Another case of a spontaneously combusting iPod Nano was recently sighted when The Consumerist reader Dale reported having his first generation iPod Nano suddenly "explode open and start shooting sparks and spewing smoke" while charging it on his PC's USB port. More details regarding this can be found in our full article after the jump.

Apple OS X Leopard promptly fixed a rather serious file-deleting bug, but will they be able to fix this one in time? As it turns out, the newer versions of OS X can't reformat USB drives through the Disk Utility program. Find out about how to get around this problem in the full article!

Apple recently opened a new retail store in Manhattan's former Meatpacking District last Friday and is the biggest yet in the US. The whole building is three stories tall, with two floors showcasing Apple products and the third dedicated to customer service that gives one-on-one sessions and offering free classes on how to use Apple computers with their "genius bar." Now that's service. Now if only they gave out free iPod Touch samples... Would their strategy pay off? Read more in the full article.

Talk about customer service. A Consumerist reader sent her story in and we're sure it would break iPod user hearts everywhere. She bought a fourth-generation iPod and after a while, it stopped working. She took it to the store and what they did was beyond comprehension.

 
 

They took the unit and sent her home. She got another unit after a while and what they gave her was actually an old unit with some nice modifications. The thing rattled when shaken, didn't work at all, and the back was polished so much so that the iPod logo faded.

She went back to the store and was treated with unpleasant attitude by the staff. They eventually took in the "replacement" and said she'll be sent another one. She doubts it. Looks like the Geek Squad deserves to see a cop squad for this. You can read the poster's letter when you click on the read URL.

Apple has just made some revisions with its ProCare service. There have been talks about this in the past but confirmation was just made recently through the company's online retail site. Take note that ProCare will now be divided into two services, ProCare itself and One to One service. Also, free service Personal Shopping has been added as well.

For those of you who are not familiar with ProCare, membership begins with a complete setup of your Mac. Then it provides members with premium benefits such as same-day service at the Genius Bar, Rapid Repairs, and yearly tune-ups among others. It's priced at US$ 99 per year and you can ask Apple to service up to three computers.

On the other hand, One to One is actually a series of personal training sessions to be held at Apple stores. The trainers will come up with a program customized to a customer's level of experience. The sessions' ace will be dictated by the consumer with the help and support of trainers. The service is also for US$ 99 per year.

Personal Shopping, lastly, was designed to give normal consumers priority and proper customer service. Before visiting a store, you can opt to register online then select which product or products you'd like to learn more about. A Mac specialist will be waiting for you at the store once your request has been confirmed.

Kevin Hoffman, a former developer of Windows software expressed his amazement for what he felt was excellent response and developer support of Apple for its developer community in the Leopard beta run-through.

"Apparently there are a few traces of good customer service left," he said when comparing the experience he had in the respective development loops of Apple and Microsoft.

Hoffman is referring to an experience he had when he was tinkering with code to develop small applications for the new OS X Leopard. Using Objective-C code, he finished the work and tried running it. He then discovered a few bugs he can't fix, so he copied the source code and sent it to Apple for a look.

Here's what he didn't expect: The people at Apple had a quick peek at the program, examined his work and pointed out possible causes of the bug. They then made some adjustments and optimized the app he sent in and sent it back to him better than ever along with a few expert pointers.

Hoffman says that in contrast, what you get in Windows is "a faceless "submit" button to which you can send your bug reports, but in all my years of testing Microsoft products, I have never received a reply to any of the bugs I've submitted, let alone confirmation that the issue was truly an issue and not a mistake on my part."

It seems that Best Buy's faith in Macs is slowly but surely coming back. Apparently, Best Buy Co. - the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, is testing the possibility of selling Apple Computer Inc.'s full line of computers in its stores. In an earlier article, we mentioned that some Best Buy outlets are already stocked with the regular MacBook and Pro alongside iMac systems.

Now, Best Buy has added Apple computers in seven stores and it's considering expanding Mac sales across the chain. This was mentioned by Best Buy Senior Vice President for Merchandising David Morrish said at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday. He also added that the test started four weeks ago.

If you could remember during th year 1998, Best Buy stopped selling Apple computers because of slow sales. After which, the Steve Jobs camp began to pull out from other stores as well, only to come back with their own retail operation.

V.P. Morrish also mentioned that the Apple computers will be sold by Best Buy employees who have been trained by Cupertino, Calif.- based Apple. Best Buy wants to see if the computers will be hot commodities and if they will sell in a very profitable manner. They also want to know if their Best Buy employees can provide the level of customer service that Apple customers are used to getting in an Apple store.