Anyone pick up an iPad?

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I don't get the point of the iPad. To me it's either a large iPhone that you can't carry around in your pocket or a small laptop that you can't program. I don't know. I'm not much of a novelty person. Give me a good Unix system with 30+ programming languages on it and I'll be happy with it for a long time.

The iPad is a UNIX system.

Does it have support for:
Ada-95?
Applescript?
Assembly language?
C?
C++?
DOS Batch?
Emacs Lisp?
Expect?
GIMP script?
J?
Java?
Javascript?
Objective-C?
PHP?
Perl?
PostScript?
Python?
Ruby?
Scratch?
SQL?
Tcl/Tk?
VBScript?
VHDL?
Vimscript?
XSLT?
awk?
bash?
bc?
csh?
dc?
ksh?
lex/flex?
m4?
make?
sed?
sh?
yacc/bison?
zsh?

Until it supports all those languages, I will not consider it an improvement over my laptop.

It does, yes. For Python, Pearl, etc you'll need to jailbreak it though.

But how can you code in Python or Perl on a machine that doesn't have an alphanumeric keyboard? That's the part I don't understand.

It can show any keyboard you damn well want, it's an image on the touchscreen. If you hit the shift button it shows numbers, brackets, etc.

I suppose most batteries suffer the same fate. But you can and should recycle parts of electronics and dispose of batteries properly. Another way to combat the social/environmental issues is to sell or give yours away when you decide to get a new one. I did this with my car, all of my computers, an air conditioner, the tv, cameras, etc. I gave them all to people who have less than I do. I love giving people things and considering I'm gentle with my belongings, often they are getting something that is like new.

However, if you'd like to see the iPad stuffed into a blender, check this video out:
http://www.blendtec.com/willitblend/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=ipad

It's good to hear a review from someone who actually used one, however I can't imagine how typing on the same plane you're reading from could possibly be comfortable.

I think Microsoft has the right idea with the Courier, which has two identical touch screens and folds, like the Nintendo DS. I don't doubt that someday someone can get a virtual keyboard right, but it's the location that bothers me.

I think the iPad should have been basically a netbook without a keyboard, but it's more of a giant iPod in terms of capabilities. There are a lot of netbook type features people are going to miss, and I'm not just talking about geeks. And at this price point, you're paying for a netbook.

What I don't understand is WTF is wrong with the physical keyboards we have now, that have worked perfectly for 150 years. Just because you can make something completely virtual doesn't mean you should. What advantage does a touchscreen keyboard have, other than just looking futuristic?

Less moving parts. More spill resistant. Allows the user to select a different style of keyboard. Cleaner, it doesnt harbor grim, grit, bugs, bits, and germs of many sorts. easily cleaned too, unlike physical keys.

I think even more importantly, it can become something other than a keyboard, which is important when you're trying to save space on a portable device. The Courier can be rotated vertically and become a book with pages on both sides.

I installed Ubuntu on my netbook and it came with a decent bookreading program with the ability to rotate the text 90 degrees. I prefer a physical keyboard. My fingers are small enough for my netbook, however. Others may have a problem with the size.

But how would you touch type on a virtual keyboard if you can't feel the keys? You would have to look at the keyboard while you're typing, which would make it much less efficient than on a physical keyboard.

Had the chance to play with one for awhile. Great tool; does not serve as a replacement for a computer or laptop, although there is sufficient functionality to make it an option for the light user as it does have some spreadsheet and word processing capability built in. If I had seen it in person before, I probably would have considered it as an alternative to the used G5 that I recently purchased as it would have served the basic needs I had without the requirement for space and set-up. For a student or teacher, I can see it being a huge and helpful resource. For the power business user, it may not be sufficient. It is -not- a giant iPhone by any means, even if some of the applications do cross over the platforms. Interesting, but I don't know if Apple got this one 100% right in the long term.


M.

These machines offer some feed back in a variety of ways. my android pulses/vibrates as the 'keys' are pressed and emit a gentle sound.

Since the keyboard is part of the screen, you are looking at it anyway. within a matter of inches your eyes can do both tasks without moving and experiencing positional blindness. (what is the technical term for that? Anyone know?)

It is slower to type. But they are not meant for heavy word processing.

sounds like you work at a burguer joint
... or too much bash the bish