According to company memorandums and other documents recently unsealed in a civil case against Dell in Federal District Court in North Carolina, Dell appears to have suffered from the bad capacitors, made by a company called Nichicon, far more than its rivals. Internal documents show that Dell shipped at least 11.8 million computers from May 2003 to July 2005 that were at risk of failing because of the faulty components. These were Dell’s OptiPlex desktop computers — the company’s mainstream products sold to business and government customers.
Category: General Tech
Palm Drops App Submission Fees
Dieter Bohn at PreCentral has posted this letter from Palm:
These are exciting times for Palm and our developer community. The Hot Apps promotion that we kicked off back in February is about to end with over 400 developers receiving a share of a million dollars. We recently launched the Summer Half Off promotion—a 50% discount for nearly every app in our catalog that was funded by Palm; developers still get their full earnings for each sale, but customers get half off. And we’re just getting started.
Empire Hotline Recordings Found
Fans old enough to remember the days before the Empire struck back in 1980 might recall a little-known promotion launched in the months preceding the first Star Wars sequel. As reported in the Spring 1980 issue of Bantha Tracks – the original Star Wars Fan Club newsletter – a telephone hotline was set up to allow callers to dial in and hear teasers for The Empire Strikes Back several months before the film’s release.
On Consulting
The always-amusing John Welch:
I can tell you that sysadmin consultants rarely get called in under good circumstances. Sometimes, but that’s only when you have a client who realizes they don’t have internal expertise, and need shit done quickly, too quickly to get it done in house. Those are the best, because there’s no hurt feelings, and you’re not a cover for intercine office wars.
That’s what we all want. No dicking around, no hurt feelings, no drama. You know my skills, I know your problem, we get shit fixed quickly, and everyone’s happy.
Behind the Scenes at iFixIt
Mark Milian of the Los Angeles Times:
In April, on the Friday-afternoon launch of Apple’s tablet computer equipped with an AT&T 3G Internet chip, Wiens and co-founder Luke Soules arrived at the Apple Store a mile and a half away from their office just before the 5 p.m. sale. They were surprised to find a line there even though it was just an upgrade.
Not even a month earlier, Wiens and Soules were scrambling to be the first to put an iPad under the microscope — both figuratively and literally; they use a $1,000 scientific instrument for analyzing miniature parts.
The Crux of It
Andy Ihnatko, in his review of iOS 4:
Many of iOS 4’s “new” features are old hat on other phones. Custom screen wallpaper! Bluetooth keyboards! A built-in way to move random documents on and off the device! Multitasking! They’re wonderful! And they’re also features you could get in most phones since well before the first iPhone hit the market.
Which is par for the course for Apple products. Historically, they’d rather say “we did this feature exactly right” than “we did this feature before anybody else.” That’s a very correct and user-focused attitude, best illustrated by the way the iPhone handles cut-and-paste. It just plain works, and it works the exact same way in every iPhone app that wasn’t written by idiots. When I cut-and-paste in Android, there’s always that Christmas Morning sort of excitement, as I wait to see exactly how, or if, it’s going to work in this particular instance.
Adobe Flash Almost Ready for Mobile Devices
Already one of the top free apps on Android Market today, Flash Player 10.1 will be available as a final production release for smart phones and tablets once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2 “Froyo.”
It’s funny to me that people have been attacking Apple for years about not having Flash running on iOS. This was posted just two days ago over at Adobe’s website — a final version of Flash for mobile devices isn’t even shipping yet.
On Pixar and Easter Eggs
‘The Most Important Downside’
Walt Mossberg, in his review of the iPhone 4:
The most important downside of the iPhone 4 is that, in the U.S., it’s shackled to AT&T, which not only still operates a network that has trouble connecting and maintaining calls in many cities, but now has abandoned unlimited, flat-rate data plans. Apple needs a second network.
Apple and the War on Conflict Minerals
The following article was written by my younger brother, Mark Christopher Hackett, for Operation Broken Silence, the anti-genocide organization he founded in 2007.
In 2006, I, like many others, purchased an Apple laptop. At the same time I was purchasing what has been a very valuable product to me, a woman was getting raped in eastern Congo every few seconds. Like everyone else, I had no idea. At the time of my purchase, Apple also posted what was then the second highest quarter in terms of sales in Apple history.
Simperium Forms Around Simplenote
Simplenote — the simple, polished note syncing software for the Mac, web, iPhone and iPad — has just been given a new lease on life:
We’ve decided to focus full time on Simplenote. Henceforth, we’re elevating Simplenote from its humble status as one of several side projects to the lofty position of core product and service.
This has several implications. Administratively, and less importantly, we founded a new company. Simplenote is now brought to you by Simperium (@simperium on Twitter). So when you see the name Simperium here and there, don’t worry: we’re the same people.
NY Times Documents Foxccon Worker’s Day
Mr. Yuan (pronounced yu-wen) wakes at 6:10 p.m. at his small apartment, a 20-minute walk from Foxconn’s campus. He arrives at the factory at 6:50 for a quick free meal at the canteen, then starts work at 7:30.
His task is to help complete 1,600 hard drives — his workshop’s daily quota — and to make sure every one is perfect. Seated in the middle of the assembly line in his black Foxconn sports shirt, cotton slacks and company-mandated white plastic slippers, he waits for the conveyor belt to deliver a partly assembled rectangular hard drive to his station. He places two plastic chips inside the drive’s casing, inserts a device that redirects light in the drive and then fastens four screws with an electric screwdriver before sending the drive down the line. He has exactly one minute to complete the multistep task.