Microsoft Tweaks Ad after Apple Complains

Remember last week when Microsoft was so ecstatic about Apple’s complaints over the laptop hunter ads? Well, the software maker may have been overjoyed that it finally agitated its rival, but Redmond has quietly complied with Apple’s complaints, according to AdvertisingAge. The Mac maker’s beef was the fact that Microsoft’s laptop hunter campaign kept saying Macbooks carried a price tag of $2000 or more, even though Apple recently improved the specs and lowered costs across its laptop line.

Microsoft’s laptop hunter ads feature people on their personal quest to find the best computer for their needs. The commercials focus on the decision to buy a PC instead of a Mac, but have received some criticism over the fact the ads never mention Windows or Microsoft by name.

Last week at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Redmond’s chief operating office, Kevin Turner said he did “cartwheels down the hallway” after receiving a phone call from Apple’s legal department complaining about the campaign. “We’re just going to keep running them [the laptop hunter ads] and running them and running them,” Turner said.

And who can blame them? Since 2006, Apple’s Get A Mac campaign has successfully capitalized on the variety of stigmas about Windows machines, including buggy software, a virus-prone operating system, and incompatibility issues. For many consumers, the Get A Mac ads have also equated Windows with comedian John Hodgman’s character as a lovable yet inept PC. Microsoft has tried to counter Apple’s ads with several rather unfortunate experiments, but the laptop hunters campaign is where Redmond really gained ground.

But Microsoft did recognize the laptop hunter ads needed some tweaks, and so the company has quietly revised at least one of its commercials. A recent ad features Lauren (not the original laptop hunter) and her mother Sue on the hunt for a portable computer. In the original version of this ad, Lauren’s quip about Apple was, “This Mac is $2000, and that’s before adding anything,” according to AdvertisingAge. But in the version of the ad currently available online, Lauren has altered her words and only says, “it seems like you’re paying a lot for the brand.”

Microsoft told AdvertisingAge it had adjusted its advert to reflect the new pricing for Macbooks, but the laptop hunter campaign’s core message is still the same, which Microsoft says is “the value and choice of the PC.”

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<br/><a href=”http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=6c7197c6-e6ac-4070-8aa0-e76ec5634ebe” mce_href=”http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=6c7197c6-e6ac-4070-8aa0-e76ec5634ebe” target=”_new” title=”Laptop Hunters $1700 - Lauren and Sue get a Dell XPS 13″>Video: Laptop Hunters $1700 - Lauren and Sue get a Dell XPS 13</a>

US Transport Department announces restrictions for Li-Ion batteries

Passengers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning January 1, 2008 once new federal safety rules take effect. The new regulation, designed to reduce the risk of lithium battery fires, will continue to allow lithium batteries in checked baggage if they are installed in electronic devices, or in carry-on baggage if stored in plastic bags.

Common consumer electronics such as travel cameras, cell phones, and most laptop computers are still allowed in carry-on and checked luggage. However, the rule limits individuals to bringing only two extended-life spare rechargeable dell laptop battery*, such as laptop and professional audio/video/camera equipment lithium batteries in carry-on baggage.

“Doing something as simple as keeping a spare dell 6y270 battery in its original retail packaging or a plastic zip-lock bag will prevent unintentional short-circuiting and fires,” said Krista Edwards, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Lithium dell 75uyf battery are considered hazardous materials because they can overheat and ignite in certain conditions. Safety testing conducted by the FAA found that current aircraft cargo fire suppression system would not be capable of suppressing a fire if a shipment of non-rechargeable lithium batteries were ignited in flight.

“This rule protects the passenger,” said Lynne Osmus, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assistant administrator for security and hazardous dell c1295 battery materials. “It’s one more step for safety. It’s the right thing to do and the right time to do it.”

In addition to the new rule, PHMSA is working with the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the dell gd761 battery and airline industries, airline employee organizations, testing laboratories, and the emergency response communities to increase public awareness about battery-related risks and developments.

GM has lithium-ion batteries for hybrids

General Motors will begin mass production in 2010 of hybrid vehicles that use lithium-ion batteries and, in many cases, turbocharged small-displacement gasoline engines. The combination will let GM use the hybrid system on any size vehicle it produces.

The announcement, made at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday, follows a Mercedes announcement last week that its S-Class sedans will come in a hybrid version next year that uses a lithium-ion compaq laptop battery. Toyota tm has also said it will roll out low-emission vehicles using lithium-ion batteries in the near future.

It’s a sign that lithium-ion batteries, now common in laptops and cellphones, may finally be ready for prime time in vehicles. Automakers have been striving to develop the battery, because it is better-suited to power hybrids — and eventually fully electric vehicles — than the current nickel-metal-hydride compaq evo n400c battery.

Lithium-ion compaq evo n410c battery are “starting to turn the corner,” says Prabhakar Patil, CEO of Compact Power, one of the companies chosen by GM gm to help develop a lithium-ion battery for the fully electric Chevrolet Volt expected to go on sale in 2010. “For the first time with the lithium ion, we see a battery that can make the technology work.”

Lithium-ion batteries have some drawbacks. They don’t work well in very cold weather; they generate heat and need a way to be cooled; and they cost more than other batteries. But they are lighter and smaller for their power, so carmakers like them because they don’t have to waste a lot of space on a huge compaq evo n400 battery.

The lithium-ion compaq evo n410 battery GM will use in its second generation of hybrids is a quarter the size of the nickel-metal-hydride batteries it now is using.

“We need a compaq evo n600 battery that is very compact and is very light,” says Stephen Poulos, global chief engineer of GM’s hybrid systems. “Lithium ion is a great enabler for that.”

GM isn’t the first to use lithium-ion batteries — they are already used in pilot projects as automakers work on developing hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Honda is using them in its FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, but fewer than 100 will be made and will be leased to customers in California this year. Prototype plug-in versions of the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape f also use lithium-ion compaq evo n600c battery.

Panasonic Will Expand Lithium Ion Battery Production in Japan

Osaka, Japan - Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. (MBI) today announced that the company will set up a new lithium-ion battery production facility at its factory in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. The new facility will boost the company’s domestic production capacity to meet a growing demand for lithium-ion batteries. MBI is a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. which is best known for its Panasonic brand products.

Up until now, the Wakayama factory has been a asus laptop battery component production base. With the construction of the new facility, it will become a production center with an integrated production system from material processing through to assembly, inspection and shipments. This will give MBI two integrated production bases for cylindrical and prismatic-type batteries in Japan, including its factory in Osaka.

Construction of the new facility in Wakayama is scheduled to commence in December 2007 and be completed by May 2008. As a result, MBI’s total lithium-ion asus a32-a8 battery production capacity from factories in Osaka and Wakayama in Japan and Wuxi in China will increase approximately 50 percent from the current 25 million units per month to 37 million units per month in the business year ending March 2010.

A fire at its Osaka factory on September 30, 2007 caused inconvenience to its customers and MBI is making every effort to fully restore production at the earliest possible time. Production at the Osaka factory partly resumed on November 1, 2007. MBI is conducting a comprehensive review to improve fire prevention measures in the production process. These improved measures will be incorporated into the new asus a42-w3 battery facility at the Wakayama factory.

Germany dumping country research high-performance lithium-ion battery car