Sure, you've heard the horror stories of faulty Xbox power cables sparking up fires in homes, but it seems the latest case involves the aforesaid console's successor: the Xbox 360. According to Little Rock, Arkansas fire department captain Jason Weaver, a 360's power cord was to blame for a blaze that injured no one (thankfully) but caused some $100,000 in property damage. Mr. Weaver asserted that the power supply was likely crammed in a tight spot with no "space to dissipate heat," and while we've certainly seen no shortage of overheating Xbox 360s, this marks the first time that we've seen high temperatures wreak havoc on more than just the machine's internals. Here's to hoping this isn't the start of a dreadful trend.

[Via Joystiq]

Nokia's decision to close that factory in Bochum, Germany and move its operations to a cheaper site in Romania might lower costs in the long run, but for now things seem decidedly in red: Nokia and the German unions who represented the 2,000 laid-off workers at the plant have agreed to a €200M ($314M) settlement, which will probably end the demonstrations and calls for boycotts that have been going on. Of course, that's on top of the $92M (plus another $6.2M) the German government wants back in grants and tax breaks for subsidizing the plant, but what's another hundred mil between friends?

[Via Textually.org; image courtesy of Reuters]

Not even a month after three iPods got all hot and bothered on separate occasions, along comes images showing that even Apple's iPhone isn't immune to melting itself. Purportedly, the handset was purchased from Carphone Warehouse in December, but was never activated for one reason or another. Just this week, the owner's son slapped it in a dock with intentions of activating, walked downstairs to catch the last few minutes of Magnum, P.I. and returned to his room to find a "stupidly hot" iPhone which had already melted in some parts and had its screen cracked from the reaction. Not surprisingly, he's currently in the middle of a runaround trying to get someone to remedy the issue, but thankfully no Earthlings, carpets or IKEA desks were harmed.

Update: Thanks to Logan5's quick eyes, it appears we've discovered a scammer in our midst. Essentially, this bloke posted the real story here noting that the crack (more on that here) actually appeared after it was mishandled and dropped. Haven't we learned this approach doesn't work by now?

The fallout of the March 3rd fire at LG Chem, the second biggest S. Korean manufacturer of laptop batteries, is now clear. There's a global shortage of batteries which won't be relieved until LG Chem can restart the assembly lines in another 2 to 3 months. Dell claims that the shortage has already caused an increase in price for secondary or replacement batteries. ASUS says it could affect up to 40% of ASUS' laptop shipments including the Eee PC. Bad news for us, good news for Samsung SDI and Sony in Japan as laptop OEMs look elsewhere for inventory.

Perhaps this is some sort of elaborate hoax, maybe it's an epidemic of iPod touch coffee stains, or perhaps this player really just is this hard to photograph. Still, our second set of blurry "my iPod touch caught on fire" pictures certainly has us reaching for our Flaming Goblet of Skepticism (+3 WIS). Similar to Max's experience a couple days ago, tipster Ryan F. says his iPod caught on fire from the inside. Ryan says he plugged it in to charge and it showed a dead battery, then the screen went white and the device started to get super hot, so he unplugged it but it continued to burn. The fire ended up leaving a blackish orangish circle in the screen, along with a brown dent in the metal on the back (pictured after the break). Ryan's going to try and track down a better camera to take some better pictures of the damage.

We apologize for the blurriness of the image -- imagine you are looking through the photographer's tears -- but what you see before you is supposedly an esploded iPod touch. Tipster Max S. tells us he had the pleasurable experience of having his touch catch on fire between the glass and the components, which can't have been a fun time for the iPod. The heat managed to burn his desk, and needless to say Max won't be getting any more use out of the thing. Apple has been kind enough to issue a free replacement, and is apparently going to look into the situation to see how much of an anomaly this is. This is of course "hot" on the heels of that iPod nano incident, and while an exploding iPod situation would be bad enough for Apple and consumers, what we're really not looking forward to is the inevitable DOT ban on PMPs. Let's hope these are some isolated incidents, or Apple pays off the right people to hush up about it. There's another blurry shot after the break.

Update: Max wrote back to tell us that Steve Jobs' personal staff is apparently in touch with him after Max emailed Apple about the incident. Supposedly he might be getting some compensation for the ordeal, but doesn't seem quite as chipper about the ordeal as his first email suggested: "Still, my iPod burned. *sad face*" You gotta keep it together, Max!

Update 2: Apple gave Max a £25 (about $50 US) gift certificate to the Apple Store in addition to the replacement he already got for the iPod touch. Is that the happy ending to this sordid tale of destruction and woe?

Uh oh. Japan's trade and economy ministry is now officially investigating the explosive nature of the iPod nano. The culprit is model MA099J/A -- AKA, the old black and white plastic model already reported to spew "chest high flames," cause bedroom fires, and explode across the floor. The Japan incident occurred in January when an iPod nano reportedly "shot out sparks while recharging." At this point, all odds are with the nano's lithium ion battery. Apple Japan has been ordered to investigate the issue and report back to the ministry with the cause. Kind of like asking the fox what it was doing in the hen house, eh?

Update: Apparently, the Japanese ministry "strongly warned" Apple for failing to report the incident (as required by law) when it occurred. Apple's filing with the ministry came on March 7th.

It's a crazy, mixed-up world we live in. If we aren't worrying about global warming or peace in the middle east, we have to be on the lookout for scorned women setting large quantities of mobile devices on fire. A certain Mrs. Wang is guilty of that latter offense. The 37-year-old Chinese woman wasn't particularly stoked about her husband walking out on their marriage, so she did the only reasonable thing that presented itself: rounded up the entire stock of more than 400 phones the couple had at their joint-owned cellphone shop, and set the entire lot ablaze -- inside her home. The collection was valued at roughly 300,000 yuan, about $42,000 US. You might want to take this time to inform your significant other how sane, rational and sexy he or she is, while simultaneously removing all lighter fluid from your home. No gadget is safe!

Oddly enough, this isn't the first time we've seen a product proudly designed in Cupertino erupt, but it's pretty safe to say this story could have had a much more tragic ending. Reportedly, an iPod nano owner recently awoke to a blaring fire alarm around 2:00AM, only to find his beloved PMP wrapped in flames on the bedroom floor. Thankfully, the fire was tiny enough to be extinguished without any major trouble, and no substantial damage of property or human flesh was tallied. As of now, we've no idea if the unit simply exploded or if surrounding circumstances are at least partly to blame, but you can bet your bottom dollar that be sleeping with one eye open (and on our media players) tonight.

[Thanks, Sandy]

Merely days after LG put the brakes on sales of its Z1-AE007 laptop due to suspicions of a faulty battery within, yet another lappie in South Korea is making headlines for its overheating, er, abilities. Reportedly, the battery in a P10 computer, produced in 2002, "melted" after inexplicably emitting smoke during use. The device managed to burn a bed and a certain part of the floor, but thankfully, no "big fire" was started. According to company spokesman James Chung, Samsung is now "checking details of the incident," but the actual manufacturer of said battery has yet to be revealed.

Without any definitive rhyme nor reason, it appears that Leica's CEO, Steven K. Lee, has been "removed from power by the company's supervisory board." Reportedly, Mr. Lee has been replaced by the firm's owner and board chairman Andreas Kaufman, who will run the company jointly with board financial controller and treasurer, Andreas Lobejäger, until later this month. Interestingly, we're not told who will pick up the reins permanently after that -- nor exactly why the decision was made -- but we suppose it's only a matter of hours before we find out.

[Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]

It's not like LG hasn't had issues with its batteries before, and even after confirming that they were unquestionably safe just last week, the firm has suddenly removed its Z1-AE007 from the market after suspecting that faulty batteries may be included. Reportedly, one of said models "caught fire" in Seoul and presumably startled the graduate student who owned it, but a company spokesperson stopped short of proclaiming that a recall was in order. Furthermore, the individual noted that "the matter should be consulted with the battery maker," essentially shoving every ounce of blame as far as humanly possible away from LG.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

A fire at Lite-On's factory in China this month is set to have rippling repercussions on the desktop monitor business. In all, 14 of Lite-On's LCD monitor production lines have been affected by the damage. The very same lines which supply those hi-specced, low priced monitors to Dell and HP, who along with Lenovo are Lite-On's top contract partners. Our advice? If you're on the fence with a purchase then you'd best hop off. Dell and HP are looking at a 20% and 22% shortage, respectively.

GEM neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) burning peacefully on the UC Riverside campus, January 15th, 2008. Bigger version in the gallery below.

[Image courtesy of Matt G.]

A Little Rock, Arkansas man is taking HP to court over a faulty Compaq Presario that he says is to blame for burning his house down and causing serious injury to his daughter. The Wal-Mart-bought computer seemed perfectly fine until it suddenly burst into flames, catching his entire house on fire. His daughter had to jump out of a second story window to escape the fire, and sustained burns, physical injuries and "extreme mental anguish." As if it wasn't bad enough having a Presario in the first place. The lawsuit names unspecified monetary damages.