The EU's safety watchdogs are investigating reports that Apple iPods and iPhones are "exploding" in the summer weather.
'Exploding' iPhones prompt safety investigation
The investigation follows reports from Britain, France, Holland and Sweden that some digital music players and mobile phones have spontaneously combusted in the sunshine.
One French teenager claims to have been injured when his girlfriend's iPhone apparently exploded into pieces after starting to "crackle and pop".
The European Commission has asked Apple to share any relevant information and the company is carrying out a full investigation.
200 million iPods and 26 million iPhones have been sold in Europe and Apple claims to have ruled out any widespread safety problem.
An Apple spokesman said: "We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the units from the customers. Until we have the full details, we don't have anything further to add."
The PGA Championship has started and you can watch it today beginning at 2 p.m.
Tiger Woods, with two straight PGA Tour wins heading into today, is the heavy favorite to win his first major of 2009. While he has not been able to capture his 15th major championship this year, he is on a serious roll after winning the Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational in consecutive weeks.
TNT is first up with TV coverage beginning at 2 p.m. (EDT) and ending at 8 p.m.
Can’t wait for live TV? You can view the PGA Championship live at pga.com from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 11 a.m-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Live coverage of the 2009 PGA Championship schedule for Thursday, August 13:
TNT: 2 p.m.-8 p.m
pga.com: 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
PGA Championship TV schedule for this week’s 91st PGA Championship
Though husband Spencer admits it’s ‘not like Picasso art’
Access Hollywood
LOS ANGELES - Heidi Pratt revealed her Playboy cover Thursday at the Los Angeles premiere of “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” and told Access Hollywood achieving a cover-worthy body was no easy task.
“I worked out very hard for this,” Heidi told Access on the red carpet as husband Spencer Pratt looked on clutching a copy of the men’s magazine.
“I worked by butt off,” she continued. “So if you want to see how I got my Playboy body, you can go to [my Web site].”
“See her powerful curves,” Spencer said. “They are powerful!”
Video
Heidi Pratt on Playboy, ‘The Hills’ Heidi Pratt chats about her photo shoot for Playboy and the upcoming season of "The Hills." Plus, what does she have to say about Lauren Conrad's new book, "L.A. Candy"?
Access Hollywood
Spencer told Access he’s overjoyed to see his wife grace the pages of the magazine.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “I feel like I did something great, like I should get a trophy!”
He might not be getting a trophy for Heidi’s Playboy shoot, but it is an early birthday present of sorts.
“It comes out on [Spencer’s] birthday,” Heidi told Access, “August 14. Happy birthday hubby!”
Heidi also explained that her shoot is a more than just a bunch of sexy photos.
”[Playboy] kind of had a vision… and we brought in Matthew Rolston, who is a very well known amazing photographer,” she explained. “So, it’s more art.”
“Beautiful art,” Spencer added. “Not like Picasso art, real beautiful art, you know what I’m saying?”
While John Hughes's The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Home Alone proved to be both box-office powerhouses as well as culturally significant landmarks, his sudden death from a heart attack Thursday is proving equally noteworthy, for the shockwaves it is sending throughout the acting community that he helped to launch.
Known as the "Brat Pack" – a term coined in a 1985 New York magazine feature on the then-rising Hughes and the cast of his coming-of-age comedies – the writer-director-producer's stable of fresh-faced performers included such now-household names as Sean Penn, Steve Carell, Macaulay Culkin, Matthew Broderick, Jon Cryer, Charlie Sheen, Molly Ringwald, John Cusack, Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy, among others.
While Pretty in Pink star Ringwald recalled Hughes, 59, as "an important part of my life," and Ferris Bueller himself, Broderick, considered him "my friend," others remember the filmmaker as follows:
• "I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person. The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man." – actor MACAULAY CULKIN
• "John was an amazing mentor to me during the time we were shooting Curly Sue. He had a childlike spirit that connected us instantly and always made me feel loved. He will be missed but his work speaks for itself and will live in his honor." – actor ALISAN PORTER
• "John Hughes's iconic films gave a powerful voice to a generation. He will be missed but never forgotten!" – actor DEMI MOORE
• "I will always cherish the time I spent with John Hughes.I was so grateful for the opportunity to walk around in his shoes and try to see the world through through his brilliant eyes. Sharing his films with my kids over the years I can see the timelessness of his work." actor KEVIN BACON
• "His films helped establish an international notion of ordinary American teenagers, and he was as popular abroad as at home. Once when I was visiting the largest movie theater in Calcutta, I asked if Star Wars had been their most successful American film. No, I was told, it was Baby's Day Out, a Hughes comedy about a baby wandering through a big city, which played for more than a year." – critic ROGER EBERT
• "He was a wonderful man, a genius, a poet. I don't think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age." – actor-economist BEN STEIN
• ""I asked John how long it took to write Planes, Trains and Automobiles, he said, 'I wrote it over the weekend.' The weekend. That shows you what he was able to do." – actor-writer STEVE MARTIN
• "John always treated me with respect and consideration. He encouraged a real and active collaboration; he was most generous with his insight ... My heart breaks for his family ... I know many people whose lives were touched by John will be saddened today. I know I am." – actor JUDD NELSON
• "He took a tremendous chance on me. Like Orson Welles, he was a boy wonder, a director's director, a writer's writer, a filmmaker's filmmaker. He was one of the giants." – actor-director BILL PAXTON
• "My family and I are deeply saddened and in shock. Our only goal is to support his family and make sure they're fine." – Hughes's attorney JAKE BLOOM
• "He changed my life forever. Nineteen years later, people from all over the world contact me telling me how much Home Alone'meant to them, their families, and their children." – actor DEVIN RATRAY
• "John told me about why he left Hollywood … He was terrified of the impact it was having on his sons; he was scared it was going to cause them to lose perspective on what was important and what happiness meant … Tonight, when I heard the news that John had died, I cried. I cried hard. (And I'm crying again.) I cried for a man who loved his friends, who loved his family, who loved to write and for a man who took the time to make a little girl believe that, if she had something to say, someone would listen." – Hughes's pen-pal ALLISON FIELDS
• With reporting by JENNIFER GARCIA,NATASHA STOYNOFF, ULRICA WIHLBORG and the ASSOCIATED PRESS, FOX BUSINESS NEWS, THE GUARDIAN and MTV
