iPhone DST bug fails to alarm users – in the wrong way

Sadly, my iPhone (3G running iOS 4.0.1) didn't grant me a lie-in this morning. But thousands of others reliant on their repeating wake-up calls were woken up one hour late this morning, owing to a bug acknowledged by Apple more than three weeks ago when it affected users in Australia and New Zealand (where Daylight Saving began, of course, three weeks ago).

iPhone DST bug believed to have affected thousands – US next?

Though the one-hour time shift was automatically accounted for on the iPhone's clock, the alarm clock on devices running iOS 4.1 failed to adjust (suggesting they're set relative to GMT - which in turn would suggest that if you travel abroad and leave your alarm on it will go off at strange times of day).

The upshot: thousands of alarms went off an hour late. Twitter quickly filled up with people complaining about the fault (or using it as an excuse for lateness).

The bug appears to affect alarms set to repeat; users are advised to set new non-repeating alarms until Apple pushes out a fix. And with the US set to migrate to new daylight saving hours next Sunday, one would expect an update imminently.

Apple has been contacted but hadn't responded to me at the time of writing. The company promised a fix after faulty alarms hitting Australia and New Zealand earlier this month, but Apple may roll any minor software update into its behind-closed-doors iOS event for developers in the US later this week.

For now, Mashable has five "stylish" – we'll let you be the judge – alarm clock apps that will wake you up on time.

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LimeWire: will users turn to legal alternatives?

LimeWire has been closed, but where will its users go next?

Following the death of notorious filesharing service LimeWire, killed by the US courts after a four-year battle with the Recording Industry Association of America, its legal rivals are beginning to voice hope.

Following the news, we suggested that the shutdown would be just a "temporary inconvenience for filesharers", and that the tens of millions of users would simply find somewhere else where music is free at the point of access. One astute commenter called it a "pyrrhic" victory for the industry.

Today, we hear from Steve Purdham, the outspoken chief executive of UK music streaming site We7, who argues that those accustomed to downloading copyrighted content must be educated into the benefits of the lawful alternatives.

"It's a huge positive for the music industry that LimeWire has been shut down," he said. "But what we don't want is for the site's users to simply move on to the next illegal peer-to-peer sharing site that grabs their attention."

Mark Mulligan, a music analyst Forrester Research and another candid opiner, says it's not that straightforward. "It's not about the technology, it's a paradigm shift ... The reason they fileshare is not because they love the way the technology works, it's because it's easily accessible content which is free," he told the Guardian earlier this week.

"The simple fact is that the vast majority of music fans don't like paying for music – and that's even more pronounced in the filesharing community."

But what the analysts aren't taking into account, Purdham reckons, is the plague of viruses and malware often passed around peer-to-peer filesharers. With legit streaming services, that danger is eradicated.

"Consumers need to be more aware of the viable and legal options available and with piracy still rife, there is clearly still a level of education to be had," he said. "The massive growth of LimeWire demonstrated the demand and desire of people wanting to consume music digitally. Now that great legal services are in abundance such as We7, Last.fm and Pandora, consumers don't need to run the risk of downloading from illegal filesharing sites.

"LimeWire had its day; there is no longer justification for a service which doesn't respect artist rights in today's world.

"To keep generating the music we love, artists need to be paid. People want to support the music they care about ... The issue of piracy is one created by the music industry itself. To solve it, we need to stop demonising consumers and create a sustainable business model that can work for everyone."

• At the time of writing, it appears that the RIAA website is set to suffer an apparent retribution attack from online activists Anonymous. It is the second time in as many months that the RIAA website has been targeted.

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