Ahhh… 
Although it’s slightly off-topic, I’ll say that I do try to avoid shopping at Amazon — but sadly, competing businesses often do a really bad job of actually, well, competing.
For instance, my last purchase was some tea. I tried three different stores to find the specific tea I wanted (Yogi brand). None of them had it, so I ordered from Amazon. Another time I wanted safe pheromone-based clothes moth traps. Tried a couple of local stores, including the local “green” hardware store. No luck, ordered from Amazon. Also tried the hardware stores for a brass Speakman shower head; thought that would be pretty simple to find since it’s one of the most popular brands, but no. Harrison’s extra fine pelleted food for my parakeets? Not in the pet stores, but Amazon had it. 5-port gigabit ethernet switch for my home office? Not in OfficeMax or Office Depot, so Amazon again. Havahart trap for a roof rat? Not at the hardware stores, they had traps for larger critters but only poison for rats, so Amazon again.
I mean, maybe I’m deluded, but it’s not like I’m trying to buy powdered unicorn horn or unobtanium platemail here, right? It’s all stuff I ought to be able to buy from a local store. I mean, ethernet switch? I know we’re all using WiFi these days, but come on.
Part of the problem seems to be that physical stores only stock cheap crap that shifts quickly; for instance, there was one (1) Speakman showerhead in stock in a local store, if I didn’t mind a plastic one.
Want to buy a video game, and it’s not the latest hot release? Good luck finding it at the local video game store. Then there’s e-books: If the publisher will sell me DRM-free ebooks, I’ll buy from the Kobo store or direct from the publisher, but more often than not they won’t, so I go to Amazon. It’s a good job Amazon don’t sell music in lossless formats or I’d probably be buying all my music there too. (Actually, Jeff Bezos, if you’re reading this, please go ahead. I’m sick of having to buy and rip CDs.)
At Christmas time, Amazon lets me order gifts for my family over in the UK and have everything wrapped and mailed to them. If anyone knows of other online stores based in the UK that offer similar service but actually pay their damn taxes, please let me know.
Similarly, as far as Uber vs cabs, what the cab companies really need to be doing is focusing on user experience and actually competing, dammit. If they at least provided a comparable service, I’d be far more sympathetic when they were undercut on price.
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And in SF anyway, Uber and Lyft etc. have forced the taxis to start to do just that - most taxis now use Flywheel or (some other taxi summoning app).
When Taxi Magic rolled out in 2008 or so, friends and I were so excited to use it - they lived way out in the Excelsior, and calling a taxi to take us downtown was a nightmare - even if you could get through the eternally busy phone lines, they’d say “OK, it’ll be 30 minutes” and leave you sitting there for two hours or more. (Bad enough when you want to get to a club; devastating when you want to get to the airport!) So suddenly there’s this smart phone app, and you can use it to get a taxi to come right to you! You can see how far away they are! Awesome! So we summoned a taxi with the app, and watched its progress… 20 minutes away… 15 minutes away… 12 minutes away… 15 minutes away… 15 minutes away… wait, what? 8 minutes away… 20 minutes away… and there was the little green dot of “our” taxi, busily picking up and dropping off other fares, getting no closer to us overall. So we cancelled (and got a nasty email from the service).
Fast forward to 2014, post-Uber and etc.? Taxis are slower to arrive, less well-kept, and more likely to make you do the navigating for them even though they all have GPS in them. But they more or less reliably show up when you summon them, and you can pay through the app so the old “sorry the credit card machine is broken, cash only” ploy no longer works so well. Now if we can drive the medallion-holders out of business - the ones who hold a monopoly so they can get $2200 a month in useless rent-seeking, the ones who prop up an economy in which drivers have to pay for use of the medallion so they’re $100 behind the moment they pull out of the garage (not to mention the bribes they pay the garage to get a working car) - now that will be worth it.
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This is a decent (if a bit wordy and overwrought) analysis of the economics of Uber and the effects of avoiding the obligations of taxi and car services and turning those into externalities.
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Not to be a dick about it, but “superego” does not mean “very large ego.”
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This is why both companies have been banned in Germany: they are not “carpool” apps, and do not require chauffeur licences from their drivers. The taxis here are also aggressively advertising their own app, so I have doubts about Uber’s chances here.
So … this means Uber is Zorg Corporation from Fifth Element! — Evil Owner, 10 million cab drivers fired, eventually dealing weapons to alien enermies of the planet … everything is now clear!
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The thing about Uber is it’s really not that unique, British cities like London have had an almost identical service for decades; Minicabs. You just call the number of a local minicab office, tell them where you are (or turn up at their office, there are loads everywhere in London and they’re usually 24h) and where you want to go, they give you the price and send a car for you.
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