Category: Tech and Culture

Posting this from my new iPhone, and have to say that I am pretty impressed!

First the iPod Shuffle, and now a Macbook! Granted, that the shuffle was a raffle prize at work, it still was my first official Apple possession. For the longest time, I imagined myself never ever buying a Mac simply because to me it never appeared as a serious development platform. Having grown up with DOS and then the ever evolving Windows platform, adopting an OS that still used Objective C for most app development just didn’t seem interesting to me.

Not everyone remembers using dial-up networking to get on the Internet. This is more true for people who started using the Internet, in general, around the last 6-7 years. I used a dial-up connection to get online up until Fall 2002, which was when I finally got a 3Mbps cable connection.

Hence, after reading the announcement by the NCSU IT Department that they were retiring all their RAS modems, I was compelled to reminisce my first few days as a grad student. I ran Linux on my cheap hand-me-down desktop PC, and that meant (at least back then) that I couldn’t use AOL or any other dial-up service with the operating system without using some kind of a “hack”. Then, I discovered that NCSU had a pool of fast, albeit insufficient, modems that could be used for free off-campus network access provided you had an active campus ID.

The TCP/IP modems were pretty hard to dial into, considering that they were insufficient in number, and that most TCP/IP sessions are expected to last long. The shell access modems, on the other hand were always available. For those unfamiliar with shell access, it was basically a *NIX shell modified to fit the needs of remote dial-up users without providing them the capability of forwarding, or even running, any X server apps. You could still browse the net all you wanted using a text based browser like Lynx.

RIP, NCSU Dial-up RAS!

I was finally able to grab a Wii console from Best Buy last week! This is an amazing console. It’s very different from all the current generation consoles out there in terms of both playability and enjoyability. The motion sensing controls are great for sports games like Tennis, Bowling, and boxing. Needless to say, a lot of time on the weekends has been spent playing these games with my housemates.

Just when I thought that my last ever Nintendo purchase would be the DS Lite, I was proved wrong by the phenomenal approach of the Wii towards gameplay. I am already spending more time with my Wii than I have ever spent with any of my other consoles to date.

Now, I just need to work on getting that “Pro” rating in bowling!

So my Xbox 360 console died almost a month ago while I was playing Geometry Wars. All this while I had been cherishing the fact that my machine wasn’t one of the numerous defective units out there, but as fate would have it, the console died about a month after its warranty expired.

Now, I have had a good experience with Xbox support, so I thought it would be easy to get them to fix my console for free, seeing that it definitely died because of a manufacturing defect, and not my negligence. This didn’t happen. They asked me to send my console to their repair center with a payment of $140 as it was not covered by the warranty anymore.

I would not have any issues with paying to get my console fixed if ALL of the following weren’t true:

1. The replacement console would be a refurbished unit.
2. The replacement would only come with a 90 day warranty.
3. It made so much more sense to get a new core system for $299 and get a 1 year warranty on it.

Now, as you might have read in my earlier posts, I am also an Xbox ambassador. Also, I am a regular listener of Xbox Live’s Director of Programming, Major Nelson’s weekly podcast. So, I thought it would be a good idea to shoot him an email to see if he found something wrong in spending $140+shipping/boxing money to get a refursbished unit when it clearly died because of a manufacturing defect that countless others are facing. After getting back a vacation reminder from him, I received a short one line email from him or someone else monitoring his email address that said, “Where are you from? When did you purchase your Xbox 360? What are you support ticket #s?“

I sent back the information that same day, and later received an email that said, “And where are you know in the process?” Now, bad grammar/spelling apart, I was not really expecting any relief, but it’s always good to give it a shot. Nevertheless, after not hearing back from him for about 12 days, I decided to try support again.

This time, I requested the support person to allow me to speak to his supervisor because I was not ready to spend money on getting my Xbox 360 fixed. He put me on hold for about 5 minutes, and then came back on the phone saying that he could offer me a 25% discount towards the repair charges if I wanted. I politely told him that I am not looking for a discount, and that I would still like to talk to his supervisor.

So, the supervisor picks up the call and then goes through the same drivel about how I have to pay $140 because the warranty is up. Again, I explain to him that I wouldn’t mind paying if they promised me a brand new console instead of a refurb. At this point he goes on to explain to me that a refurbished unit is 99% new, and that I am actually getting a new replacement. I tell him that it is unacceptable.

Now, get this…he offers to give me a bigger discount than 25% towards the repairs! What are they thinking?

Now, after spending half an hour on the phone, I just tell him that I am better off getting a brand new Core Xbox 360 for $299 and throwing this one out. He seems to agree, and thanks me for calling support.

If your console has died outside warranty, too, and you have been successful in getting it fixed for free, I would be delighted to hear back from you.