links for 2009-04-03

Technologizer's Harry McCracken, a nonpartisan in this fight, runs a regular series that factors this in when comparing Apples with PCs. He picks a sample Mac system, then prices out what rival computers would cost if outfitted with the same features. In October, he found that Apple's new 13-inch aluminum MacBook—which sells for $1,299—was right around the same price as similarly equipped machines by Lenovo and Sony, though more expensive than a machine made by Dell.

"we can work to build collective solutions, neighborhood watches in cyberspace. Right now each PC has a metaphorically autistic experience: It surfs from one site to the next with no awareness of what other PC’s are doing. Imagine having a little software on your PC that reports its vital signs to other participating PC’s. Collectively we could generate a map of the health of cyberspace, an early-warning system — and a means of answering some very useful questions. Before running new code, you could say: How many machines in the herd are running it? How many self-proclaimed experts run it, versus neophytes like me? Is the code brand new, or has it been around for months or years? These questions are not beyond the expertise of most PC users, and the answers can help them make much more informed decisions about what code to run."