It's getting to be an expensive day for Apple. Hours after the announcement of its $100 million settlement with digital music competitor Creative, the Cupertino, California company has also made public that it will be recalling 1.8 million batteries once installed in its laptop line.

The recall is on the same Sony batteries found in the 4.1 million Dell systems cited as faulty by that company earlier this month.

For those consumers who own a Macintosh iBook G4 or Powerbook G4, the recall affects those models sold between October 2003 and August 2006, a time window larger than that outlined by Dell.

For those unlucky enough to have purchased a Mac in that period, the Consumer Products Safety Commission is advising you to please remove the Sony battery and store it in a safe place. (Source: news.com)

If you don't remember all the hoopla surrounding the earlier recall, Dell was forced to request 4.1 million customers send in their batteries after more than a handful of laptops began to combust as a result of overheating. Both Dell and Sony have acknowledged the issue is rare but possible. In the fallout, Dell is taking most of the flak for a faulty Sony product.

Apple has informed the media of nine reports surrounding overheating issues with the batteries in its Mac laptops, including two cases where the unlucky parties received minor burns.

Of the 1.8 million batteries being recalled, 1.1 million were sold within the United States.

As a result of the recall -- now over 5 million between Dell and Apple -- it has been reported that notebook manufacturers are looking into the establishment of an industry standard for the production of lithium-ion batteries. (Source: arstechnica.com)