>>>Presently mastercard/visa/amex assume most of the liability (and they very well better for the transaction fees they charge.)

I have no idea why everybody thinks this.

I've been in the card processing business for over 15 years. I have never seen a card brand take the hit on a fraudulent charge. Its always the merchant who pays with a chargeback, unless they can absolutely prove the real cardholder made the charge. Each merchant has an acquiring bank for their card processing merchant account, and the only risk these financial institutions take is the case of card fraud with a chargeback to a merchant who has disappeared with the money.

Also, most of the fees go to the card issuer Chase or Citibank for example. They are taking the risk that a card holder will not pay. The merchant pays these fees that are generally passed on in the form of higher prices.

The reality of the liability shift is more complicated than anybody really appreciates. Whoever the weakest link in the chain is will assume the liability. If a merchant sticks with the old mag strip reader and the consumer has an EMV card, the merchant will always assume the responsibility. If a merchant accepts chip & signature when the consumer is capable of chip & pin, again the merchant will take responsibility. The banks and processors will never be the weak link in the chain because they all support the strongest forms of the new protocols.

Certain card issuers already have a large number of chip & signature cards in the field - Citibank for example. The other issuers realized that if they all issued chip & pin, grandma would just start using her old chip & signature card because she wouldn't bother to get a pin number and use it. By the new rules, merchants who can take chip & pin, but issuers only offer chip & signature are not the weak link in the chain - the card issuer will be. I am sure there will be law suits making sure the card issuers are held liable for their making the decision to being the weak link in the chain.

This is where the law of unintended consequences will rear its ugly head. With EMV, counterfeit cards go away. This means that card fraud will require a real card. Ladies & gentleman - watch your wallets and purses - those cards will be like cash to a thief. You can bet that the rules for reporting lost & stolen cards will greatly tighten, and the consumer will totally be held liable for charges made on lost & stolen cards.

So I should trust the Italian court system more for health advice on this matter than the CDC, American Medical Association and the Autism Speaks organization? That's a lot of dumbed down Americans to ignore...

10.5 Billion is a lot of money.

Maybe they suspect that Google and Space-X will launch new satellite technology that will make these wired lines obsolete.

He has a bit too much pride IMHO. He could accomplish much more if he developed a team of writers to make larger better stories. What would Linux be if Linus Torvalds was the only author allowed to develop its code?

We have excellent results with Sophos. It has not been a drain on resources and has blocked everything so far for a couple of years on over 250 windows systems and servers. Symantec became ineffective and ruined performance. Microsoft Security Essentials is much better than it used to be and if you only surf safe sites and run commercial software, it will likely be fine; it comes loaded on Windows 8 and is free for Windows 7.

When you're angry, the media is spreading fear, and citizens are demanding action from their government, its all to easy to swing wildly too far in giving up freedom and privacy. We've had more than a decade of that in the US and it isn't pretty.

We get mad when we hear about the Snowden revelations. We get mad when the government doesn't monitor "known" threats. We get mad when our government doesn't treat captured terrorist killers kindly. You cannot have it both ways.

The best answer is for each citizen to keep their eyes open and report suspicious people to authorities who are properly funded and equipped to handle these things in a responsible way. Come on, can't a gun shop owner selling two assault rifles and 800 rounds of ammo figure out that something other than deer hunting is planned? Why can't communities be prepared to help mentally ill people who have not yet committed felonies?

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

There are a lot of industrial processes that generate *a lot* of CO2. A quick check on Wikipedia indicates that 5% of man made CO2 is from the manufacture and use of concrete. Steel production is another big one.

Industrial processes are something we can improve without unbearable cost increases in the foreseeable future.

In the transportation sector, marine shipping accounts for 14% of man made CO2 and mostly through the combustion of the dirtiest bunker fuel. Nuclear powered ships are an obvious solution.

Its hard to imagine any technology that we can realistically apply in the next decade to reduce CO2 from aircraft in any meaningful amounts. Why bother with aircraft when there is so much other obvious low hanging fruit?

Also on the AR coating - If you buy Google glass (or something like it in the future) and need correction, be sure to get AR coating. The small screen will have annoying reflections with out anti-reflective coating. I didn't get AR coating and now wish I had.

Since my correction is basic, plain readers work fine for single vision use.

I hated my progressives at first, but after a week I grew to like them a lot. They don't replace readers or sunglasses unfortunately though.

My progressives are useless for a computer screen. I have to tilt my head back to see through the part of the lenses with the right correction and they are literally a pain in the neck.

I was also disappointed at first because I got transition lenses thinking that I could do away with my sunglasses. Transitions need UV light to darken and when I'm driving (the time I most need sunglasses) they do not darken.

That said, I like them now that I've gotten accustomed to them. They are good for using with a smartphone and tablet. They are especially good for me at night when driving, because I can more easily read the dashboard indicators. They are also great for all the times I'm not using a large computer screen or outdoors.

I totally agree. My laptop died and I decided to try the Surface Pro 3 a month ago. Its the best laptop I've had so far. Good performance and very long battery life.

I bought the first and second iPad the day they came out and I carry an iPhone. I have not used my iPad since the day I got the Surface and I use it as a tablet every day. Even Apple accessories I have for my MacBook air and iPad work fine with the surface - e.g. video adapter for projector/second monitor/tv and the hard wired Ethernet adapter, etc. The tablet apps on the Microsoft side of the fence are often horrid, but for the basic ones I really use - e.g. Kindle - it works fine.

If my desktop died, I would try a Surface docking station with a 4K monitor.

I'll probably get an Apple Watch and it will be obsolete within a year. This is the watch I hope somebody will make:

Applications:
Time ( analog and digital)
Weather (current and 5 day)
Music (streaming and offline/stored to bluetooth headset)
Games
Fitness
Universal Remote (car, thermostat, door locks, tv, game controller, camera, etc)
Payments/Passbook (nfc, QR-Code wallet)
Voice Messaging/Notes
Voice Search (e.g. Siri)
To Do List
Hands Free Call
Facetime/Hangouts
Calculator
Calendar/Schedule
Translate
Alerts/Notifications integration
Dashboard/Tracker
Two factor Authentication
Data storage/exchange

Must Have features:
Microphone
BlueTooth
Accelerometer
Compass
Vibrate
iPhone compatibility
Android compatibility
iPhone notifications
Android notifications

Important features:
Camera
NFC
GPS
Touch Screen
Bright LED (flashlight)
I/R Led (remote control)
Water Resistance

Nice to have features:
Integrated Phone
Ambient temperature
Body Temperature
Blood Pressure
Video diplay driver/irda
Swappable Band
Swappable Case
Wireless and/or Movement Charging

Key functionality:
Shake gestures
Voice Recognition
Touch screen gestures
Swipe keyboard
Activity context
Use a desktop web app or tablet app to set up
Themes
Reflective display
Backlit Display

Agreed. Why not let scores go more that -1 and let us filter out the really unpopular stuff? If I wan't to read the really unpopular crap, I can change my filter.

Fair question. I sold my Z06 Corvette earlier this year, but that's the only car I've ever owned in that price range. I don't really compare the Z06 Vette to a Model S P85, so you're right I may not have enough experience to say its better than other luxury sedans. I have friends with Mercedes, Audi, Lexus and Porche Panamera and I have to admit that they are really nice too.

I felt I had to reply to the comment that electric cars are a liberal pipe dream. I don't consider myself a liberal and Teslas are not a pipe dream.

We've had ours coming up on two years. By far the best car I've ever owned and driven. It does actually work very well and when maintenance costs and savings on gas are included, its not really more costly than any other comparable luxury sedan.

Tesla may today be a niche company, but its certainly no liberal pipe dream.

From your perspective, what country fights for liberty?