Sony recalls 73,000 Vaio laptops due to burn hazard

[Raiden]

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Sony has announced that it has already shipped over 10,000 PlayStation 3 developer kits to 208 companies in 11 countries, the largest number for a PlayStation platform. This comes as Sony's wag of the finger to recent doom and gloom stories coming from the gaming press.

Sony could not have failed to notice the eagerness with which the gaming public will lap up any story revealing some negative news about the PS3. Stories about developers postponing PS3 versions of games or canceling them altogether are commonplace, if not always accurate but Sony only has its conduct to blame. Moving past the unrealistic price tag, partly the result of the inclusion of Blu-Ray, Sony's illusions of grandeur and world domination with its proprietary format are annoying the gaming community. Every company is allowed to have a plan for success; it can only be viewed as arrogance however, when a company wants to take over the world but asks its users to foot the bill.

Having shipped that many development kits means that Sony is, in many ways, in a better place than Microsoft was at the same point in time before the X360 launch. What needs to be examined however, is how willing developers will be to work on PS3. Sony's PR Manager claims, The best and brightest development teams are hard at work creating familiar franchises and original IP for the PS3 including – EA, Konami, Sega, Rockstar, Activison and our own internal studios just to name a few... To date we have shipped more than 10,000 development systems to 208 companies in 11 countries, the largest number ever for a PlayStation platform.

Oddly enough though, a poll set up by Game Informer magazine suggests that developers may not be that eager to have received their development kits. The poll has found that 60 per cent of developers rate the kit as average while 20 per cent rate it as good and 20 per cent as bad.

[Rasputin]

Sony is recalling 73,000 Vaio TZ laptops because of a possible manufacturing defect that may cause them to overheat, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.

The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user.

One person has suffered a minor burn as a result of the latest defect, and Sony has received 15 other reports of overheating computers, according to the Commission.

The affected models are the VGN-TZ100, VGN-TZ200, VGN-TZ300 and VGN-TZ2000 -- although not all laptops in these series are affected. Sony suggests users contact the company to see whether their computer is part of the recall, and if so to stop using it immediately.

The overheating could be caused by misplaced wiring near the hinge, or if a screw in the hinge falls out and short-circuits the wires.

In 2006, Sony was forced to recall millions of laptop batteries used in its own and other manufacturers' laptops because they presented a fire hazard, causing some computers to burst into flames.

Sony isn't the only PC maker that has had to deal with battery problems. Dell, HP and Acer have all recalled laptop batteries in the recent past.

The Commission has published one other laptop safety recall this year: In May, Dell recalled almost one million notebook electrical adapters because of a risk of fire and electric shock.