Now that's a bad idea: that would make the minimum cell phone thickness ~10mm. (An RJ45 is about 8 mm "tall".) Many (most?) smartphones are already less than 10 mm thick.

The lack of range would be a huge security hazard. It will have poor range to begin with when you consider the lack of aerodynamics and weight of the armor. You can't beat the energy storage capacity of petroleum.

An all electric Golf-sized hatchback that costs $60k+ would be a much smaller niche than a full-size CUV at the same price point. Tesla will supposedly build a $40K Model E as their low end sedan, but the Model X will be much more expensive. Your Golf competitor already exists. It is the Nissan Leaf.

Geely will continue to keep Volvo alive for the next couple years. The real deciding factor for Volvo will be whether the Chinese consumer accepts it as a luxury brand and purchases the Chinese-made Volvos. I wouldn't be surprised if Volvo manufacturing starts shifting to China by 2017, however.

Please tell me you're being sarcastic... Even if all your apps get recompiled to 64-bit versions, you are not going to get a massive performance boost. Have you ever tried running a 32 vs. 64 bit install of Windows or Linux on the same hardware? Not too much difference for average use cases...

Realistically, Intel would have licensed the IA64 architecture to AMD or some other third party. Intel would not want to have an absolute CPU monopoly and risk government intervention. It is much better for Intel to have a barely competitive company (currently AMD) operating in the same space but not offering any kind of threat to their market position.

How much do you bet that the NYC subway system will continue to use conductors and drivers for about 100 years after autonomous cars are driving perfectly on the streets above?

Impressive: they managed to make it even more expensive than the only real alternative (Comcast):

Down/Up (Mbps) - Concord Internet Prices
5/1 - $50
10/5 - $65
25/10 - $75
50/25 - $90

I'd say a 100 Watt LED is a misprint. Think about a 100 Watt diode-based laser. They typically use an array of diodes to get to that power level, and they need liquid cooling so they do not burn themselves up while operating.

I did not read TFA, but in the summary it seems like Gates is complaining that Google is not doing humanitarian work like he does through the Gates foundation. What sense does this make? How much money does Microsoft Corporation give to comfort kids with malaria or diarrhea?

Actually the IEEE dates back to 1884. The IEEE was formed when the Institute of Radio Engineers merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The American Institue of Electrical Engineers was founded in 1884. IEEE

I'm somewhat amazed by the number of people who do settle down in their undergraduate college town, or at least have an infatuation with living in said town. My guess is that for many people, college is the first experience of freedom from parental authority. Combine that freedom with the relatively carefree lifestyle many live in college, and you have a (subconscious?) mental link between a great life style and your college town.

This article summary from a few decades ago:

Bell Labs' Crazy Lack of Focus -- Is it Serous about Telephones?
From semiconductors, to photovoltaics, to computer operatings systems, Bell Labs has wanders aimlessly from topic to topic. How will these ever apply to the copper lines strung across the world to carry our telephone conversations?? Doesn't Bell Labs know that it should only invest in ideas and technology that can pay off within 3 years?

Yeah I'm amazed by the amount of Surface RT hate in this thread. I wonder how much of it is typed on an iPad :)

I think that a $200 tablet for web browsing, email, and remote desktop would be pretty useful despite the limited app store. Maybe it's time to send my Touchpad to ebay and try one of these out...

Actually, the latest version of Office RT (2013) does include Outlook.