When I were but a wee lad, I happened to hear the first broadcast of Michael Jackson's Black and White, amidst much fanfare, on BBC Radio 1. Immediately afterwards, the show moved to a phone-in quiz, and the DJ asked the first caller what he thought of Jacko's latest song.

'Pretty crap,' the caller replied, and so the DJ hung up on him.

As the web collapses under the weight of Jacko's passing, I think that it is worth pointing out that there are still far more important things happening in the world right now. And, with no callousness intended whatsoever, that there were always those who thought he was, well, pretty crap. View Comments

So AOL won't let me change the email address associated with my AIM account. Which is just plain dumb, since that address (mjharper@mac.com) is as dead as dead can be. Gone the way of the dodo. Expired, shuffled off this mortal coil. That sort of thing. View Comments

Last month, Apple introduced the new aluminium MacBooks, which feature vastly improved graphics cards and significantly higher performance. The relation between the new MacBooks and the old white plastic MacBooks is more or less the same as between the old 12” iBooks and PowerBooks of a few years ago: same size, different cases, and very different innards. Although the white MacBook line wasn’t discontinued completely, it did receive a large price drop—from €1,099 to €940.

Just to summarise—in case you’re confused—there are two important facts here: the new aluminium MacBooks are considerably better than the old white MacBooks; and the old white MacBooks were made considerably cheaper.

However, according to the salesperson in the Vobis store in Magdeburg, the only difference between the two models is the case: one is plastic, the other metal. Oh, and the white MacBooks still cost €1,099, and here’s the invoice to prove it.

Or, in other words: we’re money-grubbing parasites who will lie to you and then charge you too much money.

Screw you, as they say in France. View Comments