A billion is a million million for everyone but a few misguided individuals ;-)

Thanks to both for your answers. It seems I misread this article about the limits of quantum computing.

AFAIK, quantum computing algorithms are only able to square root the complexity. IOW, since the best factorisation algorithms are exponential, you only need to double the key length to stay safe agains quantum computers.

I repeat: as far as I know. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Which is why you can:

</path/to/file sed -e 's/what/ever/g ; s/foo/bar/g'

Of course, pasting a link is such a hard task... I can't understand who ever thought hypertext would ever be useful.

Fixed that for you. Since you can't be 100% safe, safety is not an excuse for whole sale spying.

I think you are wrong. In Europe, for example, a software algorithm is only patentable as part of a physical method and only as far as that physical method is concerned. So you can patent an algorithm that imitates a servomechanism to keep a motor from stalling but that patent only applies to the physical system it is embedded in. I can freely use the same algorithm to, say, control the pressure of a boiler, if it is appliable.

That is, unless I have misread or forgot something.

Are all video games banal? Are any banal video games socially positive?

"... there is a whole world of socially positive and banal applications for drones that are yet to be discovered."

I find it a bit difficult to understand that something banal is socially positive. Then again, maybe I am just not too social.

I am completely amatteurish, and I don't know which one is better.

Not to karma-whore, but actually almost nothing is mirrored: the gears usually handle the same way (which makes it easier for right-hand driving since the shorter gears are nearer to the driver), the dashboard is just moved around, and even the starter key hole is on the right of the driving wheel. Then again, I also know of English cars (a Land Rover to be specific) which had the starter key hole on the left, which is almost unheard of in the rest of Europe.

It's just you being crabby.

Not to raise your paranoia, but your "dumb" phone isn't as dumb as you think it is. While it is acting as cell phone it needs to keep the towers appraised of its location so you can receive calls and it can roam from one cell to the next.

Not anymore, it seems :)