I tried using the new IOS 8 feature WAVE where you can charge your phone with a microwave, does not work @Apple pic.twitter.com/33NSv42hgO
— i dont (@rizarul) September 22, 2014
(Photo here.)
CTV News has the story:
A fake Apple ad making the rounds online claims that iPhone users can charge their devices wirelessly in the microwave.
The ad, which shares many design characteristics with official Apple advertising, describes a new ‘Wave’ feature in iOS 8, the latest mobile operating system released for Apple’s mobile device users.
“You can now Wave-charge your device by placing it within a household microwave for a minute and a half,” reads the post. “iOS 8 contains new drivers that interface with your device’s radio-baseband allowing it to synchronize with microwave frequencies and use them to recharge our batter.”
If that sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is. Putting your phone in the microwave could ruin both the phone and the oven within seconds.
Nevertheless, some people have posted on social media about their failed attempts to Wave-charge their phones. Rather than quick-charging their devices, people claimed the results were a burnt phone and a microwave fire.
The prank appears to have originated on the online bulletin board 4chan, where people wrote posts suggesting they had successfully charged their phones in microwaves.
4chan, by the way, is an infamous hangout for sadistic pranksters, over-the-top perverts, and Internet trolls, who by their own admission are just terrible human beings. Just sayin’.
Real science here:
and now this:
SAN FRANCISCO — Two weeks ago, the press and public fawned over the new iPhone and Apple Watch. On Wednesday, they couldn’t gripe enough.
Apple yanked a spanking-new operating system update that disabled cellular service and access to the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, touching off a minor revolt on Twitter. Then, there is the matter of some iPhone 6 Plus models that bend.
Apple says it is “actively investigating” its software woes.
Welcome to the land of hype, sky-high expectations and frenzied customers.
“Clearly, after all of the anticipation, the big event (on Sept. 9), the very favorable reviews, these revelations perhaps dampen some of the enthusiasm for and around these offerings,” S&P Capital analyst Scott Kessler says. “But we don’t think that will fundamentally impair the prospects or the progress of these devices.”
Software bugs and a possible hardware glitch, while embarrassing, hardly tarnished Apple stock on Wednesday. Shares were down slightly, to $101.75. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones, meanwhile, continue to sell at record rates.
The backlash, which took root on Twitter and escalated, underscore the risks a high-profile company like Apple faces when it releases a new product amid pent-up demand and expectations. Facebook has encountered the same vociferous reaction whenever it rolls out a new feature.
iPhones hard to find? You’ll have to play the waiting game
Americans’ reaction to new Apple products has become a rite of cultural passage: Wait in line for hours to be the first to get the new product, complain loudly about its deficiencies — which are eventually fixed — then pine for the next version of that product. (Steve Jobs may have been able to pull this off…)
“Apple compared to anyone else has a flawless track record in product, and that just raises the bar to catch them on something,” says Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. “It has become a game with these releases: Who can find the first problem?”
Tags: Apple, FAIL, Open thread
