Last Wednesday, Apple released the highly anticipated iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. In retrospect, perhaps the update should have stayed in the oven until its official release date on Friday the 11th. While the incremental iOS update brings numerous enhancements to iOS device users–especially those with current gen. devices–Apple’s message boards are becoming riddled with complaints of bugs from some iOS device owners.

The first issue is the mobile operating system’s performance on iPhone 3GS. While not quite the debacle iOS 4.0 was on iPhone 3G, users of the previous-generation iPhone cite unsavory slowdown upon upgrading. While there always seems to be a base of users claiming “the phone is unusable” when Apple releases an iOS update, 4.3 seems to have elicited a larger negative response from the iPhone 3GS community. Those who have upgraded their devices claim the OS has sluggish and jittery performance when compared to iOS 4.2. Some users have also noted a significant decrease in battery life. As is frequently the case with bugs of this nature, they have a tendency to be blown out of proportion. Simply because some users are reporting problems doesn’t mean 100% of iPhone 3GS users will be affected. That said, as AirPlay enhancements, Safari performance, and iTunes Home Sharing are the only new features compatible with iPhone 3GS, it might be wise to sideline the update if you can live without the aforementioned features. Keep in mind that Apple does not offer an official downgrade method for iOS. If you update to iOS 4.3 and are unsatisfied, you’ll need to take matters into your own hands (jailbreak + downgrade) or wait for Apple to issue a fix–assuming they even do.

The second major issue to emerge post update affects 4th-generation iPod touch owners. Inexplicably, many device owners are experiencing graphical hiccups throughout the iOS UI. These errors–which are being described as “interference”–seem to primarily affect the lock screen, but are present in additional areas of the OS as well. Users are reporting “snowy” and “animated outlines” around pop-up notifications and other areas of the lock screen. While not all 4th-generation iPod touch owners are experiencing the problem, the issue does appear to be quite widespread. As graphical errors are certainly more perceivable than supposed dips in performance, it is likely Apple will address the issue sooner than later.

The third and final issue–while not directly tied to the mobile versions of iOS 4.3–affects Apple TV. It would seem post iOS 4.3 update (technically recognized as 4.2 by Apple TV) that select owners of the device are experiencing graphical woes of their own. Beginning last week, Apple TV owners started reporting screen flickering when using the device with some televisions. In the ensuing days, the tech community traced the problem to HDTVs, which attempt to convert the 720p output signal from Apple TV to 1080i. In rarer cases, some users have reported their Apple TVs have become permanently set at the 480p “Auto” option post update. Unlike the two previously mentioned issues, AppleInsider “*reports*”:http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/03/15/fix_in_the_works_for_apple_tv_screen_flickering_issue.html Apple is currently preparing a software fix to address the issue.

Unfortunately, it seems releasing software updates plagued with bugs of varying degrees is becoming more of a common occurrence at Apple. What are your thoughts on recent software quality control? Have you experienced any of these issues on your own devices? Comment “*here*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/ios-43-bugs-abound/ and let us know.

For a forth consecutive year, Apple has been ranked The World’s Most Admired Company by Fortune. Boasting an overall score of 8.16, the company ousted Google, Berkshire Hathaway, and Southwest Airlines, once again claiming the number one spot. Cited for its steady release schedule and continued innovations, the Cupertino giant continues to set the standard in the tech industry.

Although the announcement of Steve Jobs’ second leave of absence caused stocks to dive earlier in the year, the combined successes of products such as the original iPad, iPhone 4, and most recently iPad 2 have proven incredibly lucrative for the company. So lucrative, in fact, that Apple has nearly doubled its quarterly profits since this time last year. With competing computing companies such as EMC and Hewlett-Packard trailing by nearly two points, Apple cleaned up–scoring number one industry rankings almost across the board. Apple ranked first in all of the following “Key Attributes of Reputation” with the exception of Global competitiveness, which went to HP.

* Innovation
* People management
* Use of corporate assets
* Social responsibility
* Quality of management
* Financial soundness
* Long-term investment
* Quality of products/services

The vast majority of these statistics came prior to the announcement of iPad 2. Though sales figures have yet to be disclosed, Apple’s new tablet had a tremendous launch and first week. Assuming the company continues to innovate and update its computer and mobile products to the same degree of excellence, it will be a shoo-in for Fortune’s award in 2012.

This Tuesday MacNN “*reported*”:http://www.macnn.com/articles/11/03/14/ipads.to.be.given.to.low.income.district.teachers/ Apple has launched a program enabling those upgrading to an iPad 2 to donate their original iPad to a good cause. As opposed to flipping a 1st-generation iPad to recoup the cost of an iPad 2, Apple’s program connects iPad owners with those who really need it. In a partnership with Teach For America, Apple’s program matches donated iPads with educators in low-income school districts.

The program–which is featured prominently on Apple’s retail store “*page*”:http://www.apple.com/retail/ –links to Teach For America’s “*site.*”:http://www.teachforamerica.org/ Currently, information on the program is relatively scarce, though it appears that interested iPad users need only drop their 1st-generation iPads at a nearby Apple Corporate Store. Upon receipt of a donated iPad, Apple will wipe the device, prepare it and bring it to a needy local school district.

Teach For America has yet to disclose whether or not donations will be tax deductible, though as it is a 501C(3) organization, it is likely they will be. While for a good cause, the program has sparked some initial controversy given the fact that 1st-generation iPads are barely one year old and still amazingly capable devices. While it is likely Apple and Teach For America will release more information on the program in the coming days, those immediately interested should contact their nearest Apple Corporate Store.

BTV, LAX, JFK, IAD…no, I’m not talking about those kind of airports–though JFK’s new T5 is pretty cool–I’m talking about wireless networks. If your Mac goes everywhere with you, it’s a safe bet it has joined several wireless networks in its lifetime. You may have even joined multiple networks in the same building if you live in an apartment complex or a dorm. Your machine keeps a record of every network you’ve joined, and in the case of encrypted networks stores passwords in your Keychain. Though OS X does a fairly good job of retaining which networks are used most frequently, occasionally things can fall out of sync. If your Mac consistently joins a neighboring wireless network instead of your own when starting up or waking from sleep, it’s time to reorder your AirPort preferences.

Doing this is easy. Simply launch System Preferences and select Network. Choose AirPort in the left column if it’s not already selected, then click the “Advanced…” button. In the window that rolls down select the AirPort tab. Here you’ll see a box listing Preferred Networks. Your most used networks should be at the top of the list. If you don’t see your primary wireless network in the immediate list, scroll down until you find it. Reordering is as easy as clicking the Network Name and dragging it to a different position in the list. To ensure that your Mac is making quick and reliable connections rearrange your networks so that your top three are in the proper order. For instance: Home, Office, Coffee Shop. If you see old networks in the list that you don’t envision using again, you can delete them by highlighting and clicking the minus sign. If you need to add a new network manually or edit the settings of an existing network press the plus sign or pencil respectively. There are all sorts of other preferences that can be adjusted in this panel, though some can have detrimental effects on your system if not configured properly. Experiment at your own risk.

_Dear Friends,_

I think I might be too old for red-eye flights. Boy was I beat by the time I got back to Vermont on Tuesday. I headed out to California on Sunday for meetings in Cupertino on Monday, and left that evening for the flight back east. By the time I got back to Vermont at 10 AM on Tuesday I was a zombie. Matt was smarter and stayed another day in California before making his way back east.

One of the things I like to do in airports and on planes as I travel is watch how many people are using Apple products. My unofficial poll taken over the 25 years or so that I have been observing, is that Apple is really firing on all cylinders now. I saw iPods everywhere, I saw more people with iPhones than any other phone, and for the first time, I saw a good percentage of folks pulling out iPads to read, play games, etc. on the plane. It used to be that I had the latest technology, and people would want to see what I was using, but now everyone is using Apple gear!

This is even the case down at the Vermont Legislature. I have been down at the statehouse the past two days testifying on health care reform and how the legislation they are debating is really an economic development bill disguised as health care reform. I was in a meeting in the President of the Senate’s office, John Campbell, and I noticed a Dell on his desk. I made some sort of snide comment about the Dell, and he said: “wait a minute, here’s my REAL computer” and reached into his briefcase and pulled out a MacBook Pro that he told me he purchased at our South Burlington store.

I am still amazed at the accessibility of the Vermont Legislature. Today was a busy day at the state house and I drove up, parked directly in front of the state house, put a few quarters in the meter and walked into the the people’s building where citizen legislators were doing the people’s work and working hard to solve our state’s problems. I have never been prouder of these public servants or my state.

It has been iPad mania once again as we received the first shipments to each of our stores which promptly sold out within an hour. We have been getting additional shipments but we have such a long back order list, that just as soon as they come in they fly out. It is simply amazing how popular this product has become in such a short time. One of those back orders lost out on instant gratification because I upgraded my iPad before I went to California. One of my promises to myself was that I was going to be one of the first to play with all the new toys from Apple, and I intend to keep that promise.

My first impressions of the iPad 2 are all very favorable. It is lighter, thinner and faster! I love the new cameras and used FaceTime to talk to Grace from California. I’ll be taking the iPad 2 with me to China in April to try out new accessories and to take further advantage of FaceTime to show products to my team, and to communicate with Grace.