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White iPhone 3GS reportedly overheats, turns a browner shade of white
Right after its launch, we noted the sundry problems reported by new iPhone 3GS owners, but this is the first time we've heard tell of this specific one... and it seems like a doozy. It's unclear exactly what caused this, but what is apparent is an unattractive, brownish / pinkish discoloration on the above handset. The user claims it was caused by overheating during a period of using the GPS and 3G of the phone. Either way, it looks pretty crummy now, doesn't it? What about the rest of you with new, white iPhones? Anything to report? One more shot of this looker after the break.
Palm Pre trouble roundup
So we've been doing this whole gadget blogging thing for a while now, and we've noticed a timeline trend with these major, buzz-filled launches. They tend to go something like this: T minus 2 hours: lines reach critical mass across the country; odds are you'll find some of us in those lines. Camaraderie amongst line-waiters is at a high, but it's a guarded emotion -- the scene'll turn ugly the second inventory runs out. T minus 30 minutes: for morning lines (particularly those where folks have waited overnight), store managers come out and offer coffee and pastries. Anything less is uncivilized -- don't hesitate to complain. T minus 0 minutes: the gizmo goes on sale. T plus 1 hour: the first teardowns and cost estimates hit the web. T plus 4 hours: mass (or at least loud) complaints of manufacturing defects, bugs, and shortcomings start cropping up. It's still too early to tell whether the Pre is more, less, or equally as defective as any other blockbuster product in recent memory, but as you might expect, there are plenty of issues being sporadically reported in the first weekend of availability and it'll be interesting to see how Palm spins and handles them. Here are a few we're tracking: A good number of early adopters are reporting "splotchy," distorted, or discolored displays (we've seen reports of dead pixels, too, though we'd actually be more weirded out if there weren't). See examples here, here, and here. We've also heard reports of unexpected system shutdowns (like those reported in the LAPTOP piece above) that require a battery pull to resolve. We're hearing that you can also patch this up by holding down the power button and toggling the ringer switch three times, but your mileage may vary. If we had to guess, this'll be fixed up with a firmware update at some point, which really drives home the value of OTA capability. Text fields in the web browser don't seem to support symbols that aren't on the keyboard (that is, symbols you need to hold down "Sym" to access). We've independently verified this one, and it's nasty -- it'll be particularly bad once the phone launches internationally, so we'd also expect this to be patched sooner rather than later. If you've noticed anything else, drop us a line in comments -- we think Palm and Sprint are both motivated to make this launch a smooth one, and something tells us their ears are firmly planted to the ground right now.[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
TUAW Tip: Fixing syncing between iPhone and iPhoto '08
This is a pretty selfish tip, because this issue has happened to me personally a few different times, and despite my many searches around the 'net, I've never found a quick, simple solution. So here you go: my suffering can be your gain.Basically, iPhoto '08 and the iPhone don't always play nice -- sometimes, you'll take a bunch of pictures on your iPhone, bring them back to sync up with iPhoto '08, and whoops, iPhoto doesn't see them at all. You can see them on your iPhone, but iPhoto's "Import All" button is greyed out, and they're not showing on your screen (sometimes, I've gotten dotted lines where the pictures are -- I think this all has something to do with a corrupted cache that iPhoto keeps of what's on the iPhone). Fortunately, though it's frustrating, there's an easy fix. Open up Image Capture (you can find it in Spotlight or even Quicksilver if you swing that way) with your iPhone connected, hit the "Devices" menu item, and then "Browse Devices." You'll get a screen just like the one above, with your iPhone's name instead of mine.Uncheck the "Connected" box, and then recheck it, and boom. Image Capture, and thus iPhoto, will see all of your pictures and happily upload them. Is it voodoo? Sure -- we still don't know why iPhoto loses its place every once in a while (like I said, I'm thinking a corrupted cache somewhere along the line). But it works.
Payback brings a GTA clone to the iPhone
Grand Theft Auto isn't out for the iPhone, but Payback is --it's basically a 3D version of the old top-down GTA gameplay, improved with better rendering and lighting. You control the game by pressing "buttons" on the screen, and tilting the iPhone around, and Touch Arcade says it works well. Some missions are apparently tough, but in terms of what GTA is really about -- driving around and generally causing mayhem -- Payback will deliver.Unfortunately, textures (both visual and audio) are rough, as are the actual physics, so it seems Payback is more of a "GTA could work on the iPhone" demo rather than an actual game (though of course you can play it, it probably just won't be as fun). Still, we're in favor of any game reaching high on the iPhone, and this one definitely does.Payback is out in the App Store now, for a substantial $6.99. But it's worth it, especially if you're a big GTA fan, just to see such a complex game on Apple's little handheld. Video on the next page.
Ask WoW Insider: Nodes and ninjas
This week's question for you, our readers, comes from an anonymous asker. He wants to know what the best option is for a widespread problem in this time of high realm populations and camped quests aplenty:There's been a lot of talk on your blog about people ninjaing spawns but I'm not entirely sure that it's as cut and dried as that. Consider this: I was in the Borean Tundra and had to kill the mob on the island that's up the top of the steps. when I arrived there were around 10 other 'toons all waiting around. I had no idea who was there first, who might be grouped, or anything else about them. The first thing I did was /s 'group?', at which point someone invited me, and I grouped with them. Second time it spawned one of us tagged it, I looted, disbanded the group and left. Did I ninja it? If so, how was I supposed to have acted? With new people coming all the time, no knowledge of who had been there longest and no visible queueing system I'm not sure how else to behave. Thoughts? A little more analysis after the break, and don't forget to post your own answer in the comments below. If you've got a question for our readers, send it to ask@wow.com, and we'll ask it for you.Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
Poll: Are your new James Bond Blu-ray Discs acting up?
We've been hearing of complications surrounding playback of the new suite of 007 Blu-ray classics since last week, but we suspected the issues were contained. Apparently we were badly mistaken. A week later, we're still hearing reports that players from nearly every manufacturer are having one issue or another, with no real rhyme / reason as to what's going on. It seems as though deck manufacturers are aware of the issues and are working towards a solution, but we're just curious to see how many of you are experiencing problems. Are your new Bond discs causing headaches, or is everything humming along nicely?[Via CDFreaks, thanks Anthony] %Poll-21844%
Can Blizzard fix all their launch problems in Wrath?
Our good friend Relmstein (who I was able to finally meet in person at BlizzCon this year) is back to blogging about World of Warcraft, even though he was on a WAR trip for a while there. But we're glad to have him back -- yesterday, he posted about how Wrath might tackle all the launch issues we saw with the Burning Crusade.Everyone knows by now that Blizzard has split the entry area into two different areas (with four total Northrend entry points, one for each faction), and of course there's also Death Knights to roll, so hopefully the lag problem is helped (hard to believe it could actually be solved). But Relmstein has other ideas in mind: the dynamic spawn system (mobs will spawn faster the more people there are around killing them) causes some crazy repops last time, and hopefully that's been evened out a bit. He's also worried about the "leveling truce" on PvP servers -- during the last expansion, everyone was more interested in exploring than fighting for the first few levels, but if you missed that ad-hoc "truce," you had new level 70s beating you down as you were trying to explore the world. Hopefully the Lake Wintergrasp PvP zone will keep PvPers busy without griefing all of the people trying to see Northrend for the first time.And later on, the Karazhan bump is a worry as well -- lots of guilds, early on in BC, were crushed by Karazhan's 10-man limit and the gear checks in there. Will 10-man Naxx also cause a ton of guild breakups, or will the 10/25 man split help guilds play what they want to play? We'll have to see how it all works out -- this is only the second time Blizzard has released this amount of content into the game, so while they're sure to have evened out some problems, you have to think that there will still be a few bumps in the road.
Multi-touch display giving Dell Latitude XT users fits?
Dell's Latitude XT is a pretty special piece of equipment, namely because it boasts multi-touch capabilities while being a Tablet PC. Unfortunately, it seems that quite a few users are growing increasingly frustrated with the touch-lovin' screen, with GottaBeMobile going so far as to call Dell out to remedy the myriad issues with its N-Trig digitizer. Among the problems are "digitizer not found" errors upon restart, a digitizer that won't work properly without a few reboots and a nice selection of applet loading errors to top things off. It seems the readers of the aforesaid site aren't faring too well either, with the forums filling up with folks eager and willing to yell "amen!" and "me too!" Are you also experiencing wonky N-Trig problems? Are you fed up with Dell's public silence on the matter? Or have you figured out a solution that you've been keeping all to yourself for the past seven months? Chime in down below.
Newer MBPs may contain faulty NVIDIA chips
Not a surprise for those who have suffered from the issue, but a welcome admission nonetheless: Apple has now acknowledged that some recent MacBook Pro models contain faulty GeForce 8600M GT chips that cause video display problems. Dell and HP have already told customers similar stories. In a support document posted yesterday, Apple testily admitted that while NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers were not affected, an internal investigation revealed three models of MacBook Pro indeed had problems. Our own Cory Bohon wrote about his experience with (what he now believes to be) the same issue back in August. The models affected were all manufactured between May 2007 and September 2008: MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz) MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz) MacBook Pro (Early 2008) If your MacBook Pro is displaying distorted or scrambled video on the screen, or no video at all, you can take your computer to an Apple Authorized Service provider to have it repaired, free of charge. If you've already had your computer serviced for this issue, Apple may issue you a refund for the cost of the service. Free service is available to owners who bought their computer less than two years ago, even if the computer is out of warranty. The problem is likely to cost NVIDIA up to $200 million to fix; this does not include the likely fallout from shareholder lawsuits alleging that the video-card manufacturer deliberately withheld information on the scope of the chip flaws. [Via AppleInsider.]
Poll: Is iPhone firmware 2.1 breaking fetch for email accounts?
Just when you think you've escaped the darkened woods of firmware 2.0.2 and previous ilk, along comes 2.1, wrapped in faster-loading-contacts-finery to convince you all is well in the iPhone world. That isn't entirely the case, it seems, if you're user of POP or IMAP mail accounts which are set to fetch messages. Apparently, a maddening bug exists in the new software which -- in the interest of battery power conservation, we assume -- stops the device from pulling down new emails while sleeping... unless the phone happens to be plugged in and charging. An ever-growing thread on Apple's support forums has been barraged with reports of the problem, and editors here at Engadget have certainly felt the burn. So we're putting the question to you, dear readers (and hoping the folks in Cupertino are paying attention). Are you noticing email issues with firmware 2.1? Let us know in the poll below![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]%Poll-20616%
HDMI: how far it has come, and how far it has to go
Since launching in 2002, the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has become the de facto standard for high-def connectivity on Blu-ray players, HDTVs and pretty much any other set-top-box capable of outputting 720p or greater content. Six years in, the spec still has its fair share of issues, and Steve Venuti, President of HDMI Licensing, was recently kind enough to sit down and speak about them. Somewhat surprisingly, Steve mentioned that the biggest issue he hears about from installers is the inability to "lock" into gadgets. Granted, there are some third-party solutions to this problem, but the fact remains that the vast majority of HDMI cables won't have any sort of locking mechanism. The interview continues on down the paths of "handshake" problems related to HDCP authentication, protocol confusion (HDMI 1.3a/b/c) and the future of HDMI. If that sounds like just the thing you're interested in reading up on, you know where to find it.
Last round of BlizzCon tickets (Update: Sold Out)
The maintenance SCV is back for one more round of BlizzCon ticket selling. Here's hoping that if you haven't seen tickets yet, you'll get them in this final round.We'll keep an eye on what's happening here on this post -- feel free to comment if you're waiting for tickets, and if we see the sold out sign (or a notice from Blizzard that they're all gone), we'll let you know when to refresh. We don't know exactly how many tickets Blizzard wants to sell tonight, but we know it'll be less than they've sold so far, and actual selling time is less than an hour or so by our count. So these will likely go fast. Updates after the break.Update: At 11:21pm, the main site is reporting that tickets for BlizzCon are completely sold out.
N2 recall leaves Neonode reeling, pleading for patience
From the outside, it has been easy to assume that everything was humming along nicely at Neonode's California / Sweden-based offices. Based on a recent open letter issued by the interim CEO and chairman Per Bystedt (not to mention the earnings report), that is indeed not at all the case. Neonode has failed at meeting guidance and anticipated sales for this year, with a number of things partially to blame. For starters, it admittedly tried to enter "too many markets, too fast," and a recall of the N2 surrounding "reception issues" didn't make things any better. Bystedt confessed to having just south of $3 million of his own money invested in the outfit, while he asked for other shareholders to be patient as he attempted to right the ship. Best of luck to ya -- we hear it's a pretty tough sector. [Warning: PDF read link][Via RCRWireless]
Is your Samsung Instinct acting up?
At first, we figured our Instinct here at Engadget HQ had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but we're now receiving a flood of tips from individuals nationwide having the same issues. Put simply, it seems that certain data services are thoroughly borked, with our Weather app being unable to refresh for at least the past 18 hours (some are reporting even longer). Additionally, we're hearing that folks are having to manually refresh their email and deal with all sorts of error messages when attempting to use any of the data services. So, what gives? Are you having data-related issues with your Instinct? C'mon Sprint, this is your best-selling EV-DO device of all time -- it'd be nice to have it working for the weekend. Oh, and great job showing all those angered iPhone 3G users that your network doesn't have issues, too.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
WarCry interviews EVE Lead Designer Noah Ward about the CSM
EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management (CSM) is the title's first attempt at having elected representatives work with CCP Games on improving the game as well as the company's relations with its player base. The initial idea behind the CSM was that it would act as an oversight committee on behalf of the players, in the wake of the 'T20 incident' when a CCP developer unfairly provided a player corporation with certain resources. But this first CSM is largely tasked with improving the transparency of CCP's inner workings, while shaping the game to better fit the play styles of their constituency. The CSM has met online in recent weeks, and with mixed results, but they've now met in-person in Reykjavik, where they also had face-to-face time with the creators of EVE Online.Jordan Deam from WarCry interviewed EVE Online dev Noah Ward (aka CCP Hammerhead) about what this experiment in 'democratic community management' has yielded thus far, and what it may yet become. The interview focuses heavily on the dynamic between players wanting features added to the game and the undertaking necessary on CCP's part to make these changes a reality. Factional warfare has only just been realized in the game and was four years in the making. Ambulation, or 'Walking in Stations', is slated for a launch in the coming months, after three years of being in the pipeline, Ward said. Have a look at the WarCry interview, and decide for yourself if the CSM is living up to its potential, and if CCP is recapturing the transparency of a small, independent game company as it grows into a much larger entity.
EVE Evolved: Stellar council - one month on
Yesterday marked the one month anniversary of EVE Online's democratically elected Council of Stellar Management. The council was created as a way for the players to democratically decide which game issues are important enough to bring to CCP's attention. Since CCP are unable to sift through the forum for important topics, this gives a way for players to put forward their problems in a constructive manner. The council vote on whether each issue is important or not and compile a list to present to CCP. CCP have the final say in what issues from the list they think need to be addressed and will essentially be using the CSM to focus player feedback into a constructive form they can use.Since its inception, the CSM has been plagued with problems and disputes. From the beginning, it was clear that a surprisingly small proportion of the playerbase were interested in the whole thing. Only 11% of players voted and of those even fewer actively participate in presenting issues to the council. With such a low voting turnout from the general EVE populace, it was argued that organised alliance voting made up the majority of the votes. Disputes escalated to new heights with the conclusion of the third official CSM meeting but recent meetings have seen vast improvements across the board.At this one month anniversary, I look back on the problems that have plagued the council of stellar management and how they've been handled.
Scattered Shots: Hunter problems and predictions
Scattered Shots is for hunters. 'Nuff said on that topic. The Freezing Trap David was stuck in last week also wore off a little bit, thanks to Daniel, permitting him to write once more without his fingers snapping off from the cold.In the wake of the recent confusion regarding Scare Beast, once again some hunters have gotten to complaining a lot about the state of their class. While on one hand, there are certainly problematic issues hunters are having, it's really not fair to say that the class is broken. It isn't -- being a hunter is more fun than its ever been, and it looks like this class will only get better in the future.Nonetheless, looking at the problems we do have might give us a clearer sense of where we're going in the future. With more and more information coming out about Wrath of the Lich King, and especially since Blizzard started asking for feedback from hunters, it's worthwhile to have a look at what holes do exist for our class, and how future changes might seek to plug them up.
Pioneer and Hitachi post losses, point the finger at plasma
The most previous quarter is a sore subject for both Pioneer and Hitachi, as the pair of mega-corps have just posted substantial net losses. The latter announced a $559.3 million net loss, while the former said its net loss for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March widened to $287.2 million. Hitachi pointed at "large restructuring losses in its flat-screen-TV business" as the primary culprit, and it didn't predict a return to profit until the fiscal year ending March 2009. After experiencing the fourth straight year of losses, Pioneer even mentioned that it would "start talks with its unions to shed 300 jobs in Japan" along with closing two domestic plants following the pullout from PDP production. So yeah, we'd probably rethink that plan about jumping into the plasma production biz. [Warning: read link requires subscription]
Poll: Are you having technical issues with GTA IV?
We've heard about various reports of the technical problems with Grand Theft Auto IV. We're conducting a network-wide poll with our friends at X3F and PS3 Fanboy to see how the Joystiq community has been afflicted with the issues. After voting, please let us know your specific problems in the comments below. Are you having problems with Grand Theft Auto IV? Yes, and I use the Xbox 360 Yes, and I use the 60GB PS3 Yes, and I use the non-60GB PS3 (please specify in comments) No problem (Xbox 360) No problem (60GB PS3) No problem (non-60GB PS3; please specify in comments) Don't own the game, I just felt compelled to click something
Are OLPC XO keyboards having widespread problems?
The OLPC XO -- it's all rainbows, hugging, and laser beams of learning, right? Maybe not, kind reader. Apparently, users of the diminutive, educationally themed laptop are experiencing a rash of "stuck key" issues which are causing tons of headaches (and possibly some heartbreak as well). It seems that keys are becoming stuck in activated positions, and / or are being triggered by key presses nearby. The company is aware of the problem, but can't pinpoint a single cause, as the components are made by a variety of manufacturers. For now OLPC is asking customers to RMA the laptops so they can get the repairs they so desperately need, though we're not sure how this is going to play out in the developing areas where the XOs are being rolled out. Well, they can probably just take them to the hospital.
