Not that we knew of. However, Japan’s industry ministry has just ordered Apple to report on selected steps it will take concerning cases of iPod nanos overheating, which gives it a risk of catching fire. So far, overheating cases concerning the 2005 iPod nano while charging have caused at least 27 incidents. Out of those half a dozen fires were recorded which required firefighters to be called.

Aside from that, four different people suffered burns when they touched the device which overheated during charging. Apparently the ministry issued Apple Japan to take measures several times, but nothing has been done yet.

Pandora Internet Radio has just announced that their site now has 60 million users registered to listen to their personalized online radio service. Pandora started back in 2000 and offers thousands of songs to users with a collection of 90,000 artists, of which 80% are played each month. That’s a ton of music.

Just type the name of one of your favorite songs or singers into Pandora and the Genome Project will provide the music. But judging by the numbers most of you are already using Pandora, so I don’t have to tell you that.

In addition to all of the other lies that BP has been caught telling, now they have been exposed for posting a Photoshopped image of their Oil Crisis Command Center on the main BP website. The original image posted by BP which has now been removed, looks legitimate at first glance. But upon closer examination, it is obviously a very poor cut and paste job.

A spokesman for BP said that there was nothing sinister in the photo alteration and provided the original unaltered version. He said that a photographer working for the company had inserted the three images in spots where the video screens were blank.

I thought I had seen it all in weird foods. I was wrong. Here is something a bit horrifying and disgusting. The “Candwich” is now on store shelves. Yes, it’s a sandwich in a can. You can get strawberry jelly and peanut butter, grape jelly and BBQ chicken.

If that doesn’t sound disgusting, I don’t know what is. No word on price, but this would be tough to eat even in a disaster situation. Oh and there’s a candy surprise inside.

Eyesight is often the first thing to go as we age, but by the time we need them we may just have robotic eyes. VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies has now had its implantable miniature telescope approved by the FDA. It’s designed for patients over 75 years old, who are suffering from end-stage macular degeneration.

It magnifies and projects images onto a healthy portion of the retina. The downside is that it can only be used in one eye, since the other eye is needed for your peripheral vision, which you wouldn’t want to be without.

Don’t like the music at Burger King? Folks in Tokyo Japan can now enjoy their own personal choice of music at outlets with “musical showers”, which basically is a hanging speaker above your table that will play your preferred music which will be more or less confined to your table.

The music comes from an iPod/iPhone dock installed on the wall, where you can dock your device and send the music directly to the speaker above your head.

The Piix Smart Band-Aid isn’t designed for cuts and scrapes. It will instead monitor your heart and report your cardiac activity to you. Qualcomm is working with CARDIONET on the device.

It’s capable of beat-to-beat, real time analysis, automatic arrhythmia detection and wireless ECG transmission. The sensors can also be modified to monitor various other cardiac activity. And as they say, knowing is half the battle.

According to a survey, when you compare the reading speed of a paper book with the Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle 2, those devices will slow you down by as much as 10.7%.

The participants took an average of 17 minutes and 20 seconds to read each story, but were found to read 6.2% slower than printed paper when using an iPad and 10.7% slower on the Kindle. The participants apparently complained about the iPad’s weight and the Kindle’s weak contrast.

The Japanese put everything in vending machines. I’m surprised they don’t have prostitutes in them, where you can pay and the door opens. Now they even have fresh bananas thanks to Dole’s new machines which are installed in an underground connection at the Shibuya subway station.

Bananas are a hot commodity too. The vending machine was sold out on its first day. A single banana is about $1.50 (130 yen) and a bunch of five or six is almost $4.50. (390 yen) I guess people are willing to pay for a healthier snack.

The HDMI standard has been targeted for assassination. The killers? LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Valens Semiconductor. They have introduced a brand new audiovisual standard, called HDBaseT.

Don’t worry, this will not likely introduce a new kind of cable to your home. Instead of a new connector, it is based on the Cat 5e/6 network cables, commonly referred to as ethernet cables. The cable can pass HD and 3-D video signals, as well as data through an integrated 100MBit Ethernet connection. That feed should allow for new internet-connected TV services, like Google TV.

If you’ve ever wondered how Batman gets his gadgets charged, this is probably the answer. The military has developed the Remote Auxiliary Power System or RAPS. RAPS can be deployed like a grappling hook with overhead power lines. Then a tiny blade will penetrate the power line and make contact with the live wire inside.

The area around the blade will make contact with a second exposed wire that all powerlines have, transmitting electricity to an AC to DC converter safely at the end of the cable.

Why does everything need to be complicated? It used to be that you would just buy some light bulbs and screw them in. But soon, when you buy a new light bulb you’ll see a new Nutrition Facts-style label that shows you the numbers most important to you: like how bright the bulb is, what the energy cost is, and when they’ll burn out.

I guess it’s a good thing. I just like to buy bulbs and plug them in without worrying about the facts. The new numbers tell you a bulb’s typical energy cost and average lifespan, which are probably the mainthings I would want to know. The new light bulb labels are expected to arrive sometime in mid-2011.

Touchscreens all over Japan will be upgraded by the end of the year since new Coca-Cola vending machines will now feature a 46″ LCD touchscreen instead of buttons and knobs. The idea is to make purchasing drinks more fun while making the machines stand out from the crowd.

The integration of LCD panels will also allow advertisers to expand their reach and display maps of the area for tourists. So have a coke and a smile along with some advertising.

Is it too early to talk Christmas? Not for Kmart and Sears. As physical media sales continue to drop, these two names are looking toward streaming content, with the Alphaline Entertainment service. Alphaline is powered Sonic’s RoxioNow and will be available on TVs and Blu-ray players manufactured by Sharp, LG, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and RCA.

Setup of the device is included in the sale price, should you find your DIY skills lacking. The service will arrive this holiday season.

You know what’s awesome on top of a car that you paid too much money for, which runs on gas that you paid too much money for? Advertising on your license plate that you have no control over. I know, sounds great right?

The California Legislature is considering a bill that would at least begin a research process on digital license plates. These license plates would replace old stamped metal ones that we are used to. Apparently, the system would display your normal license plate number when your car is in motion. It would stop for four seconds to advertise a service or product when not in motion.