Aqua-Soft Forumswizard's wants in two-thousand eight
As you remember from my previous non-existent editorial, there were four things that I wanted from Apple in the year 2007: a touch-screen based iPod, grouped folders in Finder icon view, Excel replacement in iWork, and software development for the iPod.
Apple delivered in stunning fashion when they dropped iWork ’08. A release that took me by surprise. Ah, short and sweet appeasement. The best kind.
Within 2007, Apple also released the iPhone, which arguably would have satisfied my touch-screen based iPod, but Apple took it a step further, releasing the iPod touch, which is at this very moment, en route to my grubby hands. Many people cried “overpriced!” when they compared the iPod touch to the iPod classic, however, with the recent events called “jailbreaking” (you should be smart enough to Google it, or at least comprehend the previous statement), I can hardly sympathize. The iPod touch essentially a PDA, and I would argue gets tasks done much better than a standard PDA. If you have WiFi set up in your home, as I do, you’re pretty much set. Granted, there is the iPhone, which you may have heard of, but the iPhone’s phone hardly interested me. Neither was I jumping for the internet connectivity, however, I give Apple a lot of props for including it on their “iPhone nano”, it is a much appreciated leftover, that really makes the device a bargain. I feel the value is greater with the iPod touch. And for the record, not since the forth generation iPod (black and white screen, click-wheel, version before the color screen was introduced) have I been inclined to upgrade my second generation 15GB touch-wheel iPod. As I reiterate, my iPod touch is making it’s way to me.
As a result of jailbreaking, Apple made another one of my wishes come true; iPod SDK. Granted, it is an iPhone and iPod touch SDK, but I will take what I can get. Not to mention, I really don’t care that the new iPod classic, and iPod nano’s are excluded. Look, that’s me being selfish. And technically, it’s not released until February, 2008, win or lose, or decision. I count it as a win. Though, it has yet to be seen (except for a couple of lucky developers chosen by Apple just today) how it behaves and the how broad the capabilities of the applications will be.
Lastly, we have the grouping of the folders in Finder. You Windows users know what I am talking about. In icon view, the first icons you see are folders, all are grouped. It makes navigating easy. But, sadly, it doesn’t work like this in Finder, everything is alphabetized, even folders. I still can’t browse efficiently. Yes, I know PathFinder does this, but I feel like I shouldn’t have to run extra programs for something that should be a simple addition into the core of the operating system. Unfortunately, this is something else I felt Leopard fell short of. But I digress.
Not to mention all of the good moves done that I wasn’t lobbying for (CSS with form controls in Safari, and iPod games just naming a couple). OK, back to me.
Without further ado:
wizard’s wants in two-thousand eight:
- You can say I am cheating, but I am going to place the Grouping Folders in Finders on my list. But there is also no chance of it happening in 2008. There’s no excuse why Finder cannot handle this type of categorization. Still bitter.
- Bluetooth or WiFi synching iPod touch/iPhone with iTunes. Save charging, why keep any wires involved? I won’t get into the security issues with this, because frankly, I am not too informative in that area.
- Additionally, every Mac should have a SuperDrive, standard. No more ComboDrives. I've read this somewhere, and I apologize for not giving credit where credit is due, but I agree. For the longest time, Apple was leading in disolving old formats (CRTs, floppy disks, the old keyboard and mouse inputs, and the BIOS), but we still have Apple selling DVD-ROM and CD-RWs? It's time to ditch the CD-RW, and move to DVD-RWs.
- Lastly, I know what you are thinking, “what would wizard waste one wemaining wish with?“ I could throw a softball, with something like a tablet PC, or playlists in Quicktime. But that’s not how I roll! Sirius/XM (prefer Sirius for Stern and NFL) on iPod. Is it too much to ask for? Sirius now has a portable Walkman-esque type satellite radio player, with some business voodoo, it would be a win-win partnership with Apple and Sirius-XM. Though, the recent Sirius television advertisement taking jabs at the iPod may hurt negotiations. More far-fetched than I want to believe. I suppose I could sign-up and use their online player, but I would like to use it while in the car with no WiFi around (and $60 a month for phone service).
The End.
I don't think you can consider this as an Extra Program (but this is an dirty solution and you have to order by "Kind"), and the fact that you need to do it manually is annoing.