

Some iPods explode - Flemlord
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article6736587.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=2015164

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dcurtis
I had a similar experience a while ago.

My PowerBook G4 Titanium overheated and melted. I called Apple support. They
took my number and told me to wait for a call.

Ten minutes later, an executive in Cupertino called me and apologized for my
"trouble." Then he made the a similar offer to the person in this story-- if I
agreed to not talk about the incident, he would send me a fully loaded brand
new PowerBook G4 (aluminum model at the time) worth almost $5k, an iPod, and
an external hard drive.

I took the deal, of course, but refused to sign anything.

Here's a picture I sent to Apple HQ immediately after the incident:
<http://bit.ly/Gv93d>

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rw
How did you get the goodies without signing the NDA?

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dcurtis
I carefully suggested that I would go to the press.

Two days later, the stuff arrived on my doorstep.

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mahmud
Well, it seems like you won. You get to keep your hush money and still get to
speak out.

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Jem
A friend of mine posted about her MBP overheating in the Apple forums and was
promptly banned.

I understand not wanting negative press, but surely covering it up is only
going to cause bigger controversy in the long run?

~~~
TallGuyShort
Absolutely. I understand that a company needs to release things quickly in
order to be competitive - they can't test everything 100% in every situation.
I wouldn't have the slightest problem if after a few months Apple announced,
"we've discovered a problem in some of our batteries, if you experience a
problem, please call this number for a refund/free repair/replacement" or
something. But when they insist you don't tell anyone and threaten YOU with
legal action? That's just not cool. Apple's been very disappointing lately. If
it happened to me, I would gladly go to the press and skip out on the refund.

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Bjoern
I can understand that a company, here Apple, will try by lawyers and other
means to silence things but in the long run this is really bad and damaging to
the image of a company.

I wonder why they didn't choose to just handle the matter gracefully? Would
have avoided bad press, or am I missing something here?

~~~
dtf
I just think it's the culture at Apple. They're control freaks.

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DannoHung
What's been with the spate of exploding batteries in the last three or so
years? Is this like the capacitor plague?

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jwilliams
It's the increases in energy density. You're packing lots and lots of energy
into a small space. The challenge is to keep it stable. It's a similar problem
to an explosive.

As people demand batteries that have much higher densities -- then it's going
to push these boundaries... This wikipedia entry isn't a bad reference on it:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density>

Edit: .. and the rate at which you can tap that energy too.

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Zev
_After being passed around several departments, he spoke to an Apple executive
on the telephone._

I'm mildly surprised he was able to get to an Apple exec so quickly. I've
tried and given up in frustration. I did send an email afterwards, and got a
response back. So it ended well in my case.

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grinich
It's amazing to me that these devices don't fail more often. The chemistry
behind a Li-Ion reaction is much more volatile than most people realize. It's
a bit unnerving to think that I'll probably have one in my pocket for the next
decade.

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chanux
Recent news items related to Apple makes me feel that "Apple is making their
good days bad".

