We hope you haven't been greatly inconvenienced by the two .Mac network outages we've experienced in the past two weeks (including this morning) and we sincerely apologize for any problems you've experienced. The outages were the result of equipment failures, and since the equipment vendor has not been able to persuade us that the problem will not occur again, we've already begun installing new equipment from a different vendor.

We're completely back up and running now, and no data or mail was lost. We expect the equipment change over to be complete within the next several weeks, and we'll be working hard to ensure that there are no further issues during that time. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience while we make this transition...

It wasn't our fault! Honest! Bad vendor, bad!

We know we just arm-twisted you into paying for this swell service.... but, you know, these things just happen sometimes.

Question: You've got a half-million plus users paying subscribers, and you've never heard of redundant systems?

Question: Got any plans to credit your users for the day's worth of downtime?

Question: And I'm backing up my precious personal files to your server because...???

Apologies are swell. I'm glad Apple apologized, it was polite of them, and they get points for that. It helps that they entirely refrained from blaming the user.

But, as I noted in my little Userland rant earlier, the proof is in pudding. Without reliability, few will re-up when their subscriptions expire. This is a make-or-break qualification for web services of any kind.
6:44:24 PM    please comment []

TWO Japanese telecoms giants have developed technology that turns the human body into a broadband-paced link that allows e-mail addresses to be exchanged through a simple handshake, a report said Monday....

Is that a PDA in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?

Apparel and handbags have their own conductivity, allowing an electrical connection to a PDA that can remain in one's pocket, the paper said.

Yeah, man, we just had this, like, instant connection!

The companies have confirmed in an experiment that data can be transmitted at 10 megabits per second, comparable to the speed of a broadband Internet connection, it said.

Hey boss, I finished that report you wanted, but I can't give it to you because the doorknob to my office just crashed.

The technology could allow data communications through door knobs, switches, desks and chairs, the paper said.

Soon we'll all be on the hot seat.

Read more about it.
3:42:02 PM    please comment []