Dell denying problem with new laptops
Dell Inc. denies an analyst report claiming 20 percent to 30 percent of laptops with so-called solid-state drives are being returned.
Solid-state drives, though expensive, are seen as the next big advance in laptop computers because they’re durable and light. In a solid-state drive, the spinning platter of a conventional hard drive has been replaced by memory chips.
Dell offers Samsung SSDs as an option on its laptops for $600 to $899 extra. The latest Apple Inc. laptop, the MacBook Air, can also be bought with an SSD, for about $1,000 extra.
Avian Securities analyst Avi Cohen said Monday in reporting on the return rates that hardware failure rates on SSDs were 10 percent to 12 percent, compared to 1 percent to 2 percent for traditional hard drives. Still other customers are returning SSD-equipped laptops because they don’t provide a speed advantage, Cohen wrote in a research report.
Wells Fargo offers online “vaults”: Recognizing not all banking customers want a safe deposit box, Wells Fargo &Co. plans to sell online vaults as a secure and convenient alternative for storing vital records.
When the service rolls out this summer, Wells Fargo believes it will be the first major U.S. bank to offer an Internet alternative to the safe deposit boxes that have been an industry staple for decades.
Because it can’t store jewelry, cash and many other precious assets, Wells Fargo’s online version isn’t likely to replace the traditional safe deposit box. It’s more likely to replace shoe boxes and home filing cabinets, said Jim Smith, who oversees the bank’s Internet products.
Called “vSafe,” the service is perfect for storing digital versions of birth certificates, wills, driver’s licenses, passports, family photos and other important documents, Smith said.
Always on the lookout for new sources of service fees, Wells Fargo will charge nearly $180 per year for its biggest online safe. The planned monthly fees will be: $4.95 for 1 gigabyte of storage: $9.95 for 3 gigabytes; and $14.95 for 6 gigabytes.
Presenting the “Don Knotts” robot: A robot with a cowardly streak took top honors at a conference on human-robot interaction in Amsterdam with antic displays intended to mimic human phobia.
Attendees at a competition this month of seven teams from technical universities around the world voted the “Phobot,” designed by a team of students from the University of Amsterdam, their favorite.
When first exposed to a fear-inspiring object — in this case, a menacing larger robot — the Phobot retreats and then spins in circles. It overcomes its “fear” by getting comfortable with small robots and working its way up to large ones — mimicking the psychological principle of “graded exposure.”
“This robot is there as a sort of buddy to help a child having any kind of actual fear, doing it step by step,” said team member Ork de Rooij. “The child would say, ‘Hey, not only am I scared, but this robot is also scared, so maybe we can help each other.’ “
The jury’s prize — and second place in the popular vote — went to “Pot Bot,” a device that monitors potted plants and determines whether they need water or sunlight. Its sensors find the strongest available light source, and it then signals people with that information using two handlike front panels.
Euopeans like their broadband: More than 50,000 European homes and offices added a high-speed broadband Internet connection every day last year, according to the European Commission.
Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands now top the world in their proportion of residents with broadband service, although the European Union as a whole lags behind other regions with a broadband penetration rate of 20 percent.
More than half of broadband connections have speeds of 2 megabits to 10 megabits per second although a “significant” number of connections transmit data at 10 megabits per second.
Some 19 million broadband lines were added across Europe last year, generating revenues of $98 billion for telecommunications companies.
From Herald wire services
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