Tuesday, September 30, 2008

If I were Steve Jobs...

I love Apple but there are some things I would really like to see improved so I thought I would create a list:

iPhone

I believe the following are all GLARING OMMISIONS from the iphone and I find their absence to be highly unacceptable. C'mon Apple!!!:

Stereo Bluetooth headphones for the iPhone. I can't believe Apple has kept this feature turned off. I think they do this because they want everybody to look like fashion victims wandering around with their trademark white apple headphones dangling. When I work out the white cable is always in the way.

Cut and Paste.

Syncing your to-do and notes.

Adobe Flash support.

Setup the external speaker sound on the iPhone to play in stereo. I would achieve this by utilizing the phone receiver speaker located a the top of the iPhone as the left Stereo speaker. This way, the left channel sound would come out the top speaker and the right channel sound would come out the bottom speaker. This would make the iPhone sound great when using the external speakers for music or video playback. Adding this feature would also make it twice as loud.

Replace the super lame 2 MegaPixel camera!!! C'mon Steve, why do you make me carry around a point and shoot just to get decent shots. The unimproved camera in the iPhone takes lousy shots. It needs to be at least 3.2 Mega Pixels, needs much better low light performance and should also shoot video. Also, what is up with the super-slow shutter lag??? Samsung currently offers an 8 Mega Pixel camera on their phone, so we know it is possible. (By the way, I would be happy to pay an extra $100 for a better camera.)

Voice Recorder: I would also add a voice recorder application to the iPhone.

Add Volume Stops: The external volume switch on the left side of the iPhone does not have enough volume stops when adjusting the volume when playing music. In other words, when I am using my iPhone as an iPod, often times a song is too low and if I hit the volume up button just one time, it is too loud. If there are 10 stops right now there should be 20.

• Spotlight Search: I would add a universal Spotlight search to the iphone. The Palm Treo has had this feature forever!!! 

Address Book Search: I would also add a feature to the find feature in the contacts application on the iPhone so that when you type your search query it does a live search exactly the way it works in the Apple Address Book application on the desktop. I would also add this feature to the Mobile Me version of the address book.

Let me be specific. In the Apple Address Book application for the desktop, if I put the word "bagel" in the notes field for your contact and then I type in "bagel" in the search field in the upper right hand corner of the application, it will isolate your contact. If I do this on an iPhone or on Mobile Me it won't find it. Laaaaame!!!!!!!

Book Reader. This is a killer missing application. I think Apple should purchase the Stanza book and PDF reader or build there own.

Safari search. You should be able to search in Safari the same way you do on the Mac.

Dictionary

How apple can make such an amazing phone and leave out these basic features is beyond me!!!

New Macs

30 inch iMac, just like the 20 and 24 inch iMacs but with the 2560 x 1600 native resolution.

Create a 40 inch LCD with the same pixels per inch as the 30 inch.

Apple LCD TV sets. In other words, I would make a 42, 50, and 65 inch Apple LCD TV with OS 10.5 Leopard built into it. I would make the native resolution at least 1920 x 1080 on all of these.

Get rid of the white keys on the desktop keyboard and replace them with black keys. White is the worse color keys could be and they always look dirty–just like a white cat.

The future of TV & Computers: The video wall...


The 150 inch Panasonic Plasma TV

I am a designer and I have always been a futurist. When I worked for SAP, my title was Imagineer because my job was to design the future. Anybody close to me has heard me talking about how in the future we will have video walls in our homes.

Today, Panasonic has taken us one step further to that vision with the 150 inch Panasonic Plasma. You can learn all about this amazing new technology by visiting my favorite web site, Gizmodo.com and reading the story by clicking here.






Monday, September 29, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008

U.S. Navy "Batman Boat"

The U.S. Navy has created this stealth "Batman Boat" which they also use for chasing drug dealers. Amazing design!!!


Friday, September 12, 2008

Seinfeld To Save Microsoft!?!

Everybody seems confused about the new Microsoft commercials featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. The commercials are funny and seem pointless, but there is a brilliant repositioning strategy behind them.

Microsoft is countering Apples "I am Mac" and "I am a PC" adds that depict Bill Gates as an overweight, super-pale nerd who is always wearing a disheveled suit, with aviator prescription clear lenses and is always  confused and deceptive. The Mac guy is depicted as a smart-ass who always knows better.

In Microsoft's adds, it appears Bill Gates lost a bunch of weight and it positions him as an ultra-successful business man, who is likable and funny and counters the character in the Apple adds who is really pale and always wears a suit.  Instead, the Real Bill Gates never wears a suit and is not pale. His wardrobe is kind of hip and cool, and his glasses are small and cool. Bill Gates is depicted as a much more laid back fun-loving character. Jerry Seinfeld who is the Mac, seems to genuinely like Bill Gates and seems to be very similar to him, as apposed to the Apple ads that are full of contrast.

The Apple adds make you laugh, and by hiring Jerry Seinfeld, who is one of the most brilliant comedians that ever lived, the Microsoft adds make you laugh even more. A little late, but very effective.

Of course, the supreme irony in this is that on Seinfeld's TV show he only and always had Apple Macs.

Thursday, September 11, 2008