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This guy tried to make one DIY, and failed miserably.

From reading the article, it looks like IA Labs is actually Powergrid Fitness -- a company that has been releasing gaming-based exercise devices since as early as 2004: http://www.futurelooks.com/forums/showthread.php?p=81382

So definitely not what I would consider to be a "patent troll" given that they've had devices on the market since before any of the control mechanisms for the Wii were even announced.

If you look around, they've been at CES with new or updated devices pretty much every year from 2004 onward.

I've heard this question from *loads* of folks... and my answer is always the same. Just get a DVD player with MP3 play capability! You can get great units for both in-dash car operation and/or home audio use
Here's some links:

Samsung Player
Apex Player ($70!!!)

Have a good day!

"Since they rarely use a standard VGA connector, they require a proprietary video card which sometimes will not have open source driver support."

This is absolutely untrue. Most LCD monitors are either driven through analog VGA or through a standard digital interface (DVI.) Of course, the DVI-driven displays will provide higher-quality images.

And what makes you think that OLED cards will have open-source driver support, anyway? IMHO, if the drivers work well, does it really matter if you have the source code? It seems good to try for the utopia of all-open-source, but not purchasing a great monitor just because the drivers aren't open-source seems a bit overboard.

"...dropping an LCD results in a sloppy mess and a couple hundred dollars down the tubes."

Whoa. Stop there. If you spent $200 on an LCD monitor, no wonder you're complaining. The low-end monitors are crappy. I have an SGI 1600SW with Multilink Adapter that will soon be driven by a Geforce3. I spent over $1000 on it, which is more than I have spent on most of my computers. However, it is worth every penny. I would not trade it for any other LCD and I certainly wouldn't wait for a still-vapor technology.

Yes, LCDs are pricey! No, LCDs are not for everyone. But for those of us who want an absolutely gorgeous display -- one that every person who walks into your house will say "Wow!" about, and one that never makes your eyes hurt -- we are more than happy to pay for an LCD.

BTW, I thought this Tom's Hardware article was horrible. Instead of focusing on the wonderful high-end LCDs, this article is dueling the low-end LCDs. Most of these monitors are awful. I would recommend that anyone who is in the market check out the following:

Low-end: IBM T-Series 15" analog
Midrange: Samsung 17" 170MP with built-in TV tuner and PIP
High-end: The SGI 1600SW with Multilink, since discontinued; any Apple LCD

Whatever you do, I wouldn't recommend paying less than $600 for an LCD. Also, definitely read the shopper.com reviews before purchasing. Their thumbs up / thumbs down system is a good way to figure out what people actually thought of the product after bringing it home.

Good luck...

Well if you look at the preview of the GameCube Preview
you can definitely see that you won't be able to install Linux on it unlike the XBox. Then again, this comes down to the old battle of Console Vs. PC. Consoles were never meant to be upgradeable unlike their PC counterpart that was.

There are two much better reviews, one at Futurelooks and the other at The Gadgeteer.

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The mouse is fine, what I dont understand is why they are using the ATI Mobility and not a Geforce 2 Go. Here it shows the Mobilty consumes more power when in use than an ATI Mobility. And the Geforce2 chip leaves the Mobility in the dust when in comes to performance.

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