I know - same thing with B&N's nook. The only zoom functionality increase font size. Worse, they always size things so the entire graphic fits on the screen, never splitting into multiple pages. They really need the ability to zoom on a picture. Or include all pictures in a book separately as a zoomable file.

My statements are dependent upon me being a rational human being that does not waist money. If that doesn't apply then this service makes no sense. Your complaints all assume I am an idiot that spends money on a service then does not use it.

If it doesn't save me money, then why would anyone use it? See additional problems I mentioned. If I kept buying paper books at my current rate, then it would not save me money. Similarly, it makes zero sense to buy an ebook from B&N if it is available through this program. So it does mean I am effectively locked into Amazon.

I stand by my comments.

Doesn't the US have a law that makes it illegal for a criminal to profit from their crimes in this manner? I know serial killers can't sell their life story rights for a movie or a book.

Doesn't that same law apply here?

You set the time before you leave the car. But the time goes off after you have left the area.

I am 100% sure that the cars will not be programmed to so much as guess about the age of people, nor the number in a vehicle.

They will be programmed to avoid accidents, and most likely will drive at slower speeds than normal -35-40 mph vs 55+.

They will of course be programmed to consider their own safety FIRST, as the assumption is that any other vehicle's actions can not be predicted - it might be driven by a person. As such, attempting to save someone else's life/vehicle could make the issue worse.

As for your concern about cases where the automatic car holding an 80 year old accidentally kills a 4 year old - those cases will be outnumbered by the total absence of drunk driving, 80 year olds running into farmer's markets etc. etc. etc.

It's a numbers game, and the very rare cases you are excessively concerned about do not even come into consideration.

Many of you say "the crooks will over-ride those safety precautions.

We can easily hire the best programmers to create reasonable security. Even then, a properly programed device will not be unhackable. But it will be difficult to hack.

People with the skills to hack such security features will not be common. More importantly, the far majority of them will be in such demand that they won't be hacking cars. If they motivated by money, they will be making it. If they are criminal in nature, they will be hacking other things - such as banks.

I am not saying it won't happen at all. But it will be far easier for a criminal to commit other crimes of mass destruction and the lives saved by ending drunk driving and ending accidents will far exceed the relatively few lives cost by criminals hacking driverless cars.

Any person seeking perfect safety should build a concrete and steel survival shelter and never leave it. But for the rest of us, driverless cars with proper safety and security protocols will reduce crime and death, not increase it

I am a heavy reader and this would save me money.

But it would also mean I would have to give up paper and switch entirely to my e-reader, which I currently use for about 1/2 to 1/3 my purchasers. There are a lot of advantages still for paper books- charts, graphs and pictures for example do not show up well on ereaders. Nor do I worry about taking a paperback anyplace. I can take them on a camping/rafting trip.

It would also mean I would end up being locked into Amazon, not a good thing. I don't trust them as much as I trust Barnes and Nobles, as they have done vile things before (Hatchet, pulling back books people purchased)

When some site, like say slashdot, uses passwords not for real security, but instead to identify it's users, then only an idiot wastes their memory creating a 'good password' for it.

Better to use the same crappy password for web sites that do involve real financial risk.

Of course, if you use that same password for a bank account, or anything that knows a credit card number, SS#, or similar information, you need to have your head examined.

If you don't feel like saying "I am moving out of your service area." there are two other ways to other ways to handle it.

1) "Because every time I call you guys, you try to get me to change. You give me a run around and refuse to provide the service requested.

2) "Because whenever I turn on the TV, it tells me to carve up people that don't do what I tell them to do. So my psychiatrist told me to stop watching television."

There is no job that will always exist.

But an intelligent person will always be in demand, by ensuring that they are always the most knowledgeable and by working in the elite end of the business.

The jobs that get destroyed are typically jobs that require the least amount of intelligence and skill.

Take fashion. Few Americans make a living sewing any more - unless of course you are a fashion designer, rather than a piece worker.

Taxi drivers may not exist in 20 years - but race car drivers will still have jobs.

Can't they just do the testing in Canada? Or some other country that hasn't created this law?

Seems like they are more interested in getting a foot in the door to revoke the rule, rather than testing.

I love the fact that discrete sound cards exist. It makes it a lot easier to not order one, so that my PC doesn't assail my ears every time some obnoxious video starts auto-playing after I open up a window.

How many people have children? OK, I will give you that one- you could claim that all life is 'programmed' to reproduce.

How many people sing in the shower?

How many people doodle?

In certain legal crimes, intent matters. If you kill someone, then they have to prove you intended to harm the person. But in other crimes - it does not matter at all. For example, your intent does not matter at all if you are charged with reckless endangerment. Your belief that intent matters here is false. We don't care if you accidentally gave us the wrong password or intentionally did it.