At least in California, it's already illegal to drive while very tired or to be distracted by kids. Because they're thinking of the kids, or something. No, they just wanted another revenue stream but don't let that stop you from believing it's for "safety".

There've been HUDs in vehicles since the 90s. Displaying tach, speedo, radio stations, etc. BMW is hardly working on anything new.

And since I forgot to mention it, only in North America (and maybe China - but heck, they think Buick is prestigious over there) is Mercedes seen only as a prestige brand. In Europe, there are plenty of Mercedes rental cars and taxis. Inexpensive cars don't ruin a company's reputation - they provide capital to develop things like the next S-Class.

Mercedes has no X. That's BMW. They have the ML, the G, the GL, the CLS, the CLA, the A (non-US), the B (non-US), the C, the E, the S, the SL. Think that's all of em. They used to have an R class but they don't anymore (in the US at least - not sure if that was worldwide). They also used to have the CL but that's being replaced by the S Coupe. And there's the E Coupe which is really a C, and the C Coupe.

AWD is not standard. Says so right on their website. http://www.teslamotors.com/mod... Scroll all the way to the bottom.

I've no use for a protocol droid. What I do need is someone who can understand the binary language of moisture vaporators.

Hey, man, we're all on a one-way trip to somewhere, man. /said the hippie to no one in particular...

Erm, ok then Lara. Or is it, "Dr. Jones"?

...and straight on 'till morning.

I can type just fine on my iPad...Maybe because for a while I used one of those 10" netbooks so I'm used to typing on a smaller device? Yes, the lack of tactile feedback can be difficult to deal with at first but you get used to it. The only problem I run into is that sometimes I hit M instead of the spacebar. But that's easy enough to deal with with autocorrect/spell-check.

Pretty sure MS makes their money when Best Buy gets the product from them (also not sure that there's a middle-man supplier to Best Buy but if there is, wow is that crappy supply chain management).

Just a gentle reminder...you wouldn't have the Internet if it hadn't been for the defense industry.

I just can't see a US commander going "We DIE." Emphasis on the DIE. Plus they don't have those cool little (and incredible noisy) eye piece things. Though I guess they will over the next few years so, awesome.

You do realize that you can buy unlocked GSM phones, purchase a SIM card from AT&T (and formerly T-Mobile) and use it without having to pay several hundred dollars up-front right? I've done that many times over the years. Ditto for purchasing a used or new CDMA device. You just call up the carrier and say you want to activate a device. You don't have to "pay for a new phone with a 2 year service plan whether you get one or not" as you say...

How about because there's no law to use your integrated vehicle GPS, radio, talk to folks in the vehicle with you, turn around to bat at the twins fighting in the back seat, etc., all of which are just as potentially distracting? The law is very specific in what is and what is not illegal. Enforcement outside the bounds of the law is not OK. As it's already been stated, the law was felt so initially specific to only speaking on a phone that they had to add another law to ban text messaging. That speaks to the specific intent of the law, not to ban complete use of phones, but only to ban particular functions.