MacBook Bursts Into Flames

The Apple MacBook owner says his laptop's battery was not on last year's recall list.

A MacBook user reported Monday that his Apple laptop burst into flames, apparently because of a bad battery. He said that the laptop battery had not been on last year's recall list.
According to an account posted to the MacTalk forum by an Australian MacBook owner identified as mattyb, the laptop was charging when his housemate woke him after hearing the computer hiss and seeing smoke pour from the device.
"At first I thought that the lamp had fallen and set fire to the curtain," mattyb wrote. "As I got closer, I realized it was my [MacBook] ... burning! I picked it up and blew on it and swung it around to put the flames out. The bookshelf it was sitting on was burnt and there were a couple of magazines that were on fire too."
After putting out the fire, mattyb noted that the laptop's battery was swollen and burnt, "so it's definitely the battery that exploded and caught fire. The MacBook is melted on the bottom and severely charred."
In an update later, the laptop owner said that local Apple representatives had told him they would come to his house to collect the damaged unit, replace it and might compensate him for property damage. "Strange thing is, there was no symptoms like excessive heat or deformation of the battery or anything like that at all," mattyb said. "I also checked quite a while ago to see if my battery was one of the recall units. It was not."
Other Battery IssuesLast August, Apple recalled 1.8 million lithium-ion batteries made by Sony. Just days before that, Dell recalled 4.1 million Sony laptop batteries because of concerns they might overheat. Several other laptop makers later joined in with their own recalls.
"We were damn lucky not to have a house burnt to the ground," mattyb said. "I have been out for most of the weekend and this night was the only night I had it charging."
Apple officials did not respond to a call for comment.

Via PCWorld

EA sells music from video games via Apple`s iTunes

Electronic Arts, the world's biggest video game publisher, Thursday began offering music from its titles through Apple Inc.'s popular iTunes online download store.The move from EA comes as game makers explore ways to use the Internet to distribute, sell and market games and other content.
EA said songs will be priced like others on the system at 99 cents each. The company, which is also offering ringtones for $2.99, already sells games like Tetris and Sudoku on iTunes for $4.99.
A list of available music is at www.ea.com/eatrax, which links users to iTunes.
Since video games are popular with the same younger consumers sought by musicians, acts like Good Charlotte, Jet, Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Arctic Monkeys and Fabolous have teamed with EA to help launch their careers.

Via USAToday

iPhone to run $300-400 after contract?

Everything we've been told with regard to the iPhone's pricing structure has suggested that the 4GB would hit at $499 and the 8GB at $599, and that this would be an on-contract price -- expensive, yes, but likely still in the right range to keep sales brisk. New advertising allegedly leaked out of a consumer survey suggests that the 2-year contract price could come in a full two hundie lower, though: $299 for 4GB, $399 for 8GB. This would sorta jibe with a Cingular exec's comment regarding the availability of units to folks outside coverage areas at a contract-free price, but perhaps more importantly, it's fabulous news for folks who will be able to take advantage of a contract re-upping. Of course, this is all coming out of a survey -- perhaps gauging reaction to pricing -- so we need to wait for some more clarification from the powers that be before declaring our wallets a little less burdened come June.

Via Engadet

Apple rises on Prudential comments

Shares of Apple Inc. climbed 4 percent in Wednesday afternoon trading after Prudential Equity Group said the computer and iPod maker is poised for a solid fiscal second quarter amid strong Macintosh sales.
Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple rose $3.35 to $89.25 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on average volume. Shares are down about 12 percent since touching a 52-week high of $97.80 a month ago when Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs introduced the long-anticipated iPhone.
"Our recent checks with industry contacts suggest a solid March quarter with seasonal iPod unit weakness being more than offset by stronger Mac sales and higher margins due to a favorable component cost environment," analyst Jesse Tortora wrote in a client note.
Tortora, who has a "Neutral Weight" rating on the shares with a $100 price target, said his checks with industry contacts in the Mac and iPod supply chains suggest Mac sales are tracking ahead of company expectations led by strength in the Macbook and iMac lines.
Tortora said iPod sales dropped so far this quarter on the heels of a strong holiday season. Sales of the video iPod and Nano appear weak, but have been partially offset by stronger sales of the iPod Shuffle as multiple color offerings were rolled out.
Looking at Apple's iPhone, a wireless Internet device and cell phone, Tortora said it will be sold exclusively through Apple stores and its Web site, in addition to AT&T's Cingular Wireless stores. Apple expects most of the iPhone sales to take place in Apple stores, since consumers will want a demonstration of the device's features.

Via Businessweek

Apple fixes four security flaws

Apple issued four security updates on Thursday to fix flaws in Mac OS X and iChat identified by the Month of Apple Bugs project.
Two of the flaws could allow an attacker to execute code on an unpatched system, Apple said. Patches are now available on Apple's website or through the Software Update selection under the Apple menu on a Mac.
Apple noted that proof-of-concepts for the flaws were posted on the Month of Apple Bugs website. But it doesn't appear that attack code has surfaced using the concepts outlined by the project. Apple has fixed several flaws identified during the course of January by the project, but some remain open.
The two flaws that could lead to arbitrary code execution are found in Finder and iChat. There's a buffer overflow flaw in Finder that could allow an attacker to take control of a system by "enticing a user into mounting a malicious disk image", or tricking someone into enabling local access of a file supposedly stored on a remote server. Apple credited Kevin Finisterre, one of the participants in the Month of Apple Bugs project, for reporting the issue, something it did not do on the three other flaws patched on Thursday.
The other patch, for iChat, fixes an issue in which a user could click on a malicious URL in a chat session and trigger an overflow, possibly opening the system to an attacker.
Two patches concern flaws that require a malicious local user. This includes another iChat flaw that could cause the application to crash as well as a fix for a UserNotification flaw that could allow system files to be overwritten.

Via ZDnet

Apple/Cisco iPhone Trademark Spat Still Unresolved

Apparently fifteen days was not enough time to eke out a deal on iPhone trademark rights. Late Thursday night, Cisco agreed to give Apple yet another extension to respond to the lawsuit it filed against the Cupertino company on January 10.
According to the revised agreement between the two companies, Apple now has until February 21 to either work out a deal with Cisco or challenge the trademark lawsuit in court.
While an Apple representative was not immediately available for comment, Cisco spokesman John Noh said that the negotiations between the two companies are still ongoing and that "Cisco and Apple are still working on an agreement toward trademark usage and interoperability."
Cisco has claimed it has owned the iPhone trademark since 2000, when it acquired a company called Infogear. Although Cisco has not widely used the iPhone brand, the company began publicly using it about the time that Apple declared its intention to makret a phone under the iPhone name. The two companies began negotiation, which were due to expire on Feb. 15.
The legality of the second delay is still open to question. Presumably, because Cisco has agreed to the deal, Apple is not breaking any district court rules.

Via PCMag