• Oh, the agony. This awesome parody of the “Will It Blend” series of videos takes an iPad and tries to turn it into a skateboard. We bet it would’ve worked better had they turned the thing upside down and skated on the non-glass side.

• 1M number of iPads
  sold since its April 4 launch day
• 12M number of iPad
  apps getting used on
  the device
• 1.5M number of digital
  books getting read on
  the iPad source

• Key point: It’s not getting on the iPhone due to technology reasons. Steve Jobs’ 1,657-word manifesto on Flash is a really interesting document on the nature of one of Silicon Valley’s biggest fights. We don’t think Jobs has ever been this open. We’d like to see him keep this up in the future. It really makes his points seem reasonable. Here’s a summary that’s about a fifth of the size.

First: Let’s get this out of the way

• no Steve doesn’t mention the
  kerfuffle between Apple and Gizmodo over the leaked iPhone
• no Flash won’t be getting on the
  iPhone anytime soon, so lose
  those dreams now, guys

Cutting his six points to three

• one Flash is a closed, proprietary standard, and Apple’s goals for the Web are to use open standards such as HTML5. And lots of sites use these already.
• two Flash is another thing that has to run on a device that needs to be as lightweight as possible. This affects phone performance as well as battery life.
• three Flash is a technology that’s designed for PCs, not touchscreens. Plus, Adobe has been bad about supporting our platforms in the past, and could repeat here.

Key quote from his Steveness

• Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.
• Steve Jobs • Sticking the dagger into the company’s technology. His main point? Flash isn’t a platform designed for mobile phones, and as he’s trying to push for the strongest app development on the platform he can, he wants to avoid putting a technology on his phones that adds one more thing to the load. But he’s clear that it’s not because of competitive reasons, like everyone thinks it is. We’re still not convinced. source

• NO customs came to their senses, approved the tablet source

• Admit it, you needed a pick-me up. Good thing we have Virginia Campbell, the 99-year-old woman and nursing home resident making sense of her new digital toy. The poet and writer had never owned a computer before, but read a lot. Unfortunately, her eyesight was going bad, so the hype around the device sucked her in. And now she can read on this device really easily. Man, she’s gonna be so upset when she realizes it doesn’t run Flash. source

• Every step of the way, when there’s a new technology, we explore it. In the adult business, many times the traditional venues are not available to us, so we have to be innovative to get our content to the consumer. With adult content, you need to create your own solutions.
• Private Media Group CEO Ilan Bunimovitz • Regarding the company’s push to get streaming HTML5 video on the iPad. The cloud system is innovative, but gets around the whole app store getup. Beyond the iPad though, innovation is taking hold in other ways for adult entertainment. One company is blowing $4 million on “3D Zen and Sex,” a 3D porn film which promises will be unlike any you’ve seen before. In other words, the long history of innovation in adult entertainment continues unabated. source

• It’s okay. The scenarios aren’t that clear. But it’s good looking. [Steve Jobs] does good design, and [the iPad] is absolutely a good example of that.
• Bill Gates • Discussing the iPad yesterday, in blunt terms. The former Microsoft CEO and Chairman has a history of being a straight-shooter when he needs to be, but has also praised Steve Jobs in the past for his ability to save Apple (and then some). But dude doesn’t think the iPad is gonna change the world. source

• We want a leader this awesome. While some countries like Israel act like the iPad is the next coming of the black plague, Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (who’s been stuck in New York City because of the volcano and the airline kerfluffle it’s created) has been using one to RUN A FREAKING COUNTRY. We’d like to see Obama do this. source

• GWU The university says its wireless network’s security features don’t play nice with the iPad. We’ve been on George Washington’s campus, and we’re pretty sure it’s because their wireless network sucks.
• Princeton The Ivy League school has blocked some of the devices on their network due to DHCP issues with the device – something a reader of ours mentioned last week. It, however, is working on a fix. source

• With all the network problems AT&T is famous for having, getting a 4G wireless router from Sprint actually seems like a pretty appealing alternative to getting the 3G iPad. (Wired gave the Sprint Overdrive a very favorable review last month, going so far as to suggest you could probably get by with it, an iPod Touch and VoIP, and have better service than Apple’s AT&T miserableness.) It’s a good thing that Sprint has even gotten a case together that makes it even easier to switch. Excuse us while we briefly consider this brilliant idea. source