Friday, February 18, 2005

Microsoft to Recall Xbox Cords Due to Electrical Issue

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, said on Thursday it will recall 14.1 million power cords for its Xbox video game console after a defect gave some users minor singe burns and scorched carpets.

Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer for Microsoft, told Reuters the recall covered all Xboxes made for continental Europe before Jan. 13, 2004, and units made for the rest of the world before Oct. 23, 2003. Read the article.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

is it just me or has this blog gone so far away from " Pakistani Internet and IT issues" that all the info here ive already read on yahoo/google news pages???????

Zunaira said...

Always an interesting debate: What can or cannot post on this blog. Perhaps gamers care to read more like this?

Anonymous said...

I think anon has a point because there must be many blogs about gamers, etc but as far I know, this is the only one supposedly dealing with Pakistan's internet and IT issues.

Anonymous said...

Besides it looks as if there are more reproduced posts filling up archives than informed opinions, which this blog used to generate.

Zunaira said...

Dimple, you have the gist just right. This blog's primary purpose was to point out a news item, and leave a comment or two--perhaps initiating a discussion if more than two people are interested. That's all theory. Even if the ratio of such items is 40% compared to plain news items that are already appearing on GoogleNews or YahooNews frontpage, it should be acceptable. However, there are more posts that are mere replication. Some thoughts on criteria for posting here:
- News has to be relevant to Pakistan+tech user/interested people
- News appearing on major news sources frontpages MUST be left out, no matter what the scale of its importance
- News/comment appearing on other blogs/communities/low-profile places relevant to our scope are also welcome
- Shall we ignore Microsoft and Google for one whole week and see what remains to be posted on this blog? ;-)
I'm open to suggestions.

Anonymous said...

/me raises his hand.

I would love to see more comments and healthy debates going on around in here instead of seeing the same news items as the one I had just seen on slashdot (Yeh! One of the poster is a real big fan of slashdot :-) ).

Plus, it would be really convenient to have the comment box pop-up in another window when ever I click the comment link.

As for the criteria, don't know why one should not be allowed to talk about MS or Google, or any other stuff not typically related to Pakistan, but, the news item should be of general interest and not personal interest so that it could be discussed and opinions could be given about it by any one (well almost).

BTW, the template changes are awesome.

Thanks.

Teeth Maestro said...

YIKES this new green layout sucks !!- I hope the owner of the blog can come up with some creativity - I am sure there are MANY talented individuals out here who are very creative in their own personal blogs can maybe spare a few moments to spider ;).

While we are at making suggestions can I offer one, This website needs its OWN domain or even a subdomain from spider (spider.tm/blog), and its about time we move from the Blogger layout to a more customizable software like Wordpress or anything else of your liking.

As far as the discussions go, I might have to agree Spider Blog should be the front-runner in Pakistan related Tech news.

Anonymous said...

A little more editorial control will not be a bad idea...... after all, this IS supposed to be a blog supplementing a (ahem) professional journal.... just my opinion

btw AllahBaba approves of new design! :-D

Anonymous said...

Now for some comment related to the post:

Wasn't windows enuff....
The time isn't far when all products form Microsoft will have bugs/faults in them.Whats this world coming to.Is there going to be an opensource console now.

Teeth Maestro said...

AllahBaba > point taken about the design ;) you can't win 'em all, so i rest my case ;)

For discussion, echo-ing Allahbaba's query -> Is this blog still under the management of Spider Magazine as it has been brought to my attention that Spiderisat is owned by an ex-editor of the magazine. Considering the amount of goodwill that still exists of this blog it would be sad to see it slowly transform into a personal tech blog while we still standby believing it to be run by the 'establishment' ;)

If it is not run by Spider I feel spider magazine should start a blog under the domain spider.tm/blog and run it officially from there.

what does the owner have to say? (and any others that care to comment)

Zunaira said...

It is owned by THE ex-ed of spider so there's nothing secretive about it TeethMaestro, as you suggest. I intend to change the style+nature of this blog when I have time.

Spider should start its official blog--this excercise brought contributors to the magazine together informally and that should carry on.

This has never been a 'personal' blog, so that remark is uncalled for. May the 'spotlight' shine on your goodwill.

Anonymous said...

The success of the blog will be determined by the particapants. The past good will or popularity was in large part due to the people who were both putting up posts and also commenting. Many past posters on the blog had the effects of generating interesting discussion threads and stirring up partcipation. Lately this blog has become more ofa bulletin board for reposts or a recycle bin of IT news and the number of new and unique discussions has gone down very much. Also the postings have become restricted to a few active posters while most of the people listed for this blog rarely post or say much. The return of intelligent commentary and insight is needed. Also if Spider wants to launch its own blog it can do so. Perhaps it is not a good idea to migrate this blog and leave it as it is as a separate blog that has already taken life.
Thankyou.

Teeth Maestro said...

Zunaira -> I now understand your point of view - thank you for making it clear - maybe I was lost in a mistaken land and felt that this is the so-called 'offical' version - Incidently I got that impression since it carried the title 'Spider.tm' and was hot-linking to spider and vice-versa. (though come to think of it, I also remember reading the disclaimer that a couple of contributors work with spider is just coincedence)

I do appreciate the comment by 'anonymous' whoever he/she maybe that "The success of the blog will be determined by the particapants", I could not agree with him more.

I officially offer an apology to Zunaira for 'hitting below the belt' you have done a good job making an excellent team on this blog with good contributors and in turn they also can take due credit for a good following. COnsider me a fan of this blog - Peace out

Zunaira said...

Thanks for your input on the past, present and future of the blog--more is always welcome. Personal shots are not.

Apology accepted TeethMaestro--I understood where the concern lay in your first note and addressed it.

Brands and symbols help form communities and links as Spider did in this case. Contributors and comments on this blog rocked and rolled the interaction. Once conditions permit, I hope to reenergize this space.

The .tm from this title is going, contributors might change but the focus on IT+tech in PK will stay.

Anonymous said...

So that means although you are no longer with Spider mag anymore, you still have an *active* interest in Pakistan and its IT scene. Good! :-)

Anonymous said...

Good