I'm not sure what the attraction is myself. According to the article, this was invented in response to book tours - which seems to miss the whole point of a book tour, IMHO. Not so much to put signatures in books as to create buzz, human community, etc. As you rightly point out, if all that is desired is a sig, go ahead and print it. Heck, printers can do nice embossing and colors. The sig . . . marks a personal encounter?

Still, you might not lose your driveway :-)

Although it would remove the cats maze aspect.