Adam Vaughan

Anon -- good point re particulate pollution, though the Greenline apparently has a particulate filter, for what it's worth.

We've got more on the diesel v petrol pollution debate here:

http://www.smartplanet.com/news/transport/10001286/ask-smartplanet-are-miles-per-gallon-the-key-green-indicator-for-a-car.htm

Rad, that's interesting to hear.

The one I rode had no water bottle -- just a battery. They had a dummy display bike in the shop with an actual water bottle and Powabyke me that's what the finished production version would look like.

Good points anon.

On the chargers, I was thinking of Nokia's concept for a Zero Waste charger (http://tinyurl.com/46bypm). Admittedly, like the Greenheart, it's just a concept right now.

I'm intrigued by the claim on the manuals. I agree it'd obviously have some impact on the CO2 footprint, but I doubt it'd cut the weight by 50 per cent. Nokia's 3110 already comes in a tiny box and a tiny printed manual that definitely doesn't account for half the box weight.

I'm maybe being a bit sensationalist calling the digital manuals greenwash, but they hardly feel like a revolutionary step when the truly significant carbon impact -- from manufacturing and usage -- is the phone itself.

That's right, I did leave it out. That's because the solar charger isn't on sale in the UK, which is where SmartPlanet is published. But thanks for the reminder... again! :-)

TD Baylis -- thanks for the comment.

Regarding the playlist memory -- that was an sloppily-worded statement on my part, for which I apologise. What I meant was: if you turn the Revolution off halfway through a song, when you turn the Revolution back on you're dumped back at the top of the main menu. On the iPod, by contrast, the screen you see when you power back on is the 'now playing' screen (or whatever menu level you were previously at) and all you have to do is press play to continue listening. It's good to hear you can just press the big button on the middle of the Revolution's control pad to continue playing your last song from the menu screen (my early version doesn't have a manual, so I didn't realise that was possible). I've edited the fourth paragraph in the article to reflect this.

Agreed, being able to browse by artist/album/genre is better than the original, but I still think the menu system is very poor compared to the industry standard, the iPod.

Re menu speed, I didn't find that a problem on the first model -- my issue was more the way the menu system forces you to 'think' rather than just being intuitive.

The addition of DRM-free AAC is welcome, but if people are using iTunes I suspect they'll also be using an iPod, so I don't view that as a big bonus.

I still don't think the earphones are that great, but audio quality is hugely subjective so we'll have to agree to disagree on that.

Ethical, I agree with you, to a degree. I certainly don't desire the Revolution in the same way I idly contemplate upgrading from my 5G iPod to a nice shiny new iPod Touch.

I think the Revolution is really good for some people, such as anyone who loves loads of features and anyone who's away regularly from a plug socket. I can imagine frequent travellers loving it. But it's not an Everyman MP3 player; that's the iPod.

Anon -- thanks for that. Before publishing, I asked Elektromotive (which makes charging stations) to give me a sense of how feasible this idea is.

They say they've looked the concept before. Their technical manager is going to give me some further insight on Monday, so expect an update.

True, the CherryPal does look great; I hope it comes to the UK.

I only see one obvious problem on take-up of the CherryPal -- it uses Linux. I think the fact companies such as Asus added Windows versions of the EEE PCs is a reminder that mainstream consumers want Windows.

Don't get me wrong -- I have Ubuntu at home and like it (I also run OS X, XP and Vista).

Trust me, I'm not a fast cyclist! I usually average 12-14mph on my commute to work.

In the race I wasn't even trying that hard, honest ;-)

Rory was just hobbled by slow acceleration. As you say, not much fun for city driving

Yep, cranking and shaving simultaneously wouldn't be good. Fortunately the rechargeable battery should avoid that.

Interesting to hear about your LED wind-up torch going kaput. I've owned a few wind-up radios (mostly Roberts and Freeplay) for several years now and they're still going strong.