New “iPod Nano” Announced Today!

Steve Jobs announced a new iPod Nano today and I think the new design is absolutely adorable! It’s 46% smaller than the previous generation, has a more square design, and has a multi-touch screen interface. There’s a built-in clip so you can easily wear it on your clothes while walking. jogging, or working out. You can rotate the Home screen as well and customize the icons on it. This new iPod Nano also has a built-in FM radio, which is nice if you need to catch the news on the go! Best of all, it comes in a variety of colors: (Red is available exclusively on Apple.com).

I would love to get one of these — in pink, blue, or green! — but I don’t really need one. I already have an older iPod Shuffle (that I got as a gift) and it works great when I’m working out. But these pretty colors and the cute multi-touch screen is quite tempting. Plus, it makes a great fashion statement, but that means you’ll need more than one to compliment your outfits!

The camera has been removed in this version, which I think is a good call on Apple. A camera on a tiny device like this wouldn’t make sense. It’s already hard to hold and the quality wouldn’t be that great.

The 8GB model is $149 and the 16GB model is $179. They’re available for purchase starting today. If you’re interested in getting one, I suggest heading down to your local Apple store to try it out. For more information about the new 6th generation iPod Nano, see the official website.

Bargain iPhone Apps

The holidays are fast approaching and sales are all around us! I’ve been watching the “App” Market and seeing a lot of prices drop. So where can you spend your iTunes gift card and get the best bang for your buck? Here is a list of some iphone / iPod Touch apps that I thought were noteworthy and worth your time and money:

General Games

Ramp Champ, originally $1.99, is now Free for a limited time! Overall, it’s a skee-ball app with a lot of personality! Play with various ramps and discover hidden Easter eggs. Win tickets and redeem them for virtual prizes. Beautiful graphics and the music reminds me of the good old carnival days. (iTunes | Full review)

TouchPetsDogs is an adorable virtual pet game that’s perfect for the whole family. Adopt a puppy or two and teach them tricks, dress them up, and even take them on playdates with your friends’ dogs. It’s a great social game every animal lover will enjoy. TouchPetsDogs 10 was 99 cents, but is currently free. This version comes with 10 (plus an extra 8) bowls of food for the dog and is the best bargain out of all the TouchPetsDogs versions. (iTunes | Full review)

Nut Chuckin’ is an adorable game starring squirrels. This game features original artwork, unique gameplay and custom music. Help Risoo the squirrel hop up the ladder of branches as he dodge nuts chucked at him from a few trouble-making squirrels! New Lite version is available. Full version is only 99 cents. (iTunes)

South Park Mega Millionaire Originally $2.99, this little treat is now only 99 cents. It’s a great game for any South Park fan. The South Park boys are on a Japanese game show where they have to rollerskate their way to win millions. Filled with bleeped out profanity, this game may be offensive to some and hilarious to others. (iTunes)

Cro-Mag Rally Featured in Apple TV ads and in the Apple store, this app and all of Pangea Software apps have been dropped in price to only $1.99 cents (originally $2.99). If you like Mario Kart and other racing apps, try this pre-historic version of the game! It reminds me of the Flintstones. (iTunes)

Eliminate Pro allows you to play head-to-head combat with friends! It’s a first person shooter game that has the feel of Doom. You can play can play against anyone with the iPhone app installed. It’s real-time and a Plus+ Network account is needed (free). There are also in-app purchases, but they’re not necessary to have fun! The game is free. (iTunes)

Crazy Penguin Christmas is the holiday version of Crazy Penguin Catapult 1 and 2. Help save Santa and the elves from mean polar bears by catapulting penguins to the rescue. The app is currently 99 cents, but I suggest trying the Lite version first to see if you like it. (iTunes: Full | Lite)

Puzzle Games

Arctic Shuffle 2 is a cute little puzzler featuring cuddly penguins. Slide them across the ice, bump them off of glaciers, and make one land safely on the target to collect points. Great quick and casual game. In-App purchases include plenty of levels to keep you busy. It’s currently $1.99 in the App store, but a Lite version is also available for free. (iTunes: Full | Lite)

Finger Physics is really cute! There’s a bunch of physics-related mini games with adorable graphics. Games include creating a stable contraption with various shapes, eliminating pieces to make an egg roll to a specific destination, and many more. It’s worth a lot more than it’s 99 cent price tag. A lite version is also available for free to try out. (iTunes: Full | Lite)

Zombie Pizza combines my two favorite types of games into one — puzzle and time management game. It gets your brains racking.. and on pizzas! Add hearts, brains, and other disgusting body parts onto pizzas to feed zombies before they eat you! It’s currently $1.99 in the iTunes App store. (iTunes: Full | Lite)

Frogger is great if you like the classic arcade games. Toggle between classic and new graphics. Hop your frogs to safety to the other side of the pond and get rewarded. This game requires good timing skills and just fast thinking! This game was $7.99 when it was first in the app store. Now it’s only for 99 cents! (iTunes)

Flipside is a fast-action puzzle game with various modes to play with. This game is a combination of Tetris and Match 3 games. Beautiful graphics and hilarious sounds. There’s also a ton of levels that makes the price of $2.99 well-worth it. Just a warning, this game can be quite addictive. I’ll see you on the Flipside! (iTunes)

Collapse Chaos is one of my old favorites! I use to play this all the time. Tap matching gems and combine them to earn big points. Usually $1.99, now only 99 cents. It’s a very good game if you’re standing in line or something. (iTunes)
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Educational

Little Cook. Got a little one who loves working in the kitchen? Let them try out Little Cook and cook up their own tasty treats (without the mess!) They can select one of 7 dishes to make and a put their cooking to the test with the young critic. Create a tasty treat, and the critic will be happy and give lots of compliments. Create a disastrous meal and the critic will ask you if this was your first time cooking. I find the comments hilarious, and it’s such a great educational game for your little one. This game is aimed at ages 4-7 and is available in the iTunes App store for just 99 cents. (iTunes)

Brain Quest Blast Off! comes in various levels and are educational games in fields of math, science, and more. Originally $14.99, each grade level app is now only 99 cents. Learning has never been so much fun!
(iTunes: Grade 2 – Grade 3 – Grade 4 – Grade 5 – Grade 6 – Grade 7)

Graphics

Photoshop.com Mobile is one of my favorite image editing apps on the iPhone. There are not as many options like the desktop version of Photoshop, but it’s just enough to make editing your photos on the go, easy. Brightening and cropping photos is a cinch. I also like the effects available. My favorite is the Vignette Blur effect. Best of all, it’s free! (iTunes)

SketchBookX is a great professional on-the-go artist tool. If you ever want to doodle while you’re out, this is the app to have. All of your artist tools are available; just use your finger or a special stylist to start drawing. This is the free version of SketchBook Mobile. (iTunes)

I hope you were able to discover some great new apps for your iPhone/iPod touch. I spend a lot of time testing out apps, so you don’t have to! :) Let me know if you like these kinds of mini-review posts.

So, what are your favorite iPhone / iPod Touch Apps?

iPhone App Review: Kindle for iPhone

Name: Kindle for iPhone (iTunes Link)
Written By: Amazon.com
Category: Books
Price: Free
Size: 3.9 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch
Version: 1.1
Rate: 4.5 Stars

Do you enjoy reading books? Well now you can on your iPhone! If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, download and install the Kindle iPhone app. Once it’s installed, click on the little (i) on the lower right, then click on “Register this device.” Log in with your Amazon account, then click “Register.”

Read more

ChocoPod

@hotmilkgt (Tony Wang from Twit.TV & 3rdGearTV) was in Japan recently and got me this is awesome gift. When I opened the mailing package, I kept wondering how he brought this chocolate to the U.S. without it melting.

haha.. when I finally opened up the box, I found an even more pleasant surprise. I love it, thanks Tony! Watch the video to find out what it is. ;)

iPhone App Review: PAC-Man Lite

Name: PAC-MAN Lite
Written By: Electronic Arts
Category: Games
Price: Free
Size: 1.7 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch

Ahh, the classic Pac-Man game is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. There are two modes — accelerometer, swipe, d-pad. Accelerometer mode allows you to move Pac-Man by leaning and rotating the iPhone. In swipe mode, you can swipe across the screen to move PAC-MAN in that direction. And last, D-Pad is a directional pad at the bottom of the screen, similar to a game controller.

I tested all three modes and I think Swipe is the easiest to maneuver, but the accelerometer is the most fun mode. It sure brings back childhood memories for me. Try it out for yourself! (iTunes Link)

Note: People mentioned in the reviews that this app does not work on the iPod Touch 1st gen, but it seems to be working perfectly fine for me. Please let me know me if you experience anything different.

Apple Store in Vegas

Yes, I had to stop by the Apple store while in Vegas and snap some photos. :)

Twice as fast. Half the price. 30 times bigger than the first version. ;)

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iPod Nano – Just Shake It!

I was at the Apple store in Las Vegas, Nevada and finally got my hands on the new iPod nano. Boy it’s cute! And it comes in an array of colors! My favorite feature, if you haven’t guessed it already, is the shake feature! Just shake it and it’ll play a random song. ;)

(Sorry about the video quality! I’m such a video n0ob!)

Copy and Paste for iPhone

Breaking News! Finally, a way to copy and paste between apps on the iPhone/ipod Touch! This was reported by GeekBrief.Tv!

Cut and Paste for iPhone from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.

Sources: GeekBrief.TV, OpenClip.

iPhone App: Crazy Eyes

I bought the Crazy Eye app! Just a silly app to display different eyes!

Crazy Mouth Daynah!

I had so much fun playing with the Crazy Mouth (Lite) iPhone app that I bought the full version for only 99 cents! It’s very simple to use and has great entertainment value!

The requirements say it’s only compatible with the iPhone, but it also works on the iPod Touch. However, you can only hear the sounds when you have the headphones plugged in.

Sample photo of what you can do is above.. video to come. ;)

Do you have the app? Post a photo of you using it in the comments!!

More photos..
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iPhone App: Cookie Bonus Solitaire

I was playing this game, Cookie Bonus Solitare, this morning and loved it. It’s an iphone/ipod touch Solitare game with a cookie twist. You’re also able to connect online and chat with other people playing the game. I’ve already finished level 1, here’s my score:

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iTunes App Updates

I was wondering what would happen if new versions of the iTunes Apps were available. And I found out my answer today. I was checking my iPod Touch and above the App Store icon, there was a number in red. I clicked on it and it showed me all the updated Apps for today. So I went ahead and logged into iTunes and re-downloaded the apps. Since I bought it previously (for free), I was able to download another version of it. I imagine this would be the same for paid apps too. Here are the screenshots.

Today I updated and synced new versions of PhoneSaber, Pandora Radio, and Facebook. If you installed these apps previously, you may want to update them as well.

An Apple a Day

An apple a day, keeps the doctor away. Not to mention gives me a lot of happiness. ;) Don’t you love shiny toys? I can’t wait to visit the Apple Store in New York! I heard it’s made of glass!

(Photo taken by Al Morita)

iPod Podcast Description

Here’s one of my favorite toys to play with during lunch. And I learned a new trick. If you press the middle button, the podcast’s description will be displayed. I just happened to be listening to JapanesePod101 again. Moving on to the Intermediate level now!

iPod Shuffle

My friend won an ipod shuffle and she gave it to me (since she has one already) and I’ve been using it like crazy. It’s so nice to be able to clip it to my clothes and not worry about it falling anywhere. I always worried when I use my iPod classic.

I jam packed it with lessons from JapanesePod101 and learned Japanese while gardening in the yard last weekend. :D

New iPod Nano

The new iPod Nanos are simply adorable! And video works on them now!