iPod Nano Goes Up in Flames

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14271878/detail.html' target='_blank'>http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14271878/detail.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The new iPod Nano is hot. But one Douglasville man said his old Nano got even hotter -- hot enough to burst into flames. “So I look down and I see flames coming up to my chest,” said Danny Williams. Williams said the burn hole from the pocket of his pants marks the spot of his 15 seconds of flame. He said he had an iPod Nano and an glossy piece of paper in his pocket. He believes the paper shielded him from being burned. “I’m still kind of freaked out that after only a year and a half my iPod caught fire in my pocket,” said Williams. The iPod uses a lithium ion battery -- the same type of battery under recall for setting laptops on fire."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/14277351.jpg" /><br /><br />Is it me, or have we seen more stories about exploding/flaming/smoking devices in the past 12 months than in in the past five years? I don't know if this is a result of the OEMs trying to push Lithium Ion technology further and further, or just a series of random occurrences. Either way, it make you think twice about everything around you that's battery powered.

[jeffd]

batteries have been malfunctioning for how many decades now? this isnt news... only news outlets hopping onto a "lets try and create and outcry against popular trend items" bandwagon.

[bluemax]

Wasn't this story debunked by several other blogs (cnet included)? The clothes that were shown looked more like cigarette burns rather than flames shooting into the air.

Bill B.

[Janak Parekh]

batteries have been malfunctioning for how many decades now? this isnt news... only news outlets hopping onto a "lets try and create and outcry against popular trend items" bandwagon.
That's what I'm thinking, too. I think it's a combination of that, and a few other things:

1. More ubiquitous adoption of battery-powered devices in people's pockets;

2. In concert with #1, an increasing number of people who treat their devices poorly (leaving in cars, putting in change pockets, etc.)

Li-Ion is certainly a more sensitive battery technology, but given the rate of incidence (read: it's extremely low), I'm not particularly worried.

--janak