The problem is that internet isn't like a power line. Once the line is setup the cost to deliver any given MB of data would be extremely small. All the network infrastructure has to be on anyways and the amount of power required to send the data is trivial, the companies themselves pay very little for data since they just do peering (paying for the difference in traffic volume between two ISPs). With power they actually have to create additional electricity when you turn on a device.

The problem is that they aren't going to be charging fractions of a cent per GB they are going to be charging much more.

Perhaps they'll issue a mass Darwin Award.

Wireless N and gigabit Ethernet aren't cheap like b/g with 100Mb Ethernet, also the one you linked is a refurb. The ones where they allow you to load on your own firmware are usually a bit more expensive because the throw in more memory and a few other things.

Don't underestimate the value of being bored, or being forced to be at someplace other than at home. When I sit at home all day I have a tendency not to do much intellectually, I play video games, watch TV and movies, and maybe read a book.
When I'm stuck at school or work and am bored I find better ways to entertain myself, thinking, writing or drawing. I have had teachers that didn't care if I sat in the back of the class room coding on my laptop as long as I kept up and didn't disturb anyone else.

This might just be my lack of motivation but I find it very helpful to be forced to find someway to entertain myself, often in a positive manner, when not surrounded by the distractions of home.

Well actually I was talking more of Southern California as in below San Francisco, not LA, I hear Northern California gets weather occasionally. I'm on the "Central Coast" and there's lots of roads that would be uncovered most of the day but still ample sunlight. I imagine in the higher use areas there would be an issue of longevity as well as reduced light.

Most parts of the earth don't have massive dust storms and when it's not on mars we can clean them. The rovers were built for 90 day missions and they didn't feel a mechanism to clean the panels was important enough.

In Southern California we don't get much in the way of any real weather other than sun. In more rural areas where the roads aren't used that much, and if it's actually comparable to traditional road materials, it should stand up for several years. I'd say the real value is for rarely used roads in sunny locations; or where getting roads, data and electricity all in one is rather appealing.

Except for robots don't require sleep, or a place to live, or somewhere in the realm of 16+ years to become mostly useful, and I'm fairly certain that electricity is cheaper and easier to produce than the bevy of foods required to maintain a healthy human being.

A while back in a similar thread there was a link to a story about what happens when artificial intelligence can perform menial tasks, I thought it was quite profound.

It's a bit long but here it is: http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

I believe he was taking the pound as a unit of weight, not cost.

Also quite a lot of phones are free or cheap when signing your digital soul away for 2 years.

Where I work they had conficker/downadup infect alot of computers, and it would try to guess passwords and lock out alot of users.

Yes, I did fail to read the wiki all the way. Thanks for pointing that out.

Because he's going "a few places outside the US", and unless he's going to the France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, or the UK that leaves him out of luck.
Street View still has fairly limited coverage compared to the world's streets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View