Filing chapter 7 will discharge all debts except student loans, back Federal taxes, child support, restitution (due to *criminal* not civil acts), homeowner's fees, debts obtained via fraud.
Source: Federal bankruptcy code, 11 U. S. C. 523.
If this were a criminal case, and she owned the millions, yes; she would be stuck with the debt for life. This is civil.
Copyright/trademark/patent laws were meant to target people making money from other people's IP. For example, if someone makes shoes with a brand trademark and sells them, they are liable for the trademark violation. Or if they are selling for profit burns of Justin Bieber CDs, they are liable for copyright violations. Same with someone using a patent someone else owns for profit.
None of these laws were used against individuals for nonprofit use, -ever-, in the history of the US. Until the last decade. Businesses, yes. Individuals doing things for for profit? Yes. But that was as far as it went.
Only three trials? Does this woman need to be tried repeatedly for life with random awards against her each time?
She likely is best off just letting the chips fall where they may, declaring bankruptcy, and walking away from it. Yes, it is on the credit record for 10 years, but it sure beats wasting more money and time.
Where other countries are not just dropping fiber and lighting it up, the US's bandwidth is actually shrinking. You might get fiber drops in a few cities, but in most of the country, either one ends up with the same or less bandwidth. You also get tiered pricing, metered bandwidth, and additional fees, so it is more expensive now than it was five years ago for the same amount of MB/second.
If Netflix is "burdening" ISPs, then the ISPs better suck it up, call their Cisco rep and get some new hardware. This is what they are paid by subscribers to do. Not tack on extra fees and give up in despair.
Take a look at China, Japan, and Korea. People watch TV on their phones. Not just the local equivalent of Fox News, but they can hit a Web page and stream any movie they darn want to instantly. In full high def. Europeans can stream music via Spotify of anything and everything they care to listen to. Why is it that the ISPs in those countries don't wring their hands in front of the Diet/Parliament/National People's Congress of how they are being wronged by high bandwidth use?
I'm being a bit sardonic here, but why can't we have commercial software that we pay for this well thought out? Of all the categories of software (games, utilities, Office suites), malware has evolved from being CPU/disk/memory hogs to some of the leanest and most well coded executables that ever hit a CPU on the planet.
Very true. However, some devices have resisted even the best cracking attempts for years. Take the PS3 for example. It took almost four years for any meaningful crack to happen. Take HD satellite. It has been out for years, and there has yet to be a crack for it.
It is only a matter of time before phones get this hard to root/JB. Yes, eventually a device will be rooted/jailbroken, but after three years, it doesn't really matter because the device is a relative antique by then. By then, nobody will be interested, nor care about the item because they have upgraded at least 2-3 generations beyond.
If we hit a wall with storage, that is likely what will happen. We might even see full height 5.25" drives return with a smart controller that moves data around depending on how it is accessed, or multiple heads to further balance the load (one head primarly accessing inner tracks the other outer tracks to help reduce average seek time), as well as some flash storage for very frequent data use that is too big for a DRAM cache.
The sad part, what I want/need a device to do, usually isn't on the open platforms.
1: Exchange support with strong encryption, so if a person is stupid enough to leave the device in the back of a taxi, someone with basic forensic skills cannot easily get sensitive E-mail and documents. Here, iPhones are decent, but the best (assuming no BES) would be a WM device with encryption on the memory card flipped on.
Ideally, I'd like to see Android have LUKS as an option on both the data filesystem and the SD card, with key strengthening, as well as auto-erase if the PIN is mis-entered more than x amount of times. Maybe even allow for a strong passphrase when starting up the device, then a PIN for unlocking (where the volume password is not stored in persistent memory, so a reboot clears it.)
2: Apps, apps, apps. Mobile platforms are very different from one another. This means that writing an app on obj-c will require a rewrite for the Dalvik VM. Same with Silverlight/XNA. So, developers are forced to pick one platform and be done with it, unless they are well funded enough to have multiple, disjoint codebases. I'd love to see Maemo/Meego pick up the critical mass of apps so it becomes a mainstream platform. However, right now, we essentially have iOS and Android as the two top contenders with everyone way far behind in the program department.
3: Usability. iOS is very good at this. Android is as well. The ability to navigate between apps without jerkiness or freezing, a consistent UI, the ability to interrupt existing apps for phone calls, handle out of storage space gracefully, etc. Android might need a kick in the jimmies with an app like Advanced Task Manager sometimes, but that is normal.
4: Accessories. iOS devices have accessories in spades. Even cars sport 30 pin docks sometimes.
I wonder if this technology can help further holographic storage. Holographic storage has been hovering at the edges for a while now, and maybe this might be the impetus that drives this mainstream.
Of course, it wouldn't be memristor fast, nor compete with SSDS, but as a medium to replace tapes or WORM optical storage for low speed, high capacity, it would be ideal, assuming the archival life of bits stored in 3D is up to par.
Never say never, and never say always. Look how long it took to JB the iPhone 4, and iOS 4.1's baseband has yet to be cracked. It won't be that long before devices take so long to root or jailbreak that they are obsolete and new models are on the market. All it takes is Microsoft, Apple, and Motorola to delay the rooters/modders/jailbreakers 1-2 years, and they have completely won the game because most people would have moved on by then.
The best answer to keeping Joe Sixpack in the walled garden so he doesn't inundate his device with Trojans would be an unlock key individualized to the device, similar to how the OLPC environment is locked down until a dev key is handed out. This would be one of the best solutions -- in return for a complete JB/root/access to the underlying OS, the user is not going to blame Apple/Google/Microsoft/HTC/whomever for the issue, and the user is doing everything at their own risk. Combine this with a signed declaration about not pirating apps [1], and this makes every party (consumer, carrier, phone maker, app developers) happy.
[1]: App pirates are the bane of existence for the Android modding scene and the Cydia app ecosystem. These are the people who push Apple and others to keep throwing roadblocks and ever more clever systems in place to keep rooting/modding/JB-ing from happening. Agreeing not to pirate may not slow down piracy much, but it at least places the responsibility in the person's hands for firing up Installous or forgoing that can of natty light and actually buying the app in question.
It depends on the player. Some that works, others, stop-play-stop works. Others, up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a gets the ability to skip UOP stuff. Still others just do not have a way to skip altogether.
That is exactly where these things come in handy -- environments such as schools or places with computer labs that if a lab monitor turns around, equipment would be walking out the door.
I can see using these Jack PCs (secured in the wall with Bryce Key-Rex security screws or something of that nature) in an environment where you want as little equipment out in the open as possible, where if a crackhead goes werewolf and rips a monitor off a Kensington cable and dashes off with it, that isn't as big a loss as losing a computer. Plus, the crackhead isn't going to be looking at a plug in the wall for something to steal unless he is going to try to rip out the wiring to sell the copper.
Add Citrix or MS terminal server, and this is a decent solution for a number of applications.
The movie folks are smarter though. They also own the bandwidth (cable companies) while the music industry doesn't. This is why bandwidth is shrinking in most parts of the US, and existing bandwidth is getting tiered with additional fees tacked on. Cable companies want people using their broadcast mode, and not the Internet to watch movies, and unless prodded by government regulators, this will not change anytime soon.
So, the only real progress you will see with movies is more new formats with more new DRM.
Or the research can be released (or perhaps sold) offshore in a manner similar to Wikileaks, and there would be absolutely nothing anyone could be able to do about it.
Same with footage. I'm sure a montage of scenes of people making out would make something that would sell to some people.
I'm just waiting for that myself. New 3D format? Better make sure your stuff is HDCP2012 compliant. Oh, you have a HDCP2011 device? Better hope the maker has a flash update (which they almost guaranteed will not have), or buy yourself a compliant TV that does. Too late. The HDCP2013 spec is out, so enjoy your movies from 2012 or earlier, since the new releases will require new hardware.
For what I do, I'll just stick with DVDs. At least I know future releases will play on existing equipment.
Go to a theater that doesn't suck. I've seen security at an Alamo Drafthouse franchise remove cellphone yappers quite quickly. Then find something decent on the menu and your beverage of choice and kick back. If you have to go use the restroom, there is plenty of space to duck under the table and go down the aisle.
Going to the Alamo is a nice change from the neighborhood watering hole.
It is getting pretty bad. To watch a DVD, I have to handbrake it, so I can actually watch the movie, and not 30 minutes of previews, MPAA warnings and other tripe.
My recommendation: Vote with your feet and your dollars.
The trick is to give the middle finger to the chain theaters that do this stuff. This is one of the good things about Austin -- why sit in a cattle arena with cruddy food when you can hit an Alamo Drafthouse, get a real [1] beer and a decent meal while watching something?
QNX has been around a long time, and definitely is a mature product. I wonder what BlackberryOS will look like if it is rewritten to take advantage of QNX's realtime abilities.
The encryption has not been cracked in toto. Backups have a weakness of how they are stored, and India/UAE have gotten access to the BIS servers. However, the OS itself is very secure. Someone yanks the SIM card out to prevent remote erasure? Phones can be configured to zero out themselves if they don't have a signal after x amount of hours or days. It also has encryption not just for files on the SD card, but internal storage.
BIS servers are both a benefit and a detriment. The advantage is that it doesn't use SSL which some governments with root certs in most browsers can forge CAs. The disadvantage is that if someone gets access to the server, they have the keys to the kingdom. Of course, this can be addressed with a BES server.
iOS has gone a way to address security and encryption on the local device, and I'm sure eventually Android will either get EncFS or LUKS to address the same issue.
Maemo/Meego which are only on one device (N900). Six click root and no lockdown whatsoever make the platform very appealing. Downside is that it isn't a popular dev platform (although it should be.)
Windows Phone 7 -- apps are getting a slow start. Time will tell because it has great Exchange support, and might be able to oust Blackberries from the corporate sector.
BlackberryOS -- kick butt security, starting to fall behind with consumers, and as the iPhone gets more and more Exchange friendly, it is starting to lose grip in companies.
iOS and Android -- we have heard the pros and cons of these two operating systems beaten to death. In reality, the only weakness of Android is no encryption (2.2 only encrypts applications moved to the SD card) of Exchange data. When Google fixes this, it is more of a matter of who has the apps someone wants than anything else. I just wish someone would make an Android phone with modern CPU/RAM/disk and open (think N1 or ADP line) of Android phones where rooting/flashing custom ROMs isn't just allowed (no code signing of kernels, eFuses, auto reinstalls), but encouraged. Preferably with a hardware sliding keyboard -- it sucks to type UNIX commands on a virtual keyboard.
Dodge heavily advertised cylinder deactivation with the MDS campaigns a few years back for their trucks. GM has a similar technology which turns off two pistons on their V8s when cruising.
This is not to say the TFA's stuff is meaningless. However, there have been a lot of engineers looking at IC engines to find ways to improve efficiency and performance for over a century. From making a six stroke that had water blast in to be converted to steam to many other items. The problem is some advances might help, but might adversely affect reliability. Water in the engine would mean that not just gasoline, but a water tank would have to be carried with the vehicle. E85 brings about corrosion problems and takes food out of the mouths of people starving.
It might take a revival of older designs to move forward. Steam is still something that might be usable, and a boiler can essentially take anything that can burn.
Even the full size pickups are getting more economical engines. Take Ford's 2011 engine lineup for the F-150, with a turbocharged V6 as the centerpiece of the line.
The days of the stinky, pathetically underpowered Mercedes Turbo Diesels that you had to pass in the breakdown lane are long since gone. I wouldn't mind seeing diesels be offered not just for pickups, but across the whole line of a car maker's offerings.
Another engine design that would be awfully nice to have would be a turbine engine. Essentially anything that burns, be it diesel, gasoline, Everclear, methanol, or flammable cat piss can keep it running. It may not have the power band of a piston engine, but that is what a CVT is for. That, or use it as the onboard generator to keep an electric vehicle's batteries topped off.
Traffic lights a great place for hybrids. You can keep your heater or A/C running, while the main gasoline engine is off. This not just saves fuel, but wear and tear on the engine, as well as potential overheating if the radiator fan isn't up to snuff.
It doesn't have to be batteries. I've heard about PT Cruisers actually kill the engine at lights and use the starter motor for slow traffic movement, firing up the main engine when the accelerator is pushed down for real.
Short term, I see engine designs and hybridization (why run a gas engine at a stop light?). I also see E85 coming from other sources than corn, which will slow down the need for overseas dino juice. Better our vehicles be drunkards than carnivores.
Medium term, I see nuclear power allowing for use of thermal depolymerization and technologies to suck CO2 from the air to combine it with water and make crude oil, thus allowing for gasoline to be produced and existing infrastructure kept. Why nuclear power? It is carbon neutral, inexpensive, has a lot of energy generating capability in a small area, and the technology is very mature.
Long term, nuclear fusion, supercap technology, and electric motors. However, there are large hurdles before this happens, from getting the power/weight ratio of supercaps on par with chemical storage mechanisms like gasoline, getting fusion productive on a wide scale basis, and getting an electric grid that can handle transportation 24/7, so vehicles like the Nissan Leaf can plug in, even when parked near the Pravda "shop" by Marfa Texas.
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Filing chapter 7 will discharge all debts except student loans, back Federal taxes, child support, restitution (due to *criminal* not civil acts), homeowner's fees, debts obtained via fraud.
Source: Federal bankruptcy code, 11 U. S. C. 523.
If this were a criminal case, and she owned the millions, yes; she would be stuck with the debt for life. This is civil.
Copyright/trademark/patent laws were meant to target people making money from other people's IP. For example, if someone makes shoes with a brand trademark and sells them, they are liable for the trademark violation. Or if they are selling for profit burns of Justin Bieber CDs, they are liable for copyright violations. Same with someone using a patent someone else owns for profit.
None of these laws were used against individuals for nonprofit use, -ever-, in the history of the US. Until the last decade. Businesses, yes. Individuals doing things for for profit? Yes. But that was as far as it went.
Only three trials? Does this woman need to be tried repeatedly for life with random awards against her each time?
She likely is best off just letting the chips fall where they may, declaring bankruptcy, and walking away from it. Yes, it is on the credit record for 10 years, but it sure beats wasting more money and time.
Where other countries are not just dropping fiber and lighting it up, the US's bandwidth is actually shrinking. You might get fiber drops in a few cities, but in most of the country, either one ends up with the same or less bandwidth. You also get tiered pricing, metered bandwidth, and additional fees, so it is more expensive now than it was five years ago for the same amount of MB/second.
If Netflix is "burdening" ISPs, then the ISPs better suck it up, call their Cisco rep and get some new hardware. This is what they are paid by subscribers to do. Not tack on extra fees and give up in despair.
Take a look at China, Japan, and Korea. People watch TV on their phones. Not just the local equivalent of Fox News, but they can hit a Web page and stream any movie they darn want to instantly. In full high def. Europeans can stream music via Spotify of anything and everything they care to listen to. Why is it that the ISPs in those countries don't wring their hands in front of the Diet/Parliament/National People's Congress of how they are being wronged by high bandwidth use?
I'm being a bit sardonic here, but why can't we have commercial software that we pay for this well thought out? Of all the categories of software (games, utilities, Office suites), malware has evolved from being CPU/disk/memory hogs to some of the leanest and most well coded executables that ever hit a CPU on the planet.
Very true. However, some devices have resisted even the best cracking attempts for years. Take the PS3 for example. It took almost four years for any meaningful crack to happen. Take HD satellite. It has been out for years, and there has yet to be a crack for it.
It is only a matter of time before phones get this hard to root/JB. Yes, eventually a device will be rooted/jailbroken, but after three years, it doesn't really matter because the device is a relative antique by then. By then, nobody will be interested, nor care about the item because they have upgraded at least 2-3 generations beyond.
They have as part of the previews to leave a notecard on the clip where you place your orders about yapping patrons.
They give one warning.
It also applies to people texting, so your night vision doesn't get trashed by that.
If we hit a wall with storage, that is likely what will happen. We might even see full height 5.25" drives return with a smart controller that moves data around depending on how it is accessed, or multiple heads to further balance the load (one head primarly accessing inner tracks the other outer tracks to help reduce average seek time), as well as some flash storage for very frequent data use that is too big for a DRAM cache.
The sad part, what I want/need a device to do, usually isn't on the open platforms.
1: Exchange support with strong encryption, so if a person is stupid enough to leave the device in the back of a taxi, someone with basic forensic skills cannot easily get sensitive E-mail and documents. Here, iPhones are decent, but the best (assuming no BES) would be a WM device with encryption on the memory card flipped on.
Ideally, I'd like to see Android have LUKS as an option on both the data filesystem and the SD card, with key strengthening, as well as auto-erase if the PIN is mis-entered more than x amount of times. Maybe even allow for a strong passphrase when starting up the device, then a PIN for unlocking (where the volume password is not stored in persistent memory, so a reboot clears it.)
2: Apps, apps, apps. Mobile platforms are very different from one another. This means that writing an app on obj-c will require a rewrite for the Dalvik VM. Same with Silverlight/XNA. So, developers are forced to pick one platform and be done with it, unless they are well funded enough to have multiple, disjoint codebases. I'd love to see Maemo/Meego pick up the critical mass of apps so it becomes a mainstream platform. However, right now, we essentially have iOS and Android as the two top contenders with everyone way far behind in the program department.
3: Usability. iOS is very good at this. Android is as well. The ability to navigate between apps without jerkiness or freezing, a consistent UI, the ability to interrupt existing apps for phone calls, handle out of storage space gracefully, etc. Android might need a kick in the jimmies with an app like Advanced Task Manager sometimes, but that is normal.
4: Accessories. iOS devices have accessories in spades. Even cars sport 30 pin docks sometimes.
I wonder if this technology can help further holographic storage. Holographic storage has been hovering at the edges for a while now, and maybe this might be the impetus that drives this mainstream.
Of course, it wouldn't be memristor fast, nor compete with SSDS, but as a medium to replace tapes or WORM optical storage for low speed, high capacity, it would be ideal, assuming the archival life of bits stored in 3D is up to par.
Never say never, and never say always. Look how long it took to JB the iPhone 4, and iOS 4.1's baseband has yet to be cracked. It won't be that long before devices take so long to root or jailbreak that they are obsolete and new models are on the market. All it takes is Microsoft, Apple, and Motorola to delay the rooters/modders/jailbreakers 1-2 years, and they have completely won the game because most people would have moved on by then.
The best answer to keeping Joe Sixpack in the walled garden so he doesn't inundate his device with Trojans would be an unlock key individualized to the device, similar to how the OLPC environment is locked down until a dev key is handed out. This would be one of the best solutions -- in return for a complete JB/root/access to the underlying OS, the user is not going to blame Apple/Google/Microsoft/HTC/whomever for the issue, and the user is doing everything at their own risk. Combine this with a signed declaration about not pirating apps [1], and this makes every party (consumer, carrier, phone maker, app developers) happy.
[1]: App pirates are the bane of existence for the Android modding scene and the Cydia app ecosystem. These are the people who push Apple and others to keep throwing roadblocks and ever more clever systems in place to keep rooting/modding/JB-ing from happening. Agreeing not to pirate may not slow down piracy much, but it at least places the responsibility in the person's hands for firing up Installous or forgoing that can of natty light and actually buying the app in question.
It depends on the player. Some that works, others, stop-play-stop works. Others, up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a gets the ability to skip UOP stuff. Still others just do not have a way to skip altogether.
That is exactly where these things come in handy -- environments such as schools or places with computer labs that if a lab monitor turns around, equipment would be walking out the door.
I can see using these Jack PCs (secured in the wall with Bryce Key-Rex security screws or something of that nature) in an environment where you want as little equipment out in the open as possible, where if a crackhead goes werewolf and rips a monitor off a Kensington cable and dashes off with it, that isn't as big a loss as losing a computer. Plus, the crackhead isn't going to be looking at a plug in the wall for something to steal unless he is going to try to rip out the wiring to sell the copper.
Add Citrix or MS terminal server, and this is a decent solution for a number of applications.
The movie folks are smarter though. They also own the bandwidth (cable companies) while the music industry doesn't. This is why bandwidth is shrinking in most parts of the US, and existing bandwidth is getting tiered with additional fees tacked on. Cable companies want people using their broadcast mode, and not the Internet to watch movies, and unless prodded by government regulators, this will not change anytime soon.
So, the only real progress you will see with movies is more new formats with more new DRM.
Or the research can be released (or perhaps sold) offshore in a manner similar to Wikileaks, and there would be absolutely nothing anyone could be able to do about it.
Same with footage. I'm sure a montage of scenes of people making out would make something that would sell to some people.
I'm just waiting for that myself. New 3D format? Better make sure your stuff is HDCP2012 compliant. Oh, you have a HDCP2011 device? Better hope the maker has a flash update (which they almost guaranteed will not have), or buy yourself a compliant TV that does. Too late. The HDCP2013 spec is out, so enjoy your movies from 2012 or earlier, since the new releases will require new hardware.
For what I do, I'll just stick with DVDs. At least I know future releases will play on existing equipment.
Go to a theater that doesn't suck. I've seen security at an Alamo Drafthouse franchise remove cellphone yappers quite quickly. Then find something decent on the menu and your beverage of choice and kick back. If you have to go use the restroom, there is plenty of space to duck under the table and go down the aisle.
Going to the Alamo is a nice change from the neighborhood watering hole.
It is getting pretty bad. To watch a DVD, I have to handbrake it, so I can actually watch the movie, and not 30 minutes of previews, MPAA warnings and other tripe.
My recommendation: Vote with your feet and your dollars.
The trick is to give the middle finger to the chain theaters that do this stuff. This is one of the good things about Austin -- why sit in a cattle arena with cruddy food when you can hit an Alamo Drafthouse, get a real [1] beer and a decent meal while watching something?
[1]: Guinness especially.
QNX has been around a long time, and definitely is a mature product. I wonder what BlackberryOS will look like if it is rewritten to take advantage of QNX's realtime abilities.
The encryption has not been cracked in toto. Backups have a weakness of how they are stored, and India/UAE have gotten access to the BIS servers. However, the OS itself is very secure. Someone yanks the SIM card out to prevent remote erasure? Phones can be configured to zero out themselves if they don't have a signal after x amount of hours or days. It also has encryption not just for files on the SD card, but internal storage.
BIS servers are both a benefit and a detriment. The advantage is that it doesn't use SSL which some governments with root certs in most browsers can forge CAs. The disadvantage is that if someone gets access to the server, they have the keys to the kingdom. Of course, this can be addressed with a BES server.
iOS has gone a way to address security and encryption on the local device, and I'm sure eventually Android will either get EncFS or LUKS to address the same issue.
As of now, we have:
Maemo/Meego which are only on one device (N900). Six click root and no lockdown whatsoever make the platform very appealing. Downside is that it isn't a popular dev platform (although it should be.)
Windows Phone 7 -- apps are getting a slow start. Time will tell because it has great Exchange support, and might be able to oust Blackberries from the corporate sector.
BlackberryOS -- kick butt security, starting to fall behind with consumers, and as the iPhone gets more and more Exchange friendly, it is starting to lose grip in companies.
iOS and Android -- we have heard the pros and cons of these two operating systems beaten to death. In reality, the only weakness of Android is no encryption (2.2 only encrypts applications moved to the SD card) of Exchange data. When Google fixes this, it is more of a matter of who has the apps someone wants than anything else. I just wish someone would make an Android phone with modern CPU/RAM/disk and open (think N1 or ADP line) of Android phones where rooting/flashing custom ROMs isn't just allowed (no code signing of kernels, eFuses, auto reinstalls), but encouraged. Preferably with a hardware sliding keyboard -- it sucks to type UNIX commands on a virtual keyboard.
Dodge heavily advertised cylinder deactivation with the MDS campaigns a few years back for their trucks. GM has a similar technology which turns off two pistons on their V8s when cruising.
This is not to say the TFA's stuff is meaningless. However, there have been a lot of engineers looking at IC engines to find ways to improve efficiency and performance for over a century. From making a six stroke that had water blast in to be converted to steam to many other items. The problem is some advances might help, but might adversely affect reliability. Water in the engine would mean that not just gasoline, but a water tank would have to be carried with the vehicle. E85 brings about corrosion problems and takes food out of the mouths of people starving.
It might take a revival of older designs to move forward. Steam is still something that might be usable, and a boiler can essentially take anything that can burn.
Even the full size pickups are getting more economical engines. Take Ford's 2011 engine lineup for the F-150, with a turbocharged V6 as the centerpiece of the line.
The days of the stinky, pathetically underpowered Mercedes Turbo Diesels that you had to pass in the breakdown lane are long since gone. I wouldn't mind seeing diesels be offered not just for pickups, but across the whole line of a car maker's offerings.
Another engine design that would be awfully nice to have would be a turbine engine. Essentially anything that burns, be it diesel, gasoline, Everclear, methanol, or flammable cat piss can keep it running. It may not have the power band of a piston engine, but that is what a CVT is for. That, or use it as the onboard generator to keep an electric vehicle's batteries topped off.
Traffic lights a great place for hybrids. You can keep your heater or A/C running, while the main gasoline engine is off. This not just saves fuel, but wear and tear on the engine, as well as potential overheating if the radiator fan isn't up to snuff.
It doesn't have to be batteries. I've heard about PT Cruisers actually kill the engine at lights and use the starter motor for slow traffic movement, firing up the main engine when the accelerator is pushed down for real.
Short term, I see engine designs and hybridization (why run a gas engine at a stop light?). I also see E85 coming from other sources than corn, which will slow down the need for overseas dino juice. Better our vehicles be drunkards than carnivores.
Medium term, I see nuclear power allowing for use of thermal depolymerization and technologies to suck CO2 from the air to combine it with water and make crude oil, thus allowing for gasoline to be produced and existing infrastructure kept. Why nuclear power? It is carbon neutral, inexpensive, has a lot of energy generating capability in a small area, and the technology is very mature.
Long term, nuclear fusion, supercap technology, and electric motors. However, there are large hurdles before this happens, from getting the power/weight ratio of supercaps on par with chemical storage mechanisms like gasoline, getting fusion productive on a wide scale basis, and getting an electric grid that can handle transportation 24/7, so vehicles like the Nissan Leaf can plug in, even when parked near the Pravda "shop" by Marfa Texas.