| Toshiba Announces Another Battery Recall
As many as 10,000 batteries Sony-made in December 2005 are now being recalled by Toshiba Toshiba announced plans to recall 10,000 notebook battery packs due to possible fire hazards. Even though only 5,100 of the Sony-made batteries are faulty, Toshiba wants to make sure all defective batteries are collected. The offending batteries were created solely for Toshiba. So far, three fire incidents were reported to Toshiba -- one in Australia and two in Japan. Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori said no one was injured in any of the incidents. A number of companies were forced to recall batteries do to serious safety concerns, highlighted after an IBM ThinkPad burst into flames, along with other reported incidents of fire. Korean Air and QANTAs temporarily banned the use of Dell and Apple notebooks, regardless of what kind of internal battery was used.
Hot Shots: Tech That Keeps You on the Move
Even in the dog days of summer there's always some new tech tool to help a small business run more efficiently. Here's a quick look at a few of the latest products that can help keep you rolling along. Fresh Batteries for Old Laptops
Unleash your laptop you know, the older model that hasn't been further than three feet from a wall socket since its battery went to lithium ion heaven back in 2003. Even a thorough search on eBay failed to find a replacement for it. FreshBattery.com wants to get you mobile again, and so it recently launched its Legacy Power line of batteries designed for more than 1,500 models of aging laptops including those from HP, Compaq, IBM/Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, Sony and Dell. Most batteries start to lose their full charge capability at about two years.
Communities rally to recycle electronic debris
One of the world's fastest-growing environmental problems is also a prime driver of the world economy: electronics. Electronic waste -- in the form of discarded computers, cell phones, TVs, VCRs, fluorescent bulbs and other products -- contains toxic substances such as lead and mercury. Some officials worry that despite strong liners under landfills, pollutants from electronics could leak into groundwater and streams. Bay Area communities are rallying to recycle such debris. A number of recycling locations exist, and many counties have organized pickup events to dispose of the "e-waste." Tossing electronics into the trash is illegal. According to state waste managers, up to 75 percent of old electronics are in storage because their owners are unsure about how to safely dispose of them.
Men at work... in the biggest roadworks ever
IT WILL involve looking out for unexploded bombs, potential archaeological traces and even the remains of Edinburgh's former tramway. Up to 125 workers will start digging up the capital's roads in earnest next month in the latest £60 million phase to return trams to the city in 2011 after a gap of 55 years. .
Acer Aspire 7720G
If weve taken anything away from our past experiences with Acers products, its that they've generally offered great value and, with the Aspire 7720G, its business as usual. For its asking price, you get a bang up-to-date Santa Rosa notebook, which packs in a 2GHz dual-core CPU, a gigabyte of memory and, for movie buffs, a HD (High Definition) DVD optical drive. The Acer also features a built-in Dolby sound system with a thumping subwoofer but, if youd rather hook it up to your home theatre, you can do that too thanks to an optical output port. For gamers, this Aspire offers AMDs new Mobility Radeon HD 2300 GPU, which offers DirectX 10- and Shader Model 4.0-support. The only other laptop capable of this, is the more costly Asus G1S. The 7720G is relaxing to work on thanks to its feather-touch-sensitive keyboard and responsive trackpad.
Web site takes mystery out of college dating
When a male college student wanders into Best Buy and a digital camera catches his eye, he doesn't buy it on the spot. Yes, it's shiny and sexy, but what's the battery life like? Does it suit his needs? Thanks to the Internet, he can go home, get on his laptop and read blogs about the product. So when this same student is out at a party or simply on the town, why shouldn't he have the same luxury when he meets a girl he likes? As cold as it sounds, for college students, this is exactly what happens. And the online mate-shopping aid usually is the Facebook Web site (www.facebook.com). "It really does suck the fun out of dating. I try not to (look), but people do it all the time," said Alex Smith, a sophomore at Hampton-Sydney College in Virginia.
Nokia warns of faulty handset battery
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, has warned that up to 46 million batteries used in some of the company's handsets could be faulty and pose a risk of overheating. The advisory applies to batteries manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. between December 2005 and November 2006, the mobile phone maker said. Japan's Matsushita is one of several suppliers that have together made some 300 million BL-5C batteries. The lithium-ion battery is one of 14 different types of battery used in Nokia phones. Nokia said 100 incidents of overheating of the Matsushita-made BL-5C batteries had been reported worldwide, but added that “no serious injuries or property damage have been reported". All the cases of overheating have occurred during charging of phones, the Finnish company said.
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