The case of a “runaway” Prius in San Diego demonstrates how claims about electronic flaws requires investigators to look carefully at the human element too.

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Though some critics like to vilify Apple for its practice of building devices with inaccessible batteries, the benefits definitely outweigh the consequences for such a tradeoff. The MacBook Pros are rated for up to eight hours of battery life, the iPod nanos get up to 24 hours of audio playback and the new iPad is touted to go for 10 hours on a single charge. But what happens when your iPad doesn’t get a great charge anymore? Similar to programs in place for the MacBook Pros and iPhones, Apple has announced its iPad Battery Replacement program and it’s not a bad option, all things considered.

The rules are pretty simple. If your iPad no longer holds a charge as good as it used to, you can pay Apple a service fee ($99 plus $6.95 shipping) and it will replace it. Of course, if your iPad is damaged because of an accident, neglect, liquid contact or if there is another hardware issue, then Apple reserves the right to say “No, sorry.” Fortunately though, unless your glass screen has been smashed, Apple is rarely picky on these types of issues. If your device turns on and displays what its supposed to on the screen and can connect to a computer to sync, it’s pretty much eligible for a battery replacement.

What is interesting about the iPad Battery Replacement program is that Apple outright acknowledges that your data will not be preserved because you will receive a replacement iPad. In reality, this is what usually happens with an iPhone replacement as well, but its refreshing to know Apple is actually acknowledging this now. Replacement devices (iPad or iPhone) are technically considered “refurbished” but, as a company who puts extra care into every little detail of the experience, refurbished to Apple means “almost new” to most users. As is the case with iPods and iPhones (and will likely be the case with the iPad) the “refurbished” unit will come with a new exterior case so even if your previous unit did have a few superficial scratches, you’ll end up with a fresh and clean device.

Arranging for a replacement can be done by calling AppleCare or through Apple’s website. Additionally, users can get service through the Genius Bar at their local Apple Store. Once the initial iPad demand settles, Apple Stores will begin to carry additional iPads as “service parts” which means that, should you need a battery replacement, you can simply walk into an Apple Store, pay your fee and walk out with your replacement.

If you’re not keen on paying Apple such a price for a battery replacement or you’re one who doesn’t sync their device and therefore do not want to lose all your apps and settings, you can look into third party service providers for battery replacement options. These will likely be cheaper than going through Apple, but this route means you will lose the benefit of getting a nice, new and clean scratch-free exterior.

What are your thoughts on Apple’s built-in batteries and their replacement plans? Have you had your iPhone or iPod replaced because of battery issues? Do you think their plan is fair? Sound off in the comments and share your thoughts!

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If you think of an electric vehicle startup hoping to go public in the near future, Tesla Motors is probably what comes to mind. But another green car venture, Smith Electric Vehicles, also has its eye on an initial public offering that it hopes will help fund a major expansion over the coming years. CEO Bryan Hansel told us in an interview on Friday that the company’s IPO should be expected “sooner rather than later.”

Because Smith develops electric trucks for commercial fleets, in contrast to the eye-catching electric Roadsters, the company tends to fly under the radar. But Smith has big ambitions, and if its scheme succeeds to help fleets switch over some or all of their vehicles to run on electricity, it could play a key role in reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

On Wednesday, Smith announced a conditional offer to buy out its parent company, the UK’s Tanfield Group, in a deal that Hansel expects to close by July (Tanfield has agreed not to consider any other bids for 120 days). In addition to buying Tanfield’s 49 percent stake in the Kansas City, Mo.-based company, Smith would also acquire Tanfield’s British electric vehicle unit (Smith Electric Vehicles UK), if the deal — which remains dependent on financing — goes through.

The idea, Hansel explained, is to create one nimble electric truck maker that can reach a global market. The offer includes £37 million ($56.13 million) in cash, plus a £33.3 million ($50.52 million) stake in the new, combined Smith Electric Vehicles if it manages to go public before September 2015, according to the Financial Times.

Hansel said he’s not watching other greentech IPOs or IPO hopefuls particularly closely to gauge the timing of Smith’s own move into public trading because “there’s not a lot of relevance between ourselves and a lot of others.” It’s more a matter of waiting for demand to take off, he said. “If we see a number of markets opening up,” then the company may seek an IPO to fund a rapid expansion.

Current demand warrants a slower pace, said Hansel, commenting that he believes other electric vehicle makers, “haven’t been nearly discerning enough about customers.” Smith needs “advocates, not customers” at this point — fleets that foresee long-term benefits of electric vehicles (lower maintenance costs, stable fuel prices), but realize “there’s a distance to travel to get there.” Hansel said Smith has “said no to a lot of customers that weren’t ready.” If a glitch comes up, he wants the early adopters to help Smith solve the problem rather than saying, “This isn’t a diesel truck, take it back.”

Hansel compares Smith’s approach to that of Southwest Airlines, which uses a point-to-point flight routing system, as opposed to the more common model of routing flights through one main hub with many spokes. Rather than setting up one or a few large-scale manufacturing facilities, Smith’s model calls for decentralized production, with smaller-scale facilities serving each market. “When a market’s ready, we’ll come,” said Hansel.

At this point, Hansel said Smith sees about 20 markets in the U.S. “that justify a facility.” While Smith currently assembles only about eight trucks per month at its Kansas City site, according to the Washington Business Journal, and “plans to double that in coming months,” future projects in Smith’s network are envisioned as 50,000-square foot facilities that produce about 100 trucks per month. That size and run rate, according to Hansel, can be “very profitable” for Smith.

He said the company has identified the top 10 markets for its vehicles, and by the end of April expects to select the top two — based on factors including infrastructure and support from local economic development initiatives and incentives.

For Smith, which scored a $10 million Department of Energy battery grant last year to develop and deploy up to 100 electric vehicles in Kansas City and Michigan, Hansel said 2010 is virtually “behind us. We already know what trucks we’re going to build and who’s buying.” It’s a crucial year for Smith to gather steam and prepare to move beyond the early adopters.

While the financials of some of the most prominent greentech firms aiming for IPOs this year (Tesla, Codexis, Fallbrook) aren’t exactly strong (a fact that could sour the market), Hansel said Smith is on track to become, “a sustainable business without subsidies” by January 2011. By then, Hansel said he wants to be able to “look a fleet in the eye,” and make the case for electric trucks with the simple fact that, “you’re makin’ money, I’m makin’ money.”

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TechStars, a seed stage investment program which has outposts in Boulder (Colorado), Boston and Seattle, recently decided to graded itself. So far, the group is not doing to badly. Out of the total 39 companies to come out of TechStars, 29 are still active, five were acquired and four failed. Twenty sever have managed to raised outside funding or managed to bootstrap their way to profitability. The group has invested about $16.5 million so far.

Late December, Imran Ghory had offered a similar analysis for YCombinator, a start-up school & investment program co-founded byPaul Graham. According to Ghory’s data, over the years YCombinator had seen 14 acquisitions, 33 had failed and 82 were still active of which 24 had raised more outside capital. Reddit (acquired by Conde Nast) was one of the early stars of YCombinator program. My two favorite YCombinator alumni are Dropbox and Xobni.

Related: Notes from a conversation with Paul Graham & Found/Read Interview with Paul Graham.

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Google, to its credit, is rolling with the punches thrown in response to its Buzz launch from last month, making changes to the product to address user concerns, and staying committed to it despite a messy launch. Members of the Buzz product team spoke on a behind-the-scenes-of-Gmail panel at SXSW today, addressing industry-wide criticism as well as a cutting attack over privacy issues from SXSW keynoter and researcher Danah Boyd delivered on Saturday.

Todd Jackson, product manager for Gmail and Buzz

Google has been criticized far and wide for the way it launched and implemented Buzz, its new social web aggregation product. The primary complaint was over privacy — since Buzz exposed and made assumptions about pre-existing Gmail users’ relationships with each other. Buzz also has other problems: it’s noisy, limited to just a few services, and for many does not serve a distinct enough purpose from competitors.

Buzz product manager Todd Jackson, who spoke on the panel and to GigaOM afterwards, said he attended Boyd’s talk and found it “extremely insightful, fair and something we could work from.” He said he personally emailed Boyd afterwards and invited her to deliver the same talk at Google.

“It’s a challenging set of questions navigating in this space that’s fairly new and especially for Google,” Jackson said. He said some of Boyd’s most resonant points concerned how users perceive their different social groups, and the idea that making public information more public could violate users’ privacy.

Jackson said that he and his team are committed to Buzz as an idea and a product and will continue to have the support of Google to evolve it — for instance, this week Buzz released better inbox alert controls. Buzz now has “millions” of users (Google will only say that Gmail, Buzz’ parent product and its host, has “hundreds of millions” of users).

Next on the Buzz to-do list are more ways to control users’ streams, and moderation for how often an item bumps to the top, Jackson said. He also said that Buzz for Google Apps should be out “in next couple months-ish.”

The Buzz team also plans to experiment more with communicating with users before launching new features through things like its own “Google Buzz” account. “In general we don’t like preannouncing things,” Jackson said on the panel, pointing out that users will want to try something when they hear about it. But the Buzz team is finding through experience and through feedback such as Boyd’s speech that talking with its users will help them appreciate, expect and even influence product development.

You’d still hope they would have gotten this right (or a lot more right) the first time, but at least now they have the right attitude.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Google Buzz’s True Home Is in the Enterprise

Can Enterprise Privacy Survive Social Networking?

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