SEC learns they are watched.

Journalists are often called upon to decry the wrong-doings of public officials. That is what it means to be a watch dog, but stories like this one don't come around every day.

Technight usually avoids political issues, but this time we need to discuss what the Security and Exchanges Commission has done.

The SEC is tasked by the U.S. Government with overseeing the economy and business dealings. But probes by its own Inspector General, David Gotz, show many employees spend a vast amount of time at work looking at pornography instead.

This is a clear violation of ethical principles the government has set up for it's employees, but more than that, it's stealing.

The Associated Press covers this story and gives a thorough "he said, she said" review by the major players, but we need to look at something deeper.

These are Federal employees paid by the tax dollars. Some are reported to make over $200 thousand a year. That's a lot of money taken out of the pay-checks earned by those people who still have jobs after the economic down-turn.

That's a lot of money to pay someone to watch porn.

One of these employees got a 14-day suspension after refusing to plead in his defense.

That isn't good enough. That employee allegedly downloaded thousands of explicit images onto a government-owned computer hard drive by getting around firewalls. That is space that should have gone to databases, spread sheets, ideas to turn around the recession--you name it.

We suggest another idea. Network and server logs were used to determine that these employees were looking at porn instead of working in the first place, so they should be used to determine how long these people where getting paid to do so.

They should be fined an equivalent amount based on hourly income or salary plus expenses for computer repairs--porn sites often carry with them multiple viruses and worms that can seriously damage the functionality of the machines.

Next, information technology managers should be placed in offices to oversee internet usage and data trafficking. These people are there to work, not play. This kind of activity doesn't cut it in the private sector and it certainly should not in the public.

Oh and by the way, they should be fired.

Not another iPad review

Forget another iPad review.

I'm not going to do one. The Internet is full of takes on the tablet and lists all the things it can or can't do written by people smarter than me. I'm going to talk about something else instead. I'm going to talk about marketing.

Apple knows how to market a product.

In 2001, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPod, and now iTunes virtually controls the on-line music industry. Jobs knows how to make an audience hang onto his every word, and he knows how to build up suspense for a big reveal.

The I'm a Mac commercials were classic in their simplicity and their humor. They also spawned mimic commercials from Microsoft which just seem lacking by comparison.

Even the closed-mouth approach leading up to the big reveal that Apple was developing a tablet computer had blogs like Mac Rumors and Apple Insider overloaded with fan boys and girls looking for some news about a device which might not even exist.

With all the build up, I was honestly let down by the press release Apple had back in January. You're welcome to read my review here on this blog.

Now I realize something, Steve Jobs didn't have to sell the iPad. Everyone from web-sites like Gizmodo and ones mentioned above to major news companies such as the New York Times and the BBC are doing it for him.

Three hundred thousand iPads sold on the first day, according to Apple, and the numbers will only go up from there as the 3G models and new functions become available.

I don't consider myself to be an Apple fan-boy. I like their products, but I can't afford them. I might as well look at an expensive sports car as an Apple computer since I can't afford one of those either.

Still, I have to hand it to them, Apple has achieved such brand recognition that media companies around the world do their advertising for them with stories and reviews about their products. Forget some touch screen tablet, that's impressive.

Thus passes a titan

Not many people know who Dr. Edward Roberts was, but his affect on your life is apparent by the simply fact that you're reading this on-line.

Edwards invented the first personal computer, the MITS Altair 8800, in 1975.

The Altair was little more than a switchboard with a few lights and no screen, but it inspired the likes of Bill Gates, the founder of software giant Microsoft to get into the software business in the first place.

Before the Altair, the personal computer, then called microcomputers, was something for hobbyists to build and tinker with in their garages.

Gates and his partner Paul Allen had bigger ideas. Commercial software was not an economically viable business, it was simpler for large mainframe owners to simply code their own since so few businesses owned computers.

"Ed was truly a pioneer in the personal computer revolution and didn't always get the recognition he deserved," Gates wrote on his website. "We will always have fond memories of working with Ed in Albuquerque."

Roberts' box was just what Gates and his partners needed to create their first product: Microsoft Basic. Anyone who has ever heard of Windows can figure out the rest of the story.

Roberts left the computer industry nearly 30 years ago to become a doctor, but his legacy has touched the lives of everyone who's ever used a modern computer.

We should be thankful for the contributions that men like Roberts and Gates have made to world. It is impossible to imagine what technology would look like today without early enthusiasts like them.

Roberts died Thursday, April 1, of pneumonia. He was 68.