I just replaced my headphone connector on my 1st Gen iPod Touch when I had it open to replace the battery. Now I can actually use it as an iPod again. Good timing too, because the dock connector on my 1st Gen iPod Nano that I had been using to listen to podcasts is now pretty much shot, so I have no choice but to use my iPod Touch as my sole device for podcasts.
Even if I had a computer running Windows, I would refuse to degrade it by installing the piece of crap Apple calls iTunes, so the only way I can get podcasts on the iPod touch is using the iTunes store on the device itself. The problem is not every podcast is listed on the iTunes store. There’s no way to get non-iTunes approved podcasts on the device. I found a work around using Dropbox. I remembered that Dropbox on the iPod Touch will play any media file located in the dropbox. So I set up a folder called Podcasts and sub folders for each podcast in my dropbox and told my podcatcher (Amarok) to download the renegade podcasts there. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by benjamen as Amarok, Dropbox, iPhone/iPod Touch, podcast at 4:35 PM UTC
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I’ve been using eReader to read eBooks on my iPod Touch, but a recent update removed the ability to load your eBooks onto the iPod from your own webserver. They claim they’ve fixed it now, but instead being able to browse directories for books you have to create some convoluted file linking to each book.
The next best reader is Stanza, but it only takes books of the epub format. Thanks to calibre, you can convert most formats to epub. As a bouns you can turn on a server that allows you to connect with your iPod and download the books you converted.
What I don’t understand is why so many people praise Stanza. Compared to eReader it’s bloated and slow. For no reason in the middle of the book, the spinning wheel appears and you have to wait 30 seconds to get to the next page. Same thing if happens when you start the program, turn on the iPod, or go to a bookmark. eReader did take a little while to load a book, but once it was loaded, there were no more delays. I’ve read 4 books with Stanza and it is just barely usable.
From what I understand part of the problem with eBook readers is that Apple limits their functionality. I think that the other problem is the companies who develop these programs want to lock you into their system and make it difficult to use books from any other source. There’s really no reason to lock you into a single format or limit the places you can get books from other than corporate stupidity. It’s sad really. The iPod Touch and iPhone could be really great platforms for reading books.
Posted by benjamen as Stanza, eReader, iPhone/iPod Touch at 6:33 PM UTC
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I’m experimenting with the WPtouch plugin for Wordpress on this site. I’m very pleased with how it looks on my iPod Touch.
Posted by benjamen as Wordpress, iPhone/iPod Touch at 8:03 AM UTC
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I’ve recently become addicted to Sudoku on my iPod (previously it was Canfield solitaire). The version I like to play is Sudoku from Mighty Mighty Good Games I found a really good site explaining different strategies for solving puzzles.
Sudoku Dragon Strategy Page
Update:
Here’s another good site for Sudoku strategies:
The Castraware Sudodu site
Posted by benjamen as Sudoku, games, iPhone/iPod Touch at 8:24 PM UTC
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This is a post to test writing from my iPod Touch. I don’t think I’ll be doing this to often because it’s a pain to use the onscreen keyboard
Posted by bens-ipod as iPhone/iPod Touch at 6:59 PM UTC
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I’ve been happily running my iPod Touch with it’s original 1.1.4 firmware (jailbroken of course), but there were some apps that I really wanted from the App Store. I bit my pride, grudgingly loaded iTunes on my laptop, signed up for an iTunes account, and downloaded the 2.1 upgrade.
I discovered that although iTunes can run over USB1.1, upgrading firmware doesn’t work so well. I totally bricked the iPod while trying to upgrade. The laptop happily reported that something was plugged in, but iTunes would have nothing to do with the device, so I could restore it. At that point I went to bed angry and had weird dreams about installing software.
The next morning, I dug up my copy of XP (activated for VMWare) and preceded to load it on a spare computer that actually had USB 2.0. I didn’t hook up the network because I didn’t want to accidentally activate it, I just need it to unbrick my iPod. Then I discovered that iTunes refused to do anything until I hooked it up to the network — ugh. After that iTunes recognized the iPod, restored it to the 2.1 firmware the iPod rebooted into 2.1
Jailbreaking was also an easy process, the only road bump I hit was having to load the latest .NET ont the computer before Quickpwn would run.
Lessons learned:
- Although Apple make cool hardware, it’s proprietary software sucks
- Don’t try to upgrade or restore and iPod over USB 1.1
- iTunes requires an internet connection before it’ll recognize an iPod Touch for the first time.
- QuickPwn requires .NET
Posted by benjamen as XP, computer, electronics, iPhone/iPod Touch at 8:48 PM UTC
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I bought an Inspire USB Power adapter to charge my new iPod Touch by my bedside and when I travel. While I have had no problems with it fully charging my iPod, the other night when I was browsing the web when while I was charging my iPod, scrolling through web pages was very jerky. When I tried to select something it would just jerk out of the way. I had really crushed my iPod screen eariler that day when it was in my pocket and I thought: “great less then two weeks old and I already broke it!”
So I tested a few other apps, and noticed that some had problems and some didn’t. Most noticeably, I couldn’t even play iSolitaire. Grabbing and moving the cards was impossible. Then I thought that maybe charing the iPod while using it was the problem. So, I unplugged the cable and the touchscreen responded normally again.
The problem hit me. The 5V from the cheap USB adapter had to be noisy. The adapter is so light and cheap there can’t be much for voltage regulation, especially under a load like charging the battery. Since the touch screen is a very sensitive, it must be vulnerable to small voltage fluctuations. I tested my theory by plugging the iPod into a USB hub to charge it and found the touch screen operated normally. I don’t currently had an o-scope to test my theory that the 5V regulation is crappy on the Inspire adapter, but I’d wager I’m right.
The moral of the story is if you start to see erratic touch screen behavior when you’re plugged-in — don’t freak — it’ll probably work fine when you unplug it. You may want to get a better adapter or try a different USB port –it’s not worth the risk of damaging you device.
Posted by benjamen as electronics, iPhone/iPod Touch at 2:41 PM UTC
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