Frustration Archive

  • Apple: Sorry about all the failed iPhone 4 pre-orders, but we definitely had a good day

    Apple: Sorry about all the failed iPhone 4 pre-orders, but we definitely had a good day

    Posted on June 16, 2010 | No Comments
    Apple just released a tiny little message about its 600,000 pre-orders. First, it crowed that it got 600,000 pre-orders and then it apologized for, um, sucking the life out of the economy while people at work kept pressing the “Continue” button over and over again in a Skinner-esque effort to make the damn site work. [...]

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  • iPhone 4 pre-orderers overwhelm servers, world on the brink of ending

    iPhone 4 pre-orderers overwhelm servers, world on the brink of ending

    Posted on June 15, 2010 | No Comments
    Look up at the sky -- is it falling? It sure seems as if that kind of doom is imminent, at least if this whole iPhone 4 pre-order situation is any indication of future tragedy. We've received hundreds of tips this morning from friends near and far that iPhone 4 pre-orders aren't going through, though a few of us here on staff were able to get a confirmation during the wee hours of the morning. From AT&T in the US to O2 over in the UK, it seems that just about everyone ambling to get their name on a future iPhone 4 is experiencing a great deal of frustration. AT&T's servers seem to be completely hosed here in America, and since Apple's own online order process has to ping those to check on your contract status, neither option is... um, working. Those who decided to line up at a local store are facing similar issues; employees aren't even able to fully process pre-orders in store due to systems being overwhelmed, and no one seems to exactly know when things will be back to normal. And you thought the most enraging part of this was the inability to select a white model. Let us know how your experience has been in the poll and comments below, won't you?

    Update: So, it sounds like Best Buy is taking pre-orders (even for white units), but chances are remarkably high that you're not actually getting in any line. Still, it's a working option for the moment. In other news, the Apple Store app is seeming to allow iPhone 4 orders, but it looks as if they're reserving off-contract phones (read: full price ones), so we'd only recommend this avenue if you enjoy things like "arguing about contract dates" and "yelling at brick walls." We're guessing you'll be doing both on the 24th.

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    iPhone 4 pre-orderers overwhelm servers, world on the brink of ending originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Android 2.2 sets Android 2.1 on fire. From the friction. Because it’s so fast.

    Android 2.2 sets Android 2.1 on fire. From the friction. Because it’s so fast.

    Posted on May 12, 2010 | No Comments
    Man oh man. While it may just be benchmark scores at this point, this kind of speed increase is nothing to snuff at. Ian Douglas has run some benchmarks on his Froyo-powered Nexus One, and it's scoring almost 5 times better. To be a bit more specific, an Eclair-powered Nexus One usually scores around 6-7 MFLOPS in Linpack benchmarks, but this shiny new Froyo build delivers a blistering 38-40 MFLOPS.

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  • Gadgets of Days Gone By: A very mighty VCR tape collection

    Gadgets of Days Gone By: A very mighty VCR tape collection

    Posted on May 4, 2010 | No Comments
    var AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000'; var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'CCCCCC'; var AdBrite_URL_Color = '008000'; try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';} document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=2053203&zs=3436385f3630&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62)); So it’s blast from the past week or whatever here at CrunchGear, and I decided to highlight my very fancy VCR tape collection. Boy...

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  • Amazon’s convenient packaging hates hard drives

    Amazon’s convenient packaging hates hard drives

    Posted on March 30, 2010 | No Comments
    I like Amazon's "frustration free" packaging. When I ordered my copy of Command & Conquer 4, it came in that easy to open package, and it makes sense: why put a dvd in a box with a bag of air, and waste all that shipping? Would I trust a hard drive to that packaging? No way in hell.

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  • Mobile web may beat out mobile apps in the long run

    Mobile web may beat out mobile apps in the long run

    Posted on February 3, 2010 | No Comments
    Taptu, the mobile search solution, has been keeping an eye on the mobile web -- specifically what they're calling the mobile touch web, which I guess is slightly different from the non-touch mobile web -- and has produced a fairly comprehensive report of their findings. Of particular interest is the fact that "there are a higher proportion of shopping and services sites on the mobile touch Web (20%) compared to Apple’s App Store (3.6%)." According to Taptu, this is because "the mobile touch Web provides the opportunity for direct-to-consumer billing."

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  • Apple, here, this is the iPad we wanted

    Apple, here, this is the iPad we wanted

    Posted on January 29, 2010 | No Comments
    It seems so elementary to all of us around CrunchGear’s HQ that the iPad should have had three simple features: a camera, SD card slot, and external battery indicator. I mean, the iPad missed the mark by a lot in many areas, but it’s just silly that Apple didn’t included those items. I won’t bother [...]

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  • Rubik’s Cube: Celebrating 30 years of frustration

    Rubik’s Cube: Celebrating 30 years of frustration

    Posted on January 25, 2010 | No Comments
    I have a confession to make. I've never been able to solve a Rubik's cube. I had a solved one in my office for years, but its one I bought at the store, removed from the package, and put on the shelf. Everything was fine until my son got hold of it, and jumbled it up for me.

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  • Motorola Droid and Dell Adamo latest to get Gorilla glass

    Motorola Droid and Dell Adamo latest to get Gorilla glass

    Posted on December 23, 2009 | No Comments
    Corning's darn-near-impenetrable Gorilla glass certainly isn't new -- in fact, we spied it in a few of Motion Computing's tablets just a few months ago -- but it's still not commonplace on mainstream gizmos. Yet. SmartPlanet sat down with Dr. Donnell Walton, senior applications engineer at Corning, in order to discuss the merits of the display technology as well as its importance in the gadget space. The discussion also mentioned that both Motorola's Droid and Dell's Adamo (not to mention Cowon's S9 PMP) are sporting the glass, which acts to make displays "damage-resistant." Not surprisingly, the company is seeing huge demand in the smartphone arena, where touchscreen-centric phones are being shoved into pockets at random and then costing manufacturers big bucks as return rates creep up. It's a pretty interesting read if you're into that type of thing, and yes, we did just give you permission to try and split your Droid display wide open in a moment of frustration. Just don't count on Motorola to accept that as a valid excuse for your RMA.

    [Thanks, Jeff]

    Motorola Droid and Dell Adamo latest to get Gorilla glass originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Nook shipments pushed back again? Nearly impossible to cancel orders?

    Nook shipments pushed back again? Nearly impossible to cancel orders?

    Posted on December 18, 2009 | No Comments
    We just got a troubling tip from a concerned Nook buyer. I say buyer because he still hasn't received his Nook. He ordered the Barnes & Noble ebook reader on November 12 and the device was originally supposed to ship on November 30th. But you may recall that date was pushed back to December 11th Frustrated by the delay, he successfully completed the cancellation process on BN.com only to get an email several hours later that stated his order cannot be canceled because it "has entered the shipping process" even though according to B&N's own website, the Nook will not ship for another three days. Now that's some bull.

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  • iPhone 3G and 3G S officially getting MMS on September 25

    iPhone 3G and 3G S officially getting MMS on September 25

    Posted on September 3, 2009 | No Comments
    After months of speculation (and frustration) MMS for the iPhone 3G and 3G S is officially arriving on September 25, AT&T has confirmed. This is a full 3 days after summer officially ends (AT&T's original deadline was "late summer") as our own MG pointed out earlier today, but like a lot of things with Apple/AT&T, better late than never.

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  • AT&T iPhone 3G and 3G S officially getting MMS on September 25

    AT&T iPhone 3G and 3G S officially getting MMS on September 25

    Posted on September 3, 2009 | No Comments
    After months of speculation (and frustration) MMS for the iPhone 3G and 3G S is officially arriving on September 25, AT&T has confirmed. This is a full 3 days after summer officially ends (AT&T's original deadline was "late summer") as our own MG pointed out earlier today, but like a lot of things with Apple/AT&T, better late than never. AT&T posted the following comments on its Facebook page:

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  • Sort of live at the Panasonic press conference at IFA

    Sort of live at the Panasonic press conference at IFA

    Posted on September 3, 2009 | No Comments
    I was sitting quietly in the Panasonic Press conference when I discovered that Sprint was releasing the Hero so I ran back to the press room. I’m glad I did. The other ninjas I’m here with Gartenberg and Rubin, are Twittering from the conference and I think this slide shows exactly what you can expect [...]

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  • Employees hate IT

    Employees hate IT

    Posted on August 27, 2009 | No Comments
    The IT CrowdSlate's Farhad Manjoo has thrown down the gauntlet by comparing IT workers to the hated TSA goons at airports. I, for one, won't stand to have my hard work besmirched in such a way! Sure, there are some power-hungry jerks working in IT, taking great delight in causing consternation and frustration to hapless users. But not all IT folks are like that.

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  • Facebook App Developer To Apple: Tear Down This App Store Wall

    Facebook App Developer To Apple: Tear Down This App Store Wall

    Posted on August 25, 2009 | No Comments
    Apple has been working overtime recently to right some of the App Store wrongs, led by none other than Senior VP Phil Schiller. And having exposed some App Store approval process secrets in its letter to the FCC, everything should be all hunky dory in the App Store now, right? Wrong. It's hard to remember an app in recent memory that has been anticipated more than Facebook's new 3.0 version of its iPhone app. How do I know? You should see my Facebook inbox from people who have hunted me down knowing that I have it since I reviewed it. Unfortunately, I can't give it to anyone because it's a version tied specifically to my iPhone (so stop emailing!). It's been a week and a half since Facebook engineer Joe Hewitt submitted the app to the App Store, and the wait time frustration is not only getting to the users, but to Hewitt himself, as he made clear in a blog post tonight. Simply put, Hewitt's post is a must-read because he makes a range of excellent points in a fairly condensed space. We'll simply highlight some of the larger ones.

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