When true autonomous vehicles emerge (as in no-driver needed) I think the shipping companies are going to change in a big way.

So step 1, fully autonomous vehicles are very possible. If the vehicle gets in trouble it can "call" to say "hey, I'm stuck for whatever reason at GPS coords X" and I'm pretty sure this will be VERY rare.

Step 2, They will need to be able to automatically fuel themselves. This has basically already been solved. There won't need to be a station on every corner though, it will go and get fuel (of whatever type) by itself when you are not using it.

The shipping companies will completely change. When I can "send" a vehicle to a specific address without a driver, and I really don't care how long that vehicle stays there (I'm not paying it hourly.) And that vehicle can call a customer to say "I'm in your driveway, come get your package." Well, that changes things big time. In fact, lets say I run "Big Company X" I can offer Express shipping where I plop the package in my own vehicle as soon as the order is processed and it immediately drives out to your place.

Public safety will change big time. Fire: the firemen hop in the truck if they are at the firehouse. If they are not, they go directly to the fire, the truck(s) meet them there. Ambulances the same thing. Oh, you have a second hurt person that we didn't know about, another ambulance fires up immediately and makes it's way to you. Police could send autonomous vehicles on patrol that use video and audio sensors to "detect" disturbances (gunshots, domestics, grass that is too long ;) ) The nice part of this is that they can send these vehicles into areas that are hard to normally patrol. (I live within a couple hours of a very large city, so yes there are plenty of areas like that.)

And these are the things I can think of in just a few minutes. Like someone said, we are only scratching the surface of how this will change society. Like the internet, this can completely change a large portion of society.

I have to say that quite a few people would call me a guru, I work on a command line most of the day. I have to say that I kinda like this site. (I know it's unpopular on slashdot to actually like someone else's effort but I do.)

I have to agree on the points that the submitter's type rather slow (watched quite a few tutorials ... some on things i know about, others I didn't.)
However I have to say that if you do not already know what to do, the speed is reasonable.

Unix is a very large beast, there are always new more elegant solutions problems. Much like the world of math. I think this site could work well for people of quite a few skill levels. After using unix for over 20 years everyday I still find that I'll learn a new command or pattern every couple months that adds to my toolkit. If this site adds to peoples toolkits, I'd say it's a plus.

you may laugh, but it is BECAUSE of the linux version that I and my entire family use skype.

The reason, it's simple. 3 of the 6 family members use either linux or mac.

What that means is 3 platforms all able to video chat. We don't care about versions or the "latest" features. If linux or mac support is dropped, we'll have to find something different. Video support just works on all the platforms with skype.

"the commission estimates that the program costs between $4 million and $5 million each year while bringing in only about $3.5 million annually."

So it's not making money. Surprising and rare (since red light cameras are generally a cash-cow), but I'd guess that's the main reason to kill it. If it were making $10 a year I bet they'd keep it going.

<quote><p> There is plenty of evidence, on the other hand, that the corporations are at best APPROVING everything that is the government is doing (especially in congress) and at worst DICTATING everything that is happening. </p></quote>

Please provide this "evidence" and I'm not just talking about anecdotal evidence, but true non-biased evidence that shows a macro level of cause->effect. I'm not saying I agree or disagree, I just want to see the evidence.

I live in one of those states!

but guess what.... Adding capacity actually HELPS!!! 5 years ago the freeway was 3 lanes each way, now it's 5 lanes each way. It used to take me 1.5 hours to get home. Now it's 45 minutes... during rush hour.

In another 10 years, maybe it'll be up to 1.5 hours again, then we'll expand again...

It is cylical, however your theory falls flat because when it is upgraded, it does fix the problem. AND if it were not upgraded, my travel time would go to 2, 3 hours.

<quote>
Did you actually <i>think</i> about how <i>others</i> use the keys before you so cavalierly decided to banish a key? And why pick on insert delete when there is so much more low hanging fruit? Why not pick on F9-F12? Scroll lock?! Or the duplicated forward slashes or pipe key? Who uses tilde or grave!? And I guess we couldn't get rid of one set or the other of the windows keys?
  </quote>

whoa whoa whoa .... leave my home reference (tilde) and inline execution (grave) key alone!!!! or there will be blood. =)

I have to agree. USB, although shorter, provides power. This is huge.

From my understanding Light Peak Does not. This excludes a whole range of items from using it: thumb drives, keyboards, mice....

Power on the cable is important. We even add it to networking (POE). We already have the same speed in networking, and USB 3.0 speed is nothing to sneeze at.

Unless Light Peak provides/adds power in the spec, I think it's doomed to fail (or just become the next firewire as parent said.)
Although I could see a composite cable, fiber for signaling, copper for power. Maybe USB 4.0 or Light Peak 2.0? ;)

They are not that expensive when there are tons of failed bank auctions around, a couple hundred will get you one. (You must remove though)

The Internet ... built by and ran by Drunk monkeys....

Ok, some of us are not drunk.... all the time.

i think it's news only because most people think that the early termination fee is total BS.

I understand that they are recouping the full cost of the phone, but a 2 year lockin/early term fee is excessive and just a way to lock a person into a certain carrier.

IMHO, vendor lock-in only exists when your company sucks and you are afraid of your customers leaving (like a little program called ms office.)

Oh well, guess I'm done ranting. (And yes I am locked in to a cell plan... doesn't mean I like it.)

I see one problem with your Rant. You assume NO UPDATES!

So that means that Windows XP without any Service packs.

This is where things fall apart since I have been running systems with linux for 9 years, applying the service packs and upgrades. And I have a fully functional system that has never been wiped and reinstalled.

So the next question is what is a service pack and what is a full version?
Windows: Service pack = free, New version = pay me
Linux: Service Pack = new version (for most distros)

The whole not having to pay each time you get a new major version number makes a difference I guess.

The thing is that if you try and take the stance that service packs do not remove functionality, then you forget all the issues we've had with SP2 (and a few with SP3)

I don't really have a 1 to 1 comparison since they are structured differently.
If you do assume NO UPDATES then in windows, most hardware does not work on bare winXP eaither. (Most requires at least SP1 most are SP2)

Yup!

But you have to admit, it looks pretty darn cool.

PC LOAD HUMAN? What the fuck does that mean?

hahaha. I'm here all week.