BGR: The Three Biggest Letters In Tech » electricity

BGR Caption Contest: Tesla Roadster vanity license plate

Jonathan S. Geller — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:33:50 +0000

I couldn’t pass up taking a photo of this Tesla Roadster’s license plate just now. Can you come up with a better one?

Nokia issues recall for 14 million chargers

Michael Bettiol — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:36:24 +0000

Today Nokia announced a world-wide recall of three chargers made by BYD, a third party supplier. The models in question are AC-3E and AC-3U manufactured between June 15th and August 9th, 2009 and AC-4U made between April 13th to October 25th, 2009. The reason for the recall is a defect which could cause the “plastic covers of the affected chargers [to] come loose and separate, exposing the charger’s internal components and potentially posing an electric shock hazard if certain internal components are touched while the charger is plugged into a live socket.” Nokia is strongly encouraging those who believe they have a defective charger to visit http://chargerexchange.nokia.com/chargerexchange/en/ and enter in some information on their chargers label to confirm whether or not their equipment is part of the recall. So far Nokia is not aware of any injuries or property damage as a result of the affected chargers, but just to give you a general idea of how large of a recall this is, Reuters is reporting that 14 million units are affected.

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Users find Apple’s iPhone and iPod shocking, literally

Zach Epstein — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:33:38 +0000

No, seriously. Apple just put up a new support page in response to claims from many users regarding electrical shocks received from Apple’s iPhone and iPod earbuds. The shocks are described as “small and quick”, but clearly the issue is serious enough to warrant an official response from Apple. The aforementioned support page, found below on the read link, describes the situation as follows:

When using headphones in areas where the air is very dry, it is easy to build up static electricity and possible for your ear to receive a small electrostatic discharge from the headphones. Receiving a static shock from a pair of earbuds does not necessarily indicate an issue with the iPod, iPhone, or earbuds.

This condition is very similar to dragging your feet across a carpet and receiving a static shock by touching a door knob. However, instead of the static charge building up on your body, the charge builds up on the device that the earbuds are connected to. Likewise, instead of the static buildup discharging through your finger when you touch a door knob, it discharges through the earbuds.

Apple goes on to claim this is an issue that affects equipment from other manufacturers as well and then recommends a few solutions, such as using anti-static hand lotion or wearing “clothes with natural fibers since synthetic fibers are more likely to hold a static charge.” Umm, Apple wants people to change their wardrobes because its headphones are shocking ear canals? Yeah, so we’re going to go ahead and stick to third-party headsets from here on out. Kthx.

Thanks, Tyrone!

[Via Cnet]

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