Andrew Busey: My Musings

So I’ve had the iPhone for almost a month.  There are parts of it I really like.  Everyone writes about what they like though, so I’m going to skip that part.

Here are my issues (ie: what I don’t like):

• My biggest issue with the iPhone is e-mail.  (Not the edge, the way e-mail is handled.)  I generally blame Google / GMail for this.  Here are my issues:
• GMail uses this funky “threading” mechanism for conversations (e-mail exchanges with the same titles) which is pretty cool on the web.  It sucks in an e-mail application.  Google, please, for the love of tech gadgets, give me a way to turn this off in POP.
• Better yet, give me IMAP.  Please, please, please.  I think adding IMAP support (so I could ditch POP) would make my GMail / iPhone experience ten times better.
• I believe this would solve a myriad of other issues I have with e-mail that are related to how POP works.  I never had these issues on my Q with the Mobile Outlook client.
• It might also make me a user / fan of the Google Calendar.  (Which I don’t currently use - I’m just keeping my calendar directly in the iPhone.)
• Apple:  Change the GMail mechanism in the e-mail client to support addresses that are not “@gmail.com”.  I use commercial GMail (ie: my own domain) and not being able to put those accounts in there is annoying.
• More on e-mail.  Apple, these are for you:
• Let me play WAV attachments.  WTF?  I mean I know you guys are kind of proprietary, but give me a break.  I just want to listen to my Vonage voicemail on my iPhone.
• Show my new e-mail account for all my e-mail accounts on the unlock screen so I don’t have to go through the hassle of unlocking and looking to see if I have new e-mail.
• Even better, show me the number of new mails since last time I looked instead of the absolute new mail count.
• Austin has this citywide wireless network that appears as COA_Mesh.  It isn’t iPhone friendly (possibly the same network structure, ie: Cisco, as the Duke network that was covered as having iPhone issues) becuase it requires some confirmation screen and, well, it never seems to work. 
• Cisco:  Please fix your network infrastructure stuff so it is iPhone friendly.
• Austin:  Please beat on Cisco to fix it and, hey, ideally turn off that stupid confirmation screen.
• Apple:  Please add the ability to exclude wireless networks that you have connected to in the past.  Since I connected once, my iPhone keeps trying to connect to it.  Since it can, technically, get a WiFi connection it thinks it is connected but can’t actually do anything.
• Fix this Vista issue.  I’m not sure what’s going on, but Vista blue screens when I try to sync music or pictures.  I admit I haven’t tried it in a week or so…. largely because it pissed me off.

So to summarize my plea(s) for help:

• Apple:  Add a little bit better e-mail support.  Fix the WiFi handling.
• Google / GMail:  Please, I’m begging you, add IMAP support to GMail (even if it is just for commercial users).
• City of Austin:  Fix COA_Mesh to be iPhone friendly.

Thanks!

BTW, even with all these gripes I don’t regret my iPhone purchase.  I love the browser (except when it crashes, which it does a lot btw). 

So I’ve complained a lot about Vista… and believe me I still have a lot of complaints.  But one of the biggest issues was getting iTunes and Vista to work together.  Which, while a hassle, worked.  (Now it works a little better because I got a Vista driver upgrade to my Razer Tarantuala keyboard which let’s me use the forward/back, volume keys, etc. more consistently while I’m in other apps.  So that process worked well.)

On the other hand, I’m not so happy with Apple right now.  They’re usually pretty good on the software and hardware fronts - and especially on integration.  I’ve got a few iPods - most of which are, honestly, collecting dust right now.  I use one when I travel, but recently I haven’t been travelling that much so I haven’t used it.  But on Friday we got an office for the game company and I’ll be spending most of my time there (as opposed to working from home).   More on this in a bit.

So given my large collection of music (mix of ripped MP3 files and iTunes purchases), I figured the easiest way to share them would be to use my iPod.  You would think since:

1. The iPod is a hard drive.
2. The iPod is authorized to play all the music.
3. iTunes and the iPod generally work well together.

That I could just plug my iPod into my laptop and play my music.  Nope.  There are only three choices when I plug it in:

1. Erase and Sync - basically make the iPod linked to this PC (which has no music).  not useful.
2. Transfer Music - sync to this iPod.  I then have to authorize this PC with the iTunes store.  Not to mention it takes hours to sync during which time I can’t listen to my music.
3. Cancel - this is dumb.  It shows my iPod in iTunes and I can see all my music.  But it is all grayed out.  WHAT THE HELL?

I might be wrong, but the experience I was hoping for was:

1. Plug-in my iPod.
2. It shows up in iTunes.
3. I can play music from my iPod.
4. I disconnect my iPod.
5. I can’t play that music again until I re-connect it.

Now, I can play my iPod while it is sitting right next to my computer.  Where it doesn’t charge automatically.  Where the sound is not co-mingled with my PC’s sound.  It seems like this would be a common application for an iPod.  IMAGINE!  A mobile music library that I can play anywhere I want…. or not.

Wow.  That sucks.

Am I missing something or this just a horrible breakdown in the otherwise great iTunes/iPod ecosystem?

i got an e-mail from Apple today telling me my Apple TV was delayed. 

Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments in mid-March, not in February as originally anticipated.

Oh well.  You can read more here:  Apple TV Slips to March.   (C|Net’s Crave Blog is pretty cool.)

My bet is the delay is caused by compatibility issues with Vista.  If that’s true I’m sure it’s gotta piss them off.  But you can’t really release a broad consumer media product that doesn’t work with Windows.  And given all the marketing Vista compatibility is probably a requirement.  (Although I’m not sure what the actual Vista installed base is.) 

Anyway, I know I’ll be really angry if my fancy Apple TV doesn’t work with Vista… when it finally shows up.

How will we know?  My prediction is we also get an iTunes / Quicktime update in mid-March that fixes all these Vista issues.  (Fingers crossed.)

I’m a gadget guy.  I like to have all the shiny new stuff.  I’ll admit to being skeptical about an Apple phone though.  I’m really not interested in a phone that plays music….  I mean I have an iPod (that I use on planes and in my car) and I listen to iTunes on my computer, but I’m not into it on my phone.  Partially because of battery life issues.  Anyway, personal bias aside, I think the Apple iPhone (or whatever it ends up being called after the being sued by Cisco) looks really cool.  I like the interface and that it does all the things a smart phone does and seems to make browsing better. 

I have a Motorola Q now, for which I was forced to switch to Verizon.  I guess in June I will be forced to switch to Cingular to get the iPhone.  That sucks, because after some of the issues I’ve had in the past with Southwestern Bell (subsequently SBC, then AT&T, and now subsuming Cingular too) I swore never to give them another dime.  I’m going to rationalize it by pretending Apple gets all the money.

Also of note, was the Apple TV (originally called iTV).  I ordered one.  I’ll post a review when I get it.  It looks like it could be cool.  And I’d be glad to see DVDs (and this whole stupid debate between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) disappear just like CDs did.

Kudos to Apple for again releasing really cool products!

I’ve noticed now at dinner, having drinks, etc., that if someone checks their Blackberry (or other smartphone) everyone else is almost compelled to do so as well.  It’s like a yawn - once one person yawns everyone else almost can’t resist yawning themselves.   

This CNN|Money article:  How an iPhone could rock wireless is pretty interesting because it discuss how the Apple iPhone could represent a very disruptive force in the mobile market.  I think this is fascinating on two levels:

• As a consumer:  I’m a gadget fan and am well known among my friends for rabidly acquiring the latest mobile phones.  Right now I have a Motorola Q, but I could easily see switching to an Apple iPhone if it was really cool.  This might be the thing, or even more compelling if combined with an iTV, that gets me to switch to the Mac OS.  Regardless, I’m always excited to see new, really cool gadgets, and I have no doubt the iPhone will fall in that category.
• As a business guy:  I like to see distrupting new business models.  Apple could really shake up the mobile phone space - either as an MVNO (basically a private label mobile carrier - they buy their time from the big networks at wholesale and resell it) or by forcing new relationships with the carriers.  Or even better by forcing the existing carriers to accept a new business model by either ignoring them and using the unlimited data plans that seem common or structuring deals that are more favorable to Apple.  I have no doubt they can negotiate such deals because the right phones (like the Q) do drive people to change networks, which is a big deal.

I’m looking forward to seeing the new iPhone and the new i Business Model - should be interesting.

So I don’t think my parents or sister are going to read this and now I won’t be able to tell them about it until after Christmas.  (NOTE TO FAMILY:  If you read this, pretend you didn’t.  ;-))  I was at Compusa the other day and they had a stack of these 7″ LCD picture frames (link goes to Amazon) with SD/CompactFlash card readers by the check-out for $99.  I was like, hey that’s cool.  I have followed Ceiva, the original digital picture frame maker (sounds like a cheesy tagline, but it’s also true as far as I know), but never bought one because they always required some whacky service plan (more on that in a minute).  But I always wanted one.  So when I saw this stack of digital picture frames with card readers for $99 I bought one.  I wanted to play with it and I thought it might make a great Christmas gift for some members of my family.  I took a trip to Cairo and Luxor in Egypt for Memorial Day and have some great pictures to show off. 

So I ran this thing in my living room for a week and it is actually pretty cool.  It’s widescreen so I’m going to have to crop my pictures to make them look right.  For my starter experiment I just popped the SD card with all my pictures out of my camera (a Canon SD700 if you must know) and into the frame.  Worked great, except for the black bars (because of the widescreen). 

To turn this into a great gift I bought some 1GB SD cards for about $30.  I’ll then load a nice selection of pictures from my various travels.  And walaa, a customized, unique, fun Christmast gift.  It’s like making a scrapbook, except cooler and more appealing to the inner geek.  So if you are looking for a really cool Christmas gift with that personal touch and a shiny tech component there it is.

Looking around online reveals this must be the year of the digital picture frame.  There are bunches of options.  There are all sorts of cool things, like this: Digital Picture Keychain.  Here is a list from Amazonwith some of their picture frame choices.  I’m kind of having picture frame envy.  I might have to get a 4:3 aspect ratio one so I don’t have to spend as much time editing the pictures.