Some kind of fruit company

Here's a couple of takes on the iPad launch. I should point out that I'm a big fan of Apple products, and am something of a Mac loyalist.

Some parts of the education sector are already zealously jumping on the iPad bandwagon, and plan to eventually phase out textbooks altogether. It remains to be seen what this means for libraries, resource centres, or information commons, whatever you want to call them.

On the other hand, news has emerged of suicides at the Chinese electronics plant where iPads are manufactured. The bad language aside, this article from David Pemberthy of The Punch is a pretty harsh critique of Western consumer culture.

Some people find it exciting to queue up outside a store and be among the first to own a new piece of technology, but how often do we stop to think about the consequences of our consumer choices? Then again, in my own way I've bought into the culture of consumerism, and for this feel challenged and rebuked by the words of Jesus in Luke 12:15, who denounced covetousness when he said, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." (NASB)