This is what Chris and Snoop needed on The Wire.

If you read the article, the guy says they're meant to be talking points so that his kiosks can compete because they don't carry the iphone, not for customer distribution. His employees were out of line for how they handled it, but can't blame the guy for trying to make a living (and a seemingly honest one, as his points all seem to be chock full 'o truth). Also, there's only talk of this happening to one customer, so it's quite possible the employees handed the woman their personal copy to peruse, rather than do their jobs and relate the info from the talking points to the customer.

Nor did he "pen a 5-page screed", read again. The guy copied articles from Pocket PC Mag and Crackberry.com and wrote a little bit in the beginning and a few other places. Your wording doesn't convey what happened here very accurately, or what Giz reported (and they actually talked to the guy). The slap at WinMo devices is unnecessary, but certainly reveals your motivations. Somebody somewhere out there took a swing at Apple, and you felt the need to swing back. Hope it feels good.

Huzzah! It's about f'ing time. Let's hope all the rest follow.

Similar to the Zune packaging (and coloring). Looks great.

Wow, way to catch up Freakanomics blog, Maddox commented on this well over a year ago: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

My bad

Not that it's worth quibbling over the details, but it dispenses 24oz, not 12oz.

http://www.drinkplanner.com/2008/06/09/behold-bierstick-briskly-blasts-beer-to-the-brim/

I just hope you're putting that bottle of booze to good use.

Joel, I think the point that you make that this is a new site and it's trying to grow is an even more important point. You're right, adding new content generally increases its readership. However, I think when you and Brownlee unite (and I've enjoyed reading both of you over the years) and now with this "Marvin" character, you're not so much expanding and adding new and diverse content as you are spiraling on an overly-literate and anachronistic-word-laden track that goes nowhere but inward. I'm glad you treat your readers as intelligent and don't dumb everything down for us, but I think entries like this end up being a tougher point of entry for new readers, and as I mentioned, a bit much even for those of us already accustomed to you guys. Exclusive instead of inclusive, so to speak.

I'm certainly not going to tell you how to run your site, and I'm glad you're having fun and on the whole I enjoy BBG immensely. I know in the end you'll do whatever you like, but I also know you've been open to your readers' input, so just thought I'd throw my $.02 out there. Thanks.

I'm with Wurp, this is overkill, and more than a little annoying.

Relent, I beg you.

Poor Mary...

Vowel removal = hilarity

Hly fck tht fryng bt ws rrttng nd vpd. f y wntd t cvr th Fry-b-q, y dn't HV t mscl tchnlgy n thr smwhr, jst cvr t s cltrl vnt. Tht ws hrrbl.

Wow...so Biskup is pretty lame, eh? I mean, his art is good, but he's pretty loser-y as a person.

Seems like it would feel like sleeping on the mats they used for "tumbling" and crap when you were in elementary school.

Oh Joel, your Mr. Show references always get me.

Still effing horrible.

I never understood this product. Who the hell likes the edges? I thought devouring the soft gushy inner pieces first was universal, and the crusty outside ones were for the Johnny-come-latelys.

...says the guy who has a geocities site.

#2, they make wireless mice that don't need a surface for things like that. Like this bad boy: http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/gyration-wireless-air-mouse

I'm favoriting this, not because I'm a trackballer, but because I thought it was so damn funny.

Ehhhh...

I mean, I can see how his have a little more effort put into them than most, but that's like buying a The Best of Larry the Cable Guy album. Just because it's "the best" doesn't mean it isn't tacky white trash garbage.

Cracked has heard you, and mocked accordingly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SIRtOkUgww

Hahaha I like Seemsartless's idea...

There's a free program that does the same thing for WinMo phones that's been out for a while. They only seem to list HTC models though.

http://www.ateksoft.com/

I liked it. Other than the obvious doubling-up, the only other thing I think would have been helpful would be to see where exactly the oddly-placed mouse was. Besides that, better than Cats.

I love my brown Zune.

Shiiiiiit...I thought I might have a shot at the N95, but there's people with damn 10 machines working on this thing.

Who knew so many Tull fans read BB Gadgets?

What is the deal with jackasses who have to comment on Americans' interest in something anytime anyone posts anything anywhere on the internets? Why don't I see you commenting on the proclivities of the Burmese or Finnish on websites? What is so special about American desires? Did your mother not let you talk about Americans or something?

Also, tubman is correct.

Am I the only one who thought Mark's section came off like a less-informative "Good Eats" with Alton Brown? Mad dorky jokes, yo.

I'm looking forward to seeing Joel on some episodes though. I have a feeling he'll come across a bit more casual and laid-back. Though he could freak out at the thought of thousands and thousands of people watching him worldwide and flip the fuck out. Only time will tell!

@SCAUGHT - No, the original had a 5-way directional pad-type thingy.

Good news about the firmware update for the older ones, I picked up a white one during the Woot-off for $150 a while back (and exchanged it for a brown one at a local store, much cooler looking), and these new features should be cool. I hope they release that upgrade ahead of the release of these new models.

"Oh Nancy, the SuperPan is not magical, it WILL burn you!"

"Oh Nancy, you cannot fly. Only British people can fly. You shouldn't try to fly and you shouldn't listen to British people."

I thought it was cool, not only from an environmental perspective, but from the blogger-as-journalist, and how that role develops and matures in the news culture. I hope you get to go to the big conference in Bali and do more of this kind of thing. Naysayers can eat it.

I can't even imagine the level of heightened awareness these guys must have to maintain day in and out just to stay alive. It's got got to be a pretty sobering reminder that if you'd been just a little more careless, and didn't notice that thing on the side of the road, you might be missing your face now. It's got to suck even more to get that reminder several times a day, every day.

I have to admit, I never stopped using winamp. Partly because, like Pork said, I do my best to keep everything organized the way I like it and I'm obsessive about track name formatting (TrackNumber ArtistName - SongTitle people!), but mainly because I haven't found any other media player that stays the hell out of my way like winamp in windowshade mode. Desktop real estate and how it's used is important to me, and the thin black line with glowing green words fits the bill like no other media player I've seen. I've got waaaay too much music to diddle around with playlists and tagging and the like, and with the rate I add more every week, it would end up being a futile and exasperating waste of time.

Looks good Joel...congrats!