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Dell knew about "dozens" of burned laptops two years before recall?
We know you've all been following closely as Dell investigates the case of their exploding laptop, so you'll probably be interested to hear about a report claiming that Dell knew dozens of their laptops had sustained extensive heat damageat least two years before initiating any kind of recall. The source, who is claimed to be someone "close to the company," has said that Dell execs were provided with documents and photographs in 2003 and 2004 showing lappies described as "burned," "melted" and even "scorched." Of course we can't vouch for the legitimacy of the source's information, but if it's true, the danger that could be involved makes "dozens" sound like a lot, even compared to the millions Dell sells every year.
Found Footage: Blowing up a PowerMac G4
Some guy asked for donations to buy a G5. As a reward to his donors, he said he would blow up his aging PowerMac G4.
X-ploding Xbox
Handsome Tom of ScrewAttack.com (love the name) made a bet that he would blow up his Xbox if the Mavericks lost to the Heat in the NBA Finals. Boys and girls, this is why gambling is a bad idea. Warning: if you're a real Xbox Fanboy, this video may disturb you. [Via XboxSpace]
Exploding Shuffle
Kids, take care of your iPods. They entertain you, keep you company, and act as a status symbol (even though you deny it). And, if one day your shuffle decides to go belly up, lay it to rest peacefully by sending it to the big iPod recycling plant in the sky. What you should by no means do is attempt to repair said shuffle by stabbing it with a large metal knife, lest you end up like this foolish fellow who hit a capacitor and had the iPod explode in his face.In all seriousness though, whenever you are planning to open up any kind of electronic device, think first, and think twice. I've been bit more than a few times by capacitors that I hadn't properly discharged, especially when repairing cameras. Via our sassy sister, Engadget.
Sanyo recalls whopping 500,000 phones
Sketchy batteries doing bad things to you and your phone are nothing new. Sanyo has set an interesting new precedent, however, turning a good battery bad with software. Some half million units of their W32SA clamshell for KDDI's network are being sent home for faulty software that can prevent the battery from fully charging. That, in itself, isn't too scary -- but here's the twilight-zone part of it: there have been documented cases where the batteries "have cracked and become deformed." From some faulty software, people, written by the US' favorite cellphone manufacturer, no less. Happily, afflicted handsets can be flashed at the local KDDI shop, but our paranoia is getting the best of us here; could rogue KDDI employees send bogus OTA firmware updates to grenade the phone in your pocket?
iBook battery catches fire
We hear about the occasional battery recall, and there are always the complaints that computers are getting too hot, but things went to a whole new level for a family in Minnesota. As WCCO in the Twin Cities reports, an 11 year-old boy set a running iBook down on the carpet and left the room. His mother states that they heard a popping noise, saw that the iBook had started melting the carpet and the room was filling with smoke. They quickly carried the iBook outside and remembered to bring their camera along for the show as the iBook, you can see, literally caught fire (WCCO has a video and more images).Of course, the news outlet is making sure to pull out all the sensationalizing tricks with such quotes from the mother like "It doesn't seem real that you would have a fire in a computer. We all could have died, and the house could have burned down".The moral of the story? Apple burns houses down. Buy a typewriter from your local office supply store.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Exploding SE phone charger hits three year-old
Far be it from us to revel misfortunes of others, but is it really heartless of us to have a chuckle at the thought of a little kid getting nailed in the chest by phone charger shrapnel? Yeah, we suppose it is, but at least we're on the up about it, which is more than we can say about Sony Ericsson and their CST-20 charger. Turns out a UK man recently had a run-in with a rogue CST-20 unit, which after being plugged in for 45 seconds blew up in his kitchen. The room was sprayed with shrapnel, and the man's three year-old son was nailed in the chest with the lid of the unit. Along with tripping the circuit breaker and filling the house with fumes, the explosion managed to get a vulgar yell out of the man's wife upstairs, which really seems to make it all worthwhile. The man doesn't think so, and is of course looking into the matter legally. Sony Ericsson says the CST-20 is built by a different manufacturer than the one responsible for the infamous CST-13 of 2003.[Via textually.org]
