Slightly OT, but I just got a Aeropress coffeemaker for my birthday. It operates on a similar idea as the "pod" but uses regular coffee. In short, you load the coffee in the press and force hot water through the grounds. It is a little like a French press, but water only stays in contact with the grounds for a short time leaving less bitterness and almost no residual grounds in the cup.
I only mention this because: (1) it's a new toy and I like it, (2) when you clean the grounds, they look like a pod, and (3) it is excellent for making single cups of coffee.
Lastly, I used an restaurant grade pod machine in two establishments I worked in - one fine-dining, one chain apple-friday-outback place. The machines made nice coffee when well maintained, crappy coffee if proper attention was not paid to the water going into it, and the pods were really a rip-off. As bar manager, I had to inventory the little pods because the employees like to use them for making quadruple espressos for themselves. At the time, the pods cost the company 60 cents a piece and we finally had to lock the boxes up to at least break even.
On the downside, most of it is made of plastic - hardly something you want to whip out for fancy dinners. It seems durable enough, but we'll see.
