A warning about magnetic iphone/ipad cases

[hellosailor]

I have a tablet which is not an iPad. And with the Perseid showers this weekend, I thought I'd put the old Google Sky back on it, so I could tell just what I was looking at. (Which was Mars, as I thought.) But the tablet was busy telling me I was looking EAST when I knew I was looking SOUTH.

Sure enough, the respected brand name (cough cough) manufacturer had supplied a slipcase with magnetic latches and sensors in the tablet to turn it on/off as the case was opened. And those DESIGNED magnets in the case had screwed the internal compass. Case off, quick recalibration, and the universe rotated a whole ninety degrees.

It ain't just Apple.