Apple in hot water over 'exploding iPhones'

Half a dozen new cases of "exploding iPhones" have emerged in France as Apple faces an official inquiry and calls to come clean over possible risks linked to its wildly popular smartphone.

An 80-year-old pensioner from the Paris suburbs said his iPhone screen cracked up in his hands, a day after a supermarket watchman claimed he was hurt in the eye when his screen suddenly shattered this week.

Ten French consumers have now come forward saying their iPhone screens exploded or cracked without explanation, according to an AFP tally, including a first case in mid-August in which a teenager suffered an eye injury.

Apple is accused of trying to hush up 15 cases of iPod music players heating up and bursting into flames in the United States and in one similar British case, all apparently due to overheated lithium ion batteries.

None of the incidents has caused a serious injury but Apple was forced to defend the safety of its flagship smartphone before the European Union this month, insisting the exploding screen cases were "isolated incidents".

The US technology giant, which has sold 26 million iPhones and 200 million iPods to date, said it been informed of the French cases, but would not comment until it had examined the damaged phones.

"We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the iPhones from the customers. Until we have the full details, we don't have anything further to add," Alan Hely, head of communications at Apple Europe, told AFP.

But France's official competition, consumer affairs and fraud watchdog, the DGCCRF, has launched an investigation to find out whether the Apple smartphone could pose a threat to consumers.

"An investigation is under way. We have been alerted to the problem and we are looking into it closely," a spokesman said Tuesday.

France's consumer rights group, UFC-Que Choisir, also called on Apple to come clean about possible faults with its iPod and iPhone devices.

"We want to know if this is an isolated incident as they claim, or a real problem involving the iPhone — in which case, what are they planning by way of compensation and to prevent it happening again?" said a spokesman.

In the British case Apple came under fire for allegedly asking the young girl's family to sign a confidentiality agreement — slammed as a "gagging order" — before it would agree to refund her.

In the latest French incident, Rolland Caufman, a pensioner from the Paris suburb of Noisy-le-Sec, says his iPhone screen broke up on July 21, the week after he bought it.

"I went out shopping, with my iPhone in my left pocket, when I suddenly felt it heat up and start vibrating -- even though I never use the vibrate setting.

"I took it out of my pocket and held it to my ear — and saw the screen crack up like a car windscreen," he told AFP.

Caufman says Apple initially refused to believe him, before finally sending him a free replacement.

On Tuesday, 26-year-old security guard Yassine Bouhadi, claimed he was hit in the eye with a glass shard when the screen of his iPhone cracked up. He said he would seek a full refund and file suit for damages.

French mobile phone operator Orange said it had been contacted by two customers with shattered iPhone screens, out of 1.2 million iPhones sold.

The European Commission has asked all 27 EU nations to keep it informed of any problems, under the community's rapid alert system for dangerous consumer products, known as RAPEX.

Commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns said "Apple has been very cooperative", stressing that RAPEX alerts were issued every week — sometimes leading to mass product recalls, but at other times with no consequence.

"We're not there yet. We just need to monitor closely now and see if these are isolated incidents," she told AFP.

"We'll be vigilant and if necessary we'll take further actions. But we need to examine the situation better."

ninemsn 27 Aug 2009


This post is NOT so much to discuss the technicalities of the the iphone,

as in it initial version it's technical specifications were less than that of its competitors,
nor its the purpose to discuss the marketing 'HYPE' about the product, as in Sydney Apple forebode entry into its store UNLESS the customer was purchasing an iphone ( a breach of the Australian Trade Practices Act, which EVERYONE ignored)

This article illustrates that Apple again, are above the consumer laws.

If a product is faulty, all reasonable attempts must be made by the retailer, to rectify the problem.

There is NO legally binding contract that a customer must enter into in order to 'fix' their faulty electronic goods.

As stated in the article:

In the British case Apple came under fire for allegedly asking the young girl's family to sign a confidentiality agreement — slammed as a "gagging order" — before it would agree to refund her.

This illustrates how consumers can be at the mercy of large corporations.

Credit cards: where's the limit?

You could almost believe in Santa Claus, couldn’t you? There you are, fretting over the fact that it’s the run-up to Christmas and you’ve got no cash and a credit card that’s almost maxed out (if not dead in the water), when, voila!

A letter appears from your financial institution, telling you you’re pre-approved for a credit-limit increase. All you have to do is tick, sign and send it off, and you’re ready to spend again.

Magic? Actually, no; it’s called marketing, cleverly disguised as a favour. And insidiously effective, according to a recent report by the Consumer Action Law Centre.

Their report, titled ‘Congratulations, you’re pre-approved!: An analysis of credit limit upselling letters’ (August 2008), found that banks and other credit providers use a range of psychological manipulations to persuade, encourage and convince their current customers to take up a credit card limit increase.

Dr Paul Harrison, senior lecturer in consumer behaviour and marketing at Deakin University and principal researcher of the report, began by looking at the language used in the offer letters we receive.

He soon realised that our reactions to such letters went well beyond the wording — they went right to the heart of our relationship with our finances. ‘People have a very low involvement in their relationship with their finances’, he says.

‘We view banks almost like utilities and we don’t think that much about what the bank is doing. We form a trust relationship with the bank and assume they’ll be looking after our money. When we form a trust relationship, our willingness to take a risk increases. In simple terms, we let down our guard.’

We assume the bank will act in our best interests, just because they’re the bank. We forget that banks are not a community service; they’re mostly highly profitable businesses. ‘Marketing always exploits vulnerabilities’, says Dr Harrison.

‘Banks are making money out of your credit card, and it’s not by accident they’re making big profits.’

Of course, in light of recent world events our lack of interest in what the bank is doing with our money might change, but most of us will continue not to think about it.

We’ll just deposit our salaries, use our ATM cards and assume that money will come out of the wall. We’ll trust that the bank is doing the right thing by us. And, according to Dr Harrison, when the chips are down and we’re feeling a bit vulnerable (due to possible lack of cash), we’re more likely to look upon a credit-limit increase offer as a favour, rather than seeing it as an invitation to pay the bank more money in interest.

money.ninemsn.com.au March 2009 Full story here

Since it's corporations defrauding the general public NO ACTION is ever taken against these Goliaths.

Charity Draw winners amongst freemasonry

Dead Freemasons tell no tales, but live ones do.

Charities amongst the Western cultures are regarded in high esteem, and cannot in general be written about negatively.

One aspect totally forgotten is that they are exempt from taxation, and the books are run in such a manner as to show that they are non-profit.

In the order of the brotherhood there are various 'degree's' and various tasks for its members.

Although in the newsprint sometimes it is quite clear that Mr. John Citizen, was a Freemason, by the insignia, in the death notice, during their lifetime their membership or their function was NOT talked about.

After the passing of her Freemason husband, the wife admitted that they 'won' prizes from raffles as a reward for his service to the brotherhood.

In a separate conversation with another member of the brotherhood, he mentioned that he 'wins' at the pokies to entice others to play. The monies that he wins MUST be put back into the machines or spent on the premises.

The winnings are STRICTLY controlled by staff in the computer rooms behind the scenes.

This type of inside information never makes it out to the mass media.

The pokies gaming monopoly is run by Tattersalls.

The gaming industry in Victoria costs the general public $4,000,000,000 per year.

Rene Rivkin - theif and liar

(illustrated: Rivkin illegally traveling without a seat belt, no fine)

Rene Rivkin is a migrant to Australia from Russian-Jewish heritage.

In the later years he was most famous for his cheap (i.e. cheap TV advertising rate from 0:00 - 5:00) commercials.

In his commercial he promoted his trading business, and how his Rivkin Report gave information to buy low and sell high, one of the most well known fundamentals, that you did not need to buy his report in order to know.

What was unknown to the public at the time is that he was insider trading, a practice that is (not only illegal, but) common amongst the higher echelon of business. Other examples that did not see jail time for anyone are:

ABC Learning
Norwood Abbey (AX:NAL),
Visyboard
Multimedia LTD (AX:MUL)

What Rivkin did to fraudulently obtain his 'millions' was to buy an old printing company. for approx. $3,000,000 and together with the help of the insurance personnel that were in on it, politicians and solicitors, they then insured the company for $52,000,000 and then burned it down (a common practice)

When this became public knowledge, the scapegoat was Rivkin, with the other business people out of sight.

Since there was to be public trial, as the matter could not get resolved internally within the lodge, the official version given to Rivkin's death was suicide.

Case CLOSED no need to look into the missing millions.

At the trial the implication of others involved, was to name politicians, lawmakers and others which was very uncomforatble to the involved.

Rivkin was therefore murdered, and he did NOT commit suicide as the official version stands.

As in this case and many others, at the end of the day, the people got defrauded, as the insurance company will recoup their losses through higher insurance premiums.

No Bingo Gameshow Fraud

Information in this post is really nothing new, as most Australians are /were aware of the fraudulent game show "No Bingo".

The television show that was aired on Australian TV focusing on the Bingo way of winning.

This was later proven to be fraudulent by a 'numbers expert' of which the game organisers were fully aware of.

The public were deceived into believing that they have a chance of winning whereas is reality there was NONE.

This was later documented by A Current Affair and subsequently, the show has been taken off air.

A Current Affair Reference : 26/11/2007 : - More Bingo Scandal

These series of posts focuses on the fraudulent ways of the gaming empire, of which they are above the law, and WILL NOT be prosecuted.

See reference to a whistle blower working for the 'Pokies' - which are owned by Tattersalls.

Pokies money laundering winnings fraud.

New burger has fried chicken 'bun'

A new KFC monster burger that uses two slabs of fried chicken in place of bread buns has gone on sale in the US to the dismay of nutrition experts.

The "Double Down Chicken Sandwich" contains two slices of bacon, pepper jack cheese, swiss cheese and sauce, wrapped between two fillets of chicken.

Would you eat this burger? Have your say here.

A television advertising campaign bills the US$4.99 ($6.00) Double Down as "so much 100 percent premium chicken, we didn't have room for a bun".

A spokesman for the Australian arm of KFC did not rule out the burger being sold locally in the future.

Ninemsn contacted a KFC store in Omaha, Nebraska, where an employee said sales of the Double Down had exceeded expectations.

But the burger, which does not appear on KFC's official website, has raised the ire of health experts.

"The world does not need [these burgers]," top Australian nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton said.

"These sorts of burgers have become a rite of passage for kids and young men ... but pity about your arteries, your waistline and your chin."

Burgers such as the Double Down made a mockery of fast food chains' persistent claims to provide healthy and balanced menus, Dr Stanton said.

Online food forums have been flooded with both criticism and support for the burger.

"Wow, I couldn't believe that American fast food has sunk this low," wrote one person on foodgeekery.com.

But another wrote: "Oh … oh my God. That is the best thing ever."

"I don't know what 'Colonel's Sauce' is, but it is like a party in my mouth."

Another person said he recently received an invitation to complete an online survey on the Double Down in exchange for US$10 KFC voucher.

KFC in Australia today issued a statement saying "we don't have this product in our plans at present".

21 Aug 2009

More proof that Kentucky Fried Chicken has ZERO regards for their patrons health.

But then again who ever considered KFC to be healthy ?

It's still food for canon fodder, for the lower social economic groups of society.

Centrelink defrauds pensioners

In Australia, Centrelink is responsible for Social Security payments for it's 7,000,000 customers with a financial pool of approx $6,000,000,000

Insider information has been documented in a file called Secret Monies outlining the fraudulent activities and secret tradings of the government with respect to 'your' money, but will not be the focus of this post.

In an attempt to boost profits, Centrelink has resorted to targeting pensioners, as they offer the least amount of resistance.

Naturally 'unwritten' instructions have been given to Centrelink staff not to process pensioners bank details with the correct bank balances, inflating the real figure, in order to pay a lesser amount of benefits to the customer.

Details obtained show that Centrelink refuses to amend the correct figures.

In an identical role reversal move, if a customer gives an incorrect figure to Centrelink, in order to claim more monies, Centrelink then prosecutes the individual together with backpay AND interest.

An individual is NOT able to exercise the same laws against Centrelink.

Laws like this are analogous to
the Dictatorship of Nazi occupied Germany.

Mossad to monitor all Australian phone calls

Solomon Trujillo, with close corporate American ties, has paved the way for the future of Australian Telecoms with similar results to the United States of America.

It is now an established fact that AmDocs (American Documents? - an Israeli Company) is the current document holder for all records of American telephone conversations.

Knowledge kept away from the general masses, Australia's Telecom Monopoly, Telstra, has contracted the services of AmDocs that will eventually hold information of all telephone conversations made in Australia.

The purpose of mossad holding information of Austrlian phone conversations is about a relevant, as a an air-conditioning company from Antarctica providing consultancy for Israel's desert region.

The BIGGEST loser Australia

Australian TV is all about losers.

The loser (farmer) wants a wife,

45 stone loser (virgin),

Australia's loser (perfect) couple,

10 years loser (younger) in 10 days,

Australian loser (Idol),

BIG loser (Brother),

So loser (you) thinks loser (you) can dance,

and last but NOT least ....

The BIGGEST LOSER


One way to keep the masses entertained is through $PORT and LOSER (politically correct term = inspirational) TV.

There is very little in terms of quality entertainment or quality news.

The masses are given goals (sporting idols) who at the end of the day are nothing more than CA$H cows for corporations, and the monies thrown to the sports people are pittance compared to what is really made from them.

A $750,000 salary 'seems' a lot to the average Joe, but to the corporations it's pocket money, so the general public are being encouraged to be exploited by others, and these sports losers are promoted as the pinnacle (some who cannot spell, or even talk properly) of success.

You are a 'HERO' sports person, if you are a 'bad boy' and take drugs (drugs are ILLEGAL, but sports people get away with those crimes) , and have general bad behaviour.

Schools for the masses only focus on blue collar work, and are NOT designed for students to go past a certain level in society, whereas the schools that nurture our future leaders are out of the reach of most/all parents IRRESPECTIVE of the child's ambitions/ abilities.

In Australia, there are only 3 major media players, of which one single corporation (Telstra) provides 60% of the content.

News and information is carefully selected, in order NOT to keep the public informed.

Government Tender Fraud

It is a fact of business that contracts and / or tenders are arranged through 'mateship' (Cronyism, brotherhood ties, etc).

In this example, a conversation with an I.T vendor revealed that they had to tender for a government contract in order to obtain the work. The government department resided in Collins St. Melbourne.

Within the government department, the person dealing with the tenders wanted his 'mate' (also a Freemason) to obtain the work.

Prior to the expiry of the lodgement date, information was given to quote a certain figure below a value (an illegal act of fraud).

This would make it certain that they would be legible for consideration, and then the other party would make sure that the contractor would 'win' the bid.

This sort of practice is widely known and accepted in all forms of industry, BUT is not reported or considered for exposure to public knowledge, by the mass media outlets. Contracts that have been fraudulently obtained can vary from tens of thousands to multi million dollar deals.

The difference being, that the exposure of such fraud of multi - million dollar deals is protected by an ARMY of lawyers.