Jay Lagare

Philips X-treme Vision Headlight Bulbs

By Jay Lagare on Sunday, November 25, 2012

Since I was on car repair mode, I decided to replace the Sentra’s headlight bulbs. They, actually just the low-beams, went bust over the last few weeks and I have been running around on fog lights. Or on high-beam where possible.

I was pretty impressed with the busted lights, Philips X-treme Power Headlight Bulbs, which had lasted almost four years so I decided to get them again. But the only one available at the shop were DiamondVisions. I pressed them and they offered to get X-treme Visions, apparently the replacement for X-treme Powers, from another branch. It took a long time in coming so I had to leave without new bulbs.

I was finally able to get them tonight after groceries. I tried to install them before leaving the mall but I wasn’t making any headway. I gave up and headed home where I gave it another go. This time, with the aid of an LED keychain light, I finally met success. Now I have not just 50%, not just 80% but 100% more light than stock bulbs! Night driving’s gonna be so much more fun!

General

Busted Evaporator

By Jay Lagare on Saturday, November 24, 2012

Brought the Sentra to Frigid Zone today. The aircon wasn’t running and I figured there’s a leak somewhere. The diagnosis: there’s indeed a leak and it’s in the evaporator. That’s the bad thing. The worse thing is that I had that same evaporator installed brand new from the same shop just over a year ago. I was naturally rather unhappy but it is past the warranty period (6 months). At least I was able to get a small discount, a longer warranty (1 year), and an assurance, unverifiable until next year, that the new evaporator is of a better make.

General

Mint for Eating

By Jay Lagare on Saturday, November 24, 2012

Jeanne and I were sharing a peppermint brownie at the coffee shop when she drank some water and said “Look I’m cleaning my mouth!” “Why?” I asked.
“Like when I’m brushing my teeth.” she replied. I realized she was referring to the peppermint. So I told her “No need, that’s mint for eating.” Totally no pun intended :P

General

Planned Obsolescence

By Jay Lagare on Friday, November 9, 2012

Have you ever noticed that your gadgets don’t fail within the warranty period. And that a day (or thereabouts) after the warranty expires, problems start popping up? I’m pretty sure it’s not random. There’s just too many smart people in tech. It’s definitely by design.

There’s this thing called Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) and manufacturers definitely would want the MTBF to be after the warranty period. Or conversely, the warranty only as long as the MTBF safely permits.

The past few days, I’ve been noticing my Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) Slim booting, beeping three times, then shutting down. Leslie said it’s an overheating problem. I couldn’t believe it since I practically only use the PS3 for watching videos. It’s just a glorified media player so to speak. And I can usually start it up with a bit of trying.

But last week, I bought a copy of the brand-spankin’-new Assassin’s Creed III (AC3). As soon as I got home I excitedly popped the disk into the drive and started playing. I wasn’t playing for long when the PS3 suddenly shut down. This is serious: It’s affecting my gaming!

So I went and visited some computer shops and inquired how my PS3 can be fixed. I had two options: re-flow and re-ball. Re-flow is where they heat up the solder on the chips and reflow them. Apparently, the PS3 uses lead-free solder which has this tendency to crack after some thermal stress. The other option is to re-ball which is where they replace the lead-free solder with a lead solder.

Both options are rather expensive at a few thousands. And they’re not guaranteed to last long. The best warranty they can provide is three months. And you are supposed to play for only an hour or two per session. Then you have to cool down the PS3. How medieval is that?!?

Dismayed, I decided to just let the PS3 die with dignity. I just ignored the booting and rebooting problems and doggedly kept playing. Unfortunately, without even getting through 3% of AC3, the PS3 was bust. No lights, no beeps, no nothing. It’s dead, Jim.

Which bring me back to planned obsolescence. Just a month or so back, Sony released the PS3 Ultra Slim. Or PS3 Slimmer. Coincidence? I’m pretty sure it’s not. Will I be getting it? I’m pretty sure I won’t.

General

Apple iPad mini: Make Mine Mini

By Jay Lagare on Wednesday, October 24, 2012

As expected Apple announced the iPad mini. They also announced the new iPad Gen 4 earlier than expected. This is primarily due to the rapid advance of the competition. Going forward, we can expect such shorter cycles not just from Apple but from its competitors.

But back to the mini. Mini it is. It’s, at first glance, the iPad 2 cut down to size. It’s smaller, thinner, and lighter. The rear camera is better at 5 megapixels. So is the front camera at 1.2 megapixels. But everything else remain the same: processor, memory, networking, even the resolution of 1024×768 (more on this later).

By creating the mini, Apple covers the market for a less expensive table. But even then, it’s positioned at the pricier end signifying that it is and still a premium tablet. It is more expensive than the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire. This is probably intentionally for the prestige and the bottom line.

On the next cycle, when a new iPad (Gen. 5) will be announced, the iPad 2 will be retired, the Gen. 3 will drop in price and take it’s place. During that cycle (or on the next depending on the LCD panel supply chain), the new iPad mini possibly would have a Retina display.

And by keeping the display at 1024×768 , Apple takes advantage of existing iPad Gen 2 apps. In the future, an iPad mini with Retina display will take advantage of existing iPad Gen 3/4 Retina apps. It avoided (and will avoid) further fragmentation of it’s iOS lineup.

Something that simple demonstrates why Apple is a great company.