Virtualization has changed all that. It's worked wonders for us (major University Library, serving...quite a bit).

Crimminy, you read an slashdot article about "Choose Your Own Adventure" and don't know who Edward Packard is? Did you just open it up to post this rant?

Sorry, but that just isn't the case.

The "nerve"? That was actually the driver trying to do the right thing and let you know up front that you'll have to pay for the ride. A lot of people assume that ambulance rides are free when they are actually nothing of the sort. Better to know what you are getting into than be shocked with a $1000 bill later.

That's odd, I've never had a problem with /. on my iPad. Even the ajaxy comment interface works as expected.

(Posted from my iPad)

It's not just that these new books are for the iPhone, but that it's Edward Packard writing them.

Folks should definitely check out that implementation of the z-machine. It's build in story search/downloading is just fantastic. Now everyone download and play "Blue Chairs", "Photopia", and "Spider and Web".

For starters.

Perhaps you are assigning a value and testing on it at the same time.

if (foo=unknown_result()) { print "unknown_result returned a True value which is now in foo"; }

Nothing beats it for what? I'll grant you security if you're absolutely worried that an unmarked van is going to be tailing you for miles and hacking into the car's wifi network. But speed? Unless the car is wired your bottleneck is going to be the car's connection to the Internet.

Although your idea would allow LAN parties in the car. Fun!

Good ol' configuring *expanded* (opposed to extended) memory for Wing Commander 1+2.

Damn September.

Depends on your definition of humanity. Life will continue, to be sure. Whether or not you'd call it humanity is an open question.

Sufficient quality for what exactly? I can see it, it looks great; but, then, an iPad or laptop isn't really the place for checking reference material. If I want the full movie experience I'll physically (like a cave man!) put the blu-ray into my home theater. Fantastic picture, better sound but not exactly bus compatible.

Ok.

Using HandBrake's universal encoding preset outputs movie files I can: watch on the big screen, watch on the iPod Touch, and watch on the iPad: all with excellent video quality and access to the commentary tracks. Loading up a dozen movies or so is plenty for my portable viewing device to get me through public transit to/from work. The fact that I can also read pragmatic programmers and o'reilly books (yay epub) if I want is also fantastic.

So there you go, what can I do with the iPad that I couldn't with a laptop? Practically use it on a bus without being the annoying guy taking up 1.7 seats or doing the arm tuck squeeze the whole ride. The fact that it has enough battery power for me to use it all day long without a charge (and I mean use it for movies, books, browsing, email) is also a big plus. My laptop makes it 3, maybe 4, hours without a charge; my iPad makes it 10 or 12.

The iPad has essentially replaced my laptop for everything except coding and encoding.