Tag: FRANCE

Whenever you choose to block or report a person on Facebook, the social network prompts you to choose from an automatically generated list of reasons for your action. On the English version of the site, you'll see options like "Inappropriate profile picture," or "Inappropriate Wall post." On the French site, however, recent visitors may have noticed an additional option, concerning not fake ...

Yesterday evening, a hacker seized control of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Facebook account, and posted a message that many disgruntled Frenchmen have been dying to hear: "Dear compatriots, given the exceptional circumstances our country is experiencing, I have decided in my spirit and conscience not to run for office again at the end of my mandate in 2012." The fake post then extended an ...

Say what you will about their incessant strikes, their unwavering arrogance or their myopic fear of modernity. But when it comes to green transportation, there's no denying that the French are well ahead of the curve. Today, it's virtually impossible to stroll through the streets of Paris without seeing at least a few people cruising around on Vélibs -- the public bikes first introduced a ...

There are very few things this writer loves about France, but here are two: government-subsidized healthcare, and, now, government-subsidized music. That's right, the country of Debussy and Gainsbourg will now (partially) pay for its young citizens' digital music. As the BBC reports, the new program is aimed at encouraging French youth to get in the habit of actually paying for music. From now ...

They may be mild by Bostonian or New Yorker standards, but Parisian winters can still get pretty frigid. Residents at one old building near the Centre Pompidou, however, might have an easier time staying warm next winter, thanks to an environmentally friendly renovation that takes full advantage of one of the city's most elusive natural resources: humanity. Located at the edge of the Marais ...

French workers, in an entirely unorthodox turn of events, have gone on strike today to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to raise the national retirement age by a couple of years. If recent history is any indication, today's strike will make headlines around the country, but it certainly won't do the kind of damage that Facebook recently did to French Immigration Minister Eric Besson's ...

This week, all French eyes are on the country's Parliament, where lawmakers have just begun discussing a "controversial" new law that would raise the French retirement age from 60 to an outlandish 62. (Sacré bleu!) The proposed legislation, supported by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Labor Minister/Partner-in-Crime Eric Woerth, has come under intense scrutiny from trade unions, members ...

Forget its tumbling currency and stagnant labor market. Europe has another issue far more important: spam. Lots and lots of spam. According to a recently released report from security firm Sophos, the Old World has just surpassed Asia as the world's leading spam continent, accounting for more than a third of all junk e-mail sent during the second quarter of 2010. Among individual European ...

In Italy, high-level political scandals involve tantalizing things like underage girls and Mediterranean sex parties. In France, they involve boring things like campaign finance and L'Oreal. Still, in a country starved for any opportunity to pounce on its diminutive president, Nicolas Sarkozy, rumors involving dirty money and the heiress of a corporate empire are enough to make headlines across ...

Despite the twin facts that most everything closes at 7 p.m. and no one who lives there is ever, ever happy, Paris, for some reason, is still known as the 'City of Lights.' [Ed. Note: We feel like we have to say this every time Amar tackles Paris. He lives there. He is grumpy.] Yet, when all the bars close at midnight, and everyone goes home to the warm bed of someone other than their wife, one ...

It was less than two weeks ago that Google agreed to turn over the data it inadvertently collected while assembling Street View. Now the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL) has announced the results of its analysis and things do not look good for the G. Originally Google said that it had only recorded "fragments" of data, but an examination of the data revealed that it ...

It wasn't supposed to be this way. May 23 was supposed to be the day Parisians could forget about their country's stagnant economy, their strenuous six-hour workdays and their oversharing first lady. It was supposed to be a day when thousands of anorexic sisters and effeminate brothers, brought together under a tri-colored Facebook flag, could sport their finest identical black and gray wardrobes ...

Share If there's one thing French people love more than talking about themselves, it's seizing the opportunity to take collective action against some ridiculous non-threat. [Edit. Note: Please forgive our writer. He lives in France, and longs for his terra patria.] In a country where union workers strike faster than you can say "40-hour work week," governmental officials have to tread carefully ...

Share For a couple days next week, Parisians will be jarred from their customary afternoon strolls (and their customary griping, cigarette smoking and croissant munching) when they encounter a two-story BlackBerry looming high above the Beaubourg Esplanade. From May 20th to May 22nd, the Phonolith, as we like to call it, will display whatever texts you and yours decide to enter into BlackBerry ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... The iPad extravaganza has officially begun, and after weeks of leaks and hints, the wave of app announcements and partnerships is reaching tsunami status. According to various reports and screenshots, iPad owners will have access to thousands of appealing apps, including offerings from ABC, Netflix and Hulu. [From: Engadget and ...