The first generation of what I think will be an awesome product.

It’s interesting to read/hear the reactions of pundits and colleagues, especially given that every man and his dog had specific expectations even though Apple had not said one word about what it was readying. It’s ranging from “shiny toy” to “it’s not a do-everything netbook for $50 that everyone knew it was going to be? teh fail!” to “WTF? An overgrown iPhone without the phone?” to “will it go the way of the Newton or the iPod” to “this thing will take the world by storm”... and naturally the usual Mac and PC snobs with their own myopic derision vs. derision at derision.

Quite entertaining, really.

My thoughts? This is the first generation iPad; a foray into an area that people thought netbooks were in, but aren’t. Remember how alien the first generation iPod was and how it was ridiculed as closed, irrelevant, expensive? (aside: Kathy still has her circa 2001 first gen 5GB iPod with its beautiful clicky spinny scrollwheel - it still goes fine!) What was the difference there? Remember how alien the first gen iPhone was and how it was ridiculed as closed, irrelevant, expensive? What was the difference there?

Design. Careful thought and holistic, seamless design of the software (on the device, the parent computer, and stores), the hardware, and everything in between. And the iPad, to me, looks to be of the same killshot calibre.

Will it fly? I think hell yes.

But you knew I was going to say that anyway, didn’t you?

Yes, that's right, we let the Warthog - Kathy's faithful steed - bound off to fairer fields today. An awesomely reliable, tenacious vehicle that probably behaved better even when it was suffering than most cars half its age would when healthy. And let's not forget that it faithfully brought the fair maiden Kathy to me.

It'll likely be powering Subaru Brumby's around these here parts for quite some time. Or be turned into a paddock basher, either way, all good.

In its honour, I leave you with this fond memory:

...and before you ask, the successor is indeed worthy, and in line with anti-stalker policy shall remain unidentified. ;-)

Wow.

This idea that if you aren't locking your site down tighter than Fort-fucking-Knox, you deserve to be attacked. It's exactly the same as blaming a woman for getting raped because she wasn't dressed like a nun and living with her parents[...]

I’d have watched as it happened, but I was only a few days old at the time.

As for where are they now...

“The White House is a good guess for today. If true then Armstrong is probably looking for a side door to duck out of, Aldrin stretching/warming up his arm so he doesn't hurt himself if he has to punch out a stupid reporter later, and Collins is stuck circling the Beltway banging his head on the steering wheel...” - Recoil Therapy @ Fark.

Yes, I caved. Day after it became available here.

Awesome thing it is, too.

Ketchup. Geddit? Ketchup.

[sigh]

Phono out, line out, USB out, and of course on the Mac, no drivers need apply.

And before you ask where the second turntable and the microphone are, yes that is a slip mat but this critter’s just for getting my last box of records on to hard disk.

Very nice having the elevation and a big sky to catch the leading and trailing edge of a cell. This one dropped about 20mm in 10 mins a little south of us.

Fascinating read and more art straight from the horses mouth here.