Serious defects hit cell phone batteries, computer parts

Hundreds of thousands of computer parts and cell phone batteries have been recalled in recent weeks because of serious defects.

No. 1 PC maker Dell recalled 38,000 Auto/Air Power Adapters connecting laptops to power outlets in cars and planes. Users may get shocked if they plug the wrong cord into the adapter.

No. 2 PC maker Hewlett-Packard is recalling the memory component of 900,000 laptops over a problem that can make them crash or lose data. H-P blames memory-makers Micron Technology, Samsung, Infineon Technologies and Winbond. It says other PC makers should have the same problem. But Dell, IBM and Gateway say their computers appear fine or were fixed before shipping.

No. 1 cell phone carrier Verizon Wireless is recalling 50,000 replacement cell phone batteries for LG phones that overheat and may burst. The problem appears most often when customers use after-market recharging cords. Verizon also blames a vendor that it says sold counterfeit batteries.

No. 1 chipmaker Intel is recalling early shipments of a new set of PC chips. Intel won’t say how many. But analysts estimate hundreds of thousands of chipsets are affected. These chips are not PC processors, but secondary chips that help other parts work together. Computers with the chips may not boot or work in other ways.

Most of the chipsets did not get to consumers; they were sitting in PC factories waiting to be installed. PC buyers should not be affected.

More travelers stop first at the Web

Half of all Internet users used the Web at least five times in planning their last vacation, according to a new report published by PhoCusWright and Vividence. The most common tasks were air and hotel arrangements, plus the seeking of information about a destination.

Google was more than twice as popular as other search engines for travel research, the study determined.

PhoCusWright forecast that more than a third of U.S. travel arrangements would be purchased online next year, increasing from 20 percent last year. The research indicates travel Web sites such as those operated by InterActiveCorp’s Expedia, Orbitz and Sabre Holdings will experience similar growth, Reuters reported.

Demos: No room at convention for bloggers

The Democratic National Committee has rescinded invitations to 20 Web loggers to attend its national convention in Boston late this month.

“It’s purely a space issue,” said Peggy Wilhide, a spokeswoman for the convention. “We accidentally accredited more people than we have space for in the Fleet Center.” Slightly more than 50 Web loggers were originally cleared for passes, she said.

Bill Ardolino, one of the rejected, received an e-mail from the Democrats calling his credential acceptance letter “not properly authorized” by convention planners. “Upon further review of the overall site capacity at the Fleet Center, we are no longer able to issue your organization a DNCC Press Gallery Credential,” it said.

The publisher of INDCJournal.com said it didn’t sound right. “If my guess is correct, an after-action review of the content of my site caused them to disinvite me,” Ardolino said. He told MarketWatch.com, “I always expected they would review the political leanings of bloggers.”

ESPN.com to add original programming

ESPN.com, the Web’s largest sports site, plans to add original programming to its high-quality video feature, Motion. “Mainstream advertisers adopted it quickly, somewhere between 30 and 40 different advertisers,” said John Skipper, senior vice president of Walt Disney-owned ESPN.com. “There’s demand for (original programming),” he said in an interview with the Online Journalism Review.

Americans conflicted over some war images

Nearly a quarter of Internet users used the Web to find graphic images from the Iraq war that were too much for television or newspapers to show. However, Americans are conflicted about the disturbing images being available online, according to research by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

“By a 49 percent to 40 percent margin, Americans disapprove of the posting of such images,” the authors, Deborah Fallows and Lee Rainie, wrote.