Alarm clock fails as of Jan 1

"I also didn't realize that anonymous quotes from blogs made the reports better. I also didn't see any."

The three papers you named all mention people commenting on Twitter, blogs, and/or posts in their first online articles that came up when I searched "iPhone alarm" in news. Some include quotes, though it seems they more frequently quote those that are not anonymous.

January 4, still not working...

Hey deggie. I live pretty close by so I don't need a place to stay but can I join in on the food & fun... it sounds great? 😉

Yes it is. Delete the alarm you were using previously and editing and create a new one.

You, Allan, Chris CA, Philly, and Tamara are welcome anytime at no charge.

I don't understand how anyone can discount the wide value of public (this forum is public) display of frustration. If you're upset about your government, write letters and go to protests. Hold up signs. Do whatever you want. In no small way, your numbers are appreciated and accounted for. Beat your chest. It's your right. Far, far better than letting it go with no noise whatsoever. A sub-sampling of tweets, forum posts, blog rants, etc. all add to the critical mass of displeasure and is noted.

I know many Apple employees. They check these forums and others for the "pulse" on occasion. And their friends and family are giving them **** about this hourly, even though there is a 0.001% chance they have any role that could effect change on Apple test engineering. But it propagates- a bit. Unfortunately, the more noise we make, the less likely another error with occur.

And some people just want a forum to share grief and loss with others. Why crap on that?

The sympathetic people here trying to quiet down justified anger are the ones not serving a useful purpose. Some of the responses are good pragmatism, but most are not. For the life of me, I don't know what they gain. Steve is not going to give you a hug.

Its easy to discount it, it serves no purpose (who cares how many Apple employees read it), it violates the Terms of Use you agreed to back on September 1, 2009 (you can read them again over there on the right if you have forgotten what they say), it is not a government site so Apple controls what can be said here, and anyone and everyone at Apple knows that people are upset.

Actually the only useful posts in this thread are those that point out that in order for alarms to work on January 3rd and later you need to create a new one and delete the old one. All the others are just crap, including mine that offer a room and breakfast.

Sure there's noise and a wide range of comments, etc. But, oh, we should only talk technical details? Please, then only robots should post. Hello, we're dealing with humans - and the public here. Terms of service, whatever. Don't want any discussion on here Apple, you post the comments - hire some people if need be, we'll just listen to your wisdom and how perfect you are compared to every other company, except you have to sell to people that aren't all tech savvy or read your tech alerts daily - how dare they! Poor Apple.

And to the wisemen on here, yes, I have a couple alarm clocks in the house - all with internal batteries. But when I'm in the car. where do I plug in that extra alarm clock? Or when I'm at a remote site? I'll just carry a big battery and all sorts of back-up devices on me so I look like a one man band! And if I break down or have an accident I'll do it near a pay phone in-case my iPhone can't dial 911 because it's a full moon! Yup, never depend on anything you buy. That's why you bought it !?!

Like I said before, the alarm issue is just another indication of poor engineering and testing, that's my concern. If your can't tie your own shoes, don't try anything more complicated. And I take offense when 'leaders' like Jobs publicly blame users for not holding the phone right, etc. That's an arrogant SOB whose products can't be trusted, even though they command a hefty price. Want me to change phones, oh Apple defenders? Send me the money to terminate my contract and for the price of a new smartphone. Otherwise give-up the 'just change' crap.

No Apple is not alone, but when they - and their oh so loyal followers try to project the image of perfection and indifference to real business and engineering issues, it's just stupid. And obviously many people on here have nothing to do with engineering or running a business correctly. For those that get it great, for the rest, go back to playing your video games - if it isn't past your bedtime...

Not bad for a rant, although poor compared to others I've seen.

Can you explain why you need an alarm in your vehicle? Are you sleeping in it? If you are driving I certainly hope you are not looking at it. Same thing for your job site.

Apple has acknowledged the bug, they correctly pointed out it ceases to be an issue on January 3rd, I'm sure it will be addressed in 4.3. I'm certainly sure, given all the bad publicity they have received, they did not want this bug to occur and want people to be able to rely on it. I'm sure they know they are going to lose customers over this and lose potential new customers.

Apple is in no way perfect and I certainly have not presented them that way. After all, to show that neither one of us is perfect, I bought a Cube from Apple. And I've yet to find ANY business that has NEVER made a mistake. If you know of such a concern please enlighten me and tell me. And I do understand engineering and I do understand running a business correctly.

If you took offense when Mr. Jobs talked about holding the phone "right" (actually he said just don't hold it in that one area) you should have immediately returned or sold your iPhone and bought something else. But I guess you weren't really that offended. As far as your contract, you can go on craigslist and buy a used phone compatible with AT&T and use that until you are eligible for an upgrade or for termination. Or call Apple Customer Service and plead your case, where it might actually do you some good.

I'll ask you again, what do you expect Apple to do at this point. What is the purpose of this rant?

The moderators are being very lenient right now, probably at the direction of their bosses, about venting and rants, but you agreed when you joined here not to do this. It is a peer-to-peer technical support site. If what you are looking for is venting, ranting, etc. their are many other sites on the internet available to you. I would suggest you start looking because after this dies down (and it will) they will start deleting threads like yours.

Oh gee, maybe I need an alarm during the day to remind me to take a medication, check in with a child or elderly parent. There's plenty of valid reasons.

You're sure they'll fix it? Confidence is low with me. Time will tell (ah, ha, a pun, understand?).

I wasn't talking just to you specifically about Apple perfection, just the chorus of Angels.

I have a 3GS with a decent antennae design (note my equipment listed) - but I can still have an opinion on the iPhone 4.

I don't buy used phones, so pony up, pay me for a new phone, I'll give you my old one.

I expect that Apple learns from this and builds on the experience in a positive way for it and Apple customers, as a mature and responsible corporation should - ultimately in their own best interest. I have my doubts, based on Jobs and the company attitude so far. Once again, time will tell...

Delete posts, ok, but as a moderator or censor? Why have tech forums for users? Make them call in for a fee !!! Now that's the American way : )

Rant, does speaking out and not loving everything Apple really qualify?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rant

Read the ToU and it is easy to figure out what a rant is.

And I would have given yours a much higher score except you started resorting to name calling, labeling people as "stupid", "arrogant", etc. This almost always shows someone who is out of ammunition and logic and reflects more on the person doing the name calling.

A watch could remind you to take your medication, or even a watch with an alarm. So prior to cell phones what did people do to remember to do these things?

Chorus of Angels? Oh boy, more name calling!

You don't buy used phones? So even if you desperately need to take your medicine, check in with a child or elderly parent, do surgery, you are so stubborn that you will continue to use a device, clock, watch, whatever that you have no confidence in than switch to something else? Really?

Again, if you think so little of Mr. Jobs and the company, and their attitude it is time to move on to a company/CEO, etc. that you can trust, don't you think? Or are you just writing here for are amusement, you aren't really serious about any of your statements?

I have no idea what your last sentence was supposed to mean. As far as your question as to why have tech forums, I already explained that and gave an example. If you don't like that as I suggested there are other forums made for venting, ranting, opining, speculating, etc. It is Apple's forum and they write the rules, which is indeed the American way. Come to my house and call people names, out you will go. I make the rules there, go to your own home and do what you want. Or find someones house where they like such behavior.

And calling in for a fee (at least after 90 days in Apple's case unless you buy AppleCare) is also the American way. Lifetime free support died with WordPerfect.

So work on your rants and try to at least entertain us. Start by leaving out the name calling.

Incidentally, since you are a fan of engineering, the whole idea of the exterior antenna was to get a much clearer signal which results in a better signal and less battery drain. This becomes more important with added data features and the move to 4G. Internal battery designs are far less efficient than external, but consumers decided they didn't like long (or stubby) external antennas. The problem is without an insulator you have the possibility of antenna attenuation. So the case acts as insulation, in this case (one bad pun deserves another). I can hold the magic spot for 5 minutes and it finally will drop 1 bar, others can hold it for less than a minute and drop 2 or 3.

Yes, you can have an opinion we all have them just like...well, you know.

And no, I think they will decide it is just cheaper to leave it in and go through this again next January 1st and 2nd because they have executives and employees who just love to see this kind of thing happen. That would be the rational assumption, right? Again, if I had low confidence that ANY company would fix a problem like this I would not spend any money with them.

Good to see posts from greyhoundx and garrickk understanding that what's important about technology is how the end-user experiences it, including the response they get when things go wrong. I hope the current publicity will help Apple understand that better.

Anyway, we're into round two - I've seen a rash of news items reporting Tweets, blogs and posts complaining that the supposed Jan 3 fix didn't worked for them.

All the others are just crap, including mine that offer a room and breakfast.

Depends on how good the breakfast is. 😉

I had a lovely breakfast this morning. Did my favourite buns in my iOven. Unfortunately every iOven in the world suddenly stopped working but everybody has an extra oven just in case so I just finished the buns off in mine. Not so lucky for the iOven company boss Mr Hobs - I heard he got run over by a bus when the brakes failed. Just a one-off apparently.