<i>Perhaps the iPad signals an end to the hacker era of digital history</i><p>I disagree.  We're in a time of change now -- very soon we won't be getting any of media in the same old ways.  TV will be replaced with digital streaming.  Music, for the younger generation, is already almost entirely digital.  It's even becoming perfectly reasonable to read books on digital devices now.<p>However, this digital future is not open to everyone.  My parents have a hell of time operating a computer and don't benefit from the latest streaming media technologies.  They get their music on CD's.  They read books on paper.  The general purpose computer has failed them.  Why shouldn't Apple fill this gap between the TV and the computer?<p>I'm sure Apple fans will lament the loss of general purpose computing devices from Apple.  But it doesn't mean that the hacker era is dead.  It just means that most hackers may have to look somewhere else to find a product that suits them.