"The best-backed computer may not be a PC." So sayeth PC World in a recent article pointed out by faithful viewer agent86; guess who they're talking about? Yessirree, folks, PC World polled nearly 30,000 subscribers about their experiences with computer manufacturer technical support, and Apple wound up "rated higher than any other computer maker." Color us the Crayola shade "Surprised Umber"-- not because we have anything bad to say about Apple's support, but because we had no idea there were more than six or seven Mac users who subscribe to PC World in the first place. Apparently we've completely misjudged that publication's demographic; have we been missing something?

Now, we've documented our pleasant encounters with Apple's tech support team in the past-- most notably during the Great AirPort Blackout of 2001, in which Apple managed to replace our dead and hissing AirPort Base Station with a working model in the space of a day. But seeing as none of us here at the AtAT compound was among the 29,953 PC World subscribers who got to answer that poll and we just had an experience with Apple support, we figure, hey, why not throw in our two cents?

So last week it came to pass that our original Blueberry iBook (the one some of you may recall us gloating over in November of 1999) suddenly wouldn't run off its battery. One minute it was chugging away just fine under battery power; the next, we plugged in the AC adapter and foom-- the battery indicator dropped to zero. For the two days following, the orange charging light stayed on, but the battery indicator never budged, and unplugging the AC adapter caused the iBook to drop to black with less ceremony than all-you-can-eat night at a college-town KFC. So we called the AppleCare support line.

Now, see, for us, the best thing about Apple's support line isn't the short hold times or the friendly and knowledgeable staff. The absolute best thing is that we can usually describe steps we've already taken to troubleshoot the problem and Apple's techs will actually listen to that information and use it. Believe us, this is huge-- and a far cry from a lot of tech support lines which are staffed by people reading from a script. We used to have a recurring cable modem problem that kicked in whenever we had a blackout; even though we knew the exact problem and the exact solution (the resetting of a single value on the ISP's DHCP server), every single time it happened we knew we'd be on the phone for at least an hour and a half as completely clueless individuals asked us to restart our computers for the seventy-eighth time. But that's how the game is usually played: you aren't allowed to jump the line.

Not so with Apple, at least not in our experience. We were able to explain straight away that we already tried resetting the Power Manager and we'd already installed Battery Reset 2.0, both as recommended by Apple's online support database. We also mentioned that the Amazing Uncharging Battery exhibited the same behavior whether we used the iBook's AC adapter or the similar adapter from our Pismo. The tech then acknowledged that the problem was almost certainly the battery, although a motherboard problem wasn't completely out of the question; did we want to make absolutely sure it was the battery before he sent a new one out to us?

We said yes, and so he had us trundle up to the Apple Store Northshore on Friday night, where a severely overworked tech kindly slapped a testing battery into our SmurfBook to make sure that it would charge normally. Ten minutes and one quick store-browse later, the service battery had charged up a tick, the tech updated our call status directly from the Genius Bar, and we arranged to have a new battery sent to the compound. We're told it'll probably arrive on Tuesday. And then we drove home, one copy of Jeopardy 2 the richer. (For our resident Goddess of Minutiae, you understand.)

So no, the problem isn't resolved yet, but considering we just called on Friday afternoon, that's hardly surprising-- and given our past experiences with Apple's technical support, we fully expect our iBook will be chugging away with a spiffy new battery no later than Tuesday. By the way, we've said it before and we'll say it again: AppleCare rocks. Our iBook's battery died just a week before our AppleCare Protection Plan expired, and now we get a replacement $185 (!) battery for free. Add that to the $299 cost of our Base Station which died out of warranty (but well within the AppleCare contract, which, much to our surprise, covered the Base Station, too), and the Protection Plan was definitely $249 well-spent.

All in all, happy times. Evidently 30,000 PC World subscribers can't be wrong.

Heads up, Bay Area AtAT fans: it's time to put your groove thangs on the back burner and let 'em simmer for a while. We know we just mentioned last Friday that the Apple Store Bay Street in Emeryville was slated for a November 16th grand opening, but apparently Apple has suffered some sort of a setback. Taking a gander at Apple's retail page now reveals that at some point over the weekend the Web Gnomes in Cupertino replaced the November 16th date with everyone's least favorite maddeningly vague phrase: "Coming Soon."

"Soon," is, of course, an entirely subjective term, and therefore it yields very little useful information about when Apple might actually be droppin' the funk bomb on Emeryville. That's a serious problem on two fronts: while Apple's newfound calendarical vagueness now has area Mac mavens completely unaware of when to strap on their boogie shoes, it's also got the local populace entirely unsure of when to flee to their underground bomb shelters to avoid the sudden influx of freaks and the full brunt of the blast. About all we can assume is that the opening probably isn't happening this Saturday, or Apple wouldn't have bothered to change the listing. Or, at least, there's enough doubt that the store will be ready in time to have prompted Apple to yoink down the November 16th date.

So what's the hold-up, do you suppose? One of the classics, like a last-minute flood or wacky disputes over signage issues? Or will it be something different this time around-- say, a herd of endangered wild water buffalo nesting right where the Genius Bar is supposed to go? Personally, for plot's sake, we're all pulling for some store-delaying hijinks involving a rabbi, a priest, and a nude woman carrying a duck, but we've occasionally been referred to as (among other things) "overly optimistic."

Whatever the delay, the store will be opening "soon." We just hope that's measured in something shorter than eons.

Investing's a tricky business these days, as we're sure you're all well aware. If you're anything like us, you've watched your 401(k) balance drop sharply over the past year, while your personal stock portfolio looks something like a train wreck that got fed through a wood-chipper. More and more, it's looking like the wisest investment one can make these days involves stuffing wads of cash into a mattress and standing guard with a loaded shotgun and a handful of amphetamines. But what if we told you there was an investment out there that's still generating a whopping sixteenfold return?

Just one word. Are you listening? iBooks.

No, seriously-- consider Maine, who chucked some $25 million at Apple to buy 36,000 iBooks to provide a laptop to every middle school student and teacher in the state. That deal isn't even a year old, yet, and delivery of the goods only started a few months back... and yet what do we hear? According to Computerworld, Maine schools have just been granted $400 million in free software ("the latest technology learning tools") from Electronic Data Systems Corp. because the state's moving forward with its iBook-equipped Learning Technology Initiative. That's something like a 1600% rate of return in less than a year. Not bad, hmmmm?

Now, granted, scoring $400 million in free software isn't quite the same thing as being handed $400 million in cash-- and we're not entirely sure how much moolah you'd get if you listed $400 million worth of EDS's "Product Life-cycle Management" software on eBay. (Sounds strictly Snoresville to us.) Still, though, in this economy, you're lucky to walk away from any investment with an intact credit rating and most of your vital organs still in place, so when all's said and done, we think Maine came out of this pretty well.

By the way, if any of you $999 iBook customers suddenly get a call from Ross Perot (he apparently started EDS, as noted by AppleLinks) offering you $16,000 worth of free software, you'll let us know, right?