If a card belonging to a Berliner has never been used to purchase a plane ticket or buy goods outside Germany, the system may block an attempt to book a Moscow-Tokyo flight leaving in three hours.

ECONOMIST: Computing

Using standard laboratory gene synthesizing equipment, they made almost 55, 000 strands of DNA, each containing a portion of the text and an address block, indicating where it occurred in the flow of the book.

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Restaurants use an electronic reservation book, and customers have access to its full inventory (though a block of tables can be set aside for unannounced regulars and celebrities).

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Portfolios would still be chock-a-block with loans that yield no interest and shares that cannot be sold because their sale would force banks to book a loss.

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