AS I stood at the counter, debit card in hand, wondering even at this late stage whether I really, genuinely needed an iPad, I swore to use it for serious purposes: no arcade games like Angry Birds, no simulation games, no hours in the app store in search of diverting gimmicks that would ultimately be a waste of time.
As I watched the money quietly disappear from my account forever, and gazed at the pristine white Apple box as it was tucked into the plastic bag, I thought: right, nothing frivolous from now on. There are lots of provocative news and political comment sites out there waiting to be explored, lots of them with cool video content. There are science websites, environment websites, campaigning websites, arts websites, all begging to be looked at on a portable device with razor-sharp graphics.
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