The iPad with the external keyboard & dock (photo via Apple)
The lack of a physical keyboard means that, away from home, typing on the touch-screen is a practiced and developed skill, and you'll probably never get to the point where you want to write chapters for a book on it. There is, however, an external keyboard that docks with the iPad and charges it. It also props it up at an angle similar to a laptop or desktop, so it essentially gives you the functionality of a laptop on a desk. I'm honestly considering getting one to replace my laptop, and that keyboard dock is key in my eyes.
I don't propose that this replace your Windows-based PC machine at work. I see the iPad as a great way for people to interact with the Internet in the new modes that are defining the experience in the Web 2.0 era. And I see it as a particularly forgiving platform, with almost no possibility for malware, very few physical buttons and a large display. Things like Facebook (for sharing pictures with relatives, maybe?), Twitter, RSS feed reading rather than manually going to various sites, all of these can be done on the iPad, and I dare say they're meant for each other. I have my ideas about how user-generated content in 2.0 could work with the rare book field, but that'll be for next month's issue of AE Monthly!
If you’d like more information on the iPad, I suggest watching a video Apple has uploaded to their website which details virtually all of its features. You can find it by clicking here.
Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: [Pietro Fabris], 1776, 1779. € 30.000 - 50.000
Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [MORTIER] - BLAEU, Joannes (1596-1673) - Het Nieuw Stede Boek van Italie. Amsterdam: Pieter Mortier, 1704-1705. € 15.000 - 25.000
Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: TULLIO D'ALBISOLA (1899-1971) - Bruno MUNARI (1907-1998) - L'Anguria lirica (lungo poema passionale). Roma e Savona: Edizioni Futuriste di Poesia, senza data [ma 1933?]. € 20.000 - 30.000
Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: IL MANOSCRITTO RITROVATO DI IPPOLITA MARIA SFORZA. TITO LIVIO - Ab Urbe Condita. Prima Decade. Manoscritto miniato su pergamena, metà XV secolo. € 280.000 - 350.000
Sotheby's Fine Books & Manuscripts Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Balthus, Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights, New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1993. 6,600 USD.
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. Complete Works, Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott Company & Chapman & Hall, LD, 1850. Limited Edition set of 30 volumes. 7,500 USD.
Sotheby’s: John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Handwritten Letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to their Chauffer. 1971. 32,500 USD.
Sotheby’s: Winston Churchill. First edition of War Speeches, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1941. Set of 7 volumes. 5,500 USD.
Sotheby’s: Andy Warhol, Julia Warhola. Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol. 1954. 30,000 USD.