Hate to break it to you... It;s not a premium product. It;s prices at near the same or LESS than competing products carying the SAME components. Yea, it;s premium compared to a $500 notebook, but it is NOT premium compared to a 15" dell Studio that has the same specs and costs $80 more...
Apple could not POSSIBLE have been aware of this issue (the firmware change occoured AFTER Apple started shipping the systems, only models after a certain serial number were effected, and this change was NOT communicated to Apple by Seagate through the modification of a part number or model revision as would be the expected case (firmware changes normally don't cause this actually). Apple could only react, which they did in short fashion with a confirmed and simple fix. What the fuck do you want???
Denying liability is RULE ONE when offering a settlement.. This is PAR for all businessus, and COMPLETELY EXPECTED and COMMON legal practice, and any lawyer who did NOT instruct their client to compose the letter as such could be subject to liability on their own part, sanctions, or depending on the outcome, disbarment.
Dell did the same. Nokia did the same. RIM did the same. HP did the same. FORD did the same. I actually GOT one of these letters from Chrysler when they offered to replace at no charge my wife's engine, which had only 42K miles on it and a perfectly documented maintenace record, and insisted I could only get the $7600 engine replacement done if I promised not to participate in any actions to begin a recall or join any class action litigation for loss of use against Chrysler.
They're not covining anything up, they're protecting their asses from consumers. Civil court works differently than criminal court, and your failure to understand COMMON FPRACTICES is leading you to blame a company that's not only innocent of your accusation, but for which not a SINGLE VERIFIED BATTERY EXPLOSION CAN ACTUALLY BE PROVEN YET. What are they covering up? the fact tha NOTHING HAPPENED????
I didn't say I didn't like the job, only the browser. unfortunately, combinations of DOD security standards, Application testing and validation, and over 1800 legacy apps don;t give me a lot of choice currently. We have over 200 active code development projects running moving all web based applications through java revisions into an SOA ezpress environment so we can break our browser lock-in, but even then, DOD needs to update the STIGs so i can have some freedoms...
yup, all true. No different for the others, so no reason to hate Seagate more than tham. Your choise to slam seagate is personal, and nothing more.
Drives CAN'T be flashed from Windows, that's a limitation of the SATA and IDE protocols, not the drive.
MOST of the reason you can't get HDD Firmware for your drives is they're OEM drives... That's part of the deal when you buy the cheaper OEM models is you have to deal with the vendor, not the manufacturer...
However: FACT: "Seagate now offers firmware updates as a routine matter for the general support of your Seagate drive."
Hey, i found a quick post. It was 1 example, troll...
Yes, I've tried a lot of things with Seagate... Also tried with Maxtor, WD, Quantum, and all the others. Retail, pro grade, and enterprise storage alike.
Yea, SeaTools sucks, it's not the only tool option... WD tools also sucks too, and Maxtor is just a port of SeaTools... it also happens to be regularly updated, and I have never had an issue making it run with a supported drive. Sure, it a clunky DOS app, but it does work unless the drive is so fracked nothing works.
I regularly deal with drive manufacturers for RMA. Actually, seagate makes it real easy with their web site, and getting replacements happen in 2-3 days, and they cross ship enterprise products without requiring a deposit or dsecurity payment. I can't say the same about others.
For OEM products, seagate, nor WD, nor any other that I'm aware of disk manufacturer provide ANY support. If the drive that came with your machine has firmware issues, contact the vendor, not Seagate, or you'll get the runaround. That's not segate's fault, it's your for not reading the waranty agreement.
Fact is, they all suck, unless you buy their flagship products, and picking a winner is like picking the best looser. However, your post is clearly more of a personal opinion, and I simply posted a response in contrast, and a sample of 88 people was equally as rediculous as your comment.
Yup, you didn't read the Apple manual and SAFETY WARNINGS page that came with your device, did you?
I did...
It was fairly clear.... Never expose device to more than 130 degrees F, never use for extended periods in hot sun, never submerge in water, take caution not to drop on hard ground or from a hight above 6 feet (g-force shock alone, not just blunt trauma, can cause LiIon cells to short and overheat during rapid discharge), never leave on in a closed bag, purse, pocket, or insulated sleve.
All these things were indicated as possible cause of fire or dangerous battery outgassing possibly including explosion.
Every device with a LiIon battery included these warnings. Most people ignore them completely.
Yup, warnings are included in the manual.... as they are madated by the FTC for all LiIon containing products... and nobody reads it.
Further, LiPo batteries which are now Apple's only distributed battery in laptops and the iPhone, and after next week will also be in all iPods, don;t have this issue. Are other manufacturer's moving their entire product lines to these more expensive but safer batteries? no, not really... A few are in select high end products, but only where the smaller LiPo battery size is worth the cost.
No problem. i agree. My post was simply top state you 1) can't hold Apple personally responsible (yes, Apple has to fix, it, but you can't BLAME them for the issue); 2) The media exclaimed the whole product line was at fault, and it was a mainbord issue, and started demanding recalls of all notebooks (effected or not), before Apple even had a week to diagnose the issue (which did not come to light until several weeks after it shipped), and then further it actuallyl took some time for SEAGATE to fix it after Apple very quickly announced what the issue was after their diagniostics of an effected machine.
Apple acted as best as they could, do determine the cause, produce a short term workaround, and then distribute a BIOS Fix. Simply replacing the effected HDD was not an option as Apple did not have an alternate 5400RPM drive in the supply pipeline (not even a bigger one), and the fix was due in a mere few weeks. Backlogging genius techs with thousands of maches to replace non-faulty drives and inconvenience customers with data copies is not a good business practice is a short term workaround (disabling the drop detection in the BIOS) followed by a forthcoming firmware patch would have solved the issue. Can you imagine waiting a few hours for a repair at a store 2 hours from your home to find out the patch came out the next day?
Yea, Apple had to fix it. AND THEY DID....and it wasxn't their fault, and short of an annoyance, it didn't stop machines from working. Had it been more serious, or potentially caused data loss if there was a real threat of injury (like their laptop battery recall, which brought back 1.6 million batteries after ony 2 (yes 2) failed...
Um, "single digit" number of devices submitted worldwide due to similarly claimed battery failures. Over 40 Million iPhones/iTouches sold since launch. Same LiIon based batteries in nearly every iPod sold since 2005, over another 110M units. New 3GS phones do not use LiIon, but LiPo, and are not subject to combustion or outgassing due to heat or short failures, and do not explode on impact (you actually have to put a HOLE in one to get a negative result, like cracking it in half by sitting on it).
Less than 10 out of 150M is a VERY smnall number... In most states, odds of winning the states top lottery is better.
Per this article, over 83 in a 2 year period, mostly Kyocera and LG:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/cell_phone_batteries.html
Sony recalled a massive line of batteries after ericson phones were blowing off all over the world, with nearly 100 cases reported of people being burned.
Nokia in 2007 had over 100 reported cases of their devices causing burns.
The Blackberry Bold, which at the time had distributed as few at 5,000 units, had had more cases of battery failure (30 cases!) than apple has with 150 million LiIon powered devices in the field (RIM also declined a recall). Total, RIM has distributed only 21 million phones, and has already gone through 2 recalls for saftey issues.
Why the evasiveness? Give them a fucking chance to actually INVESTIGATE the devices before you acuse them of a cover up already. Shit, as of last week, all that they had to go on was an outcry from the press over less than 1 in 10 million devices "reportedly" failing. and Apple had yet for a single custoemr to ship them a device for examination.
Now that they have, and have not only provided the results, but have offered up the devices for additional outside review by the government should they request it (which they have not, yet) and they've shown each device to have been subject to an external force (as in PHYSICAL force, as in abuse...).
Apple Recalled SONY'S batteries from their macbooks. The frequerncy of failure at the time of the annoucenment was 2, yes only TWO, confirmed cases of faulty batteries. Apple doens't make this battery either that we're aware, and it;s extremely common (basically, SOP), that if a 3rd party component in a 1st party device is subject to recall, the 3rd party foots the bill, so why exactly WOULD Apple cover this up? They have NO financial incentive to do so. Recalling these batteries should not cost them a dime. The reson they have not? Ther eis NOT A SINGLE PROVEN CASE OF FAILURE, only customes that have been shown trying to pull one over on Apple to get their device replaced free... (which apple offered to do in each case of a report if the custoemr sent in the device, no questions asked replacement, and most of the customers refused!).
Yup. I watched one iPhone 3G nearly split completely in two when a coworker's kids were fighting over who got to play the next game on it. Shattered the screen, cracked the case, and luckilly the battery came out whole or it most likely would have ruptured being an older LiIon. Those kids spend 6 months of chores working that one off...
I've also had several coworkers drop their phones on concrete and driveways, and in many cases even without marring the outside of the phone, the screen shatters in much the way it appears in the images provided by apple. Cracks seeming to ceom from the center, though the device landed on edge. none of their batteries blew out.
I've also seen one coworker's device outgas in his car, marking up his dash, and he was lucky it didn't catch fire. Dumbass left it running in a parked car that was off, doors open and music blasting through the stereo, and apparently left the GPS enabled, parked it in the sun not far from a friend's backyard pool. 6-7 hours later, music stopped and smoke was billowing from his car. Do you think he blamed Apple? nope, he forked over $600 for a new phone though...
I dropped my 2G about 50 times... The metal casing was all shot to shit, but it never cracked the screen. Eventually it failed due to a GPU firmware issue that effected a particular line of serial numbers and Apple replaced it for free. I had 4 scratches in the screen, dings and dents all over it, and they never questioned it;s condition (other than looking for the immersion litmus through the haedphone jack). I even dropped it once in a downpour and STEPPED ON IT, screen down on the concrete (how it got 2 of the scrathes). Damned things are frigging indestructible...
My 3Gs and my wife's 3G (we got lucky on the trade-in, local apple store was out of 2Gs and instead of making us repeat a 4 hour round trip, they gave her a 3G as a replacement) and My 3GS have been dropped numerous times. 20 month old baby keeps snatching them from pockets ort tables and throwing them across the room. Not a scratch on either yet. Close firend, he's gone through 2 blackberries and a G1 in the last 10 months with a child doing exactly the same thing, though my living room is a hardwood floor and HIS IS CARPETED!
The iPhone is one of the most solid devices I've seen yet, the screen is DAMNED hard to scratch, the defice is rugged, and it takes either a sgnificant, or repetitive shock to cause it damage. other phones fall apart being simply dropped the wrong way. if only "single digit" reports (which btw, is not a single countries total, but Apple's worldwide collection of returned devices accused of exploding) out of 50-150 million devices equippped with those betteries, then who are you to blame it on manufacturing, when not a single reported case has been linked to anything but abuse?
The point is, there is in fact a legally binding contract agreement of qaulity, and an expectation that fully assembled components in a 3rd party device are back ended by the primary manufacturer. Apple if theydeem necessary can recall the iPhone, but the company that makes the batteries would have to agree to further recall those, and be shown they were in fact faulte (and likely be forced to do so by government or breech of contract with Apple as this would likely bankrupt the battery company with little financial impact to Apple).
However, since in this case we actually do NOT know for certain who makes these batteries (we know who supplies the raw calls, but not who the final manuafcturer is), and we further know Apple does have a battery manufacturing plant for their laptops, so it's possible Apple in fact is making these batteries in house.)
It's actually extremely LOW compared to other phones, and further, "external force" is NOT a manufacturers concern. You're suggesting somehow that if a rash of people go around sitting on their G1s that Google should recall them???
There have been "in the single digits" reported cases of iPhones and iTouch COMBINED "exploding" There are over 80Million of these devices in circulation. Further, each and every case thus far has either been proven to be false (many of the supposed "exploding phones" did not even HAVE rup[tured batteries after examination), or the phones have not been turned over for examination and no explanation of why not is being provided (likely because they realized Apple called their bluff when they tried to cheat the warranty).
5 or 10 out of 40 million, not to mention the over 100 million additional iPods in circulation that also use a LiIon battery, is by no means in risk. in most states, your odds of winning a $1M plus lottery is higher then being the victim of an exploding device, let alone actually being HURT by one. More, the 3GS and all the new apple laptops do not USE LiIon batteries... They use LiPo, which is not subject to outgassing, cascade failure, or other hazards from being dropped, and the primary cause of LiIon failure (shorting), is not a problem with LiPo as they can handle the electric dispursion at extremely high rates without catching fire... They're basically safer than any other form of battery in circulation.
lol, it WAS a feature. It's a feature of the drop detection system. Unfortunately, the system in the Seagate HDD was much more sensitive, or conflicted with Apple's own protection system built into the macbook, and it took SEAGATE a couple of weeks to develop a patch that Apple tested and then distributed. It only effected a few thousand machines where the disk was upgraded to a non-default selection, and this disk from Seagate should NOT have had this system enabled in the first place. (and the drives apple initially tested did not have this feature enabled, but seagate changed the firmware without changing the model number in later shipping drives, causing the issue, this is a common logistics issue in manufacturing, and segate should have clarified the change with a revision number or notified apple to retest the drives)
Thanks for spreading more FUD and making a 3rd party vendor's firmware issues look like Apple's fault...
Have you see the pics? These phones have severely cracked screens, but 90% of the glass is still there... This is not exactly an "explosion" though the imact in a few cases caused the LiIon battery pack to outgas or "pop"
In every case reviewed thus far however, "external pressure" clearly indicated the force was a twisting or bending, or an impact on the glass itself pushing in. The glass is not boken outwards, so any glass discharged from the device, per the evidence presented, was likely shot up from the impact with ground, or a couple of kids were wrestling over the device and bent it in such a was to send glass shards outward.
NO evidence of the battery, or the glass itself, being a fault has been shown in any of these cases. Though little is public information, Apple has libberously documented each suspected case for a device returned to them for examination, and it;s consistant evidence.
Well, it's the corporate data policy... Sorry. We can't "confiscate" the stick, but we can "retain it" while we make a copy and have someone ensure that no company data, PHI, PCI, or other protected content is contained on it before we return it to you.
Upon entering the building for the first time, before you were even officially an employee, you signed into the guest log, which states all media can be searched at will.
A lot of apps don't know where to find their own parts if they're looking for dlls in %systemroot%\system32 instead of %systemroot%\syswow64 due to hardcoded paths in the app, or dependencies on 3rd party DLLs or windows components that don't exist or don't share the same filenames/patths under 64bit.
1) yes, the/3g switch can enable a 3x1 use instead of 2x2, but it's not universal across all versions of windows 32bit OS. the/3g switch is not a PAE function, it's seperate, and in most practiced cases, unless the OS is doing little more than beig a host platform for an app, the whole machine will run slower even though a single app might be able to perform better making use of additional RAM. 2)PAE is disabled in all the Microsoft 32bit client OS. It can be ENABLED though boot.ini hacks (or in Vista though a comand utility, as it has no boot.ini file). I'm also not disputing on any level that PAE is not as efficient as swap files, I'm saying it's not as efficinet as native RAM addressing above 4GB as a 64bit OS can do... 3) AWE can not be used on client OS, it can be on servers only. it actually can allow a single app to exceed 4GB of used memory. This is reserved RAM, and not part of the active memory pool for the app, but yes, it is more efficient than using a swap. Again, i did not contest that, but why not just use 64bit??? 4) Apparently AWE support is available in XP SP2+, but it still limited to 4GB total RAM allocation. I can't find references to AWE in Vista at all. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx
I'm not arguing you can't get an app to see 4GB in a client OS, and not arguing you can't use more than 4GB total, I'm just saying, WHY BOTHER, use 64 bit if you need to do that, nearly every app that really takes advantage of this supports 64 bit OS...
This works under the server OS, but under Vista and XP, the kernel takes half. I know of no option to bypass this. Maybe this works if they're in higher memory spaces, but i don't know that theres a way to force an app to use a higher space if there's some in the default.
...not in our company:) All USB boot options are firmware disabled, as well as booting from any CDs. If the default specified HDD doesn't boot, someone from support with a BIOS password has to get in and reset the machine to enable this, and the BIOS settings are editable by a software app from within windows to re-disable this feature once an image is installed.
on many systems across the company, the USB ports are disabled entirely. generally, only execs and select machines in the suppoort areas have USB enabled. Nothing has an optical writer. SD and other memory card readers on laptops are disabled, and all HDDs are either BIOS locked, or encrpyted to both prevent them from being stolen, and to prevent other HDDs from being booted internally.
It's a bit extreme, but we have more than 15,000 employees with access to PCs, and sensitive data on millions of americans... We have to take precautions.
We also have no wifi at all, NAC devices scanning all ports, and MAC address tracking of all assets.
in either of the cases, the device is either company property, or a device used for company business, so it has to have software licensed for commercial use across the board. Further, anything you put or create on that notebook can still be considered property of the company, even if it;s yours, as any ideas, inventions, creations, documents, etc you deal with are instantly property of the company (this is typically stated in a contract or rules of employment for your firm).
Even thing (lets say some spreadsheet you use to track your day as a convenience) that you may have created at a previous job, if you bring that to a new job, use it at work, then at some point leave, they can claim that spreadsheet as their own property unless of course your previous employer already processed it into becoming their own IP (patents, trademarks, etc).
Putting some music on it, some family photos as a screen saver, that usually passes most company scrutiny, but anything that ends in.doc, zip, xls, etc is fair game to them unless you can prove you owned some right to it prior to your employment, or unless it;s covered under an existing copywrite.
The drive may be yours, but any data one it, your or otherwise, is on the company "machine" and your contract usually has a clause stating something like "files, data, notes, and anything created by employee on a device provided by the company or on their own device while performing company business is considdered IP of said company and not of the employee, including all ideas, inventions, etc wether or not related to the employees job, position, or title, blah, blah, blah..."
If it's on their systems, even if it's your drive, they have a right to access it, find any files they deem might be their property based on your work or anything you;ve "created" during your employ (or even including anything from prior to your employ that you've deemed to bring in).
We're a firm with lots of sensitive data, and if we ever let you go, voluntary or not, you're escorted through security, checked for ANY form of media, and all that media is througally searched and then security erased before being returned (sometimes a few days later depending on the scope). If it contained any personal data, the company simply assumes you brought that data in from home, and thus have a personal copy elsewhere. If not, that means you made it at work, and it belongs to them...
Company policy is only approved personell even have access to sensitive data. Even those with access have strict rules about using thumb drives or other portable media. All laptops use encryption, so if you took "your" drive out of it, it would instantly be useless to you...
yup, been going on forever, and been illegal for nearly as long. Just because it;s going on does NOT mean we should not be actively persuing people who use these tactics, and ensuring there are policies in place that ensure that people who use them and get caught loose 100% and more of any profits earned from doing so.
Having a crap product is not illegal. Lying about the product outright is.
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Hate to break it to you... It;s not a premium product. It;s prices at near the same or LESS than competing products carying the SAME components. Yea, it;s premium compared to a $500 notebook, but it is NOT premium compared to a 15" dell Studio that has the same specs and costs $80 more...
Apple could not POSSIBLE have been aware of this issue (the firmware change occoured AFTER Apple started shipping the systems, only models after a certain serial number were effected, and this change was NOT communicated to Apple by Seagate through the modification of a part number or model revision as would be the expected case (firmware changes normally don't cause this actually). Apple could only react, which they did in short fashion with a confirmed and simple fix. What the fuck do you want???
Denying liability is RULE ONE when offering a settlement.. This is PAR for all businessus, and COMPLETELY EXPECTED and COMMON legal practice, and any lawyer who did NOT instruct their client to compose the letter as such could be subject to liability on their own part, sanctions, or depending on the outcome, disbarment.
Dell did the same.
Nokia did the same.
RIM did the same.
HP did the same.
FORD did the same.
I actually GOT one of these letters from Chrysler when they offered to replace at no charge my wife's engine, which had only 42K miles on it and a perfectly documented maintenace record, and insisted I could only get the $7600 engine replacement done if I promised not to participate in any actions to begin a recall or join any class action litigation for loss of use against Chrysler.
They're not covining anything up, they're protecting their asses from consumers. Civil court works differently than criminal court, and your failure to understand COMMON FPRACTICES is leading you to blame a company that's not only innocent of your accusation, but for which not a SINGLE VERIFIED BATTERY EXPLOSION CAN ACTUALLY BE PROVEN YET. What are they covering up? the fact tha NOTHING HAPPENED????
I didn't say I didn't like the job, only the browser. unfortunately, combinations of DOD security standards, Application testing and validation, and over 1800 legacy apps don;t give me a lot of choice currently. We have over 200 active code development projects running moving all web based applications through java revisions into an SOA ezpress environment so we can break our browser lock-in, but even then, DOD needs to update the STIGs so i can have some freedoms...
yup, all true. No different for the others, so no reason to hate Seagate more than tham. Your choise to slam seagate is personal, and nothing more.
Drives CAN'T be flashed from Windows, that's a limitation of the SATA and IDE protocols, not the drive.
MOST of the reason you can't get HDD Firmware for your drives is they're OEM drives... That's part of the deal when you buy the cheaper OEM models is you have to deal with the vendor, not the manufacturer...
However: FACT: "Seagate now offers firmware updates as a routine matter for the general support of your Seagate drive."
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931&NewLang=en
Hey, i found a quick post. It was 1 example, troll...
Yes, I've tried a lot of things with Seagate... Also tried with Maxtor, WD, Quantum, and all the others. Retail, pro grade, and enterprise storage alike.
Yea, SeaTools sucks, it's not the only tool option... WD tools also sucks too, and Maxtor is just a port of SeaTools... it also happens to be regularly updated, and I have never had an issue making it run with a supported drive. Sure, it a clunky DOS app, but it does work unless the drive is so fracked nothing works.
I regularly deal with drive manufacturers for RMA. Actually, seagate makes it real easy with their web site, and getting replacements happen in 2-3 days, and they cross ship enterprise products without requiring a deposit or dsecurity payment. I can't say the same about others.
For OEM products, seagate, nor WD, nor any other that I'm aware of disk manufacturer provide ANY support. If the drive that came with your machine has firmware issues, contact the vendor, not Seagate, or you'll get the runaround. That's not segate's fault, it's your for not reading the waranty agreement.
Fact is, they all suck, unless you buy their flagship products, and picking a winner is like picking the best looser. However, your post is clearly more of a personal opinion, and I simply posted a response in contrast, and a sample of 88 people was equally as rediculous as your comment.
Yup, you didn't read the Apple manual and SAFETY WARNINGS page that came with your device, did you?
I did...
It was fairly clear.... Never expose device to more than 130 degrees F, never use for extended periods in hot sun, never submerge in water, take caution not to drop on hard ground or from a hight above 6 feet (g-force shock alone, not just blunt trauma, can cause LiIon cells to short and overheat during rapid discharge), never leave on in a closed bag, purse, pocket, or insulated sleve.
All these things were indicated as possible cause of fire or dangerous battery outgassing possibly including explosion.
Every device with a LiIon battery included these warnings. Most people ignore them completely.
Yup, warnings are included in the manual.... as they are madated by the FTC for all LiIon containing products... and nobody reads it.
Further, LiPo batteries which are now Apple's only distributed battery in laptops and the iPhone, and after next week will also be in all iPods, don;t have this issue. Are other manufacturer's moving their entire product lines to these more expensive but safer batteries? no, not really... A few are in select high end products, but only where the smaller LiPo battery size is worth the cost.
No problem. i agree. My post was simply top state you 1) can't hold Apple personally responsible (yes, Apple has to fix, it, but you can't BLAME them for the issue); 2) The media exclaimed the whole product line was at fault, and it was a mainbord issue, and started demanding recalls of all notebooks (effected or not), before Apple even had a week to diagnose the issue (which did not come to light until several weeks after it shipped), and then further it actuallyl took some time for SEAGATE to fix it after Apple very quickly announced what the issue was after their diagniostics of an effected machine.
Apple acted as best as they could, do determine the cause, produce a short term workaround, and then distribute a BIOS Fix. Simply replacing the effected HDD was not an option as Apple did not have an alternate 5400RPM drive in the supply pipeline (not even a bigger one), and the fix was due in a mere few weeks. Backlogging genius techs with thousands of maches to replace non-faulty drives and inconvenience customers with data copies is not a good business practice is a short term workaround (disabling the drop detection in the BIOS) followed by a forthcoming firmware patch would have solved the issue. Can you imagine waiting a few hours for a repair at a store 2 hours from your home to find out the patch came out the next day?
Yea, Apple had to fix it. AND THEY DID. ...and it wasxn't their fault, and short of an annoyance, it didn't stop machines from working. Had it been more serious, or potentially caused data loss if there was a real threat of injury (like their laptop battery recall, which brought back 1.6 million batteries after ony 2 (yes 2) failed...
Um, "single digit" number of devices submitted worldwide due to similarly claimed battery failures. Over 40 Million iPhones/iTouches sold since launch. Same LiIon based batteries in nearly every iPod sold since 2005, over another 110M units. New 3GS phones do not use LiIon, but LiPo, and are not subject to combustion or outgassing due to heat or short failures, and do not explode on impact (you actually have to put a HOLE in one to get a negative result, like cracking it in half by sitting on it).
Less than 10 out of 150M is a VERY smnall number... In most states, odds of winning the states top lottery is better.
Per this article, over 83 in a 2 year period, mostly Kyocera and LG:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/cell_phone_batteries.html
Sony recalled a massive line of batteries after ericson phones were blowing off all over the world, with nearly 100 cases reported of people being burned.
Nokia in 2007 had over 100 reported cases of their devices causing burns.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSHEL00572220070814
The Blackberry Bold, which at the time had distributed as few at 5,000 units, had had more cases of battery failure (30 cases!) than apple has with 150 million LiIon powered devices in the field (RIM also declined a recall). Total, RIM has distributed only 21 million phones, and has already gone through 2 recalls for saftey issues.
statistics please?
I've got one here that shows Seagate as the #1 reliable manufacture of drives:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245312-32-seagate-western-digital-reliability
sorry, forced to use Fracking IE 6 at work, no in-line spell check... Wish it were not the case.
Why the evasiveness? Give them a fucking chance to actually INVESTIGATE the devices before you acuse them of a cover up already. Shit, as of last week, all that they had to go on was an outcry from the press over less than 1 in 10 million devices "reportedly" failing. and Apple had yet for a single custoemr to ship them a device for examination.
Now that they have, and have not only provided the results, but have offered up the devices for additional outside review by the government should they request it (which they have not, yet) and they've shown each device to have been subject to an external force (as in PHYSICAL force, as in abuse...).
Apple Recalled SONY'S batteries from their macbooks. The frequerncy of failure at the time of the annoucenment was 2, yes only TWO, confirmed cases of faulty batteries. Apple doens't make this battery either that we're aware, and it;s extremely common (basically, SOP), that if a 3rd party component in a 1st party device is subject to recall, the 3rd party foots the bill, so why exactly WOULD Apple cover this up? They have NO financial incentive to do so. Recalling these batteries should not cost them a dime. The reson they have not? Ther eis NOT A SINGLE PROVEN CASE OF FAILURE, only customes that have been shown trying to pull one over on Apple to get their device replaced free... (which apple offered to do in each case of a report if the custoemr sent in the device, no questions asked replacement, and most of the customers refused!).
Yup. I watched one iPhone 3G nearly split completely in two when a coworker's kids were fighting over who got to play the next game on it. Shattered the screen, cracked the case, and luckilly the battery came out whole or it most likely would have ruptured being an older LiIon. Those kids spend 6 months of chores working that one off...
I've also had several coworkers drop their phones on concrete and driveways, and in many cases even without marring the outside of the phone, the screen shatters in much the way it appears in the images provided by apple. Cracks seeming to ceom from the center, though the device landed on edge. none of their batteries blew out.
I've also seen one coworker's device outgas in his car, marking up his dash, and he was lucky it didn't catch fire. Dumbass left it running in a parked car that was off, doors open and music blasting through the stereo, and apparently left the GPS enabled, parked it in the sun not far from a friend's backyard pool. 6-7 hours later, music stopped and smoke was billowing from his car. Do you think he blamed Apple? nope, he forked over $600 for a new phone though...
I dropped my 2G about 50 times... The metal casing was all shot to shit, but it never cracked the screen. Eventually it failed due to a GPU firmware issue that effected a particular line of serial numbers and Apple replaced it for free. I had 4 scratches in the screen, dings and dents all over it, and they never questioned it;s condition (other than looking for the immersion litmus through the haedphone jack). I even dropped it once in a downpour and STEPPED ON IT, screen down on the concrete (how it got 2 of the scrathes). Damned things are frigging indestructible...
My 3Gs and my wife's 3G (we got lucky on the trade-in, local apple store was out of 2Gs and instead of making us repeat a 4 hour round trip, they gave her a 3G as a replacement) and My 3GS have been dropped numerous times. 20 month old baby keeps snatching them from pockets ort tables and throwing them across the room. Not a scratch on either yet. Close firend, he's gone through 2 blackberries and a G1 in the last 10 months with a child doing exactly the same thing, though my living room is a hardwood floor and HIS IS CARPETED!
The iPhone is one of the most solid devices I've seen yet, the screen is DAMNED hard to scratch, the defice is rugged, and it takes either a sgnificant, or repetitive shock to cause it damage. other phones fall apart being simply dropped the wrong way. if only "single digit" reports (which btw, is not a single countries total, but Apple's worldwide collection of returned devices accused of exploding) out of 50-150 million devices equippped with those betteries, then who are you to blame it on manufacturing, when not a single reported case has been linked to anything but abuse?
The point is, there is in fact a legally binding contract agreement of qaulity, and an expectation that fully assembled components in a 3rd party device are back ended by the primary manufacturer. Apple if theydeem necessary can recall the iPhone, but the company that makes the batteries would have to agree to further recall those, and be shown they were in fact faulte (and likely be forced to do so by government or breech of contract with Apple as this would likely bankrupt the battery company with little financial impact to Apple).
However, since in this case we actually do NOT know for certain who makes these batteries (we know who supplies the raw calls, but not who the final manuafcturer is), and we further know Apple does have a battery manufacturing plant for their laptops, so it's possible Apple in fact is making these batteries in house.)
It's actually extremely LOW compared to other phones, and further, "external force" is NOT a manufacturers concern. You're suggesting somehow that if a rash of people go around sitting on their G1s that Google should recall them???
There have been "in the single digits" reported cases of iPhones and iTouch COMBINED "exploding" There are over 80Million of these devices in circulation. Further, each and every case thus far has either been proven to be false (many of the supposed "exploding phones" did not even HAVE rup[tured batteries after examination), or the phones have not been turned over for examination and no explanation of why not is being provided (likely because they realized Apple called their bluff when they tried to cheat the warranty).
5 or 10 out of 40 million, not to mention the over 100 million additional iPods in circulation that also use a LiIon battery, is by no means in risk. in most states, your odds of winning a $1M plus lottery is higher then being the victim of an exploding device, let alone actually being HURT by one. More, the 3GS and all the new apple laptops do not USE LiIon batteries... They use LiPo, which is not subject to outgassing, cascade failure, or other hazards from being dropped, and the primary cause of LiIon failure (shorting), is not a problem with LiPo as they can handle the electric dispursion at extremely high rates without catching fire... They're basically safer than any other form of battery in circulation.
lol, it WAS a feature. It's a feature of the drop detection system. Unfortunately, the system in the Seagate HDD was much more sensitive, or conflicted with Apple's own protection system built into the macbook, and it took SEAGATE a couple of weeks to develop a patch that Apple tested and then distributed. It only effected a few thousand machines where the disk was upgraded to a non-default selection, and this disk from Seagate should NOT have had this system enabled in the first place. (and the drives apple initially tested did not have this feature enabled, but seagate changed the firmware without changing the model number in later shipping drives, causing the issue, this is a common logistics issue in manufacturing, and segate should have clarified the change with a revision number or notified apple to retest the drives)
Thanks for spreading more FUD and making a 3rd party vendor's firmware issues look like Apple's fault...
Have you see the pics? These phones have severely cracked screens, but 90% of the glass is still there... This is not exactly an "explosion" though the imact in a few cases caused the LiIon battery pack to outgas or "pop"
In every case reviewed thus far however, "external pressure" clearly indicated the force was a twisting or bending, or an impact on the glass itself pushing in. The glass is not boken outwards, so any glass discharged from the device, per the evidence presented, was likely shot up from the impact with ground, or a couple of kids were wrestling over the device and bent it in such a was to send glass shards outward.
NO evidence of the battery, or the glass itself, being a fault has been shown in any of these cases. Though little is public information, Apple has libberously documented each suspected case for a device returned to them for examination, and it;s consistant evidence.
Well, it's the corporate data policy... Sorry. We can't "confiscate" the stick, but we can "retain it" while we make a copy and have someone ensure that no company data, PHI, PCI, or other protected content is contained on it before we return it to you.
Upon entering the building for the first time, before you were even officially an employee, you signed into the guest log, which states all media can be searched at will.
A lot of apps don't know where to find their own parts if they're looking for dlls in %systemroot%\system32 instead of %systemroot%\syswow64 due to hardcoded paths in the app, or dependencies on 3rd party DLLs or windows components that don't exist or don't share the same filenames/patths under 64bit.
1) yes, the /3g switch can enable a 3x1 use instead of 2x2, but it's not universal across all versions of windows 32bit OS. the /3g switch is not a PAE function, it's seperate, and in most practiced cases, unless the OS is doing little more than beig a host platform for an app, the whole machine will run slower even though a single app might be able to perform better making use of additional RAM.
2)PAE is disabled in all the Microsoft 32bit client OS. It can be ENABLED though boot.ini hacks (or in Vista though a comand utility, as it has no boot.ini file). I'm also not disputing on any level that PAE is not as efficient as swap files, I'm saying it's not as efficinet as native RAM addressing above 4GB as a 64bit OS can do...
3) AWE can not be used on client OS, it can be on servers only. it actually can allow a single app to exceed 4GB of used memory. This is reserved RAM, and not part of the active memory pool for the app, but yes, it is more efficient than using a swap. Again, i did not contest that, but why not just use 64bit???
4) Apparently AWE support is available in XP SP2+, but it still limited to 4GB total RAM allocation. I can't find references to AWE in Vista at all. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/pae_os.mspx
I'm not arguing you can't get an app to see 4GB in a client OS, and not arguing you can't use more than 4GB total, I'm just saying, WHY BOTHER, use 64 bit if you need to do that, nearly every app that really takes advantage of this supports 64 bit OS...
This works under the server OS, but under Vista and XP, the kernel takes half. I know of no option to bypass this. Maybe this works if they're in higher memory spaces, but i don't know that theres a way to force an app to use a higher space if there's some in the default.
...not in our company :) All USB boot options are firmware disabled, as well as booting from any CDs. If the default specified HDD doesn't boot, someone from support with a BIOS password has to get in and reset the machine to enable this, and the BIOS settings are editable by a software app from within windows to re-disable this feature once an image is installed.
on many systems across the company, the USB ports are disabled entirely. generally, only execs and select machines in the suppoort areas have USB enabled. Nothing has an optical writer. SD and other memory card readers on laptops are disabled, and all HDDs are either BIOS locked, or encrpyted to both prevent them from being stolen, and to prevent other HDDs from being booted internally.
It's a bit extreme, but we have more than 15,000 employees with access to PCs, and sensitive data on millions of americans... We have to take precautions.
We also have no wifi at all, NAC devices scanning all ports, and MAC address tracking of all assets.
in either of the cases, the device is either company property, or a device used for company business, so it has to have software licensed for commercial use across the board. Further, anything you put or create on that notebook can still be considered property of the company, even if it;s yours, as any ideas, inventions, creations, documents, etc you deal with are instantly property of the company (this is typically stated in a contract or rules of employment for your firm).
Even thing (lets say some spreadsheet you use to track your day as a convenience) that you may have created at a previous job, if you bring that to a new job, use it at work, then at some point leave, they can claim that spreadsheet as their own property unless of course your previous employer already processed it into becoming their own IP (patents, trademarks, etc).
Putting some music on it, some family photos as a screen saver, that usually passes most company scrutiny, but anything that ends in .doc, zip, xls, etc is fair game to them unless you can prove you owned some right to it prior to your employment, or unless it;s covered under an existing copywrite.
The drive may be yours, but any data one it, your or otherwise, is on the company "machine" and your contract usually has a clause stating something like "files, data, notes, and anything created by employee on a device provided by the company or on their own device while performing company business is considdered IP of said company and not of the employee, including all ideas, inventions, etc wether or not related to the employees job, position, or title, blah, blah, blah..."
If it's on their systems, even if it's your drive, they have a right to access it, find any files they deem might be their property based on your work or anything you;ve "created" during your employ (or even including anything from prior to your employ that you've deemed to bring in).
We're a firm with lots of sensitive data, and if we ever let you go, voluntary or not, you're escorted through security, checked for ANY form of media, and all that media is througally searched and then security erased before being returned (sometimes a few days later depending on the scope). If it contained any personal data, the company simply assumes you brought that data in from home, and thus have a personal copy elsewhere. If not, that means you made it at work, and it belongs to them...
Company policy is only approved personell even have access to sensitive data. Even those with access have strict rules about using thumb drives or other portable media. All laptops use encryption, so if you took "your" drive out of it, it would instantly be useless to you...
yup, been going on forever, and been illegal for nearly as long. Just because it;s going on does NOT mean we should not be actively persuing people who use these tactics, and ensuring there are policies in place that ensure that people who use them and get caught loose 100% and more of any profits earned from doing so.
Having a crap product is not illegal. Lying about the product outright is.