... Tape to Tape
If you're looking purely at longevity of storage and reliability, Tape backup is still the way to go.
Baring that, spread backup copies around, and make sure to keep redundant copies on several flash drives?
Where do I send my $5, my liege?
Just send me your bank account and routing numbers and I'll deduct it and any other outstanding tithes as needed.
And surprise, surprise, it looks like Uber and New York aren't playing nicely
http://betabeat.com/2014/04/now-its-uber-in-attorney-generals-sights/
IIRC the last taxi medallion that was openly sold in NYC went for north of $500K. Hardly a miniscule fee.
If there were only 10,000 programmer medallions available in the USA, would you stop coding?
Try ~$1m.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/average_medallion_price.shtml
Granted, thats for a yellow medallion.
For an "Outer Borough Taxi" permit (all of NYC except Manhattan below 110th St on the west side and 96th St on the east side), it costs $1500 for three years (in addition to already being a licensed TLC Operator).
You're a little off in your analogy though, If you want to compare buying a taxi medallion to something in the programming world, then its equivalent to running your own Start Up. In that case financing and business models apply.
Programmers would be equivalent to the drivers that work for the TLC licensed shops (including those that hold medallions). Trust me, if you want to drive, you can, of course you might need to actually get a hack license (which Ironically you don't need to program).
I think its a case of German law makers thinking: If it looks like a taxi, and acts like a taxi, then it should be regulated like a taxi. Can't really fault them on this.
The bigger issue is that Uber, Lyft, etc. are trying to take advantage of the lag between what is available (Hail a taxi via an app), and what the current incumbent do now, by bypassing the current laws. This is admirable from a competition perspective, but not by sacrificing all laws to get there and compete.
Uber is notorious at this point for operating full steam ahead, against regulation, and even court rulings, to get into place. I am not surprised Germany took a dim view of their antics and slapped them.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-sabotaging-lyft
Some regulations are in place to protect drivers, others are in place to protect passengers. To declare yourself immune to them all is lovely, but its as effective as me declaring myself King of the Internet and demanding all my subjects to send me $5.
Adding "with the help of a mobile app" to the end of your business plan, does not suddenly make a brand new industry and to pretend otherwise is delusional (except to shareholders or venture capitalists).
Considering the "competitive" practices Uber has been using in the USA ( http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-sabotaging-lyft ), I feel compelled to partake of another German word: schadenfreude
Except this is Maryland.
The police there think that being close to the capital has granted them more authority, and the people are wacko, self-entitled over-reactors to start with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
... During the period from 1962 until 1967, Cambridge was a center of Civil Rights Movement protests as blacks sought access to work and housing. They also wanted to end racial segregation of schools and other public facilities. Race-related violence erupted in Cambridge in 1963 and 1967, and forces of the Maryland National Guard were assigned to the city to assist local authorities with peace-keeping efforts.[13] The leader of the radical movement was H. Rap Brown, the Minister of Justice of The Black Panther Party,[14] and local organizer Gloria Richardson.[15] These individuals incited the local community to burn the 2nd Ward area of Cambridge, Maryland which housed most of the African American community. The local population's homes, most of which were destroyed, were rebuilt under a 1969 Public Housing Act by the then Governor, Spiro Agnew and the Federal Government. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, public segregation in Cambridge officially ended.
Although that sounds vaguely like the premise of some sort of science fiction story
I would actually lean more towards:
@see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freejack
No one who can afford Two Bits
I think we'd all be happy if they charged the company's heads with RICO violations.
The idea is totally impractical, of course, which is why it's science fiction and not a product.
Kinda like the horseless carriage. I mean, its possible, but its completely impractical since you would need to stop and chop wood for the boiler every few miles, and the uneven roads will be much harder to navigate on.
Sometimes obstacles change with times, and what looks hard now will be less hard later.
With the autonomous thing, they could also bring themselves in to the mechanic for checkups/tuneups/maintenance while you're at work (or over night?) etc.
Far too true:
Obviously these people have read something besides 1984 and are trying to stop the logic next steps.
When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere. -- Lazarus Long
No, those smell like money sniffing dogs.
"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like `Psychic Wins Lottery.'" -- Comedian Jay Leno
