@myprozacdream: I had some good fried chicken out of a vending machine once. It may have only been good because I was starving though... Otherwise beer vending machines are a good time

I love flying, but the whole rigamarole of getting to the airport (which ironically is on a train), being in time for the check-in deadline, then the flight etc. is really tiring.

I'm glad I live in a country with consumer protection laws that state that any abnormal problem with a purchased product that shows up within 3 years of purchase is the responsibility of the manufacturer/importer. I've never worried about extended warranties (I can't even recall anyone ever trying to upsell me on one…

@Asraiil: The Internet isn't the same thing as free speech though. You could block the internet and still claim to be allowing free speech by not killing protesters, shutting down newspapers etc.

@Asraiil: OK, then can we reword it to say "the ability to access the internet" is a right? So that the government can't just decide to block it willy-nilly when it seems inconvenient?

@sparx104: Both my Sony Ericsson X10 and my Galaxy S have ports for external antennas (they're under the battery lid), so they're not completely gone.

To me it looks like someone took a photo of the Sony Ericsson Playstation phone and photoshopped on the thumbsticks/middle buttons, since they look much sharper and rendered than the other controls. But with all these JPEG artifacts it's hard to tell what's what.

@t('-'t).............................The Unpronounceable: In the spring I can see the fields of rape on my commute to school

@t('-'t).............................The Unpronounceable: Lessee... And trust me, I've *never* looked at the ingredients list of stuff I buy in the store, it's not anything I care about. So take this as a random sampling.

@tjb5083: Is there no way they could just isolate it? Or would that be too heavy?

@rebeldevil: I was just going to say I bet my past few smartphones would not have had any problems with any of those tests. I've sent them careening across the floor and into asphalt several times, used them in -20℃ weather, 30℃ humid malaysia summer, let my sister's baby play with it. The tests don't really seem that…

I wonder if one could bypass the Apple MagSafe patent by making a DC adapter plug that doesn't include a magnet, but just glues or clamps onto the MacBook. Yeah it'd be really ghetto but it'd also only cost a few cents.

@toodlelew: Post your card numbers here so we can try it out. Or better yet, just email them to me directly

@Skiks: Hahahaha, Sweden... less taxes?!? You gotta be kidding me. We have some of the highest taxes in the world.

@Magnetism: Umm.. did you just make that up? The best-selling smartphone in Sweden in 2010 was the iPhone. Of the top 10 best-selling smartphones 2010, there were 2 iPhones, 6 Android phones, and 2 Symbian.

@Giggity: The small size of the country causes people to buy more advanced phones?

Wow, smartphone usage in the U.S. is really low. Here in Sweden, smartphone users have reached 40% of the population. I guess it helps that data plans are dirt cheap, so the running costs aren't a consideration.

Any word on an E-book version? I'm trying to swear off dead trees (books take up way too much space, and are too heavy when you move).

@blash: After your two weeks are up, connect once using the proxy, and boom - two more weeks abroad.

One reason Spotify is huge: It's the second-largest single source of income for the european branches of the record companies.