About admin

Paypal, a recognized online payment service, has announced that from October 9 this year, Argentine users will not be able to make any domestic transactions but can continue to make international transactions.

In expressing their apologies for the inconvenience that this might cause, a statement sent to the BBC by Paypal, announced, “Argentina is a very important market to us as we expand our global footprint, and we are currently very focused on providing Argentine merchants and consumers the best possible service. Paypal customers in Argentina are still able to utilise Paypal for international transactions with 190 markets around the world.”

With the Argentine government announcing a restriction on the number of dollars being purchased, this has increased currency sales in the black market. However, the rates provided by Paypal are much better and this is why users are creating two accounts under different email addresses, and transferring money between them so as to exchange the local currency pesos against dollars.

Put simply, the dollar costs 6.3 pesos on the black market while the same can be obtained for about 4.7 pesos.

These measures taken by the government is to combat money laundering and tax evasion but also ensure that the economy is less dependent on the dollar. This stems from a prevailing lack of confidence on the local currency which is not as stable other currencies – a large reason why people are protecting their savings from instability by investing it into far more stable currencies.

An economist told BBC that these economic restrictions, quite literally, includes every economic activity and has been extending to imports and foreign travel.


Posted by: Luxury Homes

Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, has had quite a year. Last December the company he found, and which he currently helms, went public with much applause and bell-ringing, but since that time, Zynga’s stock has gone down in value by as much as 70 percent. Still, as a prominent captain of the online games industry, Pincus can still afford to shell out $16 million to move into the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. He might have had to sell two San Francisco residences along the way, but Pincus now owns Jane Newhall’s former mansion.

null
The house is expansive — reportedly 11,500 square feet — and it has seven bedrooms. Natural light comes into the four-story home through skylights and large wood-paneled windows that overlook the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. Imagine sitting down for breakfast every day with views of the Bay. People compare the home’s interiors with those seen in the popular show “Downtown Abbey.” Woodwork of a quality not commonly seen is present throughout the house, and the master bedroom has a brick chimney.

The home had never before been in non-Newhall hands before. Jane Newhall lived in the home with Anita Guerra until her 97th year. She died in July 2011. Pincus will be living there with his wife and children.


Speaking from Ecuador’s Embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, spoke to the media and supporters expressing the need to put an end to the “witch-hunt” against his organization and its staff and supporters.

In facing extradition to Sweden, Assange spoke of the United States and its efforts against WikiLeaks, in saying, “As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of our societies. We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America. Will it return to and reaffirm the values it was founded on? Or will it lurch off the precipice dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark?”

Assange, while speaking from the embassy, also thanked the Latin American country for asylum and also mentioned that he would not like to give political statements or face a nullification of his status.

Under the watchful eyes of about 100 policemen who has surrounded the embassy just in case Assange attempted to make an escape, he also said that the United States must ‘dissolve its FBI investigation’ but also make a pledge so as to not act against journalists who are trying to shine a light on rich and powerful people. He also thanked the people of the UK, US, Australia and Sweden for their support even though their governments have done otherwise.

In granting Assange asylum, tension between Britain and Ecuador have also escalated, and the British government has clearly stated that it will not allow Assange safe passage out of the country.


The highly publicized trial between Samsung and Apple draws to a close, where both companies have accused the other of infringing on its technology.

While Apple wants $2.5 billion from Samsung for replicating the look and feel of its products such as the iPhone and the iPad as well as its software features, Samsung wants $519 million from Apple for infringement on five of its patents on Apple’s portable devices mentioned above including the iPod.

Both sides went through the last few hours of the allotted 25 hours for clarifications and rebuttals and will now on to the next stage which involves closing arguments from both sides in order to sway the jury of nine in their favor.

Depending on which side the jury rules in favor of, the payouts would amount to millions if not billions apart from sales bans on products and software features that are deemed as infringements.

As of the last day of evidence, Apple had four hours to Samsung’s 46 minutes and the former spent time attacking the credibility of Samsung’s wireless patents while the latter weren’t granted extensions to fight back.

However, the tension that existed during the previous three weeks was not there as laughter prevailed during the testimony which was conducted at a quick pace.

With 100 pages of instructions that the jury and the two sides that have to agree on, it sure looks like that the option to settle out of court might not be ruled out completely, considering the risks involved in losing the lawsuit.


Most internet users are familiar with internet errors such as 404 Not Found and 403 Forbidden. However, there’s a new internet status code that is being proposed by Tim Bray, a developer advocate – for sites that are blocked for ‘legal reasons’.

 photo 451_zpsc84454ec.jpeg

Bray, who has experience in developing key Internet standards, says, “I’ve been told by the chair of the IETF HTTP Working Group that he’ll give the proposal some agenda time at the next IETF meeting. It’s not a big proposal; shouldn’t take long.”

However, the recognition for the need of a new code first started when Terence Eden tried to access The Pirate Bay to no avail. When the site’s server denied his request, Eden then expressed the need for a new “HTTP code for censorship”, which not only caught on sparking discussions on Slashdot and Hacker News – until the time when Bray agreed to turn the ‘idea’ into reality.

With the code (451) taken aptly from Ray Bradbury’s novel, Farenheit 451, which deals with censorship, the proposal for the error code if approved, will not only furnish the details on the restriction but also mention which legal authority is imposing the restriction as well.

Bray also thinks that once official consensus is reached, there would little or no work on the engineering side in order for servers to provide “explanatory text with a 451”. In the end, of course, this effort is to ensure that when censorship does happen, it takes place out in the open and thus, provides pertinent information for users everywhere.