Scribbles...

Came across this story by Jim Dalrymple. Shows you just how COOL iPods really are! Those who buy into the whole status thing really needs to read this!

Just a side note before the story: remember how Apple acknowledges that there is a temperature regulating element that freezes your iPhone when operating temperature exceeds a certain range? This was in response to complains that the latest iPhone 3GS heats up to a point where it becomes uncomfortable for use. Apple blamed it on users who operated the device out in the sun. Hmmm so what's their excuse for exploding iPods? Still the sun i wager. But if the device can explode just by being used in direct sunlight, isn't that call for alarm? Or does Apple wish us to retreat into darkness?

The father of an 11-year-old girl in the U.K. said Apple tried to keep him from speaking about his daughter's iPod after it exploded last month.

Speaking to The Times in the U.K., Ken Stanborough said after he dropped the iPod Touch, it began hissing and started to get hot. As a precaution, he threw the iPod outside and "within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it went 10 (feet) in the air," he said.

Apple agreed to give Stanborough a refund, but only if he signed a confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to disclose any information about the incident. Stanborough said he found the letter "appalling" and refused to sign it.

To be fair, letters from companies in situations like this are most likely standard procedure. However, this isn't the first time Apple has been accused of trying to stop people from reporting on faulty iPods.

Reporter Amy Clancy of KIRO-TV in Seattle said it took her more than seven months to get documents from the Consumer Product Safety Commission on iPods that mysteriously burst into flames. She said she had filed a Freedom of Information Act request, but Apple lawyers filed "exemption after exemption" with the commission to stop her from getting the over 800 pages of documents.

Clancy said the documents show 15 "burn and fire-related incidents" that iPod owners blamed on the device.

Apple declined to comment for this story.

Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. A guitar player for 20 years, Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to write and record songs on a Macintosh with Logic Pro and Pro Tools. Jim is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.