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Airline, FAA & Apple investigate as iPhone 6 catches fire on Alaska Airlines flight to Hawaii

fire

abcNews reports that an iPhone 6 caught fire on a flight to Hawaii as the aircraft was around 90 minutes away from its landing in Honolulu.

The phone was owned by a college student who reported it in rather hysterical terms, claiming 8-inch flames and stating that she thought the plane was ‘going down,’ but Alaska Air and the FAA have confirmed that the incident itself did take place.


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Mini Review: Xtron, the compact USB battery pack that can power a 12-inch MacBook & iDevices

xtron

There’s no shortage of external battery packs for iPhones, iPads and other USB-powered devices. With occasional exceptions, the majority have little to distinguish them. But thanks to the addition of a USB-C port, the Xtron can power the 12-inch MacBook as well as iPhones and iPads … 
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and iPhone Engineer discuss battery technology [Video]

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN5HT9mj_4M]

There’s no real hard news at this talk given by Elon Musk this week but it is certainly interesting to see the back and forth with the iPhone Engineer (Evan Wong? Didn’t quite get the name) and the CEO of Tesla. Apple is of course rumored to be an investor in Tesla’s battery Gigafactory so that makes the conversation all that more interesting. Some notes:

  • The engineer manages a big part of the hardware development of the iPhone.
  • Apple is one of the biggest buyers of batteries along with Tesla and they’ve done a lot of thorough testing
  • Chemistry, material, packaging and process affect  battery life constant.
  • Tesla buys 18650 form factor batteries and is sticking to them.
  • When musk asks about the energy density, the engineer knows not to say anything (he says he doesn’t want to get sued by his employer – to many laughs from the audience).
  • Musk assumes the battery energy density is public domain because of teardowns
  • Musk says in high production they can get to 260Wh/KG at the lowest price per kW which might be good info for those looking at the Gigafactory specs.
  • Apple likely can’t use these cells in their products because they are 18mm thick, much thicker than many of Apple’s products – or so speculates Musk

More of the conversation here.
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5,100 3rd party ATG MacBook batteries recalled from Best Buy

ATG Battery Black_LargeThe AP has the story: Best Buy is recalling 5,100 replacement batteries for the MacBook Pro due to a fire risk.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that there have been 13 reports that the battery caught fire. One consumer suffered a serious burn on the leg.

Best Buy Co. is voluntarily recalling both black and white ATG lithium-ion replacement batteries for the notebook computers. The batteries were sold online or shipped to customers through its Geek Squad services from September of 2008 through June of 2012 for about $50.

Best Buy said it is contacting customers to ask them to return the batteries for replacement or for a Best Buy gift card. Company spokesman Jeff Shelman noted that Best Buy is only one of many retailers that may have sold the batteries.

ATG Battery White_LargeThe model number “MC-MBOOK13B” is on the label of the black battery and “MC-BOOK13W” is on the label of the white battery. The ATG logo is on both.

Best Buy’s official statement switches the “U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission” with “reports from consumers”:

After receiving reports from customers of these lithium ion batteries overheating when charging, we believe the right thing to do is to contact our customers and ask them to return the product for replacement or for a Best Buy gift card. While we are only one of many companies that may have sold these batteries, we feel they are a potential fire and burn hazard and want to keep our customers safe.

 

Recall Details

Units

About 5,100

Description

This recall involves both black and white ATG lithium-ion replacement batteries for MacBook Pro notebook computers. Model number “MC-MBOOK13B” is on the label of the black battery and model number “MC-BOOK13W” is on the label of the white battery. The ATG logo is on both batteries.

Incidents/Injuries

The firm has received 13 reports that the battery caught fire, including one report of a serious burn to a consumer’s leg.

Remedy

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled battery, remove it from the computer and contact Best Buy for a replacement Apple brand battery or a $50 Best Buy gift card as a full refund. Best Buy is contacting its customers directly.

Sold at

Bestbuy.com and Partstore.com, or shipped to customers through the Geek Squad Protection fulfillment at Best Buy from September 2008 through June 2012 for about $50.

Importer

BTI Corp., of Las Vegas

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TYLT’s Energi backpack charges up to three iOS devices at once, we go hands-on (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v9AxkNFqm6I

We went hands-on with the new ENERGI Backpack from Tylt, a company with products we’ve enjoyed in the past, in the video above. There are many power bags on the market that include built-in batteries to recharge your mobile devices while on the go, but we were quite impressed with these new backpacks from Tylt. They are hitting the market for between $150 and $200 at the end of March. They include a 10,400-mAh-lithium ion battery with the ability to charge up to three devices at once and dedicated pockets for your iPad, iPhone, iPod, and MacBook.

Review: NYNE’s NB-250 rubberized Bluetooth speaker, ultimate portability meets superior sound quality

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NYNE-NB-250-02

California-based audio accessory maker NYNE is getting ready to show off its latest line of bluetooth speakers, docks, and home audio products at CES next week, but for the past month I’ve already had the chance to play with one of its latest creations- the NB-250 water-resistant Bluetooth speaker.

There is a ton of competition among Bluetooth speaker manufacturers, but a couple have been able to make their way to the top of the majority of recommendation lists, including our own. NYNE’s main competition in my eyes is Logitech and Jawbone, two well-known accessory makers with high-quality, sub $150 bluetooth speaker products on the market. After having hands on time with both the $140 Jambox from Jawbone and the $99 UE Boombox from Logitech, NYNE’s NB-250 does have a few things going for it. First is design…

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