It accomplished various things - traditionally animators like myself would bring dvd's or vhs tapes years ago to show on the floors of Siggraph or now shows like CTN. It's cumbersome - laptops sometimes barf after playing different dvd's all day - Wifi service in the hotels drops in and out and it just makes carrying dvd's around problematic.

Portfolios are the same way - art directors like to see that you have made a portfolio targetted to their needs and don't want to see you environment designs if they are looking for a character artist. Carrying or manipulating your samples in front of someone just looks bad - and it's a good way to make a big mess of your samples.

Enter devices like the iPod Touch - I loaded my demo reel and various albums of artwork onto the device and went to the expo - I managed to show my demo reel to three very large studios, my portfolio to the other publishers and fellow artists and without fail this particular field benefits from the high quality presentation of material regardless of it's size. These are professional and technically savvy people and I felt every one of them truly appreciate the simplicity and manageability the iPod presented them.

Now this was definitely a tech savvy crowd - there were gadgets everywhere, iPads galore, laptops, Modbooks and Cintiqs flooded this place - it's a given to them and I think that every piece of technology ultimately finds uses for which its creators had no intention. I will definitely be making this device a "go-to" for being able to quickly and easily interact with someone who is interested in my work.

I am by no means an Apple fan either - the only product I have ever purchased from apple has been Quicktime Pro up until this point and many animators an effects artists purchase it as well as one of the many standards in media and entertainment delivery. But the iPod Touch and the iPad have been finding a myriad of uses for professionals in the entertainment media industry which I do not think the mainstream media has quite caught onto yet.

It's a terrific work tool.

In addition to email/IM and some basic note-taking capability, you have document review and access on the spot to web-based data in the event you're at a "no laptops" meeting.

Further, there are several good RDP/remote login programs to allow sys admins to tend their servers without needing to leave ... where ever they are. While I'm not sure I could justify having an entire IT department outfitted with 32gb'ers, 8s would not be out of the question.

Yes, I play games on my iPod and I actually do use it for music, though that's probably the least of its uses for me. But I check mail on it constantly. I IM with members of my group and can track document changes made to group files on Zoho. I take notes in a couple of different apps (notebooks, ToFU editor) and can access those from other computers via wifi and can get files off those machines the same way. It's my calendar-in-pocket. It makes available most of my Evernote notes. Hell, I successfully remotely logged into my iMac and worked there, although it's hard to navigate a 20" screen on a 3 inch one.

My one wish for my iPT? That it had bluetooth so I could use an external pop-out keyboard like the one I used to use with my Clie': then we'd truly have a leetle computer residing in the pocket. Until then, it's still an insanely useful addition to my working day.

It IS a wonder gadget if you're not blinded by self-loathing and general whingingness.

'You can’t even use it to call and make appointments.' Not surprising, seeing as it isn't a phone.

go to youtube, search for jailbreak with Ziphone. Follow all the instructions and you can have apps galore. You can use skypeforiPhone.com with the Touch. I bought a monster Isplitter for $10 and use my computer headset to make calls on both SIP severs and Skype. There is a fee for using IM+Skype. I think it is like 5 bucks or something. For the SIP providers go to touchmods.net They are also the first ones to make a microphone and headset for the touch. They are also the first ones to make a call on the touch. Hope you enjoy! I do! hehe!

I just justified getting 32 gb touches for my it staff as I vnc'd into my office with mine.

I would like to use a GPS module and Google maps (without constant wifi contact) to turn the ipod touch into a moving map GPS device.

I would like to be able to make Skype phone calls with the ipod touch.

I would like to be able to make quick notes on the ipod touch and have them synced with MS office.