That watch at the top is gorgeous. Please, somebody tell me where I can buy it or a replica.

I got the same reply from Amazon as the above folks. They're passing the buck. So much for listening to their customers.

Here's what I told Amazon:

"I was tempted to choose 'Damaged, Defective, or Wrong Item' from the 'Issue' drop-down. I'm writing because Amazon promised, when it acquired Audible earlier this year, to listen to its customers regarding DRM on Audible products. DRM products are the epitome of "Damaged, Defective, and Wrong Items." Using DRM does not increase Amazon's revenue. DRM does not reduce, much less eliminate, piracy. DRM offers not a single benefit to the consumer, the vendor, or the producer. I'm a great fan of audio books, but I'm sorry to say I have never bought an Audible product because I will not support or tolerate the wrong-headed thinking that brought DRM to the market. If Amazon keeps its promise by listening to its customers and eliminating DRM from its products, you can be sure that I'll be among your first DRM-free customers. You won't regret it."

Looks like my prediction was right--they've already changed its name to "Open Computer." I'm pretty interested to see how they--and Apple--handle the EULA issue, though.

IANAL, but there's really only two things Apple's lawyers could "get" this company for: 1) Violating Apple's "Mac" trademark with "OpenMac," and 2) Violating the Leopard EULA by preinstalling it on these machines. I'm pretty certain everything else they're doing is 100% legally defensible. It's legal to sell hardware, and it's legal to advertise that hardware as Mac OS-compatible (so long as it is), and it's legal to sell Leopard as boxed software. Frankly I'm not even convinced that the EULA would hold up in court, but I doubt this little company Psystar would be willing to go up against Apple on that charge. What I predict happening is that Apple will definitely go after them for the OpenMac name, and Psystar will instantly comply, and Apple will probably go after them for violating the Leopard EULA, and they'll probably just stop preinstalling it but keep selling it along with their machines.

I don't really see what the machines' aesthetics have to do with anything. For some it will be a deal-breaker, but for many it won't. I don't think they're that ugly--I mean, they obviously weren't designed by Jonathan Ive, but they're better-looking than your average Dell box--but regardless, if I were, say, starting a business and wanted it to run on Macs instead of Windows, how much would I save by buying a dozen "Hackintoshes" and generic monitors instead of a dozen iMacs? Probably enough to make me consider it. Frankly, as pretty as they are, the appeal of Macs for me is all in the software anyway.

An aunt of mine had a golden retriever who was so conditioned by a baby-gate between the living room and the kitchen that when they replaced the gate with a broomstick the dog wouldn't step over it. It boggles the mind.

Hey Joel,

I've only got a few pieces of the "rig" so far--I'm going to order the rest this week if it kills me. What I've got is a Verizon VX6800 (HTC Titan) phone with Windows Mobile and EVDO. I have a Sanyo VPC-CG65 video camera (pretty middle-of-the-road flash-based camera, but weighs only 6 oz.). I don't have the computer yet, but it looks like I'll be going with a Vye S37--a 7" convertible tablet, around 2.2 lbs.

The phone has built-in GPS but you can only use it by flashing an unofficial ROM (boo), so I'm getting a bluetooth GPS unit--the i-Blue 757, which has a built-in datalogger (up to 50,000 points at 1Hz--slow for driving, but plenty fast for walking) and a solar panel that allows for 100 hours of use.

I'm a little torn about still photos--I think I'm going to take the Nikon D50 I've already got. It's kinda bulky for backpacking, but I'm not sure I'd be satisfied with anything but a real DSLR (if I were made of money I could probably find something newer and lighter that satisfies me, but as you can imagine this trip won't be cheap).

On top of that I'll be packing chargers and lots of spare batteries--maybe two for the Sanyo, two for the phone, one for the D50, one for the UMPC--and of course all the other backpacking gear. I'm frankly not at all the outdoors type, so this is really going to be an adventure for me.

This spring--starting on March 9--I'm hiking from Iowa City, IA to Key West, FL. I'll be blogging the whole trek at http://jordanwalking.com/ with videos and photos via EVDO. It won't be a whole wilderness thing--I'm sticking to highways and main roads, so I'm foregoing solar cells and the like in favor of extra batteries and fingers crossed for charging opportunities.

If you want to chat about my gadget choices, feel free to drop me a line (I'm assuming the software allows you to see my email address, but I'll keep any eye on this thread anyhow).

That is a thing of beauty. Just this weekend I bought a Leatherman Kick, which I think is their cheapest full-sized multi-tool at $20. I'm happy with it, but did look longingly at the Skeletool for a good long while.

I bought my dad a Leatherman for his birthday maybe 15 years ago, and he still uses it every day.

I love Fluxx. It's most certainly untrue that there is no strategy to the game--sound strategy will increase your chances of winning significantly--but it is true that there is a lot of randomness to the game. That makes it a game that's wonderfully suited to people who revel in the unexpected and completely ill-suited to people obsessed with winning every game they play.

Fantastic! You're great on camera Joel--you had the opportunity to come off as a cranky and paranoid blogger, but instead sounded reasonable and articulate. It seems queer that they booked you in the first place--apparently nobody bothered to google "at&t boing boing"--but I'm glad you got the chance to make this video, even if AT&T will never air it.

I was unaware that AT&T had its own Tech Channel. It reminds me of the old days of TV when companies would be the exclusive sponsors of entire hours of TV and the hosts and actors would do testimonials for their products.

So I'm curious, was the audience canned or "real" after all?

The lady with the parasol has the right idea. I'm tickled by the thought of all these goths going home with sunburns.

I love the concept, but I don't much care for the logo. I'm merely an amateur designer, but that font with the funny L strikes me as very 1990, and though I like how they incorporated the open lock into the design, it's a bit distracting, I think owing to it being upside down (at least compared to how we're used to seeing such locks). Maybe the U-bolt could have formed the N instead?

The text in the video says Santarchy is "designed to protest the commercialization of Christmas," but the text above says the opposite. Which is it?

Cool, Mike. Maybe I'll check out the book after all. ;)

Thanks, Tehmoth! I do my best.

Whoever wrote this copy for the Amazon page just made me about 90% less likely to buy this book: "With more than 57 million currently active blogs, Web logs are..." Yep, you lost me when you put a space between "web" and "logs." Anyone trying to sell me a book about blogging better know that "weblog" was never two words--even the mainstream media figured that out a couple years ago.

I'll second Fuzzy's comment. Yow, that EFF ad is loud! Great show, though.

So, when will I be able to become a member of the Boing Boing Book Club? You've got Oprah beat by a long shot.

I had a hard time visualizing how one would ride this thing, so I turned to YouTube, where I was delighted to find a whole pile of videos of it in action. It looks fun!