So what's happening in the few days before the big event?

For one, the first lot of connection kits are being readied, but won't be available till late April.  There's a connector for an SD card slot and another for a USB cable, so you can connect your cameras or SD card.  These kits will enable use of standard formats and the RAW format.

Good news for independent publishers and authors is the fact that Lulu.com and Smashwords already have deals with Apple so that books from either can be sold through the iPad's iBookstore.  So that covers self-published books.

It's obvious that the ebook capabilities of the iPad will be of concern to Amazon and the Kindle.  Everyone will be waiting to see just what impact the iPad has on the ebook market.

Of course, there's been lots of fuss over the fact the iPad won't support Flash video...but there's already good support for HTML5 multimedia.

For those who love customizing their i-devices...there's even talk of a potential "jailbreak" of the iPad.

Finally, there's even the first Australian-designed iPad app.

Only days to go now...and I'm still working out whether I want a wi-fi or a 3G iPad.

Oh well, I can always wait an extra week or two and just drool over the iPad in a shop somewhere...

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