ProtectionPlan
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AppleCare+ extended to new iPad, adds two years of support for a fee
When the iPhone 4S was announced last year, the fine folks over in Cupertino outed an extended, premium protection plan, dubbed AppleCare+. That service, which boosts the standard 90 days of coverage to two years, in addition to ensuring "up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage," will now also be available to prospective new iPad owners for an additional fee. The company's set to charge $99 for the package -- though you'll have to fork over an extra $49 apiece for hardware service -- but as for a release, there's still no word on a firm date; simply a promise that the plan's "coming soon." Until then, prepare to handle that A5X beast with kid's gloves.
Intel offers overclocking protection plan, takes Cash4CPUs
For a certain subset of tech geeks, it can be hard to live with the knowledge that raw processing power lies untapped within their machines. And it's typically those users that indulge in a bit of overclocking, pushing their CPUs to the limit, often resulting in unstable performance or even a fried processor. Give a hand, then, to the folks over at Intel, who have heard your nerd pleas and are offering up an extended safety net so you can continue to code dangerously. Dubbed the Performance Tuning Protection Plan, this optional add-on for unlocked processors (ending in X or K) reaches beyond the standard three year warranty to give users a one-time replacement. You'll still have to cough up some cash -- about $20 to $35 depending on what your computer's packing -- but that's still a small price to pay for a second chance at silicon thrills.
AppleCare+ debuts for $99, offers to cover accidental damage in addition to the standard fare
Once upon a time, the AppleCare Protection Plan was a service provided by Cupertino to extend out the life of your iPhone warranty for an extra year and enable Apple reps to help with additional customer service concerns. It still offers all of that, but now a Plus has been added to the title. The new plan was revealed as the cloak over the Apple Store lifted after today's keynote, with the boxes shipping out the same day as the iPhone 4S. What's so "plus" about it, you might ask? It's plus $30, for one, getting a price bump from $70 to $100. The good news, though, is that it also now offers two instances of protection from accidental damage... for a $49 fee each time. It's a fair deal less than shelling out full retail price for a fresh one, of course, but there doesn't appear to be any other new features beyond what we're already used to getting. Oh, except for "one more thing": whereas its predecessor could be obtained and activated anytime within the first twelve months of your purchase, it appears that AppleCare+ has to be bought at the same time as the valuable treasure it's protecting. We're still sifting through the fine print, so we'll holler if we come across any other changes. This raises the question: does the accidental damage handling justify the higher cost? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sony selling 'PlayStation Protection Plan' warranty extension for PS3, PSP
Sony makes some pretty resilient game consoles, and while you'll certainly hear about the occasional glitch, they aren't exactly plagued with RRoD. That said, there's always room for worry, and if you're willing to pay for peace of mind, Sony has a brand-new service agreement with your name on it. Dubbed the "PlayStation Protection Plan," it simply extends the full warranty on your PlayStation 3 or PSP for another year or two, and optionally covers your handheld's five-foot swan dive onto solid concrete for an additional fee. While replacement won't quite be no-questions-asked and the warranty explicitly fails to cover dead pixels, liquid damage and loss of data (among other things), we can still imagine some will pony up the $30 to $50 for extra insurance. Not us, though. Since you can only buy if you're still within the original warranty period, it won't help us replace our backwards-compatible 60GB PS3... and honestly, we think we've had enough of Sony's protection.
Sprint boosts protection plan fee, early out for contracts?
Major carriers' contracts have had the sticking power of Teflon lately, what with everyone suddenly deciding that 15 cents is the fair market value for text messages (no price fixing there, of course). Sprint's about to open the floodgates one more time, though -- this time with a bump to the monthly fee for its TEP (Total Equipment Protection) plan. The service goes from $6 to a whopping $7 on February 18 for both new and existing subscribers, giving folks partaking in the plan one more 30-day window to jump ship penalty-free and move to greener pastures (perceived or actual). Samsung i760, anyone?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Update: We're getting intermittent reports that this price hike may not lead to a get-out-of-jail-free card, possibly due to the fact that the TEP is not managed by Sprint proper but by a third party. As with past ETF skating opportunities, mileage often varies from day to day and from customer service rep to customer service rep; ultimately, we may not know until February 18 rolls around and reports start filtering in from the field whether folks are having any luck.
