I'm not a champion of Apple (I don't own any), but I do read about their new products with interest because more often than not it means that a piece of general technology I'm interested in will be more affordable in the near future. Thus, the iPad is exciting to me not because I want one, but because it will (hopefully) lead to cheaper ebook readers - I'm after one that supports lots of different, and open, formats - and a touch screen tablet device on which I can install whatever O/S I'd like.

 

The recent iPhone 4 announcement also included the announcement of FaceTime, a wifi only video chat application. I'd be surprised if DFW fans didn't make the connection to the wonderful videophone section in Infinite Jest (which still haunts me every single time I use video chat with friends and relatives online) straight away.

 

Even though I'm sure you've all read by now (it spread throughout the web very quickly) Jason Kottke wrote a great piece over at kottke.org (with quotes from Infinite Jest) about the whole deal. 

 

Velocity's Brian Caulfield presents an alternate view, he thinks FaceTime will never die.