A friend loaned me an Android phone the other day. I’ve been using a Blackberry Pearl for years. I like the squished keyboard and I can type pretty quickly on it. I’ve downloaded some useful apps to it too, though mostly I just use Opera for browsing and read the New York Times. It works.

Now, let me just say that I haven’t used an iPhone for any period of time so I can’t compare its OS to that of Android, but Android is pretty fun. This phone (an HTC running Android 1.5) is a device first and a phone second. It’s just as interesting without cell service as it is with service, though of course it’s nice when it works as a phone.

My favorite toys so far are probably the AK-47 and shotgun apps, though we know they’re a complete waste of time. I love accelerometers and I think these simple toys that use the accelerometer in such clever ways are just brilliant. Oh, I know that there are plenty of copycats out there but I don’t care. They’re just plain fun. I can’t wait to give them a try in the TSA line.

The barcode scanners look awesome but I haven’t been able to try one IRL because I don’t have a data connection. I can see how they might come in very handy though.

Touchscreens are pretty awesome but I’m not one to be a first adopter. I don’t need a touchscreen to do what I do with a phone, but they’re fun to play with. Don’t you just want to reach inside the phone and grab that sliding screen? I do. But I don’t like typing on that virtual keyboard. (Yes, the Droid has a real keyboard. I’ll check it out.)

I’ve found the initial experience with Android kind of overwhelming. There’s so much to be done with it, and downloading countless apps can be fun. But at the same time, there are many computer games out there that I won’t play because they just waste my time. Don’t we have better things to do?

Yes, I’m about 75 million people late when it comes to using a phone with a touch screen, or maybe it’s 150 million. But then again I’m just now watching Seinfeld, and only because it passes the time on the exercise bike to nowhere.

Clearly, Android has legs. I don’t need to tell you that. Just imagine what the device world will look like in a couple of years.

Here’s looking forward to our first Android book. Coming to a bookstore near you. Or maybe coming to your little handheld device thingy.

For now, I’ll keep the Blackberry, though my 1985 Volvo is going. It failed the smog test so the State of California will presumably buy it for $1,000. Sniff.

I’ve shared plenty of jokes about the iPad — the netbook without a keyboard. I laughed when Apple announced it because to my mind a $300 netbook is a much better deal, and it has a keyboard. But I’m starting to think that I’m wrong; that people will buy it.

Many, many people still find personal computers mysterious. They have one but it’s full of malware, spyware, or worse, and it’s probably running some version of Windows. Maybe even Windows 98. Who knows. And often enough, these same people can’t even tell you which version of Windows they’re running because to them it’s all the same. Or they tell you that they’re running “Microsoft.” Yes, they’re running the Microsoft Corporation on their personal computer. Anyway.

Their computer sits off in a corner or in the kids’ room. They use it to check their webmail or to pay bills, but they don’t understand it and they only touch it because they have to. Perhaps they have a Facebook account and they like to sit there and stare at that, too. They do some shopping on Amazon or Zappos and they read the news. They check their stocks. They play games. When it breaks or runs slowly they buy a new one.

Really, for many people who own personal computers, their computer is a toaster. Just like their iPhone or other smartphone. Unlike a toaster, their computer can do unlimited things, but like the toaster (or better yet, their countertop oven) they use only a couple of its features because they have neither time nor inclination to dig deeper. Who wants to be an expert on their toaster?

Here comes the iPad. The pretty toaster that you can hold in your hands and that does pretty much everything that your computer does in a cute package. It will let you check your email, play videos, and most importantly, run iPhone apps. All of the scary stuff is hidden behind a cute interface and you just use it. For everyone who already has an iPhone (about 75 million people) this is simply a natural progression.

The iPad will sell because it’s a big, fat iPhone that’s going to make it a lot easier for the toaster set to use their computer. And that’s just about all there is to it.

Okay, “uncle.”

Ryan Harris, author of our Hacking the Cable Modem, has been indicted on charges of Computer Fraud and Wire Fraud. You can read the complete indictment here. These charges carry a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

I’ve known Ryan for several years and I worked closely with him as editor and publisher of his book, Hacking the Cable Modem. Having read the indictment it’s clear to me that Harris is being made an example of by cable companies that won’t implement DOCSIS correctly or who won’t put the effort in to manage their users and their bandwidth. Whether you like Harris or not, this is a travesty. (Now, why Harris wouldn’t simply be sued over this instead of being arrested is anyone’s guess.)

According to the Indictment,

“Cable modem hacking” involves the alteration of the modem’s software for the purposes of accessing an ISP’s network without authorization in order to obtain internet service without an account and without paying for the service.

The first part is correct; the last part is not necessarily the case.

Harris visited our office a few years back to demonstrate his cable modem hacking abilities. He’s quite skilled and I think he rooted a Motorola Surfboard 5100 in about two minutes. I was pretty impressed. He had hacked the modem, altered its firmware, and was able to access its admin page. But guess what? He wasn’t stealing anyone’s service. In fact, the modem was only connected to his computer. It wasn’t even on the Internet. But, but . . . it was hacked!

And that’s exactly the point. Hardware can be hacked just for the fun of it or simply to gain control over a piece of hardware that one owns. In fact, that’s why I originally contacted Ryan to express interest in publishing a book on hacking cable modems. I don’t like black boxes (unless they’re Shuttles), and I like to understand how hardware works. I also don’t like the fact that my cable company pushes out a config file to my modem that blocks the admin page. (I didn’t even know that my cable modem had an admin page until Ryan explained that it was being blocked.)

Here’s the thing: If I own a piece of hardware, I can do whatever I want to it. I can modify it; disassemble it; load DD-WRT on it; overclock it; even repurpose it. Why? Because I own it. And there’s nothing more American than that.

I’m breaking the law if I use that piece of hardware to steal something. I’m not breaking the law if I tell someone how that piece of hardware can be used to steal something any more than I’m breaking the law if I publish a book about how to make bombs or commit suicide. (Not that we do or ever would.)

Our country grants us certain rights. One of those is freedom of speech. Another is freedom of press which is probably why No Starch Press has yet to be indicted, I suppose. (Although I’m guessing I now have an FBI file. Woohoo!) Yeah, we bad.

I take just a bit of credit for this bit of the Indictment:

20. HARRIS and TCNISO also offered for sale a book entitled “Hacking the Cable Modem,” which Harris wrote under his alias “DerEngel”

Harris offered this book for sale and so do we. Unfortunately, due to this recent bit of publicity, Hacking the Cable Modem is currently out-of-stock but we’ve got a quick reprint on the way. (PDF available now if you’d like to buy it.)

And yes, we’ll keep printing and publishing Hacking the Cable Modem as well as any other books about hardware hacking or modding that are interesting, compelling, and worth reading. That’s why we call our line “The finest in geek entertainment.”

Stay tuned.

Bill