Not really a monopoly, rather a cartel. I know this is largely a semantic difference because to you, I and millions of businesses the end result is the same but a monopoly is a single entity, payment processors are 2 large entities (Visa and MasterCard) and a few smaller ones (notably AMEX and Discover) colluding together.

And the issues come from governments, specifically the US government giving them too much power. Most other western countries (EU, UK, Australia) have laws that state they must process the payment _UNLESS_ it is explicitly illegal. No playing "moral policeman", if someone wants to pay for sex, then they can pay (assuming it's legal in that jurisdiction). We also tend to provide non-card based options like direct bank transfers, free of charge so that if they do kick up a stink it's not going to matter anyway.

The only borders I'd be concerned about taking a sensitive phone across are those around despotic regimes like North Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States. I'd take my phone over most western, Asian or South American borders without a second thought because Thailand/Germany/Australia/Canada/Dominican Republic/et al. couldn't care less about inspecting my phone unless I've become a suspect in a crime... which has never happened to anyone I know.

The US CBP has always had a hard on against porn, so they regularly check phones for it (*gasp* we can't have people enjoying sex now can we) which hasn't really bothered me as I don't film homemade porn on my phone (lighting and quality would be abysmal) but it seems now they're looking for anything critical of Dear Leader now, which is why they get mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Saudi Arabia.

I'm not sure how expensive phones are in Spain, but why didn't they just get a burner in Spain if you're going to use a Spanish SIM card? A fully functional cheap Android phone in the UK goes from as little as £70, although I'd be looking at around £150 for my needs. Before I got a dual SIM phone I just used to travel using an older phone anyway as I travel with a different SIM to the one I use in the UK.

As for cameras, I believe in carrying one on holiday because you get better shots with decent glass and a real mechanical lens. Just a decent point and shoot, no need to go crazy, whilst good equipment will not automatically make you a better photography the reverse is the opposite, poor equipment will make you a worse photographer.

I'd buy a new SD card for it before travelling to the US though, although I've no plans to do that until you lads manage to sort your shit out.

I remember how bad the later Petinums were that the AMD Athlon64 ate their lunch. It got so bad they had to abandon the Pentium name for "Core" which were only marginally better. They got lucky with the "Core 2" not being terrible and at the same time AMD's Phenom processors being a poor follow on from Athlon.

Now it seems laptops are regularly coming with AMD processors, so the last market Intel had a stranglehold on is seeing competition. Intel doesn't do well under competition.

Thanks, those are very interesting links with solid information.

This, we're seeing the rise of ultra-nationalism in western countries and it will be the destruction of us if it's not stopped.

Also the GP is wrong. Globalism didn't start in the 1940s or 50s after the fall of fascism, it started in the 80s after the rise of Reagan/Thatcherism. The rise of ever more right wing policies has enabled and encouraged more and more jobs and industries to be sent overseas in the name of increased shareholder value. The 50's, economically at least were a good time for the US (Socially it was a total mess but beyond the scope of the argument I feel).

It's the same thing with Mexico, companies went to India because places like Mexico got too expensive.

India is becoming expensive and Indian oligarchs know it, so they are now demanding Indians work 80 hours a week for the same pay.

I doubt they're moving off to Nepal though as Nepal doesn't have the infrastructure.

I've long stopped considering electronic music to be music because a computer is not an instrument.

The music industry has loved this kind of thing because musical instruments require talent to play, especially to play well which gives the artist a large mesure of power over their own destiny, rights, a voice... things that music execs hate because they can use that to get more of their precious, sweet, sweet profit.

A "DJ" or rapper can be replaced easily as they don't have any actual talent. Doubly so for pop stars these days as it's all autotuned to within an inch of their lives (so much so that the "artist" can't recreate the sound using their own voice, so they all mime at their shows these days, and to think there was a time where we derided Kylie because she was the only one doing it). The person doing the performance has become the least important part of it considering most of the time someone else writes their own song. Execs really dug their own grave by making music so drab, boring, repetitive and especially by removing all requirement for any kind of musical talent, AI is set to eat their lunch and their biggest problem is not that AI can replicate their process... but the fact anyone can use it, their problem is that they don't control the AI.

You're right that AI is no different than when a label assembles a band (or runs a non-talent show to find someone).. but you couldn't be more wrong about AI being an instrument.

Not big on reading are you? I didn't say it wasn't successful. .

>>The Oct 7th attack didnt come from Jordan or any of the surrounding countries. It came from the people Israel hasnt allowed to have any kind of self determination for well over half a century.

hezbollah has been launching missiles at northern israel out of lebanon for decades. at a certain point you have to admit that these people just really, really hate the jews

also, it's not like the jews didn't spend some 1400 years trying to 'ingratiate themselves to the locals' with no success.

and? seriously, like the guy asked, what hornet's nest did that longstanding community, big or small, kick exactly?

Hey, I'm amazed most people manage to read the whole headline.

Also it would appear this restaurant doing research on it's guests is it's USP. So people are signing up for the personalised experience. This isn't a local IHOP keeping tabs on who comes in for waffles... although the number of people who download a restaurant chain app giving huge corporations access to massive amounts of personal data on them for a 5 cent discount is astounding (and they'll be the first ones crying that their privacy wasn't protected) but I digress, this isn't the kind of restaurant your average paranoid crank^W^W Slashdotter will visit, especially accidentally.

If anything I'm curious as to how they did this before the age of social media... although not curious enough to read the article.

This is why most countries have advertising standards that give legal meanings to words like "lifetime" or "unlimited". Advertisers love words that have no meaning or very ambiguous meanings like "organic" (anything that contains organic molecules). This is why multi-vitamin ads concentrate on words like "wellness" and "feeling" rather than pretend there is a tangible health benefit, it's specifically avoids saying there is a tangible health benefit because they want to give the impression of doing something without having to commit to making a product that works under real world testing.

The US doesn't seem to have advertising standards so advertisers can lie their arses off.

Here in the UK, a product description will very, very rarely include the term "lifetime" because it's a term that has a legal definition and obligation. If it does, what "lifetime" means is defined in the terms and conditions very, very, very, very, very, very clearly. What the big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

This.

Chrome isn't a full blown general purpose OS like Windows or Linux, it was designed to be a limited OS for low powered hardware. Also it's not been very successful so it makes sense to roll it into the Android project.