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Big Data, Big Problems: The Trouble With Storage Overload [Memory Forever]

The latest iMac was released 16 weeks ago. Since then, it’s been plagued with problems, most notably flickering and/or yellow screens. Today, the saga comes to an end because Apple has acknowledged the issues and offered their support.

At long last, Apple has released a statement to us, admitting the production issues with iMacs—which reader and forum anecdotes imply to be a bit less frequent than before but still very much present at some level—and labeling AppleCare as the proper channel for related complaints.

Apple’s Official Statement

“We’ve addressed the issues that caused display flickering and yellow tint. Customers concerned that their iMac is affected should contact AppleCare.”

These two short sentences might not look like much, but the statement is Apple’s first open acknowledgment of the jaundiced screen issue, and it identifies the problem as one worthy of AppleCare solutions. (A previous statement made to Bloomberg generalized the problem to all LCDs.)

From the start of these iMac updates, I made a deal that “…if Apple can come forward and openly admit the mistake while providing an adequate solution to their customers, I’ll laud them as an example as to how companies can take an unforeseen manufacturing issue and make things right.”

Today, Apple met the terms of that deal, and so will we.

The Catch

Of course, just because Apple has “addressed” these iMac issues doesn’t mean they have completely ferreted out the problems. (Their diction leaves some room for interpretation.). Since the production halt a few weeks back, Apple’s forums seem a little quieter regarding yellow screens, and flickering had already been solved by a firmware update. Still, about 20 people have written us since the production restart—some of them now on their third+ iMac—encountering new iMacs with yellow displays (versus just a handful offering the all clear). That response is slightly more positive than it was in the past, when basically everyone who wrote me complained of flickering screens, yellow screens and a number of other maladies.

Unfortunately, we tried to reconnect with every person who’d written us after suffering through multiple returns, but very few responded either way. My guess is that some had their issues dealt with, while others just gave up on the iMac altogether. Sitting on a few grand for a few months isn’t an easy thing to do for most people in this economy.

Yes, it’s a downright shame that Apple hasn’t been able to completely eliminate the yellow screen issue from the iMac line, whether their yield is 99.9% or somewhere far lower. At this point in time, I don’t think that every iMac shipping is inflicted with a dealbreaker of a screen (which honestly seemed to be the case for a bit in late 2009/early 2010), but I don’t think that nearly every iMac is shipping perfectly, either.

Yields have gotten better. How much better? I honestly don’t know.
(This photo is a yellow-screened 27-inch iMac produced after the production restart—displayed file dates are from an older Time Machine restore.)

As consumers, should we really be content with Apple’s response when evidence shows the problem isn’t entirely fixed? That decision is yours. But I will say, even with constant pressure from a website such as Gizmodo (along with many other publications that, thankfully, jumped on the bandwagon), a fundamental principle holds true: The longer you tell a lie, even a tacit one, the harder it is to tell the truth. For Apple to come clean after 16 weeks of shipping an “ultimate display” that isn’t so ultimate should be something that the public can embrace, at least in part.

Because fanboyism and flame wars aside, if we leave no incentive for companies to be forthright regarding their mistakes, why the heck would they?

So Is It Finally Safe To Buy An iMac?

Yup, but with one huge caveat: You should run this test upon receipt. If any part of that screen doesn’t match to your liking, you may very well still need to return your first iMac before getting a system that works as advertised.

Luckily, Apple has acknowledged the issue and thereby removed some of the risk from you, meaning, at the very least, customer service will take your problem seriously. And hopefully, the next time Apple or any other company ships a new product, they’ll notify us of the problems instead of vice versa.

The Complete Faulty iMac Saga

The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 1: The Beginning

The Faulty iMac Saga: Chapter 2, Even Steve Jobs Can’t Fix ‘Em

The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 3: We Have Your Internal Memo, Apple

The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 4: Apple Buying Out Customers

The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 5: The Moment of Truth

A special thanks to Gizmodo Editorial Assistant Kyle VanHemert for all of his research work on this project, along with all the Giz readers who kept exchanging iMacs for us. If anyone out there is still having issues scoring a replacement for faulty iMac after contacting customer support, contact us at submissions@gizmodo.com and we’ll forward you on to Apple PR, at their request.

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The Conclusion to the Faulty iMac Saga: The Beginning of the Fix [Apple]

One of the problems with conventional netbooks is that they just aren’t tiny enough. At least, that’s the idea behind the Compaq Airlife 100 and a whole family of similar devices due to hit later this year. The Airlife is the first of these mini-books to g…

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Compaq Airlife 100: A Sign of Things to Come

One of the problems with conventional netbooks is that they just aren’t tiny enough. At least, that’s the idea behind the Compaq Airlife 100 and a whole family of similar devices due to hit later this year. The Airlife is the first of these mini-books to g…

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Compaq Airlife 100: A Sign of Things to Come

NVIDIA today formally unwrapped Optimus, a hybrid graphics technology that it promises will solve many of the problems of performance and battery life on notebooks. It can switch from integrated to dedicated graphics and back while the …

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NVIDIA Plans *Optimus*(Switch hybrid graphics technology) « Nu …

FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited. The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in …

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Rants and Raves: FBI Wants Better Snooping

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Mitsubishi LT52148 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Compare Prices

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Mitsubishi LT52148 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Compare Prices

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Mitsubishi LT52148 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Picture Quality

Phil Crook seems to understand the problems of people dwelling in small apartments. A few months back we came …

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PicoCool – Dining table or kitchen island? It's both!

Phil Crook seems to understand the problems of people dwelling in small apartments. A few months back we came …

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PicoCool – Dining table or kitchen island? It's both!

Check out her kitchen remodel, here. I was so impressed — because Katie lives in 480 square feet, her kitchen being 36 of it! Also, Katie (Making this Home) will be speaking along with me and Meredith at the A Woman Inspired conference …

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Kitchen Journey Part II: Things I didn't Pinch On!

Check out her kitchen remodel, here. I was so impressed — because Katie lives in 480 square feet, her kitchen being 36 of it! Also, Katie (Making this Home) will be speaking along with me and Meredith at the A Woman Inspired conference …

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Kitchen Journey Part II: Things I didn't Pinch On!

About 2,000 of 10,000 workers at a Wintek branch in East China are striking over rumored cancellation of bonuses and use of a dangerous substance in the production of screens—screens used by Apple, Nokia and others.

It’s not totally clear how this will affect production, especially since Wintek is claiming that they’re no longer using n-hexane (a banned substance that workers claim caused death and paralyzation of workers) and that bonuses won’t be cancelled after all. But evidently the workers ain’t buying it, because this strike looks pretty severe. Hopefully the workers and management settle the problems and will be able to get back to work. Because if they don’t, western gadget makers will definitely struggle to get their devices to market. [Engadget]

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Workers Strike at Wintek, Screen Makers for Apple and Nokia, May Jeopardize Production [Strikes]

AT&T has fixed several problems that caused some AT&T customers to log into the wrong Facebook account when using their mobile phones, an AT&T spokesman said on Monday: “In a limited number of instances, a server software connectivity error resulted in some AT&T wireless customers being logged in to the wrong Facebook account when they accessed Facebook through their mobile phones.”

AT&T added new security measures to prevent the problem from happening again and worked with Facebook to disable subscriber identification information as an option for automatic log-on, Coe said. The subscriber identification is the session identification number that gets added to the URL, he said.

AT&T also fixed a separate problem in which a customer in Atlanta was able to log into the wrong Facebook account on a mobile phone. In that “isolated” case, the problem was due to a misdirected cookie on the customer’s phone, Coe said.

“We worked with the customer to resolve the issue,” he said. “It is unclear how this cookie was set on the phone.”

Asked for comment, a Facebook spokesman said: “We don’t have anything more than what AT&T is saying.”

The Associated press first reported on the problems this weekend.

This story originally appeared on CNET

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AT&T Fixes Mobile Facebook Problems [Facebook]