Javamancy has completed the upgrade to WordPress 2.6.1.
Thanks for being patient with us (yes, I know, I know… it’s only been a few hours). We’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled content programming shortly. 
If you notice any oddities, style related or otherwise, please let us know.
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Several weeks ago, the fun videos hosted at Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog were unfortunately pulled, and only available on iTunes. Now, however, the three-part series is available via Hulu link on the blog as one (1) large-ish video.
Fun times are here (sorta) again!
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Apple [AAPL] has released a firmware update for its popular iPhone 3G smartphone.
Both CNET and Reuters articles have mentioned that the update is a bit mysterious about what is being addressed by the update, other than bug fixes. But a lot of iPhone users are reporting that they have observed a significant improvement in signal strength and connectivity persistence since applying this 2.0.2 update.
These other related Javamancy posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
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A few days after the severe outage started, Netflix shipping has started up again, hoping to reach its pre-outage volume.
As reported by Associated Press, shipments began rolling out again late Friday (8/15/2008), after suffering a severe service interruption on Tuesday (8/12/2008). As incentive to retain customers, the impacted customers are going to be awarded as much as a 15% service credit, to be shown on their next statement.
Fortunately, there was no known corresponding online streaming outage, as several of you have already mentioned to me.
Given this major outage (apparently the worst that Netflix has ever experienced since its launch about nine years ago), it remains to be seen whether the previously announced deal to provide Netflix streaming access across the Xbox LIVE network will have as much of a positive impact as initially expected.
The baffling aspect of this event is that there have been no reports concerning the cause of the outage. Is is a bad system patch? Failure to pay a licensing fee, or license expiration? Integration component failure? Messaging transport failure? Disgruntled customers? Bad hardware? Some or all of the above?
These other Javamancy posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
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WordPress 2.6.1 was released late in the evening on August 14, and news about it has started to spread along the blogosphere. As reported by the WordPress folks, they’ve released version 2.6.1 of their product at this time as part of their campaign to “catch up” on their “.0″ release bugs and to address other issues that were not covered with the 2.6 release.
At this time, we’re reviewing the changes incorporated in the 2.6.1 release, as well as monitoring all of the file differences between the Javamancy rendition of 2.6 and this new version.
Because our systems are undergoing a new series of updates and improvements to the base, distributed, and mobile production workflows, and also because the changes to 2.6.1 are not as dramatic as the 2.6 release, Javamancy will not be upgrading to this latest version until after the new CM procedures are completed.
Thanks for being patient, folks! Until then, version 2.6 will be in circulation for a short while longer.
These other related Javamancy posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
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An update to the initial post about the massive Netflix system outage:
A CNBC reporter, Jim Goldman, just reported that some Netflix customers were sent E-mails by the company discussing the system-wide shipping outage. He says he talked with a contact at Netflix sometime after 11:00 AM ET today to follow up, and he was told that about 1/3 of Netflix’s customers are somehow impacted by the outage. He emphasized that the system outage was characterized as “severe” by the contact, and also that Netflix engineers are “feverishly” trying to figure out the problem.
Still no word on how Netflix will compensate its terrified customers…
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As the Netflix [NFLX] systemwide outage continues from this past Tuesday (two days ago, 8/12/2008), it has been noted that NO shipments of DVD’s went out on the day of system failure (Tuesday), a very small amount of shipments went out yesterday (Wednesday), and NO shipments went out today (yet). Supposedly the Netflix engineers are feverishly looking for the shipment failure cause(s) and hoping to fix it/them. Curiously, there has not been any mention of any credits or fee adjustments that should be provided for Netflix’s suffering customers. Fortunately, the Netflix site is still operational, so if you are a customer, you can access it, browse around, log in, etc., but you are just not going to get your DVD’s.
Although Netflix has had its customers, in the past, say that they enjoy the convenience and service from the mail-based rental service part of its business, this may be the event that pushes a lot of customers to the online streaming of movies.
Of course, there are two major computer companies, Apple [AAPL] and Microsoft [MSFT], that offer pure-play online movie streaming; and this is in addition to various cable companies dabbling in on-demand movie playing. And let’s not forget the physical-presence rental vendors, like Blockbuster [BBI] and RedBox, who provide customers with opportunistic movie renting based upon physical proximity that Netflix has not been able to overcome.
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Perhaps getting less fanfare than the other (more ominous) news mentioned here earlier, there was news reported by CNET that Best Buy [BBY] will start selling the Apple [AAPL] iPhone at their retail outlets starting this September.
This leverages the existing relationship between Apple and Best Buy, which involves an Apple section in many Best Buy stores, selling Mac and iPod products and accessories.
Certainly compared to the news about the reception problems with the iPhone 3G, this news is more positive and is aligned with the previously reported (and unconfirmed) estimate of greater than 3 million units sold of the smartphone since its July 11th release. With the support of a nationwide retailer like Best Buy, Apple may be able to sell 10 million units by the end of 2008.
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Uh-oh! Just when the better-than-expected preliminary sales estimates for the Apple [AAPL] iPhone 3G were bandied about, rumblings about reception problems with iPhone 3G began to resurface, reaching a somewhat-boiling point yesterday. On the release day for the new iteration of the iPhone, there was the dramatic activation-related outage in the U.S. at the Apple servers; that was followed by MobileMe service outages.
Maybe this is a case of bad things coming in threes. Earlier today, a GigaOM post describing a financial analyst’s belief that the Infineon [IFX] 3G transmission chipset included in the iPhone 3G is the cause of the erratic reception issues was released, to mixed responses.
Is the Infineon 3G chip in question actually buggy? How many product batches are impacted? Why aren’t every iPhone 3G owner impacted the same way? Any word from AT&T [T] or Apple on the network impact?
It seems that, unlike the Sprint/Verizon networks, the AT&T GSM network needs to bear the weight of both voice and data transmissions, and given the spotty 3G data coverage available, this most likely also plays a role in reception issues. Obviously, wireless reception problems are not new: in the past, serious problems with Marvell and Broadcom wireless chipsets have posed signal problems for owners of WiFi devices built with them. However, given the widespread nature of the impacted network, sufficient levels of testing in the wild will be tricky, to put it mildly. Closed testing for something of this nature is extremely difficult as well, so what’s a tech company to do, hmm?
Om Malik mentioned his frustrations with his iPhone 3G. Of course, a lot of folks who weren’t able to get the iPhone 3G to try it out have voiced their opinions that, if given the chance to own their own, they’d probably be quite happy with it anyway. It’s always a tough call.
Even before the release of the iPhone 3G, several commentaries have appeared that cited less-than-stellar features included in the smartphone, or just missing altogether (like this post). Assuming Apple is definitely out to create the all-in-one super-everything computing-multimedia tiny-format communicator device, this would make sense… sorta. But then again, like many other Apple products, there’s a certain target audience, and everybody else is just gravy.
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For finished-product hardware manufacturers, gone are the days when product rollouts can occur with a simple press release. In the new cutthroat era of machine design and consumer-revolving appeal pioneered by Apple [AAPL], all other competitors in the field need to have their top brass make the announcements and try to show some semblance of relevancy in the crowded arena for operating monies.
Dell [DELL] is no exception. A scant few weeks after HP’s [HP] massive product launch, Michael Dell himself has gone into visible mode to present the new offerings:
There is supposed to be a press release and ancillary info available on this at the Dell website, but unfortunately, it appears that none of the content is available at this time.
This is perhaps one of the greatest differentiators between Apple and the other manufacturers: when there’s a rollout, there is a massively keen interest in synchronizing all efforts to make even the product revelatory moments (i.e., product announcements) to be quite a satisfying experience. When there are several links proffered that are unfortunately absent without warning, it tends to leave a negative impression with the public.
Of course, truth be told: even Apple isn’t immune to excessive demand for access… case in point: the iPhone 3G activation overload on its release day. Go figure. Of course, that was a product release, not an announcement. ;)
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