Early Adopters Experiencing More Bugs? 129
As the pressure to push out new technology product continues, early adopters are continuing to experience trouble. A reader wrote to mention a USA Today article about some recent new product problems. From the article: "Philips Electronics revealed Friday that it is recalling 11,800 plasma television sets. The Ambilight TVs were sold in the USA from June 2005 to January 2006 for $3,000 to $5,000. Faulty capacitors inside the sets can spark. Nine incidents have been reported, but retardant material inside the TVs has prevented any fires, spokeswoman Katrina Blauvelt says. The problem is not expected to affect other brands, because it is a part related to Philips' unique Ambilight feature, which casts a colored glow on the wall behind the TV."
Ambilight! (Score:5, Funny)
This Ambilight technology is off the hook! Look at that red glow and flame effect it has on my wall! Technology is amazing! Now movies look completely real and vivid. This is the full theatre experience--I'm glad I paid $3k-$5k for this. I don't know how Philips does it but only Ambilight TVs give you the authentic feel like you really are trapped inside a burning building. And look, the flame even gives me third degree burns like a real fire
Re:Ambilight! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Ambilight! (Score:2)
I see now their adding a white frame behind those TV's for those with dark walls to get better ambilight reflection, I hope it's removeable, it does look nice, sort of framed, if it otherwise matches your interior decor.
Re:Ambilight! (Score:1)
No fire yet.
Re:Ambilight! (Score:1)
This just in.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:This just in.... (Score:5, Insightful)
At least wait for the .0 versions if you don't want problems, folks. You might want to wait for the .1 or .2 versions. This applies to appliances, cars, software, and even books (I try to wait for the first corrected printing for O'Reilly books).
Re:This just in.... (Score:1)
Especially for big ticket items like cars. I knew someone who rushed out and got a first-year car, and, while it was a decent car, it just had several little things that obviously would be re-designed for the next year. A floor vent didn't blow quite right, some electrical stuff, etc. While complex technological items like cars and software do get quite a bit of testing, there are just things that 100,000 users will find that a few dozen engineers won't. Oh, errata in books is especially annoying--one b
Re:This just in.... (Score:2)
I think there is a difference between a program which at worst might destroy your OS, but realistically is just going to crash more often, and a physical device costing thousands which at worst could burn your house down. With you, your family and any other residents inside it.
Re:This just in.... (Score:1)
This also in.... (Score:2)
Re:This just in.... (Score:2)
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man --
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began --
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mice,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire --
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn
The Gods of the
No Way (Score:4, Funny)
@$(*&))@#(
@#)(@$)()@#&(*!*@(!
NO CARRIER
Re:No Way (Score:5, Funny)
@#)(@$)()@#&(*!*@(!
Interesting perl script.
Re:No Way (Score:2)
Re:No Way (Score:1)
Yes, these are the people using the Slashdot Dial-Up Service (Beta), where the modem connects directly to slashdot.org servers. That's why "NO CARRIER" can be displayed directly in the comment, while other dial-up services would put that into a log file or terminal message.
in other news: (Score:1, Insightful)
Some journalist really think they need to state the obvious...
Re:in other news: (Score:1)
Maybe they do need to state the obvious, since you couldn't pick it up on your own...
why rtfa? (Score:2)
Re:why rtfa? (Score:1)
What? How can this be?! (Score:3, Insightful)
Here I was thinking that everything that has ever been done is tested, 100%, with every single possible scenario covered. Even ones the testers didn't think of. You've shattered my perfect world view!
Like a hole in my head (Score:1, Flamebait)
BUT I'M USUALLY WATCHING THE TV SCREEN!
You're risking starting a fire so that there's an attractive and colorful pattern on the wall BEHIND the TV???
Beam me up! I yield back the remainder of my post to click knobs and rabbit ears.
Re:Like a hole in my head (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Like a hole in my head (Score:2)
No, it case of a fire, there will be a VERY insteresting thing to watch. Fire looks cool, no? Just think of it catching fire as winning the lottery then... in that case, it enhances your entertainment experience.
Re:Like a hole in my head (Score:2)
Most people will utilize their peripheral vision. Just because you're staring at the center of the TV doesn't mean you won't see things out of the corner of your vision. And your eyes move around a lot on their own to scan images, so it's really not all that ridiculous to assume that you will catch the edge of the screen in your vision while watching.
Re:Like a hole in my head (Score:1)
Score:1, Flamebait - nicely done, moderator!
I'm on fire.
Ambilight? (Score:4, Funny)
Is that colored glow before or after the capacitors blow?
"It's not a flaw - its a feature!"
Great timing (Score:1)
Re:Great timing (Score:1)
Yes, it's another dupe. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Yes, it's another dupe. (Score:2, Funny)
The problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember that the XBox 360 had a duff power supply? That has hardly hurt the sales of that product and you can bet nobody will associate that debacle with the upcoming release of Vista.
Duff power supply? The jury's still out.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Less headaches (Score:3, Interesting)
IIR, the whole point of this is that there have been studies which show that when one lights the wall behind a projection screen or TV, especially in a darkened room, it is supposed to lead to less eyestrain and headaches.
Of course you are correct that just setting a light behind the TV is not terribly difficult, however some people do like to have nice clean roo
Re:Duff power supply? The jury's still out.. (Score:1)
In true MS form, they issued a half-assed fix. They recalled only the power cords, leaving thousands of users with potentially damaged console-side connectors (caused by the original bad cord) to risk it.
I believe this particular problem was only in
Re:Duff power supply? The jury's still out.. (Score:2)
'If a new car built by my company leaves Chicago traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and the rear differential locks up, and the car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside, does my company initiate a recall?
You take the population of vehicles in the field (A) and multiply it by the probable rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average cost of an out-of-court settlement (C).
A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall.
If X is greater than the co
Re:The problem (Score:2, Insightful)
Not to mention that automakers intentionally dumb-down first-year models just to have something better to sell the following years...
Re:The problem-Gotta Catch'em all. (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course the joneses are about $10k in credit card debt.
I use to wonder how these people are able to aford such expensive things, I know my salary is above average but I can't afford them. Then I learned that the Average American is $10k in debt (Bad dept not good dept like home mortgages) then I feel better knowing that they couldn't afford it either, I was just smart enough to not keep up with the joneses and have no Bad Dept and an Excelent Credit Rating. Living
Re:The problem-Gotta Catch'em all. (Score:1)
Are people really that far in debt? My income is below-median, and the only time I carried a balance was after my son was born...hopefully something that doesn't happen several times a year!
The problem is not expected to affect other brands (Score:1)
Re:The problem is not expected to affect other bra (Score:1)
Product design incomplete (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Product design incomplete (Score:2)
The cost of Philips sending you to do a house call is probably rather more. They have to get you there and whilst you are travelling you typically can't do much in the way of useful work.
N.B. The cost of employing someone is always greater than what that employee is paid.
It's not just early adopters. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's not just early adopters. (Score:1)
Bad Caps Abound (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Bad Caps Abound (Score:1)
In the last few years, there was an issue with bad caps in a variety of motherboards and power supplies.
Bad or improper design should be more of a worry then faulty components for early adopters. A faulty product can be introduced at any point in a products run as suppliers change, a design failure issue will always be t
Re:Bad Caps Abound (Score:1)
They could have taken the bring it in and fix it approach, they didn't, this is going to cost them quite a bit of mone
This has been known for a while (Score:2, Interesting)
Well DUR? (Score:2)
I'm thinking someone brought one of these and is now pissed off because its got to go back. Sounds about right really as if you do buy something where the technology is so new and untested then yes, it WILL Have bugs.
My dad always used to wait awhile before buying a new vcr/hifi/dvd player, so that they could fix bugs.
Anyone want to think about all those gen1 ipods which expanded/blewup/died/lostbatterycharge/got robbed.... ?
New gen TV's are not perfect (Score:2)
Interesting article, but a bit dramatic (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not an overly-critical person, but I think the article is FULL of juicy, one-sentence generalizations like the above.
I'd be more interested in knowing the frequency of this type of issues, the actual brand to which these things have happened (beyond Phillips' issue), and the nature of the issues.
By the way, getting service on a TV, VCR, CD, or DVD machine is interesting. Contrary to the article's statment, you'd be surprised at how many brands are actually in the food chain of a very few companies.
Re:Interesting article, but a bit dramatic (Score:2)
You must not be a USA Today subscriber. This "newspaper" was specifically designed to dumb it down. It should thought of as news for kids who want to prentend they are reading a paper just like dad.
Re:Umm.. (Score:1)
Not if it is lighter than the air around it...
Re:Umm.. (Score:1)
Re:Umm.. (Score:2)
I, on the other hand, tried with an object heavier than all the air in the room but less dense, and it didn't fall towards the ground either
Oops, no I didn't, that object wouldn't fit in the room
OK, that was enough, back to work now
Re:Umm.. (Score:2)
Big surprise.... (Score:2)
Not 1st revision (Score:1, Informative)
If you would see the original request (check DUPE), you would see the problem only relates to a limited set of production dates (uptil week 34 '05).
Early Adoptors buy 1st generation of product (Score:2)
Re:Early Adoptors buy 1st generation of product (Score:1)
Um, duh (Score:3, Insightful)
However, as we all know, early adopters get a huge head start on everybody else in terms of being able to use a new technology months or years in advance. As an example, I'm an alpha tester on a new development tool that I'm convinced is going to be a smash hit. It won't even be available for a public BETA for another month, and by that time I'll have been using it for six months, banging my head against the wall on some things, but learning a lot in the process.
The other thing that EARLY adopters get out of the deal is...input, and access to the designers. The customers who adopted the new Phillips units will have much more say in future product innovation than people who come later, because the cutsomer base is smaller at the beginning, and the team is more willing to listen to the people who give them the first feedback.
RAZR and SLVR users have the coolest phones (if a bit wide), and will be the ones who experience the early product problems. SO? They're still the coolest phones.
Rampant Early Adoption (Score:2)
Um... naturally... (Score:3, Interesting)
GJC
More bugs, maybe, but in what context? (Score:1)
That's why we have early adopters! (Score:2)
Wait a year... (Score:2)
You can only test so much... (Score:1)
adopt early...DO IT!!!!! (Score:2)
More bugs than we used to, as well... (Score:2)
Don't buy any pre 3.0 Microsoft product (Score:3, Funny)
i figured this out years ago... (Score:2, Funny)
an original one
not a 360
and playing Halo
Re:Same idea here (Score:1)
I agree with them (Score:2)
The big picture/problem (Score:2)
The last part of that statement is true. Most consumers would rather buy a piece of crap for $39.99 than something of high quality for $59.99. Consumers think that a "good" item is one that is cheap and will break in 6 months or a year.
Until people start expecting quality, crap will be the norm
First to market != most success (Score:3, Insightful)
Please become a beta tester ! (Score:1)
Vista anyone? (Score:1)
I won't touch Vista until the first service pack has been released.
Other news: Tall people experiencing more height (Score:4, Insightful)
Hello? What part of "Bleeding Edge" are they not getting here?
Releases have bugs, no kidding? (Score:1)
it's all about meeting a deadline, very little about product quality. The PM doesn't want a project of his/hers behind schedule, th
Re:Releases have bugs, no kidding? (Score:3, Insightful)
Whats that? Your product tends to catch fire? There's millions lost in lawsuits, replacement, etc. Something that COULD have been fixed with a few more weeks or days of testing..
Car has a tendency to floor the accelerator, multiple times per day on its own? Billions. SOmething that COULD have been fixed with a few more weeks or days of testing..
A good example is the Sound Blas
Re:Releases have bugs, no kidding? (Score:2, Interesting)
I worked CLI support for 4ish years way back when. I saw a lot of things come and go, and a lot of problems crop up and get resolved over time. The problem with Audio support is that it's very subjective. Yes I saw plenty of hardware issues with CLI's products that eventually got revised or phased out. I also saw a lot of problems that were indeed caused by environment an
Isn't this obvious? (Score:4, Funny)
Marketing to Blame? (Score:2)
One solution, obviously more easily accomplished in software, is release it broken then have a patch that can live update. In a non-software sense, t
May be bad capacitors (Score:3, Interesting)
Again, I don't know that that's the case here, and to be sure, bad batches of capacitors, at least in my experience, aren't terribly common...
My first Sony Model DVD player is a workhorse (Score:1)
Anyway, this DVD player plays perfectly still, almost 10 years later. In fact, it will play more scratched disks than any other player I have had. My only complaint is it is a little bulky. I have seen many later models come and go (out to the trash can) since I bough
It's called..... (Score:1)
Fools! Capacitors not yet Ready for Prime Time! (Score:2)
no longer a problem (Score:1)
Early Adopters? (Score:2)
These are products already released to the general market as fully working, not private betas sold under appropriate terms.
As such there should be laws in place to ensure manufacturers are legally obliged to step-up and deal with the problems to the satisfaction of the consumer.
High end vs. cutting edge (Score:2)
Obligatory Simpsons reference (Score:2)
Homer: I know, it's a hover car!
News at 11 (Score:1)
Leading swiss researchers have also come to the dramatic conclusion that electronics break down all the freaking time. In other breaking news (*rimshot*), young people are believed to have less experience than old farts.
This shouldn't be surprising that new gadgets break down and/or kill their owners. Part of it has to do with the mad dash to release the newest gadget and beat your competitors to market. Part of it has to do with staffing practices, hiring young dumb c
Fire Fire Fire proof (Score:2)
I've seen several brands over the years do insane things. One very old philips actually managed to burn through the bottom cabinet but what ever was in that particle board smothered the flame. This was a 70s cabinet I think. It still had the steel chassis but was 100 percent solid state