Some encouraging news for Apple (AAPL) ahead of its March quarter earnings next week: Mac sales continue to grow much faster than the overall PC market, according to stats from research firms Gartner and IDC.

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Apple's new laptop is the first computer to be mercury free.

The good - the astonishing - news is that the taxman sent me a cheque a couple of days ago. The interesting news is that the tax department sent me a demand for payment in the same postal delivery. But the former outweighed the latter by a cheering amount.

This means that I'll be able to afford some kind of Mac or another external hard drive, when my brain and energy are getting to a level when I can work out what to buy and how I transfer files from the bunged up PC - the 'how to and on what' question is on hold for now, with my brain so fuzzy.

The books I ordered arrived (lovely) and I'm taking them with me this afternoon - we are off to a T.M. retreat in Cumbria, which means that I will be having a reading retreat while Peter is at meetings. And the challenge will be how to journal when I can only handwrite two or three words at a time. I've been developing arthritis in my right hand and signing 250 Christmas cards (business ones as well as personal) seems to have been the last straw! So, when the computing snarl-up is solved, I'll look at voice-activated software for Macs. In the meantime I'll take the PowerBook, as I can still type with my middle fingers. Though journaling seems to flow better when handwriting - oh, well. At least I have the option.

 In the last couple of days the Dyson has broken, the washing machine has broken - impermanence all around! Still, my sense of humour seems intact - how could it not be with all this disintegration all around?

"And the First Noble Truth is....." :-)

This amused me - so is this why I like him then?

On one thing, the experts seem to agree. The differences between hillaryclinton.com and barackobama.com can be summed up this way: Barack Obama is a Mac, and Hillary Clinton is a PC.
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My PC seems to be at death's door. Almost totally jammed, won't print anything and, the computer guy tells me, beyond hope. So this'll be the time to move over completely to Apple. (Yes!!!)

I just love this 12" PowerBook and have been working mainly on this for some time. Wondering whether I've got enough memory - the computer, that is - I'm personally almost as beyond hope as the PC - and, if not, what to do about it. At the moment 4.66 GB available. iTunes and iPhoto are greedy. Or shall I get a Mac Mini and use it with the rest of the hardware I've been using with the PC? An iMac would be nice, of course....but too pricey.

Now I'll have to move all my Word files across. Wondering - whether to get Microsoft Office for the Mac - not at all keen, whether to try to update NeoOffice, which hasn't been working since Simon installed Leopard, or whether to get iWork - I've just done the tour and it does look very nice. And then, how best to move the files.....so far I've put a whole folder onto Google Docs which I can pick up here with ease - it's just going to take a lot of time, once I've decided the questions above.

Any advice gratefully received!

Security experts are warning about a stealthy Windows virus that steals login details for online bank accounts. In the last month, the malicious program has racked up about 5,000 victims - most of whom are in Europe. Many are falling victim via booby-trapped websites that use vulnerabilities in Microsoft's browser to install the attack code.

::read more Glad i usually use a Mac!

....thanks to the amazing Leopard's Time Machine, but, also thanks to lovely Simon (who gave me the below as part of my Christmas present along with the wonderful IT Crowd), I'm now uploading to the blogging universe using MarsEdit. So I have plenty to smile about.

Probably. When I have the time:

Report: Apple's Leopard Operating System Leaps To Record Sales

Apple's new OS X Leopard certainly got off to a strong start, with the company moving 2 million copies of the operating system in just two days.
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Steve Jobs might not be the worst-paid CEO in Silicon Valley much longer.

In its annual 10-K report.......Apple says that "because Mr. Jobs's continued  leadership is critical to Apple, the compensation committee is considering additional compensation arrangements for him."

Jobs has taken only a token annual salary of $1 since returning to Apple in 1996, for which he is recognized as the world's lowest-paid CEO by Guinness World Records.