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Comment by ahk | Hacker News Reader

Just because a bug appears seemingly randomly does not mean it's not a bug.

When I was a kid watching tv with an indoor antenna, anytime there was poor reception I'd go and hold the antenna and reception would improve or get a lot worse.

So, I've no problems believing that this is an issue, that it affects different people differently at different times, and that Apple knew about it and made those shells as a fix (a trade-off in exchange for greater compactness of the device) for those who want it.

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From my time at university doing electronics we observed that some people do cause this effect - one person in our department consistently shorted anything he touched. We never figured out why but I know a couple of other people who have the same problem.

Maybe depending on how "sweaty" people are, which would affect the contact resistance of their fingers?

It's something different. I used to tune in radios by waving my hands around the antenna like a theremin. Some people seem to throw off more of an electrical field than others. Yes, I am available for bizarre scientific experiments.

This comment made me smile - this is exactly what I did as a kid when my radio got static-y. Slightly changing my position with relation to the radio, without touching it, sometimes fixed it.

I have the same relationship with the cheap clock radio in my bedroom. It sounds great when I'm in bed (to the side of the radio), but as soon as I get out of bed (in front of it) I have to turn the damn thing off because the reception gets terrible.

I wonder if this means I shouldn't get the iPhone4? ;-)

It's completely possible that:

- it only affects some units

- some people are exhibiting superstitious behavior (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner#Superstition_in_t...)

- some combination of the two

Watching entire shows while standing up, holding an antenna: priceless. (Didn't feel like coming up with the first part of the cliche)

Actually, lying on the floor, holding up the antenna with my feet. Didn't think anyone would be interested in the details.

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