Brilliant, Ali. Love it.

If the Darth Vader chick took off the helmet and the breathing apparatus, I'd take the black latex catsuit anytime...Meow.

Peace on Earth and good will towards Man?

Oh, and a Macbook 2.4.

And Sea Salt from my kids.

And I had cocoa.

Could you use this for JUST contacts/calendaring--e.g., not use the mail portion of it? we have mail hosted offsite and are happy with it, but are looking for some robust contact/calendar solution (and Now sucks until Nighthawk comes out). Zimbra is definitely nice, but it's expensive.

Thoughts?

yeah, honestly, it is a nice design. The trick to being able to keep your neck from getting sore is to have something to hang it over when you look down at a laptop or book. The pictures don't show it, but if she scoots up a bit, her neck can dangle down a bit taking pressure off of it instead of keeping your head back all the time. It's a very relaxing position for muscles that usually can't relax that way (think: chiropractic table, where there is a hole for your head to be below your shoulder level).

I'd get one of these, definitely.

Rocketboy:

I agree that the technology was often portrayed as "gritty", but my recollection was that it was only gritty for those that couldn't afford the good stuff. The Yakuza had the high-end stuff. It was the runners--the street hoods and those looking to climb the ladders quickly and make a name for themselves--that would get their mods in the Sprawl, and get screwed as often as not.

I had forgotten, honestly.

I met him recently at a book signing for Spook Country. Gruff old bird who didn't get why audio books would be interesting to people (I asked why so few of his books were in audio).

Poor Bill. I think Hollywood got the better of him here. I wonder what he thought of it after all was said and done, and if he knew how badly this film would turn out compared to the subtlety of his fiction.

Much of this "low tech" high tech stuff was either suggested by, or described by William Gibson in 1981 when the short story came out. This stuff was incredibly insightful for that time period and I think you're doing him a disservice by even connecting the "movie" (and I use that term loosely...) with the things from the story--especially as the movie was done 14 years later and they couldn't (or wouldn't) improve on the tech.

Well, not to get into a scientific debate here, and you're more than likely more educated about this subject than I am, but it doesn't seem far fetched to believe there is an advantage to ones offspring living to reproduce if somehow the parent is able to protect them from a fall while sacrificing their own bodies to do so. It would be an evolved reflex--we have many, such as blinking when anything comes near our eyes to protect our vision--and many species have these sort of reflexive traits.

And yes, cannibalistic species exist but those are usually traits that are more likely to allow their offspring to reproduce than if those species did not eat their young, for whatever evolutionary reason per that specific species (it would have to be examined on a case-by-case basis). The mantis is everyone's favorite to look at in this regard, but research (my own, actually, many years ago) has shown that if there is other food nearby the female will choose that instead of eating the male during reproduction. However, that doesn't mean that there haven't been enough circumstances over the millennia that have allowed many more mantids to be born when the mother eats whatever is nearby to keep up her stamina than those whose mom's just starved during the long period they're reproducing. I know that's a simplistic view of evolution, but this isn't Science, it's Engadget.

My theory is that it's an evolutionary trait that we protect what's in our arms when we fall because it used to not be electronics--it was our kids. And, I doubt we really have much of a conscious decision about doing this. I'd love to know how many people this has happened to who have actually been able to discard whatever is in their hands and save themselves from falling.

And please, Creationists need not respond...

Give it a base station instead of a cord, and batteries when you pull it from the base station. A few hours battery is fine--just enough that you can use it on the couch and carry it into the kitchen, etc. Multiple charging base stations would be excellent. you buy one chumby, carry it around, and plug it in in other rooms -- if you want to.