Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Apple, please fix this...

Don't get me wrong. I think Apple, in general, does a fantastic job on their products (both hardware and software). However, I'm not a fan-boy, and when they do something wrong, or omit a crucial feature, I'll be the first to raise my hand.

Here is a list of my Top 10 request to the Apple engineers to please fix at their earliest convenience.

1) Cut and Paste from Finder. Really, how hard is this? This was available for my convenience since Win95....Why do I have to put my fingers through a Twister session just to CUT (which means remove, not copy), and PASTE to another folder or desktop?

2) Fit Window To Screen. Sometimes you just want to hide all the clutter and focus on the task at hand. Can't there be an easy way to provide an OPTION in Preferences that will make the selected window "Fit To Screen" by clicking the little green button on the top left?

3) iPhone Volume (this means make it louder!). OK, so they did a much better job from my original iPhone (1st generation phone, using the 2.5G network), but even my iPhone 3GS (3rd generation phone, using the 3G network) has a ringer that pales in comparison to any other phone I've used in the past. Really, this is first and foremost a phone...allow me to crank it up!

4) iPhone (iOS) Remote App. I love this sucker. But, it hasn't been updated in nearly a year. Apple just announced the migration from "AirTunes" to "AirPlay". They even said I would be able to "switch" video content from my iOS device to my new AppleTV. So here is what I want: Allow me to "AirPlay" content from my iMac TO my iOS device. This will eliminate my biggest gripe (and Steve Jobs main point for REMOVING the hard drive from the AppleTV), I don't want to have to manage disc space! Let me stream to my iPhone or iPad, any content from my iTunes library. OK, I'm sure it will have to be over WiFi at first, fine. I don't always want to watch something in front of my TV while at home. One more. Make it truly Multi-Tasking so if I run in the background, it doesn't have to 're-find' my iTunes library and loose my song hierarchy. Thanks!

5) Allow QT to Record App A/V. All I want to do is record the Audio, as well as video of something I'm playing (whether that be in a browser, or in Quicktime). But, my only Audio capture options are, Line-in from an external mic, or using the built in mic in my iMac. I want to record right off the sound card. If I can hear it from the speakers, I should be able to record it directly off the board.

6) Back To My Mac. Either fix this, or remove it from your literature. Seriously. This has GREAT potential, but I can NEVER get it to work more than 'rarely'. I have a Mac on both ends, and Apple Extreme routers on both ends. What else do I need for this to work as advertised?? I've read the forums. I'm not the only one.

7) iCal: Birthdays and Anniversaries. Simple request. Birthdays are set up and boom, they are on my calendar as a repeat event. But, I can't set a reminder on a birthday (10 days ahead to buy and send a gift....5 days away to be cheap and send a card). Should be easy, right? OK, now for another. How about adding this same functionality to Anniversaries. OK, now the really neat one! Make BOTH of these sync (via MobileMe) to my iPhone (or other iOS) device! This drives me crazy. I've read all kinds of hacks to get this in, but this should be automatic. Really, are there two more important items to be reminded of in iCal?

8) Email Contact from Address Book. Yes, I know you can 'drag' a contact from address book to the Mail icon in the dock. But can't you just allow me to right-click and "Mail Contact" right from Address book? You already have this functionality in iOS, so please update Address Book for us. Thanks!

9) Make iTunes Smart(er) on Compilations. If I rip a compilation CD into iTunes, and it sees that all tracks have the same title, but every artist is different, can it ask me if this is a compilation and automatically mark it as such? Right now, this a totally manual process. After ripping, I have to find the album, select all the songs, go into the info-pane options and check the YES to this is part of a compilation. Why is this a big deal? When you use stream your library to AppleTV (either directly or from the iOS Remote App), you can't play a compilation album in its entirety. You have to select each song individually UNLES you have pre-configured the option for that album to be a compilation...

10) HDMI Output for iOS devices.  I know you love to make (sell) cables...so why can't you give us a single, HDMI to 30-pin dock connector cable?  I loath the component and composite options (5 cables, yuck!) when I can do it all with one cable from my iPhone to any HDTV device or monitor near me (parents house, friends house...) to watch that movie, slideshow or video.

So Apple, as soon as you get these scheduled, please let me know. I'll be a happy camper!



Monday, September 6, 2010

Early Adopter

Yes, I am an early adopter. One of those folks that loves technology, and will spend a years worth of allowance, paper-boy money, (or whatever job at the time) to be first to use the product of the future! I'm pretty good at spotting trends and what is real.

Here's my track record:

CD Player - January 1985 (my birthday). Top 0.05% of CD player adopters. By the end of 1984 there were 340,000 players sold in the US. By the end of 1985, they had sold a total of 1 million. By 2000, there were over 150 million.
The CD Player was introduced to the US in March of 1983. the Sony CDP-101 (it cost about a grand. They sold very few). I bought a Technics SLP-3 for $599 (very expensive back in 1985!) in the beginning of 1985.

DVD Player - June 1998. I purchased Blade Runner - Directors Cut same day. Top 1.1%. By the end of 1998, there were 1.4 million DVD players sold. In December of 2007, there were nearly 132 million.

eBay - May 28, 1999. Top 1.4%. By the end of 1999, there were 3.8 million registered users. By the end of 2007, there were over 276 million registered users.

Netflix - October 10th, 2000. Top 1.6%. By the end of 2000, Netflix had 239,000 subscribers. In 2010 they have over 15 million.

Apple iPod - July 2004. Top 3.6%. By the end of 2004, Apple had sold a total of 10 million iPods. By September 2010, they are over 275 million.
I bought the first HP+iPod offering. 40Gig hard drive. It was actually the 4th generation iPod (I know, slacker!), but to be fair, this was the first iPod that had access to a Windows version of iTunes software and store. So, really, I'm giving myself a first gen pat on the back!
;-)

Apple iPhone - June 27, 2007. Top 0.45%. I bought the iPhone the first day it came out. June 27th. 2007. Apple sold 270,000 that day! By the end of September 2010, Apple had sold over 60 million iPhones.