Today was iPad Day, and here's a first-hand report from De Prez Allen Laudenslager: "I stopped at Best Buy to see about getting them to present at the July PMUG meeting, and while I was there I played with an iPad for about 10 minutes.

"The cool factor is through the roof. I started by touching the Safari icon which took me to the Apple iPad home page. By touching the bookmark tab, it brought up the preloaded bookmarks. When I touched the URL bar, a keyboard rolled up from off-screen at the bottom of the touch screen. I found that you really can't touch type standing up because the slightest touch on the screen puts that character where you are typing. I might get used to it sitting down, but I doubt it since touch typists always rest their fingers on the 'home' keys.

"I found that using my left and right index finger and hunt and peck worked well, and after entering your URL at least once, when you start to type it pulls up a list that matches what you have typed to that point. If you see the address you want on the list, just touch it and touch the 'go' key on the keyboard and zip -- you're there.

"I opened Pages and tried a new document. How do you get the keyboard to show up? Since the sales people were busy with real customers, I tried double touch and wowser!!! there is the keyboard. As a touch typist hunt and peck feels odd, but since this is not really meant to replace a full-up computer it would work just fine for me to make notes while reading the daily news.

"A neat gadget, and I recommend taking the time to drop by either Best Buy or the Apple Store to check one out. When I finally do break down and get an e-book reader it will for sure be the iPad since it does so much more than just let me read books."