Ultimately, the invisible, under-the-hood electronic architecture of the plug-in hybrid will become as commonplace as automatic transmissions and anti-lock brakes.

FORBES: The Automobile Shifts Gears

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and released Tuesday by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) catalogue just how pervasive automatic license plate readers have become at the Mexican and Canadian borders, with cameras placed in dozens of U.S. cities each capturing images of millions or tens of millions of plates a year.

FORBES: U.S. Customs Tracks Millions Of License Plates And Has Shared Data With Insurance Firms

As with the United States and China, the absorption of these balances has ceased to be based on automatic, economic processes and has become the subject of political confrontations.

WSJ: Manuel Hinds: The Case Against Floating Currencies

The automatic spending cuts never were intended to become law, but instead were designed to be so unwieldy and overbearing that Congress would reach a broader deficit reduction deal to avoid them.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

In the chapter on skyscrapers, for example, Mr Smith touches on construction methods, the revolutionary invention of the automatic lift, the practicalities of living in the sky and the likelihood that, as cities become more populous, apartment living will become the norm.

ECONOMIST: Welcome to a world of high living