[apple] new super intel-based macbooks

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) released its new line of MacBook consumer notebooks based on the Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Core 2 Duo processors on Wednesday.The lineup includes two models in white - one running at 1.83 GHz and a 2.0 GHz system - and a black 2.0 GHz model. All three models are amped up with the new Intel processors that can run up to six times as fast as the iBook. The new 2.0 GHz models also include double the RAM and greater storage capacity than the previous generation, as well as a double-layer SuperDrive for burning discs. Prices start at US$1,099. The new MacBooks come with the expected package upgrades and new software. The consumer notebook models come with 13-inch glossy widescreen displays that will be more than adequate for viewing videos, DVDs and photos.The MacBook, which is a mere 1-inch thin, includes a built-in iSight video camera that can be used for video conferencing via iChat AV, recording a video podcast or iMovie using iLife '06, or taking snapshots with Photo Booth. The systems ship with the latest release of Mac OS X 10.4.8 (Tiger), which includes the Safari Web browser, Mail, iCal, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth. More in the original article.

[the art of lockpicking] i’m notsaussure about that

First select the appropriate tools …

Had to laugh. Notsaussure has gone in for the sport of Ethical Lockpicking. As he says: For no other reason than that I’ve always wondered how it’s done, I was fascinated to discover, via Boing Boing, a comic-book guide to lock-picking. He then proceeds to give us the intro but not the full monty. How coy. So, if you've ever been locked out and are wondering how to get back in, get yourself over there now. Update: Go to Notsaussure, scroll to the bottom of the post and there is the link to the guidebook [pdf].

[virginia] as predicted, down to the wire

Hey – I got it right! Yeah, yeah, I know - 20 million others did too. With 99 percent of precincts reporting this morning, Jim Webb, the Democratic challenger, led Senator George Allen, a Republican, by less than 8,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million cast. Virginia’s election laws allow an apparent loser to request a recount if a contest’s margin is less than 1 percent — and the margin in the preliminary results of the state’s Senate election stood this morning at about one-third of 1 percent. While a recount seems likely, though, if it comes it will not come quickly.

[blind faith] interpreting evidence by prejudice

I wrote of Erle Stanley Gardner earlier with regard to economics. Here is another passage from the same book: Mason shifted his eyes to meet the steady inquiry in those of Sheriff Barnes. 'We've been talking quite a bit about becoming hypnotized by circumstantial evidence. After a person once gets a fixed belief, he interprets everything which happens in the light of that belief. It's a dangerous habit to get into, and I'm afraid I haven't been entirely innocent, myself. I've been so busy pointing out the trap to others that I've walked into one myself without noticing what I was doing.' [p290 Iris ed.] Sherlock Holmes also spoke on this matter. Many would say that my Christian perspective and say, Chris Dillow’s leftist, humanistic, pragmatic, economic perspective colour his judgement on spirituality and mine on practical matters. It’s a severe discipline to consider any idea, irrespective of it source and to try to admit its strength and cogency, especially when it does not accord with the perceived wisdom and the fashion of the day.

[pay for policy] put your money where your mouth is

Fabulous piece by Chris Dillow on how much you’re prepared to pay to get a certain policy in place. Chris says: They therefore raise the cost of stupidity, and so should reduce its supply. He goes on to mention two reasons deferring to experts is flawed: 1. Many experts can be wrong, or at least contentious; 2. Democracy is not merely a mechanism for getting the "correct" decision. It's a way of getting a decision we can live with, tolerate. But if people have to pay to express a preference, won't they become more receptive to expert advice and (much more importantly) rationality and evidence? My comment is slightly at a tangent: My own field is consultancy and people must pay to get my opinion [unlike in blogging]. And I'm not cheap but I do deliver results and jealously guard that. My reputation is based on results day by day - I only have to make three misjudgements or mal-assessments in a week and I'm gone. Also, I tend to tune my opinion to the specific ideology of the client, blended as far as possible with “sound principles” – tailor made judgement, if you like.

[asbos] same story, same core reasons, over and over

Minette Marrin: I am no bleeding-heart liberal, yet I do strongly feel that punishing these children — monstrous though their behaviour may be — is rather irrelevant. To understand is not necessarily to forgive, but equally to blame is not necessarily to solve: about 66% of prisoners re-offend and they are only the ones who get caught. Last week’s IPPR report about Britain’s monster teenagers suggested, hardly surprisingly, that their alarming behaviour can be explained by a collapse in family and community life compared with the rest of Europe. Yes and why the collapse in family life? Parents all out for what money can buy, self at the centre. Plus the unit cost of aspired for goods is out of all proportion to income. Simple economics. Money is a great thing to feed and clothe, even to give us vacations but, like fire it’s a good servant but a bad master. Debt is the result. British household debt is currently estimated at 130% of income; up from 87% in 1995 and 37% in 1975. (figures relate to post tax income and similar growth has occurred in Australia and the USA) Unsecured debt is at £213 billion, which is £3,550 per person. This is ultimately unsustainable and comes down to aspiration and mindset in the end. That’s what’s really changed, along with the demise of the Christian ethic.