Handsfree does not lead to less-distraction. The very conversation, hands-free or not, is still a problem. How much of a problem? I don't understand yet.

Most states that I've traveled are hands-free. Although a few are anti-texting only. Fewer yet have no restrictions. I haven't seen any that restrict usage in all-forms (except for specific classes of drivers, such as young/new).

Personally - it's the pushing of "buttons" that causes me pain. Using Google maps on my iPhone is a PITA (finding the "start route" button generally is hard). When hands-free I use Siri and Apple maps (for good or bad) - or having to Unlock the damn thing to make a modification (Siri, stop route, "sorry Dave, I can't do that") I bring my Garmin GPS with me whenever possible as it has the best UI - purpose built for in-car use (actually - navigation in general). I only use my phone for looking around or finding something very specific [planning phase]... then plug it into my Garmin and go. Plus, I tend to find myself in No-signal zones a lot. And of course - Siri has failed me multiple times with bogus routes or wrong address locations (arggg, sorry - breathe, breathe, take a slow breath)

NY has a rule that the driver may not operate a hand-held phone (although observationally few adhere to the law). When I went to CA last week the airport announcement was that CA restricts using any device that was not *specifically designed* for hands-free operation (or in car use?). I just remember the Specifically Designed statement.

VT has an anti-texting law (after a spate of joggers being run down & killed by folks texting and driving). Although they are currently considering upgrading that to hands-free because the Police have said that they can't tell if people are texting or dialing their phone, or using some GPS app. It all looks the same to them so enforcement is complicated. People under a certain age (17?) already may not use a cell phone at anytime in any manner while driving.

And WI or MI has restrictions on where the GPS unit may be mounted (must be mounted on the dash - not on the glass, I assume to keep it low in the field of vision). I can't remember which state - I just know that it caused me to buy a dash-mount for my GPS.

My null position is that I assume every state has a hands-free rule. Keeping with the spirit that Distracted is distracted. But commanding my phone to do my bidding seems like a fair risk to take.

So very inconsistent. I drove cross country a few years ago. My GPS came with a suction-cup window mount, and for a variety of reasons I also purchased a dash-mount. Good thing because one upper-mid-west state requires dash mount. They had a big sign as I crossed the border announcing that requirement along with their cell-phone rules. I think I Googled something like "GPS mounting laws" while prepping for my trip.

I now travel on business and bring the dash-mount with me everywhere I go because of that one restriction. Plus some rental car windshields are too short to use the suction-cup (angle too great) - such that the GPS hits the dash - or I have to place the suction-cup so high that it blocks my view.

Nobody stopped me in CA last week - I put the dashmount right in the middle of the dash above the radio.

ah - now I know why I haven't been getting email all of these years.

I also rented a Ford (a small car) with the MSFT system. While the car was fine - I was infuriated by the MS system.

I opened the car door and the dash showed a popup "Engine is running" with an "Okay" button on it. Really? What purpose was this? And how do I press "okay" (it wasn't touch screen). Staring at the steering wheel later I noticed that there were two buttons labeled Okay (and each worked separately).

The worst part was the radio. I had gotten into some menu deep down and decided I didn't want to do whatever I had started. So I tried pressing the "FM" and "Radio" button - nothing would "exit" and return me to the top level. Many minutes of fumbling around through menus and deeper sub-menus the UI would sit idle and finally show "okay / cancel" on the screen. There weren't any buttons near the screen! Finally I discovered that way down low on the dash near the shifter were 4 decorative buttons with lines on them. Turns out they lined up with the UI (though 18 inches away).

Between the software of the UI and the physical UI I couldn't stand it. Nothing made sense.

Well - I'm not sure I agree with the inertia position. Granted old ideas take a long time to die - until a disrupting technology comes along. I was touring a Navy museum once and the guide (retired Navy veteran) said, sometimes its about having the big guns and parking it in the harbor. Simple intimidation. You won't use it - it just looks big.

The US strength - we can build a ship larger than yours and sail it into your backyard.

Back on topic - as others have pointed out already, the defense system is designed to repel realistic attacks. Some group that is starting out will unlikely get their hands on a hypersonic missile. First they start out with a battering ram, then a Yugo, move up to a Pinto, some rockets, old SCUDs, and finally ICBMs. Sure - the smart ones are building disruptors, but another branch is thinking of ways to protect against them.

It's MAD I tell you, MAD. It's a MAD MAD world. What, me worry?

Exactly how I see it playing out. There will be more traffic jams and crashes in the sky from all of these drones filling the air. Yes - parts will rain down from the sky and kill small children. The sky will go black from the flocks of drones. Did they get this idea from playing Call of Duty?

Next somebody will sell an accessory laser so your drone can shoot others out of the sky as a sort of crash avoidance system.

Available only to the rich.

Hey look - this is a comment input from the beta.

I'll give you the white space. It feels like we've all got pitchforks and are standing at the gates of the User Experience.

Maybe the UX designer got a deal on whitespace from the cloud vendor. Next will be pastel colors and strange thin outlined buttons that convey nothing to the user until they click them (cough... iOS7).