Major airline Virgin Atlantic has eased its restrictions on laptops today, allowing both Dell and Apple laptops to be used on board as long as their serial numbers have been checked by a member of the in-flight cabin crew. This comes no more than a week after the airline banned the use of Dell and Apple laptops on their flights following the same kind of ban from Australian airline Qantas. The whole shenanigan started with faulty Sony batteries supplied to laptop manufacturers all over the world including Dell and Apple, some of whose laptops started to explode.

Virgin Atlantic has trained its cabin crew to check the laptop batteries, and Virgin Atlantic has said that if a battery is not on the recall list, then the laptop can be used without restriction. However, if the suspect laptop does in fact come fitted with one of the affected batteries, then it must be removed immediately. "In cabins where the seats are fitted with in-seat power supplies... Leads/adaptors will be offered," the airline said. "Any removed or spare batteries must be individually wrapped/protected and placed in your carry-on baggage. This is limited to two batteries per passenger."

Virgin says that the extra security measures will be lifted once the safety issues had been fully resolved. Watch this space; Qantas will probably be making the same changes to their policies too. If you are in any doubt about whether or not you will be able to use your laptop in-flight, we advise that you contact your airline before the flight.

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Stephane Dion from the TheTechZone.com thinks that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies are... well, too little, too late. Why? iTunes has movies on its menu - yeah, well Disney and Disney-affiliate movies for now. Soon enough, Dion says, so will Microsoft for its Zune, and with iTV (temporary codename) on its way, there will soon be no reason for movie downloads to not appear on the TV screen.

Which means that when Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies (and their associated players) finally come out in force, they will find a market that has, well, settled for movie downloads, and which actually love them. They will instead find its niche in a small market of tech die-hards with a lot of money in their hands (are you forgetting the Xbox 360 and PS3 people, Stephane?), but it won't become the home movie standard that DVD became.

To sum up why he believes so, Dion lists the five following reasons why digital download will kill the next-gen movie discs:

• Because it's cheap. You don't have to buy an HDTV and an HD player to play any of the iTunes movie stuff, but you'll have to in order to play Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. And the downloads (for now) are cheaper compared to the discs.
  
• Because it's cool. Like music downloading is cool. It's easy, it's accessible, and your neighbor's probably doing it as well. So why not movies?
• Because downloading's readily available from the production side. All those movie studios have to do - once they get over their movie-downloading fears and jump in the bandwagon - is upload the digital movie into a server. No need to print up new cases and discs!
• Because music downloading killed the CD. Like, "Video killed the radio star..."
• Finally, because high-speed broadband is bigger business than HDTV, especially when it comes to digital video and audio media - movies and music.
  

For us, only time - and the rest of Hollywood jumping in on the movie downloading wagon - will tell if iTunes (and its present and future competitors) will become the next generation's DVD, or if HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will be accepted as the norm. Dion may make a compelling case for the former, sure, but this industry is constantly changing and evolving. Besides, from where we're sitting, it's not like the CD or DVD's entirely dead, either, even given iTunes and less legitimate movie downloading sites.

Who knows? Even Stephane asks: "When are we able to download a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movie?" Now he's talking.

Here are some buying tips for gadget skins. You've had your Sony PSP or Apple iPod for a year now, and you've finally got all those cool accessories, but you're tired of that dull glossy look? Well then, we'll help you change it! Believe me, if I had the money I'd buy those gold encrusted casings, but I don't, so we'll stick to those nifty PSP and iPod skins. You can buy them online at sites like DecalGirl and GameConsoleSkins, and they're usually just around 8 or 9 bucks.

So, what are you looking for? A trendy look? A hardcore look? It doesn't really matter, because when they're pasted on your gizmo you can remove them just as easily.

When going for a small skin like one for the Shuffle I'd go for something simple and stylish, so it keeps the device's look and brand image. The PSP skins are a little different because it's harder to make a flat skin for all those edges and holes. Nevertheless the front looks great and maybe I'll even buy it.

For more skin ideas, read on!

The online sales of film that started last March has remained minimal. Interests people show are not that favorable for companies until now. Given this, the internet's two biggest retailers are still willing to take chances. Amazon and Apple will begin the new service this week, the magazine Variety reported.

What's interesting though is that the only studio that will definitely be part of Apple's movie store at launch is Disney. This is contrary to the previous reports that Touchstone and Lions Gate are already on board. On the other hand, Amazon.com seemed to have gotten the better deal as they've reached an agreement with almost all the major studios (Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., MGM and Lionsgate).

Also, the prices Amazon tagged with movie downloads appear to be substantially less. Apple is planning, Variety says, a tag price between $10-$15. Furthermore, those who go with Amazon will have the option to buy or just rent whereas Apple offers only sales.

The only apparent advantage Apple has is the movie downloaded from the iTunes Music Store will play on the iPods and Amazon's titles will not.

This is a video of a Macbook Pro making odd hissing/whirring noises. The video was submitted by boloncats, commenting "My Macbook Pro has been making a sound I've never heard before in my life. I recommend you watch the last 20 seconds. It's not the hard drive. I sent it once to Apple, they said they fixed it. But the noise came back."

Aside from boloncats, other Macbook Pro users have complained similar problems that include hissing sounds from the LCD, the hard drive squealing , the processor whining when the PC is idle, and the fan engaging in random vacuum-like bursts. In addition to these weird noises, others reported having an incredibly noticeable white strip along the bottom of the LCD, making the bottom significantly brighter than the rest of the display.

Apple have already issued a recall for their defective lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony. Would they acknowledge these issues too and fix the manufacturing problems?

Would it be an exaggeration to say that iTunes built the legal music download world? Maybe not - after all, it has 85% of the digital music download market (which is way too much for the entertainment industry's comfort). Apple is the undisputed king of this world. And there are upstarts who want to revolt - Microsoft, Sony, SpiralFrog and a few other brave souls. But a Financial Times analyst reckons they're going to have a heck of a hard time scaling Fortress iTunes' walls.

What is the secret to the success - nay, dominance - of iTunes? The analyst chalks it up to rivals botching up their plans to compete with Apple, but more to key advantages Apple holds in the market.

• First, they've got network effects and technological lock-in on their side. People can share their iTunes-downloaded music with each other's iPods - there's the net. And Apple's digital rights management software (so far) allows this to happen - there's the tech. These two turn the iPod and iTunes into natural partners, feeding off each other's market advantages and popularity. The word for this is "synergy."

• Not one to rest on their laurels, Apple has diversified and segmented their captive market to squeeze out more profits and an even bigger share. There's the video iPod and downloadable videos from iTunes. There's the basic iPod, the Mini, the Shuffle, and the Nano. And there's all the marketing support the company has poured into the iPod, turning it into a style icon and a hot-buy item.

• And finally, perhaps the greatest advantage of all: it pays to be first, it pays to be ahead. History demonstrates that, once established, technology leaders are seldom overthrown by direct competition. No, to seize the throne, you've got to go for the jugular: the business model, the technology paradigm. In the case of Apple, the iPod-iTunes synergy.

Read on for the whole analysis on Fortress iTunes.

The company's had to endure quite a number of red marks on its books recently - sweatshop iPods, hot-running laptops, the lawsuit with Creative, MacStains, malfunctioning logic boards, and their own massive LiON battery recall in the wake of the Sony battery/Dell exploding laptop scandal - but they didn't stop Apple shares from finishing 50 cents higher in the NASDAQ Friday.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said that the company will not be feeling any financial impact from the battery recall program - despite the fact the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates up to 1.8 million Apple laptop batteries worldwide are covered by the recall. By comparison, Sony expects costs of between $172 million and $258 million to recover bad batteries and ship replacements. And the Japanese government had recently ordered both Sony and Dell to investigate their battery troubles, and report their findings by the end of August - or face a fine.

The battery recall is the latest in a series of "irregularities" either publicly revealed or admitted to by Apple, or accused of by third parties. The latter case is represented by the iPod sweatshop accusations leveled against the Chinese-based factories where iPod manufacturing is outsourced. Cases falling under the former include the battery recall, both of their older models and of certain batches of MacBook Pro batteries, as well as MacBook quality control issues.

But by stock performance it seems that the company's still ticking and kicking. Even if it wasn't the highest in the past year, things are still looking up for Apple.

Then again, we did say long before that any idea of an "Apple customer backlash" could be illusory.

Apple, Acer, Motorola, and Lenovo are among the worst polluters, according to Greenpeace, while Nokia and Dell just barely passed. Greenpeace ranked major electronics companies according to what they were doing to remove the harmful chemicals in their gadgets, phones, and computers. Also, Greenpeace ranked the companies according to their policies about taking responsibility for their products when these are thrown away by their customers (for example, companies should recycle old components as much as possible and they should process and dispose of the chemical waste properly). Like all other piles of garbage, the amount of toxic waste caused by electronics ("e-waste") is growing, and it often gets dumped in poor developing countries.

Greenpeace's rankings (points are out of 10; 10 is the highest possible score):

7: Nokia - Needs to improve recycling program.
7: Dell - Some models still have the worst chemicals, but has a good program of taking back their toxic trash.
5.7: Hewlett Packard
5.3: Sony Ericsson
5: Samsung
4.7: Sony
4.3: LGE
3.3: Panasonic
3: Toshiba
3: Fujitsu-Siemens
2.7: Apple
2.3: Acer
1.7: Motorola
1.3: Lenovo

Greenpeace will update the rankings four times a year. And as for Apple scoring so low, the Greenpeace article had this to say: "It is disappointing to see Apple ranking so low in the overall guide. They are meant to be world leaders in design and marketing, they should also be world leaders in environmental innovation."

As a result of the Sony Laptop battery scandal, Apple have recalled up to 1.1 million Laptop batteries that might be in Apple iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 Laptops sold October 2003 through to August 2006. Apple is voluntarily recalling the affected batteries and has initiated a worldwide exchange program to provide eligible customers with a new replacement battery, free of charge. The program is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The CPSC are known for calling this the"the biggest recall of electrical products in history", effecting Sony, Dell, Apple and many other brands of Laptop. Want to know if your Laptop is affected? Here's the lowdown straight from Apple:

Please use the chart below to identify the battery model and serial numbers that apply to your iBook or PowerBook. If the first 5 digits of your batteryÂ?s 12-digit serial number fall within the noted ranges, please order a replacement battery immediately.

To view the model and serial numbers labeled on the bottom of the battery, you must remove the battery from the computer. The battery serial number is printed in black or dark grey lettering beneath a barcode.

For more information, please visit Apple's Battery Exchange Program website, and don't hesitate to contact them if you have any questions about your laptop. And don't just think that your laptop will be okay if it has been effected. After all, you wouldn't want your laptop to end up like this Dell now would you?

Wouldn't life be so much simpler if there were universal batteries? The kind of batteries that would fit in any device? It would eliminate different sizes (A, AA, AAA, and all that) into just one universal "Battery X".

Lo and behold, notebook giants Apple, Dell, and Lenovo are looking into just that! They're to hold a summit next month to start developing standards for the manufacturing of lithium ion batteries used in portable and handheld devices. This initiative was pushed after Dell's recalling of batteries (due to Sony-manufactured cells being a potential fire hazard) from a few days ago.

The summit will assess the current standards relating to lithium ion batteries and eventually achieve the goal of standardizing design, performance, and safety requirements for these batteries.