Wozniak to Judge American Idol-Inspired Mac App Contest 147
cmundhe writes "Mac entrepreneur Phill Ryu today launched My Dream App, a new American Idol-inspired online competition where contestants can win the chance to have their killer app idea realized by experienced Mac developers. Over forty industry luminaries, including Apple founder Steve Wozniak, have signed on to My Dream App as guest judges to help contestants hone their ideas."
heads and tails (Score:1)
Programmers as such need a platform at times to capitalise their genius ideas.
This may be a short step in that direction but will give hope to lot of programmers(Mac only sadly :()
One the other side of the coin,the idea may be incorporated into Apple's products.
Definitely programmer got his idea shaping up and working but uder Apple's name.
lets see what programmer chooses :)
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IMO there are many programmers who have some concept, dont they?
Although they may be skeptical to submit their concept in public like this, but some may not be...
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Outsourcing gone mad or a good idea? (Score:3, Interesting)
I propose an optimisation, let the winner be the one with the best elevator pitch - "It's like excel meets my-space, you arrange your friends into rows and columns
just like high-concept movie ideas where a one-sentence summary gets turned into a 90-minute film.
Re:Outsourcing gone mad or a good idea? (Score:5, Funny)
Snakes on a Plane was longer than 90 minutes!
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It is if you insert an apostrophe just before the second "s"
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If I could Excel macros to make certain "friends" perform the same task over and over, well you got yourself a customer.
I have to ask ... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I have to ask ... (Score:5, Funny)
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SQL Server. Or Perl syntax (and I say that as a professional Perl programmer).
Uggggh (Score:5, Funny)
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Some day all reality TV and it's offshoots will finally disappear. Some day.........
You know, I've been thinking that since, oh about the second round of Survivor. I'm rather impressed with the staying power of contrived-reality TV. I expected it to be a two-year fad, maybe three. But it's now been 6 years and shows no signs of abating.
Geoff
Smart move (Score:4, Insightful)
I believe we will see more ventures of this kind in the future, even outside software. The ideas that "little people" never had the resources to implement are a resource that can be valuable and is easily tapped. What is funny is that the whole model started not in some corporate think tank, but in FPS mods. Final Doom [wikipedia.org] is the first instance I can think of.
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- Hell no I'm not filling no form I have my privacy to protect you sodding bastards rant-rant-rant-rant....
- Hey come join our new crappy tv show where the best application ideas can be selected and win! All you need to do is fill in an application with your name, age, address, and the premise of your idea.
- Where do I sign up ??!?
Seriously, lessons on how to protect your intellectual capital s
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Corporations never EVER produce anything original. Ever.
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Little People Patents (Score:3, Interesting)
Unless they protect them with patents prior to entering them in the contest. Does the winner get a royalty? Ever wonder if the "recording contract" an American Idol wins is better than a regular "slave contract" other artist sign?
Hopefully just submitting the idea is considering publishing it. Software patents are bad enough without someone else patenting your idea.
Do you suppose
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* Killer Apps (never many of these... and over time they lose their "killing" edge spreadsheets, email, etc.)
* Industry Specific Apps (software for your type of job)
* General Productivity (word processing, calendar, etc.)
It seems to me that while it's possible that such a contest will produce a new Killer App, it's not likely.. But then what were the odds that American Idol would really produce someone on the Idol level (Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc.).
If it can make a Killer App "on demand" it would be
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We already do. Chances are, if you work for a corporation, the contents of your brainpan are already enriching someone with "resources"--not to mention the power to derive wealth from your ideas.
We have a word in English for this: exploitation. And I'm sure you're right, we'll see a lot more
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Great ideas? (Score:2)
But unlike everyone else, we're not searching for skilled programmers. Instead, we're simply looking for the greatest ideas
The greatest ideas.. oh yeah! I found one! so uh, it would be a game, and it would be about bricks of different shape stacking up each other, and when you got a full line of bricks it disappears! oh wait I have another great idea incoming! It would be a lil yellow character, in a maze, eating pills and ghosts/monsters.
Damn it's too easy for me to come up with the greatest ideas, I onl
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Well, see, that used to be called the "economy" until the whole thing was turned into a game show by middle management.
Had the guy that wins this contest presented the company with his idea they would have told him to fuck off. But as long as they can make the guy stand on a stage so people can laugh at him and make sport of the whole idea of being an inventor or thinker, well, that's just fine because management
I wonder... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:I wonder... (Score:4, Insightful)
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A couple of trojans, maybe. And of course, they required admin privs. Not much of a trojan there.
Yes, users will always be able to rm -rf ~. It's their user space, they can do what they want with it. You can't protect people from stupid.
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Obviously you didn't see the WWDC announcement about Time Machine [apple.com].
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Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
How about 10 shocks for Windows/Linux users who are constantly angry at Mac users simply because Mac users can't get it in their heads that they should just give up and use PCs? I mean, come on? Don't you arrogant elitists realize that your computers are worthless and that you're assholes for even using Macs?
You know what? I'm an "artist", a graphic designer. I use macs because, well fuck] I've used Photoshop, Quark and illustrator -- on macs -- since the early/mid 90's. I like the platform. I know the platform. The platform fucking works. I don't need to justify being an elitist asshole if your definition of being an elitist asshole is that I'm a guy who makes a living, you know, eating, paying rent, etc by using a computer you clearly disapprove of.
Also, I'm a programmer. I've done professional embedded systems programming on Solaris ( cross compiling to embedded hardware ) and I used linux exclusively at home for several years. I've also done Win32 programming, as well. You know why I have a Mac at home now? Because they're so goddamned well designed, at the API level that they're a dream to program for. And the hardware works. Quite well, too.
And you know what? I've not had a virus on any mac of mine since maybe 1993 or 1994.
So I say you get 10 shocks for being a dismissive PC user who insists that everybody do things the way you do, because clearly you know better than us how to do what we do.
re: Mac using artists (Score:2)
Nonetheless, yeah - you make a great point. Windows users seem to think they've made the Mac irrelevant for graphic-artist type work because "all the apps" are available in Windows versions as well as native Mac versions these days.
To an extent, that's true - but it's usually the underlying OS-related issues that keep artists on a Mac. EG. An OS-wide color matching system integrated into MacOS, vs. loading application-sp
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BTW I read a great heckler story in the Guardian the other day. Bono was doing his "every time I clap my hands a child dies in Africa" speech at a gig, when someone shouted out "well stop fucking clapping then you idiot."
Anti-DRM Suggestions (Score:2)
Perhaps extending Front-Row to work on a Tivo, so i could stream my purchased itunes audio and video there.
There must be some good forward looking projects that would only be possible if apple loosened their grip.
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Woz is a judge for this? (Score:2)
Uh oh (Score:2)
I won't go down too well
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Signed, stunt penguin's girlfriedn
Originality vs Plagiarism ? (Score:1)
Dream App? Why not go all the way... (Score:3, Funny)
*hangs head*....
Native Hypercard for OS X (Score:5, Insightful)
How about a modern version of... (Score:2)
So... (Score:3, Funny)
Apple Idol (Score:3, Funny)
Randy Wozniak: "C'mon dawg! S'da right language selection, needs to be a bit optimized here but its ok."
Steven Abdul: "You have great potential and your code just moves me. The UI looks fabulous! Just keep shining, win or not, you're l337!"
Steve Cowell: "Appalling, simply appalling. Dreadful. It's a no."
My Dream App (Score:2)
Now implement that!
CambrianHouse.com? (Score:2)
No prizes, but royalties. They're looking for community coders, too, which I think is the limiting factor.
Still, an interesting idea. Dunno if it actually has any realworld promise, but an interesting idea.
Re:An Ipod for IP (Score:4, Informative)
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Indeed, ideas are cheap and plentiful. Finding people who can implement them and work out the details is the hard part. As a PR move, this is great for publicity, but I don't think there are many talented [programmers|authors|artists] sitting around just wishing they had a new idea to use their skills on. Usually t
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Why do you think patents are so valuable? Will the winner of the competition get the patent?
Let me clarify (Score:3, Interesting)
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Re:An Ipod for IP (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're just talking about code-monkeys, then I'd agree they aren't particularly rare. But the guys involved in this project are developers who it seems will be expected to work out most of the actual *workings* of whatever "idea" is presented, and they have histories of coming up with useful and usable interfaces.
Saying "I want a program that will automatically fix the tags of all my MP3 files" is not hard. It's coming up with an algorithm or system to analyze song files successfully, or an interface to efficiently present songs to the user for identification, that would be the hard part.
Obviously if the entrants of this contest have already worked out the implementation details and interface for the idea and just need a programmer with Objective C experience to get it working, then the idea man deserves the major credit. But that's not what this contest sounds like to me.
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Because they take something cheap (an idea), and turn in into something valuable (a monopoly on any implementations).
If ideas are so difficult to develop then why has almost every major invention been developed independantly by multiple people?
Creating a quality product has less to to with a single big idea and more to do with getting all the little details right. Which is why Blackberries are still the best handheld email device , even though many others have come
Don't be so crass (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, if you're not a programmer, your idea is basically worthless. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Programmers who actually implement your idea cost money. Now, you can either participate in this contest and (if you win) not only see your idea realized, but actually get a price and royalties if the app sells.
The choice isn't between owning a great idea which will inevitably make your rich, and giving it away for nothing, as you make it out to be. The choice is between nothing and seeing your idea realized while making money.
Obviously, if you're a programmer who has an awesome idea, don't participate in this contest. Implement it yourself. But I don't think there's even one programmer too stupid to realize this.
Don't be so arrogant (Score:1)
I think you need a trip into the real world of software development. Ideas may be a dime a dozen but good ideas aren't so easy to come by and they take work. And the sheer arrogance that only a programmer could produce a good idea for an application is ridiculous. Fools like you give we professional software developers a terrible image because you think you know what everyone wants. You don't.
Actually, I'm not, you just didn't read right (Score:2)
That's funny. I make a trip into the real world of software development every morning except on saturdays and sundays.
...but we're not talking about those ideas here, now are we? We're talking about a freaking contest where people send in their ideas about new apps. Here's a hint: You have an idea which you think is great? There's a 99% probabilit
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So unless you're either a programmer or can pay the salary of one, your idea is not going to be implemented, no matter how good you think it is.
Actually, even Apple doesn't believe that line. That's why it's shipping software
What's your point? (Score:2)
Yes, if youre next big idea is a digital clock for your Mac's desktop, then you can realize it without being a programmer.
We're talking about ideas for new software applications here, not about AppleScripts that you use and then throw away. Even if you create your apps using Apple's Widget Studio (or whatever he heck it was called), you need to know how to program unless you're using one of Apple's templat
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I guess I should start out with an apology myself. Instead of calmly pointing out where the misunderstanding was, I replied by flaming back. Sorry. And, fwiw, apology accepted :-)
About successfull software companies; as far as I can tell, it goes like this: A developer has an idea. He somehow finds the time to implement this idea. 95% of the time, the story ends here. Either the idea was crap, the implementation was crap or the developer wasn't able to make his app known. However, 5% of the time, it doesn'
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You are so right.
I know a number of highly experienced and more to the point highly creative engineers, and they pretty much agree: ideas by themselves don't have much value. In part this is because these are the kinds of people who have dozens of ideas every day.
So many people have a naive view that they will have a Eureka moment that will change their lives
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I totally agree. Good idea? No value. Good idea + person who can implement it? Some value. Great idea + person who can implement it and actually has a clue about the subject and about programming and interface design and all that stuff + a plan to make money with the product? Lots of value.
99% of all ideas fall into the first category. If you don't have a real plan to implement your idea, you might as well give it away in this con
Ideas are *everything* (Score:1)
That is such crap. Ideas, or more specifically good ideas, are everything. And a truly good idea is a rare creature indeed. I work as a creative in a large (Australian) advertising agency where clients pay us specifically for ideas and then pay extra for executions. People with ideas change the world. People saying not to bother because you don't know how to execute an idea do not. Finding people to make somethin
Ideas: worthless if you can't do anything with 'em (Score:2)
Uhm, we're talking about software here, not ads.
I would tend to agree that advertising is a bit different. But even so: If you were to go out on the street and ask 100 people for their advertising ideas, you'd get 99 crappy ideas and maybe one which could be de
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If you could find someone who realized that their idea was worthless without execution; and was capable of breaking down that idea into manageable sized pieces; and could delve into the details of the problem understanding the nuances; and understood which one of these pieces was more important than the others; and understood the problem domain that their idea was in; and could take feedback without flipping out...
I'd take one of these in exachange for any 10 ace programmers that you could throw at me
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Try finding a good Cocoa developer who will implement your idea. Good luck.
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Maybe it's a commentary on how stupid most people are that they don't get memory management? :-)
Luckily, there's garbage collection in Objective-C 2.0. But you're right, most programmers nowadays seem to learn Java or C# and then not invest anthing into "harder" programming languages like Objective-C or C.
Re:Don't be so crass (Score:5, Insightful)
Good programmers are worth their weight in gold, or at least 10 [joelonsoftware.com]-28 times their weight in bad programmers. [utexas.edu]
Anyone could hire some teenage VB6 script kiddie out of school to bodge up something similar to what they were thinking for dollars an hour, max. The trick is in finding someone who'll take on your vague idea[1] and develop it into something beautiful, functional and usable that you can take credit for.
That is neither easy nor cheap to outsource.
Footnotes:
[1] I'm sorry, but if long experience developing has taught me anything, it's this: If you don't know how to code, and have no experience of coding, you have no idea what you want.
You might have the vaguest inkling of what you desire, but you won't have considered 90% of the edge cases, it'll be wrong in at least three ways and the whole requirement will need re-writing by the developer once he understands what you actually do want.
Non-coders aren't the problem... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Yeah, but programmers usually tend to think things through before implementing something. It's what they've been thaught. I'm not trying to diss on customers, it's often the programmer's fault for not asking closer, but who has never experienced the dreaded "Oh, I forgot something when we wrote the specs, just a small change" feedback after you've delivered beta X and the customer suddenly figures out that he f
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The fact remains that unless you've had experience and/or training in an intellectually rigorous field like programming, you're almost certain not to consider all the edge cases, caveats, assumptions and potential failure modes of any idea you do have... especially when you're talking about programming something.
Since plans often have to be scrapped or changed as a result of these kinds of u
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I have to disagree here, if only about the way you express this. It's not that you don't know what you want it's just that you don't know how to express it in a way that a developer will understand. Customers talk in vague high-level terms and we talk in terms of testable cases and conditions. It is such a terrible terrible m
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I agree, the fault often lies with the engineers since they're the ones who should actually know better. But that doesn't change the fact that customers don't know what they want until they get something which they know they don't want :-)
Anyway, I found that lots of short iterations which leads to early feedback helps a ton.
Don't architect your application too strictly to what you think the customer wants. Either you misunderstood, or he'll change his mind sooner or later.
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I actually do this all the time -- but I tell them so.
The point is to keep lines of communication open. Tell the customer what we can or cannot do, how hard it is to do a particular thing. Don't just send them betas, send them alpha mockups and user stories.
As someone else put it: Users don't know what they want, but they know what they don't want when they see it. So make sure that they are disi
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I disagree. Sometimes this is the case, but any sufficiently talented developer would be able to compensate for that.
I'm not talking about places where they leave out explanation - these are often technical details, and it's up to the developer to work out these issues. If the customer could do this he'd be a d
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Re:So much for Appley originality (Score:5, Informative)
I for one am gonna take off my cynical hat, put on a "this could be cool" hat and wait and see what happens.
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Or "Mac entrepreneur Phillip Ryu"? From the Press Release...
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Idea 1b (Score:3, Funny)
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take a look at his user name.....making a connection?
The man comes here, makes a profile, and then replies saying that one qoute taken off his blog was supposed to be a joke, and he gets modded offtopic? And the parent of his post gets informative?
I would have written this logged in, but I have already modded in here, trying to fix your mistakes.
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Whats wrong with this? If the person decides to enter this contest, they do so knowing that Apple will be taking their app and 'taking it and running with it'... so whats bad about this?
I know we're supposed to be against anyone doing anything thats not open around here - fine and dandy, but I'm sure there are some people out there that would love the
a) exposure (great resume fodder)
b) prize
c) coolness of having their app included in MacOS
So what
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There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but I'm inclined to believe it will play into Apple's continuing obfuscation about "openness" in its products, development practices, and so on. It's a sore point among many that Apple (until fairly recently) traded on the "openness" of its kernel, only to close it once again.
I guess I'm allergic to the Apple hype machine's emissions, is all.
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mmm, apple jack.
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3. To stress the point; Make it look like Windows and make sure ALL the apps have consistent UIs that work just like their Windows counterparts.
I suspect there are many legal hurdles to this step of your plan. The MacOS interface is already fairly easy to pick up once you shed yourself of some bad Windows habits. If they made it too similar to Windows, you'd lose what makes Apple Apple.
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