Hey! I have an iPad! Now what?

Now, when you say 'Google stuff', do you mean email, calendars, contacts? Or your Google Docs? You can get the first stuff to work with what comes from Apple, but Docs (as of now) needs an app to work well.

I've posted the steps on??how to get your iPad talking to your district Gmail, calendar and contacts??on my site.

For Google Docs, the best app that I've found that works well for them is??Office2??HD. It was $10, but is now $8, but it's great for not only viewing but editing all of your Google Docs on the iPad.

As far as other apps, I don't know if I could live without DropBox – both on my computers, iPad, iPod Touch, and my Android phone. Almost all of the mobile apps work with it, and there is no easier or faster way to get a document or any file from the desktop to a mobile device. Here's an??invite for a free 2 GB DropBox account??if you don't have one already, and here's??how DropBox works.

I've been researching what apps are 'best' or being used in schools. Sadly, I have not been able to go through the entire 300,000+ app library, but I have some resources for finding the good stuff. First, there is a school in Scotland that has gone 100% iPad, and the man behind the project, Fraser Speirs, is writing about the experiment in his blog under 'The iPad Project". There is a lot of interesting information there, but he as included posts on the apps they are using for both Secondary and Elementary classes.??

Also, I listen to 'Netcasts I love, from people I trust' from TWiT all the time during my excursions around my territory, and they have a new show called 'iPad Today' where they highlight a different app 'theme' each week, as well as giving their 'App Cap' awards each week for their favorite finds. It's an entertaining show, but if you don't have time, you can check out the wiki site with all of the recommendations.

Thanks for the question. Keep 'em coming!