Google’s Nexus 7 battery claims are shit

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Katherine Boehret for WSJ:

Another drawback: In my test, the new Nexus 7’s battery life was underwhelming. Compared with the same battery test of the iPad Mini and first Nexus 7, it fell short at just six hours; the others clocked in at 10 hours and 27 minutes and 10 hours and 44 minutes, respectively. Google claims the battery life can last over nine hours, but the company tests it in Airplane mode (Internet connection off), with screen brightness set to 44% while playing video. I keep Wi-Fi on in the background and screen brightness at 75% while playing video.

Seriously Google? Who would use a tablet without Internet turned on? I understand that companies do things to make battery tests look better for them, but this borders on outright lying. Apple usually underreports its battery life, leaving its customers pleasantly surprised.

Amplified: Six Hours and It’s Dead

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Jim and Dan discuss the relationship between consumer and content, the Chromecast, the rumored September 6 iPhone announcement, new Nexus 7, waterproof Samsung phones, why Bob Mansfield left the Apple Executive Team, and Microsoft’s 900 million dollar Surface RT loss.

Sponsored by Shopify and Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME7 for 30% off).

Obama should veto the ITC iPhone, iPad ban

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We have less than a week before an order from the International Trade Commission takes effect, banning the sale of iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in the United States. President Obama can veto the order, but he has to do so this week, before the August 5 ban begins. […]

Zynga sues “Bang with Friends”

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The company “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind,” according to the complaint. The application’s name infringes Zynga’s trademark covering games such as “Words With Friends” and “Chess With Friends,” according to the filing.

I do not think of Zynga when I see “Bang with Friends.” Case dismissed.

MIT could have done more to help Aaron Swartz

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Reviewers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said on Tuesday the school could have taken steps that would have reduced pressure on Internet activist Aaron Swartz such as taking a public stand against his controversial prosecution.

It’s too bad it takes such a tragedy for people to realize that.

Nexus 7 did not outsell the iPad in Japan

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Using BCN’s bogus research, Google claimed the Nexus 7 took a higher percentage of the Japanese market than the iPad. Except BCN forgot to count one important source—it’s too good for me to ruin the surprise.

Video ads coming to Facebook

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Zuckerberg said last week that he’s sensitive to how users react to advertising in general. He plans to limit the amount of ads people see to about one for every 20 updates. That would comprise about 5 percent of a user’s news feed.

Why do I think people won’t like these.

And this is what’s wrong with Forbes

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“The fact is that Forbes, as a corporate communication enterprise, is now consumed by a mathematical game of just generating ‘hits,’ he writes. His base pay of $200 month worked out to less than $3 an hour for the 40 hours he spent on writing his agreed-upon four posts, Monagan says.

Clearly the writer made a mistake in this case, but the way Forbes and others do business is leading to more of this happening.

Samsung caught cooking the benchmark books

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Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug for AnandTech:

What this does mean however is that you should be careful about comparing Exynos 5 Octa based Galaxy S 4s using any of the affected benchmarks to other devices and drawing conclusions based on that. This seems to be purely an optimization to produce repeatable (and high) results in CPU tests, and deliver the highest possible GPU performance benchmarks.

Oh Samsung.

Responsive navigation trends

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I just want the navigation on a responsive design big enough so my fingers don’t hit two or three buttons at a time.

Apple still leads mobile profits

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Daniel Eran Dilger for AppleInsider:

Strategy Analytics is attempting to estimate mobile handset profit shares for both companies. While it generated a lot of coverage for its report, the numbers not only don’t reflect reality, but they were further mangled by sloppy reporting from a variety of major tech websites.

I’m shocked. It’s a great article.

An Apple lover selling his iPad

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A lot of people sent me this article by Steve Kovach where he sold his iPad because he no longer used it. I think some expected me to lash out or something, but I don’t have a problem with someone selling their device because it no longer fits into their lifestyle. We all use devices differently and when one of them no longer fits, it’s time to cut it loose.

From LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes on the Hyperloop

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Some of the world’s brightest minds have speculated that a vacuum tube is the only way to do it — but before that idea could even get off the ground, Musk said that the Hyperloop is not based on an evacuated tunnel. With that possibility ruled out, there aren’t actually that many ways of safely and economically propelling carriages at 700 mph (1126 kph). Furthermore, when you factor in Musk’s comments that the Hyperloop “can never crash,” has no need for rails, and is “immune to weather,” the architecture of the system becomes a real head-scratcher. Oh, did I mention that Musk envisions the entire system being self-powered by solar panels, and that it somehow stores energy inside the system itself, without the need for batteries?

The Hyperloop is from Tesla founder, Elon Musk. He is set to unveil the plan on August 12—I’ll be interested to see what it is.

Apple’s Mansfield no longer on Executive Team

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“Bob is no longer going to be on Apple’s executive team, but will remain at Apple working on special projects reporting to [CEO] Tim [Cook],” company spokesman Steve Dowling told AllThingsD. He declined any further explanation, refusing to comment on the reasons behind Mansfield’s surprising move, whether he remains Apple’s SVP of Technologies or whether the company plans to appoint a new executive to that role.

Bizarre.

Eric Clapton

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This is why Eric is one of the best players ever.

Fission Means Simple & Lossless Audio Editing

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Thanks to Fission for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. Fission makes audio editing easy.

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What. The. Fuck.

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Amazon.com Inc shares hit a record on Friday after quarterly results increased optimism about the Internet retailer’s U.S. business.

The company reported a second-quarter net loss and weaker international growth on Thursday. However, its domestic business expanded quickly and profit in the region improved.

What kind of crazy upside down world are we living in when this happens.