iSpazio — iPod touch’s Best Kept Secret

I’m sorry.

I know about iSpazio for quite some time now but I kept it to myself. I wanted to avoid being mistaken as promoting a web site for gains. But I’m enjoying iSpazio so much I feel guilty keeping it wrapped.

iSpazio is the “… first Italian resources dedicated to iPhone and iTouch” (I don’t like that name.) Now, I don’t understand the beautiful Italian language (even though I used to visit Milan yearly for a trade show), so I don’t really know a lot of things about iSpazio. Thanks to Google Translate, I still managed to grab all the goodies it has to offer. Anyhow, despite the language barrier, it’s very obvious there’s a group of very dedicated people behind it. Their Apps reviews are superb; somehow they know what’s (really) new and cool! They even have their own repository that contain unique (I have yet come across one that is Italian only; running them in English is fine) and hard to find apps. Their repository can be added to your Installer at:

http://repo.ispazio.net/

(Isn’t it nice of them to be so thoughtful and put up a short and easy to type url?)

If you have a RSS reader, subscribing to their latest and greatest can’t be easier.

I wish they publish an English edition. Google Translate (for Italian to English) is quite good but still loses some essence during translation.

Oh… you’ll soon discover they keep mentioning something about “iSpazio Best Source”. I still don’t know how it works but oh my lord, it’s really the Best. Look for it in the Sources category after you added their abovementioned repository. Wink.

Ah… I feel better now.

iPod touch Misc Mumbling – Fine Volume Control

I used to find it very difficult to adjust the sound level on the iPod touch. My finger tip covers the volume knob and even though I can somewhat tell it’s right on the knob, when I slide it sometimes the volume level doesn’t change, or changes drastically all of a sudden.

It was so annoying I bring my 1st generation iPod shuffle with me on my morning walk around the park. The shuffle’s clickable volume buttons are so easy to operate, but I miss my fancy iPod touch.

iPod touch’s Pop-up Anywhere Play Music Menu

Have you seen this pop-up menu?

It can pop-up at the Home screen, and just about anywhere (except in the music and the video players) at anytime you want it to. Let’s say you’re surfing in Safari and want to start listening to some grooves…, or you want to change track while calculating, or lower the volume while checking out your delicious spam, or whatever else you do on your iPod touch, you can quickly pop-up the special Play Menu. There’s absolutely no need to switch to the Music Player!

How to do it?

Double-press the Home button. Try it now.

Oh, there’s even a unique one for the Unlock Screen!

iSlot, the best time-killer iPod touch game

I had installed iSlot as one of two games in my iPod touch sometime ago. I never like to play it. I mean… c’mon, it’s such a no-brainer game. Really, what’s so difficult about tapping a button?

Then yesterday I was in a clinic waiting for my turn to see the doctor. My iPod was running low on battery and I didn’t want to play a video or listen to music to kill time. So I played iSlot, and I’m amazed how useful this game. Guys seated next to me were stealing glances and eventually got catch in to the game too. Eventually more and more people gathered around me and I swear I could sell them a few iPod touch.

Two hours later my iPod touch’s battery level barely reduce.

Am I really that lucky to score nine hundred over thousand credits? I wish (although the triple jackpot is real)! That’s a hack. All you need to do is edit the /Library/iSlot/preferences.dat file. It accepts up to 999,999 credits.

Tips: Listen to Music & Surf Simultaneously

Yes, you can do that. While a playlist is playing your favorite tunes in iTunes, just press and release the Home button will bring you to the Springboard. Tap on Safari to start surfing. Your tunes continues to play without interruption. To return to the Music player, press Home and select it again.