Apple drops 'thermonuclear' patent bombshell

This one from the register Apple is asserting a patent on the rectangle.

Hats off to all those who have taken the time to prank, and finally here is my favourite of the day.

Assassin's Creed for Kinect Announced!

For reasons only known to themselves, maybe boredom or a lack of female or even male company. Someone has decided to go to a great deal of trouble to impersonate me on twitter.

Not only did they use my old profile picture, they even went as far copying my bio details and the url for this blog (woohoo free advertising), but then to add to the strangeness all they seem to have done is retweet me. I should perhaps feel honoured that someone has taken the time to do this, I had know idea I had become so famous that people would want to imitate me.

Although I must admit that when I first noticed the account, once the initial what the f**k moment I could have ripped off their heads. Now after having few hours of thinking about it I find the whole thing funny, but I still can't help wondering who has so little going on in their lives that they only thing they can find to do with their time is impersonate me.

My advice to my clone would be this, step away from your internet connection, leave the house and live a little... preferably your own life not mine.

** foot note ** I have now noticed that I have actually been cloned twice, @selfharmer now has a friend @MartyHarmer seriously get a life.

Today the news has broken that the world has lost one of its greatest visionaries.

Though I like so many others never got the chance to meet with Steve in person, I had a feeling I knew him.

When you watched an Apple keynote you felt that Steve was talking directly to you, there are few people on earth that have that kind of gift when it comes to public speaking. Add to this the passion he felt for Apple and its products each keynote took on a feeling of a religious experience, the kind of feeling you get when listening to an evangelist minister.

I'll leave the complete obituary to the main stream press and those who knew Steve well. All I will say is that the world is a different place thanks to Steve's drive and determination to make it better through his vision of how we should use technology. I think President Obama hit the nail on the head in his statement, by saying "there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented".

The legacy of quality products and the company he created in his own image will continue for many years to come, but the world will be a little more empty without Steve Jobs in it.

Rest in peace Steve, my prayers are with your family and friends.

PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all of the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and put them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you need.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.

PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.

CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.

DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.

PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.

PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.

LIBERTARIAN/ANARCHO-CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

Can't remember where I got this from but all credit to the original author

However more and more I am finding Facebook to be more of a chore than an easy to use tool. Issues of privacy, the ever increasing size of the add box, peoples bejewelled scores, invitations to play farmville, or attention seeking posts like "can't sleep" or "depressed", frequently mean the posts I am interested in get lost amongst the noise.

Now I know what you are going to say "just unfriend the people responsible for the digital flatulence" but to be honest I am too considerate and don't want to cause anyone any offence.

So I am left with a couple choices :

Stick with a service which irritates me from time to time.

Ditch Facebook entirely and just keep twitter.

Or find something to replace Facebook.

To Google+ or not to Google+

So considering that last point, I've been playing with Google+ for a few weeks now, and I can honestly say I love its clean and functional layout. Google+ is not without its flaws a lack of a native iPad app been one of them, but it has so many great functions and features that make it a worthy adversary for Facebook. I love the lack of pointless games and the fact that I can choose whether the whole world sees my post or just a select circle of friends. Obviously Google+ has many more features which have already been covered by far better bloggers than I so I won't cover old ground.

Suffice to say I think Google are very close to having what some would class as a Facebook killer, I tend to think of it more as a Facebook for grown ups.

So will I switch entirely or use yet another Social Networking tool.... watch this space.

What can we determine from this total lack of God’s punishment to the sinners of the Earth? I have a few possible suggestions.

1. God decided that we weren’t that bad after all

2. Given that Roland Emmerich marketed the end of the world so well, God though what the hell and has put it off till 2012.

3. The Almighty uses an iPhone and his alarm didn’t go off.

or

4. Harold Camping is infact a scare mongering douchebag.

Doubtless Mr Camping will emerge from under which ever rock he lurks beneath, to give some cosmically divine reason why all good Christians were not raptured to Heaven, leaving the heathens behind to suffer Satan's wrath for eternity. Just like he did in 1994 when predicted the last end of the world, perhaps his divine calculation was slightly out and it’ll be 2028, until then Mr Camping why not just keep your ill informed scare mongering to yourself.

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