iPod Lights Man's Pants On Fire

Danny Williams's taste in music is so wretched, his own iPod tried to kill him. Very recently, the Douglasville, Georgia native looked down to find his pants pocket engulfed in flames. The culprit: his year-old iPod Nano.

Williams walked away from the incident uninjured thanks to a piece of glossy paper in his pocket, which he believes spared him from being badly burned. But, as if having your iPod try to immolate you isn't frightening enough, consider where this episode took place: Williams works at a kiosk at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As Williams said himself:

"If TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist."

This fire is just the latest in a series of recent lithium-ion battery flame-ups. After smoke and flames were reported by consumers last August, Sony has since been forced to recall more than seven million laptop batteries it made for its own computers as well as for Dell, Apple, Gateway, Toshiba and several others. This summer, a Chinese man was killed when his cell phone battery exploded in his chest pocket, sending a broken rib tearing into his heart.

Click here for the rest of the story.

Apple offers iPhone customers $100

Eager customers who bought their iPhones before August 22nd are to receive $100 of store credit from Apple, it has been announced.

Apple has said that the phones must be activated with the device's exclusive carrier, AT&T, before they are eligible to receive the credit. The credit can be used either at an online Apple store or an Apple retailer. Requests for the credit must be submitted before November 30th.

In order to receive the credit however, customers must fill out an online application. Then one's cell phone receives a text with an access code. The offer of credit came after the price of the iPhone was slashed by Apple shortly after it was released, sparking fury in early purchasers who has paid several hundred dollars more. Some Apple customers have been disappointed however that the $100 credit will not cover purchases at the company's online music store iTunes.

Apple mulls wireless move

The software and technology giant Apple is reportedly considering building a wireless network of its own.

BusinessWeek has reported that the company is considering taking part in the government's upcoming auction of a segment of the wireless spectrum. If Apple did indeed build its own wireless network, it would no longer have to rely carriers such as AT&T to provide service for its wireless devices like the iPhone.

Giants such as Google and others are also likely to put in bids for the 700 MHz spectrum, which the Federal Communications Commission has dubbed "beachfront property". The minimum bid for the band will be 4.6 billion but the bidding is widely expected to go as high as $9 billion. However, a source at Apple told BusinessWeek that though the company is still considering the move, it is more likely that they will choose not to. Meanwhile, over the weekend Apple sold its millionth iPhone. Click here for information on other digital products and services.

AT&T offers cell phone restriction

Communications giant AT&T is offering a new service that will allow parents to restrict their children's cell phone usage.

Dubbed Smart Limits, the service lets parents set restrictions on when children are able to use the phone and who they are able to receive text messages and phone calls from. It also lets them incoming calls and block calls from unknown numbers. Parents will also be able to block children from accessing certain websites using their phone's wireless technology. However, this function would not work on phones like the Apple iPhone, which uses Wi-Fi to access the web.

AT&T's chief marketing officer for wireless, David Christopher, was quoted by the Wall St Journal as saying: "We're letting parents feel good about giving kids cell phones without the unintended consequence of a surprise bill or behavior that they don't know about." Smart Limits is to cost an extra $4.99 per month per line, AT&T has said.

Click here for more information on digital products and services.

iPhone Hacked

Apple's much-touted new iPhone has been hacked into by a team of security experts in Maryland.

Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) has claimed that it has found a flaw in the iPhone which could let hackers access private data kept on the phone. A cyber criminal could gain entry to the phone either through a wireless access point or a website, according to ISE. Since its release earlier this month hackers all over the world have been trying to find a weakness in iPhone, however this is the first successful attempt.

ISE explained that the iPhone connects to wireless internet networks by name, so an attacker could conceivably make up a network with the same name as one already used by the phone. Then instead of accessing a web page, the phone would access exploit code, allowing a hacker to control the phone. A spokesperson from Apple told the New York Times: "Apple takes security very seriously and has a great track record of addressing potential vulnerabilities before they can affect users."

For information on other digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com

Internet Key Issue In Hollywood Contract Talks

The impact of the Internet is expected to be a major factor in current talks between Hollywood screen writers and studio executives.

How much screenwriters should get paid when their work is broadcast over the Internet is potentially an issue that could result in strikes. Executives have argued that screenwriters should wait up to three years to see whether trends in Internet viewing either change or look to be set.

The business model of broadcasting content over the Internet, iPods and cell phones is still unproven, they argue. David Young, the chief negotiator for the Screenwriters Guild, recently told an audience of screenwriters at the Beverly Wilshire hotel: "Their pie has been growing and growing, while our share has been slowly shrinking. We cannot let that continue. "Clearly, this is a seminal and critical negotiation for us."

The last time that screenwriters went on strike was in 1988. The strike lasted 22 days and cost the industry an estimated $500 million. For information on digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com

PCs to become 'second screens' in US homes

Video content transmitted via PCs is becoming increasingly prevalent in American homes, according to a new survey.

In a yearly study about trends in usage of the internet and technology, called The Face of the Web, it emerged that online video activities are driving growth in the digital media sector.

The Ipsos Insight research found that at the end of 2006, 36 percent of Americans have watched video streams or TV programs online. This is an increase of eight percent from the year before. In addition, three-quarters of adults have used the internet to watch videos in the 30 days before the poll.

Video content is a "predominant" part of the daily lives of Americans, according to the executive vice president and managing director of Ipsos Insight's technology and communications practice, Brian Cruikshank. "Increasing penetration of broadband access and PC ownership globally signals that the PC will begin to really assert itself as a 'second screen' within the household," he added.

Research by consultancy Point Topic revealed last month that the US has the highest level of broadband penetration in the world, with more than 60 million subscribers.

For more information on digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com

Online Music Service Sales Increase

The music industry suffered a significant loss in physical music sales in 2006, but the digital music market continued to grow, a new report has revealed.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), physical music shipments, such as CDs, fell by 11 percent to $17.5 billion last year, while digital shipments increased by 85 percent to $2.1 billion. Commenting on the figures, IFPI chairman John Kennedy said that the industry had hoped the loss in physical sales would have been offset by the growth in music downloads. "But while digital sales have grown as expected, physical sales have fallen by more than expected," he remarked.

The IFPI stated that digital music formats, which include those downloaded onto computers and cell phones, accounted for 11 per cent of total shipments last year. In related news, reports earlier this week suggested that Universal did not intend to renew its contract with Apple's iTunes for the online distribution of its music.

For information on other digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com