Hasta La Gadget!

Fujistu-Siemens in the UK has recently announced their Lifebooks4Life program, which at first sounds a bit like some sort of gang tattoo, but turns out to be a new program that entitles you to a new laptop of the same value (adjusted 10 percent for inflation) every three years for the rest of your life. Granted, you’ll be obliged to purchase a three year warranty with each new machine, and the machine must remain in warranty (you know what that means — no cheap, off-brand RAM upgrades and absolutely no mods). But still — a new notebook every three years for the price of a warranty? This doesn’t sound like a disaster waiting to happen. Not at all. And one more caveat: you can’t pass this contract on to your next of kin. Those of you in high-risk professions — Dare Devils, Soldiers of Fortune, and contributing editors at Engadget — might want to pass this one up.