I suspect that Uber is only cheap because they're trying to steal market-share. They're going to want profit and prices will go up once they're indispensable.

If that were to become a regular problem, the law would change so that automakers would put the OBD port under the hood and the hood would be secured with fasteners like triple-square or something intentionally security-minded so that one couldn't access it without more time and tooling than is practical on the side of the street.

On top of that, in markets with expensive, limited quantity licensing, cab companies (the ones that actually own the medallions) would have an interest in eliminating the driver from the equation. They could run as few or as many cars as there's a demand for. Private owner-operators that own one license and one car could still operate that car too, but now they wouldn't necessarily have to be with it the whole time.

I've speculated on this before...

I expect that subscribed-to sedan services will increase in popularity as a step above taxis. Paying more than a conventional taxi and giving the subscriber the ability to report/reject cars that are in poor condition will allows the service to charge and ban offenders that mess up cars. On top of that, there are services for school buses where an on-vehicle camera system records the trip to a local disk only and overwrites the recordings after so many days unless a report is made that the footage needs to be pulled before it's overwritten, at which time it's retrieved over-the-air when the vehicle comes in for regular service at the company's garage. That system would work relatively well for a subscription car if it doesn't catch audio and isn't pulled unless there's an actual reason to pull it (like vandalism or evidence that the interior was used for a crime) so long as such conditions are made clear from the beginning.

Taxis will still be a thing, for either those that don't need a sedan often enough to justify paying for a subscription, or for those who cannot subscribe to a sedan service due to previous behavior. Used like a service they'd probably cost more, but used infrequently it wouldn't be that big of a deal. There would also be a greater likelihood of recordings being reviews more frequently.

Private car ownership will continue for people like me that have plenty of room for parking and like you, don't want to share the vehicle with unknown others. I look forward to scenic road trips where I can look at the scenery instead of always having to drive, though I would probably want the option to drive. It would be convenient when going to congested places to be able to be dropped off and let the car go find a place to park itself, or even for the car to just go home if the per-mile cost (like for an electric) is low.

There's also the concept of a work-for-hire. His work at the old institution, if he used that institution's resources like its staff and its equipment, could add a degree of work-for-hire to his results. They probably can't claim sole ownership, but I wouldn't be surprised if they can claim enough to essentially fork the project at the point where he left.

I don't doubt that specific strong-personalities are actually the ones fighting.

I expect that in the end, the data will be copied and both institutions will continue-on. The institution that lost the staff member probably has some legitimate claim to the data since the staff member was not working alone and was using university resources to pursue the work, and the staff member that left has legitimate claim to the work that he has done.

Last time I studied the phenomenon that was called Revolution. Sometimes it turns out the way that you want it to or close enough that life is good (ie, France), and sometimes the process is co-opted by powers that drag everyone down and those who co-opt manage to prop themselves up on top (ie, Russia, China, Zimbabwe).

I'm mildly curious to watch the ramifications of extremely permissive firearms law combined with a history of giving those most inclined to own them what some cultural trappings would claim is good while systematically taking away a lot of what's needed to actually afford to live. For the moment the platform appears to be working, but if that group suddenly finds that it can't afford to eat and can't afford any place to live while those that have funded the campaigns that put them there are more and more exposed for their manipulations if it'll cause something of an open-season on them. It might not, or it might be open-season on all rich people even though there are lots that want to expand social programs, but we won't know until it happens.

That sounds plausible.

Though we're essentially reinventing the old, "cannonballs tied together with a length of chain" design but in miniature, aren't we?

I wonder if water with its associated surface tension could be used, if water would itself be inadequate. Use the mass of the water to carry the fibers...

Might be interesting to watch if pieces of a firearm are dropped-in individually, either over time or else in multiple portions of the yard to different competing gangs. Even funnier if something critical that couldn't be readily made from supplies on-hand was omitted.

RC Aircraft isn't as ominous sounding as Drone. So no, as long as the word brings ratings to the news stations they'll continue to use it.

Something too light won't have good flight characteristics, it'll be inclined to slow and deflect as it passes through air. Tungsten might be overkill, but it'd probably still need to be heavier than nylon.

As is the case in an arms race.

Perhaps eventually we'll have air guns firing very fine lengths of tungsten wire to physically foul the propellers.

I'm thinking that a consumer-grade pressure washer might be enough. It probably doesn't take that much mass or propeller-fouling to bring down a drone, and if the electronics aren't sealed then the water might find its way inside and short it out too.

And Thinkgeek sells or used to sell a TV remote control that had programmed the IR "OFF" code to just about every television system that had ever been sold, and it would blast them all out at essentially the same time.

If drones become too annoying then people will refine this tech, making the packaging smaller, the directionality better, and the number of frequencies that it can hop-through more extensive and faster to switch through.

Trust me, with so many other sites to waste one's time on, getting first-post is not the achievement that it once was. Not that it was much of an achievement to begin with...