TidBITS editor Glenn Fleishman offers strategies over at Macworld for how to cope with just 250 MB of cellular data a month on a 3G iPad when using AT&T's less expensive service plan. The advice is also worthwhile for non-U.S. plans that either have monthly usage caps or throttle to a lower speed after a preset monthly limit is passed.

Bytemobile carried out identical tasks on apps using an iPhone (presumably 3GS) and 3G iPad, and found that many generated substantially higher amounts of traffic on the iPad. This is explained by the iPad display's greater area, which shows more and larger graphics. USA Today's app used 6.3 times as much data on an iPad, while Maps ate up 2.6 time as much. This will have some impact on whether people choose a 250 MB or unlimited 3G plan (or any 3G plan at all). Bytemobile's interest? It works with cell operators to optimize content to reduce mobile data use and congestion.

Time Magazine finds no credible reason for the blockage of iPads into Israel, but notes that the sole authorized Apple importer, iDigital, is owned by the son of Israel's president. Time talked to wireless experts, the ministry of communications, and others, and the explanations are quite thin. The ministry appears to be relying on the word of iDigital, rather than, say, testing or calling up Apple, on whether the iPad meets the European standards that Israel follows.

Sprint is upping its promotion of the combined 3G (EVDO) and 4G (WiMax) Overdrive portable hotspot to iPad owners as an alternative to a 3G-enabled iPad by offering a special case that can hold both an iPad and the Overdrive. The case requires a trip to a Best Buy in a state in which Sprint's Clearwire division offers WiMax service. The Overdrive costs $100 with a 2-year contract at $50-$60 per month for unlimited WiMax, and up to 5 GB of 3G service each month (300 MB outside Sprint's 3G/4G territory).

A Google developer, formerly on the Android team, provides a detailed, fair, and clear explanation of how iPhone OS 4 multitasking will work. Robert Love explains the difference between true background application multitasking and Apple's limited set of APIs that let certain processes continue to operate in the background. He also differentiates serialization (quitting an app while preserving its state precisely) and true background operations.

Our own Glenn Fleishman was quoted by Australia's Senator Stephen Conroy, the minister for broadband, communications, and the digital economy, in a recent speech. The quote came from an article Glenn wrote for the Northwest news site PubliCola, about electricity being the killer app of 1900, in the way that broadband is the killer app today. Australia plans an ambitious fiber and wireless infrastructure buildout to ensure near universal high-speed access, with 90 percent of residents having fiber to the home.

Macworld puts together links to the first seven iPad reviews, featuring the usual suspects (Pogue, Mossberg, Baig), plus our friends Andy Ihnatko (Chicago Sun Times), Bob LeVitus (Houston Chronicle), and Xeni Jardin (BoingBoing), along with reviewers at The Root and PC Magazine. Actor, comedian, director, and blogger Stephen Fry also received an iPad and posted his thoughts.