Likely the last episode of Toy Bot series of games for the iPod Touch, Toy Bot Diaries 3 is also easily my favorite. More polished and generally satisfying than the previous two iterations, it brings a sense of closure to the story - which makes it all the more memorable if you played the earlier games.
Like the original Toy Bot games, this one features touch and grapple gameplay, which means you’ll be tapping and pressing on your Touch’s screen the whole time. This cohesiveness next to its earlier iterations is very impressive and makes it feel like a single game spread out across several releases. It features unusual environments that alter the physics a bit, like upside-down areas and reverse gravity scenes, along with more than a few not found in episodes 1 and 2.
This one is also more challenging, albeit noticeably shorter. Still, you can’t fault any game that makes you want to throw your iPod Touch at the wall due to sheer frustration. The story in Entry 3 is actually pretty good and you’ll likely be praising IUGO for it. Until, that is, you realize that the tale is ripped straight out of Star Wars, in which case you’ll probably get a laugh or be seriously pissed off.
Featuring pretty original gameplay, the series definitely offers something new and different. You can even catch a sampling if you’d like to test drive it - IUGO is offering a free iPod Touch download with a couple of levels. Toy Bot Diaries Entry 3, like each of the previous two games, is available from the App Store for $3.99.
I hate looking for apps in the App Store. With tens of thousands of apps currently listed (and growing), wading through the iTunes interface to find the exact one you need isn’t the friendliest experience. In fact, I just spent the better part of yesterday looking for a few 80s-era games rendered for the iPod Touch. I eventually found them but let’s just say they were buried deep under the heap.
With new apps jumping on the App Store on a daily basis, there has to be an easier way to find new apps that suit your needs, right? Personally, I’m hoping that iTunes gets an overhaul to provide it. While I’m waiting for that (in not so baited breath), I’ll probably just stick to One Juicer’s service.
One Juicer lets you receive email alerts when new apps that might interest you gets included in the App Store’s inventory. You can filter the email according to specific ones you want by entering keywords. For instance, when putting in “VOIP” or “voice chat”, you can get email alerts every time an app comes out with those words in its title or description. When you first subscribe for alerts to a keyword, you’ll get an email listing all the apps currently in the store that matches it. Subsequent emails will then be sent every time a new match is found.
While not the perfect way to get the perfect app, it’s a decent solution and a useful first step that just might come in handy. Sure beats having to search through the interface day after day. It’s also free and easy to setup, so there’s nothing to lose.
If you got in during the free download frenzy for Simplify Media earlier this year, lucky you. For iPod users who clued in late to the “First 100,000 Downloads Free” promo, though, shelling out the $3.99 listed price is still an absolute bargain.
Designed for both the Touch and the iPhone, Simplify Media is an awesome software that lets you tap into your entire media collection from a single source. That means if you have a couple of networked PCs at home plus a media server, for instance, you can give your Ipod Touch access to all media files in each PC without having to download them one by one.
Each home machine will need to be installed with a desktop component for the app, which is available free for Windows, Mac and Linux. Once set up, all playable media on each machine should be available on your iPod Touch unit, by connecting either via WiFi, EDGE or 3G.
You can browse through the listings 9jump navigation is supported) or sort them by various fields such as artist, album or genre. iTunes libraries for up to 30 of your friends can also be accessed via the web, as long as their computers are online. Cover art, artist bio and lyrics can also be accessed for all songs.
I had a similar app before for my iPod Classic and that thing cost around $40, if I remember it right. This below-$5 utility is a serious must-have for every iPod Touch user - all that functionality and price just can’t be beat.
