How long do you think a ~$8000 car will last? [more inside]
posted by Rubbstone on Jul 20, 2009 - 28 answers

I'd like to put together a Wikipedia Accuracy Meter - Perhaps a browser plug-in or a web page that attempts to give an estimate of the reliability of any given article at any given moment. Please come in for discussion of algorithm and technical hoo-ha to help me assess if this is a weekend project or a master's thesis.... [more inside]
posted by mzurer on Apr 11, 2009 - 17 answers

How reliable are small Suzuki cars? [more inside]
posted by TheyCallItPeace on Sep 30, 2008 - 9 answers

[statsfilter] How to elegantly measure test-retest reliability after multiple (i.e. 4) repetitions of the same test? [more inside]
posted by Smegoid on Nov 26, 2007 - 5 answers

Help me build a device to last the ages - and still function! For a hobby/art project, I'm building a pocket-sized gadget comprised of electronics, gears, metal, glass, wood, plastic, etc. Is there any particular book or other source that stands out as the bible on issues of long-lasting methods and materials? Ie covers questions like how transparent and strong various plastics remain after X years/decades of sun and UV? Which material/method of lubrication for gears will best last decades under X conditions? Which soldier alloy? [more inside]
posted by -harlequin- on Oct 17, 2007 - 7 answers

Flash memory vs hard drive in a personal media player: do the hard drives have serious reliablility/durablility issues in the portable media players like iPod and Archos? I expect I'll drop the thing a few times (or more), and wouldn't enjoy sending a hard drive model off for expensive repair/replacement. Any thoughts on what percentage of hard drive equipped media players require repair? Bonus points: what software (preferably freeware) would be able to pull a single frame from the videos I make for the player and print/save it as a jpg? The vids would be mp4, avi, or wmv.
posted by bbranden1 on Sep 19, 2007 - 16 answers

(1) When doing an inter-rater reliability study, does Rater A always have to be paired with Rater B, and Rater C with Rater D, etc? Or can Rater A be paired with Rater B sometimes and Rater C other times? (2) When trying to determine the appropriate sample size for this kind of study, is the N based on the total number of subjects rated, or on the number of subjects each pair of raters rates? [more inside]
posted by kenberkun on Jun 16, 2007 - 2 answers

Are Sony Ericsson phones bad news or is it just in my head? [more inside]
posted by trinarian on Nov 25, 2006 - 29 answers

I'm looking for a laptop and leaning heavily towards a powerbook. In my research, I have been looking for a comparing the overall reliability of PC versus Mac. Does anyone know of any studies that have been done comparing the two? Personal feedback is also welcome.
posted by renyoj on Apr 1, 2005 - 20 answers

I have a number of X10 switches controlling lights throughout my apartment. I have a number of problems with them... [more inside]
posted by Caviar on Feb 22, 2005 - 9 answers

How robust/durable are LaCie firewire drives? [+] [more inside]
posted by psmealey on Feb 7, 2005 - 14 answers

Webhosting uptime. What's reasonable to expect from at $10/month hosting package? I'm hosted by netacore and by my count, my domain has been down about six times this year, for an average of about a day at a time. [more inside]
posted by Jeff Howard on Nov 1, 2004 - 13 answers