I understand this scenario, but outside large cities it is not nearly as attractive. I think public transit also can fill a lot of this niche if it is run properly.

Some people just want easy transportation to get them to their destination. The Johnny Cab type door to door service could become very inexpensive, so there is no reason to take on the overhead of owning a vehicle. This type of service works very well in densely populated areas very well.

Other people, like me, enjoy driving and live in less congested areas. An autonomous vehicle makes less sense. Again, for my commute I can choose to use the Johnny Cab, but for my personal vehicle I want the freedom to go on more back roads etc.

safety is the "compelling" reason, but that is a bit to ambiguous. Why should I pay more for a self driving car when I have not had an accident since I was a kid? Unless it becomes law, self driving cars* will be a gimmick. Kind of like heated seats, kind of nice, but not necessary for your average joe. And then there is a large portion of people who like driving... I think self driving cars will become more johnny cabs than personal vehicles. And maybe the Maybachs of the rich and busy. *Let's assume all/most of the bugs are worked out and self driving cars are safe.

Wow, Interesting. But wearing a flight suit? If I had not commented, I would mod you very informative...

So they are looking for pasty scrawny geeks to fly their drones? (My son's comment upon reading the headlines...)

interesting. either way, it is useless for me (if I even wanted to use it...)

As a non USian, do your credit cards really have your address on them? that is messed...

don't use magnetic stripe, but I'm pretty comfortable with chip and pin. Physical contact is required as well as a (somewhat secure) PIN. and because of the pin, yes I do keep my card. The waiter brings a wireless payment terminal and I keep a receipt.

I found it funny that the only place I knew in Canada that still needed magnetic stripe cards was Starbucks. about a year ago they got new chip and pin readers. I also find it a bit strange that several places (Tim Hortons comes to mind) are pushing their own apps (available on Android, IOS, and Blackberry) with NFC payment. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. As far as I know, the Apple Pay thing is still only available in the US...

kind of like debit cards? ps I'm Canadian, I am not sure what the equivalent is in the US. In Canada, a debit card, usually secured with chip and pin, allows you to transfer money from your linked account (usually a chequing account) to the retailer.

didn't Mint conquor this quite some time ago? I use SolydXK (the KDE version) on my laptop and have no problems. With Ubuntu it is just a matter of adding a repository. I have not used many other distos enough recently to say one way or another...

tried elementaryOS, but found it a bit limiting and frankly kind of ugly. I have been using SolydK on my laptop (I am a KDE fan) for a while now. Great rolling release, but it is a bit small and the distributors are a bit overworked.

don't know why you have not mod points. This is an insightful post..

Someone told me years ago that oil is a renewable energy source, it just takes a long time to renew...

Many years ago there was a discussion on the merits of all metal camera bodies vs polycarbonate aka plastic. Metal bodies dent and retain the deformation, possibly damaging internal components. Plastic would dent, but then bounce back to its original shape, thus protecting the same internals. for a portable device, ideally the case will absorb impacts and forces and then spring back to its original shape.

Anecdotal evidence... My Dad is in his early 80's and he rides a motorcycle all summer and skis all winter. He is more fit and more active than many half his age. In fact many younger people literally can't keep up with him on long hikes.

I understand he is an exception, and he is starting to slow down, but with something like people, you cannot put a hard number down a la Logans Run. For some people, like the grandparent above, 55 is too old, for others like my dad, 75 is too young (he was still active in politics, and maintaining his acreage, and volunteering with search and rescue at 75)