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As it happened: Leo fields questions about what went wrong in Brexit deal omnishambles

A deal was done yesterday, until it wasn’t.

IT’S THE DAY after the Brexit fallout and Leaders’ Questions was dominated by queries about just what went wrong and more to the point, who’s to blame.

Micheál Martin and of course he is talking about Brexit.

He says he welcomed the wording and thanks the Taoiseach for his briefings.

Last week there was a lot of talk about the civil servants not doing their jobs, he is full of their praise this week and how they dealt with negotiations.

Martin says the unionist issues need to be dealt with and respected.

He says it should not be used as an opportunity to push for a border poll. He says the fallout now does not serve the people of Northern Ireland well.

The FF leader says they must limit the damage that Brexit poses.

He has concerns about the tone used, and says yesterday’s events were damaging. He asks the Taoiseach to agree with him that we must now reach out to the unionists.

Leo Varadkar says he also wants to acknowledge the work done.

He says he regrets yesterday’s events and that a deal could not be done.

“We want to move on to phase two,” he adds.

He highlights that there is a lot to talk about – such as aviation – but he says Ireland needs reassurances about the promises made about the border.

“The ball is in London’s court.”

“We are happy that there is more time,” he adds.

“There is time to put this agreement back on track.”

He says Theresa May is handling the “difficulties” and they await to hear from them.

This govt and this parliament respects the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts, he adds.

He wants to mention the nationalist people too. There isn’t just one party in the north, says Varadkar, and points out that the  majority of people voted against Brexit.

The Taoiseach says that not having a hold up in getting a Northern Ireland Executive up and running has been damaging in this mess.

“Unfortunately, we have to deal with the situation as we find it,” he says.

He says there has been a lot of work going on to help it get re-established, while also carrying out Brexit negotiations.

Varadkar says when a deal is done it will be made between the UK government and Europe, which Ireland is a part of, and not with one party, namely the DUP.

Screenshot 2017-12-05 at 14.12.16

Gerry Adams says he always said that the deal with the DUP and the UK government (that they are propping them up) would always end in tears.

He says he genuinely wishes Varadkar and Coveney all the best in their negotiations.

Adams says that people might dance around the language, but he says Varadkar says he must defend Ireland against the “narrow interests of the DUP and the English Tories”.

Screenshot 2017-12-05 at 14.15.21

Leo Varadkar disagrees with rumours of briefings coming from the UK that the wording of the text was not agreed to yesterday. It was, he states, and highlights the timeline.

He says it was only until lunchtime that it came apparent there was an issue.

However he admits in these negotiations there is never a deal done until there are signatures on the dotted line. Had an agreement been done yesterday, it still could have fallen apart today, he adds.

The agreement we had yesterday, we still believe we have, he says.

If the people were asked about this agreement, he believes they would support it.

Adams says No. 10 is briefing that, but he points out that he is not saying to the Taoiseach that it is true.

Screenshot 2017-12-05 at 14.22.53

“The Good Friday Agreement will be destroyed. Don’t let that happen on your watch,” Adams tells the Taoiseach.

Rare to see such unity on an issue in the Dáil – but Varadkar extends his thanks to all parties, including Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin on the issue.

Speaking about the DUP, Varadkar says: “Having asked us for many months now to start engaging in options about avoiding a hard border… they’ve now decided they don’t want to have that conversation.”

Varadkar says there were a number of options about texts featuring “regulatory divergence” and “alignment”.

He says it was decided over the weekend that they could accept both.

He says people keep saying they don’t want a hard border – but now it is down to how to achieve this.

“I don’t see how we can proceed,” says Taoiseach.

“We have to hold firm,” he adds.

Varadkar says relations with the UK “have been strained” in recent years.

He says it was probably at its best during the Queen’s visit.

Labour’s Brendan Howlin says he spoke to Labour party’s in the UK last night, who were shocked that the deal fell at the last hurdle.

Varadkar admits that yesterday it went “pear-shaped”.

He says they are in daily contact with the negotiating team.

He says the government were not in a position to build houses for many years but he says we are starting to see a ramping up of builds.

Next year, local authorities will build 3,800 and more will be built from non-local authority agencies.

He says there have been more than ten homes built in the constituency, which he shares with Coppinger.

Varadkar says she boycotts the launches of homes he goes to because they are not built directly from by a local authority. But he says they are real homes to the people that are living in them.

Varadkar says he would look at Damastown proposal and her claim that it would pay for itself. He says he doubts that, but if that is the case, this government would be mad not to consider it.

He asks her to reconsider her position that just because houses are not built by local authorities they are not social housing units. He says there are a number of housing charities that build homes which are social houses.

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    Mute Brian Farrell
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:28 PM

    Apple just unveiled a panicked man with no new ideas

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    Mute Tom Lewis
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:35 PM

    Is there a panic button on the IPhone

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:43 AM

    “IT’S STILL OFFICIALLY summer”
    … Sept 14th

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    Mute Steve Monk
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:54 PM

    It’s officially summer until September 21st.

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    Mute Noel Sheedy
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:38 AM

    And all ye sheep are going to run out and buy em, yet complain about having no money because of the goverment… Doesnt add up

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    Mute Frank Buffalo
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:41 AM

    You don’t add up.

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    Mute Brian Costigan
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:15 PM

    Sent from my smart phone.

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    Mute Nydon
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:03 PM

    Shhhh.
    If it wasn’t for all the tech junkie early adopters and self esteem purchasing trend chasers, tech would be a lot more expensive for those of us who buy when the increasing need line meets the reducing bug line.

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 6:57 PM

    I think its people right to have a say in what they do with THEIR money Noel. Should we just hand over everything we earn and get some food stamps back.
    God forbid we should give a shit where our money goes we have smart phones sure what more do we want …..

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:44 AM

    Trickle feeding us technology, just imagin how far advanced we would be only for the stock market’s.

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    Mute margaret
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:07 PM

    That’s a chicken and egg thing. The stock market provides the motivation to innovate. The innovations then have to be drip fed to not saturate the market so as not to depress prices so lowering incentive….

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:20 PM

    “Trickle feeding us technology, just imagin how far advanced we would be”

    A monkey with a smartphone is still a monkey

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:42 PM

    Enjoy your smart phone bud! There are some of us out there who can see beyond the end of our noses!

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:44 PM

    I’m glad you took the time to prove my point.

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:50 PM

    Have a banana Tim :-)

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:00 PM

    Are you sure you can spare one?

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:24 PM

    Not this week, the stock markets are only drip feeding them on to the market creating demand to maintain their value.
    I’ll pick up a few extra later when I go to Aldi.

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:56 PM

    Tell you what I’ll get my own, you just wouldn’t know where you keep yours! They might be warm.

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:12 PM

    No I keep them in the fridge along with your sense of humour :-)

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:26 PM

    Ok if you were only kidding, my point is valid though, the one about the technology not the bananas :-)

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:50 PM
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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:57 PM

    What ever next? Touche.

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    Mute Wynnner
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:22 PM

    I hate the negative press the Windows 8 gets, personally I love it the kids have no problem with it they are more adaptable to change where as older users just have hisses over the start key missing

    26
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    Mute brains for rocks
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:30 PM

    It may be great for first time users and kidding particular at it has really simplified the UI. For long time Windows users it is extremely frustrating to navigate around.

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    Mute Ian McPartland
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:34 PM

    Stop being puppets to bill Gates and try linux …. forget itunes and try spotify on your phone for free…
    Sent from my ice cream sandwich

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    Mute Sergé
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:03 PM

    Spotify is a rip-off for the artists. They get 0.000001 euro or something ridiculous per song streamed.

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    Mute Shane Griffin
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:06 PM

    It’s still more than the amount they get when people download it illegally.

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    Mute Tom Lewis
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    Sep 14th 2013, 3:29 PM

    So who cares

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    Mute Oliver Flood
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    Sep 15th 2013, 10:43 AM

    Sandwich that you can send a comment from – cool!!

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    Mute Daniel Wilson
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    Sep 15th 2013, 12:19 PM

    Serge don’t talk utter shite. Spotify pays record publishers (EMI, Sony etc.) annual fees to have that music available for streaming. It supports the industry because that revenue drives publishers to invest in different music, and musicians get a cut themselves.

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    Mute frank mullen
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:12 PM

    Windows 8 proof that consumers will buy any crap going !!

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    Mute See My Vest
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:02 PM

    I was firmly against Win8 until my laptop died and I had to buy a new one. Once i got used to the less than user friendly system i quite like it. The charms menu is a nice touch

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:20 PM

    I’ve a feeling that support and updates are going to be discontinued for the iPhone 4 a lot sooner than was the case for the 3S.

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:42 AM

    Hooked on credit to buy shiny new baubles might go part of the way to explain it.

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    Mute Gary Mason™
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    Sep 14th 2013, 5:06 PM

    The gold iPhone will make it easier to spot an idiot anyway

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    Mute poundhead
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    Sep 14th 2013, 7:47 PM

    Yep, like an “only god can judge me” tattoo.

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    Mute Kenneth Bambrick
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:42 AM

    Any prices for 5S or 5C in Ireland?

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    Mute Paul Nolan
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:48 AM

    The price of looking like an idiot if you buy a 5c, a worse antenna and a worse battery life for the same price as an iPhone 5(which is being taken off the market)

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    Mute Niall Mullins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 11:52 AM

    Excellent comeback. I Salute you sir! :)

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    Mute Brian Costigan
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:18 PM

    The iPhone 5 is not been taken off the market. The only iPhone that is being discontinued is the iPhone 4. Apple will now only be offering the iPhone 4s in an 8gb model, then the 5 and so on…

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    Mute Paul Nolan
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:33 PM
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    Mute Debi-Nikita Rathbone-Rentzke
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:29 PM

    Nothing compares to a book whose pages you can turn.

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    Mute Nydon
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:16 PM

    Well a book whose pages you can’t turn certainly wouldn’t.

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Sep 14th 2013, 3:46 PM

    At least the keyboard keys don’t stick like the pages of a magazine

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    Mute Pharmyco
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    Sep 14th 2013, 3:57 PM

    Some of us read books because we want to read the story and not because we’re paper pulp fetishists. For me, ebooks are much more convenient than dead tree books.

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Sep 14th 2013, 7:02 PM

    I was of that opinion untill I got a kindle, you’ll never turn back ;)

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    Mute Tom Lewis
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:33 PM

    Whats the point of prices in dollars ?

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    Mute See My Vest
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:04 PM

    It’s an American article. The PS4 is out here November 29. Not November 15 as that’s the U.S. release date.

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    Mute Tom Lewis
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    Sep 14th 2013, 3:36 PM

    Whats the point in the article then we don’t live i. Good old USA

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    Mute Cillian Buckley
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:46 PM

    New android system sponsored by nestle

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    Mute Frank Buffalo
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:07 PM

    Wrong.

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    Mute Edward White
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    Sep 14th 2013, 12:50 PM

    What exactly does this latest piece of over-hyped, over-priced, gizmo got that the 4S or 5 doesn’t? Absolutely dada IMHO! Nope, I got that wrong, the 5S – S which presumably stands for “same” as the 5 – has finger-print recognition technology. There you go, that’s worth 600 lids, is it not?

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    Mute Edward Malone
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:40 PM

    Apple and co are locked into a release cycle their forecasting and whole business depends on releasing a new phone every x months.
    This means dev teams sit around thinking of what they can add to release which usually means 1) upgrade CPU 2) better screen and 3) some novel thing.
    If they gave us the latest and greatest they wouldn’t be able to release a new phone for years and go bust.

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    Mute Stacks
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:45 PM

    What has the 5s got? An incremental increase in capability and features over previous editions. Surely you are familiar with this process from other consumer goods (cars, coffee makers etc.)? It shouldn’t be that surprising a concept.

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    Mute Tom Lewis
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    Sep 14th 2013, 3:27 PM

    x who’s going to buy the x box 1 when they are going to charge you to play 2nd hand games on it. Microsoft you just shot j in the foot on this one

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    Mute Ian Murphy
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    Sep 14th 2013, 3:46 PM

    Sorry but they reversed that decision on DRM ages ago after the public backlash.

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    Mute Pharmyco
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    Sep 14th 2013, 6:00 PM

    The Xbone comes with an NSA spy camera (kinect) connected to an always on Internet connection. What could possibly go wrong?

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    Mute Rowan Murphy
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    Sep 14th 2013, 4:42 PM

    I’m waiting for the Galaxy Note 3 to come out, then I can get the Note 2 at a reduced price. I want to upgrade to this from the Galaxy S2 for the stylus feature. Instead of browsing on my free time, I can get back to sketching. From what I’ve read there isn’t much difference between the two to warrant getting the more expensive, newer version.

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    Mute Fergal Barry
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    Sep 14th 2013, 1:20 PM

    What have Roku Inc released!?? I see Samsung bought Boxee a few months back so I’m eagerly awaiting their next gen of Smart TV, if only to drool over as crazy prices.

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    Mute Johnny Beggan
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    Sep 14th 2013, 2:54 PM

    Doin’ me head in!

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    Mute Dr. Stock
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    Sep 16th 2013, 1:19 PM

    Do you want to value the stock price of Samsung or Apple?
    I advice you to check http://sharevaluecalculator.com

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