When the iPad came out just before last year's O'Reilly MySQL Conference, I decided I would become a late adopter. I didn't want yet another piece of electronics that needed charging, downloading, syncing, upgrading, and turning off at takeoff and landing. Sure, I like new technology, but there must be a modicum of rationality in owning it. And I didn't want to carry around a further distraction, so I decided I was happy with the combination of a MacBook Pro and pen-and-paper.

That was last year.

Since then, I've done what late adopters usually do, i.e. follow the early adopters. And what I've seen has pushed me over the tipping point. My top question for iPad owners was "how do you decide whether to use your iPad or …