After recent reports that the Xbox 360 has a failure rate of 30%, one EB Games associate (their level in the company totem pole not clear) said this:
Failure rates for all other consoles were not high enough for EB to consider revising their policies. Most other console systems have a failure rate of less than one percent, including the PlayStation 3.
Sure, it helps that few people are actually playing their PS3s due to a lackluster game library, but you just don’t hear about PS3s breaking—while at a recent Nintendo gaming event a gaming journalist confessed to me that half his magazine’s staff had to replace their Xbox 360s. The bottom line: Sony builds solid products and keeps manufacturing in-house. Microsoft farms out each component to the lowest bidder, and the practice is hurting consumers.
Failure Rate [via Digg]
Using a laser flash of only 40 billionths of a millionth of a second, scientists have learned how to alter the magnetism of one bit of hard drive disc 100x faster than technologies on the market today do—meaning hard drive writing speeds would increase proportionally. This technological leap is due to heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) in which photons are used alter polarity. But any too-good-to-be-true technology has its caveats…
First off, the demonstrated recording area runs 5 microns in width, which is approximately 10 times wider than current recording areas (meaning drives couldn’t hold as much information). Also, in a supreme case of irony, this new technology will do nothing to affect reading speeds, meaning that accessing the written information won’t see a speed boost. Still, we’re always hopeful of new innovations on existing media formats.
Lasers Could Make HDs 100 Times Faster [InfoWorld]
While many Americans have simply been trying to find the ebony Xbox 360 in stock, Microsoft has been making plans to hold its breath and launch the special edition console in Japan.
If you’ve noticed, Microsoft has had quite the time trying to convince the Japanese to actually give the standard Xbox 360 a shot, but apparently there’s hope that (yet another) flashy bundle will drum up business.
Of course, the obvious standout here is the launch price, which will drop in at some $89 below what we Americans are forced to pay.
Still, the Â¥47,800 ($390) sticker shouldn’t take anyone by surprise, as Microsoft already introduced the Xbox 360 Core system to this same market for a lesser price than that seen in North America.
Anywho, for those interested (and living in Japan), be sure to mark you calendars for October 11th.
More information [Via Joystiq]
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If carrying around an extra laptop battery isn’t enough, take a look at this Proporta Portable Laptop Battery. It’s an external battery which has multiple types of connectors to fit all sorts of laptops, but also has the capability to charge USB gadgets as well.
With the somewhat generous 6000mAh charge, you can make sure both your iPod and your Lenovo is juiced up enough for whatever it is you have to have your laptop for. Yahoo Pool in the wilderness, we suppose.
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Product Page [Proporta via Crunchgear]
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As Villu’s on holiday this week, and so probably very busy drinking mojitos or sleeping, I thought I’d pop in to let you know about the new 3.5 Beta version of Skype for Windows.
It includes a number of new features and fixes a range of previous problems. However, as Raul points out over at the Skype Garage blog, this Beta version is only intended for use by those of you who don’t mind a few rough edges — it isn’t perfect yet 
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Get 3.5 Beta
If you’re keen to try it out, go ahead and download the updated Beta version of Skype.
It’d be great to hear your feedback on the new features — contact us on the Skype 3.5 Beta forum or, for the more technically minded, in our public issue tracker Jira.
Skype 3.5 Beta
More information [Skype]
Those looking to snag a new lappie while not breaking the bank may not be inclined to look Lenovo’s way, but the budget-minded 3000 N200 just may provide the rigidity and oomph you need for just over a grand.
Making sure your hard-earned dollars don’t go to waste is TrustedReviews, who has taken the time to break down this newfangled machine and even post benchmarks for your analyzing pleasure.
Initial impressions seemed to harp on the relatively modest innards, a keyboard that was deemed just “sufficient,” and the trackpad buttons that were actually compared to “putting your fingers in jelly.”
Nevertheless, the N200’s display was dubbed the best they’d seen on a lappie of this caliber, and it was said to be a satisfactory choice for those needing a basic business-oriented machine on the (somewhat) cheap.
For those still hangin’ in there, be sure to visit the final page of the writeup for the benchmarking results.
More information [TrustedReviews]
Según las declaraciones de un grupo de hackers, conseguirán que el iPhone de Apple sea liberado en menos de una semana. En caso de ser verdad, ya podemos prepararnos para una avalancha de ventas aún mayor.
Precisamente el tener que suscribir un contrato con AT&T es la razón de que muchos norteamericanos no cuenten con un iPhone, pero la hipotética liberación del mismo ofrecerÃa a estos usuarios todo lo necesario para comprarlo si asà lo desean.
En una conversación reciente en IRC un grupo de hackers comunicó que “Creemos que será sencillo. Tenemos informes de que los ingenieros que desarrollaron el iPhone procedÃan de otras empresas de fabricación de móviles, y conocemos esas técnicas de diseño realmente bien” dijo uno de sus representantes, apodado gj.
“Y ‘fácil’ significa que lo lograremos en una semana”, añadió.
Ya hay formas de activar el iPhone sin contactar con AT&T, lo que permite usar las funciones del iPod del dispositivo. Hablamos de ello ayer, aunque sin duda esta nueva opción incrementarÃa el interés por un dispositivo que ya ha causado toda una revolución en el mercado.
Más información [PC World]
