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Comment Re:Expert naval tactics (Score 1) 501

How exactly are the Belgians the second best drivers? About twice as many people die in traffic in Belgium compared to the Netherlands, which is similar in most aspects, except for the fact that we don't down a litre of beer during lunch.

I live in Liege two days a week and whenever I pass the border, I put on my crash helmet.

Comment Re:It's me. (Score 1) 550

And if certain members of congress [slashdot.org] have their way your ISP will have to give that info to the government when it demands it, unless of course you do not live in the US.

How will the government make sure that the ISPs won't withold data from citizens by claiming they are foreign?

The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Canadian penny to cost Toronto $47,680 4

owlgorithm writes: The Royal Canadian Mint is demanding the city of Toronto pay $47,680 for using a picture of a Canadian penny in campaign advertisements for setting aside money for municipalities. The mint is also seeking compensation for the city's use of the phrase "one cent" in the campaign.
Programming

Submission + - When a CGI script is the most elegant solution

An anonymous reader writes: Writing local Web applications can be quick, easy, and efficient for solving specific Intranet problems. Learn why a Web browser is sometimes a better interface than a GUI application and why experienced Web developers find themselves struggling to learn a GUI toolkit, and descover that a simple CGI script would serve their needs perfectly well, if not better.
Patents

Submission + - EC: Microsoft patents aren't innovative

ukhackster writes: The EC is threatening Microsoft with yet more fines. This time, it's over the interoperability protocols that Microsoft has been ordered to open up to its rivals. The EC has examined 1,500 pages of information about the protocols, and concluded that they "lack significant innovation".

This is pretty damning for both Microsoft and the patent system, as it has been awarded 36 patents covering this technology and has another 37 pending. Could this encourage someone like the EFF to start pushing to get these patents overturned?
HP

Submission + - HP's Advance Breathes New Life into Moore's Law

silentounce writes: Scientific American and other sources report that "researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. have devised a way to make a specialized type of computer chip up to eight times denser using nanotechnology, in a development that could extend the life of current chipmaking technologies." They call the new technology a "field programmable nanowire interconnect (FPNI)". They've created a switch that can route info more efficiently inside a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), a specific kind of chip. "We essentially provided a recipe to improve the circuitry of FPGA's by the equivalent of three generations of Moore's law without having to shrink the transistor," says Stan Williams, a senior fellow and director of quantum science research at HP's research laboratory.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Barnes and Noble Refuses to Refund Lost Package

Flavio Ribeiro writes: "On September 2006 I ordered $300 worth of books from Barnes & Noble. I've been ordering books online regularly for about 10 years, but this was my first order from B&N. I'm a grad student on a budget, so I payed for the cheapest shipping. Since I'm overseas and I've had packages take almost 3 months to arrive, I waited diligently. When nothing arrived, I e-mailed B&N. This is the response I got:
The package has not been returned to our warehouse as undeliverable to the shipping address you provided. (...) When no delivery confirmation is available, we will refund a lost package up to sixty (60) days after the expected delivery date. As it is now beyond sixty days, kindly contact your credit card issuer to dispute the charge.
My second attempt to contact B&N was answered with the same pre-written message, which I find quite insulting. My credit card issuer (Credicard Citi) refuses to dispute the charge, as is their policy with all charges. The fact I payed with Paypal also complicates matters. Additionally, Paypal automatically deferred and closed the claim I filed with them. The way I see this, B&N failed to deliver the purchased items, and refuses to take any action. They set an arbitrary short deadline that exempts them from further responsibility, which lets them bully international customers. This practice would never work out if B&N were a local company, since I'd be able to file claims at the local equivalent of the BBB.

I need your advice. What can I do to get a refund?"
Portables

Submission + - PDAs: The Downfall Of Marital Sex

zyl0x writes: Forbes.com has a story online about the "Crackberry" generation of IT and how constant, wireless connectivity negatively affects our lives, in particular, our sex lives. The article quotes a clinical psychologist who has coined the phrase "DINS couples" (double income, no sex), and goes into details of how mobile devices and too much office responsibility may be damaging our sex lives.
From the article:
"What does this mean for constantly connected couples? According to therapists and psychologists, around-the-clock access to the office often results in fatigue, a lack of intimacy, resentment, increased conflict and even premature career burnout. All of which are enough to crater a less-than-solid marriage or relationship."

Not that many of us have a sex life to lose, but maybe our Black- and Blueberrys are the ultimate cause?

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