... the penguin on top of your set

[mme_hardy]

 Apparently my brand-new phone, a luxury I treated myself to on Saturday after a week of waiting for a new battery for a dead phone, is in the habit of exploding and is about to be recalled.

Pshaw.

Comments

[recessional]

This feels like something I would normally see posted by rachelmanija.

[mme_hardy]

It does, doesn't it?

[rachelmanija]

I do have a Samsung, actually. Not the exploding one, though. It was my biscuits and yogurt dip that exploded.

[vom_marlowe]

Holy shit!

[edenfalling]

Yikes! Will they be giving replacements, or just refunds?

[mme_hardy]

So far the recall isn't official, so I'll have to wait and see. I'm hoping for replacements -- if it's one bad batch of batteries, or something like that, rather than a structural flaw in the design.

[movingfinger]

Samsung now says they're not recalling. Can you return/exchange it?

If exploding batteries do not warrant a product recall, I am curious to know what does.

[mme_hardy]

I'm getting weirdly conflicting stories. As of 7:15AM local, the Times says Samsung has formally announced a recall and said it would take only 2 weeks to manufacture replacements. (Getting them to the U.S. is another matter, of course.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/business/samsung-galaxy-note-battery.html

[movingfinger]

Tangentially, did you see that Hanjin, the big container shipping company, has filed for bankruptcy? "Weakest link" economy, here we come.

[mme_hardy]

Holy cow, no. That's going to make a big, big dent in world trade, assuming that their creditors don't let them continue operations during the legal process.

[caulkhead]

Also, lots of container ships stuck outside ports who don't want to let them in if they can't pay port fees/run the risk of them getting arrested by someone else for unpaid debts and clogging up the berths because once they're arrested you're not allowed to move them until the debt has been paid.

[mme_hardy]

Wow, check out U.S. News and World Report.

"Hanjin called us and said: 'We're going bankrupt and we can't pay any bills — so don't bother asking,' " said J. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which provides traffic control for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's busiest port complex.

Three Hanjin container ships, ranging from about 700 feet to 1,100 feet (213 meters to 304 meters) long, were either drifting offshore or anchored away from terminals on Thursday. A fourth vessel that was supposed to leave Long Beach on Thursday morning remained anchored inside the breakwater.

The Seoul-based company said Friday that one ship in Singapore had been seized by the ship's owner. Hanjin Shipping spokesman Park Min did not confirm any other seizures.

As of Friday, 27 ships had been refused entry to ports or terminals, she said.

I'm sure that statements like "We can't pay any bills, so don't bother asking" will do nothing to discourage ports from accepting future ships.

[mme_hardy]

I found an article in the Seattle newspaper.

Alliance spokeswoman Tara Mattina said this morning that Terminal 46 at the North Harbor (Seattle), Hanjin’s main home here, is not accepting any Hanjin deliveries. Husky Terminal in the South Harbor (Tacoma) is prepared to unload imports but not accepting any exports or empty containers. Both terminals have private operators.

Another article, which I can't find now, said that pilots were refusing to handle Hanjin ships for fear of not being paid.

[caulkhead]

Sounds entirely plausible. Some tugs aren't willing to take them either, for the same reason.

[mme_hardy]

Apparently one ship has already been seized in a Chinese port, with more expected to follow. What a mess!

[mme_hardy]

Yeah, it's official.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/02/samsung-recalls-the-galaxy-note-7-amid-battery-fears/

[ironed_orchid]

I saw this news yesterday and was thankful for my long ingrained habit of adopting trailing edge (if not rusting edge) technology.

[mme_hardy]

I buy new things and use them until they are unusable. Every so often, that leads to buying new things again... As I said, this one was an indulgence.

[ironed_orchid]

Oh, no moral judgement. Just that in this case being a cheapskate has worked in my favour.

[lilysea]

Apparently my brand-new phone, a luxury I treated myself to on Saturday after a week of waiting for a new battery for a dead phone, is in the habit of exploding and is about to be recalled.

...

...

!

I'm sorry. :(

[madrobins]

That's kind of the very definition of Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire, isn't it?

[pameladean]

Eeeeep. And how disappointing. I'd be tempted to implement some third solution, but if it went wrong too I'd worry that it would leave a crater the size of the Gulf of Mexico, or finish destroying honeybees, or something. It seems unfair.

P.