From your perspective, what country fights for liberty?

Short answer - tokenization and eCommerce security.

Chip and Pin uses physical contact of the card to the payment terminal. The chip is very hard to duplicate so it essentially eliminates card cloning. The PIN provides a second factor to authenticate a trusted customer at the point of sale.

Apple Pay is a variant of NFC (near field communication) much like Google Wallet with PayPass. This is wireless (contactless).

The specifications for hardware (Level 1) and software (Level 2) for both contact and contact-less payment systems are managed by EMVCo; see http://www.emvco.com/. Apple has chosen wisely to work with existing industry standards with a couple of big improvements. These guys are smart and they got it right.

What is different about Apple Pay is that unlike PayPass and Chip&PIN which send the credit card account number through all links in the system (usually encrypted), a one time use token is created. If an Apple Pay transaction is exposed, only a useless one time token would be divulged. This is much like the DUKPT system used from other secure transactions. If you are curious about DUKPT see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derived_unique_key_per_transaction.

Aside from the technical superiority of tokenization for security over Chip&Pin for card present transactions, how Apple Pay is better is a matter of taste because both systems mitigate card present fraud. It will always be hard to argue that either will be faster than a swipe.

I'm sick of sitting on my fat wallet and if I could get rid of my cards that would be great. Unfortunately I'll still need my cards because most places wont take anything but mag stripe for years (its taken Canada 7 years to get to 90% Chip&PIN at the merchants). If I lose my wallet I have to call a bunch of companies, whereas if I lose my phone nobody is going to get my card numbers. Apps will proliferate that allow loyalty programs and discounts to be offered to me through mobile integration (e.g. Amex has already announced buying McDonalds food with points). Geofencing in conjunction with NFC will further promote targeted marketing and I like the idea of saving money in exchange for loyalty. NFC will also likely be used to do things like open doors, start cars so it will be very convenient.

Apple Pay also supports tokenization for eCommerce. This is huge because card not present is the area where credit card fraud is most persistent. Apple Pay and the variations that are sure to follow will knock the online card fraud guys out of the game.

Their voting is probably not motivated primarily by bribes - its Michigan jobs they are worried about.

Ironically, the Tesla is more American made (roughly 55% domestic and a lot more when the batteries are made by the Gigafactory) than its Ford, GM, Nissan competitors (roughly 35% domestic)

The rationale for enforcing a car dealership model is obsolete. Now these laws only protect special interests who support politicians and are at odds with the interest of the vast majority of the American public.

I'm all for state's rights, but I think its time for the federal government to step in and eliminate this unconstitutional restraint of interstate commerce.

For the most part, I think its a matter of personal opinion, and I'll share mine.

Humans are social animals. For society to function we have certain rules. For example its not OK to kill and eat people. Society would break down. Hopefully everyone agrees the golden rule is a good idea.

Humans evolved to be survivors, and in order to thrive as omnivores we couldn't be picky about what was on the menu and survive. At this point in our evolution however, we can be picky about what's on the menu and still thrive. Coincidentally we are also learning that many of our fellow creatures on this planet are a lot more like us that we could have known before. We are smarter than these animals and if lack of communication is anybody's fault fault, its ours.

So the question is, should we increase the scope of the golden rule to apply to animals. I'm not a strict vegetarian. I eat well treated animals whose existence depended upon support of our food supply. Like you, I don't eat a lot of industrial produced proteins because I don't trust them. I do however extend the scope of my application of the golden rule to intelligent wild animals because I don't need to eat them. Most people have at least some amount of doubt about the morality of eating intelligent animals, and most uf us have the luxury of extending them the benefit of that doubt.

They are more pleasing to me alive in their natural habitat than on my plate.

I totally agree - crows blow my mind. They have complex language, tool use and family units similar to ours.

My opinion about whales was based upon an experience I had several years ago in Maui. A baby whale and then mother slowly came out of the water 6 feet away from our boat and I looked those whales in the eye. There was obvious curiosity and intelligence there.

Its hard to imagine eating something like that. It for me borders on cannibalism.

I'm not an expert, but assuming octopi are that intelligent based upon brain size might be a false assumption. Their brains may be large to support their chameleon skin systems. Octopi are smart, but they don't have long life spans, advanced language or tool use as far as I know.

I do think everyone should take whales off the menu.

Why not have just good old Windows Classic based upon Windows 7. Charge people for annual support if they want access to updates.

Then they could also offer Windows Du Jour that supports contemporary technology.

Everybody's a winner...

That's interesting. Is most of the power in NYC underground? I'll bet that's expensive to maintain. I've read that hydroelectric power in the Pacific Northwest is super cheap. In Illinois, we get a really good deal 6.8 cents per Kw/Hr for 100% renewable. I suspect its because we have so much nuclear.

One might be able to create an ad-hoc mesh network to extend range...

For a while now in Illinois, we pay separately for distribution and supply. Using the grid as pseudo-storage where you supply by day and draw by night would lower or eliminate your generation costs but not the distribution cost.

Why would the power companies care as long as they have a viable business model?

It also gives more countries the confidence boost needed to launch their own space programs. All this expands the opportunity to grow the base of experienced scientists and engineers for aerospace and other fields which has proven time and again to be a great investment.

140 square miles is a pretty big patio :-) Considering its pretty much unspoiled Hawaiian wilderness except for a couple of 4 Seasons hotels and its one of the prime spots on the planet.

If nothing else, the guy has good taste in real estate.

I like it :-) Simpler is almost always better.

What if a system like red light cameras were devised? Snap a picture of a car that has a moving cell phone signal. If the photo clearly shows the driver engaging in distracted driving send them a court summons.

None of us condone running red lights, but do we like red light cameras? Have they made the roads safer?