Almost the same 13" mid-2011 Macbook Pro here, going fine but it will be the last one of its line for me. I'm not tied to the Apple ecosystem - the Macbook is (was) an excellent, well-integrated UNIX-certified laptop, but the next one will run Linux.

I got my first ever laptop, an iBook (!), about 10 years ago, it was great to have a laptop with a well-integrated UNIX system (for development) with excellent multilingual support while being able to run Skype, edit videos etc. without too much hassle. Not a pro photographer but I take a fair few photos of family and hobbies so the SD card slot sees a lot of use. Ethernet port too. The optical drive is the only thing that's redundant . OS X is a bit meh but as long as I can launch terminals and applications it's OK. Most of my real work I do on my Linux desktop.

However the 2011 MacBook Pro I'm currently typing this on will be the last one I ever buy. I'm happy to add a bit of extra weight so as not to carry a bag full of expensive loseable dongles around, and no I do not want that fancy thing they're replacing the function key row with. My next laptop will run Linux.

Not sure if it's directly related to this, but since my desktop OS (openSUSE) has adopted systemd I've had a number of amusing incidents like this:

Failed to start reboot.target: Activation of org.freedesktop.systemd1 timed out
Failed to open /dev/initctl: No such device or address
Failed to talk to init daemon.

requiring a powercycle. Doesn't endear systemd to me in the least.

Tell me about it... I've been using KDE on and off, the 4.x series had almost become as usable as 3.5 was, then my distro of choice (openSUSE) went to 5.x (if you can call it that, something about plasma seems to be involved?) - pile of buggy slow steaming dung trying to pretend my monitor is a mobile phone. Been back on XFCE for a week, some rough edges (getting session switching working took a bit of research) but so far it Just Works.

Yeah, my one and only post there was what I thought was an innocuous question about a certain kind of hardware device (not my speciality, just wanted to get some general pointers which way to go), there was time for one (1) quite helpful answer then a bunch of people with some kind of moderating rights piled in, slapping a closure notice on it along the lines of "question locked because likely to cause controversy". Nice way to say "f**k you, n00b". Nary a friendly word along the lines of "we see this is your first post, here are some guidelines, sorry for the inconvenience". Still, at least a couple of keyboard warriors got their fix of banhammer joy. I guess it's like WP editors - if you got in early and got reputation, youv'e got a pretty free pass, but new accounts have got a huge uphill struggle before getting anywhere, and I can't be assed.

In pre-digital days I used to carry around a graphite-based stylus for noting the car's location on a carbon-based "tablet" with a nifty non-battery-reliant offline storage solution, though these days I just take a photo with my moble pocket computing device. Saves having to wait for reliable autonomous cars to be developed.

Such a clever idea - panes of glass which keep the weather out while maintaining all-round visibility.

Emulators are ten-a-penny, here's one which works in your browser: http://bbc.godbolt.org/ The point of the exhibit is to provide the full tactile 80's microcomputer experience.

Assuming you're talking US$, the only $10,000 - $30,000 deposits you'll find are for really high-end places. 2 months rent is the norm, US$3,000 a month should get you somewhere very nice even in Tokyo. The most I've paid is ca. US$1,500, approximately 30% of net monthly income at the time.

Personally I'd do that all *before* the disaster happens to avoid the crowds.

You don't need a cellphone to decode QR code images.

Just sayin', like.

The USA seem to be the only major country I know of where you pay to *receive* texts. Everywhere else (i.e. those heathen regions which use metric, including the country mentioned in this article) only pays to send them.

The change DOES also apply to the usual stuff like HP Proliant DL380 etc.

Yup, we got the same mail today. We have a bunch of ageing Proliants, and are currently engaged in a procurement round for a new generation of servers (we buy them by the ton, almost). Guess which company just ruled themselves out of the process?

Sounds like the kind of domain name which would trigger these nanny-state filters some countries are so fond of nowadays. But let's be clear on this - facialnetwork.com is in no way involved with bukkake porn involving minors and there is no record known to myself of any of their senior management being on any form of sex offender registry.

Similar here, at my previous job... except irony of ironies, while even the manager and sales droids were very happy with their Macs, the Photoshoppers were Windows only.

Meanhile at my current job, where the developer workstations are pretty much all Linux, I am looked down upon because my laptop of choice comes pre-installed with a certified UNIX OS.

(Posting from my home desktop Linux right now BTW, in case anyone wants to accuse me of being a hipster).