That sounds some weird mix of the Johnny Walker colors...

The "caviar" seems to imply quality, the root of caviar is egg/oval which does not really translate well to hard drive tech.

This definitely deserves to be a weekly feature - perhaps the readers can vote on which pathetic article gets forwarded on to Ms. B & The RED PEN OF CORRECTION!

Here's another article about the "umbrella of tomorrow" - and full of more umbrella facts!
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_orlean

I have a n770 and am pretty impressed at what it can do, especially at it's price point (under $150). The newer tablets, 800 & 810 are definitely more impressive but are also priced into the range of neeetbooks and the like.

The default OS on the Nokia tablets is based off of Debian and does have some gee-whiz software, Maemo Mapper is a good one off the head. The amount of legitimate work I have done on the tablet hovers around 0% but it is much closer to a computer than a phone, I would say...

Here's the original flickr photo instead of the one they grabbed - http://flickr.com/photos/nate_marsh/377537976/in/set-72157594517861768/

haha, that is my beltsander racer - Hello Gritty!
http://www.nathanielmarsh.com/hellogritty/
It is minus the decorated platform above, so it looks ready to sand - it was actually used to resand a floor this year, she still has it!

Here's last years racer - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nate_marsh/sets/72157594517861768/

If someone from Sanrio wants to contact me - I am sure we can work something out, hahaha

I think that iMate frame can use Flickr rss feeds based on some browsing, like this meta-photo-headfuck - http://www.flickr.com/photos/szili/1857305622/

$135 still seems like a lot for this - I guess it is for grandma...

ha, I realize that a $15 Chinese-made solar panel is not handmade by a bunch of Tibetan monks from organic bamboo. But it is not true that there are no environmental laws in China.

I still think these cheap panels are interesting and I bet dollars to donuts these things will be selling like hotcakes in the next few years. The overall carbon footprint is likely very high, but I think they will end up being pretty popular once Duracell/Energizer rebadges them. If BBG's review of them indicates that it is a lot better just to plug stuff into the wall, we'll all be happy.

The movie Manufactured Landscapes has a great overview on Chinese factories and ewaste - it is a mindblowing film: http://www.mongrelmedia.com/films/ManufacturedLandscapes.html

One "green" tech that I have been interested in as of late is the influx of super cheapo solar panels - the kind of $15 specials that you can find on DealExtreme and likely 100s of other importers. Not something you would want to take into the woods and risk your life with but cheap.

Something like this: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11682 - Can small solar chargers really work/make a difference or is this just a load of crap? If I could charge my phone fer free or keep my mp3s bumping via the sun without dropping some benjamins on expensive panels, that would be very interesting.
So, I think it would be great if you could review solar panels aimed at small devices and include cheapo Chinese ones as well.

A wimax N-series tablet has been widely rumored from Nokia coming in the very near future. I don't know WiMax would work for you but that could be a good option.

Nokia could definitely do a better job marketing their internet tablets. My n770 is a pretty amazing little machine for the price and their newer operating systems work on previous gen devices (similar to how MS supports older Zunes) - a nice direction.

There are some neat blogger tools for the tablets, like WordPy - http://maemo-wordpy.garage.maemo.org/ - doesn't help you but their is a neat little community of developers

My .02

N810 would probably work but be squinty and a little finicky. If you were mostly writing, you could probably compose on the N810, get a cheap bt keyboard, and then briefly tether it you your phone or swap the memory card. I have not visited the forums in a while, the best place to learn what you could do with the N810: http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/

Batteries are standard Nokia so you could bring a ton. I don't think you can attached a 3G modem...

The EEE seems like a good fallback option, I guess it depends how many hours a day you are planning on being online vs foraging for food/fighting grizzles. That Lenovo looks pimp though...

For those interested in shipping containers, the history of their creation, adoption and widespread success - I would happily recommend a book called - The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy/dp/0691123241/

The author does a great job explaining the challenges of standardizing the shipping industry and the struggles that early visionaries went through before containerized freight took off.

Haha, if these were USB-powered I'd be all over these! Probably smells weird after a while...
Electronic Fat Reducing Sauna Pants - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1948

I have actually ordered from DealExtreme a few times. They are a good company - the products are absurdly cheap and generally do what they say they do.

A $3 hand-powered flashlight from China is still going to break into 100 pieces if you drop it from more than 2 feet - I know that the hard way.

Most recently I bought this portable memory card backup - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6995 - pop a harddisk in there and you are all set, no need to haul a laptop around with your DSLR. Great deal...

One funny thing is that they shipped every item I ordered last time separately. The sucky part about that is that because it is international and how they ship, if you miss the mail carrier, you have to pick it up at the post office.

I wholeheartedly agree with Philip on Thomas Distributing and MAHA chargers. I bought this kit from them a couple years ago - http://tinyurl.com/yp87x4 and have been very happy with it. Not very sexy design but very functional.

I also buy new batteries from them every now & again, again, they cost a little more than in a store but they are powerful & reliable little creatures.

I don't give Greenpeace money - they are technically a 501(c)4 and I don't agree with their fundraising efforts, especially on-the-street solicitations. But they are full of passionate, intelligent people and I think that they are a critical part of the modern environmental movement.

They are more performance artists than real assholes. I can see why they offend a lot of people and I will not waste my time trying to convince people that they are not.

On a personal level - I find most of their direct action highly entertaining!

What's the point of running an international environmental NGO working for global change if not to produce these large, thought-provoking campaigns? People are not stupid - if you donate to Greenpeace - your money is going to create reports & events that stir things up. It's amusing to equate GP with terrorists - that's the kind of bright thinking that accompanied the ATHF Shennigans in Boston this summer.

People wanting Greenpeace to be a calm, polite and behind-the-scenes organization are missing the point - there are plenty smaller NGOs that benefit from the actions of organizations like Greenpeace and PETA to draw attentions to important issues. The Media/Communications departments of orgs like GP and PETA are genius - the fact that so many are made uncomfortable by their ads is a testament to their success.

It's hard to know in cases like these how much back & forth really takes place between the org and the corporations. Personally, it is hard for me to feel particularly bad for Nintendo or anyone ranked very low on the Greenpeace scale - even if their criteria might be questionable to some. It's important to have reports like this to shake things up and make companies like Nintendo explain their side - they are a huge manufacturer and obviously use massive amounts of resources for their products, a little more transparency should be part of their CSR efforts.

Of course, people might be inclined to thing that Greenpeace is just trying to promote itself with this rhetoric. There is a fairly recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review that describes how orgs like Greenpeace have very successfully leveraged this type of publicity into real change - I cannot find the article online but here is the abstract from it: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/turning_conflict_into_cooperation/
It is a great read!

That device looks like an easy way for people to feel that they are being "ethical" which is tricky in the case of lobsters.

I would encourage anyone interested in lobsters and slightly perplexed about the strong emotions people have surrounding their preparation to read this article from Gourmet magazine by author David Foster Wallace about the Maine Lobster Festival- http://www.lobsterlib.com/feat/davidwallace/page/lobsterarticle.pdf

Disclaimer - Yes, the article is hosted on the PETA but the author is not affiliated with them