But even if you don't have genetic patents they still have an incentive... Patent for drug X that affect gene Y in this manner.. Or Patent for cheaply and accurately detecting gene Z.

Genetic patents are not really good because they patent the actual gene so nobody else can make similar and better drugs or tests for that specific thing... There in lies the evil...

If we take genetically modified crops... They are patented and they are suing people that reuse seeds from their last harvest...... Now lets say Company A gets a patent where they insert some new genetic sequence into a person... If that person then gets a kid then he will be infringing too?? Or how about if a virus would absorb a genetic-sequence and then spread over a population... Will the infected be patent-infringers too??

Patents on genes should not exist. It's a really dangerous thing that actually hinders development of new treatments and blocks actual research.

Do a google and read up a bit on the issues with genetic-patents... To get you started...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/24/gene-patents-scientific-research-innovation

The power-outlet differs between countries, but they all use 240V so using a simple adaptor will work... Laptop's AC adaptors are usually designed for anything between 110-240V...

Internet in most countries in europe is quite good, and you can buy fairly cheap 3g prepaid cards for pure data too..... and loads of cafe's have free wifi too...
Some prices for Sweden : http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Sweden
So buy a prepaid sim for the wanted duration and plug it into a cheap android phone and you have a perfect way to get online where ever you might be..

.. It can be challenging but can be done....

Here in Sweden you have lots of places where you can go and work outside.. At least in the summer when the polar-bears are not roaming the streets :)
There are quite a few places where you can sit and work inside too, as long as you order stuff for the duration... Have done that myself quite a few times, but only for about 3-4 hours at the max.. never had the need for anything longer...
Libraries can also be kind of nice if you want a bit quieter environment..

In London, at least the places i usually visit i don't see that a whole lot, but there must be some... The hotel-bars is often a good place unless it's crowded and i usually see some people working from those from time to time...

Amsterdam have tons of cafe's, and yes coffee-shop's too :), and it's a wonderful city... But same thing here... just as long as you keep your orders going... Most i have spent in one place there where about 3 hours without any complaints...

It probably differs from place to place, but as long as you are not disturbing anyone and keep ordering stuff you should not have any problem anywhere in Europe.....

But from experience you can never go wrong with the hotel-bar/cafe/lounge .. Usually you don't have to order that much and it's usually not packed during the day so they will not complain even if you don't order anything as long as you are staying in the hotel...

I usually don't stay in hostel's, but from the few i have been staying in one maybe 30% of them have had some semi-quiet place where you could sit and work... Check online before booking...

Hackerspaces do exist here, but not too many depending on where you are going... Check http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces

Well, in most instances the hardware is quite good... The bad thing is usually buggy drivers and with source, *and specifications*, for them it's fixable...

As long as the cost of replacing (some) HW is less than ~$150 you can go ahead and switch since the license of the "modern" os is something you need to think about too... Next would be what you can get for your old hardware.. If not too old you can get a few bucks for it too...

Main issues are motherboard and gfx-card... new motherboard ~$70-$120 for something that works... Graphics card for between $50-$200 depending on what requirements you have..

so 70+50 = easy switch right now..
120+200 = check what you can get for your old motherboard and gfx-card, if more than 120+200-150=$170 you can switch right now too... If less than 170 then wait for the next time you upgrade...

And btw, usually it's only the GFX card that causes issues... Have not had any major issues with any motherboard we have bought the last 3 years except for some BIOS settings that needed to be changed during installation. (AHCI / IDE mode)
(but now i have only been talking about stationary machines... laptops can be a totally different hell)

You have to check out those full-HD abacus'es now... 1920x1080 makes them real nice for working with really big numbers... :)

Infinite loop detected... failure...

not to mention that the more efficient PSU's are usually also build with a higher quality and will last longer..

Have had a few cheapo $60 psu's and they have all broken down within ~2-3 years.. The last i got was about $110 and has been running for about 3 years now... and i pay about 0.2Eur/kWh with all the taxes and crap they put on top...

No, they have a patent-agreement.. http://9to5mac.com/2012/08/13/apple-ios-devices-patents-are-licensed-to-microsoft-anti-cloning-agreement-in-place/

Thing is that Samsung did not agree on a licensing cost of $30 per phone and $40 per tablet so they took it to court... But not to forgot... Apple is also infringing on Samsung patents.....

I do think that android is a bigger threat than microsoft and that's why apple is going after that...

And might that be due to that Apple had never made a cell-phone so they needed to start from scratch with HW etc?

Samsung has been making phones for quite a while, and basing their stuff off android they just ported android to their HW and then customized the GUI, which is much easier than to write a new OS and get a working UI for the phone...

Your comparison of 3 month's vs 5 years don't really say anything if you look at the rest of the stuff...

I do agree that Samsung have taken some design-hints from apple, but i don't think that the patents apple has for those things should be valid since they are quite generic and obvious to most engineers in that market.

Hey, you never know what the Martians might try to install on it! :)

Using a PK scheme might actually be adventitious here.
Some scenarios...

- Transmitting an encrypted image with decryption before writing to flash. This requires some extra cpu for the flashing procedure.. If using a separate "failsafe" module for this would require more advanced equipment.

- Transmitting an encrypted image without decryption when writing to flash. This will require main cpu to decrypt image before running.. Either runtime or once.. If runtime it will take a few cpu cycles ie require more advanced equipment or if only once it will rewrite the unencrypted image to flash there by aging the flash. And since flash only can take a specific amount of writes before failing this would be bad too..

- If using a PK signed image all that would be required would be to transmit the image, unencrypted, to the sw-download module that would write the software to the flash. Extremely simple CPU could be used for this... If main image is corrupt in any way it would detect it before starting...

A Public Key scheme is be as secure as any symmetric key scheme in regards to validating the image that will be executed. It's actually even a bit more secure since a pure symmetric key scheme can upload junk.. They are only on the same level if you add checksums inside the encrypted image..