Congratulations!

Ever since the first iPod, Apple has been deservedly known for their excellent hardware designs and attention to quality. The iPad is no exception. Incredibly thin, extremely solid-feeling, no flex to speak of, solid buttons and a beautiful screen. Beautiful device with great performance and most of all, amazing app selection, truly a fresh experience.

The iPad can be a wonderful, loyal companion and friend, but it can also take a while to warm up to. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to use the iPad. But it's still nice to have a helping hand once in a while. And these quick and easy tips are perfect for you. I am glad to be of help with tips and tricks for iPad users. Here's the tips I collect so far:

How to Download Apps with the iPad

Tapping on the gray button in an app box allows you to download the application from the Apple App Store.

Click on the App Store app from your iPad home screen or desktop. Look below and you'll see options for:

* Featured: A list of "New and Noteworthy" apps.

* Top Charts: A list of the most popular apps, which is divided into Top Paid Apps, Top Free Apps (broke teens and college students rejoice!), and Top Grossing Apps. Tap on "Show More" to see more options.

* Categories: A list of Apps divided into categories such as News, Entertainment and Games.

* Updates: Checks if any app you've downloaded has an update.

Since everyone loves free stuff, I'll pick a free app, NPR for iPad, as an example. To immediately download it, just touch the button that says "FREE" and it'll turn into a green button that says "INSTALL APP" (for apps that aren't free, the same button will have a price instead). To see more details about the app, just click on the box for the app to go to a different screen. If there are any reader reviews, you can view them by scrolling down once you get to the details page. You can also download from here by tapping on the "FREE" (or price) button on the upper left.

For paid apps, you can use the same account you pay with in iTunes. Otherwise, you can scroll down to the bottom of the main App Store page and click on the Account button and enter your credit card info. But if you want to remove applications from ipad, you need another guide.

Once you start downloading, you will be taken back to the iPad desktop and you'll see an icon of your chosen app with a progress bar below. Wait for it to finish and that's it!

How to Connect USB Devices to the iPad

Apple's iPad camera connection kit can actually double as a USB connector.

A common complaint levied against the iPad when it launched was its lack of a USB connection. But just because the device does not have a dedicated USB slot doesn't mean you can't connect USB devices to it. By the way, the video apps for ipad can help you to transfer videos between ipad and your pc/mac easily.

The USB workaround for the iPad comes in the form of Apple's $29 official iPad camera connection kit. Designed primarily to get photos transferred to the iPad from any camera, the accessory actually allows certain USB devices to connect to the iPad as well. Some USB devices that appear to work through this connection so far include microphones, speakers and keyboards.

Just keep in mind that this isn't an "official" capability for the accessory — or even the OS — for that matter so your mileage may vary as far as device compatibility.

Here it is. Well, I plan to continue with this topic next time.