reliability
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Wii Warm Up: A little Sadness
Yes, it's back, in IGN-forum-rumor form: Sadness, the game that ain't, or may be eventually. Back in April, after an appearance by poster "nibris" in the IGN Wii Lobby when a screenshot surfaced, we were expecting more media and a trailer by the end of May. Well, Twiilight_Prince recently returned, with an all-new possible screenshot (seen above), and a statement that the website was supposed to go live by the end of May. A third of the way into June, it's nowhere to be seen ... but should we expect more from a company that apparently has some dude on the internet doing their PR?Sadness makes us, well, sad. We're sad because it's such a great idea and because it seems to be going nowhere ... or, if it's going somewhere, it's really, incredibly slow about it. On the one hand, we would be almost tempted to cut a new dev a little slack. Making games is hard (notice we're not doing it), and making a game that sounds cool is even harder. But damn, y'all. Stop making promises already, since you've yet to keep a single one. If they'd just do that, we would probably be more inclined to believe it when something does surface. Because we want to believe. As it is, however ... we just don't.But let's talk about this possible screenshot. Real? Fake? Awesome? Not? Tell us.See also: A look back through time: Sadness[Update: Corrected the spelling of the poster's name.]%Gallery-12425%
Samsung puts the kibosh on SSD reliability worries
If you're one of the (apparently) many out there scared half to death not over what's residing in your closet at night, but that your recently purchased SSD will wear itself out in no time flat, here's a little reassurance. According to Michael Yang, flash marketing manager at Samsung, a flash device rated at 100,000 write cycles can write 100,000 times "to every single (memory) cell within the device," and of course, it won't continuously write to the same cell over and over thanks to a process dubbed wear leveling. In case you still needed a tad more evidence, he also stated that "a pattern could be perpetually repeated in which a 64GB SSD is completely filled with data, erased, filled again, then erased again every hour of every day for years, and the user still wouldn't reach the theoretical write limit." So, now that we've had that cleared up, why not tell us more about those 250GB MLC-based SSDs that could land before 2009 dawns?
Gates: Xbox will be "most reliable" game system
Those who've been visited by the Xbox 360's infamous Red Ring of Death will be heartened to hear Bill Gates feels your pain. In a video interview with the BBC, the Microsoft chairman responded to a viewer question about console reliability. After apologizing for the problems and patting himself on the back for Microsoft's free replacement and warranty program, Gates points to what he calls "incredible reliability on the new work that we've done. Our commitment is it will be the most reliable video game box out there."It's a nice sentiment, but if we're measuring lifetime failure rates, the 360 has a long way to go to get that "most reliable" mantle. Regardless, we can all probably agree with Gates' sentiment that "we've got to make sure the hardware never stands in the way of [enjoying games]." Amen to that.[Via GameDaily]Watch - BBC Interview with Bill Gates
Survey says: LCD and plasma TVs highly reliable
LCD and plasma TVs are far more reliable than older rear-projection types, according to a report by Consumer Reports. On average, only 3 percent of flat panel TVs need repairs, with the majority of those repairs being free thanks to warranties. Rear projection TVs had a far higher repair rate of 18 percent, probably due to the limited life of the bulbs contained in these TVs. When flat panels TVs did need an out of warranty repair, they cost around $260 for LCDs, and nearly $400 for plasmas, with rear projection TV repairs costing around $300. The report also called out expensive extended warranties, saying that they're only worth it if you're particularly paranoid and they're cheaper than any possible repairs.
Sprint aims to boost network reliability with green sources
Sprint is looking to beef up its own network in hopes that failures like the one that just recently happened in Minnesota will be a thing of the past, and moreover, it's hoping to conserve energy all the while. Reportedly, the carrier is "actively testing and deploying sustainable and renewable energy sources at wireless sites across the country," which could act as both primary and backup energy sources. Hydrogen fuel cells, photovoltaic power and wind power are among the alternatives that Sprint is currently working with, and while no hard dates were listed for when these improvements would be implemented, it did suggest that some $7 billion were going to be spent to "further enhance its networks and meet the demand for more extensive mobile broadband coverage across the nation."
DS Daily: Reliability
Sure, the DS is known to have its problems -- like hinge cracks and shoulder buttons that sudden give up the ghost -- but how does your handheld stack up to your other electronics? We know many DS owners who are on their second (or third) PS2, and we don't even need to start comparing numbers when it comes to the infamous 360 red ring of death (because we can't count that high). Not every system has its problems, however, and even those that are common don't strike everyone. Some people just get lucky.What we want to know, however, is how reliable is your DS -- and your other Nintendo products -- when compared to those other systems? More reliable, worse, or about the same? Have you had any experience with Nintendo's customer service? If so, how was that?
Vista Performance and Reliability Pack hits the web prematurely
Don't look now, but Microsoft is apparently readying a Vista Performance and Reliability Pack for release, and while it's certainly not available through Windows Update just yet, that doesn't mean it's not hiding elsewhere. Reportedly, the aforementioned pack and the Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack will institute a number of welcome fixes and performance increases in a variety of areas, and though the list is indeed lengthy, a few notables include: Increased compatibility with many video drivers. Improved visual appearance of games with high intensity graphics. Improved quality of playback for HD DVD and Blu-ray disks on large monitors. Improved reliability for Internet Explorer when some third party toolbars are installed on Vista. Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from XP to Vista. Resolves an issue where creating AVI files on Vista may get corrupted. Improves the performance of Vista's Memory Manager in specific customer scenarios and prevents some issues which may lead to memory corruption. So if all the red flags prove correct, Vista users can eagerly await an official release of the updates, or if you're the adventurous type, you can bypass the whole "waiting" thing altogether and get your download on immediately.[Via TechSpot]
Apple notebook reliability study, courtesy of Macintouch
MacInTouch has released a comprehensive, in-depth report on the reliability of Apple's portables throughout the years. They apparently logged over 10,000 notebooks from 41 models, covering the gamut from iBook G3's to the latest Aluminum PowerBook family (basically anything that can handle OS X), as well as thousands of reader comments. Their survey included what years a notebook had to be repaired, how many times or if something broke down and the owner simply decided to deal with the situation, such as an optical drive they no longer need.Their results are very well summarized and broken down into groups such as most/fewest repairs and most common failures from specific models. MacInTouch also tackled the ever-prevelant topic of Applecare, asking whether those surveyed purchased it, if they felt it was worth the money or if they went with an outside insurance plan (like myself) that covers hardware defects as well as accidents.I'd like to spoil the results, but I honestly feel they did one heckuva job here and would hate to ruin all their hard work. Swing on by and check out everything they put together, and scroll to the bottom for the cliff notes.[via MacSlash]
