Thanks to a multitude of applications and new technical features, you can do many cool things with an iPod Touch.
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Apple's iPod Touch is a hand held MP3-playing device with a multi-touch screen display that runs applications and can connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi. You interact with it by tapping, sliding and pinching your fingers on the glass surface to launch applications, type on a virtual keyboard, change settings, enlarge web pages for a better view and flip pages in an e-book. In combination with Apple's technology, there are thousands of applications, also known as "apps" that you can download from the App Store that let you to do a number of cool things with an iPod Touch.
Identify Music and TV Shows
If you are curious about a song playing on the radio or over loudspeakers in a store, you might not want to wait for the announcer to identify it or for a sales clerk to go and find the CD. Launch a music-identifying app, such as Shazam or Sound Hound. The iPod will briefly listen to the music and compare it to audio signatures in a database to identify it for you. While watching a TV show, you might want to know what it is, or what season or episode you are seeing. Launch the IntoNow app. It will listen to the show's audio, compare it to its database of anything that's run on TV in the last five years, and tell you what you are watching. A Wi-Fi connection to the Internet is needed to identify music and TV shows.
Webcams
With a flick of the finger on your iPod Touch, you can browse through pages of webcam feeds from around the world over a Wi-Fi connection. You'll see elephants in the San Diego Zoo, a multitude of aquariums filled with fish, major intersections in big cities, construction sites and more. Launch a webcam viewing app such as Live Cams, which lets you search by keywords for interesting live feeds, save favorites in a grid so you can see 12 cameras at once, control the camera by zooming and panning, and take screen shots of interesting events.
Perform Music
Take advantage of the iPod Touch's multitouch display by using it to perform music. You can download apps that turn the display into a piano keyboard, which you tap on to play notes and chords, or slide to adjust the octave up and down. There are synthesizer apps that let you twirl virtual knobs to adjust sound parameters, and drum pattern apps that you can use to construct rhythms. There are apps that let you control the pitch and volume of a sound by waving the iPod Touch in the air.
Free Video Calls
The iPod Touch has two built-in cameras. One is on the front and the other is on the back. When you connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi, you can launch the FaceTime app and make free video calls with other people using FaceTime on their iPod Touch, iPhone or computer running the desktop version of FaceTime. People can see you through the camera on the front, or you can switch to the camera on the back so they can see whatever you see.
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- Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images
