Has computer-aided cheating made us stupid and lazy?

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that Google has created a mobile phone application that will solve any Sudoku puzzle? Google Goggles, as it's called, uses a phone's camera to take a snap of the puzzle. It sends the grid of boxes to Google's central servers, where the numbers are effortlessly filled in, and a picture of the result is sent back to the phone's owner.

Simple. And, obviously, marvellous for the puzzle aficionado. Or is it? When the news was splashed on the front page of a national newspaper last week, the article began: "The days of Sudoku could be numbered, thanks to Google..." The paper's puzzles editor shook his head and called it "a sad day" for puzzle fans, as if they would henceforth have no choice but to use the app rather than employ their own ingenuity and logic to solve Sudokus.