My Dream App For the Mac 249
Steve Streza writes "My Dream App, a Mac contest in search of the next killer app, features Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, and Xbox and zune creator J. Allard as guest judges for its final round. Visitors can vote for their 3 favorite app ideas, and receive free licenses to both Overflow 2 and the Apple Design Award winning PhotoPresenter. Voting is open until Tuesday at 8:00 PM EDT, at which point the three winners will be announced. The winners, who will have emerged from an initial pool of more than 2,700 entrants, will see their app idea realized as a Mac shareware application and earn royalties on sales. "
No teledildonics? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No teledildonics? (Score:4, Insightful)
Software that's free, not shareware?
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Free Mac SW (Score:4, Informative)
For OSS Mac stuff, a good guide is OpenSourceMac [opensourcemac.org].
already taken care of (Score:5, Funny)
but it'll be on youtube (Score:2)
If it is on youtube, does that count as being televised?
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Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
I made Jobs (more) rich and all I got was a program and this lousy bumper sticker.
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Shareware vs Freeware (Score:5, Informative)
Shareware means there is a demo version that you're encouraged to share, but there is also a full version that you have to pay for.
Freeware is just that: free (as in beer).
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See my (naive) confusion?
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A lot of the really cool mac apps out there are shareware, and it's something fairly unique to that market, so someone new to macs or recently a mac user might not know the term. Windows does have a few (Nero?), but the vocabulary is less universal.
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Now "shareware" has been replaced with "trialware" and "demoware," where you either get a crippled version of the program or a time-limited version (often both). No more free rides (or even a chance to try out the full version before you buy).
-Eric
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The terms 'freeware' and 'shareware' of course are (and were) distinct. Our memories do agree, though. Very little was called 'freeware.' Mostly it was shareware along the lines of 'If you use and enjoy this software, please send $10.00 to...' A lot of free trials that locked you out after 30 or 60 days could be 'hacked' by re-setting your system clock to an earlier date, or by changi
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Re:Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Any young Woz types around here? I'll be the Jobs to your Woz. (but without all the yelling, I promise)
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At best they are cute widgets or small desktop apps.
I mean weather on your desktop and the ultimate cookbook?
The comment is funny but this contest looks like it might be a bit of fun. Let's face it ideas are cheap.
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The ideas I read on the site seem more like 50 cent ideas. And I don't mean the rapper.
Come to think of it. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Come to think of it. (Score:5, Funny)
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How about... (Score:2, Funny)
ooo another innovation contest (Score:3, Insightful)
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The point of this kind of competitions is usually to create awareness. Basically they could spend x million dollars on a TV advertising campaign, or they could spend the same money on a competition like this. And it will spread by word of mouth. I'd bet getting front pa
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That way, at least you get royalties. It's not unusual for companies to give employees a one-time bonus when they invent something, and that's it.
Woz is out there, man! (Score:2, Interesting)
-Steve Wozniak (Apple) - Finals:
-This would only be remotely entertaining if the plant was marijuana or opium and when you did -certain things like actually work, you killed your crop. Maybe you could make virtual cash and -compete online for the best cash crop. In order to grow the weed and heroin you have to browse -certain web sites that would require you be smoking weed to start with; like the Microsoft.com -Vista developer site.
I know he's ne
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If it's the latter, then newsflash: Apple engineers dislike Microsoft.
If it's the former, newsflash: Woz probably knows from experience.
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Sigh.
Is there nowhere that I can turn where I can safely slander people?
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BTW, he didn't "invent" the Mac.
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I have a lot of respect for Steve Wozniak. I don't begrudge the guy a joke or two, but when you are writing up a review for publication, heroin-cultivation seems a bit beyond the pale, even if you want to just let the pot iss
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Not to hijack the thread into a drug war debate, but I'm not sure why you vilify
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Yup. And you loose a ton of points for writing "MAC".
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Re:Woz is out there, man! (Score:5, Insightful)
A virtual plant? That's about as pointless as a virtual bicycle.
(Also, it's "Mac" not "MAC", and Woz didn't create it, he created the original Apple/Apple II systems-- singlehandedly)
Really? (Score:2)
Re:Woz is out there, man! (Score:4, Interesting)
It's kinda sad, actually.
Two months before I heard of this, I thought it would be cute to make an iBonsai program. Screensaver-simple, as one of these judges said. A bonsai tree with a variable time scale, from 1x to 20x. Lets you snip twigs or pinch buds to control the overall growth direction, replace the pot when it get large enough, watch it grow under different seasons, and that's about it. There are dozens of tree varieties that work well in bonsai, but it's a bit fussier than practical for those of us who don't have a green thumb or the proper humid environment.
Killer app, NO WAY. $5 shareware cute product, for some people, yes. Less manic than a Tamagotchi, but the same basic idea.
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-Eric
Killer app? (Score:5, Insightful)
The only ones that come close to useful is file sync and the music maker. And they're far from 'killer app' status. Nobody is going to convert from PC to Mac because it has some sync software or music, especially when other software already exists for that platform and others.
The others are all in the 'ooh eyecandy' category.
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And honestly, how many more glorified recipe book apps does the world need?
well... (Score:2)
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3G was great, ran very much cooler than the stuff that came later.
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The Windows cookbook program I use (Living Cookbook) is ok, but it has some problems that would make me jump ship if there was a good alternative:
1. It abstracts what I enter in a recipe to an item database (which is good for calculating nutrition from ingredients), but then puts
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You mean like porting Reiser4 to Mac OS X?
That might actually get it adpoted quicker than trying to get it into Linux.
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Pay attention before you troll. (Score:2)
I didn't even have to RTFA to spot that.
They're getting more than a free T-Shirt, they're getting published. This is basically just making executive decisions through publicized contests instead of closed-door boardroom sessions.
If the royalties are right... (Score:2)
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Except for the fact that these applications are Mac applications, and are therefore run on Apple hardware, as far as I know Apple has absolutely nothing to do with this.
My Dream App for the Mac... (Score:2)
A Finder with a "Refresh" button. (Score:3, Insightful)
There are other problems too, it seems to hang sometimes, and it's very difficult to figure out the key combo that lets me empty the trash of files that are orphan-locked.
Also, the finder can get into a state where the highlighted shortcut in the left panel doesn't correspond to the directory being displayed in the right panel. This should never happen.
But gimme a goddamned refresh button before you do anything else.
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There are command-line controls for Spotlight indexing, if that's what you're talking about. But once the initial index is done (and that usually doesn't slow down a system noticeably), you'll neve
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When you start your computer for the first time, it takes a bit of time to build the index. After that it updates it on the fly, but there is essentially no CPU overhead - think about how long it takes to "Save as" a file and how long it takes to read that filename and add it to an index. The longest search I've done took about 5 seconds to complete and included the file I was looking for and the
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It sure sounds like it. The search with Windows 95 (yes, that old) wasn't so bad, but they made it much harder to use for the XP versions. Not only that, it crashes a lot. I've seen it do this on a wide variety of machines. It's pretty slow to start, too: like someone programmed a 20-second pause just so you can be impressed with how that damn orange puppy flaps its ears
Re:A (Path) Finder with a "Refresh" button. (Score:3, Informative)
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I just want to hit CMD+R and see a Finder window refresh. Windows has supported a "refresh" shortcut in Windows Explorer (F5) for many years. I don't expect to install a gigantic piece of $35 shareware to get such a simple feature, but that seems to be the norm on Mac OS X these days.
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If a Finder window needs to be refreshed, it's a bug. Actually, come to think of it, that might not be true when working on a network file server, but for local files, the Finder should always be displaying current information. When working on a file server, things can change on the server that the client isn't aware of, so yeah, some sort of refresh option would be good.
Dead Babies. (Score:2)
Not that making good software is really the intent here. It seems to me that at least half the push in Apple's case is a public relations scheme to form that feeling of community and sharing and hugs which their ad department has determined is the most effective approach to long term profits. This month, anyway. If it were believed that long ter
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Project DreamApp (Score:2, Interesting)
This is the search for the next killer app...
16 contestants. The best of them will get to show a collection of apps at MacWorld Expo, and the winner will receive $100,000 to start their own line of software and a new VW Rabbit with iPod connectivity.
Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki, and Steve Wozniak will judge the contestants' performance each week in a series of challenges. Each week, there will be one winner and one loser (who gets to go home), because in the world of software des
Getting slashdotted (Score:2)
Currently only a couple of entries' descriptions even come up; the others get MySQL "too many connections" errors. Guess which ones are going to get the most votes?
If you put up a voting site and want it to be fair, make sure your services can handle the load!
ipod (Score:2)
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My take on the choices... (Score:5, Interesting)
Put the weather on your desktop.A virtual window to the outdoors for your desktop. View a virtual representation of your area's weather when too busy to go outside.
Too bust to go outside? WTF? Look out the window you lazy sow! NOT a killer app - more of a stupid idea, along the lines of Segway [segwayofusa.com]
Blossom
A virtual plant that responds to productivity, not sunlight and water. Had a good session in Excel? Your plant will thrive. Play too much Warcraft? Expect some withering.
Suck great steaming tourdes out of the boss's ass? Instant rainforest. Write 3000 lines of code? A garden of flowers? But what if all the code is crap? Does Blossom do QA? A REALLY bad idea, and impossible to properly implement. Blossom is fascism with a happy face - "here come the suede denim secret police! ... California! Uber Alles!"
Whistler
Music creation has never been this easy or fun. Ever had the urge to create a song until you realized it was harder than it was worth? With Whistler, just whistle, hum, or tap out your creation into music app importable form.
Now THIS is a cool thing - a REAL application that empowers people to do something they never could before. Albeit, if you're a tone deaf couch potato with no sense of rhythm, you will have a somewhat tougher time. But basically, this idea has actual use value compared to the previous ideas.
Cookbook
The ultimate cookbook application, with online grocery shopping, thousands of recipes, Leopard voiceover technology integration, shopping list sharing, and more.
This is a sort-of-cool idea. I don't think it has quite the scope and brilliant of Whistler, but this is something I could actually almost use... IF I were stupid enough to put a computer in the kitchen... DOH!
Portal
File syncing from the future. Sync folders and documents between Macs effortlessly and watch transfer progress through a cool, highly visual wormhole user interface.
If I needed to sync a bunch of macs together, I guess this would be useful. However, most Mac owners I know have ONE (perhaps 2) macs. Heck - I have two. But I also have three or four PCs floating around chez Spoilsport. If it could co-ordinate them too, then I'd be impressed... as it is, this comes under "A Really Good Idea" but not "Killer App".
so, I would rank them as follows:
1. Whistler - good stuff! A - A-
2. Portal - not bad - useful! B+
3. Cookbook - Pretty good, as soon as I get the olive oil cleaned out of my powerbook. B-
4. Atmosphere - stupid idea with marginal use for quadraplegics who wonder what they're missing. C
5. Blossom - an actively Bad Idea. F
RS
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Agreed. It's quite silly. Although what _would_ be cool is a service that lets you "subscribe" your desktop to a website where nice wallpapers are downloaded automatically and rotated through for you (changing ever so gradually, or while the screensaver is up). You could subscribe to different channels relevant to your interests. (Puppies, Women of the UN Security Council, Starscapes, Unobtrusive floral patterns, etc.) One of them could be: TA DA -- TORNADOS OF THE MIDWEST. Almost the same thing.
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Read, post or moderate on Slashdot? Expect a gallon of virtual Roundup [monsanto.com] to be dumped on your soon-to-be deceased little vegetable.
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Hijack is a full-featured Message Board app. Most people visit myriad message boards spread all over the internet. This will be the a forum user's answer to RSS.
I am one of those people who regularly participate in several different message boards. It would be awesome to have a better way to keep up with them all, especially for forums that move very fast (I make a post at 5 PM and by 9 AM the next day it's on the 4th page) or sl
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That was my first thought as well until I saw the following in the writeup:
No chicks allowed. (Score:2)
and that one girls's idea?
Virtual Closet. Grats.
Royalties... (Score:2)
Which is to say, they'll get royalties on one copy sold, and several million pirated.
Meta information! Tagging filesystem (Score:2)
Automatically transforming information from one form to another and categorising it with some sort of tagging file system. It would be handy to have various types of fuzzy classifiers to automate it all.
Royalties. Ah, royalties... (Score:2)
Why do I suspect that Apple will calculate those royalties using the same generous provisions favored by the music industry giants that are their partners in iTunes?
Why, the lucky contest winner could wind up owing Apple only a few tens of thousands of dollars!
How about MythTV... (Score:2, Interesting)
It'd be neat to see this for linux.. (Score:2, Interesting)
I know plenty of programmers who are looking for decent ideas who just , through the harshness of their day jobs, don't have much time or desire to go home and repeat the process of spec design
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And I know plenty of people who come up with really brilliant ideas for what these programmers could do, like implementing a driver for some piece of hardware, writing some really great game for GNU/Linux, or getting some Windows app to run under Wine.
Seriously, the problem _can't_ be that there's a lack of
diminishing returns? (Score:2)
The losers... (Score:3, Interesting)
The losers will see their app idea realized as a Mac shareware application, minus the whole royalty thing.
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Condemn copycats? (Score:4, Interesting)
As it's been said, only a couple of the finalists are horribly innovative applications. Do they actually propose to try and publically shame the next guy who comes out with a cookbook app?
(Yes, for the record, I am playing around with an implementation for someline like one of the apps on the list. It's far from the same application they're proposing, but it's similar enough in overall theme that they might try to 'condemn my actions' and claim copycat. I think I've got a decent app in development, but it puts a damper on it knowing that if it gets popular enough I'm going to have these folks screaming 'he stole the idea'.)
Killer. . ? Not until we have AI and transporters (Score:3, Insightful)
People want to write. So we have word-processors. Check.
People want to make pictures, both moving and static. So we have graphics manipulators.
People want to make sounds and music. We have software to serve in this capacity.
People want to do complex maths and book-keeping. Done.
People want to amuse themselves. Games. Done.
People want to communicate. Again, done. We call it the 'internet'
People want to spend money. Yup. Done that.
And people want the construction software to be able to program all of the above. Done, done, done!
So what's left?
People also want to eat, sleep, transport themselves and have sex.
Well, until you can make a food replicator, the eating thing is probably not going to see a revolution any time soon through computers. Sleep is pretty much automatic, (thank-goodness!), I guess there's aviation and transport technologies software already, so that's another done thing, (though GPS was sort of cool). --And I guess you could arguably say that sex has been amply covered by the net already.
So what's left? What need is this new killer app going to fill?
I suppose you could do one of the above things better, more integrated, with prettier colors. The iPod was a good example of re-packaging existing technology. Yay for Jobs.
And realistically, re-packaging existing ideas is all that's left, (until a genius comes along and shows us all wrong, of course.)
Google was one of those. --They gave us a way to effectively search through all the mountains of stuff generated by all the people scurrying to fill all the nooks and crannies created by the main list of things we wanted computers to do.
So what haven't we done yet?
What do we want to do?
AI is a big one. It's not here yet. (Thank goodness!)
Mind-reading hardware and software. There could be a future in that, but it's a bit far off, and again, thank-goodness for that!
Thinking more realistically, Video on Demand in whatever form it eventually takes will probably be big. YouTube offered us a glimpse of that, but it wasn't exactly an app. Maybe Apple or somebody will rig a system where all the currents of money and data flow according to the approval of the power-brokers of the media and hardware universe. That's clearly in the works right now.
But really. . . What's left? What do you really wish your computer could do that it can't do already?
Maybe it's like the typewriter. It's done. Anybody can now type. Maybe what it comes down to is people focusing less on the tools themselves and more on their getting down to the hard work of actually using them.
Just a thought.
-FL
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try
http://iscrybe.com/
nice app indeed
Almost edible (Score:5, Funny)
The curry-sauce makes it a lot easier to choke down.
Free ideas is great, get free slave labor, too. (Score:2)
Why? (Score:2)
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A couple of points (Score:2)
2: Ideas aren't worth shit unless you actually do something with them.
Re:Nice thinking (Score:5, Interesting)
if there was a contest where you were asked to give up an idea for, say, a chance to win a year's worth of professional retouching, it would be a great idea for people who would value that service. for me, as a graphic designer and retoucher, it's obviously not worth it to give up IP to gain something i could easily do on my own to a higher standard. but i'd at least recognize that it's a useful prize to some people.
Re:The assimilation of Apple users is near complet (Score:4, Funny)
Amen to that (Score:2)
I voted for whistler, too, but the topmost poster on that whistler thread was right: so far there's a lot of hype and promise in the mockups, but no actual