Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Tagging Contacts In Address Book

There is no native support for tagging in OSX and iOS Address Book but there is a way to actually do some tagging so you can get rid of folders completely.

Note: Though the screen shots are in iOS, you can also do the same thing in OSX Address Book

Step 1: Add a new field to the contact 



Step 2: Select Job Title




Step 3: Fill in the Job Title with the tags you need. 

START THE TAG WITH DASHES. The dash is not needed but it will help with searching short tags like "CS" which could be contained within names. This will aid in searching. 

Job Title is chosen because it's one of the few fields where indexing is done but is likely to be less bothersome if filled with tags instead of the actual thing. It'd be very annoying if this was done in the Nickname field. 



 

Step 4: Test the search function



There you have it. Tagging in OSX/iOS Address Book. You are still free to add a proper Job Title if you want. You can just append the tags at the end.




Friday, October 12, 2012

Defending The Offending

With all the hoopla with RA 10175, I am inclined to share my views here.
Disclaimer: I am not a political person but this are just my thoughts.

Cyber-crime bill

There were a lot of things in this bill that seemed debatable to me and that's fine. I'll leave the debates as to what is lawful and unlawful to the politicians who are supposed to be doing this for us (let's assume for a moment that they actually do this). However, the libel section to me seems undebatable and just plain wrong. Offense is not something that should be criminally punishable because offense or the perception of malice or defamation of character is a characteristic that has nothing to do with objectivity and everything to do with subjectivity.

One might think that I'm confusing libel with being offensive but to me, it's just a hair's width to cross that line. Freedom of expression entails that even the most vile of statements should not be silenced because in it is the hope that all the other voices shall drown out the offensive to most people.

The Case Of Ms. Cheong

Take the case of Ms. Cheong here. Last Sunday, she posted this on her Facebook wall.


By Monday, the post went viral and by Monday afternoon, just over 24 hours after posting, she has lost her job (purportedly not because of the public clamor for it but because of the post itself). Is it offensive? Of course. Without a doubt, it's a portrayal of how ugly human behavior can be. But did she really deserve to lose her job over it? That's questionable to me. She has since apologized and has left the country

It also is apparently a crime in this country to incite enmity through spreading racially or religiously offensive materials. It is yet to be concluded whether or not this constitutes this.  

On the Defense Of The Offensive (People)

It's not about that. The thing about communication is that it's potentially empowering and hurtful at the same time. Like a good knife, when used correctly, it allows you to slice up a nice piece of meat. When used incorrectly, it allows some people to treat other people like pieces of meat. But unlike a knife, you don't need to be stitched up when hurtful words are directed at you.