That's not how it works, iris-n. The pound fluctuates against the euro, it always has done and it always will. It went from 1.3 to 1.2, but it's been 1.04 before. This doesn't make Britain richer or poorer linearly as most of the GDP is spent within the UK itself. For instance the NHS pays doctors and nurses in pounds, therefore the pound going down makes no difference, but it will make drugs more expensive to buy from abroad.

Phillip.

A melody or a lyric is not like an API. A musical note or an alphabetical letter is. To take your own example, "For example, I can play "Yesterday" on a piano, guitar, speak-and-spell, and it's still a Beatles song". The musical notation is the API, and you are able to implement the copyrighted melody via that API on a variety of different instruments. Imagine if somebody held the copyright to the API and only allowed a guitar solo to be performed on a particular brand of guitar? Would music be where it is now?

If you allow an API to be copyrighted then you will destroy a good amount of the software industry. Designers already do lock down APIs when they want to, even 'open' APIs such as Google and Facebook require you to generate an API key which they control the validity of.

It should definitely NOT be copyrightable. It would be detrimental to both industry and society.

Phillip.

I dunno. I still browse every so often, but the quality of the discussions seems lacking - there's precious little that I feel is worth the effort of contributing to.

According to FF, this is the first time I've actually logged in since August of 2013.

RIP Kuro5hin. I remember it, anyway.

You are confused between wealth tax and capital gains tax.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_tax

Capital gains is only due when you sell something for more than you bought it. Wealth tax is an annual tax paid on your net worth, including property, shares, and potentially Bitcoin. Australia does not have a wealth tax.

Phillip.

In France, the French government no longer accept euros. For instance you can only pay the first €300 of your council tax bill in cash but generally all payments now have to be in electronic form.

Phillip.

Not on the Lenovo computers. I was stupid enough to buy one because it was on sale, thinking Linux ran on just about anything. Not on Lenovo. If only I'd bought the older Android version at least it would be usable, but Windows 8.1 means it is currently being used as a paperweight.

Phillip.

Agreed, Apple can get away with inferior underpowered hardware because it's "good enough". Cars are based on acceleration, mileage and safety. Throw in number of charge points and charging time for electric. The great gadgets and software in the Tesla don't even get a mention.

Though if Apple do produce a car, expect to see cracked windows on about half of them driving around.

Phillip.

The Tesla is an incredible car. I love the finishing, the build quality is great as well as the comfort. The screen is killer as is the software. The A4 size map right in front of you is a game-changer, and you can flick the map up onto the dash behind the wheel so you can navigate at the same time as drive through trickier/busier areas. The acceleration is beyond that of my "European" sports car. The styling is very neutral but I personally find it very pretty.

The "big boys" have been left in the dust. The offerings from BMW, Mercedes and Porsche have been pathetic vapourware. Ferrari are toys, all my friends with Ferraris use them as "weekend cars" and have a Bentley for day to day. I am amazed how such profitable companies like the aforementioned have managed to turn into such dinosaurs.

Phillip.

Of all the people that go on about the love of the noise and shifting gears, few have them have driven a Tesla. We will end up having two cars. Tesla for every day, and a sports car just for track days (or a run around Nurburgring). Once you have experienced never having to go to a gas station again, it would be hard to go to a petrol car again.

Interesting Amazon TopGear comment though, makes me think ferries and Eurostar should have Tesla chargers built in. A perfect time to recharge.

Phillip.

I'm quite happy with the "flat tyre" on the 360 considering what it gives in return. It's still too thick though. I can see why people will buy it though. I will hold out for gen 3.

Phillip.

Please post those hacks. I bought a Miix3 as I only wanted it for browsing, and I already want to throw it in the bin as Microsoft Windows 8 is unusable. At the moment it is a paperweight until Linux can be ported onto it.

Phillip.

"The UK had no beef in this originally, they were just acting on an EU arrest warrant"

They acted on an invalid EU warrant. They post-fixed the paperwork later when he was in solitary. And why was he unnecessarily put in solitary? There were so many things wrong about the way the UK went about it.

Bail-jumping was a serious thing to do but Assange had weighed up his options. The risk of being executed evidently outweighed being cooped up in a hole for years. He was pretty much screwed either way.

Phillip.

I don't get your point. What does being a jerk have to do with anything? The guy took on a massively funded secret organisation in the US government that has the ability to assassinate people with no consequences, and put that country back onto the path of accountable democracy. He put the US on the first step of fixing their democracy. Next is their corrupt Senate and system of lobbying, but that's not his battle.

Phillip.

It's strange you label 90% of the people as "having no fucking clue". Even if they are the silent majority, most people appreciate the work Assange has done. A lot of them are actually quite literate. He has made a lot of sacrifices, ones that most of us would never make. Without Assange, we would never have had Snowdon. There would be no public debate. Just the gradual slide of democratic nations into a police state.

Your knowledge of France, the law, or even the word capitulate, is suspect. I think you have nothing to contribute so should probably shut up.

Phillip.

Remember when BT got lambasted as they intercepted all their user's web page requests using Phorm to be able to track users and insert their own ads into web pages? There was a big backlash with everybody saying a web page should be allowed to travel from a web server to a web browser unmolested. It's no surprise they will jump at an excuse to be able to intercept all their users web pages and manipulate the content before it arrives at the web browser. Sets a great precedent for them.

It would be interesting to see transcripts of Cameron's speech as it's hard to believe he is as idiotic as he has been made out to be. His quote that we must "deal with the Internet" doesn't mean anything as radical as a report button on web pages. Though his quote "We must not allow the internet to be an ungoverned space" is bound to make him a hate figure globally online. I've no idea how his PR man let that slip past. "Just because you are online does not mean you are immune from the law" would have been much better.

Phillip.