My point is that free speech is a different concept in parts of Europe. Just as the word God will be interpreted differently depending on context, the same applies for any other word. I'm not trying to say what is right or wrong. But a lot of people in Europe do view the US as more oppressive than our own governments desipte the "lack" of free speech.

While it is completely true that there are many countries in the UN that definitely don't have proper free speech your comment highlights a major difference in the European and American interpretation of the term "free speech". In most of Europe free speech means the freedom to express your thoughts and opinions. Free speech is not considered the freedom to say anything you please.

For example if I were to set up a web site proclaiming that all black people are simply not human and that black women should be raped at will on the streets because they deserve it it would not be considered to be protected under free speech in (most of) Europe. A site like that would be taken down and I would be fined at least.

Frankly I'm not sure how a web site like that would fare in the US. Anyone care to enlighten me?

For a simple implementation: Definitely. For photo-realistic real time images mirroring you posing in real time? Maybe, maybe not.

I don't claim to be an expert on these things. :)

Like some pointed out, Finland.

Unfortunately moving here is not a trivial process, and the language is a huge hurdle. But I do love it, personally. Still, there are a lot of other good options too. :)

I have a 200Mbps connection at home, and for now it's fine for, well, everything. But it's really hard to tell what kind of speeds will be useful in the future. Let's imagine a virtual tailor service... Assume that you could go online, image yourself with a high res 3D webcam, and order custom clothes, complete with a virtual mirror to try them on. I'm guessing my 200Mbps connection would fall short at that point.

This is the kind of chicken and egg problem we have with broadband right now. The next generation of online services can't be profitable because the infrastructure isn't there, and at the same time there is "no demand" for really high speed connections, since there are no services that need them.

But at least one can stay positive and hope for cool sci-fi tech, right? ;)

This could be pretty cool for when you have your hands dirty and don't need your keyboard to be too. Scrolling recipes, for example.

PS. Que the porn jokes...

Python and Javascript are both good choices.

Python is fun, intuitive, and shares most concepts with a lot of popular languages.

Javascript on the other hand is much more powerful than a lot of people realize. It lends itself to both functional and event driven programming, and has an object model which will let you do a lot of interesting things. It also runs anywhere you have a modern browser, and with the way HTML5 is developing will let you develop full applications better and better every day.

I don't see how you could go wrong with any of those. I'd go with learning both.

I just watched Iron Sky yesterday, where something like this was portrayed. "Wonder how long until that is common?" I thougt to myself.

Now the real question is will it ever become mainstream?

I switched to using leds quite early (not Philips), and while the energy saving is definitely worth it I've had one die on me and another if flickering occationally.

The issue seems to be the electronics rather than the leds themselves. And while I do plan to buy leds in the future as well I think it's premature to assume the 20 year figure will hold. Time will tell.

I for one welcome our Stargate Atlants inspired nanotech-changeling replicator overlords.