I understand what the article is implying. I used to pirate music, but then Amazon came along with decent quality MP3s that I can purchase at a reasonable price through an easy interface, and which play on anything. If I want something that can't be found on Amazon I still go P2P for it, but this activity is lessening as my library becomes more complete and Amazon keeps adding content. I used to pirate movies but then the Roku player came out and I was able to tie our Netflix account right into it. Now I get decent quality movies and episodes on demand, for no more ongoing cost than I was already paying for the Netflix account and an Internet connection. In other words, when things work to my benefit I spend money. When they work towards an evil empire's benefit I do everything I can to rip it off. So if you want me to spend money you've got to let go.

I have an iPhone and am an avid snowboarder and mountain biker. Knowing what I would put the phone through I picked up a ruggedized cover for it the day I got it (a silicon wrap with an acrylic backing that covers all 4 corners, and a screen protector).

In the 8 months that I have had the phone I have:

- Dropped it down a ski run, helplessly watching it slide on the cover on its back down about 500 feet of vert. It got some snow on the data port so I made sure to power it down and dry it out.

- Kept it in the top pocket of my pack on a back country trip in the middle of a storm with temperatures reaching -12F so that I could track our progress using the GPS.

- Had it in the top internal pocket of my camelback when I endo'd in a rock garden at 18 MPH on a singletrack trail, rolled into the fall and skidded to a halt on my shoulders.

- Dropped it from chest height to the pavement once, had it slide off the roof of a car to the pavement once, and dropped it onto conference tables at least twice.

Throughout all of these events the phone has worked just fine. As I write this it sits on my desk in front of me, which is where I left it after uploading this morning's GPS track and answering 2 text messages.

What I'm getting at is that I'm sure I tripped just about every warranty-related sensor the phone has long ago, but it did not seem to affect anything. But since they've been tripped, I wonder if they will work against me should an actual warranty-covered problem arise, with no way for an Apple tech to know if one had anything to do with the other.

There's a Windows Media Center? Who knew?!

The Wii does all of this for about 20W and has a much smaller form factor. I'd say it's much more "green" that the Pulse.

The last time I explored both sides of a boarder I was charged with sexual assault. :(