So they'll buy drive diesel vehicles, assuming electric vehicles do not reach sufficient market penetration nine years (well, eight model years) from now? Not really much of an improvement.

It's hard to find a television with the same features (as a television alone) when comparing "smart" televisions with non-smart models, and the boot times have improved, along with the price difference. My solution is to just simply not allow it to network...by not plugging it in. Problem solved.

Actually, EPA mileage estimates usually come out slightly *higher* for automatics now. Just saying.

Walmart behaves the way it does not only because of the profits, but because they know the next retailer killer is waiting in the wings, whether it is an expansion of another growing chain (Dollar General has expanded massively during the recession) or a change in technology. Walmart didn't single-handedly kill the mom-and-pop store. Earlier big-boxes played a role (K-Mart, Sears*, etc...) and Walmart (along with the Internet) helped kill them. *Sears is a funny story because had they held out on their catalog sales another few years and put it on the Internet they'd probably have become Amazon.

My cable company (Armstrong) bases your cap on a combination of your service tier and your other services, and has for some time, so this is nothing new.

Eh, I mean if by rural they mean minimally populated, some of the areas long the border with mainland China are probably "rural" by some definitions.

I once bought a book off Amazon on Don Cheadle as part of a joke for my sister that was also just a Wikipedia dump. Since it was a gag gift and hadn't been reviewed yet, plus it was very cheap, I didn't get *too* mad. But frankly, with stuff like the article above, my own interactions with third-party retailers, etc..., I'm starting to think Amazon isn't doing enough policing. It is sort of like eBay back in the bad old days. Not saying eBay is safer than Amazon, just better than eBay of a specific timeframe.

My only concern would be if that would be distracting at night. I find navigation screens, needless color radio LCDs that aren't navigation systems, and GPS units to be distracting at night despite the night modes due to the backlight hindering my night vision. A full car width display would surely put off even more light. Although it could be in IR, which would have some balancing safety features I guess.

This would also further limit (as have flight entertainment systems installed under the seats) the availability of in-cabin pet space.

Just not without electricity.

Yeah, the idea of something smashing into something else due to a failure is what concerns me. I've already experienced what happens when a camshaft position sensor fails gradually enough that it doesn't trigger a fault in a computer...nasty ignition timing with backfires at high RPM...a Ford Taurus belching fire on the highway...and the idea of parts flying around without protection is why I don't own an interference engine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

But they WILL run without the battery.

This project just isn't going to happen anytime soon. The United States and Russia both appreciate the security of the Bering Straight and a few thousand miles of wilderness separating their main population centers, first of all. Second, the cost of connecting the thousands of miles of roads or rail needed, plus the cost of the bridge, plus the cost of the upkeep of said roads and bridges, will never be recouped by the savings of not shipping via air/ship at current fuel prices. Third, it still isn't even clear they can actually BUILD the bridge.

IPX/SPX...I haven't heard those letters in a long time.

My last remaining Windows machine, which is used for photo and video editing in bursts during certain times of the year (I'm an amateur photographer/videographer with seasonal subjects) a self-built i7-3770k machine, was updated following every editing session until recently. I'd finish what I was doing, allow Windows 7 to apply any needed updates, and then shut the machine off until it was needed again. The machine is now running a Windows Insider Build of Windows 10, because I needed to know if several somewhat esoteric and out-of-date applications for my other hobby, ham radio, were going to run properly. I keep good backups, however; this includes a full backup of all my photos to Amazon. My Apple devices are updated as soon as Apple releases an update, with two exceptions. My MacBook Pro, iPad, backup iPhone (usually used for timelapse video now) and AppleTVs are updated immediately when an iOS or Mac OS X update is available. I also update my AirPort Extremes on the same policy. Exception one is that my current phone is updated a few hours later, once I notice no major issues with the iPad and old iPhone. Sometimes I wait a day or two if I know I'm going to need my phone no matter what. Exception two is that I'm currently running beta iOS 9 on my old phone, because I felt adventurous. None of my machines or devices are used for production work I'm paid for, my employer handles maintenance of my single-device work computer, so I can afford to take the updates regularly.