I think that's exactly right. The "range" on electric cars is best case (no radio, no climate control, being that dick who won't accelerate on the on-ramp, etc). "Half" is probably a good engineering fudge factor, and a 40 mile practical range doesn't cut it.

You are WAY underestimating it.

I honestly have not driven my smart to absolutely empty, but I do know that its range is very conservative. E.g. I drive 20 miles, and it only takes off 15 miles from the range estimate after that. So I end up going farther than it says when 'full', which usually is in the low-mid 60 miles. (I think the official range is 68 miles.)

Because, as noted, you don't get the _current_ programming.

BTW, I used to do exactly what you did, with e.g. movies or HBO shows.. Just "wait a year" and get them from netflix.

Heck, I don't even stay current with my shows, I'm just now watching this season of "The Following" and "Revolution". But I'm still watching them much sooner (and without commercials) than other places get them.

If you want to watch the commercials on Hulu, great.. and I've used it one or twice in the past for some rare missed show (a local preemption perhaps).

It's not "a better deal" since you can't get all of the current/new programming. (Also, I skip all the ads with a Tivo.)

I would pay a LOT more for something like Hulu Plus if it didn't have commercials (yes, having it all On Demand _is_ easier than "having" to record it myself, even with lots of tuners, since there are preemptions, annoying timeslot overruns that make the # of tuners less than you think you have, etc.)..

I was a Netflix subscriber from the VERY early days until around a year ago, btw.. and am still a "fan"... Just not a subscriber, except maybe for a month or two sometime to get their orig shows and one or two other things they have exclusive rights to.. but not as a continuing customer most likely.

...like the people carrying guns around legally practically everywhere in Georgia.

Profit that beats expectations and you RAISE prices?

Why not LOWER prices, or at least vow you won't raise prices for X years? That seems like it would create more positive views in customers' minds.

But they *are* a dedicated device, that's what I was trying to say.. Or at least they're "closer" to a dedicated device than a phone (e.g. maybe doing "physical activity" related measurements).

Anything that makes "wearables" die out faster is good in my book.

Do you carry around a smartphone all the time? If you don't, many people do.

Isn't a wearable "just" a subset of an existing smartphone, or arguably an addition (due to using smartphone for communication with the wearable)?

I don't have any of the FitBit, etc., but they seem to have become reasonably popular for the early adopter crowd.

Basically, I don't see a need for a wearable currently either, but to completely throw out the idea seems ridiculous. It seems like just an extension of "more, comparatively powerful, personal electronics being used for specialized purposes to augment one's life".

I POINTED THAT OUT. I said they were plug in hybrids. Many people can use them _effectively_ as pure electric vehicles if they try hard enough, using gas only for exceptionally long (for them) trips.

Why aren't you afraid of someone stealing the clearly labelled envelopes to the IRS and committing identity fraud that way?

Yeah, but I just wanted to specifically point out the brands he mentioned.

as well as a 110v plug (which is almost useless since 110v charges so slow).

I admittedly don't regularly charge at home, only because we have free chargers at work (and I only do that 1-2 times a week).. But I still don't get this attitude.

Plug in when you get home, your car is (at least partially -- e.g. for a Tesla) charged the next morning... cheaper than gas. Your car also has timers to charge, so you can make it only start charging at a certain time if you are on time of day pricing for electricity.

Umm.. currently available vehicles:

Honda Insight -- plug in hybrid.
Toyota Prius - plug in hybrid (a version of the Prius)
GM - Spark - pure electric, and of course the Volt - plug in hybrid.

I have no idea about Ford.

(I have a smart EV.)

Well, obviously your mistake was making an _image_ of the hard drive, rather than copying all of the *files*.. (possibly doing both, if you had the space..)

This is the Planet Money story about LEGO.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money...

$40 for a set you build one time that takes an hour or so

BTW, you realize that even though the kit may be for a specific Star Wars vehicle, you can still use the various parts to create whatever you want?

Also, while I too somewhat bemoan the "everything's a kit, not just a bunch of plain LEGO" (though I know you can still buy plain LEGO), from the same podcast I mention another response (likely a Planet Money podcast), licensed properties basically saved LEGO, because cheaper plastic bricks were undercutting them (even though theirs do apparently actually stick together better, as someone else mentioned).