The point is they didn't. Do you want to do better, you are free to try. For the record I think the made a total farce of it as well. I think they were steam rollered into going faster than they planed to. Mainly because the spent too much time stoking up publicity and not enough time testing the board. There are some quite serious problems with the USB and the power.
At a total cost that's probably less than the taxi ride from the airport to a Maker Faire.
I don't know. Have you ever taken a taxi in New York, I was taken aback I can tell you. 