Apple Inc. said Friday that it was “stunned” to find that its iPhones have for years been using a “totally wrong” formula to determine how many bars of signal strength they are getting.

Apple said that’s the reason behind widespread complaints from users that the latest model, iPhone 4, can show a sudden plunge in signal strength when they hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone. Users have jokingly called this the “death grip” for the phone.

That drop seems exaggerated because the phone can wrongly display four or five bars of signal strength when it shouldn’t, Apple said.

Yet the statement that the bar display is “totally wrong” is surprising, since there is no standard formula in the industry for translating signal strength to bars.

Factory orders fall 1.4 percent

Orders to U.S. factories declined broadly in May after nine straight months of gains, raising new concerns that the recovery is stalling.

The Commerce Department said Friday that orders for manufactured goods decreased 1.4 percent in May. It was the biggest drop since March 2009.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders fell 0.6 percent. That number fell 0.7 percent in April, the worst showing in 13 months. Overall orders in April grew a revised 1.0 percent.

Orders for big-ticket durable goods were down 0.3 percent, after a 2.0 percent increase in April. Electronics and commercial aircraft were among the weakest performers.

Eli Lilly acquires biotech drugmaker

The drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. said Friday it has acquired Alnara Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biotechnology drug developer with an enzyme replacement therapy under review by the Food and Drug Administration.

Terms were not disclosed.

The Indianapolis drugmaker said Alnara, based in Cambridge, Mass., has no drugs on the market. But its lead candidate, liprotamase, has gone through clinical testing and is under regulatory review for possible approval.

Liprotamase treats exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which leaves patients unable to digest and absorb fat, protein and carbohydrates.

GM says China sales outpace U.S. in 2010

General Motors Co. says its first-half sales of vehicles in China overtook the U.S. for the first time amid a fitful recovery in American demand.

The 1.21 million GM-brand vehicles sold in China in January to June – a near 50 percent gain over a year earlier – compared with 1.07 million sold in the U.S. market, according to figures released separately by GM’s U.S. and international headquarters.

Local PBS affiliate returns to high-def

Viewers of a PBS affiliate will see more clearly – again.

Station management at WFWA-TV Channel 39 said it will offer high-definition programming after a four-year absence. The digital signal officially takes effect at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The station was the first in northeast Indiana to offer digital viewing when it rolled out the format in February 2004. Since 2006, viewers have watched programs in standard definition.

A “major gift” from the Madge Rothschild Foundation made this latest upgrade possible.