What an unfortunate company name... A "urthecast" sounds more like a documentary about the voyage of a tiny camera making its way to your bladder.

So Nissan just needs to come up with a new version of the Leaf that has the same battery capacity but sells for $10k and comes with a 12-year battery warranty? I can't wait!

The hardware may be getting out there for accepting payments, but as far as using your phone to pay, in the US the cell phone carriers are doing everything they can to screw things up for everyone. I bought a phone with NFC and foolishly assumed that I'd be able to use Google Wallet with it. I didn't realize that most of the major carriers (pretty much everyone but Sprint) are working on their own so-far stillborn alternative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis_%28mobile_payment_system%29), so they don't allow Google Wallet to function.

I never thought about the fact that Thinkpads don't scream "steal me!" until my ex-girlfriend's apartment was burglarized about 5 years ago. The idiot thief took a cheap, shiny looking Acer laptop and left behind two X-series Thinkpads that were sitting out in the open on a coffee table.

So the idea is that everyone will fly into the US and then take a boat or helicopter to the ship? You're still going to have to go through US customs when you enter the country and at least get at least a tourist visa for whatever amount of time you're on US soil, and then go through again to leave for the "love boat" to avoid having your visa expire. Of course that might not be such a hassle compared to getting a work visa, but it's not like you can just go straight to this place without dealing with customs.

If the information on a pre-RFID passport is sufficient for international travel -- which it presumably is, since I and millions of others still travel with them -- then an RFID-equipped passport with a non-functioning RFID chip that hasn't been otherwise defaced also has enough information. You could make the case that he should be prevented from traveling if it was obviously intentionally damaged, but it's certainly not lacking any necessary photographic or other identifying information if it's just the RFID chip that's damaged.

Actually, the *entire* rail thing is a fucking joke. It's ridiculously expensive and isn't all that fast. It does have to, you know, make plenty of stops. It's essentially more corporate welfare for specific companies. Americans like to talk about "high speed bullet trains", because it makes them feel all sophisticated and European, but they have no fucking clue what's really supposedly so great about it.

Our *current* rail system does suck, which is the entire point of building a new high-speed rail system. We like to talk about it because if it actually ever happens, it will be better than flying for a lot of domestic travel: more legroom, power outlets, not having to show up 2 hours before departure, the ability to use mobile data plans for the majority of the trip, etc.

This is pure speculation by his attorneys, and Slashdot should avoid using such needlessly inflammatory headlines.

Google Wave isn't dead

It's pining for the fjords.

I logged back on to Facebook and Zuckerberg had killed my farmer and was raping my livestock

probably in the year
*ear

and notified my extended family of several cute things the kids said.

I'm pretty sure that falls into the "what I had for breakfast" category...

spoiling the ship for tuppence of tar short sightedness

Are you some sort of bot that just randomly puts words together?

Will this prevent Adobe from installing their mongoloidish "Download Manager" Add-on that's set up to start every time you open a new window instead of just running when you start your browser?

You're not missing anything. If Slashdot is "news for nerds," Digg is "news for people who think they're nerds just because they know how to use the internet."

I hate to resort to calling the EPA malicious, because I want to believe that they think that what they are doing is right, but, seriously, that's the only alternative. They certainly aren't trying to _actually_ clean up the air, since worse offenders than the USA already exist and won't be affected by this law at all.

Come the fuck on. You cannot honestly believe that the US government, which depends on tax revenue from American businesses and their employees, would intentionally handicap said businesses? To what end? Stop trying to turn a legitimate difference of opinion into some sort of battle between good and evil.

As far as the "worse offenders" go, the EPA doesn't exactly have jurisdiction over other countries, so it's a moot point. You're presenting an imaginary alternative -- that the EPA could somehow regulate greenhouse gases in China, India, etc. -- as some sort of evidence that this is only intended to bankrupt the EPA's revenue stream? Get a grip.