| More exploding Sony batteries recalled
THERE ARE more woes for the maker of exploding batteries, Sony, after one of its customers, Toshiba, recalled 10,000 laptop battery packs. Toshiba said the batteries are a fire risk after three of its laptops made on December 3, 2005 caught fire in the last 10 months. According to Reuters, only 5,100 units of the 10,000 packs are potentially defective, but Toshiba has decided it is better to be safe than Sony, er sorry. It wants to make sure all the battery packs containing targeted battery cells are exchanged. Last year Sony recalled 9.6 million PC batteries as they could catch fire from overheating and it cost the outfit $418 million. A Sony spokesman said the recall should not make too much of a financial dent because after you have recalled 9.6 million, 10,000 is just a drop in the bucket.
Thursday | 16 August, 2007
Hot demand and a massive battery recall are causing shortages of key components for the notebook computer industry, analysts and companies say. The worst case scenario for users is the likelihood of fewer deals for new notebook computers over the next five months because PC manufacturers are paying a premium for components and have to pass those higher costs down the PC supply chain. Users are also likely to see fewer discounts and other promotions, such as extra DRAM or a bigger hard disk drive (HDD). What normally happens during a component shortage is that PC vendors will adjust the makeup of the notebook PC to find savings elsewhere and ensure a constant price for users. For example, using less DRAM (dynamic-RAM) memory in a laptop can reduce the cost a tad, to make up for a higher priced laptop battery.
Sony in new laptop battery recall debacle
Toshiba has recalled thousands more Sony battery packs in response to concern over fire risk. The recall is not connected to the industry-wide recall last year in response to other faulty Sony batteries. Toshiba has logged laptop battery overheating incidents in both 2006 and 2007 in connection with the latest faulty battery batch. Toshiba said, "Over a relatively short period, certain incidents occurred where certain battery packs installed in Toshiba portable computers caught fire. "Based on its investigation, Sony Corporation, supplier of the subject batteries, concluded that certain battery cells manufactured in a specific manufacturing lot could be affected by a certain issue that could potentially lead to a safety issue." .
Dell XPS M1330 Orders Cancelled...Including Mine
A little over a week ago, I did something for the first time: I ordered a Dell laptop. I've recommended Dell laptops to others in the past, but Dell has never put out a laptop that really caught my attention and held up to the scrutiny of what I look for in a laptop.That all changed with the introduction of the XPS M1330 a couple of weeks ago. This laptop looks simply awesome. Great design, cutting-edge hardware, solid battery life, and it's still thin and light.My primary goal for this laptop was to have something that could process RAW files properly, and also do a bit of video.I'm mostly using Adobe Lightroom (which is great, for the most part) and on my 1.2 Ghz Fujitsu P7010D it takes about 10-15 seconds to render the RAW file, and even if I know it's a bad photo and I want to delete it, I can't until the rendering is done.It's just too slow and too painful.
StarTech.com WiFi Detector with LCD (WIFIDETG)
Wi-Fi finders or detectors are nifty little gadgets to keep in your gear bag for those times when you want to scope out nearby hotspots, without booting up your laptop or traversing menus on your WiFi enabled phone / PDA. These finders are typically small pocket friendly devices, whose sole purpose is to report information regarding detectable hotspots. I have one today from StarTech.com that not only will help you find nearby access points (hotspots), but can turn your computer into one. The WIFIDETG comes packaged in a small cardboard box that unlike some plastic packaging, does not require a blow torch to open. Yay! Hardware Specs Wireless standard: IEEE 802.11g/b
Frequency Band 2.40002.4835GHz
Data Rate 54/48/36/24/18/12/11/9/6/5.5/2/1Mbps auto fallback
Security 64/128/256-bit WEP Data Encryption, WPA (TKIP with IEEE 802.1x) and WPA2 (AES with IEEE 802.1x)
Antenna Internal
Battery 4.2V Rechargeable Li-Polymer
Transmit Power 16dBm (Typical) Dimensions: 3.58 x 1.12 x 0.55 inches (91 x 28.5 x 14 mm)
Weight: 1.06 oz (30 g)
Package Contents WiFi detector
USB extension cable
CD with WLAN software / driver
Instruction manual This WiFi Finder is similar to the ZyXEL AG-225H WiFi Finder that I reviewed last year.
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