I have 107,000 miles on my 2004 Prius and the battery is fine. If it needs a new one after 10 years, well that's great longevity! Prius is one of the most reliable cars according to Consumers Report (and my experience too), so needing to pay $3K after 10 years for the battery is not so bad from an overall cost of operation POV. And since many people don't keep their cars more than 10 years, they won't face the battery issue at all (assuming they bought their car new!).

A lot of articles talk about the "payback" of hybrid cars and often conclude that "It's not worth it". I don't buy that. I never see articles on the payback of getting leather seats or a bigger engine that improves acceleration. The fact that my Prius emits many tons less of CO2 into the atmosphere than most other cars gives me more satisfaction than do leather seats (which I also have).

While, like all cars, "your mileage may vary" compared to ideal testing conditions, hybrid cars do indeed improve gas mileage compared to similar non-hybrid cars (and you can see this clearly on cars that have both hybrid and non-hybrid versions).

He will have his cool set up that places video cameras over the playfield so you can watch the amazing action. October 1-3, Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, CA. http://www.pacificpinball.org/.

PHoF is great, but it's not the only place for pinball. The Pacific Pinball Museum (mentioned above) has 90 machines in the museum and about 800 more in storage. For the first weekend in October, they put on the Pacific Pinball Exposition at the Marin Civic Center with over 350 pinball machines set on Free Play (the PHoF machines are all coined). THAT is pinball heaven!

If you want really "old school", check out the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, CA (near Oakland) - http://pacificpinball.org/. They have pinball machines from the 1930's to 2000's, with a big collection of "woodrail" and "wedgehead" games. No video games. Only pinball (and an odd electromechanical rifle game here and there).

The new Dell Mini running Unbuntu has Dell Video Chat powered by SightSpeed and can talk to other SightSpeed and Dell Video Chat clients running under Windows or Mac (and can also connect via a browser window). SightSpeed, however, hasn't released a stand-alone Linux download yet.