MaximumPC 2005 03

Abit >AMD >Free iPod >EverythingComputing.com >Apple

Unlike the free towel, which you get immedi-

ately at the NFL game, you don’t get your

iPod until you convince five of your friends to

also sign up for a service. The more friends you

have sign up, the more valuable the free product.

For example, if you get nine people to opt into

services, you’re eligible to receive an iPodPhoto.

So where’s the money for Gratis Internet?

The company says vendors pay an average of

$40 to $60 per referral. If it takes six “sign-ups”

(you and five friends) to get a $300 iPod, the

company could either eat $60 on the deal or

make as much as $60, depending on the refer-

ral values. Of course, the company is making

money off everyone who signs up but fails to

meet the requirements for the free iPod.

A Gratis rep says the company is profitable and

on track to hit $15 million in revenues. Gratis is

about to ship its 10,000th iPod and normally sends

out 500 “free” iPods a week. So is it a scam? Not

in any way the Dog can determine. In fact, media

scrutiny by the New York Times, Inc., Wired, and

NBC has found the operation to be on the up and

up. The company even has a clean bill of health

“

”

THE LIGHTS MAY BE ON

AT EVERYTHING COMPUTER,

BUT IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE

ANYONE’S HOME.

MARCH 2005 MAXIMUMPC 

Got a bone to pick with a vendor? Been spiked by

a fly-by-night operation? Sic The Dog on them by

writing [email protected]. The Dog

promises to get to as many letters as possible, but

only has four paws to work with.

PRODUCT RECALL

➤➤

Psion Teklogix has

recalled a small

number of handheld-

computer power

supplies that might

overheat and cause

fire. The company

has received nine

reports of the power

supplies overheat-

ing, but no injuries

have been reported.

The 2,500 bad AC adapters were sold with

the Psion Teklogix Netpad, Netbook, and

Netbook Pro handhelds. Affected adapters

will have a label on the back of the unit that

reads “Sunpower (UK) Ltd,” the part number

9NA0180300, and a date code (D/C) of 034810.

The faulty adapters were manufactured in

China and were sold individually, as well as

with the handhelds, between December 2003

and October 2004.

Consumers who have a bad adapter are

advised to immediately stop using it and to

contact Psion Teklogix for a free replace-

ment. Contact Psion at 800.387.8898 between

4 a.m. and 11 p.m. EST between Monday and

Friday, or e-mail the company at adapter.

[email protected]. More information

is available at http://www.psionteklogix.com.

Apple has extended a motherboard-repair

program for certain iBook notebook comput-

ers that exhibit distorted or scrambled video,

lines, intermittent video, video freezing, and

blank screens. The iBooks in question have

serial numbers in the range of UV117XXXXXX

to UV342XXXXXX and were made between

May 2001 and October 2003. Apple first

announced the program in January 2004,

but the company recently announced it had

expanded the program to include more note-

books. Apple will cover the cost of shipping

and repairing the affected notebooks and

the company will also reimburse consumers

who paid to have their notebooks repaired.

For more information, visit http://www.apple.com/

support/ibook/faq/ or call 800.275.2273.

This is the second product repair for

Apple in recent months. In September,

Apple voluntarily offered to replace the

15-inch screens in PowerBook G4 note-

books. PowerBooks with serial numbers

of V7334xxxxxx to V7345xxxxxx, and

QT331xxxxxx to QT339xxxxxx are prone

to developing white spots on the screens.

Both aluminum and titanium versions of the

notebooks made between July 2003 and

November 2003 are affected. For more infor-

mation visit http://www.apple.com/support/power-

book/displayprogram/ or call 800.275.2273.

4

4

Apple

PowerBook:

bad display. Apple iBook:

bad mobo.

from the local Better Business Bureau. That doesn’t

mean you should jump in with both feet, though.

You should still read the fine print of any offer you

sign up for online. For instance, if you sign up for a

credit card, is there an annual fee attached? Or do

you have to hold the card for a minimum period?

Details like these can turn “free” into not free very

quickly. And be sure to note the cancellation policy

for any offer you sign up for.

As for “product tester” offers, the Dog is highly

skeptical of these, which usually originate as spam.

From the few the Dog has seen, the product testers

are usually subjected to a series of long “surveys”

that offer nothing but products for you to buy. For

the most part, they’re not worth the amount of spam

you’re going to get once you sign up. Woof.

Everything Offline

DEAR DOG: After purchasing a connector from

EverythingComputing.com for my Gigabyte

motherboard, I received an order confirmation.

Unfortunately that was the last thing to

go right. After about a week, I still had not

received a shipping notification, and when I

checked my credit card, my order had not yet

been charged. So I wrote the company several

e-mails, but didn’t hear from anyone. After two

weeks, I went back to the web site to search

for a phone number but the contact page was

blank and I noticed the web site hadn’t been

updated since 2003. I would not recommend

doing any business with this company.

— ISAIAH J. ANGEL

THE DOG RESPONDS: Good advice, Isaiah. The

lights may be on at Everything Computer, but it

doesn’t seem like anyone’s home. E-mails and phone

calls to the registered owner of the web site netted

zero results, and browsing Everything’s web site

turned up numerous links to nothing but gibber-

ish. A search of the Better Business Bureau and

Resellerratings.com didn’t turn up any complaints—

nor any record of the company, for that matter. n