Technology Stuff

With millions of guns in circulation, South Africa is fighting to contain a culture of criminal violence. Police chief Jackie Selebi says he will use his new post as head of Interpol to wage war on the spread of guns in South Africa and abroad. At his farm northeast of Pretoria, Nic van Zyl is busy inventing a "smart gun," as he has been doing for 15 years. With a computer circuit board concealed in the butt and a revolutionary laser firing mechanism instead of the traditional hammer, the "South African Intelligent Firearm" would not look out of place on the set of a science fiction movie. The really clever bit is in the handle, which reads the user's thumb print so only the rightful owner can fire it. ... [Jason Roper's] system uses free wiring already present in most office networks. As soon as a computer is removed, the system sends a text message to the owner's mobile phone -- and blasts out a high-pitched alarm. "It's not quite as loud as your car alarm, but somewhere near it," he said. "The PC itself screams at 97 decibels -- it just goes crazy." ... Most ideas -- however clever -- fail to make the grade commercially. Inventors would do well to bear in mind the experience of crime-fighting Charl Fourie. Almost as soon as he launched his flame-throwing car to deter hijackers six years ago, it was banned. Yahoo (Reuters)

I keep hearing things about smart guns. Those are guns that only fire for the intended user. There are inherent problems with the idea including who is aloud to shoot, when are they aloud to shoot, and where are they aloud to shoot. So many problems come up when you look at specific technologies. The one mentioned above works on a thumb print. What if you get a cut on your thumb? Can you cut someone's thumb off to get it to fire? Another technology plants a chip in the hand of the user. That leads to all other kinds of questions. As for the screaming computers, ear plugs are cheap. When is the last time you raised a finger to investigate a car alarm?

Mac
I would really like Apple to suddenly and overwhelmingly take over the market and become the next Microsoft. I think I could live with Macintosh computers on every desktop. The folks at Apple just seem to have a better grasp of the human factor in the world.  They are a bunch of shocking liberals, but who cares if it means less tech support hassles?
Apple takes the time to research the user interface. Microsoft focuses on numbers and mass output. Linux is all about reliability and automation. It would be great if they could work together. Imagine the Mac user interface on a machine with the reliability of Linux/Unix and the proliferation of Microsoft. That gives me a woody.
Macintosh OS X (10.x) is built on a BSD kernel (on of the most reliable Unix systems ever). Only one more step to go. Get them to the desktops and dorm rooms of the world. Mac lovers of the world unite!