Sean Bonner, former TUAWer and current king of Metroblogging, thinks that something is rotten in the state of Cupertino. It seems that Jonas Luster informed Sean of a problem with his MacBook Pro’s battery. He went to the Apple store to replace his fried battery and had an interesting encounter with an Apple store employee. It seems that Apple may be aware of some issues with the batteries on the MacBook/MacBook Pro’s.

This is purely anecdotal evidence but Sean Bonner knows his stuff. Apple, you can tell us if there is a problem (especially since I’m typing this post on a MacBook right now), we’ll understand.

Sean is collecting serial numbers/date codes of MacBook/MacBook Pro batteries to track this problem. Head on over there and check out the full story.

We wrote about Apple’s recycling program when it was first announced, and now it is in full effect, yo. All you have to do is buy a new Mac and then you can participate in the program. You either get an email (if you purchased your Mac from the online Apple store), or you’ll get asked if you want to participate at the store. You’ll then get an email with instructions. Pack up your old computer (Mac or PC), take it to a FedEx location (with that email  you got) and that is all!

Greg Storey has been using his black MacBook for a few days, and has posted this thoughts about it. He assures us that the screen is bright enough to use doors, and that the black coloring isn’t easy to scratch off (though it does show off dust).

He also points out that the keyboard no longer contacts the screen when the laptop is closed, an improvement that has been a long time coming.

How has your MacBook been treating you?

Apple has told Macworld UK that there are now over 2000 applications on its Universal Applications guide (there were 2,006 as of last night). More and more developers are making the leap to Universal applications and that makes Intel Mac users (like myself) a happy lot.

So, what non-Universal applications are you chomping at the bit for (other than the obvious Photoshop and Office)?

PCWorld just named a few Apple products in their ‘25 worst tech products of all time,’ however, they have named more of them to the ‘100 Best Products of the Year.’ Which Apple products made the cut? I’m glad you asked:

• iPod Nano (#4)
• Boot Camp (#10)
• Mac Mini (#35)
• iPod (#36)
• iTunes (#43)

Congrats to Engadget, our sister blog, who clock in at lucky number 13 on the list (next year I am sure TUAW will be on there).

Keeping up with his recent tradition of destroying the status quo and confusing the Mac world by praising Apple products, Paul “Closet Fanboy” Thurrott recently bought himself one of those slick new white MacBooks and put it through its paces…primarily by installing Windows and seeing if it behaves well as a standard PC. His conclusion? Yes, yes it does. In fact, Thurrott writes, “I’ve thrown my entire collection of always-installed applications at the MacBook, and the performance has been incredible, quite a bit better than any of the low-end Windows notebooks I’ve tried over the years…. Overall, I’m quite satisfied… Apple has a winner on its hands.” Thurrott also discusses some roadblocks (right-click, anyone?) and how he got around them.

So, let’s mark that off on our Impending Apacolypse checklist:

• Apple Makes iTunes Available on Windows - Check
• Apple Switches to Intel - Check
• Apple Enables Windows to Run on Macs - Check
• Paul Thurrott Buys a Mac to Run Windows - Check

All that’s left is “Apple Switches OS X to Windows Kernel” and “Bill Gates Becomes CEO of Apple” and we’ll have a full-blown Revelation-esque Judgement Day ahead of us. Stock up on canned goods, folks.

On a slightly related note: On his blog, Thurrott wonders how well Vista will run on the MacBooks, considering they don’t have a dedicated video card. I also wonder this — so let’s hear it: have you installed Vista on a MacBook? How does it work?

[via MacDailyNews]

I’ll be picking the Rig of the Day whilst Dave is vacationing, and my first pick is ‘Web surfin’ makes me thirsty!‘ by flickr user dotephotos. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the Blueberry iMac, since it was my first Mac. The thing that makes the picture, for me, is the use of the Apple Cinema Display box as a table. It really showcases how frickin’ big those displays are.

If you’d like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We select one image to highlight each day, and crown a Rig of the Week on Sundays.

Jeff on 123Macmini sure knows how to turn a Mac mini into an awesome PVR (that’s personal video recorder to you). Check out the ‘behind the scenes‘ pic for more details.

Well done, sir, well done.

The Mac Observer is reporting that Adobe announced at Adobe Live that the company is giving the axe to GoLive and Freehand for CS3, due out spring of 2007. Before the Adobe-Macromedia merger, GoLive was Adobe’s Dreamweaver (and a far superior product, might I add), and Freehand was Macromedia’s Illustrator (here’s hoping Adobe means every word of their comment that “Dreamweaver will get a new interface”). I’m sure that since this decision was made some time ago, Adobe has had extra development hands to spend on making an Intel-native Creative Suite other projects.

If this announcement disappoints you, just remember something John Gruber said in his translation of Adobe’s PR announcement and FAQs of the merger: “Competition is overrated - it only benefits customers”.