(Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this company, but I know somebody who is. I should talk to him about a "complimentary robot for referrals" program.) http://reconrobotics.com/ Recon Robotics makes a product called the Scout that is designed specifically for this purpose. Each robot weighs only 1.2 pounds, is deployable and easily controllable by a single soldier, and is relatively inexpensive compared to other combat-ready robot technologies. I know I want one. ;)

Agreed. I just finished a 10-day trial of Kubuntu 9.04, after having used KDE3 versions of Kubuntu since their first release. It was pretty, for sure, but really felt like every visual enhancement came at the sacrifice of some functional enhancement. Example: Icons of folders containing pictures in KDE4 have tiny thumbnail pictures on them, but no longer could I hover over a picture to see its dimensions or JPEG comment. Granted, KDE 3.5 might be the most feature-packed, customizable desktop environment of all time (for better or worse). Recreating every one of its features is a huge task, and it's going to take time. I can keep using KDE 3.5 while I wait.