I don’t have an iPad (yet), but Tidbits’s Adam Engst nailed it in his latest post:

“So what’s the difference between a Mac and an iPad? It’s that blank slate thing. No matter what you do on a Mac, the keyboard and mouse and window-based operating system make it impossible to ignore the fact that you’re using a Mac, and it’s often equally as impossible to ignore the fact that you’re using a particular program.

In contrast, the iPad becomes the app you’re using. That’s part of the magic. The hardware is so understated - it’s just a screen, really - and because you manipulate objects and interface elements so smoothly and directly on the screen, the fact that you’re using an iPad falls away. You’re using the app, whatever it may be, and while you’re doing so, the iPad is that app. Switch to another app and the iPad becomes that app. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.”

You’re not holding a device that runs apps. You’re holding apps that create a different device every time.

Comprehensive post over at Threepress blog regarding iBooks and books in ePub format. Seems like a pretty good start.

[via Daring Fireball]

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“While it has its limitations, especially for power users, it gets most of the basics right, and it excels at the most important tasks: viewing and composing messages, displaying attachments, and connecting reliably to nearly any e-mail server.”

Very good list of missing features as well. I can see most of them coming in a few updates.

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Please notice that at 0:44 the keyboard is still on screen.

If you had any doubts about the quality of the iPad’s keyboard, then you have to watch the following video.

Impressive.

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I thought I wouldn’t have said this until a few months from now, but it happened: the iPad is already jailbroken. It seems like MuscleNerd and other Dev-Team guys (the same guys who created the jailbreak tools for iPhone and iPod Touch) have managed to run a modified version of the Spirit jailbreak on the iPad, using root access. This means that, I’m telling you, we’ll be able to have a jailbroken iPad in a matter of a few weeks.+

Who said the iPad didn’t support “true” multitasking? Check out the video after the break.

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Do you remember the Etch-a-Sketch? The popular ’60s toy that allowed you to draw simple pictures on some sort of blank canvas with two side controls? Now you can have it on your iPad, with EtchPad.

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As you may have noticed in these past two days, Apple has batch approved a lot of (iPad) applications and put them directly into the App Store without giving a clue about iPhone / iPod / iPad organization. If you consider that there are more than 150.000 iPhone apps and already more than 1.500 iPad apps, you can realize how organization is indeed what Apple should focus on at this moment.

There’s no easy way to navigate the App Store right now; categories don’t divide iPhone apps from iPad apps. Universal apps have a simple button at the end of the page which lets you see iPhone and iPad screenshots. I bet many people are seriously frustrated about the lack of a good interface to browse the iPad App Store, or the iPhone App Store.

Apple has actually launched some minor modifications, and I took some screenshots to show you. Check them out after the break.

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“One major design principle of our iPad interface is to get you to your notes fast. The new layout and interactions dramatically reduce the amount of navigating and searching you have to do. The idea is that it should be easy and pleasant to just get to any note you want in a very tactile way. We want you to have the feeling of running your fingers directly through your memories. It’s hard to describe but easy to experience. Of course, you can still search.”

One of the best looking iPad apps yet.