Well, it maybe hard for a machine to visually identify a traffic light, but that's hardly the only way. In the "Internet of Things" vision, traffic lights are one of the first things to be connected to the network for traffic shaping. Hence, autonomous networked cars will be actually aware of not only the closest traffic light, but of all traffic lights in a certain radius. Assuming John Leonard lives another 30 years, I find it hard to believe, that similar functionality won't be implemented by then.
Then again, one could argue that networked traffic lights won't span the globe, and thus autonomous cars will be bounded in certain geographical areas. That was true for a lot of modes of transportation originally though, and eventually it will be minimized.

The thing is that 3G adds complexity and power requirements to support higher speeds. It is designed from the ground up for higher bandwidth. The majority of IoT applications need long battery life and long range communications, not high link speeds. Using 3g for IoT is re-purposing technology engineered for something else: Sure it might work, but it's hardly optimal

Actually the problem with 3G is not the size of the module at all, but the fact that 3G drains the battery very fast, and the costs from the providers are vastly higher compared to other technologies. Sure 3G for Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication might make sense since the yearly cost in a car is far higher than the cost of 3g connection and there's plenty of electricity to go around, but for smart meters? No way. Especially for industrial applications with thousand of devices, the costs rack up pretty fast, especially when you want your IoT-network to last years, not months. There are other technologies out there that are far more suitable for these kind of things (802.15.4 protocols, SIGFOX's network, OnRamp's network etc)

That's a nice idea, but even tv's that cost less than 200£ can play mkv's and mp3's from a USB stick. My Samsung tv can stream straight from any PC in the same LAN [As long as a certain samsung app is installed in that pc].

Ok so here's a bigger picture of what led to the shut down.
1) The ERT (National Radio) was a way for decades for the goverment to reward supporters with well-payed tenured jobs.
2) As a result, there are hundreds of people working there who get payed for menial tasks.
3) The Troika has demanded that about 2500 people working for the public sector will be fired before the end of June. 150.000 before the end of 2014.
4) A large privatisation programme that was a requirement from the Troika to continue the Greek bail out failed on Monday (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/10/greek-gas-supplier-selloff-gazprom )

As a result shutting down ERT hits two birds with one stone: It allows them to fire more than the minimum 2500 that was required, and also distracts the public opinion from mondays failure that is sure to bring more austerity measures. The goverment claims that the shutdown was justified because of the corruption and thriftlessness of the organization, while the governing party was the one that helped create them.

They better design the network to be able to withstand the extra load that an emergency situation would create. Imagine the panic when a disaster happens and noone can reach anybody for help or to make sure they're ok.

Am I the only one worrying about having a device that emits signals at 2.45GHz stuck directly on my skull all day long? Sure, the intensity may not be big enough to damage brain tissue immediatly, but I' would wait till I can see some long-term effects.

When deep space exploration ramps up it'll be the corporations that name everything... the "IBM Stellar Sphere", the "Microsoft Galaxy", "Planet Starbucks".

...tastes like crap

...after CES everyone was saying "Your next TV will likely be 3D, whether you like it or not", but this year everyone is classifying 3D TV as a passing fad, and an unimportand factor when it comes to consumer. I'm pretty sure that unless touchscreens enhance by a signifant degree the user experience, we'll see the same thing happening again.

Just because manufacturers have found a new gimmick to sell, don't mean that we have to follow them around like sheep

It is possible right now. It's a concious decision of the publishers to release "bare" e-books with no added content, and i think this is the main reason that e-books have not yet taken off. The DRM plays a big role too of course.

And by that I don't mean pdf, mobi or whatever else is around. I mean a format that combines the text with abilities that can't be found in classic paper books. Imagine reading a military history book with animated maps showing the movement of troops. Or a thermodynamics book where you can scroll, move and change the attributies of a graph so that you understand how they fit together. Imagine a book about electromagnetism where you can actually see the field lines and how they change when you move the coils or whatever. That would be the equivalent of a killer app in my book. Of course, those are indeed genre books, but I'm sure there are appropriate uses for general fiction books.

The publishers don't really seem to try these things. They basically give you only a pdf of the printed book, no added value. The only things I have enjoyed reading in my tablet are comics, because the color image translates well and there is fewer text on the screen. And I believe that is true for a lot of people, and that's part of the reason the comic publishers have tried new things while the majority of the publishing industry just tries to cling on the old ways.