And how AAPL is accused of price-fixing.

on open and closed.

they work. At clearance sale prices.

Watching a senior infant swipe, pinch and press.

easy counterintuitive process

We have a long way to go.

Those AMAZING maps

interesting slicing and dicing happening.

My iPod Touch Wishlist

Truth increases the farther you move from the evidence. Proof:

Investors with Single Shares

One Problem win in-app Services

Apple, the one-time computer also-ran that changed the way the world listens to music, is now the most valuable company in the world.

Do something with your cash, AAPL.

bookmarked #460: Retraction:

Not even Apple would stiff a volunteer organisation.

Apple fanboys have a reputation for hostile attacks based on suggestion, and it’s harming Apple’s image.

We need--really need--those Foxconn products.

TAL Episode 454

Standalone? Try writing a 20-page term paper on an iPad. Or better yet, try telling every student they need to buy a $70 wireless keyboard. Oh, and it's going to be spending a lot of time in your backpack, so better tack on a $40 Smart Cover. The reality is that no matter how far Apple has pushed into the cloud, iPads still need laptops to complement them. And those accessories, those laptops? Whether it's the student or the schools, someone's paying for them.

Which might even be worth it if the iPad could disappear textbooks from your life altogether. But it can't, not remotely. While Apple's got three major textbook partners lined up, at the moment the selection is treacherously limited. Which means that for now, and potentially for a long time, backpacks across the country are going to be loaded down with hefty Pre-Calculus and AP Physics tomes no matter how many iPads schools buy.

And even the ones that exist have their pitfalls. You can argue that they only cost $15 a pop—money that under Apple's plan can also come from schools, not individual students—and that those savings alone make them worth it. Which would be true, if publishers hated money. But publishers are businesses, and the business model in this place is clear: instead of selling an updated textbook every 5-10 years for $100, update and sell every year for $15. And it'll work; it's not like you can hand down an iBook from year to year. In fact, you expressly can't.

And then consider this: these iPad textbooks are every bit as big as their dead tree counterparts, and you need a lot of digital storage to lug them around. The eight books on display in the App Store today average out to about 1.5GB each; a full year's course load would quickly fill up a 16GB iPad, which means either schools/students will have to shell out for the more expensive 32GB version, or students are responsible for their own external storage options. My wallet hurts.

What all this adds up to is a education revolution for the landed gentry. Or even worse, schools that can't afford it chasing a wave that's years away from cresting. Millions of dollars spent on a supplementary learning tool. A distant horizon mistaken for the here and now.

Let's be clear; this is indisputably the future. What we saw today is what our classrooms will look like once iPads are far cheaper, once digital textbooks can be handed down as easily as physical ones, once teachers of every subject have several educational material options to choose among. For now though, it's important to remember that "new" and "different" always come at a premium. One that the vast majority of us can't afford.

Audioboo: The non-transformative iBook Experience #apple

if you read Isaacson's take you should read this too.

My Personal iTunes Hell

bookmarked Steve Jobs’s Best Quotes: reported by WSK

bookmarked Doc Searls on Steve Jobs 1997: musing on whether Steve would succeed

thus damaging innovation

bookmarked Why you should patch your iOS today: replace a 9yo code base

bookmarked Apple's Podcast Spec Sheet:

Too tight with licensing.