Apple Slate

For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past year, you probably have not heard the rumor that Apple is supposedly making a "Tablet" Computing device.

The first really, kind of, official note about that came out today by way of a speech given by the New York Times.


Bill Keller speaks to the digital group at The New York Times from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.

It happens at 8:30 in the speech.

For both Apple and Google this time

Dear Cupertino,
CC: Googleplex

You guys work together great on several aspects of various products, however, there is one feature or section that I think would be great for you to fix.

Apple -- Your iChat supports video and audio chat.
Google -- Your Gtalk supports video and audio chat.

Can you make iChat connected to Gtalk be able to talk with those individuals on Gtalk that have cameras?

Thanks,

Joel

WWDC 2009 iPhone Wishlist

Dear Cupertino, 

With WWDC 2009 just around the corner a few things I would like to see have come to mind. 

First off like everyone else I would like to see a new iPhone with an improved camera, as well as a forward facing camera for iChat Mobile... Or something along those lines. Besides all the really talked about ideas, I myself as well as some others have come up with some interesting features we'd like to see.

How about a setting that allows you to turn off cover flow. That would be amazing. I hate scrolling through my music while lying in bed and it flips to cover flow. Being able to turn it on and off would be great.

Next I'd like this nifty little feature.. Hold down the home button for 3 seconds and the keypad comes up for dialing numbers. Not the phone app itself, but just the keyboard. I think this would come in handy for quick dials.

LOUDER SPEAKER! I can hardly hear my phone ring regularly let alone in a busy place.

A feature like Stacks in OSX. This would allow you to make a stack of apps for your games etc. You click the game stack and it opens a page of just your games, or at least something like that. This would allow the home screen to be much more organized.

Longer battery life would also be great. Especially with the tremendous increase in games available in the app store.

That pretty much sums it up for the iPhone. I would also like to see Steve Jobs back. That would be a nice touch.

Thanks and love always,

Ryan.

iWeb fixins

Dear Cupertino,

I work on several blogs, this one, my own, etc. I love the ease of use and management that iWeb gives me when managing a blog, however, I have one complaint. When I change between themes, or if I want to rearrange, say, where my Google Ad is placed on every single one of my blog posts, I have to do this manually, page by page, until I get them all done. Can you possibly find a way in your heart to be able to say "Apply to All"? That would save me so much time.

Thanks!

Joel Esler

iPhone Music Store Gifting?

Dear Cupertino,


I'd love to be able to give iTunes gifts from my iPhone. We can do it from the iTunes Music Store via iTunes on our computers, so why not from the iPhone version of the iTunes Store?

All we would need in terms of UI would be a button below the current "Buy Now" one, or a different interaction - say, hold down the "Buy Now" button to gift that particular song, movie, or TV show (but not App Store apps) to any of your contacts on your contacts list.

Gifting on the iPhone wouldn't just be handy if we wanted to give someone a song that we liked, or a TV show, nay, gifting on the iPhone would also come in handy if we needed to give someone a gift for their birthday at the last minute, or while we're out and about and can't find the perfect gift in a brick-and-mortar (that's a real store, folks, as opposed to an online store).

Gifting on the iPhone would also benefit those who don't usually have an internet connection at home, too. With the iTunes Store on the iPhone now available on cellular data networks, those sans-internet would be able to gift from the comfort of their homes, all without having to put on "real" clothes and go outside (shudder).

So yeah - iPhone Music Store gifting. Pretty please?

Thanks,
Pia Francisco.

Comments below, folks - and as usual, all DearCupertino wishes/improvements can be directed to:
joel [dot] esler [at] me [dot] com