4 ms·

Interesting how everyone was talking about the iPhone alarm bug, but nobody (in the mainstream world) is talking about Android sending out your SMS to random pe

Interesting how everyone was talking about the iPhone alarm bug, but nobody (in the mainstream world) is talking about Android sending out your SMS to random people.

gloob 16y ago
It's possible that I just don't hang out with the cool people, but HN is the only place I've heard any discussion of either of them, and (before this link) I had seen exactly one link about each issue on the front page. (Edit: Were they talking about it on the TV news? That's about the one obvious place where a lot of people would have heard about it that I would have completely missed. That would make sense, actually.)
- daleharvey 16y ago
  They talked about the iphone alarm bug on the news, it makes sense as well, the android bug is a fairly obscure and hard to trigger bug thats probably affected a few people, the iphone one affected everybody who uses the alarm
  - rimantas 16y ago
    iphone one affected everybody who uses the alarm Not true. I cannot comment on the ratio though. Alarm worked fine for me on iPhone 4 and for my gf on iPhone 3G. To make your statement true you should add modifiers like "on Jan 2nd", "those using recuring alarms" and possibly some others, I don't know the exact setup needed for this bug to manifest.
    - larrik 16y ago
      I actually had the iPhone alarm bug hit me on iOS 4.2 this past weekend. Almost messed up a surgical procedure I had scheduled. Not good.
      - metageek 16y ago
        I'm imagining that you were the surgeon. "Appendectomy? Yeah, there's an app for that."
        larrik 16y ago
        Haha, no. In fact, it was my son's. Nice play on words.
ergo98 16y ago
I did see the SMS bug mentioned on several mainstream news stories. However to get mentioned in mainstream news there needs to be a compelling story: Someone claiming that they missed a flight, missed their wedding, etc -- something to make it a real human interest story. The Android bug would have been front and center if there were a confirmed "example" story where someone got fired or dumped on their wedding day or something because of a misdirected SMS.
- newt 16y ago
  To go even further: if someone got dumped on their wedding day because they texted their other girlfriend and the fiancée found out, the media's story will be that it's their own fault and you can't rage at the phone software. If you miss a flight due to the phone, you can.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/810236--toronto-woman-sues-rogers-for-exposing-her-affair?bn=1 http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/810236--toront... Woman sued cellphone company for sending her cell bill to her husband, allowing him to discover her cheatin' ways. Was a pretty humorous story.
    - newt 16y ago
      Yep - when a phone causes someone to waste £1500 on a flight they missed, it's tragedy. When a phone causes someone's spouse to find out they they're cheatin' .. comedy gold.
  - jhamburger 16y ago
    I can see all kinds of hilarious subplots coming out of this- Man texts vacation plans to mistress, text goes to wife, wife thinks its actually meant for her, man ends up having to buy same trip twice for both of them, etc...

Interesting how everyone was talking about the iPhone alarm bug, but nobody (in the mainstream world) is talking about Android sending out your SMS to random people.

gloob 16y ago

It's possible that I just don't hang out with the cool people, but HN is the only place I've heard any discussion of either of them, and (before this link) I had seen exactly one link about each issue on the front page. (Edit: Were they talking about it on the TV news? That's about the one obvious place where a lot of people would have heard about it that I would have completely missed. That would make sense, actually.)

daleharvey 16y ago
They talked about the iphone alarm bug on the news, it makes sense as well, the android bug is a fairly obscure and hard to trigger bug thats probably affected a few people, the iphone one affected everybody who uses the alarm
- rimantas 16y ago
  iphone one affected everybody who uses the alarm Not true. I cannot comment on the ratio though. Alarm worked fine for me on iPhone 4 and for my gf on iPhone 3G. To make your statement true you should add modifiers like "on Jan 2nd", "those using recuring alarms" and possibly some others, I don't know the exact setup needed for this bug to manifest.
  - larrik 16y ago
    I actually had the iPhone alarm bug hit me on iOS 4.2 this past weekend. Almost messed up a surgical procedure I had scheduled. Not good.
    - metageek 16y ago
      I'm imagining that you were the surgeon. "Appendectomy? Yeah, there's an app for that."
      - larrik 16y ago
        Haha, no. In fact, it was my son's. Nice play on words.

ergo98 16y ago

I did see the SMS bug mentioned on several mainstream news stories. However to get mentioned in mainstream news there needs to be a compelling story: Someone claiming that they missed a flight, missed their wedding, etc -- something to make it a real human interest story. The Android bug would have been front and center if there were a confirmed "example" story where someone got fired or dumped on their wedding day or something because of a misdirected SMS.

newt 16y ago
To go even further: if someone got dumped on their wedding day because they texted their other girlfriend and the fiancée found out, the media's story will be that it's their own fault and you can't rage at the phone software. If you miss a flight due to the phone, you can.
- ergo98 16y ago
  http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/810236--toronto-woman-sues-rogers-for-exposing-her-affair?bn=1 http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/810236--toront... Woman sued cellphone company for sending her cell bill to her husband, allowing him to discover her cheatin' ways. Was a pretty humorous story.
  - newt 16y ago
    Yep - when a phone causes someone to waste £1500 on a flight they missed, it's tragedy. When a phone causes someone's spouse to find out they they're cheatin' .. comedy gold.
- jhamburger 16y ago
  I can see all kinds of hilarious subplots coming out of this- Man texts vacation plans to mistress, text goes to wife, wife thinks its actually meant for her, man ends up having to buy same trip twice for both of them, etc...