…maybe not.   But we’re going to write one anyway - because we feel there are still at least two interesting things left to say about the new Apple device unveiled last Wednesday:

Point #1. Technically, the new Apple new iPad device was disappointing on several levels (still no Flash support, still no multitasking, still no video partnerships, still no AT&T alternative).  But while the storm of negative Twitter reaction had already begun while while Steve Jobs was still on the stage, it was not until the next day that the negative reaction was reflected in the stock price.  Take a look at the chart to your left - the iPad event started at 2:00 Eastern Standard Time and was accompanied by a clear immediate spike in Apple’s share price, due as much to the sheer momentum of pre-event buzz as to superficial (”isn’t Apple the coolest?”) mainstream media coverage of the event itself.  Despite an army of bloggers and tweeters continuing to bash the iPad for its disappointing feature set throughout the day, the price remained elevated - in fact, it was not until the market open on the next day (Thursday January 28th) that the stock suddenly pulled back, ending up lower than it was pre-announcement (with knowledge of the twitter traffic, shorting Apple at about 4:00 that afternoon would have been a good move).

To me, this lag time between the (misguided) initial spike and the next day’s eventual retreat represents the disconnect that still exists between the technorati and investor classes.  That there was such a disconnect even in this case was surprising, though - because Twitter coverage of the event was fueled by an unprecedented number of tech websites serving live video streams of the event (surely a record for a product launch).  Potentially, it’s one powerful symbiotic relationship: the reach of internet video combined with the immediacy of Twitter- yet still, it took a day for the widespread disappointment in the iPad to register in Apple’s share price.

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Maybe you’ve heard -  Google has recently discovered a rash of China-based malware attacks targeting not only Google, but dozens of other major US companies (and certain gmail users) as well.  In response, the company has decided that the practice of censoring Google.cn search results - a practice the company had previously accepted as part of doing business in China since 2005  -  is no longer quite so acceptable.  Google’s decision to defy the Chinese government at the expense of the sizable investment the company has already made in the world’s most rapidly growing internet market was  remarkable - and it was announced in an equally remarkable fashion: via a post on the official company blog written by Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond.

China, for its part, is not blinking.

As Strother Martin once told Paul Newman, what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.

Will Google leave China?  It now seems almost as likely as Conan leaving NBC.

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Yup! Still in Vegas, still big, the annual consumer electronics bonanza we fondly refer to as CES drew to an end yesterday.

First off, although more crowed compared to last year, the popular trade show giant still seemed somewhat off from its previous record attendance. But hey, who’s counting, or not happy about the lack of past years’ never-ending cab and bus lines in front of hotels.

Instead, relative to previous years anyway, CES 2010 seemed much about “quality before quantity”, with some really interesting and innovative nuggets across a still impressive line-up of exhibitors.

So, what are my primary take-aways?

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There’s been a good amount of buzz surrounding web services for a some time now.  Built upon the same HTTP protocol we humans use every day when updating our Facebook profiles or Netflix queues, essentially web services involve requests for XML files made programmatically by applications.

Historically, the SOAP protocol has been used to implement the majority of web services.  Since web (HTTP) traffic flows freely through most firewalls on port 80, these services are relatively easy to deploy in terms of networking.  Implementation and maintenance, though?  Not so much.  This is because for each and every SOAP web service, the methods (the ‘verbs’ the service provider offers) have had to have been individually implemented and then fully described to the client machine ahead of time.  In some cases, this level of flexibility is useful and well worth the extra overhead - however, for many (if not most) web services, writing these methods each and every time represents a significant amount of ‘wheel reinventing’ and additional development time.

Luckily, it turns out that often the plumbing already built into the underlying HTTP protocol also contains all the method (verb) functionality needed for many web services as well.

And thus we come to the concept of RESTful web service design.

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