If you're of a certain inclination, you'll find this page a great way to waste time at work. It's the results of a survey of NMap users, revealing their favorite security tools -- "security" being to "hacking" as "liberation" is to "invasion". Frequently the difference is just a matter of perspective.

Anyway, there are a number of tools there that'll let you do sneaky things to other computer users, but the most accessible one -- and one of the coolest -- is a program called VisualRoute. It's made by these guys, and you can try it out for free. Better yet: there's a java version online! You'll need to give them your email address -- be sure to use SpamGourmet, as they specifically mention that you'll be signing up for their newsletter.

But once you've done that, you can play hacker just like they do in the movies, watching a snazzy map display each leg of network that your packets traverse to get to a given server. Okay, so it's just a fancy version of traceroute, which you already have on your computer -- but it's still a neat toy. And VisualRoute is a lot faster than sifting through traceroute data to tell where things are geographically located. A quick spin and I've confirmed that my mp3s really are coming from Moscow, that Kriston's art blog is served out of New York City (of course!), and that this site is hosted in Hong Kong, a fact I should have known but actually only dimly suspected.