Trip out. I knew it was possible, I just didn't know it was being done commercially. One vendor is uLocate which seems to work with any phone on the T-Mobile, AT&T, and Cingular networks as well as some specific phones only certain phones. If you are paranoid and want to track your wife, get on one of these networks. If you are more paranoid and don't want to be tracked, use Verizon or Sprint or whatever.

The gist is, you can login to your account and view the exact position of the cell phone being tracked. So if your daughter (in my case) calls and says, "Hey Dad, I'm at Cindy's house (in Ventura)" and her phone shows up as being in Hollywood, you can bust her or something. Cool. But freaky too huh?

The Guardian's Observer published an article today which indicates that police in the U.K. want to have the ability to stop a car remotely. This is a tricky one, especially when considering the high-speed chases that occur in my area (Southern California) every day.

The first things that come to mind are: You know this technology will get into the hands of bad guys or silly pranksters. And this could evolve into something which regulates speed automatically or worse, issues tickets to cars (car owners) when their vehicle passes the limit in a given area - Among many other things.

I suppose I just can't get used to the idea of Big Brother (BB) watching and manipulating my every move. It reminds me of the movie Minority Report. It wouldn't bother me so much if we had reasonable and non-intrusive laws but since we are so restricted these days, I don't think we need to give BB a free pass for every little infraction and I plain don't trust them to use their powers responsibly. Like I say (probably once per month), I'm probably just paranoid.

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to blog about a sporting event (football in this case) and point to a particular frame from what you were watching? I'd pay Fox or CBS for access to that sort of thing, both for blogging and for my personal use - I'd love to print a particular frame where someone is getting nailed while catching a throw across the middle and use it as a cover for my calendar or some such thing. I haven't used Tivo or related items and I wonder if they would provide this functionality. I'd rather do it with permission and predictability anyways. I want I want - Gimme!

Today Tom Ridge upped our terror alert level from lemon (yellow) to orange (orange). It's a little nerve-racking when he indicates that "this is about as much chatter as we've had since 9/11". And "indications are that terror groups are trying to pull of something much greater than the 9/11 event in terms of damage and victims". Let's hope those in charge of security are on the ball and experience a bit of [needed] good luck.

None of this changes my holiday plans... I don't fly anyways. It is terror that stops me from flying but not the type imposed by others - it is self-inflicted terror.

UPDATE: Fox News has the full text of the announcement and Q/A.