Where I live, you don't run the heater for comfort, you run it so you can defrost the windshield and the side windows.
At -30C and below, if you drive without the defrost at maximum heat, your windows and windshield will be unusable in 10 minutes.
On the highway, with 4 people in the car, even with the defroster at max you can only defrost small parts of the side windows.
Even when it's hotter, like say 0C or -1C, if you have freezing rain it's hard to get the windshield hot enough so that the rain doesn't freeze on contact and block your view ahead.
If you bought it, you get the strings that come with it.
If it's anything like software music and books, you won't be able to "buy" it, you will rent it or pay a usage license.
Car companies are not dumb, they'll soon see that having a regular income from captive users is much better than selling good products that last decades and can be sold used to someone else.
And self driving cars will give them the opportunity to make this switch.
The way that consumers interact with and operate cars
This sentence is scary.
I'm not a consumer, I'm a driver!
I want to interact with my car by operating a steering wheel, 3 pedals and a shifter.
Please refrain from adding electronics other than basic safety (I personnaly think ABS is useful, as long as it triggers at the limit).
If you don't like to drive and find it a chore, please use public transport.
I personnaly use the subway to go to work even if I love to drive. Even? I'd say that I use the subway BECAUSE I love to drive a car, so that it remains a pleasant activity, and I don't want cars to be banned (so if we all keep usage to a minimum it won't be necessary to ban them). But I know I'm dreaming right there...
Again each time I read an article on Slashdot about autonomous vehicles, I'm amazed at how the same bunch of geeks who would murder someone just so they can retain complete control of their gadgets, computers, websites and houses, can at the same time be happy to let a computer take control of their cars?
(Right-angle crashes are much more dangerous to the occupants than rear end crashes, so exchanging the former for the latter results in a net improvement in safety.)
Sadly they're both almost as dangerous for motorcycle riders.
Having said that, I rarely keep the heater on for very long.
Then you don't live in a cold climate.
This week in Quebec you have to keep your heater on at full and the fan at almost the highest speed just to keep the windows from frosting (forget fogging, here the fog freezes on the windows IN the car).
Even then, when we're 5 or 6 in the car it can't keep up and you only have the windshield and part of the side windows that stay defrosted. And it's currently only about -20 to -20C, at -35C it's even worse.
And forget about the AC dehumidifier at those temps, even when the AC is turned on the compressor is not running, below a certain temp it's prevented from running because it could be damaged.
The heater is not only for comfort, it's primary use in our cold climate is to safely defrost the windows and see where you're going.
In the end, the rules appear to be nothing but a way of forcing you to use their approved payment processors - yet another way to suck money out of merchants.
I work on aquiring systems for a big bank, and we are bound to those rules as well. They are there for a good reason, I don't want my credit card information handled carelessly by any system half assed together by anybody who calls himself a web developper. Those audits are there to check that some minimum requisits of security are in place.
And believe me it's very costly even for us, but it's much cheaper than having your business name on the news...
Nope, like parent said you have reserve power, so the first time you push on the brake after servo assist dies it will be as easy as when the engine is running. The trick is you can press ONE time, if you pump the brake or release and try again THEN you'll have no assist.
So you do like you where told in your driving ed (at least I was told that, don't know what they teach these days): you push the brake once and keep it down until you are safely stopped on the shoulder.
My first car (an '83 Ford Escort) didn't have power anything, no brake or steering assist, and it was very easy to drive.
But at the end of the day, I have the freedom to choose my own health care, if I don't want to go to the doctor when I'm sick, that is my right.
Your rights ends when you carry a highly contagious disease and you put others at risk.
You live in a society, this helps you a lot since you can profit from the work and knowledge of other members of this society.
But it comes at a price, you also have to conform to a minimum of rules to be part of this group of humans. You also have the right to go elsewhere and be part of another group of humans with different rules, or go live in the forest alone and be free to do wathever you want.
This is the social contract, everyone chips in and limit their personnal freedom for the net benifit of everyone.
You don't need a minicomputer to call 911. You don't need a minicomputer to text your wife that you're running late. You might be surprised what a smartphone is useful for though.
I don't know if you need a minicomputer for that, but you definitively don't want to lug one around, since it's much bigger than a microcomputer, which is already much bigger than a smartphone.
Now, J.J. on the other hand is being made fun of for his "flares" etc, but he actually made us Trekkers be the cool kids for once! Yes, it was not "Star Trek" in the traditional sense, however it was highly enjoyable action sci-fi.
I don't think you can speak for Trekkers if you think Star Trek should be "action sci-fi".
Want to invest money in something new, consider the Arcology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A..., a place where many can live, work and play, year round with minimal total impact and where people do not feel the need to escape from a regular intervals.
The digital age should give us the opportunity to live anywhere on earth, even in very remote areas, and still be able to do productive work. Not pile ourselves like sardines. If that's the future I don't want to be part of it.
Looks like a prison to me. I would rather die than live in one of these abomination.
Since, for the most part, a Tesla requires far less maintenance than a modern internal combustion car
I don't know where that meme comes from, but on my last 2 cars and my current one (all bought brand new), I've never had a repair done that was related to the engine or transmission.
All problems where electrical (radio, door locks, etc..), brakes (the parking brake was frozen in place) or suspension (links, ball joint).
So appart from the 2 or 3 times a year oil change that's so cheap they can't do more than 2 or 3$ profit on, I don't see where a Tesla could bring in less work for the dealer since it has the same electrical, brakes and suspension components.
2. They use road space much more efficiently, increasing the carrying capacity by a factor of five.
When you have forced everyone to abandon their regular car and motorcycles... Seriously, this increase in capacity won't be possible until 100% of the vehicles on the road are autonomous. We're talking about at least 30 to 40 years before that happens.
Slashdot Mirror
Silly Apple, my Commodore had 64k way back in 1983!
Where I live, you don't run the heater for comfort, you run it so you can defrost the windshield and the side windows.
At -30C and below, if you drive without the defrost at maximum heat, your windows and windshield will be unusable in 10 minutes.
On the highway, with 4 people in the car, even with the defroster at max you can only defrost small parts of the side windows.
Even when it's hotter, like say 0C or -1C, if you have freezing rain it's hard to get the windshield hot enough so that the rain doesn't freeze on contact and block your view ahead.
If you bought it, you get the strings that come with it.
If it's anything like software music and books, you won't be able to "buy" it, you will rent it or pay a usage license.
Car companies are not dumb, they'll soon see that having a regular income from captive users is much better than selling good products that last decades and can be sold used to someone else.
And self driving cars will give them the opportunity to make this switch.
The way that consumers interact with and operate cars
This sentence is scary.
I'm not a consumer, I'm a driver!
I want to interact with my car by operating a steering wheel, 3 pedals and a shifter.
Please refrain from adding electronics other than basic safety (I personnaly think ABS is useful, as long as it triggers at the limit).
If you don't like to drive and find it a chore, please use public transport.
I personnaly use the subway to go to work even if I love to drive. Even? I'd say that I use the subway BECAUSE I love to drive a car, so that it remains a pleasant activity, and I don't want cars to be banned (so if we all keep usage to a minimum it won't be necessary to ban them). But I know I'm dreaming right there...
Is this "slice of virgin airspace" within shotgun reach?
For example, drivers get a boost button they can use during the race if they're the "fan favourite" before the race.
So the Like button on Facebook will now have an effect on the race!
Well, we would have to study that in depth.
But be careful, it's a slippery slope, you don't want to dig youself in a hole.
Again each time I read an article on Slashdot about autonomous vehicles, I'm amazed at how the same bunch of geeks who would murder someone just so they can retain complete control of their gadgets, computers, websites and houses, can at the same time be happy to let a computer take control of their cars?
I don't understand?
Bug free?
I had a Nokia Lumia 920 for a little more than 2 years. I liked it a lot, loved the WP8 interface, the phone was great with a very good camera.
But there was a major bug, and even with the multiple updates it never was fixed.
Sometimes, for unknown reasons, the phone became very very hot (like almost to hot to touch) and the battery drained about 10% every 5 minutes.
It happened about 1 or 2 time a week, but left me a lot of times with a discharged phone when I wasn't fast enough on the reboot.
I was not alone, here is one thread about it: http://answers.microsoft.com/e...
You will notice that it spans 3 years with no solution... some solutions where proposed, but none worked for me and a lot of others.
It's sad but now I have a cheap Moto G running Android and I no longer fear of losing all my battery power in a hour.
(Right-angle crashes are much more dangerous to the occupants than rear end crashes, so exchanging the former for the latter results in a net improvement in safety.)
Sadly they're both almost as dangerous for motorcycle riders.
Having said that, I rarely keep the heater on for very long.
Then you don't live in a cold climate.
This week in Quebec you have to keep your heater on at full and the fan at almost the highest speed just to keep the windows from frosting (forget fogging, here the fog freezes on the windows IN the car).
Even then, when we're 5 or 6 in the car it can't keep up and you only have the windshield and part of the side windows that stay defrosted. And it's currently only about -20 to -20C, at -35C it's even worse.
And forget about the AC dehumidifier at those temps, even when the AC is turned on the compressor is not running, below a certain temp it's prevented from running because it could be damaged.
The heater is not only for comfort, it's primary use in our cold climate is to safely defrost the windows and see where you're going.
In the end, the rules appear to be nothing but a way of forcing you to use their approved payment processors - yet another way to suck money out of merchants.
I work on aquiring systems for a big bank, and we are bound to those rules as well. They are there for a good reason, I don't want my credit card information handled carelessly by any system half assed together by anybody who calls himself a web developper. Those audits are there to check that some minimum requisits of security are in place.
And believe me it's very costly even for us, but it's much cheaper than having your business name on the news...
What's more, their algorithm is significantly better at spotting faces when upside down, something other approaches haven't perfected.
Very usefull if you want your system to work in Australia!
Nope, like parent said you have reserve power, so the first time you push on the brake after servo assist dies it will be as easy as when the engine is running. The trick is you can press ONE time, if you pump the brake or release and try again THEN you'll have no assist.
So you do like you where told in your driving ed (at least I was told that, don't know what they teach these days): you push the brake once and keep it down until you are safely stopped on the shoulder.
My first car (an '83 Ford Escort) didn't have power anything, no brake or steering assist, and it was very easy to drive.
But at the end of the day, I have the freedom to choose my own health care, if I don't want to go to the doctor when I'm sick, that is my right.
Your rights ends when you carry a highly contagious disease and you put others at risk.
You live in a society, this helps you a lot since you can profit from the work and knowledge of other members of this society.
But it comes at a price, you also have to conform to a minimum of rules to be part of this group of humans. You also have the right to go elsewhere and be part of another group of humans with different rules, or go live in the forest alone and be free to do wathever you want.
This is the social contract, everyone chips in and limit their personnal freedom for the net benifit of everyone.
You don't need a minicomputer to call 911. You don't need a minicomputer to text your wife that you're running late. You might be surprised what a smartphone is useful for though.
I don't know if you need a minicomputer for that, but you definitively don't want to lug one around, since it's much bigger than a microcomputer, which is already much bigger than a smartphone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicomputer/
To be a great programmer, you need to write code that reads like English.
So what's you're telling us is that we should use COBOL? ;-)
Now, J.J. on the other hand is being made fun of for his "flares" etc, but he actually made us Trekkers be the cool kids for once! Yes, it was not "Star Trek" in the traditional sense, however it was highly enjoyable action sci-fi.
I don't think you can speak for Trekkers if you think Star Trek should be "action sci-fi".
That's because the Nintendo DS doesn't use cartridges, it's more like a memory card...
Where's Netflix for my Commodore 64?
It's not a matter of following canon or not, the problem is it's not following the original intent of it's creator.
But TNG was my favorite series, so we're probably worlds appart in our tastes.
Enjoy the new Trek movies, I won't watch 'em, they're boring.
I'm still coding in COBOL, you insensitive clod! :-p
Want to invest money in something new, consider the Arcology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A..., a place where many can live, work and play, year round with minimal total impact and where people do not feel the need to escape from a regular intervals.
The digital age should give us the opportunity to live anywhere on earth, even in very remote areas, and still be able to do productive work. Not pile ourselves like sardines. If that's the future I don't want to be part of it.
Looks like a prison to me. I would rather die than live in one of these abomination.
Since, for the most part, a Tesla requires far less maintenance than a modern internal combustion car
I don't know where that meme comes from, but on my last 2 cars and my current one (all bought brand new), I've never had a repair done that was related to the engine or transmission.
All problems where electrical (radio, door locks, etc..), brakes (the parking brake was frozen in place) or suspension (links, ball joint).
So appart from the 2 or 3 times a year oil change that's so cheap they can't do more than 2 or 3$ profit on, I don't see where a Tesla could bring in less work for the dealer since it has the same electrical, brakes and suspension components.
2. They use road space much more efficiently, increasing the carrying capacity by a factor of five.
When you have forced everyone to abandon their regular car and motorcycles... Seriously, this increase in capacity won't be possible until 100% of the vehicles on the road are autonomous. We're talking about at least 30 to 40 years before that happens.