A "blank slate" (updated)

Why the iPad Is a Blank Slate, and Why That's Important, TidBITS article.
So what's the difference between a Mac and an iPad? It's that blank slate thing. No matter what you do on a Mac, the keyboard and mouse and window-based operating system make it impossible to ignore the fact that you're using a Mac, and it's often equally as impossible to ignore the fact that you're using a particular program.
In contrast, the iPad becomes the app you're using. That's part of the magic. The hardware is so understated - it's just a screen, really - and because you manipulate objects and interface elements so smoothly and directly on the screen, the fact that you're using an iPad falls away.

Now even I am getting sceptical... Adam Engst actually also uses the word "magical" about using an iPad (as differentiated from using it about the device itself). Adam is one of the most down-to-Earth people I know. This is spooky. :-)

Further:
... the iPod touch, cool as it is, doesn't become the current app in the same way because of its small size. The apps are so small and so many user interface compromises must be made that it's hard to forget you're using the iPod touch as a device. As our friend Ken Case of The Omni Group has said, size matters, which is why a swimming pool is not just a big bathtub.

Good metaphor.

Ronald said:

I have to commend you on sponsoring iPads for the TidBITS editorial team - great move, and very generous of you.

Thank you. I actually gave an iPad not just to the editors, but to everybody at TidBITS. Partly as a thanks for all their great work, and partly because, as you will be aware by now, I regard it as an important new platform, and I wanted to do my bit to the world getting first class reporting on it.

P.S.: Hm, I almost didn't post - "Type the characters you see in the picture above.", but no picture. Turns out one needs to enable scripts for google-analytics.com first before it appears - how very sneaky of them.

Odd, first time I hear of this. I wonder if it's my "fault", since I have a Google Analytics counter on the home page?