Pimp my iPOD Touch

woodstock

woodstock

Final Approach
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I have a Touch. I use it for music - I don't even use it for internet surfing because I have a blackberry. Apparently I'm not getting the full value out of it.

What iPhone apps do you really like (preferably the free ones)?
 
Google Earth
Foreflight (not free)
Last.fm
Pandora
iRec (better than the native recorder IMO)
Seafood Watch (for traveling)
Kindle Reader
CED dictionary
Toodledo (though I am probably going back to Google for tasks)
Facebook (the new app released a couple of weeks ago is much better than the previous one)

Many of those store data for use offline. Others really need Wifi/3G to be of any real use.

I also have downloaded ezShare as a file "briefcase." It seems pretty powerful and it appears as though I only use a small part of its functionality.
 
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I use one app that is for finding Wi-Fi connections. I use my iTouch pretty much stock. I played around with apps but took them off in favor of having more music.
 
Thanks Richard and Scott. Someone in my photo club had a "level" on his iPhone, I thought that was cool.
 
smigaldi said:
I use one app that is for finding Wi-Fi connections. I use my iTouch pretty much stock. I played around with apps but took them off in favor of having more music.
Click to expand...

Scott - checkout the app Pandora mentioned above. I just loaded it (free) and you can select and artist and it'll play only there songs off the internet (in my case (iTouch)). I guess it uses the 3G network for iPhone's. It's a good app to have IMO.
 
Pandora can also play music similar to a particular song or artist that you start with an if you rate it thumbs up or thumbs down, it slowly converges selections on your type of music that you like.

I have the iPhone now and really like some of the aviation apps. Shane, the geocache app on the phone is cool too, just found one of your caches tonight on my way home from work.
 
Ibowl free, 3dcheckers free, Ichess,
free version of xplane trainer , Ihandy level, free gps apps
utube, planets, pacman lite, planespot, icgt (geocaching tool)

load up itunes on your computer and browse all the free apps, there are thousands.
 
copilot, the AOPA directory (even if it does have glaring errors I like having runway sketch for backup), lots of music and lots of NPR podcasts that I miss on the weekends while flying.
 
LogTen Free is a must have as a pilot.

BeerPong is awesome for "studying in the library."

That's about what I have.
 
Free:

Facebook.

Around Me. Handy to find a quick close store, restaurants, gas station etc.

Evernote. Keeps notes, snapshots, recordings etc synced between my desktops and my iphone.

Not Free:

Grocery Gadget. I use this a lot to keep up with lists of things I need to shop for, especially considering I live 15 miles from the nearest grocery store!

AppBox Pro (there is a lite free version). Has lots of little handy apps. Date, loan, price calculators. Conversion apps etc.

Night Stand. Works great as a travel clock/alarm when I'm traveling.

White Noise. I use this with my Sony Iphone clock radio to listen to rain sounds to go to sleep. It's replaced a sound machine I used to use. (there's a lite free version)

GV Mobile (not available any longer) to use Google Voice from my phone.
 
Aviation:
ForeFlight Charts, LiveATC, ForeFlight File, AOPA Airports, X-Plane, CoPilot, LogTen, Flight Control.

Non-aviation:
Wikipedia, TweetDeck, Crosswords, Kitten Cannon, iDisk, Light, and an addictive game I just got tonight called Orbital.
 
OK, I am finally going to do something about this.

I found I can get e-books for it. Not that I would sit around reading it at home, but good for trips. There is one on iTunes which has an astounding number of free classics in an app.

I have to have the latest software on the Touch in order to use it. Mine is 18 mos old.

Will the software on the Touch itself update when I plug it into iTunes, or, do I need to go to the website to get the software - and if so, how the hell do I update the Touch's software?
 
Chances are when you sync it will auto detect that a firmware update is available. If not there is a button on the summary page of your device when connected to iTunes that will "check for update."

Remember that as an iPod user (instead of iPhone) the firmware update will co$t you.
 
I've tried to keep my iphone fairly light in the app dept. I've got a couple of paid apps I haven't redownloaded recently that this reminded me of...

A few free apps that I use are Pandora, TweetDeck (update facebook and twitter simultaneously...), and Public Radio (NPR podcasts at the touch of a button!) I've also got Sol Free to pass the time playing solitaire when I'm bored. Keep an eye on the store for when games go on sale for free, and remember that no matter what the price tag is, if you've already 'purchased' an app, it's always free for you, even if it's a little freaky to hit the Buy Now button. My Midomi app (now SoundHound) has a pricetag on it even though it was free when I originally got it. Handy though if you ever encounter songs that you don't know the name of!
 
woodstock said:
I have a Touch. I use it for music - I don't even use it for internet surfing because I have a blackberry. Apparently I'm not getting the full value out of it.

What iPhone apps do you really like (preferably the free ones)?
Click to expand...

Skype and an iPhone headset. I gave my cousin my iTouch when I bought my iPhone and she uses it for that as well as Facebook and emails around the house and office on wifi. I originally bought mine because it has the Sonos system controller app for the boat. I have it on my iPhone now.
 
My update/re-synch appears to be hanging up. It did the update quickly, but the restore is taking forever. One full hour into it and it doesn't appear to be moving really.

I only have 1100 songs in my library as well as some videos. Is that a lot?
 
woodstock said:
My update/re-synch appears to be hanging up. It did the update quickly, but the restore is taking forever. One full hour into it and it doesn't appear to be moving really.

I only have 1100 songs in my library as well as some videos. Is that a lot?
Click to expand...

Depends what size iTouch you got, but no, if you have a 16 gig it's not normally going to be half that unless they are all very high quality files.
 
It's a 32 gig. This really is taking forever. I hope I didn't screw up the Touch by adding the update. Darn it.
 
woodstock said:
It's a 32 gig. This really is taking forever. I hope I didn't screw up the Touch by adding the update. Darn it.
Click to expand...

Try starting over? I forget, is there an "off" switch on it? I don't think it does....
 
I've already tried and it appears stuck. Crap. I'm going to leave it hooked up and go to sleep. If it isn't done tomorrow AM I'll unplug it and let the battery run out and then hook it up to the charger again.
 
woodstock said:
I've already tried and it appears stuck. Crap. I'm going to leave it hooked up and go to sleep. If it isn't done tomorrow AM I'll unplug it and let the battery run out and then hook it up to the charger again.
Click to expand...

Don't do that - Just hold the power button for 10 seconds or longer.
 
wbarnhill said:
If for some reason THAT doesn't work, holding both the power and the home buttons will force a reset.
Click to expand...

OK, this was what I had to do to get it to turn off. Now I can't turn it back on again. I wonder if the update ****ed it up.

Edit. I managed to get it to turn back on again, but, the same screen is coming up that was on when it hung up last night. An apple, an underneath it a status bar that is barely moving if at all.

****.
 
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I plugged it back in again. I see under the "version" that I have the option to "restore its original settings if I am having problems with it".

Does this mean the 4.95 update I just paid for is gone, if I do that?

This iPOS has crashed again. It won't budge from that apple screen.
 
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I am trying to "restore it to its original settings".

If you hear screaming that means it froze up again.
 
woodstock said:
I have to ship the Touch to Apple. If they cannot fix it they are giving me another unit.
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Oh that stinks. I have never had a problem updating any of my iPods including a gen 1 and gen 2 iTouch. Is there an Apple store you go to and try the genius bar? They also might jsut doa swap out right there if you need a new one. If there is a close by Apple store go online and make you appointment before showing up. That way you waste less time when at the store waiting for them.
 
There is one where I work so I will check it out Monday.

What ****es me off is that it is 1 PM and I've been on the computer/phone for quite some time trying to figure this out.

They do make the returns very easy - you can literally walk into an UPS store with the unit and hand it to them and they handle ALL packing/shipping etc.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles Elizabeth. I would definitely try the Apple Store before shipping it out.

Some apps I found over the holidays:

RedLaser. It scans product barcodes and then lets you search for online prices using Google product search. You can also keep a list of products and send them to yourself or a friend (because sometimes you just need to check things out on a bigger screen.) Also you can manually enter UPC numbers too. Great for price checking at the store, or saving "wish lists." Working only mediocre on my original iPhone with slower processor and somewhat-lousy camera, works very well on my 3GS with its faster processing speed and 3mp camera with better macro focusing.

Shazam. Uses the unit microphone to listen to a 10 second snippet of a song playing in your car, in a restaurant etc. and then uplinks to the web to identify it, including album and artist, album cover, similar songs etc., and also links to several resources such as iTunes, Youtube or social networks. This is also available for other platforms.

Snaptell. Similar to RedLaser in that it is great to use for comparative shopping. Take a photo of any CD, DVD or modern book cover. The photo is sent to their server and information on the product is returned including online shopping sites, local search, eBay listings, Wikipedia etc. Also great for saving "wish lists."

Planets (free.) Shows realtime astronomical information such as current position of constellations, planets, moon etc.

Dragon Dictation. Voice-to-text that can be sent to email or text file for later use. Just started playing with it, jury's still out.

I also bought the TomTom application, which would also be great for the iPod Touch since no connectivity is required for it to work. I went back and forth between TomTom and Navigon, but TomTom won out because they also offer New Zealand maps for our trip at the end of this month.
 
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woodstock said:
I have to ship the Touch to Apple. If they cannot fix it they are giving me another unit.
Click to expand...

Try the Apple Store first, they may just swap it out right away so you don't have to wait, and they may also be able to fix it right away while you wait. Go to www.apple.com/retail to set up an appointment before you go to the store. :yes:

I'm not too surprised that it's hosed - You did kinda kill it in the middle of a system software update. It's only got half a brain now. I had one that hung up for a while and then kept going. The reset *usually* works ("go back to original settings" or whatever) but... Oh well.

As for apps... Maybe time for another thread on that subject. :yes:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Try the Apple Store first, they may just swap it out right away so you don't have to wait, and they may also be able to fix it right away while you wait. Go to www.apple.com/retail to set up an appointment before you go to the store. :yes:

I'm not too surprised that it's hosed - You did kinda kill it in the middle of a system software update. It's only got half a brain now. I had one that hung up for a while and then kept going. The reset *usually* works ("go back to original settings" or whatever) but... Oh well.

As for apps... Maybe time for another thread on that subject. :yes:
Click to expand...

Hey, I did nothing to it! It was still alive the last time I saw it, I swear.

Any apps you want to include here, go ahead. This IS the "pimp my iPOD" thread after all.
 
woodstock said:
Any apps you want to include here, go ahead. This IS the "pimp my iPOD" thread after all.
Click to expand...

Aight. I'll start from where I was before:

flyingcheesehead said:
Aviation:
ForeFlight Charts, LiveATC, ForeFlight File, AOPA Airports, X-Plane, CoPilot, LogTen, Flight Control.

Non-aviation:
Wikipedia, TweetDeck, Crosswords, Kitten Cannon, iDisk, Light, and an addictive game I just got tonight called Orbital.
Click to expand...

Okay. I've crossed out some of the ForeFlight stuff because of ForeFlight 3.0. ForeFlight 3.0 is now free to try out, fully functional, for 30 days. After that, you buy a subscription using in-app purchase. ForeFlight 3.0 now includes all the functionality of the previous version of ForeFlight, ForeFlight Charts, ForeFlight File, and AOPA Airports (including the AOPA directory info). ForeFlight used to be good to great, now it's PHENOMENAL. And with the "easy entry" (you no longer have to spend $75 to get in), there's no excuse for any pilot with an iPhone to not have it. It's also a lot more useable in the airplane than before - The new Download Manager lets you set it to automatically download and cache VFR and IFR charts, approach plates, and airport diagrams for each cycle. I am really impressed with this app now, and can't recommend it strongly enough. (BTW, you'll also be able to hear about it from the developers on a Pilotcast episode 72, coming in the next few days!)

I've also upgraded to the full version of LogTen Mobile, which I can use to enter flights as soon as they're over and then sync them with LogTen Pro on my computer.

For some aviation-related fun, give X-Plane and/or Flight Control a shot.

I got rid of the Wikipedia app and replaced it with WikiPanion, which is definitely better.

I use TweetDeck for Twitter, and also have the Facebook app.

I also pass time with Bejeweled 2, which now links up to the Bejeweled Blitz game on Facebook.

Anyone who has their music library in iTunes, and that's most iPhone users, or has an AppleTV should have the Apple Remote app.

At some point, I'm going to install the Viper SmartStart on my car - It has an iPhone app that lets you start, stop, lock, or unlock your car from anywhere in the world. Pretty handy for me in the winter, I can start my car 1/2 hour out from where I park the truck when I go home.

There's a Truck Stops app that has not only truck stops but Wal-Marts and rest areas, but I'm guessing that's not going to be of nearly as much use to other folks here. ;)

And last but certainly not least, an app I've only just gotten in the last week: Trapster. It's kind of like Maps, only with alerts about speed traps, cameras, and live police reports. Speeders take note! It'll even keep track of your latest location when you exit the app, and will use push to send you an alert - The alert works even if you're using a different app or not using anything. Cool!
 
Dang, Elizabeth, sorry to hear you're the first person to every have a problem with an iThing.
Hope you were able to get it resolved. :yes:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I got rid of the Wikipedia app and replaced it with WikiPanion, which is definitely better.
Click to expand...

Wikipedia has updated their site to switch to a nice mobile version when you're going in through Safari on the iPhone. I've ended up using that instead of WikiPanion a lot of times.
 
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