Ice locked right now.

See: http://business.financialpost....

Oil producers are increasing output. Oil would need to drop have to get down to $30-$35 and stay there for for six months before they start shutting things down.

Please explain how they add expense over NFC support?

If you are upgrading your reader to handle chip and pin, then you will also be able to get that with NFC. Possibly that will be slightly more cost than just chip and pin. But that is all you need to support Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

Now IFF you had said Apple Pay, Google Pay OR NFC is expensive... but the incremental cost of the reader is not that much. And you will want to upgrade to chip and pin (if you are in the US) to avoid liability issues (Oct 2015?)

The implication is that the additional security offered by Apple Pay (over pinless Tap to pay) will allow it to be used with higher valued transactions.

So you get the speed of NFC without the slower chip and pin delays.

To be pedantic Apple Pay uses your credit card account to make your payment. It does not need to have your actual card once you have registered your account. I.e. you don't have to have your card to make a payment.

Yes, but...

Once your bank switches you to Chip and Pin then swipe becomes unavailable. And your bank WILL be switching you because they don't want the liability to rest with them for unauthorized purchases.

Once they have given you a Chip card then the merchant is liable if they let you swipe (i.e. if they don't upgrade to a chip capable reader.)

So at that point it will be insert and either sign or enter pin.

You obviously have not used NFC with Tap to pay...

Outside of the US where NFC enabled terminals are available:

1. Tap to pay with NFC - 5 seconds or less
2. Debit or Credit card with chip - insert and pay - 15 seconds
3. Credit card without chip - swipe and sign 20 seconds, depends on how long it takes to get the receipt and sign it
4. Cash - depends on how long it takes you to count it out, the clerk to recount and then count your change
5. Cheque - unknown, who takes cheques anymore?

I get very annoyed when people ahead of me at the local grocery store use anything other than Tap to pay. Especially if they pay with actual cash.

Yesterday I had a small purchase, some cans and fresh fruit. It was scanned, paid for in less time than it took to bag, and I caught up to the person who was ahead of me in the line on the escalator to the parking lot. The entire process was less than 20 seconds.

Hmm google newark airport elevation.... 5.5m or 18'.

That makes it 1.5m higher than YVR (Vancouver Airport which is actually in Richmond BC) which is 4.0m.

18' - 3.5" would seem to have a reasonable margin of safety......

The best way to get yourself kicked out of a Car Sharing company (as a customer) is to leave the car in an unacceptably dirty condition.

Its not like they don't know who the last person to rent it was. Or that they don't have procedures for reporting when you had an accident (like your kid barfed in the back seat) so that car sharing company will get it cleaned.

It may currently be a 30 minute drive for you to pick up a Zip Car....

But at some point in the not too distant future it will be a 30 minute drive for the Zip Car to deliver itself to your door. And when you are finished with it, it will drive off and park itself in the closest Zip Car parking area.

Well if the number of self-driving taxis are limited to the number of "medallions" issued by your city... and those remain at the same level as now... then there will be no increase in service.

Presumably saner minds will prevail and where there is demand for the service there will be a supply sufficient for the demand.

Yes, you undoubtedly represent the vast majority of the population. So obviously self driving cars simply won't work for anyone else.

The rest of us have no problem with you owning your own self driving vehicle.

In the long run we may have a problem with you driving your own vehicle. That will be solved by simply making it much more expensive (user fees per mile) to self drive because you will be taking up more room on the road (all the self driving cars will leave much larger spaces around you.)

Self driving cars don't preclude private ownership by you. Or ownership of a 7 person SUV sized vehicle.

It does not preclude you being able to rent a 7 person vehicle when you need it.

Or if you own the 7 person vehicle to rent a 1 or 2 person vehicle to commute in.

Costs will be lower and likely most insurance and taxes will be mileage based. So you will have incentives to use the lowest cost vehicle from various sources.
 

Since I telecommute I don't need roads. Other than the Information Highway! :-)