BS eventually implements a tiered QOS policy. Google responds by saying, "fine. You charge us for the pipes, we'll charge you for the content that makes them useful." Cue the lawyers, who huddle up, then spit out a cross-licensing agreement such that BS pays Google exactly what they charge Google for the pipes. Google goes away happy; nothing has effectively changed. BS goes away not particularly happy with Google, but in a position where they absolutely can demand a net positive cash flow from content providers with less market clout than Google.
Actually, here's where it would be different. BS would do what it has been perfectly comfortable with for a long time...adding a 'surcharge' at the bottom of the bill...call it the "Google Surcharge." This way, their rates are still competitive and it looks to the customer that Google is charging them and not BellSouth goofing around. Meanwhile, BS keeps the money Google is giving them and pays Google with the customer's money.
We thank MacInTouch readers who participated in our recent laptop survey. More than 10,000 laptops were logged, along with many thousands of comments. Survey Design
Our survey spanned every laptop capable of running Mac OS X, encompassing 41 models sold over seven and a half years. A challenge in ascertaining the reliability of any device is that more time gives them more opportunity to break, so new devices should always look more reliable at first glance. Our survey asked participants when their laptop first needed a repair -- "first year", "second or third year", and "fourth year or later." These correspond to the duration of Apple's standard one-year warranty, the AppleCare extended warranty program, and any repairs that might happen outside any warranty coverage period.
We also asked participants if they purchased AppleCare for their laptop. MacInTouch readers have strong opinions about whether or not AppleCare is a good investment; we hoped to quantify how often it is invoked for service. Hoping to gauge which models might have had repeat problems, we also asked how many times a laptop was repaired (regardless of warranty status) -- as well as providing an option for "It broke, but I didn't have it fixed." (Thus, repair numbers do not always exactly match problem reports.)
We also asked what components were repaired or replaced (if known), with check boxes for most major laptop components, as well as an "other" choice.
Finally, since accidents happen, we asked if the laptop was ever dropped. Summary
* Overall average: 41% repaired (lifetime)
* Overall standard deviation: 0.17 (large variation between models)
* Overall component failure average: 5%
Standard deviation: 0.035 (large variation between component types)
* Most common failures (>1 STDEV above average): motherboard, display, hard drive
* Least common failures (>1 STDEV below average): RAM
* Less common failures (0.5-1 STDEV below average): keyboard, trackpad, case, latch
Charts Repairs by Model and Time
Green cells indicate repairs significantly below average (ie, more reliable) Red cells indicate repairs significantly above average (ie, less reliable)
iBook and PowerBook repairs by model
* Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding or variations in owner reporting. Some laptops failed but were not repaired, so total failures (43%) are slightly higher than total reported repairs (40.6%).
Component Repairs
Green cells indicate repairs significantly below average (ie, more reliable) Red cells indicate repairs significantly above average (ie, less reliable)
Table of Components Repairs (click to enlarge)
* Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding or variations in owner reporting.
Analysis
In our analysis, we focus largely on first-year and second- and third-year repairs. Although we tracked fourth-year and later repairs, mostly it just tells us older models tend to break down.
The Titanium PowerBook G4s, which were quite popular, were more broadly troublesome than most models, with optical drive problems and case/latch/hinge problems being the most common issues.
Like most of you, my first reaction was, "what? only six years?" But then I read this:
Francis-Macrae, who made more than £100,000 per week from the scam, spent £28,000 on designer clothes and on learning to fly helicopters, the court heard.
"Woah! Watch out! I think he's got a soviet russia joke! Quick, everyone! Evacuate the city before he uses it. He doesn't look like he's going to use it very responsibly so we're all in danger!"
Seriously. Use a joke responsibly? WTF? Maybe where your from using jokes is a serious business, but out here in Australia making a joke is anything BUT serious. People don't think about "using a joke responsibly", it's a joke, it's meant to make people laugh, if it does great, if it doesn't oh well. But you don't have to consider using it responsibly, the most thought you should put into it is "is this going to hurt anyone's feelings."
It's already disrupting communications. Got a call from one of our Emergency Management staff helping out in Mississippi and he said "all" technology was down. It lasted about four hours and affected their satphones and wireless broadband. Ironically, they started working as soon as he got me on my cellphone...and yet again, I look like a God.:)
1. Car in fog. It would be nice to have a heads up display on my winshield, kind of like Cadillac did with night vision some years ago... Whatever happened to that anyway?
From Cadillac's web site... "DeVille, DHS and DTS are the only cars in the world to offer the technology of Night Vision."
Star38.com claims it will screen subscribers, and initially make the service available only to licensed private investigators and collection agencies.
I'll pay someone $10 who has an account so I can call the service and sign up as Ralph's Collection Agency. (or do they know better than to rely on Caller-ID for indentifying new accounts?)
I must wonder exactly how useful it is. I can only imagine the eye strain one would get by continually turning their head far to the right and left and having to keep your eyes focused on the screen. Getting a headache just thinking about it.
You know, I always thought UAV stood for "Urban Assault Vehicle." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/ Someone needs to talk to these guys and get them to change their acronym...we're talking 1981 here and a MUCH better concept.;-)
Oh, I miss my 1980 Chevy Van we referred to as the UAV. Eight miles to the gallon and that great sliding door for those A-team assaults.
You have geforce 4 cards in your work desktops? What are folk doing in your office that they need 3D accellaration?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_nview.html Putting dual-desktops in front of our powerusers helps ease the stress levels during those busy multiple document edit/copy/paste sessions. Besides, they think it's cool and the cards are pretty cheap these days.
I can just now see the new line of infomercials talking about combining the freedom of a wireless headset and the 'healing power' of magnets!
Sweet Jesus...
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, here's where it would be different. BS would do what it has been perfectly comfortable with for a long time...adding a 'surcharge' at the bottom of the bill...call it the "Google Surcharge." This way, their rates are still competitive and it looks to the customer that Google is charging them and not BellSouth goofing around. Meanwhile, BS keeps the money Google is giving them and pays Google with the customer's money.
Clever
Introduction
We thank MacInTouch readers who participated in our recent laptop survey. More than 10,000 laptops were logged, along with many thousands of comments.
Survey Design
Our survey spanned every laptop capable of running Mac OS X, encompassing 41 models sold over seven and a half years. A challenge in ascertaining the reliability of any device is that more time gives them more opportunity to break, so new devices should always look more reliable at first glance. Our survey asked participants when their laptop first needed a repair -- "first year", "second or third year", and "fourth year or later." These correspond to the duration of Apple's standard one-year warranty, the AppleCare extended warranty program, and any repairs that might happen outside any warranty coverage period.
We also asked participants if they purchased AppleCare for their laptop. MacInTouch readers have strong opinions about whether or not AppleCare is a good investment; we hoped to quantify how often it is invoked for service. Hoping to gauge which models might have had repeat problems, we also asked how many times a laptop was repaired (regardless of warranty status) -- as well as providing an option for "It broke, but I didn't have it fixed." (Thus, repair numbers do not always exactly match problem reports.)
We also asked what components were repaired or replaced (if known), with check boxes for most major laptop components, as well as an "other" choice.
Finally, since accidents happen, we asked if the laptop was ever dropped.
Summary
* Overall average: 41% repaired (lifetime)
* Overall standard deviation: 0.17 (large variation between models)
Fewest Repairs:
* original (colored) iBooks
* PowerBook G3
* 12" PowerBook G4 (2005)
* 12" iBook G4 (recent models)
Most Repairs:
* iBook G3 (esp. in 2003, motherboard defects)
* 15" titanium PowerBook G4 (esp. in 2003, optical drive, case/latch/hinge)
* 15" aluminum PowerBook G4 (first version, screen defects)
Component Failures
* Overall component failure average: 5%
Standard deviation: 0.035 (large variation between component types)
* Most common failures (>1 STDEV above average): motherboard, display, hard drive
* Least common failures (>1 STDEV below average): RAM
* Less common failures (0.5-1 STDEV below average): keyboard, trackpad, case, latch
Charts
Repairs by Model and Time
Green cells indicate repairs significantly below average (ie, more reliable)
Red cells indicate repairs significantly above average (ie, less reliable)
iBook and PowerBook repairs by model
* Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding or variations in owner reporting.
Some laptops failed but were not repaired, so total failures (43%) are slightly higher than total reported repairs (40.6%).
Component Repairs
Green cells indicate repairs significantly below average (ie, more reliable)
Red cells indicate repairs significantly above average (ie, less reliable)
Table of Components Repairs
(click to enlarge)
* Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding or variations in owner reporting.
Analysis
In our analysis, we focus largely on first-year and second- and third-year repairs. Although we tracked fourth-year and later repairs, mostly it just tells us older models tend to break down.
The Titanium PowerBook G4s, which were quite popular, were more broadly troublesome than most models, with optical drive problems and case/latch/hinge problems being the most common issues.
But by affected
Francis-Macrae, who made more than £100,000 per week from the scam, spent £28,000 on designer clothes and on learning to fly helicopters, the court heard.
Helicopters? Sweet. Ok, give him six years. ;-)
"Woah! Watch out! I think he's got a soviet russia joke! Quick, everyone! Evacuate the city before he uses it. He doesn't look like he's going to use it very responsibly so we're all in danger!"
Seriously. Use a joke responsibly? WTF? Maybe where your from using jokes is a serious business, but out here in Australia making a joke is anything BUT serious. People don't think about "using a joke responsibly", it's a joke, it's meant to make people laugh, if it does great, if it doesn't oh well. But you don't have to consider using it responsibly, the most thought you should put into it is "is this going to hurt anyone's feelings."
Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays.
It's already disrupting communications. Got a call from one of our Emergency Management staff helping out in Mississippi and he said "all" technology was down. It lasted about four hours and affected their satphones and wireless broadband. Ironically, they started working as soon as he got me on my cellphone...and yet again, I look like a God. :)
The new CPUs, collectively named Alchemy, consume less than 1Watt of power.
;-)
Thanks! With that Alchemy link I just won the office Privoxy "Buzzword Bingo" contest!
You guys got it all wrong.... it's martian poop.
;-)
Don't poke those instruments in it!!
I wonder if I can get an AC version of that? Also, would they be marketed as 100 110s?
OH! Better yet - a nicotine spewing case mod for my riced out home rig!
when is the weed version coming out? also be careful not to flush down the toilet, batteries could cause electrocution
;-)
What? Are you bathing in the toilet?
Freaking potheads...
1. Car in fog. It would be nice to have a heads up display on my winshield, kind of like Cadillac did with night vision some years ago... Whatever happened to that anyway?
From Cadillac's web site...
"DeVille, DHS and DTS are the only cars in the world to offer the technology of Night Vision."
Cool stuff actually. Their web site has a nice flash demo. http://www.cadillac.com/
Anyone have any experience with these yet??
Words are repurposed every day. Whats the difference between manslaughter and murder? Semantics.
No, the difference is intent .
Star38.com claims it will screen subscribers, and initially make the service available only to licensed private investigators and collection agencies.
I'll pay someone $10 who has an account so I can call the service and sign up as Ralph's Collection Agency. (or do they know better than to rely on Caller-ID for indentifying new accounts?)
From the article: You just can't pull a Linda Blair to pivot 180 degrees.
I bet if you tried you'd start vomiting green and screaming explitives.
Nice review.
I must wonder exactly how useful it is. I can only imagine the eye strain one would get by continually turning their head far to the right and left and having to keep your eyes focused on the screen. Getting a headache just thinking about it.
You know, I always thought UAV stood for "Urban Assault Vehicle." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/ Someone needs to talk to these guys and get them to change their acronym...we're talking 1981 here and a MUCH better concept. ;-)
Oh, I miss my 1980 Chevy Van we referred to as the UAV. Eight miles to the gallon and that great sliding door for those A-team assaults.
You have geforce 4 cards in your work desktops? What are folk doing in your office that they need 3D accellaration?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_nview.html Putting dual-desktops in front of our powerusers helps ease the stress levels during those busy multiple document edit/copy/paste sessions. Besides, they think it's cool and the cards are pretty cheap these days.
Thank God that I live in America, where we don't have Big Brother looking over our shoulders constantly.
Yeah! Er, when we do have Big Brother, it fails miserably!
I can just now see the new line of infomercials talking about combining the freedom of a wireless headset and the 'healing power' of magnets! Sweet Jesus...