Weird Tech: iPod in trouser pocket terror

Danny Williams was understandably concerned when his iPod nano suddenly burst into flames in his pocket...

Would you believe it? Apple's only gone and made the front page again. Admittedly perhaps not in the manner it would have hoped for (the ability to spontaneously explode isn't usually top of an iPod's spec list) but even Apple isn't perfect...

Apple iPod rocks ok

An American airport worker faced double jeopardy this week when his iPod nano caught fire in his pocket. His immediate concerns after noticing flames shooting out of his trouser pocket soon heightened with the realisation that armed security staff could mistake him for a terrorist and open fire.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl from Texas received double disappointment after purchasing an iPod. Upon eagerly opening the box she came face to face not with the expected brand new iPod, but a box full of rocks.

As you'd expect, the iPod was promptly returned and a replacement - from a second branch of the chain - was provided. .. only for the girl to find more rocks. Unbelievably, the store still imposed its in-store credit only policy. Talk about insult to injury.

In Apple's favour, however, came the news that an iPod touch is "so simple even a dog can use it" (there's even a video to prove it).

Mind you, Bill Gates didn't have it easy this week either. The multi-billionaire Microsoft chairman was refused entry to Nigeria after failing to convince authorities that he would not stay in Nigeria and become a drain on the country's resources. Fortunately a letter from the bank proved sufficient to reassure the officials that this would not be the case, and a visa was eventually approved.

Want to walk through walls?

This week saw the discovery of one of the more unusual patents applications we've come across for a while. Entitled "Walking through walls training system", the proposed invention involves granting a human enough hyperspace energy to "pull the body out of dimension", enabling them to walk through solid objects like walls. Personally, we've always been fans of the humble door - but you can't please everyone.

And finally...

The news we've all been waiting for: the quest to find the world's oldest Halo 3 player is over at last. And the proud title-bearer? A 95-year-old Japanese grandmother - check out her skills here.

Julia Sagar
Content director, special projects

Julia specialises in ecommerce at Future. For the last four years, she’s split her time between leading TechRadar’s crack team of deal editors - covering all the biggest sales of the year including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day - and helping the audiences of Future’s consumer tech and lifestyle brands (TechRadar, Tom's Guide, T3, Marie Claire, Woman & Home and more) find the best products and services for their needs and budget.


A former editor of global design website Creative Bloq, she has over 15 years’ experience in online and print journalism, and was part of the team that launched TechRadar way back in the day. When she isn't reviewing mattresses (she’s tested more than she cares to remember), or sharing tips on how to save money in the latest sales, she can usually be found writing about anything from green energy to graphic design.