Right, so bear with me here: this week our apps are all about learning new things, understanding the world around you, meeting new people, playing extremely silly games in large groups. Sort of like being a kid again! No? Ok.

Loopt for iPod Touch: The Loopt iPhone app has been around as long as, well, iPhone apps. Since 2008, it’s earned its keep as one of the only useful friend-locating apps. Just about every mobile platform has a client, with one notable exception: the iPod Touch. That, along with Of course, Loopt isn’t quite the same without GPS, but Wi-Fi location will get you by in a bind. Still waiting for a proper 3.0 version though. Free.

Take this clever, if obvious, idea for a game: A map of wherever you are is overlaid with letters, which you and you teammates can collect by physically running to their icons. Your goal is to come up with words for points, Scrabble-style. It’s a very, very cool idea, and decidedly sweatier than your typical iPhone game. A buck.


Skype: Another incremental update to another extremely popular app. This one gets an interface lift, but most importantly, two useful features for people who use Skype’s pay services: text messaging with SkypeOut credit (good for cheap international texts; bad for having no reply function), and Skype Voicemail support. Voicemail support is a bigger deal than it sounds: since receiving calls when you’re out is still pretty much out of the question, the voicemail access makes being out of touch a little less irritating. Still free.

The main draw is that there are tons of new file functions: emailing, which is a huge help; direct printing, via OS X printer sharing; archiving abilities, including viewing archive contents without extracting. It’s a bit like a walled-in version of Finder, and the closest to a proper file browser you’re going to get on a non-jailbroken iPhone.
This Week’s App News on Giz:
• Facebook 3.0 for iPhone Adds Events and Photo Albums, But No Push (Yet)
• Apple’s Nudie App Headaches Now Involve Underage Girls
• iPhone OS 3.1 Features: Better Video Editing, Voice Control Over Bluetooth, And More
• Remarkable Speech-to-Speech Voice Translator Coming to iPhone and Blackberry
• Birdfeed Twitter App Review: Lean, Fast and Pretty
• Doom Resurrection for iPhone Hits the App Store, Costs $US10
• A Whole Lotta Quake Will Be Blowing Up Your iPhone
This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. Have a good weekend everybody.