The first thing I wondered is about crime. The picture on the BBC story seems to show a person entering a car that already has passengers. Could, say, a mugger get into a car carrying my wife? It would seem to be a pretty safe place to commit a crime, as compared to, say, the subway with other passengers or a bus with a driver.
The paper actually addresses this and points out that there are short wait times for cars, and that they will have security cameras, and that a central control will be able to bring the car back home for repairs/cleaning. Importantly, it also implies that riders can choose to ride alone, but it does not say whether this is the default behavior.
This one costs too much for me, but then, I'm a library CD checking cheapskate. But there are a couple interesting features:
First, this is an interesting addition to Apple's digital hub idea. To the extent that this is intended to be a relatively low volume perk to Apple devotees, the price suddenly seems less important that its coolness. In other words, this is a good idea as long as Apple does not expect to sell more than a few to people who already use Mac products. Surely, they have done some thinking about the demand for a product of this type at this price range (i.e., pretty low). Even so, I think Jobs also indicated that this is just the first in a line of other similar products. Would you be interested in buying a Mac if there were a whole host of these types of little, happy toys available? I would.
Second, does anyone know about any "digital rights management" on this thing? I didn't hear anything about it, and that is good news in light of Microsoft's and the RIAA's plans for our music collections.
So, "lame?" Maybe for most of us, but this could be pretty smart move by Apple if they have planned right.
The whole point of the web is free stuff. Period.
Do you think your mother bought her iMac to pay for content? She wanted e-mail (communication for free!) and the web (information for free!). The thrill in the experience is the free stuff.
Do you think you'd ever hear a first-time web user say, "Hey, and I can subscribe to all kinds of magazines on the web!," or "I can buy all the music I want on the web"? No way. They are there for the free stuff.
We pay our ISP to have access to the free stuff. If stuff is no longer free, we'll get it in a more convienent form from somewhere else.
Slashdot Mirror
Better watch out for those new fangled Google boxes
The first thing I wondered is about crime. The picture on the BBC story seems to show a person entering a car that already has passengers. Could, say, a mugger get into a car carrying my wife? It would seem to be a pretty safe place to commit a crime, as compared to, say, the subway with other passengers or a bus with a driver.
The paper actually addresses this and points out that there are short wait times for cars, and that they will have security cameras, and that a central control will be able to bring the car back home for repairs/cleaning. Importantly, it also implies that riders can choose to ride alone, but it does not say whether this is the default behavior.
This one costs too much for me, but then, I'm a library CD checking cheapskate. But there are a couple interesting features:
First, this is an interesting addition to Apple's digital hub idea. To the extent that this is intended to be a relatively low volume perk to Apple devotees, the price suddenly seems less important that its coolness. In other words, this is a good idea as long as Apple does not expect to sell more than a few to people who already use Mac products. Surely, they have done some thinking about the demand for a product of this type at this price range (i.e., pretty low). Even so, I think Jobs also indicated that this is just the first in a line of other similar products. Would you be interested in buying a Mac if there were a whole host of these types of little, happy toys available? I would.
Second, does anyone know about any "digital rights management" on this thing? I didn't hear anything about it, and that is good news in light of Microsoft's and the RIAA's plans for our music collections.
So, "lame?" Maybe for most of us, but this could be pretty smart move by Apple if they have planned right.
The whole point of the web is free stuff. Period. Do you think your mother bought her iMac to pay for content? She wanted e-mail (communication for free!) and the web (information for free!). The thrill in the experience is the free stuff. Do you think you'd ever hear a first-time web user say, "Hey, and I can subscribe to all kinds of magazines on the web!," or "I can buy all the music I want on the web"? No way. They are there for the free stuff. We pay our ISP to have access to the free stuff. If stuff is no longer free, we'll get it in a more convienent form from somewhere else.