You're absolutely correct, but hypocrisy has never stood in the way of politics

It's called AppOps. Was in Android hidden, then removed, but still ships in standard Cyanogenmod.

If the Moto 360 is halfway as capable and slick-looking as has been shown thus far, any iWatch is going to have trouble keeping up.

The 360 is the first smart watch that I would not be embarrassed wearing at a client meeting or in the boardroom. With the full OLED screen, customize-able bands (metallic and non-metalic, black, silver, colored...), Moto has a winner with this product.

I already replied to this above

- If you get 1% back in points on your CC, that means a 0.5% interchange fee for merchants, tops, due to point writeoffs.

- If you think that lowering interchange fees by 0.5% will result in 0.5% lower prices at the till on average across the industry, and not just more profit swallowed on average, I have a bridge to sell you.

That is not how insurance or any of these points systems work. They are value-shifted based on the idea that only a small percentage of insurance is cashed, that a lot of points go unredeemed, etc. IE, your 1% cash back would turn into 0.5% reduction in interchange fees saved.

Furthermore, do you HONESTLY expect Walmart to reduce all your prices by 0.5% if their interchange fees go down by 0.5%? If you do then I have a nice bridge for sale.

Expect your travel insurance, extended warranty protection, points, cash back, and other credit card features to dry up rapidly if interchange fees are reduced. These perks that have been built up over the years are not free, they are paid for by interchange fees.

The majority of cities don't even have "taxi medallions" so I think you are looking at a limited set. The only cities that have medallions according to wikipedia are Boston, NYC, and Chicago.

There usually is not any said restriction. There is a licensing fee and your service provider has to comply with the regulations, and then you are allowed in.

Now, New York and some cities actually restrict the number of cabs on the street. That, I think, is silly, and is indeed crony-ism.

You are touching on some very, very good points on inflation, and why comp-sci majors should learn more about economics before going all balls-out making a new currency.

The whole idea that BTC can't inflate past a certain point is why it is guaranteed to fail. Fiat currency and inflation **is not bad**, it is in fact good for many reasons when it is under control. You outline one of those reasons above - inflation encourages people to spend money, thus keeping the economy alive. Another reason inflation and fiat currency is required is because the GDP of the planet is not some static sum. Every day the earth spins around, there is another day of work that needs to be quantified. The currency that quantifies that day of work has to come from somewhere. Where does it come from when you can't make more currency? You need to devalue all other existing currency. How do you do this without inflation?

There is a case to be made for taxi regulation. It protects passengers, which is really the main reason taxi regulation exists. In order to fund that regulation, they allow companies artificial monopolies.

The last thing you want is a totally unregulated taxi industry. There is a reason these kinds of things became regulated in the first place.

.. and all customers will have chipped cards by October.

The banks ARE making moves here.

All card terminals in the US need to accept chip & PIN by 2015 because the banks will be mandating it. It's coming like a tidal wave and US retailers are turning a blind eye, hopefully the banks and Visa/MC hold steadfast in the requirement.

It should be embarrassing to the USA that every single other OECD nation on the planet switched to Chip & PIN 5-10 years ago. The USA does not always HAVE to be different. Sometimes going with the flow is the more intelligent choice.

I agree somewhat with janitors and even fast food. But the idea that waitstaff are vulnerable to automation is a bit ridiculous. The whole reason people go out to a restaurant with waitstaff has little to do with the food and everything to do with the experience of being waited on. Having some kind of robot you place orders on turns that restaurant into yet another fast food joint.

I believe most of your arguments have been answered by other posters... except this one:

What is the difference between hiring a good 60 year old and good 25-year old? You will probably have the 60 year old for 4-5 years. The 25-year old will leave after 2-3 years for greener grass elsewhere. If you really want a steady hand who will stay for a long while, hire a 50-55-year old with grandchildren nearby and target extra incentives to make them stay longer. I'm not talking about throwing money at them, but rather things like 5 days extra holiday a year and the option of an unpaid sabbatical. 50+ year olds are likely to have seen it all and knows better than to jump ship whenever something fancy comes along. As long as they feel valued and well treated they are more likely to stick around.

Honestly anyone with half a clue has known the NSA has been doing this FOR YEARS.

In fact I saw a great documentary on the subject in 1998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

( I am actually serious... who in the western world did not already know the NSA had these capabilities? The surprising thing to me would have been if it came out that they DID NOT have them - at which point I would wonder what they were doing with their billions of dollars ).