Tag Archives: Apple

My personal recommendations for iPod/iPhone users

I’ve been toying around with my new iPod Touch for the past two weeks and I’ve got to say that I absolutely LOVE it.  My main reason in getting it was to have a smart device I could use to bring around music/movies/TV/Podcasts/News and use various other useful apps.  I’ll just get a POS phone and use my iPod for everything other than calling/texting in Korea.  I even got a Skype subscription so I can make unlimited US calls for $30 for one year from my iPod or my computer.  I was thinking about my other options, but in the end the decision came down to buying a good piece of hardware with the best application support.  Microsoft’s Zune has some very tempting features, but you can’t fight Apple’s app store.

Here are my personal recommendations so far for anyone using an iPod Touch or iPhone.  Feel free to post your favorites in the comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Settings

I just want to say, the international support on the iPod/iPhone is amazing.  You can easily enable any foreign keyboards easily and while typing can click one button to switch keyboards.  I’ve found this to be a SUPER handy feature which I use a ton.

I’ve also changed the interface to be in Korean, mostly for practice.

Video Podcasts

TEDTalks: VERY insightful and smart talks given at the world’s best educational conferences

Around the net: 5 best internet videos of the day

Best of YouTube: Best YouTube video of the day

CH Originals – CollegeHumor Original Videos : Always good for a larf

CNN Daily Video: Quick update on the latest news, though it seems too short

Onion News Network: Funny fake news reports

Audio Podcasts

SeoulPodcast: Great commentary on the latest in Korea

The Ricky Gervais Podcast: Just some funny guys talking

The Onion Radio News: Super short fake hilarious news

The Korea Society: Great talks about Korea, not updated very often but very good.

General Applications

All of the built in applications are extremely useful, I use it to check my mail, watch YouTube videos, surf the net, get maps, and check my calendar.

GoodReader: Great PDF reader, easy to transfer from computer

MobileRSS Free: Free app for reading all my RSS subscriptions

Skype: Free calls to Skype users, I paid $30 for unlimited US/Canada calls to real phones for one year

Facebook: Easy to check on what friends are up to

iReddit Free: I’m a die-hard Redditer …

AP Mobile, NYTimes, USA TODAY, NPR News: Yeah, I’m a news nut

TED: Watch over 300 GREAT TED talks

AppVault Pro: Seems better than AppBox Pro, you get a lot of utilities (unit converter, translator, etc.).  The only problem is that it was just pulled from the app store, good thing I got it while it was there :)

Korea-related Applications

Britannica Encyclopedia Korea: Look up subjects quickly about Korea or anything else (in Korean)

YBM English Korean English Dictionary: I’ve heard some complaints, but this works perfectly for me for just looking up words.  I also bought the other one people rave about, Korean English Dictionary by Cole Zhu, but I found that app to be very cumbersome.  One example is that the Cole Zhu app often thinks I click on a word when I just want to scroll.  The YBM dictionary doesn’t have this annoying problem.

Naver Maps, Daum Maps: Great for looking for addresses around Korea, the Daum Maps app even has street view like Google’s.

Subway applications are a MUST.  You can easily get directions from anywhere to anywhere and see maps of the subway exists and the immediate surrounding area.

iKorway: Great app, except for the fact that 교대역 and 서초 are switched.  I told the author about it so hopefully he fixes that.  I like this interface the most out of all the subway applications.  This also seems like the most complete app.  It will even tell you the buses that leave the stations, the times, and where the stops are.

nSubway: Just subway info (but free and pretty good)

Seoul Bus: My favorite bus app, though I use iKorway most of the time

Bugs: Listen to the top 100 songs in Korea for free.

Games

Doodle Jump: Very fun and very addictive.

Need For Speed Shift: Really shows how great the graphics are

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars: Another great full-feature game showing how great the iPhone/iPod platform is