It would probably be wisest to test-drive on an older machine regardless, since I have one or two to spare.

I keep thinking I should install a variant of Linux on at least one of my large pile of computers.

You know you want to, ND. The first one's free!

(and hey, so are the others....)

I feel you in particular are somehow lacking in geek cred by having so many computers, and yet no Linux representation among them.

OH! Also, ND? I thought you should know that one of the extra long FBT IEC cables made its way into my tool bag somehow. I only noticed yesterday when I looked in the bag for the first time in a month, so you're only short two of those nice long cables. Maybe Fenne has them?

Our 2 year old iPod is losing the ability to hold a charge, so I looked into getting a new battery. Am I reading it right that you have to return the whole thing to Apple, and they just send you a new one? $70 seems like a lot for what was an entry-level iPod 3 years ago, and they don't promise to send you a new new one, it may be reconditioned. Are there any options for replacing your own battery?

(mr flea would know all this, of course, but the idea is to do it as a gift for him, so I ask you.)

Spiderman 3 case mod. SO pretty.

try this site for ipod battery replacements:

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try this site for ipod battery replacements:

[link]

I've used them and recommended them to various other Buffistas, none of whom have killed me yet....

They also have videos of the replacement process. You could download the appropriate video before you buy, to see if it's something you could do yourself. (I found their instructions a little confusing, but the video made it completely obvious what I had to do. I installed the battery without any difficulty.) Otherwise they can do it for you.

Eeeeexcellent. That's what I'm talkin' about. Thanks, guys!

SFGate Apple porn:

I have right here in my hot little hands that actually aren't all that little and are only slightly warm at the moment a brand new lick-ready smooth-as-love Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Super Orgasm Deluxe Ultrahard Modern Computing Device Designed by God Herself Somewhere in the Deep Moist Vulva of Cupertino Yes Yes Don't Stop Oh My God Yes.

I believe that is the actual name of the product. I might be wrong. I do not really care.

This machine, this silky hunk of aluminum and wire and divine Chinese factory-made love, was recently delivered into my hands by a squad of naked cooing angels who all happened to look exactly like Jenna Jameson or perhaps Eva Green and who also gave me a free foot massage and four hits of premium Ecstasy and a complimentary 3-hour tongue bath, all at the same time.

It is possible I imagined that last part. It is possible it was merely, you know, UPS. It is possible I am exaggerating just slightly overall. I do not really care.

Because these days, this is pretty much the feeling Apple products instill in millions of increasingly dazzled and devoted fans. Their products have become coated in some sort of hot golden fairy dust. Their gizmos come freely adorned with a luminous halo that tastes of hope and sex and candy. Their incandescent tech junk possesses a reek, a perfectly intoxicating stench that heralds another world, some sort of sleek well-lit utopia where people never steal and vibrators are free and dolphins teach babies to sing.

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