Things I like to do on the Marauder's Map (our iPad)

The iPad is better for some things than any other gadget we have.  And that is saying something.

My "todo" app, which I have mentioned previously, is *great*.  I would much rather manage my tasks on that than on my iPhone or my laptop.

Evernote is similarly excellent.  Both of these examples do a good job of providing all the speed and efficiency of an electronic system with a UI (user interface) that has a nice correlation to the analog world.

Podcasts are much more appealing to me on the iPad than on other devices.  The great thing is that the screen is big enough so that you can really read about podcasts that you might like, but then it is portable enough to carry with you to listen in the car or while doing dishes.  I have never really been willing to read up on podcasts, select which episodes I want, load them onto my ipod or phone, then remember to listen to them later.  By the time I get back to them, I'm in the mood to listen to something else.  Radiolab from WNYC is just awesome.

My favorite newspaper on the iPad?  NPR.  Yes, I know.  Not a newspaper.  Well, it is now.  Better, even, than the NYT app, although that is improving.

The NPR app is really cool.  You can read through the short stories that interest you, then put the longer ones in an audio playlist which you can play back like a podcast.  You just have to try it, if you are like me.  By which I mean you are a serious NPR junky who can't listen normally right now because the current political situation makes you feel ill.

Surfing the web on it is great.  It is as if one is holding the disembodied web.  Similarly, streaming netflix is like holding a moving in one's hand.  Yes, Mr. Jobs, this time I agree with many of those extreme adjectives you like to throw around.