Mar 17, 2006 10:13 AM
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Apple's magnetic Mag"Safe" connector on its Intel-based MacBook must be inappropriately named. How safe is a connector that bursts into flames with no provocation? This happened to a MacBook belonging to Rogier Mulder, who took pictures of the connectors and posted them on Flickr.
Adding insult to injury, soon thereafter Apple contacted Mulder and asked that the pictures be removed, and he meekly complied. But that didn't work, Apple, because here are the pictures, right here. Anyway, Apple quickly attempted to make things right with Mulder:
"Apple support responded very well (thanks Klaas) and fast. Before I called our local Apple support line, the dutch engineers were already contacted by their US collegues (who saw the pics) to inquire if I already called in. I'm getting a new Macbook asap and I will return my current one."
Maybe Apple should change the name of this product to the FireBook. It'll be interesting to see how the Cupertino company spins this one. Your move, Apple.
Apple Censored Pics of Torched MacBook Power Connector [Wired]
Update: A couple people have called us out on this post, saying it is, at best, overwrought. You're totally right. Please accept my apologies.
Also, although there is no way I can tell, it appears our story originally indicated that Flickr removed the photos at Apple's behest, while it was later edited to reflect that the photos were removed voluntarily by the Flickr user. Our editorial policy is to use a Strike tag when making factual corrections to avoid potentially misleading cover-our-ass situations like this one. The editor who would have made these changes was probably not aware of this policy, which is my mistake. I'll remedy that post haste.
That said, we do encourage Apple to address the situation as soon as possible. Even if there were mitigating circumstances in this particular case—cat hair is the leading theory—it may yet still affect thousands of other Mac users, many of whom are unrepentant cat owners. We hope that removing the pictures from Flickr was not part of the agreement with Apple to replace the MacBook Pro in question. —Joel Johnson
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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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