Ouch, Dell is recalling 35,000 notebook batteries that were shipped between October 5rd and 13th of this year. They were made in China or Japan and “pose a risk of fire.” There is a web-site setup by Dell on the issue… here.
They also suggest
“Batteries subject to recall should not be used while awaiting a replacement battery pack from Dell, it says.”
So, take those batteries out of the laptop and treat it as a power-cable only device.
That makes the concept of a laptop a bit more dangerous….
Anyway when you think about the power density in modern laptop batteries it is a relatively scary amount of power stored in a small object.
–UPDATE 8/14/06–
You might be looking for a MORE RECENT recall of over 4 million Dell laptop batteries.