Justin Long, aka the Mac Guy in those Mac Guy vs PC Guy ads, has started dating his soon-to-be co-star Drew Barrymore.

Unfortunately People doesn't run any concurrent update on PC Guy's romantic life. But he's a compatible guy, so we'll just assume he's, um, doing OK.

In more formal Friday dispatches:

Oh, Brother
Our colleagues at the Christchurch Press have been following the 'error 41' printhead problem that's been dogging Brother printer owners around the world, and has now reached NZ. Check out their initial report here, and their follow-up on Brother NZ's inaction here.

Kordia launches 'Hotzones'
State-owned enterprise (SOE) Kordia announced its 'Hotzones' today. Unlike a wi-fi 'hotspot' that you can only use while you're sitting in, say, the Starbucks hosting it, a Hotzone lets you stay connected inside or outside, anywhere within the designated zone.

Kordia says it will target "areas like university campuses, city CBDs, shopping precincts [and] transportation hubs" for hotzones.

The SOE has feinted at WiMax and wi-fi plans before, but previously it's had trouble getting an A-list ISP to support its broadband infrastructure initiatives. Now, of course, Kordia's bought Orcon, the country's fourth largest retail ISP, and as night follows day, Orcon has duly signed on to the new Hotzone concept (wi-fi specialist RoamAD is also onboard).

The coverage area is so far extremely limited, but you can check out locations on Kordia's site here.

A Hotzone roadtest
UPDATE: After the reader comment below, I walked up to K-Road, where there's a slender Hotzone running along the cafe strip between Upper Queen Street and Mercury Lane - it's up on a ridge, if you don't know central Auckland, so very wireless-friendly. Anyhow, I have been able to log-on without pre-registering, as our correspondent claimed, and I'm sitting in a comfy chair in Starbucks as I type (as ever, I'm almost the only customer - go Restaurant Brands!). Web surfing speed is crisp, and I'm playing a Rove video off TV3's site that started playing almost instantly, and is streaming smoothly ... though then again I'd hope so, since I'll wager I'm one of few - or perhaps the only one - currently one the network .. who likes to share bandwidth ...

wi-high pricing
In registering-on-the-fly, however, I did encounter the pricing structure, which I will moan about. One day costs $9.95; seven consecutive days $49.95. Alternatively, there are two data plans, both twice the price of Telecom and Vodafone's 3G plans, which themselves are hardly the most economic broadband solution on the block. You can get 500MB for $49.95, or 1GB for $79.95. There's also a 100MB option for $14.95.

It's outrageously over-the-top pricing that's going to drive most punter away.

Also, I connected to Kordia Metro WiFi, which appeared top of the list on my notebook's wi-fi finder. Orcon's incarnation of the same service is listed further down, so I'm not sure if it matters in the great scheme of things which you choose.

No luck with Orcon WiFi
UPDATE II: After logging off Kordia Metro WiFi, logged onto Orcon WiFi. The following message popped up:

To celebrate local loop unbundling in the Ponsonbly [sic] area the Orcon WiFi service is currently FREE! In the future, Orcon Broadband customers will have free access to the Orcon WiFi service in all major metropolitan areas around New Zealand. Data used will count toward their monthly data quota. For the moment we just need a few details from you and you can surf for free!

Cool, I thought. Free! But after I'd filled in my personal details to register, I was told my account needed to be 'recharged', though there was no immediately obvious way to do so. Then my browser crashed. Twice. Nevermind. My coffee's going cold.