Boeing's accident waiting to happen The 787 Dreamliner debacle was result of battery and outsourcing problems exacerbated by a relaxation of government oversight There is a burnt-out metal box at the National Transportation Safety Board's offices in Washington that once housed what may well prove to be the most expensive battery in history. The charred metal box housed a lithium-ion battery that once powered the auxiliary power unit on a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. That plane, one of 50 in service of the 850 sold so far, caught fire at Logan International Airport in Boston earlier this month. The same kind of battery is thought to have led to the grounding of a Nippon Airways flight this week. That plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a burning smell was detected in the plane's cabin. Lithium-ion batteries are the preferred power source for a range of modern technology but they have a spotty safety record. Laptops, electric cars, cell phones – all have caught fire thanks to their lithium-ion batteries. Federal air regulation specifically limits the size and number that can be carried by passengers. Boeing was able to obtain a waiver for the size, quantity and manner of use of its batteries in September 2007, after the FAA received assurances and extensive test data, much of which was provided by Boeing.

  New York Times journalists admit: We missed Watergate The world might never have heard of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the reporters who broke the story of Watergate, if a couple of rival journalists had followed up their tip.   By Tom Leonard in New York

   Reporters Bob Woodward, right, and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting of the Watergate case won a Pulitzer Prize Photo: AP   Robert Smith and Robert Phelps, who were both working for the New York Times in 1972, have belatedly admitted that they were steered towards the political scandal first but never did anything about it.In an article in the New York Times, Mr Smith, a former Washington reporter, revealed that he got the crucial tip at a private lunch with Patrick Gray, then acting director of the FBI, on August 16, 1972.   Two months earlier, a group of men was caught breaking into offices at the Watergate hotel in Washington in an attempt to bug the Democrats' election campaign headquarters.Mr Smith said the FBI chief, a good friend who was lunching him on his last day on the newspaper, told him about President Nixon's "dirty tricks" operation."He told me the attorney general was involved in a cover-up and I said, 'How high does it go? To the president?'" said Mr Smith."And he sat there and looked at me and he didn't answer. His answer was in the look." Mr Smith rushed back to his office "in a super-charged state" and related the story to Mr Phelps, then an editor in the newspaper's Washington bureau."I was too excited to sit down. I paced up and back," he said, adding that Mr Phelps took notes and recorded their conversation.But nothing happened. Mr Smith left the next day and went…

Does Telecommuting Work? The online buzz about the decision by Yahoo this week to ban telecommuting.

 
Facebook 2010Facebook marks sixth birthday with new home page Facebook on Thursday marked its sixth birthday by simplifying its home page and holding an all-night "hackathon" to craft new software for the social networking website.