iPod Touch

Apart from the free upgrades, I've also been redeeming my frequent flyer points for toys - a 32 GB iPod Touch!

For those who don't know, it's much more than a normal iPod - it doesn't just play music and movies, it's also a mini computer for web browsing and games. It has pseudo-GPS by knowing the location of the Wi-Fi network you're connected to (not very accurate but I think it might improve once SkyHook has gathered enough info). I've been filling it with other useful applications like dictionaries, a toilet locator, a unit converter, an ebook reader, movie times and a fart machine.

It's not a phone but it has Skype so, with the new headset that includes a mic, I can use it as a phone wherever there's wi-fi. And in Bloomington there's free wi-fi everywhere - campus, cafés, restaurants and everyone's apartments.

I'm very happy with it so far. The only disappointment is that it doesn't work with my old Firewire iPod charger so I'll have to by a cheap compact USB charger from eBay. (Which is easier said than done. It's great to see the chargers getting so much smaller but the first batch of Apple chargers were recalled. These old ones and new fakes are being sold on eBay and apparently most of the fakes are not compatible with my model of iPod. But I didn't even get a chance to try to the first one I bought, that seller's gone out of business, luckily before I could pay him. Now I've bought a pair of cheap $1.37 chargers that don't try to mimic Apple's style but say explicitly that they work with the 3rd generation iPod Touch.)

I am really looking forward to taking it to campus on days when I don't feel like carrying the laptop and bringing it out at French table when we need to look something up.