Video

Applause where applause is due: the iPad is a very good video provider.

I was at a lecture this week and missed "Glee," so I bought the episode on iTunes & stored it on the iPad (where it can be found under Videos, not iTunes, just in case you're new to the whole i-world).

Watching "Glee" on the iPad is pretty wonderful, though maybe not as great as watching it on television -- what's missed is the shared experience, I guess. But I like knowing I've got the Madonna episode as a Glee-fix when needed!

I downloaded some yoga videos, too, and here the iPad beats the iPhone or the television. The screen is big enough to be able to see the instructor (an issue with the iPhone), and the device is so small that it can be moved from the bedroom dresser to floor to wherever you want to do tree pose or corpse pose or downward dog or....

Still no connection at home, though. I did connect to the UMPC guest wifi, so connection IS possible!

iPad Apps

While I'm figuring out the home wifi connection issue, I'm downloading (uploading?) apps when I'm on a strong WiFi network. Interacting with the iPad's the way to move forward. iPhone apps will work on the iPad, but it's goofy -- just a little iPhone app in the middle of the larger iPad screen.

Step 1: Delete the iPhone apps that got loaded on to the iPad when I synched through iTunes. Resolve to (try to) not synch through desktop-iTunes anymore.

Result : (a) I've got about one screen full of iPhone apps that I'm going to keep around to see if I use them on the iPad. (b) I've got a screen (not full) of what I'm considering either reference or 'reserve' iPad apps: these are things like Settings, Contacts, iTunes, App Store, Maps, as well as Epicurious and Adobe Ideas and Connect (apps I haven't used yet so don't know if I'll keep them or if they'll be useful enough to move to page one). and (c) Padma's Home Screen (first one) has 20 apps that I think I'll tend to use most frequently: calendar, notes, NYT Editor's Choice, This Day, BBC News, Weather Channel, NPR, YouTube, MaxJournal, Words HD, Virtuouso, Bible, Dictionary, USA Today, Netflix, ABC Player, iMajJohng, IBooks, TweetDeck, and Brushes.

The bottom row of the screens all hold Safari, Mail, Photos, and iPod.

Step 2: Add apps. (See list above for the first round.) Reaction/quick review of apps will be posted in the comments on this post.

BIG FAIL: OK, to my mind, there's a big obvious gap here. Did you notice it? No Facebook app for iPad. I can get TweetDeck and access Twitter, but not Facebook. WTF? Colleges are making iPads the default technology for their students and Apple doesn't have a Facebook app? Is that an Apple fail or a Facebook fail?

Step 3: Add books. (See comments on this post for more on that.)

Step 4: Play.