Messages from an Alpha Geek

In 1896, a scientist named George M. Stratton, showing an ingenuity that must have seemed like madness at the time, conducted a fascinating experiment in visual perception with himself as the subject. He constructed a pair of goggles with special lenses that inverted his view of the world by 180 degrees, causing him to see everything upside down, as if he were standing on his head, continuously. He wore the goggles for many days, never once opening his eyes without wearing them (he would shower with his eyes closed, for example).

[A] digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term, like "radio", [sic] can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

I create shows that are distributed on the Internet via download, Flash, and, oh yeah, RSS, but it’s the show that’s the thing. By focusing on the RSS we’ve confused people and limited our audience. Even the word I suggested last year, “netcast,” doesn’t serve. It’s a show, period. It doesn’t matter how it’s distributed. It’s all just content. Tying the content to its method of distribution is confusing our audience and holding us back.

"This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, told the Associated Press in an interview. "It's unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for ... those consequences."

• I think iPhone SIM unlocking is a great thing, for all the reasons I listed in my last post on this matter. Moreover, it is legal in the United States, and even though Apple can and has voided the warranties of modified handsets in accordance with US warranty law, they have a legal obligation not to purposefully prevent the unlocking of the phone. They do not seem to be doing that at this time, and unless evidence can be found to the contrary, threatening to sue Apple over breaking the SIM unlock is misguided at best.
  
• Whether or not the iPhone should be unlocked should simply not be part of rational discussion at this point. It can be unlocked, there is demand for unlocked phones, and it is not illegal. From what I've seen, arguments to the contrary either demonstrate a lack of understanding of the legal issues, or a conscious desire to troll and stir up trouble.


• Both Apple and the iPhone Dev Team warned people not to apply this update. Doing so and expecting the phone to still function, as if both parties were lying, was foolish and impatient in the extreme. Anyone who has bricked their phone has no one to blame but themselves. I realize that's harsh, but even those of us that support third party efforts need to admit that SIM unlocking your phone means you're on your own. I really hope the iPhone Dev Team or someone out there can figure out how to reverse the damage, but Apple is technically correct that they have no obligation to do so or replace phones for free.


• As a computer scientist and general techie, I do find dubious the whole idea that software as an entity can somehow be "permanently damaged," which is what Apple says is happening here. Software is just data on a storage device. Unless it's on a ROM chip, nothing about it is in any way permanent. It should always be possible to reset everything or reflash the firmware to its factory state, no matter how screwed up the software on board is. Otherwise there would be no way to fix the phone in the event of catastrophic random data corruption (which can theoretically happen on any device, whether it's been hacked on or not). I can think of a few reasons why the software might actually become unrecoverably corrupted, but none of them really make any sense from a technical or design perspective.
  
  
  
  1. The SIM unlock changes the baseboard (the modem) on the phone substantially, so one could make the argument that the new firmware isn't overwriting the baseboard file(s), and only overwrites the files it expects to have to change. But given the size of the version 1.1.1 firmware (154 MB) and the fact that a full restore (which should replace everything, every time) doesn't bring the phone back to a functioning state, this is unlikely.
  
  
  2. Then again, some people running firmware 1.0.x have reported being able to run full restores on iPhones that have been SIM unlocked without having to unlock them again, so maybe iTunes doesn't replace everything. If this is the case, though, calling the reset option in iTunes a restore is disingenuous, as it obviously doesn't restore everything to factory condition. Likewise, saying the phone is irreparable in this scenario is also a lie, as all that is needed is to release an update to iTunes that actually does a full and complete restore. Apple may be doing a piecemeal restore that doesn't modify files that are expected not to ever be changed by the user (like the baseboard) because it's a faster technique in terms of execution time, but the fact remains that catastrophic data corruption could theoretically trash everything, and a full and complete restore option needs to be available.
  
  
  3. Having said that, a device's hardware could become irreversibly misconfigured if a setting is changed that both (a) causes erroneous behavior and (b) locks out future changes. This is the computer equivalent of locking one's keys in one's car. In this scenario, Apple is the only locksmith in town, and they've already said they're not going to help you. But the question remains, if the SIM unlock just modifies the software modem, how can that possibly make a full restore impossible? My best guess is that prior to the restore, the firmware installer is looking at the iPhone and trying to verify, somehow, that it is a supported device. The baseboard has been modified, so it fails verification, and iTunes refuses to do a restore because the baseboard modem is "damaged" in comparison to what it is expecting to find. But again, this makes zero sense, because a damaged baseboard (again, via some sort of data corruption) would be the perfect reason to attempt a full restore.
  
  

1. Brainiac 5: What's there to say? Supergeek genius with body armor and energy weapons. Idolizing Superman as the big brother figure he never had, which is somehow incredibly poignant given this version of Superman knows nothing about how much the original Braniac exists just to screw him over. No android will ever do the wanting to become human thing as well for me as Commander Data, so I'm not just enamoured with that part of his characterization, but it's nice to know it's there. I also love how he's the arbiter of what makes someone really heroic: witness his interactions with this so-called Superman-X jerk. Maybe B5 will have some problems in the future, if Superman-X is telling anything close to the truth, but right now he understands the heroic ideal as defined by a prototypical Superman, and he's doing his best to follow that example both because he wants to do good and because he wants to atone for Brainiac's sins. In short, angel_gidget, I'm joining you on the Brainy Love Train.

Matter-Eater Lad: I love superheroes who can take an apparently lame power and be incredibly badass with it. That's probably why I've sworn undying loyalty and adulation to Squirrel Girl. But even further on the Apparently Useless Power Scale than the Hazelnut Princess* is Matter Eater Lad. Yet, he wins at life, the universe, and everything, because he shows you exactly why being able to eat anything is in fact the most hilariously hardcore superpower ever. Add to that the fact that, at least in his apparances I've actually seen, he never speaks, so he's got the goofy silent type thing going on. Then there's his costume, which looks homemade (not so much in stitching as aesthetics) and is incredibly cute. It's like, "I can eat anything, so what if I look a little goofy?" And if that weren't enough, every time I think of him, I think of Jeffrey Steingarten, author of The Man Who Ate Everything, which is an endlessly entertaining mix of mental images. Matter Eater Lad, I salute you.
2. Ferro Lad**: Being able to turn oneself into a giant metal conductor (specifically iron) may seem passe, what with not one but two versions of Marvel's Collosus running around, but animated FL is strangely endearing because of his seemingly constant quest to be useful, as he and others view his powers as not being as widely applicable as some of the other heroes'. At least in my case, that endearment was cemented and augmented in his last appearance in the show, which for lack of spoilers I will only say is moving and awesome and shows just how brave and heroic this character is. He reminds me of Spock, in a way.


3. Triplicate Girl: Now, I honestly can't say why I like Triplicate Girl so much, as I'm really not completely sure. Out of all the Legionaires that I've seen, she seems especially down to earth. And this is totally my opinion, but out of all of them, she's one of the very few that seems to be a human first, and a superhuman second: all the others are so deep into their roles as heroes it sometimes takes a moment to remember there must be times when they're not in costume, and they refer to themselves by their given names. Not to say that TG isn't heroic--she is. Her humanity and more importantly failability just don't seem as suppressed. To put it another way, she's more committed to using her powers for good and to help others than to remaking herself into a superhero. There's a subtle difference. This is even reinforced by the fact that her powers aren't at all unique. She just happens to be the only member of her race to think of using them as she has (explicitly and selflessly for the good of others as a costumed criimefighter/vigilante***). Honestly, I didn't realize how much I liked her character until she was, for lack of a better term (at least, one that isn't totally spoilery) grievously and permanently injured in the Season 2 premiere. I remember sitting in front of my TV and going "Did they just--they can't do that to Triplicate Girl! That's terrible! Oh my God!" Maybe if I had been into the comics I would've been prepared for it, but it totally blind-sided me. I'm anxiously awaiting next week. I just hope she isn't removed from the show or turned all emo-angst-cakes on us.

"The security environment in southern Iraq took a notable turn for the worse in August" with the assassination of two governors, said the report, which covers June through August. "There may be retaliation and an increase in intra-Shi'a violence throughout the South," it said, whereas previously the violence was centered in the main southern city of Basra.