Some negative Apple news for a change.

MacNN | Apple recalls 1.8m notebook batteries:
Apple today in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of its rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony for certain iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 notebooks. The recalled batteries can overheat, according to Apple, posing a fire hazard to consumers. Apple said it has received nine reports of batteries overheating, including two reports of minor burns from handling overheated computers and other reports of minor property damage. Affected models include the 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4, and 15-inch PowerBook G4.

Of course this isn’t the first time Apple recalls batteries. But 1.8 million batteries is a huge recall. This comes at a time when complaints about the quality of Apple’s hardware are on the increase. I’ve been hearing more stories, both personal and from the media, about problems with Apple’s hardware quality.

One small yet stupid thing I suffer from on my 17” PowerBook G4, which I had for over 2 year now is that, early on, the caps lock key came off. I have to click it back on several times a day (it became second nature). Other that I can’t complain at all.

I have to check if my wife’s 15” PowerBook is affected by the recall (I doubt it).