Could easily be a scam, or a failed attempt at an honest business, but isn't the price rise a good sign?

I've been hoping their prices would rise, it seemed like the obvious thing they should do if 1) price of btc has risen and 2) demand for their devices has exceeded their potential near-term supply.

Then again, I have a little single on order, so maybe I'm just starry-eyed.

May as well take this time to set up a Coinbase or Dwolla account.  I recommend linking only to a separate bank account like CapitalOne360.

Hey, a central bank's not getting mine!

The market is inherently unpredictable.  If you want bitcoins, buy them. 

If you're looking for opinions, I think bitcoins will steadily increase in value until there is another security breach at a major bitcoin exchange or online wallet site, or legal action by the US or larger European governments.  The odds of this are pretty low, so it's a good time to buy.

Buy high, sell higher?

Here's a short list I've been working on of reasons the value of bitcoins may increase or decrease in the near term:

Decrease:
 - Superior digital currency may arise and supplant bitcoin
 - New attack on the protocol - alternate blockchain, mining shortcut/monopoly, etc.
 - More large-scale security breaches at online wallet sites (Blockchain.info, Coinbase) or exchanges (Mt. Gox)
 - Governments may act to restrict bitcoin (by making acceptance of BTC by companies illegal, for instance, or adding trade reporting requirements)

Increase:
 - Increasing acceptance in the economy
 - Speculation

A likely scenario in my mind is the value of bitcoins tracking upward ahead of the "acceptance curve" due to speculation, with occasional downward spikes due to the negative factors above.

What factors do you see affecting the value of bitcoins?

Have been getting this message all day: "Sorry, the maximum number of purchases on Coinbase has been reached at the moment. This is a 24 hour rolling limit with no specific start time. Please try again later. We'll continue raising this limit over time."

Finally, my 1 BTC test purchase at Coinbase just went through at 1:30 CDT.

If you've been trying to purchase bitcoins with Coinbase, there will probably be a short window of availability there.