Make Your Gizmos Work for You: iPod Touch

Everyone has so many gizmos and gadgets these days. Have you ever considered using your gizmos for work? You can put your gizmos to work in a multitude of ways. Last week my post was about how to use your Kindle to work for you. Today, I would like to suggest ways you can use your iPod Touch for business.

iPod Touch Features
The iPod Touch is a personal media player made by Apple. The iPod Touch uses the same platform as the iPhone (also by Apple), except the iPod Touch doesn’t have cellular capabilities. Even so, this gizmo offers connection to the Internet via WiFi, making it a useful gadget for communication and more. The iPod also allows offers a Bluetooth connection for Bluetooth keyboards, headphones and more. In addition, the iPod Touch has a nice long-lasting battery. The battery offers about 40 hours of audio playback time, and up to seven hours of video playback on a full charge.

The iPod Touch also connects to the iTunes store, allowing you to buy or rent movies, download music and podcasts. The iPod Touch also offers two built-in cameras—front and back—that can be used for video conferencing. One of the cameras also acts like a point-and-shoot camera, allowing you to take pictures anywhere and share them with friends immediately if you have a WiFi connection. Gamers also love the iPod Touch. You can play games solo, or with friends using an Internet connection. All of these features make for a compact and fun personal media player. But did you know you can actually make your iPod Touch work for you?

The iPod Touch is customizable with small programs called “apps” (short for applications). Apps are available in the iTunes store, with prices varying from free on up. Apps run different programs on the iPod Touch—everything from gaming to business and health apps. Apps allow you to customize your gizmo in ways to enhance your life and business.

Business Apps for iPod Touch
We have so many expensive gizmos, why not put them to work for us? If you can’t afford an iPhone or other smartphone, then consider using your iPod Touch with the very same apps that work on the iPhone. The iPod Touch is capable of a wide assortment of every day business applications from accounting to communication and even functioning as an ereader. All of these apps can help with your business. You can find further details by reading these articles: iPod Touch: Free Business Apps and iPod Touch Free Productivity, Travel and Business Apps. Here are a few of my favorite apps for business and more.

Communication
Skype: just like the Skype program you use on your desktop or laptop. Skype is a great way to handle business and personal communications when you’re away from your office or home.

Text Plus: is a low cost, or even free way of sending text messages to anyone in the United States and Canada. Just connect to the Internet with

Social Networking
Facebook: is an app that allows you to connect to your Facebook account, and stay in touch with family, friends and business colleagues.

Twitter: helps you to connect instantly to your Twitter stream, and have immediate access to all the news on your Twitter stream.

LinkedIN: allows you to connect to your professional network. You can send and receive messages, receive updates from your network and more, all in real-time.

Productivity
Dragon Dictation: is speech recognition software that allows you to dictate memos, letters, articles and more. It’s necessary to have a set of ear phones that includes a microphone. The iPod Touch comes with its own set of earphones that do have a microphone.

iTalk Recorder 4.0 Lite: is another dictation app that allows you to record notes, lectures and more.

Evernote: is an application that helps you to make to-do lists and remember important dates, events and business meetings. You can use your iPod Touch’s embedded microphone (built into the earphones) or the iPod Touch’s built-in (on the touch-screen) Qwerty keyboard to input important dates and memos. These then can synchronize with the Evernote program on your desktop or laptop computer to stay organized with your to-do’s and memos.

Hours Tracker Lite: provides an easy way to track your billable hours, expenses and earnings.

MailChimp: is a free email newsletter service. You can send and manage newsletters directly from your iPod Touch. A free MailChimp account is necessary, and allows you to have up to 1,000 subscribers and to send 6,000 emails per month.

Kindle: an app that turns your iPod Touch into a Kindle ebook reader. I use this app when traveling—there are times the Kindle is too large to pack. The Kindle app allows you to sync all of your books between your Kindle and iPod Touch. You can be reading one book on Kindle, and then pick up right where you left off reading when you change over to your iPod Touch.

Web Apps
Google Mobile: brings fast Google searches to your iPod Touch, including voice searches. This app also allows you to connect to your web-based email, Google Earth and more.

Posterous: allows you to create blog posts directly on your iPod Touch and send them to your Posterous blogs. You can make this an easier job by using a Bluetooth keyboard to write your post on the iPod Touch.

DropBox: this app allows you to upload files to your online storage account at Dropbox. Free accounts allow for up to 2GB of storage, with paid accounts offering much larger storage. You can store photos, important documents, and more. The Dropbox app also allows you to sync between your laptop and iPod Touch.

PayPal: allows you to have access to your PayPal accounts and keep track of funds. You can send and receive funds via this iPod Touch app, and access all transactions on your PayPal account.

These are only a small sample of the business apps available for your iPod Touch. If you have an iPod Touch, or are contemplating buying one, then be sure to check out all these free apps, and search for others that will help you to customize your iPod Touch and use it as a helpful business tool. The iPod Touch is less expensive than the iPhone, while offering a way to take care of business when you’re away from your office. I use my iPod Touch in this way and have found it be a great bargain (no monthly fees or data limits), and to be helpful tool. Our gizmos become more than just “toys” when we make them work for us, enabling us to be more productive, while also saving money.

Happy writing!
Sher