Web design clients are notorious when it comes to payment terms. Probably just about anyone who’s created a website before, or had to deal with these types of clients, can relate to this video – which is what these commonplace arguments look like in real-world situations:

If any of that seems stupendously out of kilter for client/vendor relationships, you’ll be surprised to learn that each and every one of those excuses are used against web designers and developers every day. Welcome to our world

(Logo taken from Clients From Hell – a collection of anonymously contributer designer horror stories. A fascinating site to lose yourself in.)

Boston.com is rewinding 2010 with a series of 120 photos, each with a notable story.

In the first third of 2010, Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, several massive earthquakes wreaked havoc worldwide, Vancouver hosted a successful Winter Olympics, and so much more. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2010.

Some of these photos are particularly powerful:

(Credit: REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

(Credit: AP Photo/Roberto Candia)

(Credit: REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)

See the rest here: 2010 in photos on Boston.com

That awesome-looking image above is, surprisingly, not a map of the world, though you’d be forgiven for thinking that. Instead, it’s a rendering of geolocated friendship connections on Facebook. Created by Facebook intern Paul Butler, out of sheer curiosity:

Visualizing data is like photography. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, you manipulate the lens used to present the data from a certain angle.

When the data is the social graph of 500 million people, there are a lot of lenses through which you can view it. One that piqued my curiosity was the locality of friendship. I was interested in seeing how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends. I wanted a visualization that would show which cities had a lot of friendships between them.

Read the rest of his Facebook note here, or take a look at the high-res version of that map here.

A lot can be written about how the internet is making geopolitical divisions irrelevant. Every arc over the ocean in that map is a new personal connection. Someday, they might become borders. And nations.

Online shopping (or Electronic Commerce, if you prefer) has been around since 1979, with the first consumer-oriented services launched in 1994 – Pizza Hut started offering online delivery in the US. Fast forward to 2010, and the United States has already spent over $21.9 billion online (nearly R150 billion Rand). Europe is estimating a total of £42.7 billion by the end of 2010 (that’s nearly R460 billion Rand).

Here in South Africa, online shopping is also seeing a lift, with more shoppers buying Christmas gifts online this year – approximately 1 in 5 connected users. That’s still a relatively small amount, but the good news is that the providers are already ahead of the curve, and the local offerings for online shopping are ready to meet the inevitable growth.

So if you want to shop online in SA, what do you need to know?

1. Only buy from reputable dealers (listed below).
2. Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually safe to use credit cards online.
3. The good dealers use good couriers that can generally deliver to your door within 3 business days.
4. It’s likely to work out a lot cheaper than doing the shopping yourself.

Notable Online Merchants

• Kalahari.net – The local go-to online retailer for media and electronics.
• PnPOnline.co.za - PnP offers an online grocery shopping and delivery service.
• Take2.co.za - Specialize in DVDs, games and books.
• BidorBuy.co.za – The largest local online auction site.
• Yuppiechef.co.za – A local merchant specializing in premium kitchen utensils.
• Netflorist.co.za – SA’s largest online flower and gifting service.
• LookandListen.co.za – The online arm of Look And Listen, specializing in music, movies and games.
• Computicket.co.za – The largest and most popular online ticket reservation system.

Other Notable Websites

• Jump.co.za – An incredibly powerful local ecommerce search engine
• HelloPeter.com – Online consumer complaints and responses
• GetClosure.co.za – They offer discreet complaint delivery and facilitate resolutions

Have any other links/websites that you feel should be included in this list? Let us know.

(Image credit: Ice Blade on Flickr)

Apparently a very lucky man in Germany was cured of his HIV infection 3 years ago, following a bone marrow transplant operation. The science behind it (as far as they can tell) is that the donor cells were genetically defective in such a way that the HIV virus couldn’t implant itself in them, thus rendering it useless.

It’s a very fortunate defect to have, but the applications are limited, since very few people will be a compatible transplant match with the original donor. Still, genes can be mapped and tested, and for all we know, these results might be reproducible in the future. A one-shot genetic modification cure to wipe out HIV? Sounds good to me.

MSNBC article: Cure for HIV claimed, but not yet proven