Mr. Dykeman's point is spot on! Meanwhile, there's a headline that the iPad could crash the Net. Oy vey es mir!

I was all ready to hear a stinging critique of the way media outlets gave free advertising for Apple's new product. Unfortunately, it was more of the same. It would have been nice to hear something about the responsibility of the media when knowingly being enlisted in a marketing campaign. It's never too late...

Thought I recognized a public domain recording I made of a Tibetan meditation bell in this segment. You guys wrote me a couple of months ago about using it, and I was delighted to hear it here. Made my day.

Your report included a critical remark about current Apple products only accepting software which was approved by Apple.

There's a reason for this. By keeping control, Apple ensures that things will work. When you buy and use a Mac or iPhone and you add an app, you know it will run. (Assuming you have the right version and correct amount of memory, of course.)

This dependability is the cornerstone of why I and millions of others think long and very hard before we'll buy a Windows product. I have had a Mac since 1985 and had only 7 or 8 days of downtime.

I won't be buying an iPad for a couple of years, but will strongly consider getting one in a couple of years.

Mark Phillips: as to the possibility of the ipad being the "final screen" see G.W.F. Hegel.

Had Mr. Phillips taken a moment to inspect Apple's history almost exactly halfway between the Apple ][e and the iPad, he would have found the Apple Newton Message Pad. Despite being 20 years ahead of its time, it flopped:

* Could you read books on it? Yes.
* Could you get it to play music? Yes.
* Could you go online? Yes.
* Did it synchronize with Windows as well as Macintosh computers? Yes.
* Did it have wireless transfers? Yes.
* Did Apple censor apps made for the Newton? No.
* Did developers have to pay for their software development toolkit? No.
* Could it recognize your handwriting? Yes (but not well and occasionally with humorous results).
* Did Steve Jobs have anything to do with it? Nothing at all.
* What killed the Newton? People weren't ready for a paperless office.

For all the excitement that surrounds the iPad, if one adjusts for Moore's Law in the same way we adjust prices over time for inflation, the iPad is at best a mediocre shadow of the Newton. Perhaps if then-CEO John Scully had spent time leaking tidbits to the press, shone enough limelight and glitter, blocked questionable programs and content, and never disclosed a definitive sale date, then just maybe the Newton would have had the success that Steve Jobs hopes for the iPad.

- NeoAmsterdam

P.S.: In the interest of full disclosure - Original Newton Message Pad, Message Pad 130, and yes it understands my chicken scratch.