Crave

Rafe Needleman and Tom Merritt talk tips for fixing your own computers, as well as take live calls from the audience.

On summer nights in Hanoi, people escape to air-conditioned ATM kiosks for relief from the oppressive heat.

(Credit: Viet Dung)

HANOI, Vietnam--A word of advice for travelers: turn off your laptop when you leave the room.

This isn't the first time I've been back to Vietnam, but it's the first time since I left the country some 10 years ago that I've come back during summer. It's really hot in Hanoi during the day, often 100 degrees or more. And as it has always been the case with me when traveling, stuff happens.

After about 48 hours of traveling and coming to terms with the jetlag, I turned my laptop on for the first time. There were so many things to download: new episodes of podcasts, RSS feeds of different news sources, videos--and of course the 3.0 firmware for the iPhone.

As the Wi-Fi I got hooked up to was running at just around 60Kbps, these essential updates of my digital life (though most of them I can't find time to enjoy) would require hours to download. Like usual, I had a huge urge to download all of the data right away and decided to leave the computer running and go out for a jog. After all, it was almost midday and sunny outside.

Here is part of my gum supply for the trip. I may never chew gum during summer again.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

I started the downloads, opened a pack of Orbit gum, took a piece, and left the rest on my new loaded Dell XPS M1530 (for this trip, I upgraded from the smaller XPS M1330, mostly because my eyes are worse now). Before leaving the room, being a good citizen of the world, I turned off the air conditioning.

The moment I opened the door of the room, a wave of stifling heat engulfed me. Outside, the sky was high and pure, and it was so sunny I felt I could hear how bright it was. Or maybe it was the sound of my sweat starting to ooze out.

Unlike the dry and lovely San Francisco Bay Area or somewhat humid New York City, it's so humid in Hanoi that once outside there's no way you can escape the heat during hot days. It's hot when it's calm, and it's hot when it's windy, and fans won't do anything. The breeze actually helps the heat traverse to every corner. Once in a while a quick and so-heavy-that-you-can't-see-anything downpour comes, only to accentuate the heat when the sky is clear again.

For a lot of local people, there's no way to stay away from the heat, as air conditioners are still considered a luxurious commodity that most can't afford. (Plus, they have survived many years without one.) The water in outdoor swimming pools gets so hot that by midday you can't swim in them. During some extremely hot days, you'll even find people staying inside air-conditioned ATM booths to enjoy some free cooling.

After just about a few minutes of jogging, my glasses started to get blurred by steam and sweat and I had to take them off. Four miles later, I looked and felt like I had never worked out so hard before: my T-shirt and baseball cap were completely soaked with sweat and my forehead was dripping.

As I slowly walked back, I stopped by a familiar beer stand to enjoy a few well-deserved glasses of "Bia Hoi," under a common makeshift cooling system: a net of copper pipes that spray water mist in the air. Bia Hoi is a kind of light draft beer that the Hanoi Brewery never produces enough of during summertime. It made all of my sweating and sun-hating activities worthwhile.

A couple of hours later, I returned to my room imagining a cool shower and getting my stuff synced to my iPhone. Instead, I was greeted with a sight of horror: the computer displayed a Blue Screen of Death and I heard the CPU fan roaring to life. The worst of all, the sweet mint chewing gum had melted into some mushy and sticky substance that spilled all over part of the keyboard and completely covered the biometric reader. Some even dripped onto the bedsheet. The laptop was so hot that I couldn't touch it for more than a few seconds.

(Credit: RapidRepair)

RapidRepair is at it again. Last week it took apart the Palm Pre, and now it's dismantled the Kindle DX.

No word on how much it costs Amazon to build the DX (read full review here), but I'm sure we'll have that soon enough (anybody want to guess?). For those interested, here's a list of chips on the circuit board:

• MCIMX31LDVKN5D, M91E, CTAK0915B
• Samsung 916, K4X1G323PC-8GC3, EMA188A5
• Samsung 907, KMBLG0000M-B998
• MC13783VK5, AM86D, CTRE083B
• Samsung 840, K4M28323PH-HG75, AAH055BE
• Epson D135211B1, F09090125. E-INK

"Simply follow these steps in reverse to put your Amazon Kindle DX back together! The Kindle DX has many replaceable parts inside. In many ways this product is user serviceable."

Good to know.

Check out another picture after the break. ... Read more

We can rebuild it, no problem.

(Credit: RapidRepair)

For those of you who enjoy seeing the latest and greatest gear in pieces, RapidRepair has already torn apart the Palm Pre just hours after the first units became available.

Once the thing was completely ripped apart, the folks at RapidRepair tallied up the price for each component and determined that it costs Palm around $170 to build the Pre. How accurate that number truly is, we can't tell you. But what we do know is that the Pre will cost you $199 (with a $100 mail-in rebate and two-year service agreement).

Anybody think these teardowns are silly? Or do they provide useful info?

Source: RapidRepair (see more pics)

Additional reading: CNET's Palm Pre review

Your vacuum cleaner sucked out a woofer? Who to call?

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

I get this one a lot, what should I do about my--fill-in-the-blank--broken headphones, buzzing speakers, static noises, intermittent sound, or when my subwoofer stops subbing?

Only rarely can I solve the problem with a quick fix; I always first advise contacting the dealer or Web site that sold you the product. Service is their responsibility and if they don't provide it, you shouldn't buy from them.

Of course, the best time to ask about service is before you buy any product. Will they replace a product if it fails within 90 days of purchase? Do they pay for return shipping? I'm talking about audio products here, but that advice works for any tech purchase.

How much storage can you cram into your old iPod? Try 240 gigs.

(Credit: RapidRepair)

I'll catch some hell for saying it, but Apple's fifth-generation iPod (aka the iPod Video) is one of the best hard-drive MP3 players of all time.

Say what you will about sound quality or the easily scratched screen, compared with today's iPod models the 5G iPod has a lot of advantages: it's compatible with just about every iPod accessory ever made; video output is built right in; you can use it with older computers and old versions of iTunes; and there are countless ways to hack and modify it. Unfortunately, the old guy just doesn't offer enough storage.

Don't throw out that old 5G just yet. Rapid Repair now offers a 240GB replacement hard drive specifically made for the 5G iPod (iPod Classic and Zune users will have to look elsewhere). Granted, the drive will set you back $294, but it could be worthwhile if you just can't live without your entire music collection in your pocket or you insist on listening to large lossless audio files.

I could also see the justification for upgrading if you've already invested in a lot of iPod accessories (speakers, car stereos, video docks) that won't work with new iPod models due to differences in voltage or video output. Spending $300 to upgrade an MP3 player you love makes much more sense than spending the same money to upgrade all your perfectly good iPod accessories.

Technicians reassemble my broken Dell Inspiron 530s' parts into a new case with a working power supply.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)

HANOI, Vietnam--Prior to my trip to Vietnam, I bought a Dell Inspiron 530s desktop computer as a special American gift for my 11-year-old niece in Hanoi.

Despite the relatively light weight and small form factor of the PC, at San Francisco International Airport, I ended up having to pay a $60 overweight fee. This was mostly because the airline significantly lowered the allowed weight for checked-in luggage, and I wasn't aware of that.

Upon arriving in Hanoi, I personally delivered the gift and set it up for the little girl. Everybody gathered around with excitement as they waited for the moment of truth. As I plugged the power cord into the wall socket, we heard a "pop" sound and smoke came out of the tower. I was dumbfounded. "So much for American-standard quality!" I thought to myself.

But it was not America's fault, it was me. As it turned out, Vietnam uses a 220-voltage power standard, while America uses a 110-voltage one. Out of excitement and ignorance, I plugged the computer in without switching the power supply unit (PSU) of the computer to support 220 volts and, of course, it burned! It was pure physics.

What was hard to quantify was my niece's level of frustration and my own disappointment. I personally picked the specs and rebuilt the machine to run Windows XP (from its manufacturer-installed Windows Vista). Just one moment of negligence, and everything seemed ruined.

If you're going to be serious about electronics retail in the U.S., it looks like you have to be serious about employing professional geeks.

Beginning Saturday, 20 Sam's Club stores in Virginia and Maryland will offer tech support from PC repair services company Geeks on Call as part of a pilot program set to last three months. Sam's Club has 394 stores in the U.S. with several similar pilots running right now, according to a company spokesperson, who declined to elaborate.

Just last week, parent company Wal-Mart announced it would offer Dell-branded PC repair kiosks in 15 Dallas-area stores, also as part of a trial run. It's similar to the Geek Squad services offered by Best Buy, and the FireDog service offered by Circuit City.

Unlike those three repair outfits, Geeks on Call won't have its own kiosk because they don't do in-store support. Instead, a sticker on every computer sold at those Sam's Club stores will direct the purchaser to call Geeks on Call, who will send a technician to the person's home or business.

(Credit: Sam's Club)

Geeks on Call gives a discount to Sam's Club members; PC set-up service will run $98, instead of the normal $160, for example.

Geeks on Call CEO Richard Cole put it this way, "Today's technology causes a lot of angst. If you're going to be in the business of selling technologies...you have to have a solutions provider."

You don't have to, but it's certainly convenient. Quality of service is a different story. Last year a Canadian news outlet did an undercover investigation of PC repair services at major electronics chains and found a high incidence of incompetence, and frequent overcharging of customers.

But both customers and electronics retailers need these kinds of services. The average PC buyer doesn't have the knowledge to repair their own computer, or even set up a wireless home network, and many understandably don't want the hassle of learning. And services like repair and in-home set-up are one of the best ways to actually make money in the electronics retail business, where profit margins are notoriously thin.

(Credit: Akihabara News)

It may look just like a typical Sony Discman, but Sanwa's CD-RE1AT doesn't play any CDs or DVDs. Instead, it helps to restore damaged discs and make them readable again. We doubt it would be much help for removing deep scratches or cracks, but this should prove useful for removing dust, fingerprints, and oily stains from the disc surface--detritus that can affect the performance of a disc.

But what also caught out attention is that besides cleaning, the Sanwa device apparently also applies a protective layer onto the disc to prevent reading errors in future without grinding it. The Sanwa CD-RE1AT retails for 7,350 yen ($69) on the Japanese market and is designed to work on discs ranging from 8 to 12 centimeters, including Blu-ray. It weighs about 300 grams and is powered by an AC adapter.

(Source: Crave Asia)