Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

For the XM Radio subscribers who haven't patiently waited to hastily cancel your subscription just yet, we're sure you're well aware that the outages from yesterday are still lingering on. Reportedly, "software problems resulted in the loss of one of the network's four satellite signals," and while it expected to have everything back to normal by last night, sometime today is looking more likely. The company stated that "the problem occurred during the loading of software to a critical component of the satellite broadcast system," and while XM has urged listeners to tune in online if possible, we all know this doesn't solve much. Notably, analysts are already pondering just how much loyalty (and cashflow) XM will lose from such an outage, and while we won't bother to guess, each passing minute of dead air won't do the customer satisfaction surveys any favors.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Electric car startup Tesla Motors has signed a deal to sell $43 million worth of lithium-ion battery packs to a Norwegian electric car company. This is a big deal for the company, as it's evidence of a growing market for the company's technology. The technology, however, is only part of the story. What's interesting is that a new generation of auto companies have business models that look more like computer makers than Detroit automakers. Instead of simply thinking about the car as the finished product, new companies in the automotive space (with Tesla being the most prominent) are able to focus on specific technology problems while nimbly swapping in and out parts made by other companies. It'll be some time before the change is complete, but it's clear that the technology itself is only part of the revolution.

We hear reports of Mac misbehavior -- yellowing cases, faulty batteries, flawed displays -- but wonder how to put those reports in context. Are they happening to lots of Mac users or a vocal few? And how hard is it to get problems resolved when they do flare up? To find out, we commissioned a survey to gauge how Mac users rate their machines for reliability and satisfaction. The results may surprise you.