In the good ol' days kids were warned about playing with matches. These days you can add the iBook and other laptops to the list of fire hazards. At least that's what 11-year old Nick Brown experienced.

Last month Nick was playing on his Apple iBook laptop then left it running in his room. Later, his parents heard a popping noise and saw Nick's room filled with smoke. Apparently heat from the laptop had started melting the carpet. The Browns quickly carried it outside where the iBook became a virtual fireball (see video).

"I mean, it was five minutes and (the computer) was in flames," Nick's mom Cindy said. "The computer burst into flames. It doesn't seem real that you would have a fire in a computer. We all could have died, and the house could have burned down."

Although she may have sounded a bit hysterical and needed a slap in the face, she has reasons to fear for their safety. Forty-four reasons. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that laptops caused a fire that burned a two-story apartment complex in Mississippi and a hotel room in MichicaN in 2005. In 2004, the Commission received reports of a laptop fire in a kindergarten room in Houston and severely burned a woman in New York. All in all 43 sizzling incidents were reported in the last two years. Nick Brown's computer was incident no. 44.

In an interview Nick Brown said, "I don't know why it caught fire." No one does. An Apple Computer representative refused to comment on the incident. Ditto for laptop makers Dell and HP for previous incidents involving their products. But the three companies did recall more than 300,000 laptop batteries "due to fire hazards" in 2004 and 2005. If the trend continues, this year's hottest laptop accessory could be a fire extinguisher.

DivX released its famous codec for the Mac. Almost universally found in PCs, DivX for Mac 6.5 is the first Mac version officially released by the company.

DivX is a codec (compression/ decompression) software that crunches video from virtually any source to a size that is easy to transport over the Internet. But despite the significant reduction in file size, the original video's quality remains unchanged. The software's video compression power is so efficient it can fit the entire contents of a DVD on a regular data CD.

If you've never used a DivX before, trust us it's not complicated. The DivX for Mac 6.5 lets you convert your videos to DivX by the fool-proof drag-and-drop method. Simply drag the file to the DivX Converter and clck on the Convert button.  That's all there is to it.  The DivX for Mac download includes:

• DivX Player 1.0.1
• DivX Community Codec 6.2.2
• DDivX Community Codec 6.2.2

DivX for Mac 6.5 requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and QuickTime 6 or later. The Pro Version costs $19.99 which is a good deal if you ask us.

For older machines using older Macintosh operating systems, you can use the DivX 5.2.1. DivX 5.2.1 for Mac works with Mac OS 10.2.6 to 10.3.9. However, DivX 5.2.1 is not compatible with Mac OS 10.4 or QuickTime 7. DivX 5.2.1 for Mac includes an mp3 encoder and also costs $19.99.

If Apple's refurbished Intel-based iMacs and G4-based PowerBooks that went on sale last month didn't tempt you to bite, this month's bumper crop of refurb iBooks might do the trick. Apple's refurbished 14-inch G4 1.42GHz SuperDrive iBook now goes for $1,049 (a 20 percent savings in case your calculating), while the 17-inch eMac 1.42GHz Combo Drive can be had at only $639 - 21 percent off the original pay-through-your-nose price.

Meanwhile more refurbished iMacs went on sale. The 17-inch G5 1.6GHz 256MB 80GB Combo iMacs is down 43% at $749. The 17-inch G5 1.8GHz 256MB 80GB SuperDrive is now only for $799 (47 percent less than the original $1,499). The 17-inch G5 1.9GHz SuperDrive now has a $999 (you save $300 on this one).

Apple knocked off $200 of the 17-inch Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz, now only $1,099. The 20-inch G5 1.8GHz 256MB 160GB SuperDrive at $1,099 saves you 43 percent. The 20-inch G5 2GHz SuperDrive now retails for only $1,249 (less $550). The 20-inch 2GHz Intel Core Duo is yours for only $1,399 (less 18 percent).

Yup, refurb Apples are in season so buy while the price is right. All refurbished items are available at the Apple Store and come with free shipping. They are also backed by Apple's one-year limited warranty.

Modifying your iBook may have been one of the coolest things you've done back when the iBook was making headlines. Of course, you've gotten some much needed help from numerous iBook modification web pages. Now that the iBook's popularity is being eclipsed by the shiny new MacBook, iBook modification becomes even more appealing. So it's time to disassemble and brutalize the innards of dual USB iBooks. Just ask Carl Norum and Stan Rabu from the University of Saskatchewan, two fellows who have the knack for repainting iBooks and basically teaching iBook users how to void their iBook warranty. Looking at their works sure gets all that creative juices flowing. So, until you've saved up enough for a new MacBook, feel free to revisit Norum's website and start brutalizing your iBooks and end up with snazzy notebooks like these:

 

This is an offer you can't refuse, how about buying an Apple iBook for $48? No, the iBooks are not imitations and they are not defective. So you may be wondering how you can get one of these right? Well unless you attend Junior High in Maine, owning one of these babies cheap is just impossible. So how did this happen?

The $48 iBooks are acquired through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, a program that gained attention for distributing Apple iBooks to all of the state's seventh- and eighth-grade public school students four years ago. Now, they are aiming to give some more newer laptops and for the public schools to outrightly own the older ones, they have to buy it - for $48 a pop.

Most schools are choosing to pay the price to keep the laptops, although they have no obligation to do so, well, who can't resist such a bargain? School officials are saying that acquiring all the 4-year-old iBooks is such a good investment even if all had been in the hands of different students and have been used extensively.

Although maintaining the iBooks would entail sky-high maintenance fees, most schools are looking in the option of distributing some of the iBooks to students and their families to remedy this future situation. Personally, this is such a cool bargain, a steal even. Now, don't you wish you're living in Maine?

As we've already reported, a total of 5 flaws have been discovered in Mac OS X, however according to the security expert who discovered them, there is a total of 7. A security researcher by the name of Tom Ferris, who works for Mission Viejo, California, discovered a total of 7 'Highly Critical' flaws in Mac OS X, namely in Safari browser. The operating system thought to be one of the best when it comes to security, has been probed and a series of flaws which have multiple effects have been discovered. To prove his discovery, on his site he has posted some proof of concept codes. The flaws at the moment could be used to crash applications and even run unauthorized code by taking advantages of bugs in Safari and the Mac OS X operating system.

Apple Computer Inc. has already been made aware of the bugs and plans to fix them in "the next security release," Ferris said, "There [seem] to be some problems with the claimed solid-as-a-rock Unix OS." Since the label of being more secure than Windows OS's, Mac OS X has been tested, probed, and ripped apart by researchers such as Ferris in order to discover and publicise the weaknesses. In February a series of programs with malicious intent were released in targeting Mac's, one named OSX/Leap. The SANS Instituter's Internet Storm Center rated the revealings as "Highly Critical" and that there were no patches to solve most of them. Apple have not yet commented on the bugs.

When you purchase a new Macintosh system at any Apple store or at there online store you will receive free shipping and free environmentally friendly disposal of your old computer. Apple was named a one of the top ten environmentally progressive companies earlier this week by the Sierra club and its investment advisor, Forward Management. Apples has recycled more than 90% of electronic equipment since 2001 and are hoping that this new free take back program will heighten those numbers.

Â?Apple is committed to supporting our customers and protecting the environment throughout the entire product life cycle, from purchase through to retirement,Â? said Philip Schiller, AppleÂ?s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. Â?Now we are making it even easier for AppleÂ?s customers to safely and affordably recycle their used computers and iPods.Â?

 

Apples iPod 5th generation, iPod nano and iPod shuffle are 100% compliant and way ahead of schedule for upcoming restrictions of hazardous substance (RoHS) in California and Europe which is the new global standard for environmental regulations which is due July 1st. Apple has also exceeded the Energy Star efficiency requirements for California for its iPod power adapter the regulations are to take effect July 1 2008.

The AppleInsider has posted a small yet fueling piece about the stock of MacBook Pro improving, and the possibility of the updated iBook AKA MacBook. The UK Apple store has been updated with a status of delivery of within 24 hours shipping for anybody who wants to order a MacBook Pro; it's good to hear that Apple have improved manufacturing of these units. I have seen the availability of the MacBook Pro's steadily rise, however, they have been short in supply. In my local Birmingham Bullring Apple Store, there was stock of the higher end units however initially the lower end ones weren't available, or at least for a week or so. More than likely our supply is nowhere near to that of the USA but Apple stepped up the production to give us a fair deal. If you are based in the London area some retailers did have a premium on the MacBook Pro, but this has calmed down as the official stock has come in.

However the juice comes into play when talking about the replacement to the iBook. AppleInsider claim that a company who works with Apple to shift ex-demo stock are now stepping up availability of their sales, possibly meaning that Apple are making clear for new products in their portable range. This is important as it has been said that new products would be available soon if suppliers are anything to go by, and by clearing stock this obviously means Apple are making way. A release could come as soon as next week when Apple have the eve of their financial results (April 19th) so lets keep our fingers crossed and hope new products will be released soon and us folks in the UK get a fair share of the "Apple" pie.

There is currently a lot of speculation going around Mac tech circles at the moment concerning Apple's predicted renaming of the iBook. According to AppleInsider , the iBook will be renamed the MacBook. Apple has trademarked the tradename "MacBook", and Mac geeks expect the re-branding of the iBook to occur when Apple reveal their new Intel Core Duo chipsets at the end of May.

The new MacBook's are expected to have a built in "i-sight" webcam, along with other technologies. Apple are also expected to launch their flagship 17-inch MacBookPro notebook soon. The last few months have been exciting for Apple software, with Windows running on Intel Macs, the new Intel Core Duo processors on the horizon, and now an i-Book redesign, it only seems a matter of time before Microsoft go watching its back more. We'll keep you informed on all the latest Apple developments as they come in.

Well after a day full of events, all due to the release of the Boot Camp software which allows users to run XP on Intel Macs, it seems that one faithful individual by the name Speedeye has gone about taking pictures for us to gaze at showing the processes that Boot Camp takes you through. The screens were all sourced from Flickr, and we've compiled about 10 of our favorite screens from the 34 for you to have a look at. They all show an individual step in the process, from creating partitions to actually running Windows Update in XP. Enjoy.