THIS CALL'S FOR YOU

Also from the Land of the Rising Sun today, Web-based publisher Spicy Soft Corp. is pushing its “Anti-Groping Appli” for cell phones, specifically for use in Japan. With its notoriously packed trains and guys with roaming hands, “The application flashes increasingly threatening messages in bold print on the phone's screen to show to the offender: "Excuse me, did you just grope me?" "Groping is a crime," and finally, "Shall we head to the police?" To activate it, users simply press an "Anger" icon in the program to progress to the next threat. A warning chime accompanies each message. The designer says it’s “for women who want to scare away perverts with minimum hassle and without attracting attention.” It’ll never sell in New York; folks here prefer to state their objections a little more clearly (To say the least).