my MWSF wishlist (MWSF 2008 edition)
It's that time of year again -- time for my MWSF wishlist. This is only a wishlist, not some deep analysis of what I think will actually happen.
- iPhone games -- Please, Apple, please help me pass the time. I want casual games on my iPhone. Yes, I know about webgames with iPhone versions. That doesn't work when I'm on a plane. I can pre-load Bejeweled before I get onto the plane, but I lose it when Safari crashes. I want local games, and I want several to choose from. Please. Having one free game (yes, even just Solitaire) would be a nice bonus.
- MacBook Pro Mini -- I want a sleek sexy ultraportable laptop. I desperately want this. You can tell the depth of my desire when I'm looking at someone's Thinkpad and seriously considering whether I could make it work.
- headless iMac -- I have long felt that Apple's line is missing something. My mini is getting a bit long in the tooth. It's having trouble loading my iTunes library (okay, that's not surprising, there's more than 1000 CDs' worth of music in there), and sometimes stutters on video playback. I would like a real desktop that's more powerful than the mini, but I really don't need to jump up to a Mac Pro. I want a middle ground, and I don't want it to be an iMac.
- a great backup solution -- With Time Machine, it's time to make external hard drives more attractive. I've got a pile of external hard drives attached to my mini, and they're all as hidden as I can manage. Maybe it's time for a Mac RAID, to be the little brother of the Xserve RAID?
- iPhone v2 -- I was amused last week to read breathless reports that there's a new iPhone in the works. Apple is a hardware company, the iPhone has been pretty successful, so of course they're working on a new version. We can take it as a given that there's a new one in the pipeline, just like there's an updated iPod somewhere in the pipeline. I'd love to see iPhone v2 dropped at MWSF. (The people who got one for a holiday gift might disagree, but c'est la vie.) I want 3G because EDGE drives me batty. I want the built-in wifi to support certificates so I can use it on the corporate network. I want to be able to customise the main screen because I hate the order of the apps on it and I don't care about many of the apps. I want over-the-air sync because I don't always want to plug my iPhone into its dock (especially when I'm on a quick trip up to Redmond, when I usually forget to bring the cable).
- iPhone v1 software update -- A lot of what I want in iPhone v2 could be given to me today via a software update. Most of what I want really isn't in the hardware, it's in either the OS or the software. There's no reason that I should have to buy a new iPhone to get certificate support for my wifi network. We've had some updates to the iPhone so far, and I want to see it continue so that I get new features.
- Software Updater for all -- Software Updater makes my life better. I totally forget to do all of those maintenance things that I'm supposed to do if I'm not reminded. But I hate cluttering up my task list with a "troll around for software updates" item, and I'm not smart enough to remember all of the apps I have installed.
- New ad campaign -- I really liked the Get a Mac ad campaign when it was first launched. But it's wearing thin, and the ads just aren't feeling edgy anymore. Isn't it time to move on?
- AppleTV v2 -- Steve Jobs has famously called the AppleTV a hobby. How about giving it some lovin' and making it more than a holiday? Although now that my spiffy new Xbox 360 has high-def downloads available, maybe I don't care any more. Hmmm.
- Office 2008 -- The bits are final, so we're gonna ship it!