I have to stress that I'm writing this as I see the news come in about the iPad. Some of the things I might comment on may be due to the fact that I haven't researched enough. I'm really impressed by the iPad, disappointed also...and a bit surprised. I'll start with the disappointment. Adobe Flash. It's evident Apple's out to make sure that Flash isn't part of their platforms these days. Regardless of what sort of processor this thing has, it could, I speculate, handle Flash easily.

Surprise? No forward facing camera (oh, and no multitasking). I was sure a camera was a certainty. Why? Well this thing is going to be an absolute gem for the education sector, and a forward facing camera would make a superb device to give to kids to go off and hold video conferences...or heck, call back to the teacher whilst they are out and about surveying students in school, etc. I could have even seen myself telling my folks to ditch their Mac mini in favour of an iPad, but not now. The second surprise...where does this leave apps versus applications? I'll expand on this a bit more later.

The good news is that it looks amazing...and Apple have yet again shown that when the produce a product they think of it holistically...the whole concept for them isn't just the iPad, but everything that surrounds it...how to buy music, how to buy books, how to view them just looks amazing...and the fact that they have tied them back into the iPhone OS is clever. Just watch how beautiful the user interface is in the Apple videos on the product.....absolutely stunning.

It's a question I seem to be getting asked by many of my PC friends (or is that my now PC 'fiends').
I just say, "why not go Mac" then they give me 100 million reasons why a PC is better than a Mac, how much cheaper it is, which is quite amusing because it's a one sided viewpoint; as I know they have never used a Mac in their life or realise it’s true value!
So why did I go Mac and not go PC?
It came down to me wanting a new laptop with $2K in my back pocket ready to spend. I knew Macs were around but didn’t consider buying one until the

In my last entry I spoke about NIFE and DFTSOD. Of the two NIFE is the only excusable form of design because they had the best of intentions. Of course they say "The road to hell is paved with best intentions" so I guess Microsoft's headstone would read "He meant well but he's in Satan's arms now".

One aspect of PC design that irks me as an engineer has to do with weight. My Mac Mini with its half inch steel perimeter and it's power supply laying on top weighs less than many laptops out there. WHY? The Mini is a desktop machine (yes okay it uses lap