iPads in the Darkness

Flacks and hacks alike huddled in the basement of P.J. Clarke's, the newly placed New York restaurant on 16th Street, a block or so from the White House. In the purposeful darkness of the “private club” they sported tweed, corduroy, plaid—the fabrics of fall—and carried iPads, the accessory du jour of the Influential Class. They drank. They chattered. They tapped and swiped. From table to table they gave each other demonstrations—of their favorite apps, of business presentations, of their Hipstamatic photos. The clumsy monster mobile phones of the 80s have been replaced by these sleek metal and glass devices, glowing in the low light of the restaurant, emitting as much information as status.