Apple drops to number two in reliability

Apple drops to number two in reliability

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, Hardware

RescueCom is a company that provides tech support and help from a 1-800 number, and they've released the latest version of their computer reliability report. This thing is actually pretty well done -- it examines just which brands and makes of computers are getting the most support calls, and then compares it to the average US market share for each brand. For example, if XYZ brand computers are getting a lot of calls, but they're also selling like hotcakes, it won't rate quite as high as ABC brand, which is only selling a few computers, almost all of which are breaking down.

There's bad news, however, for Apple, in this quarter's report: they've fallen to spot number two. For the overall year of 2008, Apple reigned supreme in terms of reliability. But in the first quarter of this year, Asus and IBM's Lenovo have had their numbers rise above -- both of their shares of the US market are smaller than Apple's 6%, according to this report, but Apple's 2% of calls to RescueCom still means Asus and IBM/Lenovo have them beat in overall reliability. Unfortunately, they don't show us the fun side of the chart: HP/Compaq end up in the fifth spot, but their 17.9% of all the calls to RescueCom is only the fifth most reliable, not the worst.

Apple still probably doesn't have too much to worry about -- as Wired notes, these are only quarterly scores, and don't forget that this is the quarter in which many people were still learning how to use their iPhones, iPod touches, and the App Store. But this might be an early sign that as Apple grows, it'll be tougher for them to guarantee reliability in their products.

TUAWApple drops to number two in reliability originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AMD Will Launch its Radeon HD 4890 on April 2nd

It is on April 2nd that AMD/ATI will officially launch the new flagship, the Radeon HD 4890, which should be immediately available.

Without bringing any deep modifications, when compared to the Radeon HD 4870 recently made available for Mac Pro owners, the Radeon HD 4890 brings an average 10% performance gain. This is mostly achieved by increasing both GPU and memory frequencies. In addition, some early tests have shown that this graphic card can easily and stably be overclocked. Some sites claim to have pushed the GPU fequency to 1 GHz instead of the default 850 MHz. The best news is most probably its price, as it should be around 250 USD. If one can find a way to flash this GPU with the bios from a Mac edition card, the Radeon HD 4890 might also become popular among Mac users, especially for those who do not need the DisplayPort output.

AppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part III

Filed under: Features, How-tos, AppleScript

So far in this AppleScript feature we've covered what folder actions are and how to create them. In this AppleScript post, I'm going to tell you how to create your own custom scripts and add them to your folder actions list.

If you work with file permissions a lot, then you know how crazy it can get when you need to change a ton of files to their correct permission types. With this AppleScript folder action, you can easily change the permissions just by dragging and dropping files in their correct folder.

Creating the Script
To get started, we'll open the Script Editor (located in /Applications/Utilities). Once you have the editor opened, copy/paste the following script:

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
tell application "Finder"
set fold_name to the name of this_folder
try
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in added_items
set new_item to item i of added_items
set the item_path to the quoted form of the POSIX path of new_item
do shell script ("/bin/chmod -R +r " & item_path)
end repeat
end try
end tell
end adding folder items to

This script will change the dropped files to a permission of "0644" meaning that everyone can read the file. For information about chmod and command line permissions strings, visit the Wikipedia page.

Continue reading to learn more about this AppleScript and folder actions.

Continue reading AppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part III

TUAWAppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part III originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone App Refund Policies Could Bankrupt Developers
We reported yesterday about Apple’s alleged delay in payments to iPhone app developers, but there is more alarming news from iPhone developers about Apple’s refund policies.

iShoot goes 2.0, adds networked play

Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store

When your simple-yet-addictive tank shooting game blasts its way to the top of the App Store sales charts and earns you a reasonable fraction of a cool million bucks, what do you do for an encore? Developer Ethan Nicholas has released iShoot 2.0, adding much-requested features to the $2.99 artillery battle (the free iShoot Lite remains unchanged).

The new version of iShoot (App Store) adds plenty of customization options, including a weapon designer, new rulesets and rule editor, background music -- and a local LAN network play option, allowing you to blast 3 of your friends over WiFi whenever you like. Check it out.

TUAWiShoot goes 2.0, adds networked play originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Lite-On to Launch 24x DVD Burners in Europe

Lite-On started distributing in Europe a new series of DVD burners. Beside this new record in performance, Lite-On brings also new features to make its units defferent than models from competitors. One of hte feature is the new technology Smarterase.

It allows users to definitely burn and erase a disc without any chance of recovery of hte storeed data, as the laser burns deeply all tracks.

Two new models will also arrive in May. The first one will be compatible with the LightScribe technology, while the second will support LabelTag.

This new process allows you to burn letters on hte data stirage side of the disc. It will reduce the capacity of the disc, but it will not require specific media.

Apple drops to number two in reliability

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, Hardware

RescueCom is a company that provides tech support and help from a 1-800 number, and they've released the latest version of their computer reliability report. This thing is actually pretty well done -- it examines just which brands and makes of computers are getting the most support calls, and then compares it to the average US market share for each brand. For example, if XYZ brand computers are getting a lot of calls, but they're also selling like hotcakes, it won't rate quite as high as ABC brand, which is only selling a few computers, almost all of which are breaking down.

There's bad news, however, for Apple, in this quarter's report: they've fallen to spot number two. For the overall year of 2008, Apple reigned supreme in terms of reliability. But in the first quarter of this year, Asus and IBM's Lenovo have had their numbers rise above -- both of their shares of the US market are smaller than Apple's 6%, according to this report, but Apple's 2% of calls to RescueCom still means Asus and IBM/Lenovo have them beat in overall reliability. Unfortunately, they don't show us the fun side of the chart: HP/Compaq end up in the fifth spot, but their 17.9% of all the calls to RescueCom is only the fifth most reliable, not the worst.

Apple still probably doesn't have too much to worry about -- as Wired notes, these are only quarterly scores, and don't forget that this is the quarter in which many people were still learning how to use their iPhones, iPod touches, and the App Store. But this might be an early sign that as Apple grows, it'll be tougher for them to guarantee reliability in their products.

TUAWApple drops to number two in reliability originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AMD Will Launch its Radeon HD 4890 on April 2nd

It is on April 2nd that AMD/ATI will officially launch the new flagship, the Radeon HD 4890, which should be immediately available.

Without bringing any deep modifications, when compared to the Radeon HD 4870 recently made available for Mac Pro owners, the Radeon HD 4890 brings an average 10% performance gain. This is mostly achieved by increasing both GPU and memory frequencies. In addition, some early tests have shown that this graphic card can easily and stably be overclocked. Some sites claim to have pushed the GPU fequency to 1 GHz instead of the default 850 MHz. The best news is most probably its price, as it should be around 250 USD. If one can find a way to flash this GPU with the bios from a Mac edition card, the Radeon HD 4890 might also become popular among Mac users, especially for those who do not need the DisplayPort output.

AppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part III

Filed under: Features, How-tos, AppleScript

So far in this AppleScript feature we've covered what folder actions are and how to create them. In this AppleScript post, I'm going to tell you how to create your own custom scripts and add them to your folder actions list.

If you work with file permissions a lot, then you know how crazy it can get when you need to change a ton of files to their correct permission types. With this AppleScript folder action, you can easily change the permissions just by dragging and dropping files in their correct folder.

Creating the Script
To get started, we'll open the Script Editor (located in /Applications/Utilities). Once you have the editor opened, copy/paste the following script:

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
tell application "Finder"
set fold_name to the name of this_folder
try
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in added_items
set new_item to item i of added_items
set the item_path to the quoted form of the POSIX path of new_item
do shell script ("/bin/chmod -R +r " & item_path)
end repeat
end try
end tell
end adding folder items to

This script will change the dropped files to a permission of "0644" meaning that everyone can read the file. For information about chmod and command line permissions strings, visit the Wikipedia page.

Continue reading to learn more about this AppleScript and folder actions.

Continue reading AppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part III

TUAWAppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part III originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone App Refund Policies Could Bankrupt Developers
We reported yesterday about Apple’s alleged delay in payments to iPhone app developers, but there is more alarming news from iPhone developers about Apple’s refund policies.

iShoot goes 2.0, adds networked play

Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store

When your simple-yet-addictive tank shooting game blasts its way to the top of the App Store sales charts and earns you a reasonable fraction of a cool million bucks, what do you do for an encore? Developer Ethan Nicholas has released iShoot 2.0, adding much-requested features to the $2.99 artillery battle (the free iShoot Lite remains unchanged).

The new version of iShoot (App Store) adds plenty of customization options, including a weapon designer, new rulesets and rule editor, background music -- and a local LAN network play option, allowing you to blast 3 of your friends over WiFi whenever you like. Check it out.

TUAWiShoot goes 2.0, adds networked play originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Lite-On to Launch 24x DVD Burners in Europe

Lite-On started distributing in Europe a new series of DVD burners. Beside this new record in performance, Lite-On brings also new features to make its units defferent than models from competitors. One of hte feature is the new technology Smarterase.

It allows users to definitely burn and erase a disc without any chance of recovery of hte storeed data, as the laser burns deeply all tracks.

Two new models will also arrive in May. The first one will be compatible with the LightScribe technology, while the second will support LabelTag.

This new process allows you to burn letters on hte data stirage side of the disc. It will reduce the capacity of the disc, but it will not require specific media.