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HP iPod not as heroic as previously believed
This certainly won't go down as the first (or last) time that a shocking photograph and antsy storytellers blow an event out of proportion, but the HP iPod that reportedly saved the life of Kevin Garrad of the 3rd Infantry Division was actually nothing more than a battle scar. Kevin's body armor is actually the unsung hero, as he didn't even know he was shot until he fished around for his Pod and found a mangled piece of white / chrome kit instead. He did mention that he missed having his tunes on tap for the battlefield rituals, and certainly didn't mind it lessening the blow of a bullet to his armor, but it looks like Apple (or should that be HP?) will have to remove this now-nullified crowning achievement from the trophy case.[Via The Raw Feed]
Red Octane declares two Guitar Hero II axes defective
If you've been cranking out some serious riffs on your Guitar Hero II controller, but have been noticing a few glitches with the ole whammy bar, chances are you've got yourself a malfunctioning unit. According to Red Octane, the bar on Xbox 360 axes could have a "calibration issue that may stem from a feature put in place to ensure accurate scoring." The duo of units in question sport 95065 and 95055 model numbers, but according to various user reports, even boxes with model numbers outside of the two aforementioned figures are on the fritz, too. Thankfully, it appears that Red Octane is working overtime to figure out (and solve) the quirks, but for those who'd rather return their current unit and try out another, that appears to be your prerogative. Be sure to hit the links below for a bit more info, and make sure you find other ways to exercise those phalanges whilst waiting for a return unit if you plan on staying in shape.P.S. -If you're brave enough to want to try the repair yourself, there's already a guide. All hail the internets. [Via Joystiq]
Homegrown Windows Vista "Error" stickers deface the Wow
Let's face it, there's not an operating system out there without its fair share of annoyances, but it's no secret that Microsoft goes out of its way to aggravate even the most diehard Windows users by cramming our palmrests with stickers, and apparently littering Prague with those oh-so-common "Wow" posters. Not one to take viral marketing lightly, a crafty individual has done the hard for us all and created a ready-to-go sheet of error stickers that snarkily state "The operation completed successfully." So if you're ready to get to defacin', and don't mind the possibility of getting approached by the boys in blue, click on to the read link and get your A4-sized sticker paper ready to roll -- after all, it's not like Microsoft itself is immune to such run-ins.[Via BoingBoing]
Unearthed memo details possible e-voting negligence
In case the Brits were still wondering if we Americans finally had our act together in regard to e-voting, this should add yet another nail in the coffin. Among the bevy of states that saw all sorts of turmoil when voters turned to electronic machines to cast their support was Florida, and while a recent motion doesn't speak of that specific incident, it does highlight a good bit of potential negligence. Apparently, a note was "uncovered" last September (but was withheld until just last week) which documented a "possible problem" with Election Systems & Software's iVotronic touchscreen machine, but wasn't used to scrutinize the finicky system before loosed to the voting public. The eventually malfunctioning software was linked to a "dispute over the 13th Congressional District race in November," which supposedly caused a high rate of "undervoting," and allowed Vern Buchanan to take the questionable gold by a mere 400 votes. Regardless, it's a little late for a recount, don't you think? [Warning: PDF read link][Via Wired]
Australian LG plasma / LCD TV owners forced to "reboot" frozen sets
It's not exactly unheard of for DVR, PC, and PPC-6700 owners to have legitimate complaints about "freezing" issues with their gizmos, but we can't say the average television was on our list of devices we look forward to "rebooting" every day hour or so. Apparently, a horde of Aussies are facing such a quandary, as the digital TV tuner in a myriad of LG LCD HDTVs and plasmas (hit the read link for the full list) is going on the fritz whilst tuned in to broadcasts on the Nine Network. Currently, the only answers irate owners are getting revolve around "reception issues with digital transmissions in Sydney and Melbourne," but LG has also stated that it expects to rollout a "way forward" for customers quite soon. Currently, the only way to solve the seizures is to unplug the set from the wall, give it "two to three minutes to reboot," and flip the power back on, which can quickly erode any meaning found in your average half-hour drama. Regardless of how irritating we're sure this is, at least a (promised) fix is supposedly on the way, and trust us, things could be much, much worse.Update: Oh man, what a disaster this is turning out to be. LG has now admitted that the problem affects 17 different models sold nationwide and stems from certain "digital TV processors and decoders had difficulty dealing with the way that the data signal is packaged." Even worse, the company is going to have to deploy hundreds of technicians to make tens of thousands of house calls, as an in-home repair is the only way to upgrade the components. Sorry, Aussies, until you can make an appointment, it seems like you're gonna be stuck with this annoyance for awhile -- and not only on Nine, as LG claims the bug could affect other OTA channels as well.[Via Core77]
Alaska Department of Revenue vaporizes $38 billion account
The Last Frontier is no stranger to computer failure on a noteworthy scale, but the latest mishap far exceeds the severity of yet another e-voting failure. A quick-fingered technician at the Alaska Department of Revenue reformatted a hard drive while handling "routine maintenance work" that contained an account worth $38 billion -- yeah, with a B. To make matters exponentially worse, he / she also deleted the backup drive for reasons unbeknownst to mere men, and we can probably assume that at least a few individuals in the department suffered a near-heart attack when they found the backup tapes completely unreadable. The only remaining proof of the oil-funded account was in 300 boxes of paperwork, which had to be digitized yet again by staff members working incredibly long hours completing work that had just been done a few months earlier. Incredibly, no one was reportedly punished for the incident, and while the recovery efforts were actually finished in just six painstaking weeks, the damage inflicted by a few careless keystrokes totaled $220,700 in excess labor costs. Ouch.[Via Fark]
US government warns UK that e-voting is finicky
If there's anything we can appreciate, it's the irony of the United States trying to tell other nations how to run their e-voting setups, you know, considering that America can't even hire competent companies to run quality assurance tests on its own machines. Nevertheless, the US Government Audit Office (GAO) has warned in a recent document document entitled "All Levels of Government Are Needed to Address Electronic Voting System Challenges" that e-voting setups could cause some problems when it came to issues of integrity. Specifically, Randolph Hite, director of IT architecture and systems at the GAO, stated that "no voting technology, however well designed, can be a magic bullet that will solve all election problems," and even went so far as to suggest that e-voting technology "merits the combined and focused attention of federal, state, and local authorities responsible for election administration." Still, friendly advice typically sinks in better if the presenter tends to practice what they preach, so we'd suggest the Brits do everything they can to just, um, not do what we've done. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Inquirer]
Xbox 360 diehard loses loyalty after seven bricked consoles
It's not too difficult to keep the faith if everything's clicking along nicely, but when console after console began to fail soon after Microsoft's highly-anticipated launch of the Xbox 360, skeptics began to surface. Rob and Mindy Cassingham were self-proclaimed "Xbox fanboys," and felt assured that their love for the next rendition would never sway, but after picking up six consoles to install in their home and personally owned gaming center, the relationship started to crumble. The jovial couple snatched up four units at the Zero Hour launch party, and while folks from all over were swarming to get their game on at their party haven, the days of elation were short lived. After dropping over $2,600 on hardware along, registering an "Xbox360" Utah license plate, and rocking Microsoft swag day in and day out, all four of the launch units bit the dust. Eventually, every single first wave unit croaked, and each time the Cassingham's found themselves fighting with overseas call centers just to get a much-belated refurbished unit sent back to them, one of which also fell victim to the red ring of doom. After seven out of six (that's over 100-percent, folks) consoles decide to call it a career before you've had your due fun, it's not easy to remain steadfast in your devotion, and even after an email to Peter Moore himself finally got a brand new console on its way to the once-diehards, things will never be the same. We feel your pain, man.
Honda paying out $6 million for 'overclocked' odometers
If you've been wondering how your Honda or Acura just seems to cover ground an awful lot quicker than your previous ride without even getting you a speeding ticket, listen up. Apparently, around six million Honda / Acura owners have been wheeling around in vehicles that are clicking off miles quite a bit faster than they're actually being driven. The Society of Automotive Engineers' voluntary standard for fluctuation in an odometer "is plus or minus 4-percent," and strangely enough, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration doesn't even regulate it. Honda claims that its units were "accurate to within 3.75-percent" on the high side, but a lawsuit against them claims that's just a bit too close for the average consumer's well-being. The automaker will be shelling out over $6 million in overcharges for leasers who were unfairly penalized for exceeding the agreed upon mileage, and will also extend the warranty mileage five-percent. Of course, Honda has since tightened up its standards (read: fixed the programming bug), purportedly "aiming for zero" in regard to future error, but if you happen to own a Honda / Acura purchased between April of 2002 and November of last year (or a select '07 Honda Fit), these benefits should be coming your way pending a district court judgment on the settlement.
Ask PSP Fanboy: Volume 7
Every Saturday, PSP Fanboy will answer your burning questions. If you have a question for the team, send an e-mail to andrew @ pspfanboy.com with the subject "Ask PSP Fanboy."Q: Is downgrading to 1.5 and upgrading to the latest Sony update later harmful to the PSP?A: Downgrading hasn't proven to be too "dangerous" on the PSP. However, you always run a chance of bricking your system whenever you overwrite its precious flash memory. If you're currently running an official PSP firmware at the moment, you can simply update by using "Network Update" or by accessing Sony's official website. However, if you're using OE firmware, you should downgrade first. There are reports that upgrading to the latest firmware from an OE edition will brick your system.
Man wins $102,000, casino cries malfunction
We're fully aware that getting too clever while in a casino is likely to land you behind bars, but a Pennsylvania man is now crying foul after he got the short end of the stick in an unfortunate "mishap." The retired carpenter, who had visited the Philadelphia Park casino before, dropped his two quarters into a Wheel of Fortune slot machine only to win $102,000 -- or so he thought. The machine proudly conveyed his winnings right alongside his actual name, sending his emotions into a jovial whirlwind, but apparently the machine wasn't exactly supposed to, you know, let people hit the jackpot, and now he's fighting just to get his due reward. A spokesperson for the venue stated that it "was just an error in the communication system," but added the mistake seems to have originated in the in-house computing system, not within the machine itself. The man was offered "two tickets to the buffet" (saywha?) and advised to read the disclaimer on the machine, nullifying any awards if the machine malfunctions, but he still feels that this "fault" is illegitimate. So if you're the next person to strike it rich in a questionable casino, try not to get your hopes up too high, alright?[Via TechDirt]
Cake text printer doesn't speak Italian, pens errors instead
While we doubt we've seen every single computing error that could possibly occur, there's definitely been a fair amount to surface, and while this story may not take the proverbial cake, it's good for a hearty chuckle if nothing else. Apparently, a certain Aunt Elsa was supposed to receive a custom baked (and messaged) cake from Wegmans Grocery to celebrate her birthday, and as the part-English, part-Italian message was emailed into Wegmans presumably automated printing machine, a bit of miscommunication ensued. Sure, it makes sense that the machine might not have been ready (or programmed) to handle languages outside of English, but surely someone actually looked at this thing before sending it out, right? Nevertheless, Aunt Elsa was graced with a cake that just barely got the whole "birthday" message across, and we presume even the supportEmptyParas tasted mighty sweet going down.[Via BoingBoing]
Wii problems and solutions
Certainly, the Wii isn't having the technical issues that the Xbox 360 had at launch. Still, no batch of hardware is without defect, and scattered reports from around the country bring several issues into the harsh light of reality.The first issue, and perhaps most prevalent, is a recent WiiConnect24 update causing recurrent error codes for any and all online functionality. It only happens to a few, causing error codes 110213 and 32002 (how many errors can this thing have?). The solution? If you don't mind losing saved data (and most importantly, Virtual Console games, which are tied to a specific system), you can contact Nintendo and they'll send you a new unit within 3 to 4 business days. The other is a bit trickier; you'll have to contact Nintendo and have them send you a shipping label, with which you may send your Wii off to repair-land. This option will take at least two weeks, so it's best avoided.Another problem seems to stem not from the Wii, but from the power supply and adapter. If you have a voltmeter handy (and you should!) you can check if the adapter if properly outputting power. If you believe this is the problem, there's a handy fix-it-yourself solution: while the Gamecube power supply doesn't quite fit into the Wii, you can make it fit. Here's some advice from reader Jay:"I took a knife and bent out the plastic sides in order to get it to fit into the Wii. Make sure to put positive w/ positive and negative w/ negative, which is listed on the the back of the brick. But, if you're lazy, the flat (read: not round/circular) side goes in to side which has like and angled cut off piece. Well lo and behold, the red standby light turned on and the Wii worked! [By the way], the modded adapter sill works in the Gamecube, but you may have to tape it in to make sure it doesn't fall out."Rock on, Jay. Are you guys having any other problems, and if so, do you have some possible solutions?[Image courtesy of smashmywii.com, which, by the way, has their official video available for download.][Oh, and thanks Jay!]
Let the DREs begin!
Kotaku has received a couple of emails from Wii owners reporting of already receiving DRE (disc-read error) messages. Some have even reported that their Wii has become bricked and won't even power on! What horror! Have any of you out there in Wii Fanboy land been the unfortunate recipient of a painful message declaring that your Wii will not read your discs or even turn on anymore?[Thanks Naruhodou!]
Wii being hit by fatal error "110213" -- could be funky firmware
While so far Sony's PS3 launch seems to have gone off relatively error-free (we're talking hardware here, crime still doesn't pay, kids), Microsoft's 360 was notoriously plagued by errors at launch, and it doesn't look like the Wii is going to escape unscathed either. Reports have been coming in on the official Nintendo forums that after the initial firmware/software update that is downloaded during your first attempt to use WiiConnect24, some users are experiencing a "110213" error code, which bars them from using WiiConnect24 completely. Some people are conjecturing that the update is frying a necessary component to connect to the service, possibly being caused by corrupt downloads due to the incredible demand on the update servers currently. Whatever the cause, Nintendo phone support is apparently calling this a "fatal error," and replacing the units for free, including pre-paid shipping labels to make the process as smooth as can be -- of course, "smooth as can be" is little solace to launch day junkies who are halfway through Zelda already and will have to start over on a fresh box.[Thanks, Christian]
Texas e-voting machines count votes three times for good measure
If you thought that November 7th was the final day that you'd hear about e-voting zaniness, you'd be incorrect. While a myriad of states (and foreign locales) have had their bouts with Diebold and other electronic voting machines, the internet hunting state is now reporting an oddity of its own. Apparently, voters using machines built by Election Systems and Software in Williamson County, Texas showed up three separate times to legally cast their votes for the same candidate, or performed some sort of "human malfunction" in order to make the machines think so, anyway. While we're inclined to think that the actual machines were the culprit, the company still insists that some form of "user error" caused each vote placed to be counted three times. Although the triplicates did not skew the percentages of votes cast for each candidate, it still seemingly signifies an apparent flaw in the e-voting system, yet election officials were quoted as saying that they'd "review their training procedures" -- you know, so we can all work together to circumvent the problem.[Via TechDirt]
Apple reveals "touchscreen" iPod? Not so fast...
Ah Apple, what will we ever do with you? Leading us on to believe such incredulous things such as a next-to-definite Apple tablet, an almost-certain iPhone, sure-to-be-impending widescreen (and wireless) iPod, forthcoming iSight-ed Cinema Display, and an 802.11n-compatible iTV may actually see the light of day. So, here we are again, and this time it appears that some quick-fingered editor has some explaining to do, as we just so happened to have read the words "All other Notes feature capabilities described in this document are support for iPod models with display screens, beginning with the touch-screen models." while perusing through the October 10th edition of the iPod Notes Feature Guide. While fanboys will surely grasp on to this utterly amazing glimmer of hope, the skeptic in us has to wonder if this isn't just an unfortunate slight of hand, perhaps regarding the term "touch-wheel," referring to 3G+ model iPods. While we sure wouldn't complain if some "unplanned event" happened to unveil a snazzy new media device from the depths of Cupertino, we all know Apple doesn't like to leak anything from within before an official release -- but hey, we don't mind a bit of crow every now and then. [Warning: PDF link][Via MacDailyNews]
Mail slowing you down? Rebuild its database
Apple's flagship email client had me banging my head against a wall again when I finally dug up this tip on rebuilding Mail.app's 'Envelope Index' SQLite database at Hawk Wings (If you're wondering what that file is all about, check out Hawk Wing's "What's in your Mail folder?" post). Forcing Mail.app to rebuild this file is as simple as quitting the app, browsing to your ~/Library/Mail/ folder and dragging out the file called 'Envelope Index' to your desktop (I'd recommend making a backup of your Mail support folder before attempting this. Don't say we didn't warn you). Start Mail.app back up and it will give you a message about re-importing or re-indexing all of your messages (sorry, I forgot to screencap the message), and depending on how many you have it could take a couple minutes. I have over 13,000 emails and it didn't take my G4 PowerBook long at all. My Envelope Index was over 300 MB before I started this, and after it was all said and done that file weighed in at less than 4 MB. Putting Mail.app on this kind of a weight loss program can seriously speed it up and generally improve its performance; no more clicking on a new message 10 minutes after Mail.app notified me about it only to be greeted by "this message has not been downloaded yet..." silliness.It is also worth mentioning that this tip is probably more of a troubleshooting technique than something you should work into your regular maintenance tasks. A commenter on this tip at Hawk Wings pointed out that this rebuilding operation nullifies a couple of mailbox settings. If you have set any specific IMAP mailboxes to be used for trash or junk, Mail.app will forget those settings after this rebuild. Still, I think the performance gain and all-around less-schizophrenic behavior of Mail.app was worth having to reset a couple of preferences.[UPDATE: Some commenters have pointed out that Mail also has a Rebuild option under the Mailbox menu (at least in Tiger). I tinkered with this on one of my 4 IMAP accounts and it seems to do the same trick with far less fuss. Thanks for the tip!]
Treo 700w daylight savings time bug?
Nope, this ain't no April Fool's joke, people, this is the real deal: when everybody's clocks skip forward an hour for Daylight Savings Time this year (at 2:00AM on the first Sunday in April -- i.e. early tomorrow morning), your Treo 700w's calendar appointments may not. Like putting your WinMo phone in travel mode to another time zone, apparently a bug in the 700w may cause your appointments to time-shift back one hour -- so your noon appointment will stay put, so to speak, at 11:00AM. Palm's got some workarounds on their site so you shouldn't be too put out, so make sure you sort it out soon before Monday morning when you're an hour early to all your meetings. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if America would just get rid of DST -- Arizona, Hawaii, and portions of Indiana excepted, of course.[Via TreoCentral]
iTunes 6.0.3: "the digital signature for this package is incorrect?"
I'm no software expert, but if you receive an error similar to the one I have pictured here when trying to install the iTunes 6.0.3 update that Dave Caolo just mentioned, I wouldn't recommend following through. I have no idea what this could mean or what could have caused it, but I think this is one time I'm going to shelve the early adopter in me. We'll post more details ASAP.
