Two smokers recently sent their Macs to Apple to be repaired under the AppleCare warranty. Instead of the quick fix they were expecting, they received a curt reply from the company stating that the machines could not be repaired because of the effects of secondhand smoke on employees.
The first, a MacBook owner, was told that secondhand smoke violated the system’s warranty. Apple informed the second individual that her iMac was beyond economic repair because of the effects of cigarette tar– even though only one person in her household smokes. Nowhere in the AppleCare warranty terms is there a provision regarding smoking.
Installing an operating system takes long enough, but the tedious process of installing applications later on often takes longer. Thankfully, a new application for Windows called Ninite promises to speed the process up.
Ninite is a system admin’s dream come true. Dozens of free widely-used applications can be installed in just a few mouse clicks, including Firefox, Google Chrome, Audacity, iTunes, FileZilla, 7-Zip, uTorrent, Adobe Reader, Flash, VLC, and Open Office.
Best of all, it’s free for personal use. Features such as local and network caching are also available, but will soon be removed from the free version when a paid premium version is launched. No word on pricing is available yet, but considering how many man-hours it could save in an IT department, it looks like it will be a worthwhile investment.
Dell has always had a firm foothold in corporate markets. Now the company seems to have taken some cues from Apple iMac and will bring its own all-in-one computer to cubicles around the world.
Much about the Vostro All-in-One is still unknown. The $629 base model comes with a Pentium 2.6 GHZ processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 160 GB hard drive, and a DVD burner. All models will have a 19″ screen, though an integrated webcam, Wi-Fi, keyboard, and mouse are available as extras. The screen features a VESA mount so it can be mounted on a wall or rotating arm. The base in the picture looks pretty small, so my guess is it’s designed to be screwed down.
Dell claims the Vostro All-in-One saves up to 79% of desk space. It was conceived at the behest of business users, who said they wanted more space and increased productivity. The system will be available in North America and Europe starting August 11. It is already up for order in China and Japan.
In a Microsoft-esque move, Apple disabled syncing to the Palm Pre in iTunes with an update issued Wednesday. Now, anyone looking to use the Pre as an MP3 player will need look elsewhere for a program to load music onto the device.
Considering the majority of people use iTunes, this is a major handicap for the Pre. Apple is trying to push smartphone shoppers into buying the iPhone. Of course, Pre owners can always use another program to manage their music or drag-and-drop songs directly, but this would be a major inconvenience for those with large iTunes libraries.
Rather than try to improve its product and compete in fair manner, Apple is hurting users in order to increase iPhone sales. Like the only kid in the neighborhood with a basketball who takes it away halfway through a game when things don’t go his way, Cupertino is turning into quite the little bitch.
When Dell introduced the XPS M1530 nearly two years ago, it marked a significant change from the standard grey notebooks Dell had been shipping for some time.
Over the last few days, upgrade options for the notebook have been disappearing. Whereas the M1530 used to be available in red, blue, black, and pink, only the blue and pink are still available. Dell is still running advertisements on tech websites that the system can be upgraded with an Nvidia GeForce 8600, but the only video card upgrade available now is the puny 8400M GS. Optical drive selection is a bit lacking, too. Only one option is available- a Blu-ray/DVD/CD-write drive.
Dell is famous for slowly pruning upgrade options on models that are about ready to hit the chopping block. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see this model replaced in the next week or two. If you want one, order while it’s still available.
Maybe we will see a new 15.4″ XPS with aesthetics similar to the Studio XPS 16? Or it’s possible the axe could be permanent and Dell will instead lower the price of the Studio XPS to fill the market gap.
In an effort to appeal to cost-conscious consumers, Starbucks has announced the availability of its new VIA instant coffee starting March 3. The Seattle coffee giant, however, would be taken aback if you referred to its new product as “instant coffee,” claiming that VIA offers the same quality and taste regular whole bean brew.
VIA currently comes in two varieties: Italian and Columbo. It is currently only offered in select Seattle and Chicago Starbucks locations, and the company is out of free samples. There is no need to fret, however, as Starbucks has been generous enough to ship out some samples to PC Fastlane. Be on the lookout for a review next week. In the meantime, you’ll have to content yourself with the video above.
Many things happen on a daily basis across the web that are deserving of mention, but not important enough to warrant a story. Thankfully, Links of the Week is here to take care of the problem.
It is always interesting to know what your politicians are listening to. It gives you a pulse on their thinking, and their taste. This week according to VH1 we now get to know all about what is on Barack Obama’s Ipod playlist in the new issue of Rolling Stone.
Hewlett-Packard is currently on tap to release the TouchSmart IQ506 a second generation to the IQ770. The IQ506 promises easy access and a simple design with touch screen access that reminds me a bit of an IPod Touch. Read the rest of this entry »
In the race for the fastest browser, Mozilla is releasing Firefox 3 on June 17th. With more than 1 million people already pledging to download the new software on its release day, the campaign dubbed “Download Day“ could set a new Guinness World Record as the most downloaded software within 24 hours of launch.
PC Fastlane is a technology blog that keeps up-to-date with the latest happenings in the world of bits and bytes. The brain child of computer enthusiast Daniel Foster, the site has been around for more than two years and has been viewed by hundreds of thousands worldwide.
Read more about us here.
Installing an operating system takes long enough, but the tedious process of installing applications later on often takes longer. Thankfully, a new application for 
