Ipod Touch Apps

I received an iPod Touch for a graduation gift and ever since it has been hard to put it down. I use the notepad on a daily basis, jotting down thoughts and composing to do lists. But what really keeps me coming back are the plethora of apps. I've downloaded over 50 apps so far, but there are only a handful that I find not only extremely well written but also useful on a daily basis.

As a side note all apps I list are "free" apps. I have never bought an app that costs money.

Stanza: An extremely simple to use ebook reader. Flipping through pages is simple and intuitive, and you can read an ebook in portrait or landscape mode. I am not a big fan of reading books or PDFs on my computer, but the text is crisp and makes reading ebooks bearable for me. Another plus is that it gives several sources for free books where you can easily download. Books like classics and books in foreign languages download into your library, readily accessible for Stanza to load.

Pandora: No need to describe this app.

KTdict C-E: The best Chinese to English and vice versa dictionary I've found in the app store. You can look words up in English, pinyin, traditional and simplified characters. Not only is the input very generous, but the search results are laid out with the Chinese characters, pinyin underneath the characters, and the English next to them. Not only does it give you the words but it gives you the option to see the individual characters that make up a compound word and you can in turn look up the definition for that word.

BodyFitness: A handy app to keep track of your workouts, within the limits of the exercises it gives you. There are many exercises for each part of your body: legs, back, chest, arms, yoga, etc. The exercises can be put into a daily calendar so you can keep track of when you worked out and what you worked out.

Words Free: A Scrabble like game playable online. You can play against random people, friends online and by passing the iPod around. Playing online is akin to playing chess by mail. A very addicting game.

Epic Pet Wars: Pokemon meets an investment game meets standard rpg (buying weapons and armor, etc). Very dumb but very fun.


I also have some gems that I use once in a while.

Bubble Wrap: You get to pop digital packing bubbles.

Amateur Surgeon Xmas: The Adult Swim Amateur Surgeon on another game in the app store. This time it's Christmas time and the game is much more difficult.

Dark Nebula: It's like a futuristic game of labyrinth, the game where you guide a marble through a maze while avoiding holes, except in the future everything wants to kill you. Enemies shoot at you, spikes swing around trying to impale you, and all the while you collect tanks of orange stuff.

Jungle Crash:

Mancala FS5: A simple game of mancala for the iPod/iPhone. Straightforward mancala with multiple AI settings, online play (I have never tried it), and 2 player pass around.


Paper Toss: Toss virtual paper into a virtual trash bin while a fan blows and changes the direction and strength of the wind.

Line Up:


And now a couple of oddities that others may find useful

Morse Code: A neat little app to aid in learning Morse Code.

Chinese Idiom: An app with tons of Chinese Idioms. Good interface and simple to use.

iHandy Level: A digital leveler.

Learn Chess: An interactive ebook for someone who wants to learn the basics of Chess. An app I've only dabbled with it seems very useful for the beginner.

Tetsuki: A free Go game with online play.