Try the best free apps for your iPhone or iPod Touch

— -- More than 500 million apps have been downloaded through iTunes. The popularity of Apple's Apps Store is no surprise. Apps can really expand your iPhone's or iPod Touch's abilities.

Apps are small programs that run on the iPhone or iPod Touch. There are apps for almost anything you desire. Most cost a few dollars; others are free. Here are some of my favorite free apps.

Evernote

Need to take notes on the go? Apple installs a note program on the iPhone and Touch. But Evernote is more flexible. You can upload notes using your computer via Evernote's site. This is perfect for long notes.

You can also create new notes from your iPhone or Touch. Notes aren't limited to text. You can create voice or photo notes.

Google Earth

Google Earth will help you find directions and local attractions on the go. It also provides satellite imagery and topographical details. Or view relevant panoramic photos and Wikipedia entries. It's easier to navigate than the built-in Maps application. For example, Google Earth responds when you tilt your phone or Touch.

Photo apps

PanoLab lets you create panoramas from up to 30 images. Take new images or use ones already on your iPhone or Touch. Perspective is automatically corrected.

Your photos aren't always flawless. SP Photo Fix Lite can help. It corrects white balance, adjusts contrast, applies filters and more.

Sharing photos is easier said than done with the iPhone and Touch. That is, unless you use PixUp. It uploads photos to Flickr, Picasa or Facebook. You can even assign location data from the iPhone's GPS.

Music apps

The iPhone and Touch can connect to your music at home or on the go. Apple Remote works over your home Wi-Fi network. It lets you control iTunes running on your computer.

Your entire music collection may not fit on your iPhone or Touch. So, Simplify lets you access your home iTunes library wherever you are.

Backgrounds

Spruce up your iPhone or Touch with new wallpaper. Backgrounds offers more than 50,000 high-quality wallpapers with new ones added daily. Wallpapers are divided into categories for easy browsing.