Monthly Archives: November 2008

Book Review: Life o Pi – Yann Martel

Far too much digital ink (with over 1800 reviews at amazon.com) has been spent on criticism and analysis fo this book. As a statement about religion, the book is deeply flawed. As a statement about our need to construct stories to deal with the terrible deeds we need to do to survive it endures well.

As a  deconstructionist novel, Mr. Martel will love my reaction to his polemic:

What the author intends is irrelevant. What the books says is irrelevant. All that matters is my point of view. And my point of view is that it is a wonderful tale.

Privacy and Cell Phones

Nude pics in phone lost at McDonald’s get online

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Here’s some food for thought: If you have nude photos of your wife on your cell phone, hang onto it.

Phillip Sherman of Arkansas learned that lesson after he left his phone behind at a McDonald’s restaurant and the photos ended up online. Now he and his wife, Tina, are suing the McDonald’s Corp., the franchise owner and the store manager.

The suit was filed Friday and seeks a jury trial and $3 million in damages for suffering, embarrassment and the cost of having to move to a new home.

The suit says that Phillip Sherman left the phone the Fayetteville store in July and that employees promised to secure it until he returned.

Manager Aaron Brummley declined to comment, and other company officials didn’t return messages.

 

D’oh.

With 8 GB of storage, a reasonably good camera, and a desire to photograph everything for posterity, this is going to be happening a lot more frequently than we would like.

I believe being able to remotely wipe a phone of all contents is going to be a key feature of cell phone’s going forward.

And sooner rather than later, folks are going to learn the value of encryption and strong passwords.

I wonder if we’ll see biometrics make it into phones?

Hard reset of E71

Type *#7370# from the standby screen while your phone is on.
It will ask for the lock code which is 12345 unless you have previously changed it. Make sure you do this right, because if you do it too many times the wrong way you can lock up your phone.