In This Chapter
Apps that show how an iPod touch can control your world
Apps that demonstrate the iPod touch experience to the hilt
Apps I use all the time that aren't mentioned elsewhere in this book
It's not fair. Only ten apps? As I write this, over 85,000 apps from almost as many software companies are competing for attention in the App Store. I could write an entire book about just the ones that have shaken my world — right down to the very routines I live by. (Maybe they'll let me write that book in the future.) Instead, the publisher dragged me kicking and screaming to the back of the book, and told me we'd run out of room and that we had to keep it to ten.
How did I pick these ten? I included apps I think are important as an introduction to the iPod touch ex-perience, along with the apps that I use every day.
I left out of this list the ones I've already described in other chapters and on the Cheat Sheet of this book — Facebook, MySpace, Twitterific, Skype, and the messaging apps (Chapter 13); Google Earth (Chapter 12); Wikipanion and other wiki readers (Chapter 10); Pandora, Truveo, and other apps that stream video (Chapter 8); PocketGuitar and other apps that help you make music (Chapter 7); a variety of games that use time (Chapter 3) or the accelerometer (Chapter 2); and the apps for fun and travel (Cheat Sheet). I also left out, of course, Apple's apps that are supplied with the iPod touch. And yet, all of these apps, and especially the ones from Apple, are responsible for shaking up the iPod world.
The Remote app from Apple (free) turns your iPod touch into a remote control for iTunes and Apple TV. It was the first app to demonstrate how the iPod touch could be transformed by software into a completely different functional handheld device. The Remote app works with your Wi-Fi network, so you can control playback from anywhere in and around your home.
Voted the best game at the 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference and winner of various awards, Enigmo (not free) is a unique puzzle game in which you direct animated flowing streams of water, oil, and lava, using your iPod touch to move and rotate the various puzzle pieces in order to divert the flow of the falling droplets so that they can reach their target. Engimo 2 expands on this theme by offering puzzles in 3D.
With a name obviously inspired by Japan's megapopular Dance Dance Revolution, the original Tap Tap Revenge (version 2.6 is free) takes its cues from the addictive Guitar Hero, putting your rhythmic skills to the test. You tap through the beats of the music or shake left and right as the arrows fall. Tap Tap Revenge 3 (not free) offers lots of premium and free tracks to download as well as an immersive 3D experience.
Okay all you old-timers, bait those hooks! Flick Fishing's animated environment all but puts the "Gone fishing" sign on your office door. Flick Fishing (not free) lets you cast a line with just a flick of your wrist and reel it in, but you have to be careful to avoid snapping the "line" and losing the "fish." Of course, larger fish are stronger and not so easily reeled in.
By far the most famous of strange new iPhone apps that defy characterization, Ocarina (not free) — the app that turns your iPhone into an ancient, flute-like instrument and lets you share the music you make with others — now works with the iPod touch as well. Without any musical training, you can touch the holes of the ocarina to make music or blow into an external microphone.
It would be remiss of me to not include the best of the sight gag (and sound gag) apps. Although I'm not a fan of embarrassing noises, I do like visual gags, and iBeer (not free) has taken the lead in downloads. Your iPod touch behaves, well, like a glass of beer. It takes full advantage of the accelerometer so that you can tilt to sip from it, shake for more foam, and even pour beer from one iPod touch to another.
Searching with Google has always been part of Safari (see Chapter 10). Google Mobile (free) provides instant access to Google Search, Gmail, Google News, Docs, Calendar, Talk, and other Google apps. You get relevant search suggestions as you type, and you can use location search to find businesses, services, weather, and movie info, and then see these suggestions on Google Maps.
Don't like the news you read in the papers? Rather than going out and making some of your own, try The AP Mobile app (free) — powered by the Associated Press — which offers access to local and national news from trusted sources. AP is typically the source for many newspaper articles. I read all my news on my iPod touch: It's free, it saves paper, and it's updated more frequently.
The Stanza app (free) changed my reading habits — I not only read more classics (which are mostly free), but I also read everywhere I go. You can download a vast selection of over 50,000 free classics and over 50,000 contemporary works and read them right on your iPod touch. Sort by title or author or create custom collections to build reading lists and keep track of all your books. Although other readers have appeared (notably the Amazon Kindle Reader and eReader), Stanza is my favorite.
Tony's Tips for iPhone Users Manual (not free), developed and published by yours truly, is an app that provides helpful tips for using your iPhone or iPod touch with iTunes and MobileMe. I add new tips and revise the information regularly as Apple updates the software — the information is online, and the app that connects to it lets you search for and read topics and save pages for offline reading.