Sunday, July 20, 2008

Get the Most Battery Life Out of Your iPod Touch

Follow these tips to get the most battery life out of your iPod Touch:


1. Under Settings turn the Brightness down to the lowest comfortable reading level.


2. Turn off Wifi if you are not using internet.


3. Switch Fetch New Data to Off.


4. Under Settings > Music > turn off the EQ.


5. Use your iPod Touch often! - Keep those electrons moving.


6. Keep your Touch topped off (battery fully charged).


7. Charge your touch to 100%, then run it until the unit shuts off. This is called a charge cycle. You should do this at least once a month.


8. When not actively using the screen, use the Screen/Lock button to save power.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

My Top 10 iPod Touch Apps

With the release of the iPhone 2.0 Update, Apple opened up the floodgates for 3rd party developers to create software for the Touch/iPhone platform. Here are ten programs I found most useful from the App Store.



1. Things Touch : a GTD style task manager. The desktop version is the most elegant implementation of GTD on OS X I've ever used. The mobile version is not quite on par but with the new sync feature right around the corner, it will prove to be a huge hit in the GTD community. Things will definitely give OmniFocus a run for it's money. Buy it now at the intro price of $9.99 at the App Store.



2. Zenbe List: is a nifty App for making lists quickly. It's simple and reliable. I used Zenbe to generate ideas for this article. It also sync with Zenbe's email service, so you can share your lists with others. FREE at the App Store.



3. Tap Tap Revenge : a Rhythm/Beat based game. The concept is simple: just tap the colored orbs as they pass the white line in sync with the music beat. Hours of fun. Awesome tracks for download. FREE at the App Store.



4. WeDict : I love to learn new words. Sometimes I just pop open my dictionary to a random page to just to learn some new things. WeDict makes it easy to look up English words on the fly. It''s a complete dictionary in your pocket! It also has a English to Chinese translation feature. Perfect for those planning to be in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. FREE at the App Store.



5. Instapaper: This is a MUST HAVE for iPod Touch. Instapaper lets you save web-pages to your iPod Touch for later reading, without a wifi connection. Just navigate to the page you want to save, click 'Read Later' on your Safari bookmark bar, activate wifi on your ipod and update your saved pages in Instapaper. That's it. The pages are saved to your iPod Touch so you can read them whenever you want! FREE at the App Store.



6. Pandora Radio: let's you listen to a customized radio station with your iPod Touch over wifi. You select an artist and Pandora plays songs from that artist and songs from similar artists. The 'Thumbs Up', 'Thumbs Down' feature let's you tailor Pandora to playing songs you are more likely to enjoy. FREE at the App Store.



7. Beatmaker: is a music creation app. The boys at Intua really outdid themselves with this one! Beatmaker reminds me of a mini version of Propellerheads Reason. The controls are easy and intuitive. It took me a mere 1o min. to get a basic grasp on the program. I was rocking to phat beats shortly after. This App is a must for any into making music on the go. Well worth the $19.99 price tag on the App Store.



8. Remote: Control your iTunes remotely over wifi with this FREE App.



9. Flash My Brain: I like to learn new things just for the heck of it. One of my prime ways of learning is through the use of flash cards. Flash My Brain makes creating, organizing and studying flash cards a breeze. It's online community of users means you have hundreds of card sets from various subjects already pre-made for you to use. My job requires me to learn many technical terms and acronyms that are not commonly used in the civilian world. Flash My Brain helps me learn and understand those terms with ease. $10.99 at the App Store.



10. Stanza: I love to read, but I hate carrying huge stacks of books with me everywhere I go. Stanza is an ebook reader that gives you the opportunity to carry a world of knowledge and wisdom in your pocket. All the greats are here including Kafka, Ornwell and Lovecraft. Check out this FREE App and their online library here.




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