HP expands laptop battery recall, doesn't want you to feel the burn

HP wants to make sure you don't get burned, literally. For the third May in a row, it's issuing another expansion of its voluntary battery recall on laptops produced from July 2007 to May 2008 -- frankly, we're considering a holiday to mark the occasion. May 2009 saw a recall of 70,000 batteries followed by an expansion to cover 15,000 in China, totaling 85,000 affected laptops. It didn't end there though, as further expansion was put in place during May 2010 to cover even more models, and this time around, a sizeable number of lappies have been added to the ever-growing list. About five percent of the models from the aforementioned time frame could have problematic batteries, and HP will be providing replacements for those at risk of getting a little too hot under the collar. If your machine was also part of the previous recalls, HP's saying those should be verified as well, even if you've done so in the past already. The full grid of affected laptops can be perused after the break -- Memorial Day weekend will be full of grilling, but we wouldn't want that to include your skin, okay?

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Scientist cooks up adjustable strength metals

As you may know, crafting a katana is a delicate process that involves carefully constructing a razor-sharp high-carbon edge around a soft shock-absorbent core. One day though, smiths and forging fires could be replaced by electrode-wielding mad-scientists, with the technology to selectively harden and soften metal at will. At least that's what we envisioned when we read about Jörg Weißmüller's breakthrough research in the field of nanomaterials. The German scientist discovered that by placing precious metals in acid he could create tiny ducts through corrosion. Once those channels are flooded with a conductive liquid, electrical currents can be used to harden the material and, if you change your mind about the brittle results, the effect can easily be reversed to make it soft again. The tech could eventually lead to self-healing vehicle armor or scratch-resistant cellphones -- but, really, we just want to zap our way to a high-quality samurai sword. Physorg

Google announces new ways to discover apps on Android Market, more tools for developers

Android Market may have a lot going for it, but most would surely agree that it could use some improvement when it comes to discovering apps that you aren't specifically looking for. Thankfully, it seems Google has indeed been aware of those concerns, and it's now announced five new features that should go so some way towards improving things. Those include some newly revamped top app charts that promise to be "fresher" and country specific, a brand new Editors' Choice section that highlights apps chosen by Google, a new Top Developers feature that places a special icon next to the name of developers that make the grade (currently more than 150), improved related apps on individual app pages and, last but not least, a new trending apps section that shows the apps growing fastest in terms of daily installs. What's more, while all of those features are currently exclusive to the web-based version, Google says they're also "coming soon" to the Andr...

Compal's 'Ultra Mobile' Ultrabook eyes-on

Intel's already teased Compal's "Ultra Mobile" Ultrabook from afar, but when this Ivy Bridge laptop popped up on the show floor after the Computex keynote, we decided to give it a closer look. While this prototype isn't quite in the same league as ASUS' gorgeous UX21, do bear in mind that we're still looking at a relatively slim package for a 14- to 15-inch Core i7 rig. Also visible around the machine are a couple of USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI-out port, a LAN socket, and an SD card reader. Until we hear more about this Ultra Mobile, enjoy our eyes-on photos below. Compal's 'Ultra Mobile' Ultrabook eyes-on omment

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