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I’ve wanted a set of AppleDesign powered speakers since I first head them in a classroom in middle school, they look like typical computer speakers but have a very unique and memorable sound. After years of kinda-sorta searching for a pair I finally posted a want ad on the 68kMLA forums and got a response. $20 and a few days of shipping later they’re on my shelf.

When mentioning these speakers, you have to talk about the Apple PowerCD, an esoteric piece of hardware Apple sold for a short time in the mid 90’s that served a dual purpose as a standalone CD player and a CD-ROM drive for Macs. The AppleDesign speakers were designed to be used with this device, so they have two stereo jack inputs, one marked for the CD player and one marked for a Mac. My current setup has an iPhone/iPod dock plugged into the CD port and my TiBook in the Mac port, this works wonderfully and I think it’s a pretty satisfying way to bring sixteen year old technology into modern times.

I restored my iPhone last night, removing the old jailbreak and installing firmware 2.0. After several hours of playing with the free apps available on iTunes I’ve got a nice suite of software on the thing, and apart from the lack of any sort of IRC client I don’t feel the need to jailbreak again. There’s a ton of garbage on the app store, but there is some great software out there that may be difficult to find because browsing the store is very cumbersome. Here’s a look at some of the best (free) offerings.

IGN Reviews - A handy way to see how IGN has rated games at a glance. I don’t put much stock into their reviews, but it’s nice for a general idea and much easier than trying to navigate their ad heavy site with Safari.

Remote - One of the two first party apps available at the moment, this lets you use your iPhone to control iTunes. A very slick app. Apple’s other first party app is Texas Hold Em, which I haven’t bothered with since I’m not interested in card games, people who have tried it seem to love it.

Shazam - This identifies music you hear, you just hold the iPhone to the speaker and it gives you the artist, track, and album data among other things. Really impressive, it’s been 100% accurate so far, even with more obscure music.

Pandora - An iPod interface for the Pandora predictive radio service. You feed it artists you like and it creates a custom radio station based on your tastes, by finding similar artists. It’s a great way to discover new music. My Aesop Rock x Boards of Canada x Tosca station is pretty sweet.

AP Mobile News - Just straight news from the wire, neatly sorted and well presented. Another app that reduces the need to use Safari.

AIM - The official AOL Instant Messenger client, surprisingly not crap, but I’d still prefer to use Adium if that ever gets released.

Cube Runner - A very simple 3D StarFox-esque game where you navigate a ship around a field of cubes using the accelerometer. Surprisingly fun and the control is really impressive and tight. I hear it controls better than pay games that use the montion controls.

AOL Radio - It’s kind of like turning your iPhone into a satellite radio reciever. Pretty good selection of stations.

Wordpress - I’ve already posted about this, it allows you to manage a Wordpress blog from anywhere and it’s awesome.

Jared - Best thing on the store. Just get it.

Not free, but there’s a port of Vay out. This and Hudson’s Bomberman Touch and Aqua Forest will probably be the only things I pay for on the app store.