Last week I joined the brave early adapters and became a happy iPad customer myself.

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And a growing number of early adapters are severing ties to cable altogether to rely on broadcast TV and Internet distributors, such as Netflix Inc.

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This is an argument that resonates among many early adapters.

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Game players tend to be early adapters of any new technology, from specialized high-speed graphics chip sets to surround-sound computer speakers, that promises a more complete immersion in the virtual world.

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Still, with wireless Skype handsets, portable Vonage adapters, and all manner of VoIP software for WiFi-enabled cellphones, it seems like the early adopter crowd Earthlink has its sights on in Anaheim might need a little more incentive to drop a couple hundred on a handset that may or may not only make calls on Earthlink's SoCal WiFi rollout.

ENGADGET: Earthlink's Anaheim muni WiFi getting VoIP phones