As someone who has always had a love of toys, I find many of the comments in this article quite disturbing. It occurs to me that every single toy I had growing up as a child was, by this set f standards, positively lethal. How long before LEGOs, with all their small removable parts, are completely banned? Forget my beloved Micronauts, and all those great Japanese toys I had.

I'm sorry, the fixation our culture has developed on safety over all else, and governmental regulation over every aspect of our lives is, in my callous opinion, a greater evil than the possibility that some less than brilliant child might not be able to distinguish between his toys and his food, or that some less than brilliant parent might not be able to figure out what toy is appropriate for their offspring.

A child could easily kill or maim themselves with a stick or rock, does that mean we should turn the entire world into a giant padded room, to safeguard children from the dangers of nature?

I use one, not for games, but for Maya. It is really nice paired up with a tablet, so you don't need to reach up to the keyboard to hit all your most used hotkeys.

Great article, and an important issue that I am glad to see discussed. My only question is why does it take the horrible bogeyman of Global Warming to spur such discussions? Completely ignoring the issues of Global Warming, environmentalism, and sustainability, there are still plenty of valid, and immediate, reasons why compulsive consumerism is a major issue for our society. On a very personal level, I think people should focus on how much of their income, and time, they throw away on shopping for, buying and replacing disposable items. For example, looking straight into the great American blind spot of the auto industry, people have barely driven their car off the lot before they start trying to figure out what their next car is going to be.

I honestly wonder how much creativity and productivity of our generation is lost because people are spending energy that might be channeled into creative endeavors, instead into trying to figure out which hot new product they are supposed to be buying now. How many people, instead of having a hobby, just shop on eBay, and read gadget blogs? How many people, instead of creating something, just sit around hoping someone will come out with it as a product, so they can just buy it?

Instead of talking about responsible purchasing in terms of eco-guilt, and what it will put in landfills, and how it will effect the planet we live on in a few centuries, why not talk about how you can make your life better today by thinking about how you spend your money, and what you are really getting for your dollar? It is all well and good to worry about the world your grandchildren will live in, but how about thinking about how you can make the world you live in better right now?

I wish I could tell you if it works or not, but like you, I have just been thinking about trying it, and haven't gotten one yet. Please, if you try it let us know. Personally, I have tried to quit several times, with patches, lozenges, gum, and cold turkey, and every single time have managed to get well past the point where nicotine addiction was the issue (usually around a month or so with no nicotine), only to find that not smoking so upset my daily routine, that I would end up smoking again.

For me, it is the habit, not the addiction that keeps me smoking. I would be perfectly happy to replace the habit with a healthier delivery system if they actually work. Good luck!

I really don't understand how the entire iPhone saga is being covered by most sites. Is Apple's brand image really so unassailable that they can get away with anything, and still be given the benefit of the doubt? If any other phone manufacturer (like Nokia or HTC) were to release a product lacking as many basic features as the iPhone, and as unfriendly to 3rd-party development as the iPhone, they would be lambasted universally.

The fact of the matter is that with their impending European launch, Apple could very well be legally required to allow the phone to be unlocked with no negative repercussions. As such, I don't really see how they should get even a 20% margin of doubt, when they are at the very least launching a FUD campaign to keep people from unlocking the phone, and at the worst saying point blank that they will brick your phone if you unlock or hack it.

Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having a clip on it to begin with?

My brain is just screaming at me, like Dr. Tran, asking "WHAT DOES THE WHEEL DO?" I kind of, sort of, can figure out the function of the spring-loaded pad at the back, but the function of the outrigger wheel on the top completely escapes me.

I fail to understand what this offers you over a bike or two.

It seems like it would be cold, what with the wind blowing around you and all, and perhaps might even hurt you, if the wind was blowing hard enough to swing you into the trunk, or break the branch. This looks like it would be good 'emergency shelter' for a warm beach somewhere in calm whether, but then why do you need shelter in conditions like that?

I think the real problem with the moniker "steampunk" is that you are tying an entire visual style to a rather narrow handful of literary sources. It would be almost like labeling all post-apocalyptic works as being "Mad Max." Personally, I would think that what is needed is a broader term, of which steampunk would be a subcategory. I lean towards Baroque Futurism myself. That, or just go all the way back to the original source, and just call it all Vernesian Design.

I guess there aren't as many Gundam fans on the Internet as I thought. Everyone is confused as to what this thing is, and it is clearly just another step towards a fully functional Haro.