An addition to our family: baby iPad

I never bought into the hype.

The Appleheads who camped outside of the Apple Stores around town, at most, amused me. Even when poor Applehead Greg Packer lost his place at the head of the line for failing to pre-order his unit, I dismissed any inkling to consume the novelty technology.

In fact, I proclaimed the 1st generation device needed to have its kinks worked out before investing in one. Namely, it lacks a multi-tasking feature, can't read Flash, and contains no built in camera. It functions more like a vessel for passive consumption than active production.

But then I touched it. The store on the Upper West Side had not run out of units, as previously reported, and the number of displays made it possible to test one.



The experience was a seamless merging of design elements, functionality and pleasure. Suddenly we were overcome by an atmospheric haze.


We took a cab home to hide our new bundle, a sweet dirty secret.


As we sat in the back seat of the cab, a small voice in my head said, "put on your seat belt." As I strapped on my belt and urged "Gavino" to do likewise, our cab was sideswiped by a limo car.


None of us were injured.


The magic shield of the iconic Apple protected us.


Latent Catholic guilt prevents "Gavino" from feeling complete abandon and awe in its presence. The cab accident was just another sign that he shouldn't have indulged in such gratuitous pleasures.


Though not entirely immune to the marketing of the brand, I take pleasure in my consumer habits, and welcome a potential future it promises.


So far, the device stands out for its speed, lightness, scale and killer apps (BBC, AP, and Yahoo).