PC World:

Analysts predict that Apple alone could sell 28 million iPad tablets in 2011. That doesn’t even take the Samsung Galaxy Tab, or the rest of the upcoming tablets expected in the next few months into consideration, and doesn’t bode well for other mobile computing platforms. The netbook in particular will be the primary victim of the rise of the tablet, and will quickly be rendered obsolete.

Netbooks, yeah yeah yeah. They haven’t been around that long anyway so it’s hard for me to summon tears when I think they will become obsolete. I had one last year and, after working on it exclusively for several weeks, felt that my whole world was cramped.

But what about all the other things tablets will help render obsolete? Off the top of my head: Radios, maps, note books, spelling…

This isn’t to say that I don’t want one of my own. Because I do. I requisition my husband’s whenever I can. But he uses it a lot. In fact, there are certain everyday functions that he cannot complete without it. Bathroom books = Obsolete!

Read the rest of the the PC World piece here.

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An open letter to my husband’s boss at Gizmodo

Re: necessary compensation for my husband Jesus Diaz’s work writing about the iPad this weekend

Dear Brian Lam,

I need an iPad. Jesus just left for work and he took his.  He just put on his coat, took it and left! He was all, “Honey, you have a MacBook. And you can go use my desktop while I’m out.” He just has no concept of what it is I do all day. He thinks I need to sit at his big computer and work. No, what I need is a computer I can read on a bench in the dog park while Amos plays. I need to be able to read the paper. I don’t like reading it on my computer which means I read the paper a lot less than I’d like to. I’d go out and buy a real paper, but I don’t have $2.

But this isn’t so much a matter of money. Could any amount of money in the world buy a shoulder bag big enough to carry a calculator, a notebook, my phone, a pen, my wedding photos, Don Quixote, The Best of Leonard Cohen, a backgammon board, The New York Times, an etcha sketch, address book, and the fifth season of Weeds and something for Amos to chew on? That previous sentence may have sounded like some kind of “Look how amazing this thing is now let’s make comparisons to Mary Poppins’ carpetbag” or something, but that’s not what I meant. I meant that I realize now that I actually need all these things. I admit I find this a bit worrisome—I usually enjoy the experience of not needing something. Like, I’m really glad I don’t need to carry around an oxygen tank. So, I’m forced to question my motives: Is my brain no longer able to entertain itself? Has the “real” world ceased to be scintillating enough to capture my attention and curiosity? I don’t know. But it’s kind of like how it is when you really need a cigarette… Let me just find a light and then we can talk about lung cancer, okay? Also, there are at least five reasons why red wine may actually be good for you.

Brian, I am suffering. I miss it. The world is just no longer a place that makes sense.

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