Next time your cell phone rings you may want to run and duck for cover.
You never know if it may just turn on a random appliance around the house or even blow up. As technology advances we will begin to find more and more of these little “quirks” that result from different electronic devices interacting with each other.
The New York Times is reportingthat a man in Brooklyn found out the hard way that his cell phone can have adverse affects around the house. Andrei Melnikov found his kitchen in flames after his oven mysteriously turned on and melted a plastic meat thermometer which was inside. After some rigorous trial and error investigation, Melnikov remembered that the day of the fire he had answered his cell phone in the kitchen and that about 10 min later, the fire happened. He recreated the scene, placing the phone in the kitchen next to the oven and calling it, sure enough his Maytag oven turned on and clicked to high.
Maytag has confirmed that a number of their ovens experience electromagnetic interference from ringing cell phones which results in the oven turning on and always to high. This is the same electromagnetic interference that causes your speakers to make that ticking noise when a phone is going to ring. So far this only seems to be an issue with Maytag appliances but more could be discovered.
Jill M. Saletta, a spokeswoman for Maytag, released this statement “In our experience, this situation is highly unusual. We have offered to replace the unit with a brand-new one, at no cost, and will be taking the old unit to fully test in our lab.” She also made clear that any other Maytag appliances with this issue will be handled in the same manner.
Apple is experiencing an even bigger problem with their iPhones and iPods, they blow up!
French newspapers are reporting thata security guard was texting when suddenly his iPhone got hotter and the screen exploded, sending glass into his eyes. The same thing was reported to have happened to a French teenager just a few weeks before. As of now there have been a total of 10 French consumers that have come forward with this issue. An 11 year-old British girl also received similar injuries when her iPod exploded. In that case Apple came under scrutiny for having the girl’s family sign what is essentially a gag order before they were issued a refund. In the U.S. there have been numerous complaints of iPods and iPhones bursting into flames out of nowhere. Speculation is that Apple is trying to hush up at least 15 cases.
Apple has blamed all the incidents on the overheating of new lithium ion batteries and said all reports so far were “isolated incidents.” While none of the incidents have caused any serious injury, it is only a matter of time until one does. Apple is currently facing an official inquiries by the French consumer watchdog groups DGCCRF and UFC-Que Choisir so they will not officially comment until they have seen the phones in question.
I”m not trying to scare you from using new gadgets and electronics. These incidents are few and far between but we all just need to be aware of what were are getting ourselves into. As technology expands there will be more freak accidents when two new technologies interact with each other. Be aware that these things happen and you should always keep an eye out for strange occurrences when using technology.
Don’t believe it? Watch the video and see for yourself:
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