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Startup company Truth On Call has developed a tool for asking questions of verified physicians, and getting answers, via text message. But it's not meant for patients. Rather, it's a kind of paid research tool for businesses that want to query a panel of doctors.

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Based on its history with iPhones, iPods and other gadgets, Mission:Repair of suburban Kansas City is expecting to see its first tragically broken iPad the day after the new Apple tablet computers go one sale. So it has to be ready. Having seen iPads only from afar, Mission:Repair President Ryan Arter says he's trying to glean as many facts as he can from Apple news and rumor sites, and plans to buy a few iPads as soon as he can, so his technicians can rip them apart.

The following is an edited transcript of my interview with Arter:

ARTER: We have broken our fair share of new products, there's no doubt about that. That's how we got to sort of reverse-engineer the assembly and begin to learn how to service these items in the event there is an out-of-warranty failure.

GORDON: Based on your history with other Apple devices what do you see as the possible frailties of the iPad?

ARTER: We're going to make a couple of assumptions here: The screen and digitizer appear that they're going to be glass. Like the iPhone, that can crack. There are different ways to make that glass that we know about and hopefully it'll be tougher than the iPhone. But it's a large area and when that glass cracks it needs to be replaced. So the installation of the glass will be similar to the iPhone. It will be adhesived down to the frame.

GORDON: When you tear apart that first iPad, what will you be looking for exactly?

ARTER: When we tear apart our first unit we will be disassembling it very slowly and very carefully, keeping cable placement and cable tension in mind. If we can't open an item without tearing a cable then we just can't open it. We need to address where the most sensitive components are, i.e. the logic board. We know that the logic boards on any product are the most expensive. They are the one item we don't want to damage while we're inside of it performing a repair.

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Do we need a parallel Internet to solve our security problems?

Guest: Joseph Menn, author of Fatal System Error

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The new book by Financial Times reporter Joseph Menn tells the story of a young, brilliant security researcher who infiltrates a gang of Russian hackers. The hackers launched denial of service attacks against business Web sites, then demanded money to stop the attacks.

In Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who Are Bringing Down the Internet, we learn about a deep connection between mob-controlled Russian hackers and the government.

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Tomorrow night the PBS show Frontline asks us to take a breather from our mobile phones, the Web, social networking, and virtual reality just long enough to ponder where technology is taking us.

Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier examines the effects of all the time we spend in front of glowing screens.

Guest: Douglas Rushkoff

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At the Comdex trade show in 2000, Bill Gates waxed poetic about the future of tablet computers. Prototype tablets running Microsoft software came out a year later. But Microsoft-based tablets never went mainstream, and so the company might be feeling kind of bad now that Apple is getting a lot of attention for its new iPad tablet computer.

Guest: Ina Fried, CNET News.com

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The Apple iPad is upon us.

Early reaction seems a little underwhelming. But our guest, Harvard professor Stefan Thomke, believes the iPad has the potential to be revolutionary.

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The FCC is cracking down further on recorded, automated sales pitches by phone.

The agency is proposing new restrictions on the robocalls, which are used to hawk things like car warranties, vinyl windows, and credit counseling services.

Guest: Matthew Lasar, Ars Technica

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Guest: Stephanie Baghdassarian, Gartner

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Two new consumer surveys shed light on what consumers want from the Apple tablet computer expected to be unveiled next week.

ChangeWave Research talked with more than 3,000 consumers earlier this month, and found there is a "strong interest" in an Apple tablet, wtih four percent saying they are "very likely" and 14 percent saying they're "somehwat likely" to buy one.

Retrevo.com, a consumer electronics buying guide site, surveyed 500 people, asking consumers what they're willing to pay, and what features they need to see to make them pull the trigger.