I'm pretty happy with my N97 mini (slide-out QWERTY keyboard). I just wish Opera wouldn't crash every so often (phone runs out of memory).

The Psion was pretty cool back in the day, even the second-hand monochrome one I had was useful, but I think it's a stretch to generalise that smartphones aren't that good as PDAs.

Finally, there's no alternative to having a compromise one-for-all device. Who wants to carry separate devices? Besides which the functionality all does interact (contacts - phone, file system/viewer - camera, web browser - network connectivity, etc.) We just need further improvement of designs and software. They are not that great at a given function? That may be true for individual features on particular phones (i.e. in general) but I do not accept that you cannot find some devices that excel at some of the functions despite having the kitchen sink.

But heat given by that can be resisted, e.g. by window blinds.

Insufficient solar power can be augmented by burning stuff locally.

That's not true. Nokia still have a lot of these phones and in candybar form-factor too. Admittedly mostly they aren't offered by ordinary carriers, but I have seen them in real life being offered by Tesco Mobile (if you are in the US, Tesco is a major UK grocery/everything monopoly like Walmart). They cost something like €20 or €30 (that's without signing your life away on network commitments as well!) Mostly the only issue with these (and why people don't go with it) is that it is targeted at the bottom end of the market (even O2 offer sim-only bill contracts of just €15 a month, and you can get very cheap phones with more functionality too - say at €50 price point, so Tesco is for people *really* wanting to spend almost nothing).

Anyway, the Internet is your friend as it is surely trivial to find a "dumb phone" online cheap (Hong Kong is probably a good bet - postage from there is cheap). Here in Ireland, if you manage to buy something less than €23 there is no VAT or import duty. It's probably the same where you are - i.e. buying something really cheap from Asia there are no hidden extras to pay.

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2010: 11 years after euro introduction slashdot still can't process the euro symbol character entered directly into the submit form. Pathetic.

I'm skeptical about what you say as Germany is one of the few countries that deliveries from there seem to mostly have real stamps, although I have also received packages from the Netherlands and Belgium with real stamps. Now the UK for example, yes it's mostly just labels with printing on them.

Actually I would say it is hard to choose such an algorithm that can't be guessed when you have one or two passwords, nevermind more. Such an algorithm relies on details particular to the place you're logging into, if you start obfuscating these details, it increases the complexity for the user too. As the algorithm gets better at not being guessable, you are more going to defeat the purpose of the algorithm - i.e. have a password that *you* can work out for a given situation.

The 50 notes fit comfortably in wallets here (including pre-euro) and other denominations are all smaller (5 is dinky). You won't usually have 100/200/500 notes (at least here in Ireland. People here do use large amounts of cash at times, but wads of 50s are more usual, only occasionally 100s).

I find it very difficult to use American change - as even if there was more widespread use of the dollar coin, the quarter is a bit awkward compared to having both 20c and 50c coins.

Also one wouldn't end up with so many pennies if there were 2c coins.

In general I'm a bit fan of the euro coins, even if they are a bit more regular than the old Irish pound coins (on the plus side, a small 2c rather than the gigantic 2p coin). I miss the 50p coin, which was seven-sided like the UK's.

Anyway, cash in the US is a pain, the coin problem compounded by having notes all the same size and in subdued shades (albeit they are now better than all-green). Crazy that a dollar note is the same size as $50!

Although sometimes here in Europe, it feels a bit strange anyway when you are in old locations and reflect on history. Often there are more real reminders than a bit of photo-shopping. Some town houses I pass regularly still have bullet holes (with the bullets visible) around the doors and windows, remnants of the Irish Civil War (~1922/23).

We have monuments all over the place to remind us of historical events - and while people can often forget about these things a lot of the time, the reminders are never far away if you stop for a moment to reflect.

It can be a bit strange in German cities to reflect on all that has passed - in some there are places where the reconstruction is so thorough in recreating historic buildings.

When visiting London, I had the opportunity to see remnants of the bombed out buildings there as I was passing through the area around the Barbican.

I suspect things are rather different in America, no doubt why Europeans were seen as "old" for more of them being against recent wars.

2.5 to 3 l is still in the laughably absurd range here in Europe!

A small car here is 1 l (actually just under), and a lot of people would have medium cars only a bit over that (maybe 1.2-1.4 l). Bigger engines for diesel though, but then that even so is usually more economic (just a higher up-front cost for the car and potentially less performance).

Indeed anyone still doing "click and install" today is probably doing things like editing config files and tweaking system settings to get their game to run, not look horrible, or act like more than a slideshow.

British and Irish keyboard layouts have it as Alt-Gr 4 because Alt-Gr+e is already used for é (used in Irish/Gaelic, along with á, í, ó, ú - all accessed by Alt-Gr plus the corresponding letter).

I think you are missing the point about the "you may know" thing in the email. This includes people I know who are in no way connected to the person who is trying to get me to sign up to facebook (indeed some of the suggestions are also not acquainted or connected - as I said, disparate social groups for which I am the common link).

The multiple emails are often reminders, and each has a different selection of people I "may know" on facebook. So far no false positives by facebook.

Going to be a lot if it is for each (individual) infringement. I imagine Facebook saves the email address, name, and sets up some kind of invisible profile with "guessed" friends etc. for each non-member that someone on facebook sends a join request to. That's a lot of people. Also it may even apply to those who later joined (a *LOT* more people).

I am not on facebook and regularly get their creepy emails that say "Hello 'Real Name', 'A Friend' wants you to join" and "You may know these people on Facebook: ".

It cannot come soon enough if they are prosecuted in Germany and I am reasonably sure what they are doing is illegal in other European countries, if not further afield also.

No, it's not the lowest tax of its kind in the world. A number of countries have lower rates, including neighbouring Ireland with 12.5%. Needless to say Northern Ireland has been looking for a similar rate within the UK as a whole or a special rate just for NI.

Yeah - what's especially creepy is Facebook having "virtual" profiles of people who haven't even joined, due to their friends sending you join requests (so Facebook have your email plus your circle of friends and can probably guess a lot just by your friends preferences, details etc. - nevermind photos that may have you in them).

I wonder if they do in fact keep separate records for people who they know "exist" but haven't joined?

Anyway, the join requests with "you may also know Person X, Y, Z" (and yes, you know them all, of course), with those people even from diverse social circles - it's pretty creepy.

If they do keep records for people who haven't joined it is surely illegal - even keeping your email address surely is, at least here in Europe. I wonder is there some kind of formal legal request you can make to request any details they may hold about you?