What I do not understand about Germany - indeed this whole region of Europe (I'm in Switzerland) is this: We have excellent rail systems, why not put long-distance cargo on the trains? There are various initiatives to do exactly this, but they meet with a wide range of passive and active resistance. Fact is, given the existing rail system, using trucks for long-distance freight makes no sense at all.

Look at what happened on one existing self-driving train system:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2009_Washington_Metro_train_collision

Even in the simplest possible scenario (closed and tightly controlled metro system), the biggest self-driving train system in North America (not sure about the rest of the world) STILL wasn't able to avoid a fatal accident. This accident makes me wonder if it's simply beyond the capability of humanity to engineer a complex, self-driving train system that won't malfunction and cause fatal accidents.

Hiring a non-computer executive? What's next, will they hire one from a soft drink company?

Much of the tech is designed by other companies, which sometimes they buy. It isn't a product of their own long term r&d as such.

This. I have been saying this for years.

Apple is, and day by day, more and more - a boutique brand.

I believe you are referring to the wi-fi data picked up promiscuously by Google fleet of camera vehicles while taking street view pictures. Their excuses about that were pretty thin as I remember.

From the picture it looks like it takes just as much space as a regular parking garage,

in 15-20 years Europe will pass America for Fatness.

A member of Germany's foreign intelligence agency has been detained for possibly spying for the U.S. The 31-year-old is suspected of giving a U.S. spy agency information about a parliamentary inquiry of NSA activities.

So the investigation into the NSA's secret spying activities, is itself being conducted in secret under penalty of espionage charges should any German violate that secrecy? We seem to be forgetting why people object to the NSA's activities. Something about governments being open and transparent in their operation so the public can be assured their actions are trustworthy. Any investigation into the NSA's activities should be done publicly and openly, to demonstrate a contrast with how the NSA operated. Unless that is the German government has something it wants to keep secret from its own people. But in that case they become the pot calling the kettle black.

You idiots! This is all happening because you insist on spying on your fellow citizens.