I spent some time today exchanging Tweets and Email with friends about Apple’s new iPad and I think we’re on the same page. While I think it would be fun to have, much of the function is found in my iPod touch in a far more portable format.

The iPad does not replace my MBP laptop, or even my netbook (Toshiba N205). It’s tasks are very different. It is interesting to note I can use Adobe Flash apps and video on my laptops and netbook, but not the iPod or iPad. During the product introduction it was obvious Flash didn’t work for the video on the front page of the New York Times site. Yet the image of the Times front page on the Apple website shows content were the Flash video would appear. (update)

The name is dreadful. It was bad when Fujitsu used it in 2002. The Hamming distance between iPod and iPad was simply too powerful for marketing. It also plays on the idea that accessories for the iPod should work on the new device. This remains to be seen. (I preferred something more organic, iSlate, perhaps. Though this suffers from the same ‘i-ing’ of nouns.)

Increasingly, and my deepest concern, I feel left out of the loop on this class of devices. (iPod touch, Kindle, Nook, SonyReader, iPad, etc.) I don’t like being relegated to the role of consumer when I want to be a creator. It is almost as if I’m a ‘revenue stream’ first. Kris’ comment ‘designed for consuming, not creating’ hit home with me. That said, if you are looking to consume media, I don’t know why you would buy a Nook or Kindle, if you had a chance to see the iPad.

A killer app for the iPad could be home automation systems, using the ‘pad to control lights, heat & HVAC, A/V, and security (cameras?). Though the lack of multi-tasking limits monitoring capabilities. Touch panel or voice controled lights and heat, family logistics, ‘iPad, set the heat to 68′,’iPad, did we get any mail today?’, ‘iPad, do we need milk?’, ‘iPad, where are all my children?’.

I’m sure the iPad is beautiful and I intend to test is when it becomes available. It is compelling as a multi-touch development platform. Currently I don’t need a bigger iPod, but I might consider replacing my iPod touch with an iPad when the time comes.

I hope this doesn’t herald the end of ownership or the general purpose computer. A future in which I own nothing, but merely rent access. Where is the Terminal.app, rsync, Perl, Ruby? There is nothing raw or vulnerable about this device. My view of the world is limited to what I’m allowed to buy, not what I’m enabled to create. The iPad is a consumer, not a creator device. The expansion of slick, safe, closed systems prevent users from writing their own utilities or solving their own problems. Not all solutions can be downloaded from an app store. Ultimately, the iPad may be too safe for me.

Don’t protect me from myself. Provide the platform and get out of the way.

(See also: apple.com: iPad)
(See also: engadget: Fujitsu and Apple dispute iPad name)

(See also: engadget.com: Apple excises the false flash)

(See also: O’Reilly Radar: The iPad is the iPrius: Your Computer Consumerized)
(See also: New York Times: Will the iPad cause the end of Innovation)

Articles are beginning to surface describing a growing relationship between Apple, Google, and Mercedes. Building on earlier work with their iPod Integration Kit, sources speculate the new system will integrate vehicle management, Google Maps, and Apple interface software. The systems are said to arrive in 2009.

Will such a device become that AppleTV equivalent for the automobile?

(See also: autoblog.com)
(See also: foursprung.com)
(See also: focus.de)
(See also: gizmodo.com)
(See also: whnet.com)

In their article ‘Shock and Awe: How Installing Apple’s Updates can Render Your Mac Unbootable and How You Can Prevent it’ they offer the following explanation of the prebinding problem:

When you see the “Optimizing System Performance” phase of a software update, Mac OS X is really updating prebinding. Updating prebinding has a very, very nasty bug in it (look at _dyld_update_prebinding). If multiple processes are updating prebinding at the same time, then it is possible for a system file to be completely zero’d out. Basically, all data in the file is deleted and it is replaced with nothing. This bug is usually triggered when updating Mac OS X and every update to Mac OS X has the potential to render your system unbootable depending on if the “right” file is deleted or not. It’s triggered during the “Optimizing System Performance” phase of installing an update. This phase is actually just running update_prebinding. If you launch an application that links to libraries that are not yet prebound, there is a chance one of those files will be zero’d out as dyld automatically redoes the prebinding on that file.

…Every single time you install an update to Mac OS X whether it be an iTunes update, a QuickTime update, an update for daylight saving time, a security update, an Airport update, or an actual Mac OS X update, you can be hit by this bug. In order to prevent yourself from being smacked in the face by this bug, follow this simple rule: When “Optimize System Performance” appears during the update process do not touch your computer and definitely do not launch any applications. Just back away from your computer box as if it were a swarm of bees.

PocketMac released version 4.0 for the Blackberry and now supports iSync to the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100™. It lets you load new applications and synchronize email, contacts, calendar, tasks and notes with popular Mac applications, including:

Mail.app Email
Entourage® Email, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes
Address Book Contacts
iCal® Calendar and Tasks
Now Contact®/Now Up-To-Date® Contacts, Calendars & Tasks
Meeting Maker Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks
Lotus Notes Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks
Safari Bookmarks (One-Way, Mac to BB sync)

It’s available now to BlackBerry customers as a free download.

It looks like this gamble payed off. I’ll let you know how it works when my Pearl arrives. It seems they are backordered through T-Mobile. No word on when to expect shipment.

David Pogue wrote an article in the New York Times about the new BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100™ mobile phone. To hear David tell it, “The Pearl harbors a few disappointments, but finding them requires digging like an archaeologist”.

The surprising thing is when navigating to the T-Mobile site (the first carrier to offer the Pearl), I read the phone will support iTunes and according to the RIM press release, the availability date is September 12th. Curious that the date is the same day as the highly anticipated Apple press conference?

The photos and movies available in other reviews show a bright display with an application Dock across the bottom. The pearl-like roller-ball navigation replaces the scroll-wheel found in earlier models. This phone looks considerably like a Macintosh OS/X system.

Could this be the new Apple phone?

UPDATE: as it turns out, the answer is no and iTunes integration turned out to be a rumor. With regard to Apple connectivity, you still can’t get there from here without third party software.