In the latest development to the story that never seems to die, Toshiba has issued a recall on yet another batch of Sony-made batteries, with the latest offenders having shipped in Satellite A100 and A105 and Tecra A7 models sold between January and April of last year. Although there are only about 1,400 affected packs, this is the third recall by Toshiba since the whole unfortunate matter began, with the company's total now standing at 851,400 by our count -- and that's not including the 300,000-some they recalled for an unrelated power issue, also last year. C'mon guys, it's been almost a year since Dell got the ball rolling on this thing (and nearly as long since Sony promised an end to the fiasco); let's get it sorted already, yeah?

A Japanese couple in Tokyo are suing both Sony and Apple Japan for "over" 2 million yen ($16,700 US, quite conservative if you ask us Yanks) over a laptop battery which caught fire in April of last year. The suit argues that the man suffered burns on his finger when the battery burst into flames while being used, and his wife had to be treated for mental distress due to the incident. Of course, this isn't surprising considering the long-acknowledged problems with the recalled Sony-built batteries, and is probably just a sign of things to come as scarred users seek a righteous vengeance against companies that openly admit wrongdoing. Sony better just hope that they didn't make this battery.

Oh Sony, perhaps your Sony Entertainment execs have convinced you that any press is good press, but it's not always that way in this business anymore -- when will your bad news ever get out of our news readers? After your various episodes regarding the near-10m worldwide battery recall, you issue an obviously forced apology for causing serious property damage and putting millions of customers at risk of harm or death? Because according to The Associated Press, top company executives have apologized for the "inconvenience caused by a massive global recall in laptop batteries," but seemed confident that the problem was fixed and that the company could move on. However, AP's coverage continues: "The executives were seated while they bowed and did not bow deeply standing as most Japanese executives generally do in public apologies for troubles at their companies, underlining how Sony has been reluctant to admit fault in the troubles with its laptop batteries." Sorry Sony, you don't get to invoke papal infallibility on this one. We know you basically invented the consumer electronics industry, but that doesn't mean you get to act like like a curmudgeonly old man, cursorily acknowledging the interruption that is actually a major mistake. What's more, the AP posits that you've "maintained that the short-circuiting happens only very rarely and only in certain ways that the battery is connected in a system with laptop models, or if the laptop is used improperly and gets bumped around." Not you seem to be listening, but let's face facts here: it's not as infrequent an issue as you probably wish, Sony, and time and time again it's been proved that ordinary users doing nothing unusual are experiencing these fires. C'mon Sony, it's us, Engadget. We won't even mention how incredibly angry we are about Lik Sang. You, us, let's dish.

Sorry to kick y'all laptop owners when you're down, but Sony announced that it's initiating another recall of 340,000 batteries, this time adding Gateway to the list of the affected, in addition to already-affected Fujitsu, Toshiba, and its own batteries. (It's not immediately apparent if this also includes the 300,000 batteries of their own that they recalled earlier this month.) There are a ton of models being recalled for each company, so we'd ask you visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission for full details; also, if you haven't already checked your battery, please note the following companies are now initiating recalls:

• Apple
  
• Dell
  
• Fujitsu
• Gateway
• Hitachi
• IBM / Lenovo
• Panasonic
• Sharp
• Sony
  
• Toshiba

Kind of scary, but at this rate it's probably just safest to assume that no matter what your notebook, your battery is or will be recalled -- so be wary, and keep an eye out for battery recall pages.

We've written so much on this Sony battery fiasco that we almost feel like we could just gather our posts and sell 'em together as a PDF for $5 a download. But if we did that, we'd miss out on this latest chapter: the Sony battery recall is now nearing the 10 million mark, and that's straight from the horse's mouth. Yes, Sony announced late Thursday that it would be recalling a total of 9.6 million batteries worldwide, including 90,000 of its own Vaio batteries. Beyond that, the Japanese giant will take a 38 percent hit on its annual profit forecast -- so if you're keeping score, the battery recall has cost the company so far a total of ¥51 billion ($429 million) from July to September. Well, we're in October now, and so it stands to reason that the company is likely to lose out further. And if that wasn't enough, The Associated Press reports: "Sony spokesman Takashi Uehara said the 51 billion yen figure doesn't include 'provisions for possible lawsuits' suggesting costs may actually grow." Nope, definitely not the time to close the book on this story, no sir.

Oh Hitachi, you too? Joining the ranks now of, well, pretty much anyone wheelin' and dealin' a laptop these days, Hitachi just issued a recall on 16,000 Sony-made lithium-ion batteries shipped mostly to businesses in Japan. So, let's tally it up: if you or your buds are proud owners of a laptop from Dell, Apple, Fujitsu, Lenovo, IBM, Toshiba, Panasonic (are we missing any?) and now Hitachi, you'd best be checking those lists to if you've got a potential burner on your hands. Oh, and be sure to tell your friends and neighbors of this massive general recall, who knows, you could be a hero. Acer, HP, you next?

Fujitsu has put a number on its recent recall of Sony-manufactured notebook batteries, with 287,000 Fujitsu notebook owners being affected. This latest figure brings the total number of Sony battery recalls in recent months to more than 7.5 million, of which the vast majority (5.9 million) are from Dell and Apple. Although this appears to be a pre-emptive recall -- as far as the company can tell, no Fujitsu laptops have actually exploded -- the company is still recommending that its users give them a call if their machine is one of the 20+ models listed.

Read - Affected models
Read - Fujitsu announcement

Hooray, Lenovo has joined the battery recall party! For those of you keeping score at home, that brings the number of manufacturers to five, including Apple, Panasonic, Toshiba and Dell. The recall, anounced today, affects nearly 170,000 batteries in the US, and over 350,000 additionally worldwide, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The USCPSC also says that the recall was triggered by Lenovo's confirmation of the battery that exploded at LAX a few weeks ago and that this latest battery recall affects the following ThinkPad notebook computers "sold between February 2005 and September 2006: T Series (T43, T43p, T60); R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e); and X Series (X60, X60s)." Furthermore, Lenovo has put out a press release stating: "Additionally, since these batteries can also be used with ThinkPad T4x Series or ThinkPad R5x Series systems, customers who ordered an extra battery or received a replacement battery for any ThinkPad T4x or ThinkPad R5x Series notebook PC between February 2005 and September 2006 may also have a battery subject to recall." Now, Alan Cox's exploded ThinkPad 600 isn't part of the list, which leads us to believe that this isn't the last we've heard about Sony's exploding battery fiasco.

Read - Lenovo press release
Read - US Consumer Product Safety Commission

[Thanks, JJL]

Hoo boy, the fun just doesn't end with this little Sony/Dell/Apple battery fiasco, does it? Virgin Atlantic is now the third airline to take issue with Sony's exploding batteries, and is playing it safe by requiring the removal of batteries from all Inspiron, Latitude, iBook, PowerBook, MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Of course, that includes a wide swath of laptops that aren't affected at all by the recall, but them's the breaks. Virgin was gracious enough to allow laptop use without a battery -- if you're lucky enough to sit close enough to an in-seat power supply -- but otherwise users of two of the most popular brands in laptops had better bring a book or prepare to acquaint themselves well with a few in-flight magazines.

On Thursday, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported the first flaming Apple laptop in Japan -- and has thusly begun its official smackdown on Apple. The Associated Press is reporting that Japan's trade ministry has ordered Apple's Japan branch to figure out what the hell is going on with those batteries of theirs by September 5th, or the company could face a fine of up to ¥300,000 ($2,570) under local consumer safety laws -- a make-or-break amount of cash for small-time upstart Apple (unless they're referring to ¥300,000 per day per Apple laptop sold in Japan, which would be, uh, bad). It's still a mystery to us why the trade ministry is going after Apple and Dell directly though, instead of focusing its efforts squarely on the source. Sony and Dell have, of course, been previously dinged in Japan due to Sony's little error (which, as you might recall, affects a combined total of nearly six million batteries worldwide, and don't forget those exploding Vaio batteries, either), so remember Apple, you wouldn't like the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry when it's angry.

[Thanks, zo]

As of today, Dell isn't the only major victim of Sony's exploding battery fiasco. (Well, if you don't count the millions of consumers potentially in danger -- and who does?) Apple has just recalled 1.8 million iBook and PowerBook laptop batteries, 1.1 million of those in the US and 700,000 abroad. They've had their fair share of recalls already, including the unrelated MacBook Pro battery recall just last month, and another Powerbook/iBook recall last year, but this one really takes the proverbial cake. Apple says they've received nine reports of overheating, with two incidents of minor burning and a few claims of "minor" property damage. The laptop models include the 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4, and the recall includes computers sold from October 2003 through August 2006. So unless you're looking for the next hot pic of a laptop inferno, we suppose you'd better head on over to the official recall site and peep your battery serial number for the official word on your particular model.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Exploding Dell laptops get all the press, but that doesn't mean other honest, hardworking laptops can't get their 15-minutes of fame if they play their pyrotechnics right. And who better than Sony to produce an exploding Vaio featuring one of their very own infamous power cells? Today's story comes from Shawnee, Kansas where firefighters were called after the Vaio burst into flames twice. The first incident, which happened while the computer was idly charging, was quickly snuffed by its owner's fire extinguisher, but after the laptop burst into flames a second time a few minutes later, the fire department was called in. By the time the firefighters arrived they found the persistent Vaio on the driveway out front, fully contained by the fire extinguisher and its soul already ascending up to laptop heaven. So what's it going to be Dell, are you going to sit back and let Sony beat you at your own game, or do you have a triple explosion planned to take back the crown?

[Thanks, Jason Taylor]

We know that people are unfairly discriminated against everyday for any number of reasons -- their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and even weight -- but a new policy recently enacted by Australia's Qantas airline seems to be the first time in history that folks are being singled out because of the brand of laptop they choose to sport. Due to the recent spate of flaming Dell notebooks and the subsequent, unprecedented battery recall, new Qantas regulations make it clear that no Dell laptops -- not even those unaffected by the recall -- are allowed to contain batteries while on the plane; at one point Qantas even reportedly took the unusual step of requiring Dell-toting passengers to remove their batteries at the gate and tape up the contact points, ensuring that only those clever enough to remove the tape would be able to operate their laptops in-flight. Either way, if you want to get some work done, you'll have to buy a first- or business-class ticket (and probably an inverter as well) to power your lappy from the embedded outlets only available in the pricier cabins. A Qantas spokesperson claims that the policy has been relaxed a bit since the initial Dell owners were pulled aside before boarding; now you won't have to "admit" owning a Dell until an on-board announcement requires you to do so. "Once you've figured out how to operate your seatbelt, located the emergency exits, and safely stowed your carry-on luggage in the overhead bins, please calmly remove the battery from any Dell laptop you may be carrying so that it does not spontaneously combust and kill us all. Thank you for choosing Qantas, and have a super flight."

[Via TUAW]

What's with all the negativity, man? It's summer time and we'd think everybody'd be at the beach or drinking a beer, and yet it seems like we can't get through a week without this company or that going at another's throats -- or just laying down dead. EchoStar and TiVo have been really heating up this past week, but we really, um, exploded with the news that they are launching what amounts to be the largest consumer product recall in recent memory -- possibly in the history of consumer electronics. 4.1 million Dell batteries will make their way back to Dell at the same time Boeing kills off their in-flight internet access division, Connexion, but it's not all doom and gloom. SanDisk's latest 8GB Sansa is out, and you know we're excited about that. Plenty more on today's podcast!

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Program:
0:52 - TiVo awarded $90M and permanent injunction aginst EchoStar
2:05 - Federal Court grants stay on EchoStar's TiVo injunction
8:00 - Dell recalls 4.1 million batteries
13:05 - Boeing disconnecting Connexion
21:35 - Wii for November under $250, and it "won't have hidden fees or costs"
27:13 - SanDisk unveils 8GB, expandable Sansa e280

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Well, at least somebody's doing something about their faulty batteries. Looks like after the "silent" MacBook Pro battery recall has officially turned into a full blown 15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Exchange Program. So, got a MacBook Pro from between February through May of this year? Check your battery out, because if you've got a model A1175 cell with a 12-digit serial number that ends in U7SA, U7SB or U7SC, then sign up, get that replacement shipped out, and send your old one back. Because who knows what might happen if you don't, right? Just kidding, we wouldn't want to alarm anyone, but seriously, check it out, ok? Companies don't issue battery recalls for their damn health.