Reliability Archive

  • You get what you pay for, with SSDs and just about everything else

    You get what you pay for, with SSDs and just about everything else

    Posted on March 12, 2010 | No Comments
    My aunt called last night to ask about a laptop she saw advertised in the weekly circular. It had most of the features she wanted, and was priced lower via the ad than she'd seen online for a similarly configured laptop. This led to a brief discussion of name brand preferences for laptops, and the price differences between them. I had to explain to my aunt that you get what you pay for: a laptop is made up of lots of little parts, each available from a variety of OEMs and distributors. Different brand name laptops use different OEMs and distributors for their parts, so the quality of the individual components inside the laptops vary wildly. Generally speaking, better quality parts cost a bit more, but provide better performance and better reliability. A recent study from DRAMeXchange Technology (who?!) proves this point as it relates to solid state drives.

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  • The just-announced Corsair Reactor and Nova product lines are SSDs, not UFP starships

    The just-announced Corsair Reactor and Nova product lines are SSDs, not UFP starships

    Posted on February 26, 2010 | No Comments
    Corsair isn't a new player in the SSD game, but it has some new entries for your consideration. The Reactor and Nova series are both solid performers, but offer slightly different benefits for different users. While the speedy Nova series zips files along at 270MB/s (read) and 195MB/s (write) thanks to the Indilinx Bareboot controller, the Reactor models have slightly slower speeds of 250/170MB/s but has a USB 2.0 connector built-in for added connectivity.

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  • BlackBerry service acting a fool today?

    BlackBerry service acting a fool today?

    Posted on December 28, 2009 | No Comments
    We've gotten sporadic reports today that BlackBerry service -- possibly just BIS -- has been down for at least a period today, which would amazingly mark the fourth time a serious outage has occurred in RIM's fortress in just the past several weeks. That's bad for any device, but it's particularly tragic for a platform that has staked its reputation on reliability. What's everyone seeing out there right now?

    [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

    BlackBerry service acting a fool today? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Judge sides with Telus, says Rogers’ ‘most reliable’ claim reeks of half-truths

    Judge sides with Telus, says Rogers’ ‘most reliable’ claim reeks of half-truths

    Posted on November 24, 2009 | No Comments
    Wireless networks in the States have a storied history of throwing fits over each others' "most" and "best" claims -- and now they're really getting into it up north, too, seeing how Telus just lit up a shiny new 21Mbps HSPA network that seems to be matching or besting Rogers' existing infrastructure in many ways. As is all too often the case, the spat has ended up down in the court system where Telus is bellyaching that Rogers' claims of running "Canada's most reliable" and "fastest" airwaves have been invalid as of November 5, when its competing hardware went live (funny -- and telling -- that it didn't bother levying any complaints back in the CDMA days). Anyhow, a judge has just ruled -- apparently after analyzing paperwork filed by both sides -- that "the present network technology is at least equivalent between Rogers and Telus," invalidating Rogers' reliability claim. Rogers isn't too happy about this (though they've tiptoed away from speed claims in their latest advertising, smartly) and intends to appeal with new courtroom drama getting ready to roll on Friday. So, we turn it over to our Canadian readers: who's really offering the best service right now in the trenches?

    Judge sides with Telus, says Rogers' 'most reliable' claim reeks of half-truths originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Mobile contacts backup solution IDrive Lite gets an upgrade

    Mobile contacts backup solution IDrive Lite gets an upgrade

    Posted on September 16, 2009 | No Comments
    IDrive Lite is easily one of my favorite iPhone applications. It backs up my contacts to the cloud so I don't have to worry about losing that vital information were I to lose the device or accidentally drop it into a river (don't ask), it works like a charm and it's absolutely free. And today the company behind the app, Pro Softnet Corporation, made the tool even more useful. IDrive Lite for iPhone and Blackberry (links go to respective app stores) got upgraded with a number of reliability and performance fixes, and now allows you to restore contacts that you saved to a different device.

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  • Usenet deals abound for Verizon customers: Giganews, NewsDemon

    Usenet deals abound for Verizon customers: Giganews, NewsDemon

    Posted on September 2, 2009 | No Comments
    Come September 30, Verizon will completely drop Usenet access. (It had already been limiting access for some time now.) To that end, a number of Usenet providers, including Giganews and Newsdemon, have special deals set up for Verizon users to make the hurting stop.

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  • Duracell announces myGrid, new product offerings

    Duracell announces myGrid, new product offerings

    Posted on August 20, 2009 | No Comments
    Duracell announced a few new products today, the most interesting of the lot is the "myGrid" charging device. It appears to make inductive charging convenient for almost any device you might have, which seems like a really good idea.

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  • Japanese researchers work on 1,000-year memory device

    Japanese researchers work on 1,000-year memory device

    Posted on June 22, 2009 | No Comments
    Hard disks and recording media to store data are great and all, but especially for sensitive information (such as corporate data) longevity and reliability are major problems. The usual recording media existing on the market last for a few decades max, but now Japan tries to develop a device that stores data for a thousand years.

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