Amazon recalls its Basics power banks due to fire risks

Amazon, the e-commerce giant is recalling around 2,60,000 AmazonBasics portable power banks due to a fire hazard, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commision. The company received "53 reports of the power banks overheating in the U.S., including one report of chemical burns due to contact with battery acid and four reports of property damage, including fire and smoke damage," the CPSC says. It also added that all the known buyers of the product have already been contacted directly for a refund.

AmazonBasics models that will be affected by the recall:

• 6,100 mAh
• 10,000 mAh
• 5,600 mAh
• 2,000 mAh with Micro-USB cable
• 3,000 mAh
• 3,000 mAh with Micro-USB cable

"Consumers should immediately unplug and stop using the recalled power banks and contact Amazon for instructions on how to return the unit and receive a full refund," the Consumer Product Safety Commision website says.

Previously, many Amazon consumers reported that their Alexa-powered smart speaker randomly started laughing.

The smart voice assistant is reportedly laughing following regular voice commands, and in some cases, does it completely on its own. Many users took to Twitter to post their scary experience.

"Lying in bed about to fall asleep when Alexa on my Amazon Echo Dot lets out a very loud and creepy laugh...there's a good chance I get murdered tonight."

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"I was trying to turn off some lights and they kept turning back on. After the third request, Alexa stopped responding and instead did an evil laugh. The laugh wasn't in the Alexa voice. It sounded like a real person. My wife was there when it happened and she is the only person who can drop-in. I still get chills."

"I was manually turning the volume down using the buttons on my echo dot and it started laughing like she was being tickled. It was the weirdest thing..." "So I just used my Alexa to set a two-minute timer while trying to do a plank..........and I asked how much time I had left and she LAUGHED."

The company in a statement to BuzzFeed said "We are changing that phrase to be 'Alexa, can you laugh?' which is less likely to have false positives, and we are disabling the short utterance 'Alexa, laugh.' We are also changing Alexa's response from simply laughter to 'Sure, I can laugh,' followed by laughter.