What about daughter companies like the Microsoft Deutschland GmbH? Are they US companies? Can they be compelled to hand over data stored on their European servers?

The Orange Box bundled:
-Portal
-Half Life 2
-Team Fortress 2

Seven years later, all three are still among the best games to have and play.

He should, but he couldn't. Apparently he had already spent more than the $500.000 he had crowdfunded to fight the troll. Not everyone can afford justice.

No. Standard insurance does not cover commercial drivers. They'd have to get a different kind of insurance. AFAIK if someone with standard insurance caused an accident, the insurance would pay the victims and then demand its money back from the insured person.

Uber would certainly need to verify that its drivers are covered appropriately.

1, 2, 3. Insurance, inspections and drivers licenses are strictly controlled in Germany and violations are rare. Furthermore, I'd expect Uber to demand copies of the relevant documents.
1. Uber seems to provide additional insurance to its customers.
2. I think the standards for roadworthy cars are high enough in Germany. If someone wants even higher standards, he can simply not choose to use Uber.
3. With current navigational systems, local geographic knowledge is not very important anymore.
6. The app provides users with knowledge of the drivers behavior towards his customers. That's good enough for me. Giving former criminals an option to earn a living legally seems like a good thing.

I assume that customers of Uber are aware of the compromises they're taking. The rating system in addition to the legal requirements for normal drivers should ensure a high enough safety and quality of service. People who are not content with that can make use of other, more tightly controlled services.

1. In Germany, insurance that covers passengers is mandatory for anyone driving a car.
2. All cars have pass inspection every two years.
3. The tests to get a drivers license are quite stringent and you have to take driving lessons at a licensed school.
4. A drivers license will be revoked quickly if you rack up penalty points.
5. The Uber app should be able to warn users if the driver takes a longer route than necessary.
6. AFAIK, the Uber app provides ratings for drivers and customers and both drivers and customers can be rejected beforehand by the other party.

Probably to satisfy some quota. As seems to be the case for the no-fly list.

The German supreme court ruled that any election mechanism must provide accountability in a form that is verifiable without special knowledge. The voting machines in use did not provide this feature. Other implementations combine electronic voting with a paper trail and would be acceptable. In fact we've been using paper ballots in combination with a barcode scanner to count complex elections. We can't verify the software (which is a glorified Excel sheet that allows for manual corrections anyway), but we can look over each others shoulders and we do still have a paper trail that can be verified.

And that's all that Oculus claims. According to them, you can implement experiences that make nobody sick with the DK2. The hardware is no longer to blame. But why would an experience that makes you sick in real life not make you sick when simulated?

+1

Any kind of unusual light seems to work. I've written a small app (Better Bike Light) to use my cell phone as a rear light. When I use it, cars are considerably more considerate when bypassing me. I'm not sure if they're more careful when encountering something unfamiliar or are just curious, but it seems to work.

The terms were dictated by the US. They are part of the agreements that regulate(d) the occupation of Germany (see Truppenstationierungsabkommen).

The wheels are very close to the chassis. I wonder whether the vehicle has any suspension at all.

And if you don't want to spend your money on a gadget, you can get localized pass predictions from heavens-above.com .

1. Yes, Sony has a bad track record when it comes to marketing VR glasses. (Did you even know that VR glasses for the PS2 exist?) However, with all the press Oculus has generated and the competition getting ready, Sony may be willing to make a bigger bet on VR.

2. FB seems to be going for a hands off approach that won't hinder the adoption of the Oculus Rift. I'm at least willing to take a wait and see approach before condemning the buyout. Apart from that, core members of Oculus like John Carmack and Michael Abrash as well as Mark Zuckerberg seem to be inspired to implement the Metaverse as described in Snow Crash. This is likely a medium term goal that comes on top of the general Oculus platform.

3. Valve has clearly stated that they are not interested in producing their own VR hardware. And the former core members of Valves VR team are now employed by Oculus. Valve will likely promote good VR hardware solutions and software and provide a uniform VR API. It's also probable that we'll see recommended bundles of VR hardware, Steam boxes and the Steam controller.