The magazine drew together reader survey results with their own internal data to evaluate peoples’ experiences repairing and replacing certain classes of products, and the results aren’t terribly surprising: Point-and-shoot cameras are cheap and difficult to repair, and get noticeably more advanced over short periods of time, you may as well just replace them if they break outside of two years of ownership. LCD HDTVs? Hold on a little longer.

Granted, the general trend here seem to be that it’s not worth repairing anything that’s more than a few years old, so it’s less a guide about when to replace than confirmation that today’s gadgets — even the most expensive ones — are more or less disposable. Full chart below. (Click to enlarge) [Consumer Reports via Consumerist]

Yes, the world is a much better place now that many of us are hopelessly addicted to Apple products. I was going to say something about weeping for future generations, but it appears that the choices given to respondents didn’t make a damn bit of sense either. Here’s how the results broke down:

•Steve Jobs (35 percent)
•Oprah Winfrey (25 percent)
•Tony Hawk (16 percent)
•Mark Zuckerberg (10 percent)
•The Olsen twins (seven percent)
•Kimora Lee Simmons (four percent)

According to Junior Achievement, the list of entrepreneurs was chosen based on “people who had started business enterprises themselves, as opposed to licensing their names and images to products produced by someone else”. While I agree that Jobs belongs on or near the top of any list of entrepreneurs, I can’t help but wonder — where the hell is Bill Gates? You know…Microsoft…one of the biggest philanthropists of all time? [Junior Achievement and TGDaily via Crunchgear]

What’s not surprising is that Motorola is dead last. Up until their Android Cliq they really didn’t have much going for them — and neither did Palm, until their Pre. So our guess is that these ratings will look a little different next year with Palm moving up a slot or two, and Motorola pulling out of the shame spot.

Motorola doesn’t do too bad on the dumbphone ratings, on the other hand.

Also, LG? [JD Power]

According to a recent survey by In-Stat, only 43% of respondents who were interested in owning a 3D television to begin with (meaning, a fraction of the real population to begin with) were willing to spend <$200 extra on a 3D-compatible TV. Of the same group, only 33% would pay an extra <$50 for a 3D-compatible Blu-ray player.

But here’s the kicker: 67% of those interested in 3D entertainment were willing to spend <$5 on 3D Blu-ray discs. In other words, consumers are willing to pay for a mostly artificial price premium rather than one fully explainable by technical merit. Rape our wallets at will, Hollywood. [Home Media Magazine via EngadgetHD and image]

Make that 4707 consumers. I have no intention of even considering an eReader until prices drop under $US100. I still enjoy reading actual, paper books and I can buy them for next to nothing at a used bookstore or get them free at the library. Plus having a collection of them throughout my home looks good (and it makes me feel smart). eReaders don’t have the same appeal as MP3 players—so they sure as hell shouldn’t cost me more to buy. But what about you? How low do eReader prices need to be before you would consider buying one? [Forrester]

It’s notable that there are “over 130 million e-money cards issued”, which amounts to “more than enough for Japan’s estimated population of 127 million citizens”. I wonder why only about half appear to prefer using the prepaid e-money cards when there are enough for everyone out there. ‘Fess up. Who’s hogging the cards? [NIKKEI]

Photo by VS Medios

The study—conducted in Dusseldorf and Munich, in Germany—had three groups: One with GPS without real-time traffic, another with GPS units with real-time traffic information, and a third one—the control group—without any GPS.

The results were clear, according to them: Drivers with real time-traffic information will spend 18 per cent less time going to places. That’s four days a year, which—if you ask me—is quite a lot. The study also found that these drives traveled shorter distances and times, which decreased yearly CO2 emissions an average of .79 metric tons. This resulted in 21 per cent less carbon dioxide.

So what’s the catch: Those percentages are compared to drivers “without navigation.” Their press release fail to provide information on GPS without real-time traffic information systems. Highly suspicious, if you ask me. [Autoblog]

So is half the world absolutely insane or is this survey—done with just a 2881 drivers sample—wrong? It seems to me like an awfully high number, but knowing that everybody has a phone now, I’m not surprised. If true, changing the law won’t fix this. It seems more like an education matter. And with education I mean, “If you text while driving you may end dead, you idiot.” [PR Newswire]

Here’s the response:

Microsoft stands behind the Xbox 360 as a superior entertainment console with one of the best warranties in the industry. We are constantly improving the design, manufacture and performance of the console through extensive testing of potential sources of any problems. Xbox 360 is pleased to maintain the title of ‘most played console’ and the vast majority of Xbox 360 customers have enjoyed a terrific gaming and entertainment experience since their first day, and continue to, day in and day out.

Just because they failed to contest the figure, however, doesn’t mean it’s legit. That Game Informer survey was of its readers, which is surely not a truly representative sample of all Xbox 360 owners. Those nerds surely play their consoles a lot harder than your average gamer. But still, it’s telling that Microsoft didn’t want to get into a numbers fight over the failure rate. After all, if it isn’t 54.2 per cent, what is it, Microsoft? It’s not like them saying, “No, it’s not that! It’s only 35 per cent!” would be a great move. [TG Daily via Kotaku]

According to the data, over 50 per cent of you answered five or more of the questions with a “yes” answer. Okay, I can see that—you are reading a gadget blog after all. But the interesting thing is that the answer with the highest number of responses was a “yes” answer to all twelve questions. Really? All twelve? I mean, these aren’t all fluff questions—actually it reads more like “signs you might grow up to be a serial killer”. Maybe spending $US14,500 on a 45-day program isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Image via HCI