El Reg has a report on shopping for an iPad on release day (Frisco fanboi frenzy on 'iPad Day' • The Register).  It all seems rather bizarre to me.  Why do so many blokes (the gender balance of that huge queue does seem rather one-sided) need a new toy on release day?  Why indeed do so many people want an overgrown iPod Touch? Personally, I'll wait until the frenzy has died down before deciding whether I want one However, having read some over-effusive articles in the current issue of WIRED, it does occur to me that, like the iPod Touch, the iPad is principally a device for consuming information (i.e. reading the web, watching video, reading e-books etc) rather than creating information, for which a notebook computer might be more appropriate. And, yes, I know there's a keyboard you can attach the iPad to - I saw it on Stephen Fry's rather excited heavy breathing video clip of unwrapping his iPad! Maybe I'll eventually have a go with one of these, and quite probably decide it's a device I can't live without - but it's more likely that I'll wait for a similar device to appear.  One which allows handwritten note taking, is less encumbered by DRM and the iTunes app store, and which ideally can run open source software.