Everyone has looked at the price sheet by this point and knows that there are WiFi iPad models at $499, $599 and $699 with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage respectively. Well, that non-volatile storage is Flash memory, the same stuff you can buy in any store in the form of Compact Flash (CF), or SD cards, etc.

Right now, the incremental price Apple is charging for the extra Flash storage is more or less in line with the prices of Flash memory on the open market. The problem is there is no upgrade path. The iPad is completely lacking a card slot for expanding its storage. So, if you buy, say, the 32 GB model, and decide later that you need more storage, the only way to get more is to buy another whole iPad! This is even though, by the time you need it, the extra 32 GB will probably be very inexpensive. Unacceptable.

In fact, the only digital connector on the iPad is Apple’s proprietary dock connector. This lack of expandability is not only a marketing ploy, but also part of the overall lock-down of the iPad as a platform. The iPad is burdened right out of the box with the curse of DRM. Users of the iPad will be stuck accessing only the content Apple wants them to access, using the applications Apple wants them to use. This is a totally closed platform, and users should beware of giving up their open, general purpose laptop for this closed environment. Here, Apple has either submitted to, or totally joined forces with the RIAA and other copyright holders to impose their will on the users of any device which may be used to view anything which might be copyrighted.

Apple has moved away from DRM under public pressure before. They removed DRM from songs on the iTunes music library. To help pressure Apple to remove DRM from the iPad, please see the Defective by Design web page.

-Jamie

However, Flash is an aging, proprietary, non-standard, cycle-stealing, insecure piece of bloatware whose primary function seems to be to push irritating ads at web surfers. I generally surf the web with Flash entirely blocked. The only time I miss it is on certain sites which use flash for video, such as YouTube, which is probably the best application of flash on the web. Since the iPhone already has a dedicated YouTube App, the primary thing you are missing is a bunch of very annoying ads. This doesn’t seem like a problem to me.

Apple has frequently been innovative in what it includes and does not include in its computer systems. Apple was first to introduce the 3.5″ floppy disk, and the first to leave it out when its time had passed. Apple was also the first to drop the parallel port and RS-232 serial port. These were superseded by ADB and now by USB. Apple was quick to drop built-in modems as the technology was eclipsed by Ethernet and WiFi.

In the same way, Flash’s time has come and gone. It’s going to be a little tougher with Flash, because Apple can’t do it alone. Flash has become entrenched as a de-facto standard. Apple is leading the way, but others need to follow.

A true open standard for video and animation on the web is possible. HTML 5 eliminates the need for Flash. YouTube already is allowing users to beta-test HTML 5 delivery of videos. People are seeing noticeably lower CPU load while playing HTML 5 videos compared to Flash.

-Jamie

However, when I took the USB drive I was working with down, and gave it to my wife, it crashed her MacBook Pro with a kernel panic as soon as she inserted it. That’s when I realized that even though it didn’t crash my machine right away, I had been working with that flash drive both times. Also, I had never used that particular flash stick before.

It was a a 1GB drive from Staples, and it had the U3 “feature”. If you’re not familiar with U3, it is an attempt to add functionality to flash drives by using a special partition on the drive that contains software to be launched automatically when the drive is attached, with no intervention by the user. This software is supposed to extend the functionality of the drive by providing encryption/decryption and other on-the fly features. This scheme is inherently dangerous. It could have been invented by malware authors, since it is perfect for the spread of viruses.

U3 is supported in Windows, and most U3 features are Windows-only. Most Mac users regard U3 as an annoyance, since it takes up some of the space they could otherwise use on the drive, and it puts a second, useless icon on their desktop.

The most frequently-asked-question about U3 is: “how do I get rid of it?”. To their credit, SanDisk, one of the leading manufacturers of flash storage provides a removal tool. It’s called “Launchpad Removal Tool for Mac“. It’s part of the Cruzer Utilities for Mac. It worked fine and the offending drive now works without crashing the Mac.

Heads up to Apple on this: The kernel shouldn’t panic when a drive is inserted. The fact that it does probably represents a vulnerability that someone could exploit in malware.

When shopping for flash drives, I recommend avoiding U3 drives altogether. Otherwise, get the tool and remove the offending partition the first thing.

-Jamie