The Long Arm of the Law

Two unrelated stories in the news this week on how the coppers tracked down those of nefarious and questionable ethics and conduct.

In the first case, the thief accidently dropped his cellphone and they were able to track him down by calling the entry marked "Mom" in his phonebook to establish his identity.

The second guy - guys like this, it's probably good that his lack of intelligence is off of the streets. A bank robber who had escaped, sent an email to the local newspaper, mocking the police as there were all sort of inaccuracies that they had noted. Apparently, the only inaccuracy that didn't escape their attention was the general ease that someone can track you down based on your email address/IP address.

At least he won't be spreading his questionable gene pool (with it's inherent lack of intelligence) while in the slammer!

Rubik's Cube

As a kid growing up, I was right in the middle of the Rubik's Cube fascination, but sadly was never able to solve it (not that I spent a lot of effort on it)!

Apparently, a group of mathematicians have cajoled Google into giving them some computing power to try to come up with the ultimate solution.  Based on this computing power, they have come up with a solution that they say can be used to solve ANY cube combination in 20 moves.

First of all, I'm astounded that it can be solved in 20 moves, but most of all, as a software developer, I'd be really interested to find out how they came up with this solution.  The article goes on to state that there are 43 quintrillion (a billion billion) possible combinations, so they couldn't have gone with a "hit and miss" approach I wouldn't think.

The solution is apparently hosted at Cube 20.org and it actually goes on to talk about how they solved the problem.  I am thinking that I should probably make it a goal to get a Rubik's Cube and get this sucker solved!

Tablet PCs. What Exactly Am I NOT Getting?

Okay - I'm confused here - someone...help me out.  THE latest craze seems to be tablet PCs.  Now, from a marketing/technical perspective - what are these "meant" to be?  Are they basically a revved up iTouch with more sophisticated computing power?  Are they meant to be the "next-gen" for computing devices meant to render Notebooks obsolete?

Here's the thing - my biggest problem with tablet PCs is the keyboard.  It's partly that as a touch typist, I detest virtual keyboards (no tactile feedback and such), but it's more than this.  From strictly an ergonomic perspective, a tablet PC makes no sense other than as a casual & ultra-portable computing device.

Keyboards are monitors (ergonomically) cannot be on the same plane.  They just can't.  If the tablet is tilted as a screen normally is, then so is the keyboard.  For minimal typing, sure, that's fine.

I cannot fathom how someone can do serious data entry on a tablet PC.  Seems to be Carpel Tunnel Syndrome just waiting to happen.

Thanks - but no thanks.  As slick and sexy as the iPad and other tablet PCs are, I'll pass.  Instead, give me a freaking iPod Touch with more than 32gb capacity.  I need at least 64mb and probably higher.  I'm just very sick and tired of cycling music in and out.

Yes! Now I FINALLY Can Say it and MEAN It!!

Just read an article that Playboy has agreed to remove ALL girlie pictures and risque content from their iPod/iPad apps to conform to Apple's standards.

Now if only I had had access to this version of Playboy as a young lad, I would have been truthful that I was only reading it for the articles :)

WikiLeaks - Pushing the Boundaries of Freedom of Speech

I've generally been pretty cautious about censorship in general.  I think that diverse opinions are integral in an democratic society.

I'm a little concerned with WikiLeaks though.  From what I've seen, their posting of military documents puts lives at risk and I'm just not convinced that freedom of speech should exist to this extent.  From what I've gathered, not only are military plans that are supposed to be highly classified being disclosed (potentially putting servicemen at risk) but I also have read that some of the documents name individuals in Afghanistan who have supplied information about the Taliban, and the Taliban can now use this information in retaliation.

All that having been said, one of the biggest problems of the Net is that even if it deemed that Wikileaks doesn't have the right to publish this information, how on earth can this be enforced?  I'd be very interested in talking to someone with experience in this area of law, but I wonder if an American resident publishes information through an ISP in a "neutral country", are the individuals liable or are they governed by the laws of the country where the ISP exists?

Blog Stats

Recently, Blogger.com has introduced traffic stats for their blogs. As a relatively small and likely rarely read blog, I find it interesting that there is some "international" traffic to TecHumanity. It's nice to dream and imagine that traffic is going to reach a "tipping point".

Aside from the US (Portland - is that you? lol) and Canada, I show some (minimal) traffic from Denmark, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea and Latvia of all places but they could just be spiders or bots. If these are real people, then drop by and introduce yourselves :)

FAIL - 101

Working away right now...I move my mouse, but the mouse pointer on my screen isn't working...Damn! My computer's frozen! Hmm - maybe my mouse is out of batteries (cordless).

No - wait. I've been sliding my cellphone on my desk, not my mouse. Never mind lol