I know, I know. It’s easy for me to say “duh” because I’m not affected by this drastic change in Google PageRanks that’s happening now across the web. My sites, after all, have always had PageRanks of 4 (but so are the rest of you now! Bwahaha! Kidding.) Admittedly, it had been a little disappointing at first — considering all the link building I’ve done for these sites, I reckon I should have at least moved a step up in that PageRank ladder already. Heh.

But it’s not like I’m having sleepless nights over it. I stopped caring about PageRanks long ago, after all, I’ve seen websites with PRs as little as 2 and 3, ranking in the SERPs along with sites that have greater PageRanks. I just don’t think that PageRank is still a valid measure of a site’s relevance anymore, is all.

Andy Beard made an inventory of sites/blogs that were affected by the update downgrade. And so did Barry Schwarts at Search Engine Land. It would be interesting to find out if the traffic of these sites were really affected by this whole PR update thing. I think not.

Hence, I make an anti-thesis to Jayvee’s “Blog Networks should NOT rely on Text Link Ads or Google AdSense” idea. (Hi, Jayvs! Hehe.) Yes, Google is not a big fan of selling and buying links, we all know that already. Then again, it has been pointed out several times that a lot of those blogs that were affected are not involved with selling (or buying) links. I don’t think this has got anything to do with Google Adsense, either. Perhaps, the theory should be something in the line of “stop relying on Google PageRanks, people.” Google must have been fed up already by sites that are relying too much on its PR technology to market their own businesses.

Didn’t Aaron Wall state long before this controversial PR update that “PageRank is the wonkiest stat of them all“? Prior to this, we all know that Google updates PageRanks every after three months (longer sometimes), hence, the PageRanks we’ve all been seeing are, in a sense, outdated. Also, PageRanks vary across data centers, and across Google toolbars even. And again, I’ve seen a lot of sites that do not have PR5s or PR6s ranking for competitive keywords all the time.

My thesis: Websites should NOT rely on Google PageRanks.

Blog Networks should no longer use PageRanks as their “bait” or marketing pitch to advertisers. Text Links Ads or Blog to Profit shouldn’t make it their standard for approving sign-ups, either. Point is, there are far better and more reliable ways to measure a site’s relevance, like, traffic for example. Or content. Or backlinks. PageRank is soooo 2005.

Good for me, while blogging this I found myself at Search Engine Journal (whose PR, by the way, dropped from 7 to 4). So hey, I’d stop ranting now so I can direct you over to Loren Baker’s take on this. Take it over, Mr. Baker. I agree with everything you say.

So should the rest of us.

It’s true what they say. With a MacBook, once you pop, you can’t stop. Boo. But it’s okay, because Sydney (that’s my Mac’s name) is soo pretty she deserves all the attention and pampering in the world.

On the other hand, the one thing I really hate about the white MacBook is, the keypad and the trackpad are both too sensitive to thumbmarks and dirt. I have to wipe it up twice a day to remove the marks, it’s starting to get annoying. I need to have one of those keypad skins already. Also, since I can’t afford to have my Mac painted pink (which would cost me 500 USD), I’m gona have to improvise and find pink stuff to adorn my MacBook.

Here are the next items on my shopping list. :)

Pink Keypad Rubber Skin

Light Pink Crystal Case

Fab Trackpad Skin

The pink keypad skin is already on its way. I’m getting it from this guy, the same person I got my Moleskine Journal from. Really fast and efficient service, you should check his catalog out. And cheap too. The keypad skin is actually sold at P1,500 at the Mac Center at Cyberzone Megamall. But from him, it’s only P650!! :) I’m getting the pink crystal case from him too.

As for the trackpad skin, hurry over to this site and get one yourself. They have lots of different colors and designs! And it’s only P350. Yay. Watch out for my pinkified MacBook soon.

Up next. Laptop bag. :)

I knew I should have waited. Less than a month after I bought my Macbook, Apple announces the exact launch date of Leopard, the latest, most impressive Mac OS X which will sweep away all other operating systems in the history of man. (Okay, whutever).

Mac OS X Leopard, coming in October 26.

Won’t you just drool over the new features?

And how pretty it looks?

The Mac OS X Leopard’s reflective 3D dock and stackable files

Gaah. I suddenly hate these Apple people. WHY NOW? When I got mine just a few weeks ago! Pft! Silly me for not reading too much. I should’ve seen this coming :(

I read from one of Migs’ twits, though, that Apple usually gives free upgrades when you just got your Mac. Izthattrueee? Anyone can confirm this? I sooo want that Leopard. :(