This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

So you're new to this whole iPad thing. You're planning to break down and smash open your piggy bank and get a shiny new, ultrathin iPad 2. Perhaps you're ready to ask "OK, what do I do with this now?"

Well, there's plenty.

Here's a guide to must-have apps for the iPad that no first-time owner should be without. While the iPad can run any iPhone/iPod touch application, these apps are specifically designed to take advantage of the extra power and screen size of Apple's computer tablet.

Netflix and Hulu Plus (free, $7.99/month membership)• Here are two of the best uses of the iPad. The Netflix application allows a Netflix member to stream any of thousands of movies and television shows straight to the iPad whether at home or away. And you say you like "The Office" or "House"? Become a Hulu Plus member and enjoy streaming thousands of TV shows and movies. Best of all, Hulu just added films from the Criterion Collection's catalog of classics like "Amacord" and "La Strada."

Find My iPhone (free) • Nothing could produce a sicker feeling than plopping down hundreds of dollars for a new iPad 2 and then losing it somewhere or having it stolen. If the unthinkable happens, you can use this free Apple app to locate your new computer tablet on a Google map. You can also remotely lock the iPad so no one can access it, or if you think a thief nabbed it, even remotely erase everything on the tablet. This app offers free piece of mind.

Flipboard (free)• This wonderful app takes your Twitter feeds, Facebook postings, Flickr photos and more to organize them in a beautiful magazine-like layout. No more boring, endless lists of information; Flipboard makes browsing the Web more pleasing to the eye.

Infinity Blade ($5.99) • If you want to see perhaps the most gorgeous-looking video game for the iPad, a game that demonstrates what this mobile device can do, download this fun hack-and-slash fantasy title from Salt Lake City-based ChAIR Entertainment.

Air Video ($2.99)• So you could only afford to get the 16-gigabyte, $499 iPad 2, but you still want to be able to watch the entire seven seasons of "Hogan's Heroes" whenever and wherever you want? You can't cram that much video into such puny storage, so stream it. Air Video allows you to stream video stored on your computer at home straight to your iPad through a 3G connection, and even while away from home. And the app will automatically encode the video on the fly into a format the iPad can read, so Air Video can play a whole variety of video types.

If you have a burning tech question for Vince Horiuchi, e-mail it to ohmytech@sltrib.com, and he might answer it in his next column. Twitter: twitter.com/ohmytech.