Brought To You By:
Shiny White Box
Purple Ghost Software
Today We Discussed:
New iPod Touch
As today’s first topic, I would like to talk about my new iPod. I finally broke down and bought an iPod Touch, as there are a lot of apps that I am looking to review, and the iPod Touch seems to be the logical step there. So far, I have really enjoyed having it. I ordered a refurbished 32-gigabyte model, as it was the best deal at only $249 U.S. It came around 3 days later and I loved almost every moment of having it. When it first came, I plugged it into my MacBook Pro only to find that the iPod showed only a picture of a USB cord pointing to the iTunes logo. I could not figure out what the matter was, so I did some basic troubleshooting, like charging the iPod fully, repairing permissions on my disk, and various other diagnostic techniques. However, I realized after reading some Apple support documents that you had to have the absolute latest version of iTunes. I found out that I had version 9.0.1, where it was necessary to have 9.0.3, which, like they said, was the absolute latest version. After figuring out that little issue, I was able to proceed with the install. It first asked me to register and name my device. Since I name all my electronics human names, I chose Claude for the iPod Touch after some deliberation with the Twitter community. Anyway, it then asked me to sync various things onto the iPod, such as songs, movies, music videos, etc. I chose exactly what I wanted to sync, knowing that it would not quite fill up the whole 32 gigabytes, but it froze in the middle so I had to restart iTunes. It did the same thing 2 more times until I finally got it to work on a fourth launch of the application. After that, everything went extremely smoothly. It proceeded to sync, which took about 2 hours initially, considering all of the data that was being put on, and then I unplugged it and began playing with it. I started with music, as that is the main reason anyone would have an iPod, and I wanted to test out some new earbuds I have in for review that will be discussed on next week’s episode. Anyway, I really enjoyed the music interface, especially the fact that I can search my music, as I have a large library. The genius feature is also great, because I am able to get a good playlist on the go for working out, commuting, and any other time where I like some music on. The Mail application also really stands out to me, because it provides great communications on the go, and allows me to check email when away from my Mac. The only part where I was truly disappointed was the calendar, as I could find no way to sync it with Google Calendar. Overall, though, the iPod was well worth the money, and I recommend it to anyone who wants what I see as the world’s sleekest music player.
Tower Defense Evo
As I am sure you have figured out already, I never can get through an episode without doing a review of some kind of software, today’s being Tower Defense EVO. Tower Defense EVO is an iPod Touch game based off of Microsoft’s ever-popular Tower Defense. On launch, the game just displays a simple splash screen, which allows you to start a new war, resume your current war, and do a few other things. I chose to do a new war, and selected one of the maps on the easy setting, as I am rather new to the game. The main object of the game is to shoot down enemy invaders to the tower by using strategically-placed weapons that shoot in revolving patterns and earn sufficient funds to purchase weapons for the next round. While the game has a simple concept, it is very well-built, and the gameplay and music are both amazing, so I recommend you pick up a copy from its website, as it is only $0.99 U.S.
