I’ve never had good luck with Dell’s customer service, it’s one reason why I just don’t suggest their products. One great example of this is a letter a young man named K sent to the Consumerist, detailing how Dell Support destroyed his old laptop while trying to troubleshoot his new one, and finally sent out […]

I’ve never had good luck with Dell’s customer service, it’s one reason why I just don’t advocate their products. One great example of this is a letter a young man named K sent to the Consumerist, detailing how Dell Support destroyed his old laptop while trying to troubleshoot his new one, and finally sent out a replacement.

Good on them, you state, for making good on that. The problem was the new laptop had human pubic hairs stuck in the keyboard.

Ew.

Normally when a computer maker gets a return it’s refurbished before being sent to another customer, but this one obviously, well, wasn’t. Or, if it was, it was refurbished in some hairy dude’s bathroom.

Dear Dell, if you ever send me a replacement laptop, I would love it if it wasn’t first someone’s porno machine. Thanks!

Via [crunchgear]

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Why Nintendo’s releasing a new wired controller after they discontinued the wonderful wireless WaveBird is unknown to us, but Japan will be able to get a brand new white gamepad for about 2000 yen, or $20 this month. Like most things Nintendo, it’ll take a few months to get to the States (if it even does). Looking at the sales numbers of Smash Bros. Brawl makes it seem likely that it will. [Nintendo via Go Nintendo via Kotaku]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Very funny, MTV News. You thought you’d wait a full 8 days after April Fools to try to pull one over on us, but I’m onto you. According to the site, Harmonix is set to follow up the hit Rock Band with a larger-scope game called Record Label, where you use payola, pre-fab producers, and scantily […]

Very funny, MTV News. You thought you’d wait a full 8 days after April Fools to try to pull one over on us, but I’m onto you.

According to the site, Harmonix is set to follow up the hit Rock Band with a larger-scope game called Record Label, where you use payola, pre-fab producers, and scantily clad teen pop stars to get as far ahead in the music biz as you can. The game uses creative direction from Sony’s BMG, one of the largest labels in the world to make it realistic, and not surprisingly would be a PS3 exclusive. You’d even likely be able to install rootkits on your CDs!

It sounds fun, but sadly it’s fake. You can’t spell “Harmonix” without “hoax”!

Via [crunchgear]

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In the year 3000, your lights will look like this
Music man: Laser harp plays pre-programmed samples, looks halfway decent
These RoBoots were made for walkin’: Cornell walk-bot sets record
Creative peripherals made fun and EAsy with Novint’s Falcon
CMU’s snake robot: Coming up through a toilet near you

Via [crunchgear]

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Sega’s upcoming “Iron Man” video game launch will coincide with the theatrical release on May 2 and I’m, well, pretty ecstatic. I haven’t been this excited for a comic book-based motion picture to come out since “Batman Begins” and I’ve high hopes for it as I’m sure most of you do too. We haven’t covered […]

Sega’s upcoming “Iron Man” video game launch will coincide with the theatrical release on Might 2 and I’m, well, pretty ecstatic. I haven’t been this excited for a comic book-based movie to come out since “Batman Begins” and I have high hopes for it as I’m sure most of you do too. We haven’t covered the game so much here at the Crunch, but to get everyone, including ourselves, psyched for both I’ve compiled all known videos, concept art and screen shots for you to enjoy all at once. So Enjoy Now!

Via [crunchgear]

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Over at Royal Pingdom there’s a fascinating tiny picture history of personal storage from the year dot nearly up to the present day. Who knew that hard disks were once the size of a small automobile? Not me, though I remember being surprised when finding an 8-inch floppy disk in an old science workstation once. And probably few now remember that Fortran’s strange columnar code structure came, in part, from punch card use. Check out the images in the gallery: some of them will amuse you, some might amaze.

Interestingly the “Selectron” vacuum tube device (great name there) was actually intended more for memory-type applications, rather than secondary storage. There’re also a couple of omissions: Bouchon punchcards were the gizmos used to store the “program” of weave patterns in a loom way back in the 18th Century, followed by the more famous Jacquard looms. And where’s bubble memory, and modern flash storage?

Still… amazing, no? Look how far we’ve come, how much the data density and bit read/write accuracy has gone up as the physical size has gone down. And look how the technology has jumped around from medium to medium. Makes you wonder what’s around the corner doesn’t it? For more details, check out the Pingdom post. [Royal Pingdom via BBGadgets]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Using vibrations much like a Morse code, professor Nobuyuki Sasaki has invented a type of cellphone that works in Braille for blind dialers. Using a Braille keybaord, the phone uses tactile feedback in the form of dual vibrating mechanisms to respond to input and “display” output, the phone makes it easier for those who can’t see […]

Using vibrations much like a Morse code, professor Nobuyuki Sasaki has invented a type of cellphone that works in Braille for blind dialers.

Using a Braille keybaord, the phone uses tactile feedback in the form of dual vibrating mechanisms to respond to input and “display” output, the phone makes it easier for those who can’t see to dial numbers correctly.

It’s a cool advancement, and something we don’t think about much. Really, though, as voice recognition gets more advanced, isn’t that going to be the way the blind will use their mobiles?

Via [crunchgear]

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