I-PAD

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen and advanced capabilities of iPad. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.

Many weekends of mine as a child were spent idling in the American Museum of Natural History. I visit for the first time in 20 years. Nothing's changed, except I got fatter, and my gadgets got thinner. An iPad turns out to be a good companion for the day, serving as sketchbook, elemental reference guide, dinosaur compendium and tour guide.

A little girl ignores the rare green snake in the cage to watch the YouTube video playing on the iPad, of the very same animal feeding. She's fascinated by it and not the real viper.

Using it while walking around the museum is quite strange. I want to prop my arms up on a rail or sit on a bench. Because it's almost impossibly dense, as if made from magic and lead. And while it's not at all out of place in the gemstone and meteor rooms, it is a little out of place when I try to hold it with one hand, while standing.