Sneak has been riffling through the spambox (formerly known as Sneak’s inbox) and found that some actual people have been sending messages. How 90s.

Very small print

First up is Dave Evans, who has forwarded a note from his Dell account manager, sent in the middle of last month. In a precursor to the current touchy-feely, caring-sharing Dell 2.0 makeover, the email is a friendly warning about a exploding batteries. Less helpfully, it is written in such a microscopic type size that the entire missive could be obscured by an ant’s thumb. Almost. “I was wondering if they wanted me not to read it?” Evans asks.

Powering down

The exploding battery “issue” is such that airlines are now wondering what to do with Dell laptops: let them in the cabin, leave them in the hold, or borrow them to help fly the plane. Mike O'Grady reports that his transatlantic Continental flight was delayed by a “computer error” for 90 minutes (presumably spent on hold waiting for a tech support agent in Hyderabad). Eventually the pilot announced that the computers would have to be rebooted. “This was done by powering down the entire plane for 60 seconds,” O’Grady notes. Which makes one wonder how far the plane might plummet if the big reset button needs to be pushed mid-Atlantic.

Customer always, right?

Lee Hiscott, meanwhile, notes that his broadband ISP “used to be one of the top names for reliability and intelligent tech support”, but is currently not. Calling to complain about three-legged camel download speeds, Hiscott was pleased to receive a letter. And slightly less pleased to find it contained his MAC code, for switching to another supplier. This is an oblique way of saying goodbye. “I won't say which ISP it is, in case they get litigious,” the cautious Hiscott concludes. His eclipse.co.uk address might be a bit of a hint, however.

Insane domain

And finally, Andy Bowd wonders if he has the worst web address in the world. Try dictating this over the phone: www.doubleudoubleudoubleudotbackslashbackslash.dotcomforwardslash.com

25 Sep 2006