Technology Guides

For Christmas this year I got an Apple iPod Touch. This device, I have recently realized, is much more capable and versitile than I originally thought. It boggles me my people don’t pay the extra money to upgrade from a Nano to an iTouch. Since it is a 2G Apple iPod Touch, you cannot jailbreak it…yet. So with that, I am forced to download from the App Store and choose from the assortment of free Apps since I don’t usually like paying for things I don’t have to.

Update: After further examination of the applications available at the App Store I’ve decided to add more to the list.

1. MMPG – There are numerous possibilites if you want a Massive MultiPlayer Game such as iMob, iMafai (and its affiliates…New York & Los Angeles), Race Wars and its affiliate San Fransisco, Mafia Wars, iVampire, iNinja and iKnights. These games basically focus on Missions for the mob to get money. That money is used to buy properties which by the way pays rent, and the money is used for weapons so you can fight other users.

2. 2009 Awesome Facts – This application is so amazing. I was lucky to get the Pro version for free for a limited time but what you get there is a bunch of categories with random facts such as “Milton Bradley originally wanted to name the game Twister, Pretzel; but he could not since the name was copyrighted.”

3. IM+ Lite - This application is essential for people that want to be connected to MSN, GMail, Yahoo or anything like that. It organizes by categories if your in MSN and is really fast. It organizes your conversations all in one place so you can go back and forth. All you need to do is swipe left or right.

4. Howcast – This is a nice little application that focuses on How to videos by users that are big like VideoJug. It differs from Youtube because of the niche it hits, The How-to market. The application is very easy to use, much like YouTube and it has a wide variety of videos to choose from with its massive directory.

Sudoku

I’m a big fan of Sudoku and I hate erasing my notes and it really gets messy. So with this App, you can play Sudoku with “Smart Notes” which automatically get erased when you can no longer put that number there.

It also gives you the option of putting numbers in red when they are wrong. This is the best Sudoku App you can get and it’s free. It’s gotten me interested in Sudoku once again and you usually can’t keep me off of this.

Big Oven

What to cook is always a big question but with over 160 000 recipes located on this database you’ll never go hungry again. Shake your Touch or iPhone and it will give you a random recipe or enter some keywords into the search engine and you will get a bunch of different recipes. Having a huge recipe book in the palm of your hands is great.

Topple

This is one of the largest downloaded games on the AppStore because it is fun, challenging, and has a creative twist on Tetris. I personally haven’t gotten past the 5th level but it still is fun to try. There are challenges and regular levels for you to play and it definitely doesn’t seem like a free app to me.

TapDefense

This game is absolutely amazing. You can play without going online and it is just like the games developed on online sites like Flash Element TD and Canyon Defense on Miniclip. This game is much more challenging than these two and it will provide hours of entertainment. I do believe though it drains a bit more battery than normal but it’s well worth it.

AroundMe/Where

These two apps are very closely related and I just can’t seem to decide which one is better. They both basically as they seem, are apps that tell you what is around you such as gas stations, restaurants, and other things. It can be fully taken advantage of with the iPhone but it definitely has its uses. I find the Where app has more unique things whereas AroundMe is more traditional.

Honourable Mention: OntheGo

This app tells you the gas prices for the places in your area. It uses the database of gasbuddy.com to populate the numbers for gas price. This tool is definitely handy when you are just about to go out. Again, it’s even better with a data plan for the iPhone so you can access it all the time and “on the go”.

Do you have a favourite free iPod Touch application that isn’t on this list? I certainly do as there are just too many applications to list.

Update: I’ve made a new post for the top apps for 2009 located at Top Free iPod/iPhone Apps for 2009

Popularity: 100% [?]

The reason why Mozilla Firefox has been staying strong over these past years is not only its security, its quickness, and its ability to be stable, but for its wide array of add-ons it provides to its users. There is a vast oasis of these add-ons and sometimes its hard to pick out the best ones. Today I’m going to pick those needles out of the haystack and help you make your Firefox experience better.

1. With so many websites and communities on the web it’s hard to keep track of all of them. Even with Firefox’s built-in password manager it still is very annoying when you have to clear your private data, and then most of your passwords are lost, or they don’t automatically fill it in for you. With Sxipper, it not only stores your login information, it has different aliases to choose from and a cool interface. On top of that it’s a auto-form filler and you have the option to choose what you reveal to those pesky websites. They also give you the option of using a disposable email address.

2. Notes are very handy to have because some of the best ideas come at the most random times and its why we lose most of them to outer space. There are two add-ons for two different kind of people. One is very simple and lacks the option of a one touch pop-up and minimizer, yet the other one might give too much customizability that it’s just pointless. Those two are QuickNote and EverNote. The reason why EverNote might be too complicated is it lets you share your notes with other people and take them around with you through your online account. Do you really need another account for just notes?

3. This add-on is a must for security reasons. It’s been named by PC World as one of the best and for good reason. It blocks unwanted javascripts and other scripts from running when you load a webpage. You do have the option of letting them run but only for trusted websites. Called NoScript, it truly encompasses all your security needs.

4. If you are an online album lover then you’ll love this add-on. Linky will let you select multiple links and open them in a new window or tab. Especially good for photo albums where there are multiple pictures, Linky will speed up your viewing and stop you from getting a sore index finger.

5. This is a small but useful add-on to enhance your browsing experience. TabPreview is just like it says. It previews the tab you are hovering over to give you a better idea of what that tab is all about. When Firefox first came out, the tabs were a huge advantage over IE6, but then IE7 countered with the tabs. Now Firefox holds the lead again in this department with this add-on.

Popularity: 6% [?]