Sorry that should read geotargeting not geogtargeted. I blame it on the wife watching TV next to me taking my mind off my train of thought!

There is already geotargeted of videos online done on commercial grounds. If different types of traffic get "throttled" it'll only make it harder on the users of any high-bandwidth activity whether video, gaming or anything else where the ISPs are likely to be costed more than these consumers are paying. For example I used to be able to watch The Daily Show on the Comedy Channel's website from the UK. Since they sold the rights to E4, that isn't possible without going through a proxy.

Well you're very talented at parody lyrics then! I do have the musical talents (church organist amongst other things); but unfortunately I don't have the sheet music for Bohemian Rhapsody or a kareoke tape of it. Maybe if I can get the tune worked out in a singable key I'll record myself singing your lyrics and upload it to youtube for a laugh. :)

>I have no say in how my society is governed; I >doubt very much you do either. I do through voting and standing in public elections. I did hold public office for two years. This year I got 699 votes (roughly 1 in 6 of people voting). Although some politicians ignore me, I do have influence in affecting decisions. Unless you don't live in a democracy ultranova; in which case why not change your society to something that gives the public more of a say?

From what I remember card skimming has been going on locally here in the UK too. I remember a report from the police into it a while ago; although they didn't go into as much detail about the devices used.

Here most cards are "chip and pin" so you need the magstripe, chip and PIN to make a transaction.

However in foreign countries, especially over the phone or internet where a PIN can't be entered, the information on the magstripe eg card number/expiry date can be enough. The trouble with foreign transactions is they can take days after the transaction before the bank reports them.

Many people with high limits wouldn't notice until the end of the month, or if their card gets declined for hitting its limit. There are people who can view their credit card statements online; which reduces the risk of a fraud going unnoticed for longer periods.

Either way its fraud, which banks have systems in place to detect, however fraud/Identity theft is hard for the police to investigate and prosecute without evidence eg fingerprints, mobile phone numbers, details of where the fraudulent sales were sent to etc.

I've known fraudsters use stolen card details to top up a mobile phone; others have just gone on a spending spree. A similar con is writing cheques that'll bounce (although that does at least give the retailer (and in States District Attorney) a name or names as well as address (from the bank or cheque) to prosecute.

That's great, is it your original or copied and pasted? Any chance of a Youtube version or an mp3? :D

Wireless hard drives sound cool, but what about latency and lag?

I'm on the internet wirelessly, I do get latency problems from time to time due to the extra "hop".

As far as I'm concerned the internet is like a wireless hard drive to me. :) Ok, a wireless network of networks.

Graphics at a decent FPS rate does require huge amounts of bandwidth at a decent screen resolution. Just look at how online video (eg Youtube) is buffered before it starts.

A wireless network at speeds whereby wireless hard drives and wireless displays sounds very interesting, especially in say a university library where the units people use would just need to be basically a display, keyboard and mouse if they could access the servers quickly enough wirelessly. How many computers could or would be supported with wireless hard drive access (and/or wireless displays) before the available bandwidth would be used up?

Wired networks have their downsides (especially if damaged or cut accidentally), but I've generally found them to be faster and have a lower error rate.

So what are other people's experiences of the issues?

When I was on holiday in the States in 2005, I used payphones and I bought a friend a pre-paid (pay as you go) cellphone.

However I bought it with a credit card (which does tie it to me). In 2005 I also bought a pre-paid (100 Euro credit) cellphone with cash.

The problem with cellphones is that you need an awful lot of dimes to make an international call. :)

Our European cellphones (unless they're dual band pricy models) don't work in the states and vice-versa.

Considering cellphones set off metal detectors, I'd quite happily leave a "useless in America" mobile phone behind with me and just buy one locally. If the Yankee government wants to listen in to my calls (especially if I'm calling family in the UK), so be it! I've got nothing to hide; and they have my fingerprints/photo from immigration as we Brits travel under the US VISIT/visa waiver programme.

You should never say anything over a phone line you don't want recorded (as it could be at the other end) or overheard anyway... same goes for email.

The truth of the matter is; although we're just watching a video. Personally, I'd prefer to go down to the park, river or sea and go fishing; interacting with a real person rather than a fantasy boy.

I was born at the start of the 1980s. I got my first computer (Commodore 64) for my 7th birthday. I've spend a lot of my life in front of a screen, growing up with video games as a pastime, then working in computer troubleshooting and website design.

I also play music professionally. The latter I prefer as you get a reaction from an audience, whether singing or clapping. A computer can't provide the human touch yet, but artificial intelligence has come a long way from the robot dogs, a robot violin player and Sony's robot that can walk.

Sooner or later, we'll move beyond a computer's AI capacity being like a child or baby. What will we do when artificial intelligences have a similar neural capacity to humans? Will we treat artificial life as comparable to human; or continue to see human life as more important?

More of society's decisions are being taken by machine, not by people (although people programmed the machines). Where will it all end? Will we have robots like those that Isaac Asimov described with laws drummed into them not to harm people? Will we explore space, the universe and the deep ocean with artificial intelligences in places we can't go? Will we put machines at work to come up with cures to cancer, diseases or social problems eg poverty or famine?

Or in the end would we prefer our societies to be governed by people as our political systems have for generations? What will we do when artificial intelligences get physical bodies and they can pass the Turing Test?

All these are things that may come to pass in my lifetime; alternatively we may just screw things up and make the human race extinct by complete ecosystem collapse (or at least enough that the human race is made extinct).

That's why manned colonies on the Moon and Mars are essential; as a failsafe in case Planet Earth should face a major disaster (meteroid strike, global warming, biodiversity problems, problems affecting human fertility).