, Comcast says independents could still reach nearly 90 percent of the market by striking deals with other distributors.

Photo courtesy of (CC-BY-SA) Flickr user tnarik.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: Cord-cutting? Hold the Phone (subscription required)

This new integration is possible through the use of a third-party app,  DataSynch OnDemand for FreshBooks & Salesforce. Made by Pervasive Software, it’s available in the Saleforce AppExchange and costs $19.95 per user per month.

The app synchronizes data between FreshBooks and Salesforce, providing the ability to:

• Insert Salesforce accounts into FreshBooks as clients and vice versa
• Use Salesforce to generate estimates and invoices in FreshBooks and vice versa
• Automatically create FreshBooks invoices/estimates when an opportunity is marked as “closed-won” in Salesforce

This Salesforce integration adds to a very long list of applications now integrated with FreshBooks. The company seemingly wants to integrate its product with as many other apps as it can; indeed, it was one of the founding members of the Small Business Web initiative, which seeks to build closer ties between its members’ apps. It’s a smart policy to have, because users are increasingly faced with a “patchwork quilt” of web apps (GigaOM Pro link, sub. req.) that focus on very specific tasks. Using such a varied number of tools can prove cumbersome and result in “data silos” if vendors don’t provide easy-to-use integrations via the use of APIs, so the efforts of FreshBooks should be applauded. It’s just a shame this particular integration (a much-requested feature) is only available though the use of an app that requires paying a significant monthly fee.

What integrations between apps would you like to see?

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enterprise 2.0: Web Apps and the Patchwork Quilt Problem

But it can be extremely valuable to promote conversations about your remote working arrangements with clients yourself. By taking the lead in initiating discussions, you can:

• Communicate your enthusiasm for their project.
• Raise — and propose answers to — questions the client hadn’t even thought of.
• Identify your preferred working arrangements, technologies, and so on, and have a good chance of having them adopted.
• Set expectations early, and make sure everyone’s on the same page.

Recently, a client asked me to send me an outline of my rate for a project. Ordinarily, I’d have done just that — and only that. But this time, I decided to take a different approach: along with that information, I explained some of the thoughts I’d had about the way we might work together, and asked a few questions.

There was nothing unprecedented in my message — I included information on the standard hurdles remote web workers need to cross when they start a new gig — but raising these topics up-front, before the project’s terms had even been finalized, helped to set a certain expectation between myself and the client.

First, let’s look at the topics I raised, in addition to the rate question the client had asked.

Time

The rate I provided was based on a certain number of hours’ work each week, so I explained my weekly availability and capacity to take on extra work as required.

Technologies

The discussion of time lead me to consider workflow, and how we’d manage that in a remote, yet close working situation.

I outlined a few of the technologies we could take advantage of, and explained how I thought they could fit together to help the work progress smoothly. The brands weren’t important; the main thing was the capabilities they had and how I thought they might support the project.

Payment

In outlining a proposed invoicing schedule and payment terms, I explained that my time-tracking tool would allow me to provide an account of all the time I spent on the project.

This lead to a quick outline of my invoicing timeframes and terms, and allowed us to agree on a payment frequency and method that suited us both. This client is located in my country, and will be paying me in local currency; otherwise we’d have needed to decide that too.

This information prompted questions from my client about tax, benefits and other aspects that I hadn’t considered to be a part of the deal. The answers to these questions tend to vary with the freelancer’s, or client’s, locations, so it’s important to address them early on.

Other Questions

By putting my cards on the table so openly, I encouraged my client to do the same: he sent back a few questions about whether I could meet with him every few weeks, how might fit in with other team members’ schedules, and the kinds of additional tasks he might ask me to participate in.

Again, this expanded the scope of our discussions and the potential for our relationship up-front. By discussing these questions in advance, I’ve made clear my enthusiasm for the project, and helped speed up the decision-making process. Now the client’s in the process of working out where and how I might fit in with his plans.

Setting Strong Foundations

Clearly, being up-front is a good idea when it comes to establishing boundaries — and scoping out the possibilities — with remote clients. It achieves all the points I outlined above, but it also sets one other crucial expectation: that my time, and my contribution, are valuable.

This is something beginning freelancers often struggle with, especially if they’re remote, and the approach I’ve outlined here is a good way to imply a sense of partnership, and avoid winding up in the standard employer-freelancer (or tyrant-slave!) kind of arrangement. By showing respect for the client’s project, the client, and yourself, you can help to ensure you’re seen as a valued ally. And in the world of web freelancing, that’s exactly the kind of reputation you want to build.

What kinds of issues do you try to anticipate, and questions do you try to answer, to set the right tone with your clients at the beginning of a working relationship?

Image by stock.xchng user memoossa.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution

Despite (or maybe because of) these adjustments to my work day, I manage to meet or exceed the expectations for my job. My employer is flexible about when I work as long as I get the job done, and I occasionally pull some late nights, early mornings or do work on the weekend to make sure that I’m taking care of the community that I manage.

All of this flexibility works for me, and it looks like I’m not alone. According to a recent study by a group of researchers at Brigham Young University, people who telecommute balance work and family life better than those who work in an office, but only when flextime is also part of the plan. These researchers analyzed data from more than 24,000 IBM employees from 75 countries to find that telecommuters using flextime could work 57 hours per week before work starts to interfere with their personal lives, while the number was a paltry 38 hours per week for traditional office workers.

This isn’t just an IBM phenomenon, either. About a year ago, I looked at a Cisco study of its telecommuting employees that found:

69 percent of the telecommuting employees see increased productivity.

67 percent said that their work quality improved.

80 percent had an improved quality of life.

One of the biggest surprises for Cisco was that people actually spend more time working when they telecommute. This isn’t really surprising to me as I spend more time working when I telecommute. For one thing, I shave over 1.5 hours of driving time out of my daily schedule. I also tend to start work as soon as I get up around 6am and then take a little break later in the day to go for a quick run, take a shower and put on something other than my pajamas. This lets me get a jump on the work day and take a break when I need it, thus increasing my productivity while allowing me to be flexible with my time.

Smart companies should be taking a serious look at web working as a way to improve employee productivity while saving money that they would spending on extra office space. By being creative and flexible about working arrangements, both companies and employees can benefit.

How do you benefit from telecommuting and flextime without sacrificing productivity?

Photo by Flickr user gibsonsgolfer used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

As Apple evolved and released products such as the iPod and iPhone, the boilerplate evolved. Actually, we made a post about this in 2007 shortly before the first iPhone shipped analyzing how the boilerplate has changed over the years. It’s a great read and shows each iteration of the boilerplate throughout the history of Apple.

I was just browsing through Apple Press Releases, which I find myself doing every other week, and noticed the boilerplate has changed. It now reads:

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

In a recent post, I criticized Apple’s lack of commitment to MobileMe and how this affects their bottom line of iPhone sales. I also criticized iWork.com which is Apple’s online collaboration tool for documents. When you read this text that is injected on each and every press release, it’s important to recognize exactly what products and services Apple chooses to highlight.

• OS X
• iLife
• iWork
• Pro Apps
• iPod & iTunes online store
• iPhone & App Store
• iPad

Apple makes a point to highlight a few products that many analysts and Apple watchers consider a part of Apple’s back burner because any Apple special event or announcement usually has something to do with iPhone and iPad and before that, iPod was Apple’s big push. Mobile is clearly what Apple is focusing on as far as public outreach and marketing since mobile is 80 percent of the products mentioned (if you include the iWork apps for iPad). Heck, even the famous long-running “Get a Mac” ads featuring Justin Long and John Hodgman have been cancelled for good.

OS X is mentioned first as it still remains the core of Apple’s everything. Every mobile Apple device is destined or at least optimized to plug into a Mac running OS X. iLife and iWork are still phenomenal applications that help people express themselves and get work done and pro apps are Final Cut Studio, Logic and the recently discontinued, Shake software.

Check our our TechUniversity screencasts on iLife, iWork, Final Cut, Logic and more! (subscription required)

When is the last time Apple devoted more than 10 minutes to any of these non-mobile products in a keynote or special event? The last time iLife and iWork were heavily demoed was at the rather boring Phil Schiller keynote at Macworld 2009 where I can attest that he demoed every single new feature and somehow found time within the two hours to talk about a new Unibody MacBook Pro but that was the entire keynote.

Apple is frequently refreshing its Macs, updating iPods with more storage and thinner form factors and the pro apps generally see an update every 18-24 months, but it feels like iPhone and iPad are Apple’s core business right now.

Irregardless of what we think and what analysts and bloggers perpetuate as Apple’s most talked about products, the truth is, Apple has chosen to include these less featured products in its boilerplate. If you’re scratching your head trying to determine exactly what Apple is focused on, look no further than the list above.

It actually takes away from the recent news story that filled the blogosphere about Apple cleaning house and getting rid of a vast amount of its pro apps team responsible for Final Cut and other applications. Apple went on record saying this was not true and anyone paying attention to the boilerplate can see that Apple makes a mention of Pro Apps as a part of its core business.

Now, if we could only get Apple to admit that the iPad really isn’t magical.

That’s because he suspects that Firefox, Chrome and Opera will roll out support for VP8 video playback through HTML5 soon after Google’s announcement, but that users will take their time upgrading their browsers.

Zencoder is a cloud encoding solution based on Amazon’s EC3 cloud computing platform that left the nest of startup incubator Ycombinator earlier this year. Zencoder’s parent company Sevenwire has also been cooperating with codec maker On2 on its Flix Cloud encoding platform, and Heffernan told me he got the sense that VP8 was finally seeing the light of day when Google started the acquisition process of On2 last year.

In fact, Sevenwire planed ahead and bought up the domain VP8encoding.com last October, and the company is now planing to support VP8 encoding “as soon as absolutely possible.”

Zencoder isn’t the only encoding company that is banking on VP8. We reported last week that Sorenson Media has acquired the domain VP8video.com. The company didn’t want to comment on its plans for VP8 at that time, but it now looks like Sorenson actually acquired a few dozen domains related to VP8, including VP8Ogg.com, VP8Videoplatform.com and VP8Source.com.

Heffernan thinks that VP8 could keep encoding companies busy, if only for the reason that the codec likely won’t be supported by Apple or Microsoft for the time being. He expects that video providers will likely have to encode their media in at least two formats for a long time to come. “I don’t see H.264 go away anytime soon,” he added.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: What Does the Future Hold For Browsers? (subscription required)