I Got One: iPod Touch  

Thanks Nat!!

It's really great. I like it a lot. Besides surfing the internet from a thing that I hold in my hand, (and listening to music at school, working out, etc.) I have discovered two really awesome and free uses for the iPod Touch.

One is called Remote. It's a free download from the App Store on the Touch, and it's basic function is to remotely connect to iTunes libraries. Once on the library, it can play any song on that library, but over that libraries "default" speakers. Which is awesome for us, because with our Apple Airport, we can play either one of our libraries over our shared speakers without yanking the plug. So, I can use my iPod to change the song that's playing on my laptop through my wireless speakers, from the other room, or on the porch, or from the courtyard for that matter.

The second cool use is a small app called Mocha VNC Lite (this means its the free version). VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, is basically logging onto my laptop via the iPod and showing everything that's on the monitor on my MacBook on my iPod. This can be useful for looking at files or anything else you'd like to access on the home computer. My iPod only stores 8 GB, while my laptop has 120 GB, so there's plenty on the laptop that I can't put directly on the iPod: with VNC I can have access to the information as long as the laptop is on (I can awake it from sleep mode with a VNC request, which is awesome).

Another useful reason for the VNC is that it can be a remote for everything else that Remote doesn't do. So if I'm sitting away from the machine itself watching a DVD and I want to skip ahead, I can use the iPod as a surrogate for my finger on the mousepad and click on the Forward button. Similarly, if I'm showing a slideshow presentation, I could use the iPod to remotely control what my laptop shows.

I'm still on the lookout for kickass iPod Touch applications that interact in awesome ways with the internet and my laptop. These are two that I've discovered really quickly. I feel like there must be a way to cheaply use this with VoIP services (Voice over IP, or making voice calls over an internet connection) but so far I'm seeing microphones that cost $60, so I don't think the touch will be replacing my phone anytime soon. But if I come across anything awesome, rest assured you'll know about it!