Some weeks ago—this is something of a shameful admission for me—I stood in line for hours at the local Best Buy store in order to purchase an iPad 2 on the device's launch day. I'm not one of, you know, those guys, and I hadn't intended to commit much time to the endeavor. Nevertheless, I got sucked in by Best Buy's promises of a well-organized ticketing solution that would let me reserve a spot without standing in the store for hours on end. Such promises turned out to be a mirage, and I became a conflicted hostage, forgoing lunch and potty breaks in order to reserve my place in line.