fire

Amazon has been slashing prices on its entire lineup (almost) of Kindle e-readers. You can save up to $55 on the newest models, with prices starting at just $59.99.

These are limited-time discounts, so enjoy them while you can.

Target is recalling around 90,000 Lightning cables over concerns they could cause fires or electric shocks.

The “heyday” branded cables, which feature a nylon braided cable and metal connectors, “can become electrically charged,” according to a recall notice.

Target has so far received 14 reports of the cables “smoking, sparking or igniting.”

A Malaysian man perished in a fire in his bedroom, but his family and his company say he was actually killed when the phone charging near his bed exploded.

“He had two phones, one Blackberry and a Huawei. We don’t know which one exploded,” said the brother-in-law of Nazrin Hassan, the CEO of a venture capital fund.

Samsung’s explosive reputation could be flaring up again, based on a new report that the company’s smartphone caused one woman’s car to catch fire and explode.

The Detroit woman says she was driving in her car with a Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S8 in her cupholders when suddenly one of the devices burst into flame. It took just a few minutes for the fire to completely destroy her car, and she says she’s lucky to be alive.

Look at the damage:

The fire-relief efforts in Northern California are getting a boost from some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Smoke from the wildfires ravaging wine country are currently choking out residents in San Francisco’s bay area, so Apple, Google and Facebook are stepping up by donating local efforts.

iPhone fanboys will have you believe that exploding batteries are exclusive to Samsung Galaxy smartphones, but that’s not true.

Even Apple devices go bang from time to time — like this 2015 Retina MacBook Pro, which was completely destroyed when its battery catastrophically failed and caught fire.

Smartphones don’t always need faulty batteries to go boom. One iPhone 6 Plus owner learned this the hard way after being rudely awoken by her handset when it burst into flames on her nightstand.

The new MacBook Pro finally lands in stores this week, and an awesome new Apple ad celebrates the arrival.

In the new spot, called “Bulbs,” Apple links the invention of fire, the wheel, plow and more to the creation of the Touch Bar, the thin OLED strip that completely changes how you interact with your Mac.

After watching $17 billion fall off its market value today, it’s still too early for Samsung to laugh about the whole Galaxy Note 7 debacle. But that doesn’t mean we can’t.

This video of a Note 7 return kit, which includes a fire-proof box and gloves, will certainly put a smile on your face.

An Atlanta man claims his iPhone 6 Plus caught fire when he was charging it in his home, setting his bed on fire in the process.

“There were sparks and flames,” said David Grimsley. “The whole apartment could have burned down.”

Amazon has dismissed dozens of engineers and ditched a handful of hardware projects following its dismal attempt at tackling the smartphone market, according to a new report.

The retail giant has also restructured what’s left of its hardware division, combining what was two separate units into one.

A fire of unknown origin broke out today in Apple’s command center in Mesa, Arizona.

Local firefighters responded at around 11:30 Tuesday morning to the structure, which formerly held sapphire glass supplier GT Advanced Technologies.

A Mesa fire spokesperson said the flames seemed to be localized to the roof of the building, near Signal Butte Road and Elliot Road.

A patent published today shows that Apple is investigating new halogen free, flame-retardant materials for use in its devices.

According to Apple, only about 12% of plastics currently contain flame retardants. An increased use of such materials would improve the safety of electrical wiring and electronic devices, and help reduce the number of fires caused by electronic devices as a result.

Halogenated flame retardants have been found to be effective in many plastics, but these are increasingly regulated as a result of environmental concerns. Since sustainability is a big topic for Apple, the company therefore wanted to discover a material that would possess similar fire-retardant qualities, while also not being damaging to the environment.

Tuesday’s patent describes a material with these qualities, that also produces only negligible amounts of toxic substances while burning. As per Apple, the material could be used in devices including the iMac, MacBook Pro, iPhone, and iPad.

The TSA has started treating smartphones with dead batteries like potential bombs, but after an iPhone mishap on one plane caused an emergency evacuation, maybe they should be more worried about all the iPhones with a full charge too.

Panic broke out on a flight bound for Prague this weekend after an iPhone 5 caught fire in a passenger’s bag, causing the entire plane to be evacuated back to the main terminal.

Batteries are potentially volatile things, stuffed with electrochemical cells practically humming with electolytes. Every once and a while, then, they’re sure to break down, and companies like Apple do literally everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Here’s why. An iPhone 5c that exploded in the pocket of a 13-year-old girl resulted in a fire so severe that she was
rushed to the hospital with second-degree burns.

Can an iPhone 5s film itself being burned alive?

The answer, it turns out, is no, but that didn’t stop the wasteful doofuses at TechRax lit an iPhone 5s on fire with a combination of gasoline and Axe body spray anyway. They set the iPhone to record, lit it aflame, then dunked it in a bucket of water to cool it off. Incredibly, they then seemed disappointed they could not retrieve the video from the iPhone 5s — perhaps dropping it in a bucket of water had something to do with that? — so they then start smashing it with a hammer.

Ladies and gentlemen, all hail the gadget dork’s moronic, mindlessly destructive id!

The FlameStower looks like a clever way to keep your iPhone charged while you’re camping in the wilderness. Just fill its reservoir with water, stick the other end into the flames of your campfire and plug your chosen gadget into the USB port. Relax with the charred meat and beverage of your choice, and—just three hours later—your iPhone will be fully charged.

I have a love/hate relationship with destruction videos. Love because, well, who doesn’t love seeing how tough our gadgets really are? And hate because smashing up perfectly good items shows everything that is shameful and bad about our wasteful modern society.

So it is with mixed feelings that I bring you Kai W of DigitalRev TV and his series of ever-more-cruel ordeals for the Canon 7D SLR.

Apple has been forced to pay a couple in Tokyo, Japan, ¥600,000 (approx. $7,400) for medical fees and pain and suffering after their first-generation iPod nano spontaneously burst into flames, causing burns to the hand that took more than a month to completely heal.

An Australian airline revealed in a press release last week that one of its cabin crew was forced to extinguish an iPhone 4 that very nearly burst into flames shortly after the plane touched down in Sydney. As it turns out, that certainly won’t be the last iPhone to self combust.

An iPhone 4 user in Brazil has experienced a similar scenario with his own handset. While charging just inches away from his face, the device began emitting plumes of smoke and caught fire.

As if the antenna and proximity sensor woes weren’t enough now we can add one other issue to the pile of iPhone 4 woes: catching fire. BGR reported today that one unlucky iPhone 4 owner ended up with a “fried iPhone 4” and a “slightly burned” hand.

According to the story the customer attempted to get help with the iPhone 4 by bringing it into a local store, but it was to far gone to be repaired. The incident occurred while the user was plugging the iPhone 4 into their computer using the Apple USB cable that came with it.  The conclusion was that the USB port on the iPhone 4  was probably defective and while the iPhone 4 suffered some damage the cable seems to have been damaged the most.

This isn’t the first time that an iDevice has caught fire, since 2009 there have been a number of reported incidents that included: an iPod Nano recall for faulty batteries (Apple eventually updated the battery warning on that recall) and an iPhone 3G also caught on fire ironically at the same spot as this years iPhone 4 — the USB port. Additionally in 2009 a Mac Laptop went up in flames.

While this could happen based on prior reports about the iPhone 3G and iPod Nano it isn’t likely going to happen to you. However, if you are overly worried about things like this then you might consider keeping a pair of oven mitts and a bucket of water (or chemical extinguisher per the comments) handy just in case.