I completely disagree. If there is roadway traffic, you don't need to check your speedometer as the safest and smoothest thing to do is to simply travel with the traffic. If you drive much faster than the bulk traffic flow, you risk causing an accident. If you drive much slower than the traffic, you risk getting rear-ended or clipped as irritated drivers people pass you. You also substantially disrupt traffic flow and actually slow down everyone's commute.

If there is no roadway traffic, it really shouldn't be much of a burden to check your speedometer every 5 seconds, preferably right after you scan your mirrors.

Devices like this actually promote driver inattention and complacency. People get bored and their minds wander. Or they think that it allows them to spend more time on the phone. All this new feature is going to do is result in some idiot driving at the speed limit, in the passing lane, exactly matching the speed of the car right next to them and perfectly blocking all traffic, while dicking with their cell phone while 2000 irritated drivers piling up behind them.

I think that you are not fully considering all of the possible implications of your comments.

I would argue that MySpace and Facebook have not provided us with a new form of intelligence.

The logical conclusion for an AI would be to eliminate itself of its less-efficient human parasite and utilize all available resources for the most efficient mind, which will be itself.

Evolution for some is extinction for others.

No, no, no. You likely wouldn't if you don't even have the testicular fortitude to post under your actual handle.

The Patriot Act tested Americans' willingness to fight for our rights and we failed.

You could fight, but its a lot easier to just sit back with a drink, watch episodes of "24," and bitch on /. The government knows that and ensures that you have reliable access to liquor, electricity, and the internet while restricting your ability to obtain useful guns, ammo, body armor, and explosives.

Many of the powers in the Middle East haven't figured this sheepifying formula out yet, which is why they continue to endure social unrest.

I always figured the GPS unit in the Hertz cars was a theft deterrent.

When I rent from Hertz, I personally hate being in the same space as the GPS unit. It would definitely make me find another car to steal.

Wow... Was the summary written by Putin? (Hello Mods: The author is even Russian!)

There may be no current commercial need for the SLS, but you can bet that it will appear once the system launches successfully a few times.

Also, I'm sure the US military and NASA will be excited to be able to launch heavier and heaver things into space and stop being reliant on Russian launch technology, especially with the Russians dusting off their 1950's era bombers to test NATO defenses.

It strikes me that Apple is continuously trying to find the balance between minimalism and functionality.

What's unfortunate is that they generally err on the side of minimalism. This would be fine (great even!) if they restricted that philosophy to products intended to be small like the iPad and MacBook Air, but it becomes a problem for the user when they start applying it to their Pro product lines and even their mainline models.

Some can learn to live with a hardwired battery and hard drive, even though it goes against most techies' core philosophies. But when you start taking out ports, it gets really fucking annoying if you don't have the requisite dongle RIGHT NOW when you need a connection to work.

And what is the ultimate limit to this philosophy? Sure, you can make the laptop a lot smaller and prettier if you take out the physical keyboard, and the hard drive, and the RAM, and the keyboard. But, at some point, the laptops become so small they they are actually annoying for average-sized people to use for real work. Also, it doesn't look as pretty or feel as convenient in use when there are 50 cables, port extenders, and dongles attached to it just to restore the device to some level of base functionality.

Jobs always had a hard time with that point as he got older. It's unfortunate that Cook seems to have inherited it as well.

Wait, you think that the Republicans aren't already doing this?

The only reason that this is even an issue is because Clinton didn't perpetrate the facade of having a token government email account.

Nice spin, but there is a large distinction between Petraus' intentionally distributing classified documents (to someone he was sleeping with) and Clinton keeping her unclassified email on a non-government server (and not intentionally sharing it with anyone).

It's also interesting how you refer to one of those individuals formally and one informally.

Right on!

Wait, we are talking about people against driving drunk, right?

Maybe Silicon Valley isn't actually one of the smartest regions on Earth.

I think you're looking at launch windows waaaaaay to close to present.

There is no way that NASA, at its current funding level, is going to design, build, and test a nuclear-powered submarine for an interplanetary mission in 3-5 years.

Now that we are approaching the end of his term, was Obama or Bush, Jr. was more full of shit?

Many RadioShack stores do not consistently have electronic component bins and, without going to the store, you don't really know which ones do or how large their selection is. They had a core following for the do-it-yourselfer (DIYers)s for decades and then they effectively stopped carrying what those people wanted in favor of products with larger profit margins. Nothing is more frustrating than on a 30-minute driving round trip to find out that you just should have ordered a capacitor and resistor online because the 18 year old at the store doesn't even know what those parts are, much less if they stock them.

In my opinion, this is how they really blew it. They could have grown their online presence (like Newark Electronics or Digikey) and used that capability to more easily stock their storefronts with electronic components. They could have also brought in more computer components into their stores and also added that to their online stock (like Fry's or NewEgg). They could have continued to embrace DIY electronics. Instead, they kept their stores small, were not proactive on internet sales, and tried to copy larger appliance stores like BestBuy. In doing that, they lost most of their core customers and did not effective replace them.

In reality, they died decades ago but their management didn't realize it.

If you only need glasses for reading, you do not need progressive lenses. You need reading glasses, which you will only wear when you are reading.

You can just buy an over-the-counter set of glasses ($15) with your prescription. Or you can have a fancier (lighter or more stylish) pair made, but they will be called single-vision lenses (meaning that they have a single correction factor per eye).

Optometrists prefer you to get the most expensive lens option though their shop. Reading glasses are the cheapest. Single visions are the next cheapest. They have a higher profit margin on progressive lenses, multi-focal lenses, bifocals, etc. They also have a nice profit margin on coatings for anti-reflection or transition lenses. (Contact lenses too!)

I recommend you do the following:
1. Visit your optometrist's office and ask for a copy of your eyeglasses prescription. By law (in the US), they must give this to you at the end of the exam. You should always request this, at every visit, as you have paid for it.
2. If you got your lenses at the optometrist, tell them that they simply are not working for you. Usually, if it has been a few weeks to a month, they will remake your lenses in a different option at no cost to you. (This is generally the only advantage of getting your lenses at your optometrist.)
3. Read online about how your prescription works and figure out if you can get by with a simple set of cheap reading glasses. (You can do this if your eyes both require the same diopter correction value.)
4. Go to a drug store and try out cheap reading glasses.

Good luck. Look at the bright side, some people need glasses for both distance and reading!

Do any of these stars have planets? Because otherwise, there is nothing to land on when you starhop to them!

(This would have been a good point to discuss in the article!!!)