Apple is offering a $45 credit to Canadian owners of older versions of its popular iPod, a move that strikes of deva ju over a similar settlement agreement reached in 2005 with U.S.-based iPod owners.
Under the proposed settlement, as reported in the Montreal-based Gazette newspaper, Apple Canada plans to offer a $45 credit to iPod owners who purchased their music players before June 24, 2005. The credit can be used at Apple's online retail store.
The settlement is over allegations that the iPod batteries failed after three hours in-between charges, compared with its advertised claims of an eight-hour battery life. Up to 80,000 Canadians are expected to be eligible under the proposed settlement, according to the Gazette.
This means the Canadian settlements, which are expected to be wrapped by June 20, could cost Apple up to $3.6 million.
Apple did better with the two Canadian class-action settlements than with its U.S. lawsuits. Under the 2005 U.S. settlement, Apple agreed to provide a $50 store credit and extended warranties to iPod owners who purchased their device between its introduction in 2001 and May 2004.
U.S.-based iPod owners alleged their devices remained charged for four to five hours, verses the 10 hours that were advertised. Up to 2 million U.S. iPod owners were eligible to receive the settlement, pushing the price tag up to $100 million for Apple.
Beginning January 1, new Department of Transportation rules about lithium and lithium ion batteries in checked and carry-on baggage in airplanes supposedly went into effect. The announcement generated some fevered commentary at the time. This was in part because the rules were in the form of government writing commonly known as bureaucratese, leading a lot of people to think that they were far more onerous than they in fact are. (I discussed the new rules in an earlier posting.)
Well, I recently returned from a trip to California and there's no evidence that the new restrictions are being enforced in any way. No screening. No signs. No notices. Nada. When I arrived home I did some poking around on the Web and, as far as I can tell, nobody else has run across any noteworthy changes to battery screening procedures either. For example, under the new rules, loose batteries are now supposed to be placed in individual plastic bags or otherwise stored in a way that their contacts can't be shorted out. I've seen no evidence that anyone is paying any attention to this requirement.
Your mileage may vary, of course. Especially if you're transporting multiple large batteries for professional video equipment and the like (which is the sort of thing that the rule change really targeted), it may still be worth trying to get some clarification--for whatever good that will do. However, it certainly appears that the government has effectively shelved putting the new safety regulations into practice for the time being.
Does anyone have any experiences to the contrary?
(Credit:
Apple)
Some conflicting accounts coming out of the Web-o-sphere on Tuesday about Apple's revamped MacBook Pro laptops. At the heart of the controversy are reports that the new 15- and 17-inch Pro models have taken a nosedive on battery life, despite the inclusion of allegedly power-saving Intel Penryn processors.
Both Ars Technica and Gizmodo pointed out that Apple's own numbers on how long the battery should last in a 17-inch MacBook Pro have changed with the new models--going from more than 5 hours to only 4.5 hours.
There are actually a couple of different things going on here, all of which add up to new MacBooks that should last just as long as their predecessors, if not a little longer.
Apple says it's changed the way it reports battery life. It used to report numbers from three stock battery life tests, a so-called "highway" test, designed for maximum battery life, a DVD playback test (similar to what CNET uses), and a wireless productivity test.
Apple's Anuj Nayar tells us that the company used to publish all three scores on its site, but highlighted the highway test. Now, the highway test and DVD playback tests are out, and the wireless productivity test is the new default. So looking at Apple's older numbers is a bit like comparing you-know-what to oranges.
On the other hand, the new Penryn processors and optional LED backlit display (17-inch Pro only) should offer some advantages in battery life.
Battery numbers should always be taken with a fairly hefty grain of salt--your laptop's battery life is highly dependent on how you use it, from applications to screen brightness to USB-powered peripherals. We'll know more when we get our hands on one of these new models and run it through our own testing, so stay tuned.
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Cellboost)
Ick! Did I actually just write a headline with the words "disposable" and "battery"?! Let's see...yep, I did. But before you get your environmentalist dander up, consider: one, I recycle; two, I use compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and three, I have a relevant story to share.
About three years ago, at a CES show in Las Vegas, a PR flack handed me a Cellboost disposable battery for my Treo smartphone. "You never know when you might need it," she winked.
Flash-forward to three weeks ago, when my phone (it's a Centro now, but same difference) ran out of juice and I desperately needed to make a call. I pulled the Cellboost out of the glove compartment, where it had sat, untouched, for three years. No way will this thing have a drop of power left, I thought, not after three boiling summers and three harsh winters.
Long story short: I plugged it into the Centro and presto, instant power. So when I spied an iPod-compatible Cellboost at Buy.com for just $5.99 (shipped!), how could I resist passing it along? Granted, it's an eco-unfriendly solution, but it's compatible with all dockable iPods and promises eight hours of play time. Toss one in your travel bag; you never know when you might need it.
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Best Buy)
One of the nice things about using a notebook is that if there's a sudden power outage, you won't instantly lose your work. Desktop users aren't so lucky, which is why it's essential to plug everything into a battery backup (aka uninterruptible power supply). If the lights go out, you'll still have a few minutes in which to save your work and power down the machine safely.
Best Buy has a CyberPower battery backup on sale for $29.99. It includes six wide-spaced outlets, all of them surge-protected and three of them powered by the battery. The 240-watt backup promises between 8 and 20 minutes of runtime, depending on the power demands of your hardware. It also has a pair of phone/fax/modem ports to keep that gear from getting fried. CyberPower even backs your equipment with a $35,000 warranty. Battery backups can cost a pretty penny; here's your chance to get one on the cheap.
If you don't want to lose your spare lithium batteries for your camera, notebook or cell phone, you might want to pack carefully for your next flight.
New rules from the Transportation and Security Administration that take effect on January 1 ban travelers from carrying loose lithium batteries in checked baggage. Passengers are allowed to pack two spare batteries in their carry-on bag, as long as they're in clear plastic baggies.
Fortunately, you don't have to worry about the batteries that are already installed in the devices you're bringing. The TSA has said it's safe to check in items like a laptop or iPhone that already have the batteries in place.
The agency said that loose lithium batteries not installed in devices pose a fire risk to passenger planes. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board could not rule out the possibility that lithium batteries started a fire in a plane at the Philadelphia National Airport last year, according to the Associated Press.
If you do plan on bringing spare batteries in your carry-on bag, be aware of some other rules: You can only bring batteries with an equivalent of up to 8 grams of lithium content. (Most batteries for cell phones and laptops meet this requirement.) And for lithium metal batteries, whether carried as a spare or installed in a device, batteries are limited to 2 grams of lithium metal.
The batteries in laptop computers are expensive (a quick review of prices at Lenovo.com shows they range from $119 to $179), and like any battery, they have a limited lifespan. When it comes time to replace the battery inside your laptop computer, you may be tempted to save a few bucks and buy a replacement from a company other than the one that made the computer.
Don't.
In a widely reported story, someone in Ohio purchased a battery for their ThinkPad laptop from a company called Shentech rather than directly from Lenovo or IBM (in 2005, IBM sold the ThinkPad line of laptops to Lenovo). No doubt they paid less than IBM or Lenovo would have charged. When I checked today, a battery for a T40 ThinkPad that Lenovo sells for $119 is only $65 at Shentech. Was it a bargain? Not at all; the battery caught on fire.
The story made news not because of the fire but because the battery, bearing an IBM logo, was a fake (allegedly). After examining the faulty battery, IBM purchased additional batteries from Shentech, and they too were (allegedly) fakes. Needless to say, IBM is suing Shentech (that they list a Post Office box and no phone number on the Contact Us page of their Web site doesn't inspire confidence).
Unfortunately, the laptop battery igniting in flames was not, in and of itself, newsworthy. After all, last year there were a slew of battery recalls. The big story was Dell recalling 4.2 million batteries made by Sony, but overall approximately 10 million Sony batteries used in machines from Apple, Sony, Lenovo/IBM, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Sharp, and Dell were recalled. In May of 2005 Apple recalled iBooks and PowerBooks with batteries made by LG Chem of South Korea. Lenovo/IBM has also recalled Sanyo batteries. It must be hard to make a safe lithium ion battery.
The lesson here is to only buy replacement batteries from the company that made the computer. Off-brand batteries are more likely to scrimp on safety features.
And, should there be a recall of the battery in your laptop, make it easy for the manufacturer to contact you--register your computer purchase.
Your Battery
If you are curious about the battery in a laptop computer running Windows XP, go to the control panel, open Power Options, click on the Power Meter tab and, finally, click on the battery icon. In the screen shot above, you can see the battery was made by Sanyo.
ThinkPad owners should have a ThinkPad configuration program installed (available from Start -> Programs -> ThinkVantage, at least in Windows XP, I'm not sure about Vista) that shows additional information about the battery. As you can see above, this includes the manufacture date and the first-used date.
The Status Detail tab (see above) also shows, among other data, the current temperature of the battery, which might bear watching every now and then.
If you know of other software that shows important information about the battery in a laptop computer, please leave a comment below.
See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.
This case has CSI written all over it.
Earlier this week the TelecomsKorea News Service and other news agencies reported that a man in South Korea (known as Seo) was presumably killed in a mobile phone explosion while working in a quarry. Then authorities said his injuries were too severe to have been caused by an exploding handset battery, though it was reportedly on fire in the victim's shirt pocket.
Now police say they suspect that the co-worker who first reported the incident (known as Kwon) was actually the one behind the victim's death, according to Digital Chosunilbo and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Kwon had apparently run over Seo accidentally while backing up a hydraulic drill rig, police say, but then told authorities that the phone battery had exploded and killed his co-worker. At that time, a preliminary examination found major injuries to Seo's heart, lungs, ribs, and spine. It is now not known how the phone caught fire.
Meanwhile, LG has issued a press statement saying that the lithium-polymer battery used in most mobile phones has been tested as safe for consumer use. A representative also added that lithium-polymer batteries, unlike lithium-ion batteries, cannot suddenly explode.
Authorities are questioning the cause of death of a South Korean man who was initially thought to have been killed in a cell phone battery explosion, according to news reports.
The unidentified 33-year-old man had been found dead next to an electric shovel at the quarry where he worked, and a mobile handset with a melted battery was discovered in his shirt pocket. His injuries reportedly included a punctured heart, ruptured lungs, and broken ribs and spine.
But the National Institute of Scientific Investigation determined that those injuries were too severe to be attributed to a phone battery explosion, according to the Associated Press, citing reports from the Yonhap news agency. Final results from an autopsy are expected in about 15 days.
LG, which makes the phone model in question, reportedly said an explosion as originally described was virtually impossible.
An injection of graphite foam is giving new life to the venerable lead acid battery, according to Firefly Energy.
A standard lead acid membrane.
(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)The Peoria, Ill.-based company has come up with a way to coat the membrane, a fan-like lead lattice that allows the battery to generate electrons, with graphite foam. This change results in a more efficient battery that can extract more electricity from the electrolyte, release more electricity per charge, and endure more charging cycles. The battery also will last longer. The foam gives the membrane a larger surface area for reactions.
Firefly's Oasis batteries are designed for long-haul trucks. Truckers typically run their diesel rigs all night, mostly to keep the air conditioning or heating going in their sleeping units, not to mention the TV. Next year, California will impose regulations that only allow truckers to run their rigs in idle for five minutes every hour. The new regulations are designed to cut down on diesel fumes and greenhouse gases. That leaves truckers the option of broiling (or freezing) or waking up every hour.
Firefly's batteries are designed to provide enough power to run the electronics in the sleeping cabin the entire night without depleting the batteries.
The company will come out with samples of so-called Group 31 batteries for long-haul trucks in the first quarter of next year and begin full production in the fourth quarter of 2008. Negotiations with large customers are already under way, according to Firefly executives.
Now with graphite foam.
(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)Lead acid batteries were invented more than 100 years ago, but there haven't been many major architectural changes since manufacturers figured out a way to produce batteries that didn't need to be refilled with a hose a few decades ago, Firefly co-founder Mil Ovan said in an interview. Lead acid batteries, though, have a lot of advantages over nickel-metal hydride batteries (which are more expensive) and lithium-ion batteries (which can blow up.)
Firefly's basic technology comes from Caterpillar.
Initially, the membranes in the batteries Firefly will make will contain lead. The foam essentially covers it. But over time, it will try to remove the lead.
