vilaro

The mention about not having a centralized datacenter is interesting, so here are my two cents. A decentralized datacenter could be modeled after the open-source model. The data would not belong to any one single entity, but would be able to be accessed by interested parties via an API. (How to enforce which "third parties" get access to this data is another interesting question.) The algorithms for fast, efficient access and retrieval would then be improved upon by the open-source community so everyone could benefit.

I like how search is becoming more contextual, but I don't feel comfortable when this data belongs to just one entity. My high school history teacher often used to say "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely", which is why I believe user data should somehow be decentralized. How to go about this is the million dollar question.

I don't know about other people, but I would use a driverless car just for the countless hours it would save me from sitting behind the wheel wasting my time either stuck in traffic, waiting at stop lights, or just plain driving from point A to point B. I don't know how much time the average American spends behind the wheel in a lifetime, but this reason alone would be enough, not to mention the decrease in accidents.

Apple's ability to keep Jony Ive around comes to mind. He has an incredible platform at Apple and the creative freedom to develop and release products that are used by millions all over the world. Of course given his popularity, he could probably go off on his own and still be successful, but it wouldn't be easy.