Some people really have too much time on their iPad-clutching hands.
Of all the things one could busy oneself with, the New York Times picked this:
“Does the iPad Have One Button Too Many?”
The question it raises is, does the Times technology desk have one screw too few?
The funny twist described in the article is that the iPad has only one button. Yet that button seems, well, crude on the slick face of the tablet. And it takes up space that could otherwise be used by the screen.
I know, I know.
And yes, I’m well aware of the irony of my wasting time commenting on such time-wasting stuff. But after all, this time it’s the Times wasting our time. To coin a phrase.
Want to complain about your iPad? Complain about what it can’t do, or doesn’t do well. At least that might help some poor soul decide if he should buy one.
But no. Instead we get:
“Eliminating the home button would also make the iPad look that much slicker.” And “the bezeled edge seems a bit overkill.” (I thought “overkill” was a noun, but never mind that.)
To get slightly serious for a moment, this sort of commentary shows how scarily close people have grown to their gadgets. It’s all very well to laugh at people stumbling into fountains while texting, or at Philadelphia’s April Fool’s Day “distracted walker” lane, but when we’ve come to the point where supposedly serious commentators are whining about things that aren’t even problems, it’s time to leave the gadgets at home and go climb a mountain.
Up there, we can contemplate questions that matter. Like whether Japan had one nuclear power plant too many. Whether the world has had one war too many. And maybe whether the press has one tech columnist too many.