Reactionary

I’ve been following this contest on and off. It’s where people submitted ideas for new applications that don’t exist and then people voted. The last round just ended and all the finalsts have been chosen. The cool thing about the contest is that Mac developers will actually write the top three applications. Here’s what I think of them as a non-power user or developer or anything. I guess that makes me the target audience.

1. Atmosphere– It’s supposed to put the outside weather on your desktop in real time kind of like wallpaper, I think. Where do people live that they don’t have windows or walk outside for days? I guess I don’t get it. I don’t make my living in front of computers but I can see it being useful in the OR where there are no windows. Unfortunately, the hospital uses Windows because it’s uncool like that. For home use, I wouldn’t have a need for it.

2. Portal– This is the only one of the finalists I like. And I don’t get why there are so many negative comments from the judges about it. I’m glad it made it through. I solves the huge problem that is synchronizing files, libraries, apps from one computer to another. You know how much of a hassle this is in real life the way things are right now? I’ve tried all kinds of things, from Smart folders to iPods to putting things on the web and then retrieving them from the other machine. I don’t have a fleet of computers, but I’m sure a lot of people have the desktop/ laptop duo that are so hard to keep synched. I’m so glad this is being made. If it works as well as promised (resource hogging, obnoxious UI stuff is NOT necessary, keep it simple), I’m going to love it. It’s one of those things you would think Apple would have worked into the OS on their own. iSync is a poor, poor substitute.

3. Cookbook– Um, WHY? I don’t even cook. Does anybody? The huge lines in the prepared food stands at stores across the city say the same thing. Americans don’t cook anymore. We’re too busy. I wonder where this guy lives that he thinks something like this is necessary. But people are voting for it. So I guess I’m wrong. My circle of friends and acquaintances doesn’t include housewives or maids.

The ones that missed out:

Hijack– I loves the idea of having a portal for all online forums you frequent. Kind of like RSS readers. I wouldn’t have followed this contest at all without NewsFire. I don’t visit forums and when I have to, for a technical question, I hate doing it because I forget the login info and then I hve to use up a tab in Safari to keep it memorable. I forget where things are half the time. This app really needed to be made. I hate that it got kicked out.

Blossom– It makes a little plant on your screen and the more you use production apps, the better the plant grows. If you’re just playing a game, the plant doesn’t grow. I wonder if it tracks all the TV shows I watch online. It would be scary to know what it shows about your computer habits.

iStyleIt– The only girl in the contest. The app idea goes something like scanning in all your clothes into your computer and being able to make outfits to see if they match before getting dressed. Kind of like what that girl in Clueless has. Getting all your clothes scanned in would be such a pain, but it’s an awesome idea. Of course it was eliminated early on because the people following and voting regularly have a tendency to be male geeks.

There were a few other ideas that sounded pretty good, but I don’t remember what they are right now. I wonder if they’ll hold this contest every year or something. If it solves my desktop/ laptop problem before I get my new MacBook next year, it would have been worth it to me.

October 29th, 2006 | Category: Tech |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL