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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
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Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

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Discover New Music

  • Never Let Me Down [ECD]

    • 4 out of 10
    • David Bowie
    • It must be a lonely place to be considered David Bowie's worst album by just about everyone, including the artist himself. As the last album before Bowie "rebooted" and formed the band Tin Machine, "N
  • Odyssey Number Five

    • 10 out of 10
    • Powderfinger
    • Guitar-driven rock out of Australia, Powderfinger has not seen much exposure in the States, but should get a nod for their toe-tapping songs. Building off their previous release, "Internationalist" (
  • So Jealous

    • 8 out of 10
    • Tegan and Sara
    • So Jealous is the third album from these sisters, and easily the one to single out for an introduction to their music. Some people may not get on board with their vocal styles, which are slightly

  • Pretty Hate Machine

    • 8 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • For years I wanted to make music that sounded like something between Love and Rockets and Ministry. In 1989, Trent Reznor beat me to it with this genre-defining album, and it smacked me upside the hea
  • Pressure Chief

    • 6 out of 10
    • Cake
    • Pressure Chief, Cake's latest album, didn't immediately grab me. In fact, it took perhaps half a dozen listens before I started truly enjoying it. Any

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News

BW: iPhone’s Failure Rate is Low

Manufacturing a device as complex as the Apple iPhone in large quantities entails the statistics of engineering failure. However, the iPhone failure rate appears to be much smaller than the industry standards, and Apple will continue to improve it, according to Business Week on Thursday.

"What’s important about bugs or glitches in any new product, annoying as they may be, is what the manufacturer learns from each individual episode and what’s done about it to ensure that it doesn’t recur," Arik Hesseldalh wrote.

Despite few reported problems, users who do have problems can make a fuss on the Internet, and that gets the news organizations salivating all out of proportion to the problem.

The BW author, with the help of iSuppli, took a close look at just one part of the iPhone, the multi-layer display, which is quite complex. "I don’t know exactly how they were manufactured, but no amount of prying or scraping could get [two of the layers] apart," said Andrew Rassweiler of iSuppli.

Despite the iPhone’s complexity, the author’s informal estimate of the failure rate puts the number at something less than 1 percent. Another iSuppli employee, Jagdish Rebello, said that it’s not uncommon to see failure rates of 3 to 4 percent, especially when a product is new.

"What’s important is that the failure rate goes down over time. As products mature, and the understanding of the various pitfalls in the manufacturing process improves, Mr. Rebello said, the failure rate drops in most cases to 1% or less. We don’t know the actual failure rate on the iPhone. Apple isn’t in the habit of releasing such data, mainly because it’s not material to earnings," Mr. Hesseldahl concluded.

That’s the key to understanding Apple’s approach. They look at the overall statistics, not the juicy headlines, and work to learn from their mistakes.

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