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Engadget has a little story on how one man's creativity won him the attention of Dell. After five months of a broken laptop that wouldn't be fixed, he took it to court. From the article:

Instead of going through the normal process of sending the court papers to Dell's headquarters in Texas, Dori thought to have the papers delivered to a Dell shopping mall kiosk instead. Quite unsurprisingly, no-one from Dell turned up in court on the stipulated date, resulting in Dori winning a $3,000 default judgment and a ruling to allow bailiffs to close the kiosk and seize items if the judgment was not paid.

If you think about it, this is one great idea. The company will pay out in order to save the stand, and you then either: have the attention of the company which was the original intent, or the money needed to get a working computer. Too bad that it had to get all the way to the court system before anything happened.

Labels: Computer, Engadget, Legal

Apparently not even those on the inside are immune to the desire to download. Engadget reports that the CEO of Warner Music admits that his own kids pirate music. They also go on to mock him for what he says. How can you criminalize so many people for such an act, but act as though it doesn't happen when it is your own family.

Labels: Engadget, Legal, Music, Oddities, People

Engadget reports that Sony is actually losing money for every PS3 sold. I wonder if they will drive themselves to bankruptcy. From the article:

Turns out Sony will be losing change to the tune of $241.35 for every "premium" (WiFi and 60GB HDD) console, and a whoppin' $306.85 for the bargain-basement 20 gigger. In comparison, Microsoft loses $75.70 per 360 it sells, while Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank with a profit per Wii sold.

Interesting how one of the cheapest consoles (Wii) is the only one that is making any money. I also have to wonder if Sony had kept the whole Blu-Ray deal out PS3, would they still have so much of a loss.

Labels: Engadget, Games, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony

As I expected, Zune isn't exactly getting the best reviews, and in my opinion is becoming a flop. Microsoft seems to be lacking in the feature department, seeing as how this was supposed to outdo the iPod. Anyhow, here are some things to note from Engadget's reviews.

To start off with the install, they had a less than pleasant experience trying to keep the app from crashing. From the time they started the install, there was no control over the installation location, which they mention installs on the primary drive without even asking. They also point out the install often crashes if you choose the "wrong" choices. From a non-user perspective, it appears that Microsoft requires all kinds of info. You need a Zune tag, whatever that is, then you need a Windows live (.NET passport), then they still continue asking for more information including phone number. One of the stages requires them to login to their Zune, which from what I can tell, is just to access the music; that would become annoying quickly. It also seems to have self-recognition issues, as it can't notice that the Zune is plugged in.

They also today, today, review the device itself. To sum up; it is bulky, but larger in terms of screen. They mention that the WiFi is 3day/3play. The app, when syncing, still continued to crash their system. If you tried to sync, it often crashed, as well as when you try to change syncing options (anyone else notice a trend of lack of choice?). They also point out that if you want to resync, it requires that you unplug and plug it back in. They also say that it is a resource hog (in typical Microsoft fashion).

I suggest that you read their stuff, as I only really skimmed the surface in terms of what they had to say. They also loaded their reviews with pictures/screenshots as well.

Labels: Engadget, Microsoft, Technology, Zune

Engadget, the popular tech blog with a seemingly endless supply of information has done a complete overhaul of their website design. For the most part, it's pretty great to see the changes, but other things annoy me.

Starting with the good: the focus is more on the content. Right from the top of the page, it goes from the logo, straight into the first post. There is also a section just to the right that has features which are nice to put a little emphasis on big events, and not letting them fall off the page so quickly. Tags: they didn't really do anything with them other than an ocassional link in a post, but other than that you wouldn't know they existed, and now they get a least a little box. Engadget Mobile headlines are a good idea, seeing as how the banner was never enough to convince me to wander over there, now a headline may catch my eye.

The bad: width, while it is great, that is only to an extent. I don't like to have to read a line all the way across the page; narrow columns are easier. Column-wide images are just annoying. The way it is done, the browser will attempt to resize it, resulting in a terrible looking image.

Labels: Engadget

Over at Engadget they just post the new iPod shuffle. It is so small and sexy. This is something that I want, and I'm putting it on my Christmas list for this year.

I think that my music collection has the potential to be scaled down enough to fit on a 1GB mp3. My dad said that he would take my old mini if I got the shuffle, which is fine with me as it is ever losing battery life, and for all the more I use it, I could easily pass it off.

This will probably come back and bite me in the ass, but I think that the new shuffle will meet my needs for at least the next two years, and then I can get a new mp3 when I head off to college. Update: It did.

Labels: Apple, Engadget, iPod, Music, Technology