To improve safety, insurers should jump on the self-driving car movement and instead of shutting the car down, simply re-program it to drive to the nearest used car dealer. Instant cash for the lucky (previous) owner! Savvy used car dealers will have a used bike section to equip the newly carless pedestrian.

You can learn more about the African tigerfish on the Encyclopedia of Life: http://eol.org/pages/206410/details

I wonder how much of that is true. It seems to me that there is plenty of demand -but- getting exposure is another story. It's similar to writing apps. Tons of developers write apps but only a few make it big. Some of that, of course, is due to those apps being really good. But it's also because large companies can get their brand out there and sell it. Notice how the app stores feature big brands like Disney. A better solution to music and almost every other industry would be adjusting the business environment to promote discoverability by "buyers". Social media helps with this, but we need more creative ways to find good new music, books, apps, etc.

When will someone take this technology and make us a full page (8 1/5 x 11 inch) tablet? This seems like an obvious thing to do with a display tech that is lighter, flexible, and strong. I want something to read pdf files without having to find a magnifying glass.

Ha, good one. But it would be interesting to look at relative increases in insurance to see if flood insurance in NY, for example, has increased proportionately than, say, fire insurance.

What about keeping them but enhancing their usability? For instance, combine them with other forms of information services - city info, etc. Or perhaps some corporate partnerships like movie rentals. The phone part would be separate to keep that available if someone else was searching for the latest Star Wars flick...

Just opt out people. As has been pointed out before, if enough people would just elect to bypass this mess, then the machines would be gone.

Well, then you might as well go all the way: News for SlashBiCurious nerds. Stuff that lathers.

There is actually, an effort to change some of this. The Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org), which imports Wikipedia articles about species, has a process underway where curators will be able to edit a Wikipedia article, mark it as "curated", and then have that expertly reviewed article available for reference. Think of it sort of as an EOL branded version of the article, lending more weight to its accuracy. The main article can still continue to be edited and changed.

One simple way to use less water in agriculture is to employ hydroponics. These systems can use up to 90% less water than traditional farming. Another point is that the development of better (cheaper/more efficient led lighting) is beginning to tip the balance in terms of economics since produce can now be grown indoors 24/7.

This was intended to be a submission under Ask Slashdot.

I agree... Facebook with the whole "follow your life" path that they seem to be taking are alarming many users who already have some concern about privacy but are on Facebook because everyone else is. I've switched to Google+ because of the way Facebook, and now its partners, are pushing people around.