I'm technically on vacation this week, so I don't feel too badly about my lack of posting, but I had still expected to be able to do more casual blogging this week. Unfortunately, my Macbook Pro (first rev) refuses to connect to the WPA-locked access point I was planning on using. Just gives me a "connection failed" message after I put in the password.

This is the second time that this inability to access some WPA Wi-Fi access points has screwed me. I had a similar lack of connectivity in a hotel just a few weeks ago, essentially making it impossible for me to work or (more realistically) waste hours of my life on the internet.

My question is this: has anyone been able to figure out if this is a problem with Apple's implementation of WPA or with the firmware of the wireless routers to which I'm trying to connect? There are clearly tons of other people with the same issue, but since I haven't seen any recent fixes from Apple, it makes me wonder if there isn't something wrong with the older routers, especially since it's more likely that routers never have their firmware updated. I use WPA on my network at home, though, so it's clearly not every WPA router.

Anyway, not a mindblowing kvetch or anything, but I was wondering if anyone has suffered from the same issue and figured out a way to work around it.

I'm about as over Portal riffs (rifts?) as anyone—all good things must come to an end—but how could I not link this one?

Best of the Orange box [Brickshelf.com via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

There comes a time in every gadget blogger's life when he must write about an electric toothbrush. You either accept the fate with a dingy smile or explode in a clatter of gnashed, flying teeth. Fortunately for us, the young Stephen Fry has approach his time with the "the Oral-B®, Professional Care™ Triumph™ (with Wireless SmartGuide) Oral-B (”powered by Braun”)" with aplomb.

A base station, where sits and charges the toothbrush itself, transmits by radio to a receiving element. The receiver substation is a plastic cartouche complete with obligatory LCD screen called a SmartGuide (phrases compressed with UpperCaseLetters such as this are DeRigueur for today’s sad MarketingPerson), which gives a reading of how long you’ve brushed, and how long you’ve got to go in each of the quadrants of the mouth, according to “professional” brushing standards recommended by dentists. It also tells you the time and rewards you with a smiley face when you’re done. Sigh. I think I’m in love.

Why I love smart toothbrushes and loathe internet plug-ins [StephenFry.com]