Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I finally got a new laptop with a lone USB 3.0 port. I'm now looking at getting a USB 3.0 hub with a power adapter so I can use both of my USB 3.0 hard drives at faster speeds. I've read lots of horror stories where some hubs either don't come with power adapters -- and as a consequence the portable drives don't work with them properly -- or they are designed poorly which results in USB 2.0 speeds. Or, the hard drives keep getting disconnected. Do your readers have any suggestions or experience using USB 3.0 hubs? Thanks!"
Some implications that don't seem to have been mentioned:
Amazon use Mobipocket DRM for Kindle ebooks, and don't sell any other kind of ebooks, but *most everyone else* uses Adobe's DRM or gives you a choice of which DRM you want.
What this means is, on day one of iPad's release, any ebooks you may have, can't be used on the device.
So anyone who's had any interest in ebooks at all, who's most probably bought at least one, now has to re-buy their books via Apple -- if and when they get published there, at whatever new price publishers choose.
Unlike with the app store, where no apps existed previously so Apple's total dominance was accepted, trying to enter the ebook market by releasing a one-device-compatible DRM format and having to force people to discard their other ebooks, seems to me to be a definitively losing strategy.
@Ringu Or you could use the App store apps for other companies products. I read my books on my nook and iPod Touch. Bought from the same store. Once. I also have a few Amazon books and a whole ton of the free Project Gutenberg books, too.
@Chris Dunning Unfortunately, no other iPhone app plays Adobe DRM'ed ebooks, which are still the most common format. If you have bought ebooks already that are DRM'ed, you can't play them on iPad.
@Ringu Ah, didn't know that. Thanks for bringing it up.
@Ringu Well done. Agreed that the obvious choice for "one DRM to rule them all [eBooks anyway]" would be Adobe's DRM. If they used Adobe's DRM for their eBooks then yes we would have more ability to move eBooks from one manufacturer's devices to another. Too bad that won't be possible.
Seems inevitable that Apple would use their existing DRM though. They're in a ptiched battle with Adobe, they already have FairPlay implemented for video etc...
@Fanfoot Absolutely. I couldn't believe it when they said they were going to support ePubs.
Typical Apple -- create something awesome but leave out one absolutely essential factor.
@Ringu. that's not actually true. you could view Adobe books, just like you can Amazon ones. if Adobe puts out an app.
@Charlik Adobe have clearly said that they won't make an iphone/itouch app. They make a reference library build available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, but they don't yet have an iphone port -- and until that happens, no-one else can make an iphone app either.