Apple iPhone 4 reportedly starts smoking on Regional Express Airplane

Apple’s iPhones are always among the hottest gadgets of any holiday shopping season, but for one passenger on an Australian flight, the phone was too hot to handle — literally.

While on Australian flight Regional Express ZL319 Friday, a passenger’s iPhone 4 (not the iPhone 4S, which is Apple’s latest model) suddenly started “emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow,” according to a Regional Express statement.

The plane, which was flying from Lismore to Sydney, was in the midst of landing when the incident occured. “In accordance with company standard safety procedures, the flight attendant carried out recovery actions immediately, and the red glow was extinguished successfully,” according to Regional Express’ statement.

After landing, the iPhone was handed over to officials at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. There’s no official word yet on what caused the phone to combust.

Exploding Apple products are rare, but explosions have happened in the past, mostly related to the devices’ lithium ion batteries overheating.

The European Union launched an investigation in 2009 after multiple instances of iPhones and iPod Touches exploding or catching fire midflight were reported in the U.K., Holland, France and Sweden.

Apple also recalled its first-generation of iPod nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 because the battery would overheat and “pose a safety risk,” according to the company’s website.

Credit: abcnews.go.com

Gaming Addiction

Is video gaming addiction real? Is it serious? The answer is yes, it is real, and it is very serious. While contrary to some naysayers beliefs, video games can be a healthy and even beneficial recreational activity, although it, like anything else, can be dangerous when taken to extremes.

Gaming Addiction Case Study

The most stark example of how serious this problem can become comes from South Korea, where video games are considered to be a competitive sport. One of the most popular online video games in South Korea and the world is StarCraft, a real time strategy game where the best players can earn fame and fortune on the professional video game circuit. In fact, a number of professional poker players got their start as professional StarCraft players.

Gaming Addiction Tragedy

While Mr. Lee, a 28 year old resident of Taegu, was not quite at that level, he was either confident enough in his abilities or addicted enough to lose his job in order to devote more time to playing the game. While this would be bad enough, things quickly got worse for Mr. Lee, as he sat down in an Internet café one Wednesday afternoon, logged in to play StarCraft, and never got up. Mr. Lee played for 50 straight hours, failing to adequately nourish or hydrate himself during any of that time, and collapsed of a heart attack in the middle of the game.

Understanding Gaming Addiction

This is clearly an extreme case, but the point remains; allowing oneself to become consumed by video games is dangerous. Any activity which provides instant gratification can lead itself to addiction. Laboratory rats will keep pushing a button that delivers stimulation to their pleasure receptors, to the exclusion of doing anything else, until they die. Human beings are not much different. Continual stimulation can be hard to resist. However as human beings we must know that sometimes we must delay gratification to take care of other needs.

If you suspect someone is suffering from a gaming addiction, talk to them about it. Don’t be judgmental, just offer support and think about ways that you can help them control their impulses.