I'm going to talk about the iPhone for a minute. I got a little behind on all of the blog-posting legislation that has been passed in the past several months, so I missed the one that requires everyone in the world to write about the iPhone in great detail. But I'm not going to write about how cool the interface is, or how it has revolutionized the world of music-listening and conversation-partaking, or how you need to accept the iPhone as Your Personal Lord and Savior. I'm really not going to talk about the iPhone at all, as much as I'm going to make a request to everyone who has one:

Please, stop showing me your iPhone.

On two separate occasions, I have had nearly complete strangers insist -- insist -- on taking me through a complete feature tour of their phone. I know how phones work. I know how iPods work. And I've also seen all of the commercials where Apple and their disembodied finger shows you how the iPhone works. I get it. There are things on the screen, you can touch them, you can drag them around, you can rotate it. You can play your music, look at pictures, and check your mail. Rumor is you can even use it as a phone.

I'm not trying to say that it isn't cool. It's definitely cool. I even admit that I would like to own one. That doesn't mean then when I ask you "So, how is the iPhone working out for you," what I really mean is "Now, can you show me how to zoom in on a picture again?"

It's funny though, because we've all been down this road, haven't we? I remember 2003, when iPods were starting to get really popular, but were still a bit pricy. Does anybody else remember? Everyone that had an iPod was so excited about it that they had to make a spectacle of it. Flashing it on the subway, cheerily answering strangers' questions about it, getting mugged for it in the alley. Seriously, you're walking around with a $600 "I would like you to rob me" sign. Cut it out.

But until the iPhone is available in a larger capacity, for a lower price, with a non-evil phone carrier, I'm going to stick with my homemade iPhone. It's a little bigger, but it has more storage capacity, picture messaging, and the battery is slightly easier to change than Apple's "send it to us and we'll do it for you" approach. Here are a few product shots: