Apple thinks different about battery recalls

Last week, I described Dell's battery recall for more than 4 million Sony-made batteries that have a disturbing propensity to overheat and sometimes catch fire. Dell has documented cases of laptop computers bursting into flame. At the time, I mentioned that other manufacturers, including Apple, use the same batteries. Apple has now issued its own recall for 1.1 million units, but says there is no danger from continuing to use the batteries. Apple also didn't exactly go out of its way to make the information available.

When I heard about the recall, I thought it would be wise to visit Apple's website to see if the battery in my PowerBook G4 was included in the recall (it wasn't, but it was close).

Click any of the images (except as noted) for a larger view.

		I expected to find information about the battery recall on the main page of Apple's website. Top to bottom. Side to side. I looked. Twice. Nothing. It must be in the "Hot News" section, I thought.
		Nope.
		Well, then it'll be in the support section!
		Here we go. The support section for MacBook, PowerBooks, and the like. It'll have to be here!
		Sorry, but no. Not anywhere that I could see it, anyway.
		So I decided to search. (No larger version of this picture.)
		No results for "battery recall", but I could read "About Lithium-ion batteries." Maybe it's there.
		I'm beginning to feel like someone in a Monty Python Cheese Shop sketch at this point. "Not much of cheese shop, is it?" True, this tells me about Lithium-ion batteries, but nothing about the recall. I give up. Can Google help?
		This is promising.
		I thought I'd found what I was looking for, but realized later that this page was about a previous battery recall. I finally found the page I was looking for after about 30 minutes and discovered that I need not worry about the computer in my Powerbook G4. See how much easier Apple's method is.
		I mean, look how confusing Dell makes the process. You go to the company's home page and there it is right there: "Notebook battery recall." Where's the adventure in that? Where's the fun? Where's the discovery? What a bunch of idiots must work at Dell. They put what the customer is looking for right on the main page. Sheesh!

The recall is for laptop computer batteries in Ibook G4 and Powerbook G4 models sold between October 2003 and August 2006. The recall does not affect the company's Intel-based MacBook and MacBook Pro models.

If you have an Apple notebook and you don't want to spend 30 minutes searching for the right page, cheat. Here's where you can find out about the battery recall.

This would not be a good time to be the head of the Sony division that manufactures batteries for Dell, Apple, and other manufacturers. Now we're waiting for the third shoe to drop. And the fourth. And the fifth. And ... ... ....

Now that I've kicked Apple around, it's time to give Microsoft the boot ...

Update atop update (Windows version)

This would be a good time to visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to ensure that you have the latest system patches. Even if automatic updates have been enabled on your computer, the automatic update procedure doesn't always work as it should and there's an important update to an important update.

On Friday, one of my computers had 9 critical patches to install even though the automatic update procedure is enabled. A co-worker had 15. Another co-worker had 0. This is just plain goofy. How can computers running the same operating system with the same settings have such different results.

Two words: Windows happens.

Microsoft has fixed a flawed bug patch that caused problems for some users. A new patch has been issued to replace the security patch that contained a bug with a security problem of its own. The original patch was intended to remedy an Internet Explorer security problem.

The problem is that the patch could cause IE and attackers could exploit that crash to take control of a PC.

Microsoft released the original patch on August 8 (MS06-042) with a "critical" rating. It fixed 8 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, but Microsoft reported that the patch was causing crashes. Then security firm EEye Digital Security discovered and reported that the crash could be used to obscure an attacker's installation of malicious code.

Microsoft just this week released the replacement patch. Why the delay? Apparently there are incompatibilities with the distribution tools some companies use to install Microsoft patches.

Whether you have automatic updates turned on or not, take the time to point Internet Explorer (don't try to use a non-Microsoft browser because it won't work; security updates need the ActiveX security disaster to be available) at the Windows update site: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

And speaking of stupid ...

AOL has apparently found some scapegoats. AOL has fired its chief technology officer and 2 others following the release of search results from thousands of subscribers.

Maureen Govern was fired effective immediately. She had been with the company for slightly less than one year. An internal memo cast the firing in a slightly different light: "Maureen Govern, our Chief Technology Officer, has decided to leave AOL effective immediately."

AOL has been blasted for posting the results of more than 2 million search queries made by 650,000 AOL subscribers between March 1 and May 31. The data was made available to academic researchers even though AOL intended it only for internal research.

No personal information about AOL subscribers was intended to be revealed, but some of the searches contained sufficient information to identify the searcher.

The fired (retired? resigned?) Govern was responsible for overseeing the AOL division responsible for the data release. The company also fired (retired? resigned?) two other employees.

Nerdly News

Microsoft edges closer to IE7

If you visit Microsoft's website for Internet Explorer 7, you'll see that "beta 3" has been replaced by "release candidate 1". If you have a Mac, don't bother. Microsoft has apparently decided that the Mac world should be frozen at an early version 5 release. Dumb. But then Mac users have no shortage of browsers that run under OS X. It's just that IE isn't one of them.

It's not beta. It's not final. IE is in the twilight area between the two. RC1 is code that Microsoft considers good enough for general release. There's a good chance that there will be an RC2 before the final release, but you should be able to install RC1 without causing too many problems.

Installing RC1 atop any previous version of IE will remove that version first and require a restart. This is done to ensure that there are no leftovers from previous versions.

There are no big changes in the user interface for RC1. The feature set has been frozen for several months. Most of the changes are bug fixes and performance improvements. RC1 also adds language support for French and Spanish.

What does AMDATI spell?

Both companies -- AMD and ATI -- hope that it will spell success. CPU maker AMD has announced plans to acquire video card manufacturer ATI. One has to wonder what Intel, Nvidia, and others are planning to do in response.

AMD will acquire the Canadian video card manufacturer for $5.4 billion. $4.2 billion of that will be in cash and $57 million will be in shares of AMD common stock. The acquisition should be completed during the 4th quarter of this year.

AMD says the combined company will create "a new and more formidable company, determined to drive growth, innovation and choice for its customers." AMD's chairman and CEO, Hector Ruiz, sees a bright future. "ATI shares our passion and complements our strengths: technology leadership and customer centric innovation. Bringing these two great companies together will allow us to transcend what we have accomplished as individual businesses and reinvent our industry as the technology leader and partner of choice."

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