iOS UI Tweak

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This is not a normal idea in the sense of this blog but I wanted to post this here anyway. I'm not sure if something changed with the iPhone's iPod controls in the update from iOS 4.1 to 4.2 but lately I have been accidentally hitting the rewind button |<< which causes me to lose my place. I propose, that when a user is listening to an audiobook or a podcast, the OSD iPod controls be turned into a 30-second rewind button and a play/pause button, instead of the traditional rew, play/pause, fwd buttons. It doesn't have to do this in the iPod app itself but it definitely should make this change on the lock screen and the pop-up iPod control bar. I think it just makes sense.

Mac OS X and iOS Integration

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I'm so accustomed to using my iPhone that when I'm typing on my MBP and spell a word wrong I automatically hit delete momentarily expecting the correct word to pop up then I realize I have to do it the ol' fashioned way by using the track pad to highlight the word, right clicking, selecting the correct spelling then continuing with the typage. See where I'm going here?

We're becoming more mobile and web app-centric thanks to devices like the iPhone so I'd like to see some integration of iOS into OS X.

Game Sync

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I play games on both my iPhone and my iPad. Sometimes I play the same game on both devices. I would like to have my game state saved between the games. For instance, I begin playing Fieldrunners on my iPad and then continue on my iPhone when I'm out. Apple could use their Gamecenter to host the game states.

Web Apps, Where's the Beef?

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I have recently converted to using solely web apps on both my MacBook Pro and my iPhone but I have two gripes:

1. The Mac OS does not allow placement of web apps on the dock.

• How hard would it be to add this feature to the OS? I mean Apple already uses this technology in the iPhone. Seems a bit fishy. Is this another attempt by Apple to stifle innovation for control? Maybe when the allure of the iPad wears off they'll add this feature to their other products.

2. Notifications are not integrated on the iPhone OS.

• For example, I no longer use iOS Mail instead I use the Gmail web app but the Gmail web app does not alert me when I have a new email. Without that feature it makes that web app kind of pointless. Example two, same thing goes for google voicemail web app. The only way I know that I receive a VM is when I get an email with the VM in it. Now, I don't need the web app at all.

Now, I don't know a lot about development but these two things seem to be overlooked in the Web 2.0 conversion. I bet a dev could write an app that allows for web apps to be integrated into a Mac's desktop Dock and write a preifirial app that notifies you when one of your web apps is updated on an iPhone. Where is that dev?

..to be continued. Stay tuned. ;)

Run iOS on PC/Mac

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Imagine a virtual machine that mimics the iPhone/iPod/iPad OS of Android so anyone could download apps and use them on a PC or Mac. This VM could be a more streamlined (less functional) operating system but allow the app market to be opened up to more devices. This would be the first step toward complete app world domination.

Doing this would attract users without an iPhone/iPod/iPad and they'd increase app usage and purchase from the App Store. For instance, say a person without an iPhone/iPod/iPad wants to play Words for Free with Friends, they can't do it! That is, unless of course, they can download a virtual machine that allows them to do so. I'm sure Apple's reasoning has something to do with forcing users to purchase these devices but I believe in the future they command a large portion of the market they will implement this widget.

Does this make me look fat?

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The idea is that you can take a picture of a shirt, pair of pants, tie, dress, coat, jacket, socks, etc in a department store and immediately get suggestions on what you should buy to complete the outfit. Example: I take a picture of a striped shirt, hit the "Suggest" button and within a few seconds get a list of recommendations consisting of pants, shoes, belts and so on that match that particular shirt.

The app could also base its suggestions on the particular store you are in. This information could be gathered by geo-location or buy just having the user tell it where he or she is shopping. The suggestions could be calculated in one of two ways.

Method 1: A database could be built up using input from fashion experts that match pieces of clothing to one another in specific relationships. This is akin to Pandora's Genome Project.

Method 2: A very smart algorithm with very advanced image recognition component could analyze the piece of clothing and determine, without explicit relationships, what would match with it. In human terms, the algorithm could analyze a striped shirt and say "Solid pants and a solid tie go this shirt. Also, since the shirt is blue, with white stripes, the pants must be black and the tie must not be the same blue as the shirt".

I do note that there are currently apps like this in the iOS App Store. One's called Love It or Lose It and another is called Go Try It On. Both however are a bit of a different concept in that the user is posting a picture of him/herself online and letting other rate if they look good or not.