This is a clip from a 60 Minutes interview. The amount of passion and determination in this clip, is absolutely breathtaking. http://youtu.be/H3u0IIQj6FY?t=11m13s
The fact that he chokes up and finds it difficult that Neil Armstrong has testified against his work makes him so human and makes me respect him so much more.
I really hope he gets an apology from Neil Armstrong and other critics if (when) SpaceX actually delivers on its promises. It must be very tough to even have your heroes root against you, and like you say it shows a lot about what you stand for.
SpaceX Dragon becoming the only US means of successfully delivering cargo to the ISS and moving the US away from dependence on Russia was not seriously significant?
Yeah, first the craigslist thing, now this. They seem unconcerned with "evil". I guess that's how businesses succeed in our system.
I get the feeling that it's pretty chaotic over there. My first AirBNB experience was filled with crazy bugs (the messaging system, logins). It seems they're trying to get huge fast rather than taking the time to polish the experience.
How would they prevent a group of car thieves from using prepaid Master or Visa cards with fake names? Couldn't a thief just book a rental car for an hour, find the location, unlock the car with the iphone app, then take off with the car because the key will be inside? Let me know if I am missing something?
Right now it looks like they're requiring Facebook accounts to rent cars, and so they can (presumably) use the Facebook social graph as a rough proxy for trustability. Personally I sorta hate that policy (I've not got a Facebook account...) but it's a fairly good idea, I think.
And, of course many, many said similar things about AirBnB -- "couldn't a thief just book a room for the night and then make off with the TV?" -- and that's proven not to be much of an issue in practice.
Doesn't AirBnB require the host to be present during check-in and key exchanges? I assume a person would be more tempted to steal something if the owner never sees them in person.
Thanks for contributing here, Jacob. As you know, I'm a fan, and it's great to see some debate here. I'm not paying much attention to HN these days due to time constraints.
You don't even need to steal the car. You could simply take the the most valuable parts. Some parts can be taken without the owner knowing. Example: air bags. If you rented your car out, you would never know that your air bag was missing until you actually needed it.
Maybe TheSkeptic (brand new account) is a competitor?
Ugh, that's a shitty attitude. I think one of the good things about HN is that people here usually give each other the benefit of the doubt and assume good intentions. Lobbing accusations of bias around are a good way to kill that friendly tone. Unless you've got actual proof of bias perhaps you could keep your accusations to yourself next time?
I think it is a fair question. Brand new account, only posting in this one thread, with pretty flimsy criticisms, and a screen name specifically indicating a negative bias. I did look into it before posting.
I think it is also pretty shitty to use throwaway accounts without disclosure and a reason.
A big Auth-hold transaction can mitigate this problem. An Auth-hold of $501 will prevent prepaid cards from being used. It also forces debit card users to have $501 available in their checking account. This should be enough to stop amateur thieves.
Professional thieves are a different matter. Traditional rental agencies have cameras at the rental counter, and get a copy of a driver's license. Building LoJack into the carkit won't work because it is too easy to block a GPS signal with tin foil. The only realistic way to stop professional thieves is to get driver's license numbers and review driving records for all members (which is what ZipCar does).
Great Extension! I have been using Fanboy's "Annoyances" filter for AdBlock, which has been working pretty well. For anyone interested, you can find it at https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-addon.txt
