Elliott C. Back: In Aere Aedificare

As Apple stocks dips 3% to a new low, news is out that iPod 6Gs are delayed because of manufacturing and supply problems. It was bound to happen.

Bloggers who released naked photos of Pregnant Britney Spears seem to have changed her mind for her about publishing them in July’s Bazaar.

According to Microsoft’s adCenter Labs Demonstration which predicts website demographics based on a URL you give, Google is entirely visited by 25-34 year old women:

They disclaim the accuracy of their results:

The statistics on this page are based on undisclosed size of sample data and are for proof of concept only. Actual results may vary.

However, it seems unlikely that this isn’t a Microsoft v.s. Google prank.

WP Hashcash has gotten a much needed update, to version 3.2. The new version doesn’t output buffer the whole page and make random replacements to the HTML code. Rather, it navigates to select items in the DOM at load time and replaces them as appropriate. The techniques should work in all browsers, but may not; I have tested in Firefox only. Willing volunteers can leave bug reports on this post! I will also be running the new WP Hashcash on this blog.

WP Autoblog has been upgraded to deal with missing rss author information, and to ping services. If anyone knows how best to attribute syndicated content in RSS, please let me know. The major problem is that most Wordpress themes will link the title to their own blog, leaving the only other option tagging on an “Original post by…” line at the bottom of the article.

Here’s my list of top-10-reasons not to buy a Macbook Pro, Apple’s latest and greatest luxury notebook. While some of these problems have been addressed, many are still riling consumers who long for a Macbook Pro v2.

1) Your batteries might swell, explode, or stop working due to heating problems. Your case will be warped out of shape in the process.

2) The name “Macbook Pro” is considered horrible, and generally not the new status symbol your $2000+ notebook should be.

3) Performance on old Power PC code is mediocre. All your old Mac apps will generally run slowly, slower than a G4.

4) The Macbook Pro is shoddily and quickly manufactured in China. It may or may not have manufacturing defects that will need later repair, such as a loose fan.

5) Overheating will cause serious problems for your Macbook, if it suffers from blocked vents or the infamous thermal paste problem.

6) Some Macbook Pro owners report a hissing noise from the display if it’s running at less than full brightness.

7) No Firewire 800 port, which means significantly slower external device performance.

8) Wifi support in the new Macbook Pro is somewhat sketchy; Airport doesn’t work as well as it used to.

9) Macbook Pro pricing is higher than the corresponding Dell or other Intel Core Duo notebooks.

10) Like the Sony 13.3″ Vaio’s with metal cases, the Macbook Pro also can induce an electric shock to the user, through the metal case.

The problems generally fall into one of three categories: manufacturing defects, feature reductions, and design problems. Some problems fall into two categories. For example, the heating problems are caused first by poor design with higher power consumption, and second by manufacturing defects with thermal grease, vent blockage, and shaky fans. Digg if you like.