But in reality you're shipping a custom Linux rig with dedicated HD video hardware, Ethernet, and external storage support -- the possibilities are endless.

ENGADGET: Ten years of TiVo: how far we haven't come

Sony's got most of them in stock, with custom models shipping by February 19th, well before its CES prognostication of "early Spring" -- so if you've been hoping to actually, you know, do something with those famous Windows 8 live tiles, hit the source.

ENGADGET

Customers with shipping addresses in the United States will be able to place their custom build orders for the Modbook Pro online, with the first Modbook Pro orders shipping in November.

ENGADGET: Modbook Pro to launch with SSD storage, up for pre-order October 3rd

It has custom-built a warehouse-shipping app for the iPad using the Sybase Unwired Platform that connects to its SAP-based data.

FORBES: Why Mobile Business Apps Will Flower in 2011

His successor at the helm of the world's first tin canning business, John Gamble, moved the factory to Cork in Ireland in 1830, where there was a larger supply of cattle and the shipping route to the US offered an endless supply of custom.

BBC: The story of how the tin can nearly wasn't

The Salem Maritime National Historic Site comprises the custom house, the wharves and the other buildings along Derby St that are remnants of this thriving shipping industry.

BBC: Historical day trips from Boston