For All of UsApple has always been a trend setter. The Apple II wasn't the first home computer, but it defined what one was. With the Mac Apple didn't invent the GUI interface and the mouse, but it made them practical. Apple didn't develop Unix, but it made it an everyman operating system with OS-X. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, only the best. And with the iPhone Apple showed the world what a smartphone could and should be like. Of course with the iTunes Store Apple has reinvented music retailing.

Now we have the iPad. Day one isn't the time for conclusions – only speculation. But, I wouldn't be at all surprised if with the iPad Apple once again offers up an industry game-changer, in this case doing for the book, newspaper, and magazine industry what they did to music with the iPod and iTunes.

But there are lots of pundits out there commenting and prognosticating on this, and so I'll leave the broader topic of how the iPad is going to change the course of civi...