The iRevolution

The iPad is here, it's queer, and not going anywhere. Those of us here for the iRevolution have probably noticed one thing, the written word is not dead, the written word is more alive than ever, it has evolved drastically, however it's not going anywhere either.
The 80's and 90's brought forth a drastic fear for those of us who love to read and learn. In the 80's televisions in homes were accompanied by the VCR, and we began recording live TV, watching movies over and over, and a great deal of my generation began to lose interest in reading a book, when a movie was easier. The 90's introduced the internet to the average household, mobile phones to almost every pocket, and the discman in almost every school backpack.
The noughtie's were a different beast, we began txting, blogging, myspacing, facebooking, and youtubing. The time it took for a book to made into a film has decreased, exponentially. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Part One) was first published on the 29 July 1954, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released on 10 December 2001, a fifty-six year turnaround. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone was published on 30 June 1997, with it's film adaption being released on 4 November 2001, a mere 4 year turnaround. And interestingly Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song novel and film were written simultaneously with the novel being released on 8 September 2009, and the film being released on 31 March 2010, only 204 days apart.
What strikes me as fascinating is that with the multi-billion dollar industry overflowing with witty jokes, gorgeous movie stars, and jaw-dropping special effects, the written word is making a comeback, this time in the shape of a 242.8x189.7mm tablet weighing in at only 730g with the capacity to hold thousands and thousands of book titles.
Sure the Nook and Kindle were brilliant, however without them being available in Australia, they had no value to me. But, alas, I have been rescued by Apple yet again, and the iPad is the new lifeline.
So to the fellow iRevolutionaries, old is new again, and it's better than before. Now, who wants to give me a thousand bucks?