2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost: Needs A Skosh More Boost

Explorer arbors.jpg

I was saddled with moving again this past weekend. I like to move every other weekend just because it's so much dang fun.?

This time I had the Explorer. Now while I've found the Explorer with the EcoBoost four to be fine scooting around town with just me in it, piled with a truck-full of my assorted crap was a different story. It's underwhelming. Or more appropriately, the engine is bit overwhelmed.?

The slow-reacting transmission doesn't help. But for sure there were several times when my call down to the engine department via a floored throttle brought fairly lackadaisical forward progress. Especially when asking for more acceleration at higher speeds. ??

And...

For those of you freaking out because it appears the Explorer is parked in a red zone...calm down, guys, everything is going to be okay. It was parked there for the length of time it took to crack off a photo.

Mike Monticello, Road Test Editor @ 16,421 miles.

Categories: 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost

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Microsoft tackles iPad with Surface tablet

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp introduced its own line of tablet computers on Monday at a much-hyped press event in Los Angeles, marking a major strategic shift for the software giant as it struggles to compete with Apple Inc and re-invent its aging Windows franchise.

The new tablet line, named Surface, includes a consumer device aimed directly at the Apple iPad, and another, larger machine designed to compete with lightweight laptops. Both include a keyboard that doubles as a cover, and both will be powered by versions of the new Windows 8 operating system.

The move breaks with Microsoft's operating model of the past 37 years, which has relied on computer manufacturers to make and market machines running Windows. It could throw the world's largest software company into direct competition with its closest hardware partners such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hewlett-Packard Co.

However, the success of Apple in recent years has underscored the benefits of an integrated approach to hardware and software, and Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday that the company "didn't want to leave anything uncovered" as it rolled out Windows 8.

The new software is the biggest overhaul of Windows in years, and features a new touch-friendly interface dubbed "Metro". It is scheduled to be available for the Christmas shopping season.

The lighter, thinner version of the Surface tablet, built on an Nvidia Corp chip designed by ARM Holdings, will be the first to market at the same time as the general release of Windows 8, and will feature Microsoft's popular Office suite of applications.

It is comparable to Apple's new iPad, heavier but slightly thinner. It has a 10.6 inch screen and comes in 32GB and 64GB memory sizes.

A second, heavier tablet aimed at the new generation of lightweight laptops called "ultrabooks", running on traditional Intel Corp chips, will come in 64GB and 128GB models. That will be available about three months after the ARM version, Microsoft said.

The company gave no details on pricing, except that they would be competitive with comparable ARM tablets and Intel-powered Ultrabooks. They will be on sale online and in Microsoft's new brick-and-mortar stores in the United States.

Microsoft shares rose 0.8 percent in after-hours trading, making up for a 0.6 percent drop to $29.84 in the regular Nasdaq session.

Industry watchers were generally impressed by the devices' specifications, but doubted they were a sure-fire hit.

"I don't see this as an iPad killer, but it has a lot of potential," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester. "This raises more questions than answers. The story that Microsoft told today was incomplete. They focused on the hardware innovation but didn't talk about the services, the unique Microsoft assets that could make this product amazing."

Contrary to expectations, Microsoft made no mention of integrating content and features from its top-selling Xbox game console, the Skype video calling service it bought last year, or Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader, its new partner in the electronic books market.

FOLLOWING APPLE

Sales of tablets are expected to triple in the next two years, topping 180 million a year in 2013, easily outpacing growth in traditional PCs. Apple has sold 67 million iPads in two years since launch.

Apple, which makes both hardware and software for greater control over the performance of the final product, has revolutionized mobile markets with its smooth, seamless phones and tablets. Rival Google Inc may experiment with a similar approach after buying phone maker Motorola Mobility this year.

Making its own hardware for such an important product is a departure for Microsoft, which based its success on licensing its software to other manufacturers, stressing the importance of "partners" and the Windows "ecosystem."

"The question is why is Microsoft doing it?," said Michael Silver, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. "Lack of faith in the OEMs (computer makers)? There's definite risk here as Microsoft increasingly competes with its customers."

Microsoft stressed that "OEMs will have cost and feature parity on Windows 8 and Windows RT," meaning that it would not hold back any features from other hardware makers' Windows tablets.

When it has ventured into hardware, the Redmond, Washington-based company has had a mixed record.

Apart from keyboards and mice, the Xbox game console was its first foray into major manufacturing. That is now a successful business, but only after billions of dollars of investment and overcoming problems with high rates of faulty units - a problem which was nicknamed the "red ring of death" by gamers.

The company's Microsoft-branded Zune music player, a late rival to Apple's iPod, was not a success and its unpopular Kin phone was taken off the market shortly after introduction.

The company killed off a two-screen, slate-style prototype of a tablet device called Courier later that year, saying the technology might emerge in another form later on.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles, Writing by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by Bernard Orr and Richard Pullin)

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Europe vows closer union at G20 summit

LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) - Under pressure from financial markets and anxious world leaders, Europe agreed on Monday to move towards a more integrated banking system to stem a debt crisis that threatens the survival of the euro.

At a Group of 20 summit of the world's leading industrialized and developing economies in this Mexican resort, Germany and its big euro zone partners took the unusual step of spelling out in detail measures to complete the economic and monetary union they launched to great fanfare 13 years ago.

Among the commitments in a draft G20 communique was a pledge to consider concrete steps towards a "more integrated financial architecture" in Europe that would include common banking supervision and firm guarantees to repay bank depositors.
The United States, the International Monetary Fund and European Commission have been urging EU member states to press ahead with a banking union to break the vicious link between deeply indebted governments bailing out illiquid financial institutions, worsening the sovereign debt problems and deepening the euro-zone crisis.

While that term did not appear in the declaration, the wording did suggest that Germany, which has rejected initiatives that might expose it to the cost of rescuing banks outside its borders, was growing more open to the idea of closer banking cooperation.

U.S. President Barack Obama, concerned that Europe's debt crisis could deteriorate further and upend his re-election hopes, met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who as the leader of Europe's biggest economy is under intense pressure to commit German resources to underpin the euro zone and prevent a catastrophic breakup.

Obama's spokesman said the U.S. president was encouraged by the talks, which touched on steps to "increase European integration".

EU President Jose Manuel Barroso showed frustration over the pressure which is piling on Europe to act fast. He said G20 members must understand it will take time for the 17 euro zone democracies to agree on how to build a full financial, fiscal and political union and asked fellow G20 members to stop lecturing.

"We certainly are coming here to receive lessons from nobody," he said.

BOOSTING GROWTH

Protected by Mexican navy vessels and troops who patrolled sun-baked beaches and highways, leaders from the G20 countries representing more than 80 percent of world output agreed to prioritize boosting growth and job creation, hit hard by the focus on sharp budget cutbacks, which has contributed to an accelerating slowdown in the global economy.

The World Bank last week lowered its forecast for global growth in 2012 to 2.5 percent and said developing nations faced a long period of financial market volatility and weaker growth.

In its strongest signal in three years that it would act to strengthen the recovery, the G20 said in their draft communique that countries without heavy debts problems were ready to act together to spur growth, if the economy slows a lot more.

The United States has pressed Germany as well as China to stimulate spending in order to help the world economy.

Rising violence in Syria and the near-collapse of a United Nations-brokered peace plan was also in focus as U.S. President Barack Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two super powers have clashed over arming Syria and U.N. sanctions.

Obama and Putin agreed that the violence in Syria has to end but offered no new solutions and showed no signs of reaching a deal on tougher sanctions against Damascus.

RELIEF RALLY FLEETING

Europe's battle against a debt crisis that has led Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek EU/IMF rescues, and forced Spain to seek aid for its banks, dominated the opening discussion of G20 leaders on the global economy.

A narrow victory for the conservative New Democracy party in the Greek election on Sunday eased concerns the heavily indebted country could exit the euro zone soon. But it did little to calm financial markets, which fear a euro zone breakup has only been delayed and will drag Spain and Italy into the maelstrom.

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Pope to Irish: Child abuse by clergy 'a mystery'

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during the Angelus prayer from his studio overlooking St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Sunday, June 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during the Angelus prayer from his studio overlooking St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Sunday, June 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

(AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI told Irish Catholics on Sunday it is a mystery why priests and other church officials abused children entrusted in their care, undermining faith in the church "in an appalling way."

By describing the decades of child abuse in Catholic parishes, schools and church-run institutions and parishes in Ireland as a "mystery," the pontiff could further anger rank-and-file faithful in Ireland.

Benedict commented on the scandals of sexual abuse and cover-ups by church hierarchy in a pre-recorded video message for an outdoor Mass attended by 75,000 Catholics, many from overseas, in Ireland's largest sports stadium. Ireland's prime minister and president attended the Mass, the final event of a Eucharistic Congress aimed at shoring up flagging faith.

The weeklong Eucharistic Congress, held by the Vatican every four years in a different part of the world, took place against a backdrop of deep anger over child abuse cover-ups and surveys showing declining weekly Mass attendance in Ireland, where church and state were once tightly entwined.

"How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord's body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?" said the pope, referring to church staff who abused children.

"It remains a mystery," he said. "Yet evidently their Christianity was no longer nourished by joyful encounter with Jesus Christ. It had become merely a matter of habit."

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said the church in Ireland is facing a grave fight for survival.

"Your forbears in the church in Ireland knew how to strive for holiness and constancy in their personal lives," Benedict said in his message.

In a reference to the Vatican's insistence on Sunday Mass attendance, Benedict said Catholic faith "is a legacy that is surely perfected and nourished" at Mass.

Yet, he said, "thankfulness and joy at such a great history of faith and love have recently been shaken in an appalling way by the revelation of sins committed by priests and consecrated persons against people entrusted to their care."

"Instead of showing them the path towards Christ, toward God, instead of bearing witness to his goodness, they abused people and undermined the credibility of the church's message," the pope said.

For more than a decade, advocates for those abused by clergy have been demanding that church leaders in Ireland and at the Vatican accept blame for protecting pedophile priests.

Four state-ordered investigations have documented how tens of thousands of children from the 1940s to the 1990s suffered sexual, physical and mental abuse at the hands of priests, nuns and church staff in three Irish dioceses and in a network of workhouse-style residential schools.

In Ireland, the United States and many other countries, bishops and other church leaders have been accused of systematically covering up pedophile priests, often by shuffling them from parish to parish without telling the faithful about the abuse.

Benedict's evoking "mystery" disappointed the victims' advocacy group SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. A SNAP official, Barbara Dorris, said the pope was speaking in "platitudes, refusing to even accurately name the crisis."

" The pontiff's wrong: there's little mystery here," said Dorris in an emailed statement.

She cited priests' having "sometimes almost absolute power, over devout and defenseless kids," as well as bishops who abuse power and "ignore, hide and enable heinous crimes against kids."

___

Benedict's video address, http://bit.ly/NCdhvm

Eucharistic Congress, http://www.iec2012.ie/

Associated Press

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Lions on the loose in Kenyan capital's urban jungle

When Danish author Karen Blixen penned her autobiography "Out of Africa", she wrote of the fierce leopards and lions that prowled the coffee estate she farmed at the foot of Kenya's Ngong hills.

Today, that farm is a leafy upmarket suburb of the rapidly growing capital Nairobi, swallowed up by breakneck urbanisation that has turned a century-old colonial railway yard into a traffic-clogged major city.

[Slideshow: Animal photos of the week]

But the sharp toothed big cats have remained, finding themselves under growing pressure as one of Africa's fastest growing cities creeps onto ancient migration routes and hunting grounds.

"There have been no attacks on humans -- only dogs -- but as the encroachment increases the probability of attacks grows," said Francis Gakuya, chief vet for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), as captured lion cubs growled in the background.

Pacing in a cage at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi, four orphaned cubs hiss and snarl at vets taking care of them -- then give a surprisingly powerful roar for a two-month-old baby already the size of a small dog.

Wildlife rangers were forced to shoot dead the cubs' mother after it was spotted in Nairobi's Karen suburb and it charged before it could be darted. The cubs are now being looked after.

But it is not the only recent case. Conservationists warn of the growing likelihood of closer interaction between wildlife and humans if development is not managed in a sustainable manner.

Another lioness captured last month later escaped back into the park, a 117 square kilometre (45 square mile) wilderness where buffalo and rhino roam just seven kilometres (four miles) from the bustling high-rise city centre.

Wildlife officials have issued warnings to residents near the park to call them "should they see another lion in their area as it is possible more than one lion had strayed from the park."

Traps are set out when a big cat is reported but the wily lions have so far avoided the baited cages - sparking concern in residents, fearful at night when guard dogs howl that a lion could be hunting in the back yard.

"Lions can hide invisible in the long grass so it's frightening they could be around waiting to pounce," said Mary Okello, who lives close to where recent lions were caught.

Visit the park and one is rewarded by the bizarre sight of long-necked giraffes running through wide plains of yellow grass with the gleaming skyscrapers of Nairobi's business district rising in the distance.

Although fenced in on the city side -- some bars even have terraces where one can view animals over a cold drink -- the park is open-sided elsewhere else to allow the annual wildlife migration in search of grazing.

[Slideshow: Endangered tigers in the wild]

Zebra and wildebeest in the park migrate from the protected Nairobi national park through informal wildlife corridors, areas where pastoralist herders graze their cattle. But Kenya's population is quickly growing.

The land is under threat from increasing urbanisation and more intensive agriculture, and the routes used by migrating herds in search of fresh grass -- and the carnivores that follow for fresh meat -- are growing narrower.

"Some can't find their way through, and they get stranded," said Nicholas Oguge, President of the Ecological Society for Eastern Africa.

"There is an urgent need for an effective land policy...without establishing formal wildlife corridors, Nairobi National Park will become like an island, a large contained zoo," added Oguge, a professor at the University of Nairobi.

The situation has changed dramatically in recent decades. In the 1970s residents used to report roaming herds of wildebeest several hundred thousand strong. Today, in comparison, there are just a relative handful of wildebeest left.

Conservationists say wildlife protection is a low priority for city officials struggling with multiple challenges in a grossly unequal capital of some 3.5 million people with overstretched basic services and infrastructure.

In Nairobi, lavish villas rub shoulders with squalid slums and cramped high rise apartments.

"Nairobi National Park is a microcosm of what is happening elsewhere," said Luke Hunter, president of the wild cat conservation group Panthera, noting that lions have lost over 80 percent of their historic lands across Africa.

"In protected areas lions do well... but outside they are getting hammered."

Kenyan wildlife officials and other conservation groups are working to support the establishment of a wildlife corridor, including mapping the key routes, but it is no easy matter, said Paul Mbugua, KWS assistant director.

"It would be good to have corridors in place, but we have a challenge as all the land to the south of Nairobi is owned by somebody," Mbugua said.

Land in Kenya is both increasingly expensive and a highly political issue.

Kenya plunged into violence after disputed 2007 elections, with land grievances a key contributing factor to the explosion of brutal killings, and demarcating protected corridors is harder than simply drawing lines on a map.

Lion attacks on livestock are reported, but there have been no recent attacks on humans in Nairobi, experts say, but contact will grow as the city expands.

"Lions respect and fear people and try to get out of the way," added Hunter.

"But with development in areas important to lions, people and lions will mix more and more... and an individual lion can be incredibly dangerous. In that mix, inevitably it is the lion that loses out."

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Syria regime tightens grip as UN halts operations

Syrian troops on Sunday tightened their grip on the flashpoint city of Homs as the opposition demanded the deployment of armed peacekeepers after UN observers halted their work because of bloodshed.

Violence cost at least another 19 lives on Sunday, taking the overall weekend death toll across the country close to 90, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Among them was a civilian killed in the rebel bastion of Khalidiyeh, which, like other parts of Homs, was "being shelled and shot at by regime forces who have been trying to enter these districts for several days," it said.

Speaking to AFP via Skype from the Old City neighbourhood of Homs, opposition activist Abu Bilal said the regime assault on several parts of the central city was "suffocating."

"They are shelling us all the time. There's very little food and water, and we're running out of medication."

Abu Bilal reiterated fears expressed by the opposition and rights watchdogs that, should regime forces enter the besieged districts, people trapped inside them "will be massacred."

Dozens of civilians were wounded in the Old City, "and many of them will die if they don't get treatment as we can't get any of the injured out," he warned.

Amateur video posted online by anti-regime activists in the Homs district of Jourat al-Shiah showed widespread destruction, deserted streets and parts of a building shelled and on fire.

"We don't have any milk for the children, nor water, nor electricity," a mother of two whose house was destroyed tells the unidentified cameraman. "We just want a way to get our children out of here."

The Observatory had reported on Saturday that more than 1,000 families were trapped in Homs, and that there was a lack of medical staff and equipment.

Home to rebel hideouts, Homs has been under intermittent attack by regime forces ever since its district of Baba Amr was relentlessly pounded for a month earlier this year and retaken by the regime.

The exiled Syrian National Council, the country's main opposition group called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to arm the observers.

"At a time when the regime is committing its worst crimes against the Syrian people, we are surprised by the UN observers' decision to suspend their work, because of what they described as 'an intensification' of violence," the SNC said in a statement.

The United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria, or UNSMIS, suspended its operations two months into its three-month mandate on Saturday, blaming the intensifying violence.

The observers were progressively deployed starting in mid-April to monitor a UN-backed but widely flouted ceasefire, and were even likened to "sitting ducks in a shooting gallery" by Susan Rice, the US envoy to the United Nations.

The SNC urged the Security Council to "intervene quickly, and to pass a resolution under Chapter VII (of the UN Charter) to arm the UN monitors, so that they can defend themselves... and ensure that the regime stops killing, while enforcing (UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's) peace plan."

Explaining his mission's suspension, Major General Robert Mood spoke of an escalation in fighting and of the risk to his 300-strong UN team, as well as a "lack of willingness" for peace by the warring parties.

"There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days," Mood said in a statement on Saturday.

"This escalation is limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects -- basically impeding our ability to carry out our mandate," he said.

"In this high risk situation, UNSMIS is suspending its activities," Mood said.

The observers "will not conduct patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice," he said, adding that "engagement with the parties will be restricted."

Mood said the suspension would be reviewed daily, and that "operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities."

Syria's foreign ministry said it "understands" the decision, stressing that "armed terrorist groups" had been threatening its members.

The United States said the decision marked a "critical juncture" for Syria and that it was discussing with its allies the way ahead for a "political transition" as set out in two UN Security Council resolutions.

"At this critical juncture, we are consulting with our international partners regarding next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition as called for in Security Council Resolutions 2042 and 2043," a White House official said.

Resolutions 2042 and 2043 addressed the observers' deployment under the Annan plan aimed at "facilitating a Syrian-led political transition" that leads to democracy, among other conditions.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed "regret" at the suspension, saying that it "calls into serious question the viability of the UN mission."

His Turkish counterpart Ahmed Davutoglu called for tougher UN action.

"In the event that this observer mission pulls back, there is need for the UN Security Council to immediately do a situation assessment and take a new measure to ensure the humanitarian tragedy does not move onto a next level," he said.

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Two Palestinians die in clashes with Lebanon army: officials

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Review: New MacBook Pro is revolution for eyeballs, raid on wallet

19 hrs.

I didn't think I would care much about a "Retina" display for a laptop. When I'm using my current laptop in a typical way, a?few feet from my face, I can't see the pixels anyhow.?So what would this revolutionary laptop with?pixels that are invisible to the human eye do for me? Turns out,?it bathes my eyeballs in a spa-like warmth the likes of which I haven't felt since I first stared deep into the high-res face of my first iPhone 4.

Don't call me a fanboy for that one. Just do yourself a favor and stare deep at?a Retina display on an iPhone 4 or 4S, or a competing phone with a ridiculously pixel-dense screen, like HTC's Rezound. When you're looking at the right image or picture, it feels like you can see for miles and miles, and it's relaxing. It's easier on the eyes, because your brain doesn't have to reconstruct reality from a pile of bricks. It simply?sees reality.?

And even at arm's length, like on a laptop monitor,?the difference?is clear. When I was browsing the Mac App Store on the new MacBook Pro, I pulled up iPhoto, and in the splash screen there was a mockup iPhoto?screen, and inside that screen were photos. I could see the detail in each of those tiny thumbnails, as if they were 3x5s sitting on a coffee table.

The other thing that I could tell immediately?about the new?screen is that there's far less glare. I have an anti-glare screen on my 2010 MacBook Pro, but colleagues in my office with standard screens live like vampires, shying away from sunlight, fearing reflections in their screens. When you set the new MacBook Pro next to an older model, you can see that Apple has cut down on glare drastically, and that?the visibility is simultaneously increased by newer?LCD technology that makes for better viewing at wider angles.

I'll shut up about the display now, but there's no downplaying its significance ? and the fact that it's a leading inflater of the price of the?newly redesigned MacBook Pro.

Whether you're seriously considering buying in or just curious about the new gold standard in laptops, you have to understand what's revolutionary about the MacBook Pro and why that will sooner or later become standard, at least in Apple's lineup.?Design and technological?innovations like these aren't meant to be kept at the high end. Just as unibody construction, solid-state memory and Thunderbolt interfaces have worked their way down into Apple's full MacBook line, so too will the glories that are today only found the admittedly expensive ? and hard to find ? new?flagship.

Another of these improvements can be heard in the speakers.

When my wife and I travel with the older MacBook Pro, and watch a movie on it?in a hotel room, we strain to hear dialogue. My wife has flat-out?banned the listening of music on that old laptop, too,?because it's so tinny. Well, the new next-gen MacBook Pro may be skinnier, but trust me, the sound coming out of it is a whole lot?fatter. You can really hear midrange and low-end, and when you crank the volume, the sound gets louder, rather than just peaking out in an ear-crushing way.

Under the hood, things get even more advanced. Instead of a hard drive, or even a typical "solid-state drive," where flash memory is stored in a hard-drive-shaped?enclosure, there is just a board that holds the flash memory, ranging from 256GB to 768GB. Flash memory is not cheap, especially the highest-quality kind needed for performance laptops, and that's why there's an?additional "early adopter tax" here:?Since Apple is hardwiring it?in, you have to pay for the internal memory you'll need?now, rather than wait to upgrade later, when the price inevitably?goes down. (Apple will however be offering RAM upgrades for the new MacBook Pro, according to a check of the Apple Store, and corroborated by support documentation.)

Pricey though it is, the benefit of hard-wired flash memory is exceptional performance: The laptop wakes up instantly when you open the lid, and when that lid is closed, your battery doesn't drain. There's a 7-hour battery life, says Apple, and the stand-by time is an incredible 30?days.

(While I wanted to share with you the significance of this laptop, I am not going to go into further?technical testing here. For an excellent technical review, pay a visit to our friends at Laptop, who have all the charts and graphs you'll need to know just how special this thing is.)

There are, of course, things that might not?excite you about the new MacBook Pro. It's not particularly lightweight, for instance. Weighing in at around 4.5 lbs., it's by no means heavier than the typical premium notebook, but it's not a miracle of lightness, either. In fact, because it has a similar weight and footprint to its predecessor, it's easy to forget about its remarkable thinness.

Another thing that might concern some is the lack of a DVD drive, but I am having a hard time remember the last time I even watched?a DVD, let alone burned one. For those still?interested in shiny silver disc handling, there is a $79 USB?SuperDrive, but it shouldn't be considered as a?precautionary purchase, because my guess is that most people won't need it.

"Need." Look at me. What an awful word to use when discussing this marvel.?Aside from visual artists, medical imaging technicians and mineralogists?? the sort of?professionals?for whom this kind of pixel density comes with immediate pay-off,?not to mention a tax write-off?? there's no way this baby is?a "necessity."

It is bragging right upon bragging right, envelope push upon envelope push, and most people who buy it will be doing it for the same reason they would buy a Mercedes-Benz CLS. To experience the height of quality??To fulfill a personal aesthetic hunger? To show off to friends and strangers alike? It makes no difference: The reason is certainly?not to get you to work and back.

So if you do buy this?? assuming all?other financial?obligations to society are covered, or you have more money than you could ever spend in your lifetime?? I say buy the $3,749 configuration. That maxes out the RAM at 16GB, the internal flash memory at 768GB and the processing speed at 2.7GHz.?Just don't be surprised when, a couple of years from now, you're standing in the coffee shop line?behind some little hipster who has a slim?new MacBook Air with all those specs, and that brag-worthy Retina screen,?and it only cost him $999.

Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science section?editor at msnbc.com. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.

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Stop And Frisk Protest: Thousands In New York Hold Silent March Against NYPD Tactics (PHOTOS)

NEW YORK ? A silent march by thousands of people in New York City protesting police "stop-and-frisk" tactics on Sunday was punctuated by an explosion of loud voices.

"We've got to fight back, we can't be silent!" a group of activists shouted as they passed the home of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, just off Fifth Avenue.

But the rest of the quiet, slow procession from Harlem down the avenue was interrupted only by the tapping of feet on the pavement and birds chirping in trees along Central Park.

Nearly 300 civil rights groups were represented in the 30-block walk, from elected officials and labor union members to New York residents angry about how they're being treated when they walk the streets.

Critics say the NYPD's practice of stopping, questioning and searching people who police consider suspicious is illegal and humiliating to hundreds of thousands of law-abiding blacks and Hispanics. Last year, the NYPD stopped close to 700,000 people, up from more than 90,000 a decade ago.

Bloomberg's town house on East 79th Street was the proclaimed destination of the Sunday march. The home and sidewalk in front were blocked off by police barricades, and officers would not say whether the mayor was home.

As the march wound down, with a lineup of buses waiting to take protesters away, tensions between police and protesters suddenly escalated into clashes.

A group of them, led by longtime Occupy Wall Street activists, insisted on walking down Fifth below East 77th Street ? apparently the cutoff point where police tried to direct them to side streets.

Police officers on scooters lined both sides of the avenue and officers on foot formed a line to keep people on the sidewalk. Several scuffles broke out between screaming protesters and officers who pushed them behind barricades.

One woman was seen wrestling with an officer who had leaped across a barricade, chasing her before she was arrested. Police said nine people were arrested on various charges including assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

"The silence ended and the people's voices came out," said Matthew Swaye, 34, a former Bronx school teacher and self-described longtime Occupy protester.

"We were told to go home and we weren't ready to go yet," said Swaye, who added that his wife, Christina Gonzalez, 25, was one of the protesters arrested in the melee.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, the NAACP and Local 1199 of the SEIU union were the leading organizers of Sunday's march.

Resting on a bench while others walked, Samantha Tailor, a mother of two from the Bronx, said her 16-year-old son came home from school "very upset" last month after he and two friends were stopped on their way to classes that morning. That was the second time for her son in recent months, she said.

"Thank God, he had his ID," Tailor said. "He wasn't doing anything wrong, just walking to school."

And when officers pushed the three against a wall and went through their pockets, "he told me he was very quiet, very humble."

Tailor said she had taught him what to do if he were stopped.

The practice of silent marches dates to 1917, when the NAACP led a protest through New York against lynchings and segregation in the U.S.

"We are black, white, Asian, LGBT, straight, Jewish, Muslim and Christian," New York City Council member Jumaane Williams said before Sunday's march began, standing alongside American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. "Mayor Bloomberg has been our great uniter. We've been screaming loudly, and he hasn't heard us, but hopefully he'll hear the deafening silence."

Critics say the NYPD's practice of stopping, questioning and searching people who police consider suspicious is illegal and humiliating to thousands of law-abiding blacks and Hispanics.

Last year, the NYPD stopped more than 685,000 people, mostly black and Hispanic young men ? up from about 97,000 a decade earlier, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which also was to join the march. About half of those stopped are frisked, and about 10 percent are arrested.

"In most cities, when you ask who gets beaten up by the cops, the answer comes back: black people, people of color, and the gay community," Benjamin Jealous, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said on MSNBC.

Jealous said that "the notion that this make us safer really defies logic," noting that other large cities have cut their crime rate without resorting to stop-and-frisk methods.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly defend the policy, saying the program keeps guns off New York streets and helps stop crime before it happens.

Speaking at a Christian cultural center on Sunday in Brooklyn, Bloomberg said he is working with police to ensure that people are treated respectfully when they are stopped.

"I cannot in good conscience walk away from work that I know will save the lives of so many of our brothers and sisters, and I will not," the mayor said.

Weingarten said it was the first time that members of the LGBT community marched with the black community for the same cause.

"They're being stopped because of the color of their skin, not because of who they are," she said.

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