Acer to recall 27 000 batteries

Acer has voluntarily recalled about 27 000 rechargeable lithium ion batteries containing battery cells manufactured by Sony Energy Devices, reports Playfuls.com.

According to the advisory issued by the company, these batteries may overheat and create a potential fire hazard.

The affected Acer models were sold in the US and Canada from May 2004 through November 2006, for between $500 and $1 500.

Dell has begun offering flash storage as an alternative to a conventional disk drive in selected notebook models, says iTWire.

A 32G solid state drive from SanDisk is now a $549 option for buyers of the Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks.

Advantages of solid-state drives over their rotating magnetic equivalents include better shock resistance, improved performance, longer battery life, less noise and reduced weight.

The producer of television programmes Survivor and The Apprentice has teamed with social-networking Web site MySpace to make a political reality show combining real and virtual worlds, according to Brisbane Times.

MySpace and Mark Burnett will ask the US Internet community to pick "the nation's next great politician" from contenders featured in a television programme.

Candidates will be culled from those that nominate themselves in videos uploaded to MySpace, a youth-oriented socialising Web site owned by News Corporation, in New York City.