People all over the world adore Apple’s phones, tablets, and computers, but they quite emphatically do not like the charging cords for those devices. People discuss the failings of these peripherals everywhere online, from product review pages to support forums to dedicated blogs full of frayed-cord gore. Yet there are avenues to complain about products that are obviously defective that could trigger a recall or other action. [More]
cords
My Nook Color Has Outlived Its Cord
By 6.13.12
Terra’s Nook Color is still working just fine, but the device’s USB cable isn’t. It no longer works. She could buy an off-brand cable cheaply from a vendor on eBay or Amazon. She could buy one directly from Barnes & Noble, at a cost of $15-20. She didn’t think it was fair that she had to buy a new cable and that hers only lasted a year and a half, so she contacted Barnes & Noble to see if they could provide her with a replacement. They would not. [More]
Watch Out For Fire Hazardy Knock-Off Christmas Lights
By 12.23.09
CBS’s The Early Show aired a segment last Friday about counterfeit holiday lights and extension cords, mostly from China and mostly available at dollar stores, that can cause fires. The problem is that the manufacturers use shoddy materials, and sometimes even fake UL stickers, to give the impression that they’re following safety guidelines. You find out they’re not when your tree goes up in flames. [More]
Pretty Much All Roman And Roll-Up Blinds Recalled
By 12.15.09
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Window Covering Safety Council have announced a “recall to repair” of all Roman shades and roll-up shades, after multiple reports of deaths and near strangulations in recent years. If you’ve got kids in your house and you use either type of window covering, visit www.windowcoverings.org or call 800-506-4636 to receive a free kit that will let you retrofit the shades and blinds with clips. [More]
Apple's MagSafe Adapters Still Fraying, Melting, Sucking
By 4.4.08
Apple’s perpetually melting and fraying MagSafe adapters—apparently these things are made out of Styrofoam and rice paper—continue to cause trouble.
