Without further ado, the newly rehashed IconBuffet has been launched. Fresh design, check. A dozen new stock collections, check. Free icons every month... whoa, wait a minute. Is that right?

Yes, you read correctly. IconBuffet will now be releasing several free icon collections each month through its Free Delivery service. They're free, and you can use them in both commercial and personal projects. Icons for your client's website. Icons for your blog. Icons for that latest Web 2.0 app you're cooking up. It's all there.

Each month, IconBuffet members will receive free icons delivered to their account—with a twist! IconBuffet members will not all receive the same icons. You may receive Collection A, while your buddy receives Collection B, and your sister receives Collection C. Then it kinda works like trading cards. You can "deliver" your Collection A to your sister. She can send Collection C to your buddy. And if you're lucky, maybe your buddy will send you Collection B.

You can send each Delivery you receive to five additional people. And you'll never know what you may get. And it's free, you can't complain about that. So run, don't walk, over to IconBuffet. Sign up, get your Free Delivery for the month, and start passing the icons out to your friends. Be sure to check out our new stock illustration as well. We can't wait to hear what you think.

While Sony BMG recalls, we're shipping. We received the first order of I Heart Rootkit tees yesterday, and we'll be shipping out pre-orders today. This is a day later than we had hoped (due to the Thanksgiving holiday), but they're on their way. We appreciate the patience of all who pre-ordered.

Just so you know, the t-shirts rock. The first order has nearly sold out, and we'll be honoring the pre-order price of $12 (plus shipping) for one more day. If you get in now, we'll ship yours right away. If not, the t-shirts will be available for $15 beginning tomorrow (still a bargain, you have to admit).

We'll be posting photos of the shirts and the packing process later today. Thanks to the countless who have ordered.

No doubt many of you are familiar with the concept of "design debt" made popular by 37signals. The gist is that occasionally we make design decisions that are necessary due to time, monetary, or other restrictions that allow us to move forward with a project, even though in the long run those decisions might not be the best. Those design decisions, while necessary, become debt that we incur.

Nearly two years ago, we redesigned IconBuffet, our royalty-free stock icon site. At the time, we had three products, and we wanted the checkout process to be as simple as possible. We decided to use a simple, one-column layout that garnered a lot of attention from the design community, and honestly worked quite well for the promotion and sales of our products.

But now, two years later, we have 12 products for sale and the one-column layout is breaking down. In fact, we have 12 additional products completed and ready for sale that we have not added to the store because it would clutter the current site too much. That's pretty sad. The time has come for us to pay off the design debt we incurred with this layout.

Later this week we'll launch the new IconBuffet, with a much improved layout and flow. And with a dozen new products. It feels good to pay off the debt, and we're excited to show you what we've done.

On a side note, our SOHO icon collection has been "on sale" for $5 for the last couple of months. When the new site launches, it will return to its regular price of $19. You might want to pick it up today if you'd like to take advantage of the sale price. Enjoy.

It should come as no surprise to many that I'm an avid Volkswagen fan (even though they've struggled a bit as of late). Their thoughtful attention to detail makes owning a Volkswagen a joy. The Touareg and Passat are gems, and the subtle refinements to the New Beetle this year are remarkable.

Not only does Volkswagen design cars that look good, the interior refinements are so far beyond almost anything else you'll find today. This is half of the battle for me. While many cars may look half decent on the outside, their interiors are crap. Volkswagen seems to pay as much attention to the inside as the outside. The knobs are conveniently located, the buttons feel like they're made of substantial material, and the dash menus are brilliant. My Jetta even shows me a snowflake icon when the outside temp drops below 40°. Could this be a case of VW realizing that interaction with a car happens on the inside? It's not just enough to make a cool looking car, it needs to work.

But this leads me to my VW gripe... Why doesn't Volkswagen bring the rest of their European lineup to the States? With gas prices on the rise, and sports compact cars more popular than ever, it stands to reason that the Lupo and new CrossPolo would sell well here. I mean, take a look at the CrossPolo. Maybe it's just the Firewheel orange, but I so want one of these. And at a starting price of what looks to be $16k-$18k, we're not talking a bag of rocks here. Is that too much to pay for a sports compact? Are American consumers still turned off by small automobiles? Or is Volkswagen just keeping back the good stuff for those who live across the pond?

We're putting the finishing touches on our new IconBuffet website to be launched shortly. The new site will have plenty of new features (and icons... more on that later), but one of my favorite touches is our new shopping cart.

How many times have purchased something online, especially a digital product, only to visit the store later and forget exactly what you have—or have not—purchased. A prime example of this is the iTunes Music Store. Say I purchase a single song from an album, then return later to buy the entire album. Since each song declares "Buy Song" next to it, I have no quick reminder as to what I've previously purchased. It should be noted that if I click Buy Song, and I've already purchased the song, iTunes will warn me with a dialog box that I've purchased the song. But there's no quick way to tell.

Furthermore, since I've purchased hundreds of songs from iTunes, it seems to stand that Apple could save record of those purchased songs and allow me to download them again in the future (in case of tragic deletion). Of course, we all know this is not the case. I'm sure they have their reasons for this. Oh well.

But with the new IconBuffet, we wanted to solve both problems. Now, when you make a purchase, that download is saved forever in your account. And when you browse the IconBuffet store, previous purchases are highlighted in green for easy reference. These may seem like obvious touches, but they are touches I wish more digital stores would embrace.

Really, we'll get past all this Sony stuff soon (I hope) and return to posting nice entries about design and pixels and interface detailing, but this is just too much fun. Newsweek reports today that in addition to all the rookit goodies, Sony BMG's crazy new license agreement states that you must delete songs copied to your computer should you ever declare bankruptcy. Are you kidding me?

Who's running this dog and pony show? Also, it's been confirmed that a piece of Scotch tape placed carefully over the edge of your XCP protected Sony CDs will effectively render their DRM software useless. Wow... Those guys at Sony are brilliant. Meanwhile, the Boycott Sony blog goes up. Nice.

Update: We're completely cracking up at the response the I Heart Rootkit tees are receiving. I'm having the feeling we're going to have a hard time keeping these in stock. The first order is very close to selling out, so if you want in, better get yours now. And you just though XBOX 360 was going to be the only difficult technology icon to pick up this week.

Everybody is digging Sony these days, and we truly feel that no Sony fan should be without a t-shirt to show their love for rootkit. For those who haven't refreshed their feed reader in oh, a month or so, Sony BMG started pressing audio CDs with a snarky little application (aka rootkit) that—amongst other things—disables your ability to copy the CD to iTunes or your iPod, and renders your computer vulnerable to hackers.

It didn't take long for the lawsuits to start, and now Sony's in a world of hurt. Here at Firewheel, our opinion of DRM software was already scraping the floor, but I believe this set a new standard for low feelings. We've stopped buying Sony CDs, stopped visiting the Sony Style store, and came justthisclose to dropping our PSP in the trash.

But instead of reacting irrationally, we channeled our feelings and created a t-shirt. We hope you enjoy wearing it as much as we enjoyed making it. Thanks Sony. We love you. Get the shirt.

Somehow I get the feeling that we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg of malicious DRM software preloaded on your favorite audio CDs. Now, EMI is claiming that Apple is working with them to support their DRM through iTunes. And, of course, Apple denies it. So basically, we're all just trudging down the road to a Baskin Robbins of incompatible DRM flavors.

Next thing you know, Starbucks' Hear Music label will require you to reload a Starbucks GIft Card online before you can copy one of their CDs to your iPod. You would like a latté with your Herbie Hancock, right?

Record labels are alienating their customers, and putting crap on our computers. Do they really think it'll curb piracy? Or will they lose more legitimate paying customers because we don't want to put up with the intrusion?

Is there a class-action lawsuit against Sony here in Texas yet? Macworld UK now reports that Sony BMG's DRM-possessed CDs may affect Macs as well as Windows machines (although not in the same way). I truly hope Sony gets what is coming to them on this one. If this is what we can expect with Sony's Blu-Ray DVD format as well, they can forget that I ever thought about purchasing a PS3. What must Sony do to fix this?

As if Sony cramping the style of our legal music purchases wasn't enough, the Motion Picture Association of America has gone and sued a 67-year-old grandpa because his 12-year-old grandson downloaded four movies to his computer from a P2P service. Even though the grandson deleted the files (and ignoring the reality that the family owned three of the four films on DVD), those brilliant minds in Hollywood decided to press forward.

First, the MPAA asks for a $4,000 settlement, and when grandpa says, "No thank you," they decide to ring him up for $600,000 in damages.

The MPAA says they want to set an example. Uh-huh. Will they ever figure it out?

As you probably already know, Sony BMG recently began selling CDs with "copy-protection" built in. I purchased the new Switchfoot album a while back, and was immediately intrigued to find more FBI, anti-piracy and "Sony System Requirements" information than actual cover artwork. Really guys, does the FBI logo need to be larger than a silver dollar?

Regardless, after my wife had already purchased and unpacked the CD I was alarmed to read on the case that the music on the CD was "not compatible" with iTunes (or anything else not made by Sony). If you stick the CD into your Windows PC, it installs Sony's own media player and DRM setup, crippling you from putting the music on anything but a Sony device. I know the iTunes DRM can be strict, but this is ridiculous.

Fortunately, all my music is on my Mac, and Sony's crippling DRM doesn't function outside of Windows—yet. To be honest, I was wondering if I could even play the CD in a traditional CD player that wasn't made by Sony. Is this really the best way to solve piracy?

To add insult to injury, I also own a Sony PSP. While the device is pretty slick, the software for syncing your photos, music, and video has always been worthless. Two days ago Sony releases their new Sony Media Software, aimed at making the PSP experience more like Apple's iTunes. Only Sony's asking $20 for the software (or $25 for the boxed version).

What in the heck? Not that $20 is a lot of money, but I dropped $300 on my PSP (like everyone else). Doesn't it seem like Sony could win friends and influence people by dropping its new software for no charge? Hate to break it to you Sony, but your Media Software isn't anything special—it's what should have been included with the PSP to begin with.

While Apple is making its technology easy to adopt, Sony is burning through my goodwill fast will with its many craptastic solutions.