Here it is, another blog post on the iPad. The subject, in a matter of a few short days, has been hashed, hacked, pummeled, drop kicked, spanked, petted, pushed, shoved and, well... You get the idea.

So here I am jumping into the tar pit of pontification with nothing new to say. Nope, I don't.

I simply wanted to point out that all the myriad of posts and articles are written by people who don't have an iPad. Not a $499 or an $829 model. Zip, nada. No facts other than the SteveNote and the Apple website.

These writers are not the target audience of this device. It is not a "prosumer" piece of hardware. It is aimed squarely and rightly at the media consumer. The ones who don't like surfing the web on a small iPhone or Blackberry screen. I don't like it. So I don't do it.

I don't think I need to go very far out on the proverbial "limb" to predict the iPad will be wildly popular. Especially as it evolves. I expect a camera in v2, that will arrive by the Holiday shopping season 2010. As for the Flash issue? Yeah, it's an issue for surfing the web. But I watch my iStats Menu on my iMac and Flash is a jealous hog of resources. My MacBook Pro heats up whenever I sit on a flash item for very long. All I have to do is move off the page or close the browser and my laptop cools, my iStats drop to normal and so does my battery usage on the MBP. Flash is a battery killer (do your worst Walt Mossberg and let us know the results).

Of course there will be the inevitable "Battle of the eBooks" between Amazon and the new iBookstore. Just like it was inevitable that others would jump in and battle Apple for music and video sales. Competition is good for the consumer.

Many of the folks deriding the iPad where wrong about the iPhone and they will be wrong about the iPad. Apple has proven that it has the eyes to see the future and even create that future in the image they want to see. A legacy for Steve? Time will tell. Is this good for the developer community? You bet it is!

Will I get one? Of course. I have a use for it when I travel, go out to share my photo portfolio and more. Does it do my dishes and make the bed? Nope, not yet. Is it cool? Yes. Will it evolve? Yes.

Will it shut the mouths and pens of the pontificators? No, but the noise of the cash registers ringing will significantly smother the din.

Tags: Apple, iPad

CartLoom is no longer in Beta. Today at noon eastern time CL exited the beta process and is ready for prime time.

I have been testing CL since the very early days but I put it to a real world test starting in November 2009. Insiderapidweaver.com started using CartLoom as the main shopping cart on the day FormLoom Style book was launched. I have to say it has been great. Only a few minor hickups along the way, but no show stoppers.

This is the easiest to use and manage cart I have ever setup. Wether you are selling digital products or physical products I highly recommend CartLoom. You can try it for free! With the Rapidweaver plugin you can setup a store on your site in no time. (well, almost...)

I will be talking more about this wonderful no entry into the marketplace, so keep checking back.

Tags: cart,web,shopping,cartloom