Nearly a year after Samsung recalled and discontinued its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after the devices were found to overheat and explode, another phone in the company’s lineup is under recall: 10,000 Galaxy Note 4 devices have been recalled amid concerns they could overheat, posing a risk of fire or burns to users. [More]
batteries
10,200 Refurbished Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Batteries Recalled Over Burn, Fire Risks
By 8.16.17 — Updated: 8.17.17
Report: Samsung Adding Sony To Lineup Of Battery Suppliers For Galaxy S8
By 2.17.17
Remember that problem Samsung had with lithium-ion batteries exploding in its Galaxy Note7 devices? Sure you do: They were all (eventually) recalled due to their propensity to burst into flame. In an effort to prevent such a debacle from happening again, Samsung is reportedly throwing a third battery supplier into the mix. [More]
Factory That Made Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Batteries Catches Fire (Yes, Really)
By 2.8.17
It sounds like something straight out of The Onion, but it’s true: A factory in China that manufactured batteries for the now-defunct Samsung Galaxy Note 7 line of phones — all recalled due to their propensity for the batteries to burst into flame — itself suffered a fire this morning. [More]
Fitbit Kills Off Its ‘Coin’ Payment Service; Devices To Become Useless When Batteries Die
By 2.1.17
Last year, wearable fitness tracker/fitness watch company made a surprising acquisition, buying the payment company Coin with no plan to continue its products. Instead, Fitbit planned to kill off Coin’s own product and integrate the company’s payment technology into its own wearable devices. Now the service will be shutting down next month, and Coin magnetic stripe devices will work for as long as their batteries last, or until your payment card number changes. [More]
Tesla Motors Officially Changes Name To Simply Tesla
By 2.1.17
After refusing to fold to pressure from German regulators and consumer safety advocates to change the name of its semi-autonomous driving feature Autopilot, the electric carmaker is changing something — its official name, dropping the “Motors” and becoming simply “Tesla.” [More]
CPSC: Risk of Fire Is Real, And We Really Need To Modernize The Standards For Lithium-Ion Batteries
By 1.24.17
You’re probably within the explosion radius of at least once device containing a rechargeable lithium-ion battery right now, maybe even holding it on your lap or close to your face. Elliot Kaye, chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, wants to make sure that all of the rechargeable devices in your life are safer and less likely to burst into flames than they are now. [More]
HP Expands Lithium-Ion Battery Recall To Include 101,000 Additional Laptops
By 1.24.17
Seven months after HP recalled 41,000 laptops because the lithium-ion batteries could overheat, causing explosions and fires, the company is expanding the recall to cover 101,000 additional batteries in HP and Compaq computers. [More]
Report: Battery Size Likely Led To Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Issues
By 1.20.17
There will be answers: Samsung is set to reveal Monday the findings of an investigation into why the recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone has the tendency to catch fire or explode, with the cause centered on the device’s battery. [More]
Samsung Investigation Finds Battery Was Likely Main Cause Of Galaxy Note 7 Debacle
By 1.16.17
Five months after Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 debacle began, the tech company is preparing to put the whole exploding phone thing in the past, starting with an inquiry into why the devices unexpectedly caught fire or began to smoke. [More]
Apple Issues MacBook Pro Battery Fix In Response To Consumer Reports Testing
By 1.10.17
Two weeks after our colleagues at Consumer Reports said they couldn’t recommend Apple’s new MacBook Pro after testing its battery and finding it wildly inconsistent, the company has released a fix designed to address the issue. [More]
Tesla Powering Up New Battery-Making Gigafactory
By 1.4.17
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s battery-making dreams are finally coming true with the start of operations at the company’s Gigafactory in Reno, NV. [More]
MacBook Pro Battery Life Wildly Inconsistent, Consumer Reports Finds
By 12.22.16 — Updated: 1.12.17
Expecting some holiday money? Thinking of rushing out to spend it on a shiny new MacBook Pro? After months of testing, our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports say, maybe don’t do that just yet. [More]
Tesla, SolarCity Showed Off Their Work By Powering An Entire Island
By 11.22.16
You may have heard that Tesla recently completed its $2.6 billion merger with SolarCity — a company already chaired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But before the two companies could sign on the dotted line, they had to prove their partnership was worthwhile, and they apparently accomplished that by joining forces to power an entire island with solar energy. [More]
Senator Wants To Know What’s Up With Samsung’s Lithium-Ion Batteries
By 10.19.16
While Samsung says it tested the batteries used in its now recalled and defunct Galaxy Note 7 devices before putting them in consumers’ hands, there are still plenty of unanswered questions related to how such a dangerous problem — exploding phones — could have gone unnoticed. [More]
Recycling 2.5 Million Galaxy Note 7 Phones At Once Is An Environmental Disaster And An Opportunity
By 10.12.16
Samsung is now gathering up the millions of discontinued and recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold around the world, with the help of retailers, ground transportation companies, and kits that include safety gloves and multiple layers of fireproof boxes. Yet that’s just the first step in retiring all of those devices. “Recycling” smartphones still usually means recycling their parts into a refurbished phone, not recycling the phone’s materials into a new phone or another object. [More]
Crushed Electronic Gadget Caused Fire On Qantas Flight
By 9.28.16
Discussion of the now-recalled Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and its occasionally exploding batteries had an interesting side effect: it brought the problem of lithium-ion battery fires, even those caused by non-Samsung devices, back to the headlines. Like the device that was crushed inside the seat mechanism and caught fire during a recent flight from Los Angeles to New York. [More]
Tired Of Earth? Elon Musk Unveils Plans To Colonize Mars
By 9.27.16
Although the verdict is still out (there somewhere) on whether or not there is life on Mars, there soon could be Earthlings on the planet. At least that’s the latest plan from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who today unveiled the latest project for his SpaceX venture. [More]
Samsung Announces Temporary Note 7 Solution: Limit Phone’s Charge
By 9.14.16
While Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones still haven’t officially been recalled in the United States, all over the world, people are continuing to use their brand-new phones, at least until Samsung is able to get a replacement Note 7 into their hands. To keep these stubborn customers from fiery disaster, the company announced a software update in South Korea that could hit other countries and might be involuntary: users won’t be able to fully charge their batteries. [More]
