Depends on how much bandwidth you have natively. I have 240Mb/s when testing just through my router. However, if startup a VPN, and try another speedtest (same day, similar time frame, trying to see side by side comparisons), I get at best less than 1/2 that, and many times way less than that. Granted, you can still do quite a lot with 50Mb/s but it isn't even consistent, because it depends on what node you connect to, and where they are located. One time you connect and you might get 50, another time, 10, and another location 2-3.
Also, it can add a ton of latency, so for some things like gaming and probably SIP/VoIP and any other latency dependent usages, it can have a really negative effect. It can often feel like you're using a cellular data connection.
Don't get me wrong, I have a VPN subcription for use when I need privacy or P2P/etc. But I don't see running one all the time 100% feasible. I debated for a while having my router connect to VPN so everything on my home network would be protected automatically, but after some testing, I decided not to do it at this point. I may have to relook into that option again with this new ISP rule though.
What if I don't have any social media accounts. And what constitutes a "Social Media Account"? Is this just the big ones like Facebook and Twitter? Or does it include all of the off-shoots that tweens are into these days like Instagram, SnapChat, etc.? How about defunct Social Media Accounts like MySpace?
Does it include ANY website that you communicate, like our very own Slashdot, and any random forum you belong too for hobbies, and GitHub and other sites that facilitate communicating with others over certain topics?
The reason for this is to find "terrorists", but how many terrorists are dumb enough to give over their accounts that they use to actively proclaim jihad on the world with? I understand you have to vet people for certain things, but I'm not sure how this will really help, being that it sounds like it's on the "honor" system that you are being truthful and turning all of your accounts over. It also has the flaw in that it assumes that you have Social Media accounts to begin with which many people do not.
Correction, ONLINE password managers are a bad idea. I don't think there is anything wrong with OFFLINE password managers. For instance, I use KeyPass, and it keeps the password vault file encrypted on my HDD. That file can get backed up locally and to the cloud in an already encrypted state so that [CloudProvider] can't access the file.
And that is the problem with bundling and the promo prices. I've fallen into the trap myself, at least knowingly. You see the price for internet, and the price for a promo bundle, and say, "hey, I can get the bundle for almost the same money". But the problem is, that the promo price is only for so long, and eventually runs out and a year or two down the road, you realize that your monthly bill is now $200. Then you either have to play their game of "call in and try to get another promo price", or move to another service, or say screw-it and take the price hike on the chin.
Yes, this is absolutely correct. When had a bundled package, it appears that the package is say $90/mo advertised, but by the time you get the bill, and they tack on taxes, surcharges, rental fee's, and other crap that you have to google to even find out what it is, the bill comes out at least 10% higher if not more, so you end up paying over $100/mo. Similar to cell phone plans that we all are used to.
Once I cut the cord, and dropped TV/Phone and am only paying for internet. The advertised price is $59/mo and my actual bill is exactly $59/mo. All these surcharges and taxes and fees are not applied to internet only service, only to TV and Phone services. So the actual difference is more than appears on paper, even if the advertised rates are close for bundled vs. non-bundled.
Not saying that non-Citizens are not people... but the NSA/CIA, being American government organizations with [supposedly] rules and limits to it's function, are supposed to be restricted from spying on certain people. Specifically, US Citizens within the US borders.
What happens when the government realizes that no one burns pirated moves to CD/DVD anymore since large HDD's are affordable now? Will they leave it as-is and tell the MPAA to kick rocks from now on forever... or will they eventually start taxing HDD sales, and other forms of storage sales. And then eventually instill an ISP tax for those people who only stream pirated stuff and never download & store it?
Where does it end... until eventually it's mandatory that you pay a monthly subcription fee to the MPAA/RIAA like mandatory health-care in the US. If you don't pay them, the IRS gives you a nice penalty for not wanting to listen to music and watch TV...
Dear China, I will speak to my government about stopping listening on your conversations as soon as our home and business routers/firewalls stop getting flooded with Chinese IP addresses on a daily basis.
I can assure you that I880 through the Fremont area is not 'near empty' 2 hours after the commute. On that freeway, the heaviest hours are between 6-9am and 3-7pm, however even between 9am-3pm, it's still heavy traffic like most ordinary freeways would be considered heavy. During the middle of the day, the freeway moves at least, but your still doing like 45mph not 65mph through that section. The only time you could actually do the speedlimit in most cases is in the middle of the night.
PAVE THE BAY!!! (Just fill it with quickset and paint 100 lanes across it each way!).
Yes, CalTrans and the city planning haven't done hardly jack squat about the freeways. What they like to do is fund a major freeway project that makes traffic worse for several years, only to finally complete it, and paint a 'diamond' in the extra lane that they made so 90% of commuters can't use it. That's been the case for years, but lately, they like then adding toll to it for rich people to commute in as well, like at the 880/237 interchange, where you can pay >$5 (per trip) to bypass like a 1/4mi of freeway intersection.
Didn't watch the video's, but I've literally been on BART, where people were crammed in so tight that the doors wouldn't close unless everyone sucked in their gut so the last guy at the door could get their ass in the car and let the doors close. No joke! Sure, there weren't BART workers pushing people in, but it was BAD!
I also know people who get on the trains going the opposite direction (opposite of commute) in SF and ride several stops down so that they can get back on a train coming across the bay and maybe get a seat before the cars fill up (which doesn't work in most cases).
I've also had cars for my line come in and be so full that maybe a couple people that are in line to get on actually can, and the rest can't, and then everyone has to wait another 15-20 mins for another train for our line to come through for the same thing to happen. Several trains later, you might get on one, after waiting for almost an hour.
Maybe it is possible in some of the more restricted environments that I use, but my intention was to get the point across that some software developers require some skill sets while other require another set of skills. With the applications I work on, the only real need to sort something would be to alphabetize a contacts lists that was pulled from another device to show the user. In all the cases I've come across this, the size and type of data to sort is so small and trivial that bubble/insert/quick sort methods wouldn't bat an eyelash at. No need for a binary search tree implementation.
A binary search tree is not used, has no practical applications, and is unrelated knowledge to my field, which is what I was getting at. It's like asking an programmer who specializes in high performance low-level Assembly, a question about a web request of a Restful API that uses JSON and how to convert and store the response into an SQL database. They *may* know the answer to the question, based on the broader understanding of programming, but it's doubtful that they come across a need for this while writing Assembler code. I'd be sorry for them if they did. Or ask a web developer a question relating to low-level hardware interaction, using hardware registers and interrupts, and you'd probably get the same blank stare.
Let's face it, there are many kinds of software developers out there with various skill-sets. Not everyone is a generalized web (or mobile) developer no matter how much some want to believe that's the case. THAT was my point.
The automation I do is not PLC based. I do AV automation aka Crestron/AMX. Those platforms started out with custom languages that are based on C, but are slowly moving to C#, Java, and one manufacturer is using Python now... so I would say yes, it's real programming, but just within a smaller sandbox.
to be fair, I don't think he had a H1B visa to work here either, from another article I read ealier today, it sounded like he had a visiting visa that would normally be used to meet with his prospective employers, but not actually start working. The info I read may be wrong as I'm not sure of the different visa versions and limitations of each.
To me, it sounds like they were unqualified to actually know if he was correct or not, but were most likely asking him something they found on google to keep him busy while they contacted his sponser/employer and checked out his story. If you were a terrorist and had little to no education in programming, but were using a fake story like "I'm a programmer" to get into the country, I'm sure you wouldn't even know where to begin on answering either of those questions. But I doubt it if the answer to the questions really had much of an impact on whether he got released or not (unless he flipped out and started panicking like he'd been caught in a lie). That is my interpretation anyway.
Agree, I've been a professional programmer for over almost 20 yrs, but I specialize in embedded platforms and automation control. I can't tell you how to balance a binary search tree because in my field, that concept is not even used, or able to be implemented with the limited and custom "subset of C language" compilers I have to work with. I DO however know what an abstract class is though, just from studying OOP programming in general, so I guess I would only get half credit on that exam?
Jeesh, English and grammar Nazi's, all of ya!
I typo'd "loose" instead of "lose", ok an extra letter in there. I also put 'a' in front of a word that starts with a vowel, I know the syntax I used is wrong as well. I was typing that out as I was packing up my laptop to head to work on a Saturday, which I'm not happy about, so forgive me for not taking a few seconds to proof read my comment before hitting submit as I was was in a rush to get out the door.
Must be a slow weekend when the only thing to comment on is bad grammar and spelling mistakes and typos... Hope you all got your laughs in!
USPS DID loose the package! How should they sue? He received a ripped/torn shipping label and a "we don't know where it is" from the USPS already. The summary states right there that the box was sitting in a Atlanta for over a month with USPS not attempting delivery or notification of the recipient who's address is on the box. If an address is visible and had USPS auctioned it off anyway, I would actually consider that theft by USPS as well. Even if the postage label was separated from the box, if the box still has a destination name/address on it, then the USPS should make a good faith effort to contact that person before auctioning it off. At the very least, let the person know, 'we have a box with your name on it, but no postage label, if you want it come in and pay the postage for it'.
While there may have been few people who carry spare batteries to swap in/out during a day, having a replacable battery is still nice after the 1-2yr mark when your battery is shot and won't hold a charge anymore. It's nice to be able to order a replacement battery for dirt cheap and get back to 'like new' battery life again and extend the life of the phone.
Or you know, for when manufacturer's screw up and have combustible batteries that are dangerous--a simple new battery sent out to owners would be a heck of a lot cheaper and faster to fix than recalling millions of phones and loosing sales to your biggest competitor in the market.
So if it's a monthly payment to the automakers for Autopilot insurance, then how exactly is that different than paying an insurance company directly for 'autopilot' insurance? The only difference I see is that the automakers will be the middlemen and want a cut of the monthly fee, so it would be pricier than buying it direct.
What about used cars, once a car is sold, if I buy a used car, I have no relationship with a 'stealership' at that point, I purchased it from a private party, and don't go to the dealership for anything since their maintenence is overpriced and a rip. I either do my own work on a car, or pay an independent shop. With that said what happens to dealer supplied 'autopilot' insurance at that point, once the original owner sells the car?
What happens if the car is wrecked, do I still have to pay for the insurance premiums for a minimum amount of time (since they are tied to the purchase of the vehicle)... like what happens if you are on a cell phone contract and your phone breaks, you are not only out a phone(or car), but have to keep paying on a contract for an item you no longer have.
What if I refuse to purchase 'autopilot' insurance from the dealership, but then use the feature anyway. They can't force you to purchase and keep paying the monthly fee, and at this point, who knows if they lock out that feature remotely. If I get in a crash with autopilot on, and I claim I wasn't driving so I'm not responsible, but the insurance fee to the dealer has not been paid, who foots the bill. If you say the owner would foot the bill, then you are making the claim that in the end, the owner of the vehicle is responsible for autopilot, not the manufacturer.
That's why tacking on a 'lifetime' insurance premium to the price of a new car is the only real way that makes sense from the manufactuers/dealership to keep them from bearing the brunt of the cost and not getting ripped on the deal. However, it's opposite for the consumer, since bearing the full cost of insurance premiums in the purchase price of the vehicle is only going to make all these vehicles leaps and bounds more expensive to drive off the lot.
Others who claim this model would lead the market so that you never 'own' the vehicle and only lease it, or rent it from the manufacturer are probably somewhat accurate. However who wants that? You can never pay a vehicle off, will have monthly car payments for each car you own forever!? No way. That is a worse deal than (f)leasing a car is, which is a pretty bad deal economically for individuals. No thanks. If I have a car payment, I want to know that it's for a fixed amount of time, I can pay it off early (and save money), and once it's paid, the car is mine and in the clear for as long as I get usable life out of it, which may be a few more years or even decades if I want to be frugal and keep good maintenance performed.
So you have to pay the value of the expected life of the car's insurance premiums up front with the purchase of the vehicle? Even if insurance was fairly cheap, this would make a car cost WAY more than it does today. Who is going to be able to afford a $80K Honda Civic? I'd rather pay monthly insurance premiums for just the time period that I own the car thank you.
Paying the insurance up front in the cost of the car raises some serious problems, like does the first own bear most of that brunt of the cost--and when it's resold does the value of the "insurance" effect the used car value linearly.
Also, how long to cars last, if you had to pay the insurance of the vehicle up front for it's entire life, how long is that going to be? 5 yrs, 10 yrs, 20 yrs. Some cars can last a long time.
This means consumers would ultimately be paying for 2 insurance premiums. 1 to the automaker for self driving insurance, and 1 for their normal insurance co. for manual mode driving. How is this supposed to be more affordable and better?
I see, so Buffet owns some "clean energy" companies, and wants to help lecture people about how the sky is falling unless we turn to clean energy... got it thanks, I wasn't sure weather he was a reliable source or not until now.
Since when did Bill Gates and Warren Buffet turn into Climatologists? Why do rich people, politicians-- people who by definition have bigger carbon footprints individually than some small towns, always seem to have the audacity to give "lectures" to people on how to think/feel on this topic.
There are 2 reasons people still buy windows after windows 8, 8.1, and now 10. First they are fimiliar with it and they don't know any better. These are your casual users who have ran windows most of their lives, and aren't techie types. Second, is the power users, who DO know better, and know that Windows is going DOWN HILL in more than 1 way, however, are tied to it due to other software they they need to use. Whether it's proprietary business software, or niche software that ONLY runs on windows, or they develop windows software and want to test their apps on windows natively.
The casual user can leave in most cases, and some did years ago to Mac when Mac got "trendy". The rest of that group just don't realize where things are going and what is in store. These are the types of users that will buy Windows Cloud, and not realize that it can't run actual windows software. Just like RT fooled a lot of naive users into it until they couldn't run any normal windows programs.
The rest of us, that are power users, who are locked into windows due to other factors, are stuck for the moment. Wish I could give Linux a try, but I run too many applications created by hardware manufacturers in my industry that it would be a compatibility nightmare, or I would have to do as the Mac guys do, and run windows in a VM anyway.
Microsoft has completely lost my respect since Satya Nadella took over. Nadella needs to be fired before he ruins all the divisions of Microsoft and it's too late to turn back to what Microsoft was good at. Never thought I would miss Balmer...
Slashdot Mirror
Depends on how much bandwidth you have natively. I have 240Mb/s when testing just through my router. However, if startup a VPN, and try another speedtest (same day, similar time frame, trying to see side by side comparisons), I get at best less than 1/2 that, and many times way less than that. Granted, you can still do quite a lot with 50Mb/s but it isn't even consistent, because it depends on what node you connect to, and where they are located. One time you connect and you might get 50, another time, 10, and another location 2-3.
Also, it can add a ton of latency, so for some things like gaming and probably SIP/VoIP and any other latency dependent usages, it can have a really negative effect. It can often feel like you're using a cellular data connection.
Don't get me wrong, I have a VPN subcription for use when I need privacy or P2P/etc. But I don't see running one all the time 100% feasible. I debated for a while having my router connect to VPN so everything on my home network would be protected automatically, but after some testing, I decided not to do it at this point. I may have to relook into that option again with this new ISP rule though.
What if I don't have any social media accounts. And what constitutes a "Social Media Account"? Is this just the big ones like Facebook and Twitter? Or does it include all of the off-shoots that tweens are into these days like Instagram, SnapChat, etc.? How about defunct Social Media Accounts like MySpace?
Does it include ANY website that you communicate, like our very own Slashdot, and any random forum you belong too for hobbies, and GitHub and other sites that facilitate communicating with others over certain topics?
The reason for this is to find "terrorists", but how many terrorists are dumb enough to give over their accounts that they use to actively proclaim jihad on the world with? I understand you have to vet people for certain things, but I'm not sure how this will really help, being that it sounds like it's on the "honor" system that you are being truthful and turning all of your accounts over. It also has the flaw in that it assumes that you have Social Media accounts to begin with which many people do not.
correction: KeyPass = KeePass
Correction, ONLINE password managers are a bad idea. I don't think there is anything wrong with OFFLINE password managers. For instance, I use KeyPass, and it keeps the password vault file encrypted on my HDD. That file can get backed up locally and to the cloud in an already encrypted state so that [CloudProvider] can't access the file.
And that is the problem with bundling and the promo prices. I've fallen into the trap myself, at least knowingly. You see the price for internet, and the price for a promo bundle, and say, "hey, I can get the bundle for almost the same money". But the problem is, that the promo price is only for so long, and eventually runs out and a year or two down the road, you realize that your monthly bill is now $200. Then you either have to play their game of "call in and try to get another promo price", or move to another service, or say screw-it and take the price hike on the chin.
Yes, this is absolutely correct. When had a bundled package, it appears that the package is say $90/mo advertised, but by the time you get the bill, and they tack on taxes, surcharges, rental fee's, and other crap that you have to google to even find out what it is, the bill comes out at least 10% higher if not more, so you end up paying over $100/mo. Similar to cell phone plans that we all are used to.
Once I cut the cord, and dropped TV/Phone and am only paying for internet. The advertised price is $59/mo and my actual bill is exactly $59/mo. All these surcharges and taxes and fees are not applied to internet only service, only to TV and Phone services. So the actual difference is more than appears on paper, even if the advertised rates are close for bundled vs. non-bundled.
Not saying that non-Citizens are not people... but the NSA/CIA, being American government organizations with [supposedly] rules and limits to it's function, are supposed to be restricted from spying on certain people. Specifically, US Citizens within the US borders.
What happens when the government realizes that no one burns pirated moves to CD/DVD anymore since large HDD's are affordable now? Will they leave it as-is and tell the MPAA to kick rocks from now on forever... or will they eventually start taxing HDD sales, and other forms of storage sales. And then eventually instill an ISP tax for those people who only stream pirated stuff and never download & store it?
Where does it end... until eventually it's mandatory that you pay a monthly subcription fee to the MPAA/RIAA like mandatory health-care in the US. If you don't pay them, the IRS gives you a nice penalty for not wanting to listen to music and watch TV...
Dear China, I will speak to my government about stopping listening on your conversations as soon as our home and business routers/firewalls stop getting flooded with Chinese IP addresses on a daily basis.
Sincerely, Americans
Let's add US Citizen's living within the US to the list of "please stop monitoring our communications plz" list.
I can assure you that I880 through the Fremont area is not 'near empty' 2 hours after the commute. On that freeway, the heaviest hours are between 6-9am and 3-7pm, however even between 9am-3pm, it's still heavy traffic like most ordinary freeways would be considered heavy. During the middle of the day, the freeway moves at least, but your still doing like 45mph not 65mph through that section. The only time you could actually do the speedlimit in most cases is in the middle of the night.
PAVE THE BAY!!! (Just fill it with quickset and paint 100 lanes across it each way!).
Yes, CalTrans and the city planning haven't done hardly jack squat about the freeways. What they like to do is fund a major freeway project that makes traffic worse for several years, only to finally complete it, and paint a 'diamond' in the extra lane that they made so 90% of commuters can't use it. That's been the case for years, but lately, they like then adding toll to it for rich people to commute in as well, like at the 880/237 interchange, where you can pay >$5 (per trip) to bypass like a 1/4mi of freeway intersection.
Didn't watch the video's, but I've literally been on BART, where people were crammed in so tight that the doors wouldn't close unless everyone sucked in their gut so the last guy at the door could get their ass in the car and let the doors close. No joke! Sure, there weren't BART workers pushing people in, but it was BAD!
I also know people who get on the trains going the opposite direction (opposite of commute) in SF and ride several stops down so that they can get back on a train coming across the bay and maybe get a seat before the cars fill up (which doesn't work in most cases).
I've also had cars for my line come in and be so full that maybe a couple people that are in line to get on actually can, and the rest can't, and then everyone has to wait another 15-20 mins for another train for our line to come through for the same thing to happen. Several trains later, you might get on one, after waiting for almost an hour.
Maybe it is possible in some of the more restricted environments that I use, but my intention was to get the point across that some software developers require some skill sets while other require another set of skills. With the applications I work on, the only real need to sort something would be to alphabetize a contacts lists that was pulled from another device to show the user. In all the cases I've come across this, the size and type of data to sort is so small and trivial that bubble/insert/quick sort methods wouldn't bat an eyelash at. No need for a binary search tree implementation.
A binary search tree is not used, has no practical applications, and is unrelated knowledge to my field, which is what I was getting at. It's like asking an programmer who specializes in high performance low-level Assembly, a question about a web request of a Restful API that uses JSON and how to convert and store the response into an SQL database. They *may* know the answer to the question, based on the broader understanding of programming, but it's doubtful that they come across a need for this while writing Assembler code. I'd be sorry for them if they did. Or ask a web developer a question relating to low-level hardware interaction, using hardware registers and interrupts, and you'd probably get the same blank stare.
Let's face it, there are many kinds of software developers out there with various skill-sets. Not everyone is a generalized web (or mobile) developer no matter how much some want to believe that's the case. THAT was my point.
The automation I do is not PLC based. I do AV automation aka Crestron/AMX. Those platforms started out with custom languages that are based on C, but are slowly moving to C#, Java, and one manufacturer is using Python now... so I would say yes, it's real programming, but just within a smaller sandbox.
to be fair, I don't think he had a H1B visa to work here either, from another article I read ealier today, it sounded like he had a visiting visa that would normally be used to meet with his prospective employers, but not actually start working. The info I read may be wrong as I'm not sure of the different visa versions and limitations of each.
To me, it sounds like they were unqualified to actually know if he was correct or not, but were most likely asking him something they found on google to keep him busy while they contacted his sponser/employer and checked out his story. If you were a terrorist and had little to no education in programming, but were using a fake story like "I'm a programmer" to get into the country, I'm sure you wouldn't even know where to begin on answering either of those questions. But I doubt it if the answer to the questions really had much of an impact on whether he got released or not (unless he flipped out and started panicking like he'd been caught in a lie). That is my interpretation anyway.
Agree, I've been a professional programmer for over almost 20 yrs, but I specialize in embedded platforms and automation control. I can't tell you how to balance a binary search tree because in my field, that concept is not even used, or able to be implemented with the limited and custom "subset of C language" compilers I have to work with. I DO however know what an abstract class is though, just from studying OOP programming in general, so I guess I would only get half credit on that exam?
Jeesh, English and grammar Nazi's, all of ya! I typo'd "loose" instead of "lose", ok an extra letter in there. I also put 'a' in front of a word that starts with a vowel, I know the syntax I used is wrong as well. I was typing that out as I was packing up my laptop to head to work on a Saturday, which I'm not happy about, so forgive me for not taking a few seconds to proof read my comment before hitting submit as I was was in a rush to get out the door. Must be a slow weekend when the only thing to comment on is bad grammar and spelling mistakes and typos... Hope you all got your laughs in!
USPS DID loose the package! How should they sue? He received a ripped/torn shipping label and a "we don't know where it is" from the USPS already. The summary states right there that the box was sitting in a Atlanta for over a month with USPS not attempting delivery or notification of the recipient who's address is on the box. If an address is visible and had USPS auctioned it off anyway, I would actually consider that theft by USPS as well. Even if the postage label was separated from the box, if the box still has a destination name/address on it, then the USPS should make a good faith effort to contact that person before auctioning it off. At the very least, let the person know, 'we have a box with your name on it, but no postage label, if you want it come in and pay the postage for it'.
While there may have been few people who carry spare batteries to swap in/out during a day, having a replacable battery is still nice after the 1-2yr mark when your battery is shot and won't hold a charge anymore. It's nice to be able to order a replacement battery for dirt cheap and get back to 'like new' battery life again and extend the life of the phone.
Or you know, for when manufacturer's screw up and have combustible batteries that are dangerous--a simple new battery sent out to owners would be a heck of a lot cheaper and faster to fix than recalling millions of phones and loosing sales to your biggest competitor in the market.
So if it's a monthly payment to the automakers for Autopilot insurance, then how exactly is that different than paying an insurance company directly for 'autopilot' insurance? The only difference I see is that the automakers will be the middlemen and want a cut of the monthly fee, so it would be pricier than buying it direct.
What about used cars, once a car is sold, if I buy a used car, I have no relationship with a 'stealership' at that point, I purchased it from a private party, and don't go to the dealership for anything since their maintenence is overpriced and a rip. I either do my own work on a car, or pay an independent shop. With that said what happens to dealer supplied 'autopilot' insurance at that point, once the original owner sells the car?
What happens if the car is wrecked, do I still have to pay for the insurance premiums for a minimum amount of time (since they are tied to the purchase of the vehicle)... like what happens if you are on a cell phone contract and your phone breaks, you are not only out a phone(or car), but have to keep paying on a contract for an item you no longer have.
What if I refuse to purchase 'autopilot' insurance from the dealership, but then use the feature anyway. They can't force you to purchase and keep paying the monthly fee, and at this point, who knows if they lock out that feature remotely. If I get in a crash with autopilot on, and I claim I wasn't driving so I'm not responsible, but the insurance fee to the dealer has not been paid, who foots the bill. If you say the owner would foot the bill, then you are making the claim that in the end, the owner of the vehicle is responsible for autopilot, not the manufacturer.
That's why tacking on a 'lifetime' insurance premium to the price of a new car is the only real way that makes sense from the manufactuers/dealership to keep them from bearing the brunt of the cost and not getting ripped on the deal. However, it's opposite for the consumer, since bearing the full cost of insurance premiums in the purchase price of the vehicle is only going to make all these vehicles leaps and bounds more expensive to drive off the lot.
Others who claim this model would lead the market so that you never 'own' the vehicle and only lease it, or rent it from the manufacturer are probably somewhat accurate. However who wants that? You can never pay a vehicle off, will have monthly car payments for each car you own forever!? No way. That is a worse deal than (f)leasing a car is, which is a pretty bad deal economically for individuals. No thanks. If I have a car payment, I want to know that it's for a fixed amount of time, I can pay it off early (and save money), and once it's paid, the car is mine and in the clear for as long as I get usable life out of it, which may be a few more years or even decades if I want to be frugal and keep good maintenance performed.
So you have to pay the value of the expected life of the car's insurance premiums up front with the purchase of the vehicle? Even if insurance was fairly cheap, this would make a car cost WAY more than it does today. Who is going to be able to afford a $80K Honda Civic? I'd rather pay monthly insurance premiums for just the time period that I own the car thank you.
Paying the insurance up front in the cost of the car raises some serious problems, like does the first own bear most of that brunt of the cost--and when it's resold does the value of the "insurance" effect the used car value linearly.
Also, how long to cars last, if you had to pay the insurance of the vehicle up front for it's entire life, how long is that going to be? 5 yrs, 10 yrs, 20 yrs. Some cars can last a long time.
This means consumers would ultimately be paying for 2 insurance premiums. 1 to the automaker for self driving insurance, and 1 for their normal insurance co. for manual mode driving. How is this supposed to be more affordable and better?
I see, so Buffet owns some "clean energy" companies, and wants to help lecture people about how the sky is falling unless we turn to clean energy... got it thanks, I wasn't sure weather he was a reliable source or not until now.
Since when did Bill Gates and Warren Buffet turn into Climatologists? Why do rich people, politicians-- people who by definition have bigger carbon footprints individually than some small towns, always seem to have the audacity to give "lectures" to people on how to think/feel on this topic.
There are 2 reasons people still buy windows after windows 8, 8.1, and now 10. First they are fimiliar with it and they don't know any better. These are your casual users who have ran windows most of their lives, and aren't techie types. Second, is the power users, who DO know better, and know that Windows is going DOWN HILL in more than 1 way, however, are tied to it due to other software they they need to use. Whether it's proprietary business software, or niche software that ONLY runs on windows, or they develop windows software and want to test their apps on windows natively.
The casual user can leave in most cases, and some did years ago to Mac when Mac got "trendy". The rest of that group just don't realize where things are going and what is in store. These are the types of users that will buy Windows Cloud, and not realize that it can't run actual windows software. Just like RT fooled a lot of naive users into it until they couldn't run any normal windows programs.
The rest of us, that are power users, who are locked into windows due to other factors, are stuck for the moment. Wish I could give Linux a try, but I run too many applications created by hardware manufacturers in my industry that it would be a compatibility nightmare, or I would have to do as the Mac guys do, and run windows in a VM anyway.
Microsoft has completely lost my respect since Satya Nadella took over. Nadella needs to be fired before he ruins all the divisions of Microsoft and it's too late to turn back to what Microsoft was good at. Never thought I would miss Balmer...