Library software deletes the record of any material borrowed as soon as the material is returned. This is not the case with Amazon.

True, the automated tools can easily do as much harm as good but there are valid reasons to dive into the registry. Install half a dozen apps. Then uninstall them. The odds are that five have left something behind. In all likelihood a couple have left kernel drivers behind. This is the sort of thing that prevents in-place upgrades and forces clean installs. Uninstallers don't. Cleaning the registry can be the only solution.

One advantage of advanced age is that I remember when they used to do stuff like this. I remember disk drives the size of a dish washer that were 80MB (!) or 160 MB selectable by jumper. Imagine the hardware tech trying to talk his way out of that. I remember a line of minicomputers where lower end boxes were lower end because a no-op was inserted into the code in the firmware. Sure you're pissed off because you're having your nose rubbed in their obviously high profit margins. But it's nothing new. Next time you look at any piece of electronics think about the the fact that it's probably being sold as any number of different priced models with some features turned on or off. Intel just isn't playing the game of pretending to swap out a device when they're just switching a jumper.

Call me a dork but my phone is clipped to my belt. I'm approaching the age when I may need a digital hearing aid. My glasses aren't technically electronic but at the atomic level everything is and they adjust to ambient light. We won't get into pacemakers, insulin pumps... None of these items are exotic.

if the cops are using uncalibrated radar guns you can get three points. if the DHS guys are using uncalibrated backscatter detectors you can get stage 4.

An efficient traffic light algorithm is based on both speed and volume. "Smart traffic light" systems do exist with realtime monitoring systems. Like all systems, however, tuning requires trade offs. The big problem occurs when smart systems intersect.

The system is also dynamic as opposed to static; speed changes are necessary to respond to traffic density, curves, hills, lane changers, etc. Don't expect road design to do your thinking for you. There is no one right answer when it comes to optimum speed.

I would say that a leading cause of traffic congestion is the changing distance between cars as conditions (cars entering, changing lanes, curves, hills...) change. As the distance between cars changes from two car lengths to four car lengths the effective traffic load per mile doubles. And this occurs without any addition cars entering the road.

This can be seen on almost any road during periods of moderate to heavy traffic as traffic "clumps up" and then opens.

I enjoy driving. I have a performance car with a stick shift. I'd gladly jump on an autonomous car "train" during commutes for a faster, safer trip. I'd also feel less concerned about drivers who text, gesture with both hands, eat or apply makeup as they "drive".

When it comes to trading our privacy for (the illusion of) security we're constantly told that if we have nothing to hide we shouldn't have a problem. Obviously the government(s) and corporations have lots to hide and have a big problem.

Why does the public have to stand naked in front of the TSA while those to whom we have delegated authority get to hide their actions?

The greatest danger posed by WikiLeaks is to raise the possibility that those who are responsible for our security have higher priorities.

When I was a kid we brought in milk money. And we got nutrition. Now it's payoff money and we avoid litigation. "Tommy, you forgot your music money? Go sit in the corner with the noise canceling headphones". "No, Mary. Being tone deaf doesn't mean you get a discount". ROTFLMFHO Next- a charge for singing hymns in church.

Corporations own the internet. At least they own the backbones, distribution networks and a lot of the content providers. And the default state of corporations is to manipulate the business environment to maximize return. If a corporation owned a bridge it would have to charge a toll to cross the bridge, If it didn't, its shareholders would sue and replace the board of directors. The first amendment is a regulation. Traffic lights are regulation. I don't know of anyone who thinks that we're over-regulated and that the first amendment and traffic lights should go. Unfortunately, corporate ownership means that some equal and opposite force, i.e. regulation is necessary. Of course regulatory power could guarantee net neutrality along with government censorship. Unfortunately, there is no umbrella organization large enough to codify a set of rules which would assure net neutrality without th need for government intervention. No regulation? Well, look what happened when deregulation allowed commercial banks to become investment banks.

Looking at recent stories in the news about Comcast I'd be more concerned if I were a content provider. It looks like the trend may be for network providers to look for a way to charge content providers. Of course all this double billing is going to raise profits, not infrastructure investment.

Lobbyists get to speak to government officials every day. Citizens only get to speak on election day. The lobbies pay for the advertising that gets lawmakers elected. While we pay their salaries we get little attention. Bad legislation gets passed. Regulations are modified waiving what little safeguards get written. Business trumps consumers every time and consumers are kept in the dark by proprietary business secrets and national security. Well, when the bees are gone and the beef industry can't keep their livestock standing by feeding them more antibiotics there will always be Soylent Green.

Look at the bright side. At some point the traffic volume levels off when you can't increase the license plate size large enough to increase the number of characters shown and all combinations are in use. We're running out of TCP/IP V4 addresses. Just don't go to V6. That will give the networks time to grow.

Too many secrets. Looks like we need (vetted) wikis to analyze and publish reports about the companies that are holding us hostage for monthly ransoms. One side-effect would be a total lack of credibility for government critiques of things like wikileaks. Keep the consumer in the dark and milk him/her as long as possible.

While in a courthouse in New Jersey for a civil trial I noticed that there were many, many open Wi-Fi networks available. It was impossible to find a public area that didn't have excellent signal. So they've spent a fortune equipping the courthouses with wireless networks and are surprised when people use them without thinking.

.

Irony? Hey this is the state that has Newark Liberty Airport.