explosion

Wal-Mart recalls fiery DVD players

Exploding iPhones are so earlier this week, people. The new scary consumer electronics product that might explode and kill you and your family is the cheap Durabrand DVD player exclusive to Wal-Mart. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of the device, saying the players can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.

The players retail for less than $30, are made in China, and are full of shrapnel to flay flesh from bone. OK, that last bit was hyperbolic, but still, any Durabrand DVD player bought from Wal-Mart after 2006 can be returned … Read more

EU's exploding-iPhone investigation heats up

Updated at 4:43 p.m. PDT with comment from Apple.

I'm on my third iPhone (having upgraded twice), and I've also owned an iPod Touch. I loved them all dearly, largely because they never exploded into flames, burning me and my family alive. Just saying.

But it seems that other people might not have been so lucky. Numerous reports say the European Commission is now looking into accounts of exploding iPhones and iPod Touches--and Apple is cooperating, according to The New York Times.

Apple said "these are isolated incidents," commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told reporters … Read more

Top 5 military research projects

Military research projects fascinate me. They usually involve crazy ideas, robots, lasers, and explosions. So what's not to love? DARPA recently announced its top research projects. You remember DARPA. They invented the Internet.

So watch the Top 5 video to see what I think are its most fascinating projects and then come back here to post an answer to the trivia question and win your own military research project. It's a toy. Don't get too excited.

Exploding cell phone kills store employee

I was just wondering whether to finally sacrifice my loyal and beautiful Nokia cell phone for something more contemporary when I discovered that a couple of days ago China experienced its ninth cell phone explosion since 2002.

In the latest, a sales associate in a computer store in Guangzhou apparently charged his new cell phone battery and put the phone into his shirt pocket. It then exploded, severing his neck artery. He bled to death.

Chinese police have not declared the make of the phone or of its battery. But both Nokia and Motorola have denied links to problem batteries … Read more

LIBS sniffs out explosives

A simple and inexpensive analytical technique has made it possible to detect explosives from up to 60 feet away, a desirable commodity in an age of IEDs and suicide bombers and one that may become commercially available in the near future.

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Maryland has developed a system that detects explosive residues, using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to identify the elemental composition of molecules. Refinement and standardization of this technique would fill a growing security and military need, researchers say.

"Currently there are no proven technologies that can accomplish residue explosives detection at … Read more

Report: Phone may not have caused death

Authorities are questioning the cause of death of a South Korean man who was initially thought to have been killed in a cell phone battery explosion, according to news reports.

The unidentified 33-year-old man had been found dead next to an electric shovel at the quarry where he worked, and a mobile handset with a melted battery was discovered in his shirt pocket. His injuries reportedly included a punctured heart, ruptured lungs, and broken ribs and spine.

But the National Institute of Scientific Investigation determined that those injuries were too severe to be attributed to a phone battery explosion, according … Read more

Report: South Korea man dies in cell phone blast

While research scientists are still grappling with the possibility of harmful effects from cellular handset use on the human body, a fatal accident involving a mobile phone occurred recently in South Korea. The TelecomsKorea News Service reported that a 33-year-old man was found dead, presumably killed by an explosion of a mobile phone battery identified to be from LG, though no specific model was cited.

It was reported that the man was found lying beside an electronic shovel at a quarry where he worked. A co-worker described him as bleeding from the nose and having a phone with a melted … Read more

PET detects 'Mother of Satan'

"Mother of Satan"--that's what bomb makers call peroxide-based explosives like triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which are easy to make and hard to detect. But a new pen-shaped detector doodad offers hope for those doing time in airport security lines.

The Peroxide Explosives Tester, or PET, by Acro is supposed to help security personnel quickly and accurately identify peroxide-based explosives, from diacetone diperoxide and hexam-methalene-triperoxidediamine to the notorious TATP, a component allegedly used by Mr. Goofy in the shoe bomb he tried to detonate on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.

Acro announced this month that it had licensed … Read more

The 'explosion-proof' computer

Turns out the "explosion-proof" computer that's been making the rounds on the gizmo circuit may be safe to use at the gas pump, but it won't do you any good to sit on it while cruising Karbala.

The Ruffneck Zone 1 Computer can be used for virtually any application, in the harshest of environments by the most careless and abusive operators, according to Computer Dynamics. It has a 15-inch touch screen that's readable in any light condition (including direct sunlight), is impact-resistant and can be operated by gloved hands. But no, it's not bomb-proof.… Read more

Vote: Battle of the non-violent robots

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of the battles here and vote on eight more first round battles here.

Complex as they are, most robots solve dilemmas in a basic way: they fight each other. Then Michael Bay films it, charges $10 a ticket, and everyone enjoys the marvelous robots-kicking-the-crap-out-of-each-other show.

But there are plenty of robots that have no appetite for destruction. What about these robots, ones that have to rely on personality, artifical wits, social skills, and dance moves in order to survive?

Even if they banded together, these robots couldn't fight their … Read more