Technologies

210,000 Iniu Chargers Sold on Amazon Were Recalled: Check If Yours Is Listed

Fires involving the chargers caused $380,000 in damages. Here are the affected models.

A portable power bank or power station can help keep your phone and other devices charged on the go, but a defective model poses a risk of fire and injury. Iniu, a popular Amazon brand known for affordable power banks and charging accessories, is facing a recall.

We recently praised the small but mighty Iniu SnapGo, which features a 5,000mAh capacity that clips to a keychain, offering power on the go for as low as $11 on a recent sale.

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How to check if your Iniu power bank has been recalled

The company hasn’t had as much luck with its 10,000mAh power bank (model BI-B41) in black and blue. This model, sold exclusively on Amazon USA for $18 between Aug. 2021 and April 2022, is being recalled, resulting in up to 210,000 chargers needing to be safely disposed of. The specific model serial numbers affected are:

000G21
000H21
000I21
000L21

Iniu says that if you own this model, you should immediately stop using the power bank and keep it in a cool, dry place until you receive confirmation from Iniu that it qualifies for the recall program. You can submit a claim by following this link and providing your contact information, proof of purchase between Aug. 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022, a photo of the recalled charter with a name, your submission date, and a six-digit unique code written on the back of the product in a permanent marker. (Iniu did not immediately respond to a request for information about how a customer would get that six-digit code.)

Once the recall is approved, the company should provide you with a refund.

If you have a different Iniu model or a unit that’s red or orange or purchased outside of Amazon USA, you should not be affected by the recall. You also don’t need to worry if the serial number on yours ends in 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, or 25.

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Iniu received 15 reports of the power banks overheating, including 11 reports of fires that resulted in three minor burn injuries and property damage totaling over $380,000. This fire danger isn’t something you want to take lightly and continue using.

How to dispose of a recalled power bank

The company will inform you how to safely dispose of the chargers, but you shouldn’t put it in regular trash or recycling. The best way is to give it to a municipal Household Hazardous Waste collection center that takes recalled lithium-ion batteries.

A representative for Iniu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iniu isn’t the only company recalling its portable power banks. Anker had to recall several models back in September, following an earlier recall in June of its A1263 and an Oct. 2024 recall of the A1641 PowerCore 1000, and a recall of the Anker 535 following a Maryland house fire.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

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Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

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The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.