Updates Recommended for iPod Touch

It had been weeks, actually months since my last sync between laptop and iPod Touch.

Why?

I've found it more convenient to charge the iPod with a wall charger instead of plugging into the laptop. And while traveling, the laptop was left behind in favor of a smaller, lighter netbook.

Unfortunately, the iPod Touch can only be synced with one other device. So either the netbook or the laptop, not both. The laptop has been used consistently with the iPod while photographs have been downloaded to the netbook before being uploaded to a popular photo-sharing site. 

This week, time was taken to sync the iPod and download the newest version of iTunes and Safari. What a difference! Don't wait as long as I did. Keep your devices up-to-date!

Recent iPod Touch Update from Dictionary.com

Two Free Apps for i-Phone and i-Pod Touch

Updates to apps installed on my iPod Touch just seem to happen, pretty much on their own, without my taking note. However, the last update from Dictionary.com caught my attention.

A word of the day popped up on my screen. With a touch to the Dictionary.com app, I discovered a tab labeled Spanish. There I found another word of the day, a Spanish word, defined for me in English. 

I like this!

News Applications for i-Phone/i-Pod Touch

The really cool thing about the i-Phone/i-Pod Touch is the ability to customize with applications pertinent to my lifestyle. The world at a touch, in the palm of my hand.

Keeping abreast of the current news is important. With this is mind, I have added CNN and AP Mobile as well as several local television news apps to my i-Pod Touch.

Flexibility, Key to Mobile Broadband Happiness

For travel purposes, I use a mobile broadband device from Verizon Wireless. My choice over the last year has been the USB760 Modem. It was necessary to use this broadband device exclusively for an extended period of time due to circumstances beyond my control. The USB760 Modem performed well.

Now I'd like more flexibility. A call to Judy at  Verizon Wireless Communications (1.800.222.8588) provided an upgrade to a MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot.

Cost for the MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot today $99.99 (before the application of a $50 mail-in rebate) and a $20 upgrade fee. Monthly cost remains the same.

The USB760 Modem will continue to work until activation of my new MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot. FedEx will be bringing it to my door Thursday.

It's easier and faster to check all 10+ email boxes using an iPod touch instead of logging in and out of each on the laptop. The MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot will allow me to use my iPod touch anywhere and at any time, great to have access to all my iPod touch applications while stuck in some out of the way place.

The MiFi 2200 will give me the flexibility to use my laptop and/or any of my other wi-fi enabled devices almost anywhere. Flexibility, the key to mobile broadband happiness.

One big drawback, five devices (the maximum allowed) using the MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot at the same time will use up the 5 GB allowance five times as fast. So it's best to check usage often.

2009 Favorite Holiday Apps for iPhone/iPod Touch

Christmas season is officially on. Shoppers are out shopping.Carolers are carolling. And bell ringers are ringing their bells. At least I hope so. I haven't ventured out to see for myself this season.

Red Kettle History 

From You Tube - Salvation Army USA 

O-T-H-E-R-S

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Christmas Drive has been a fixture of my holidays for as long as I can remember. This year there is another way to throw a few coins into the kettle.

Go to the iTunes App Store, search for Salvation Army Christmas Music.

No time or money to send out Christmas cards this year. From the iTunes App Store, search for the FREE app, American Greetings.

My Favorite iPhone/iPod Touch App for October

Never the first to try new technology, I usually wait for the bugs to be worked out and the price to come down.

Last spring I splurged and purchased my first iPod, not just an iPod but an iPod Touch with the most memory available to me on that particular day.

I love this particular bit of technology. There is a never ending variety of ways to make use of this marvelous pocket computer.

One of my now favorite applications (Apps) Hangman (the free version). Word settings include animals, cars, celebrities, sports, easy, standard, movies, ESL words, countries, Spanish, Halloween, Thanksgiving, elements, Christmas, astronomy, summer, and monsters. There is something for everyone.

With my settings on either SAT Words or Hard Words, I play away. More often than I ordinarily would care to admit, I find myself referring to another favorite app ... Dictionary.com.

My reading vocabulary has always been greater than my spoken vocabulary. Dictionary.com pronounces words for me, greatly increasing my spoken vocabulary.

Some of the more interesting words I have learned or relearned recently follow below (check out dictionary.com if these words are unfamiliar to you):

stentorian

polyglot

fanfaronade

punctilious

osculation

velleity

confabulation

sinecure

galumph

dolorous

asperity

emolument

diaspora

clathrate

embroglio

littoral

abecedarian

gyre

apostate

imbroglio