Everyone and their mother has requests for iPhone apps - heck, I had eight of them. But not everyone goes the extra mile like Phillip Ryu has to create detailed screenshots of how their apps should look (Update: Phill contacted me to clear up that Josh Pyles created the screenshots in collaboration). In addition to the screenshots, most of Phill's requests in 5 iPhone Apps I'd Like To See From Apple are also unique from similar posts I've seen across the blogosphere - he's asking for things like an Archive.org/Ebook reader, the iTunes Store for iPhone (of course, but a nice mockup nonetheless), a sketching app (Skitch for iPhone anyone?), a VoIP app and iMovie for iPhone that could offer basic editing and sharing with .Mac, YouTube and Mail. It's an interesting list of requests with pretty pictures that do a great job of mocking up the apps with the iPhone's new UI paradigms in full force. No tiny menus or tool palettes here; just large buttons, lists with large text and toolbars lining the bottom of each app. Here's hoping that the signs pointing towards true iPhone app development arriving with Leopard in October are more than empty speculation.

For anyone who has ever wished that Firefox did this or that on Mac OS X - get ready to voice your requests and complaints. Jeff Smykil at Ars Technica is reporting that Colin Barrett of the Firefox team has left the door wide open for Mac users to submit requests for the browser, including a short list of things they already know are at the top of many users' lists (some of which are already planned). For example: Native Form Widgets (i.e. - web form buttons that look and feel more like Mac OS X a lá Safari / Camino / OmniWeb) are on the drawing board for Firefox 3, and a Unified toolbar is apparently "not completely hopeless." Performance is of course on the list (is it ever not?), but a big one that this blogger feels is fundamental to any Mac OS X app that deals with passwords also made the list: Keychain integration (Colin - does that count for my request submission?). We of course have 1Passwd, a password and identity manager that (among other things) integrates Firefox with the Mac OS X Keychain, but 1Passwd's $30 price tag understandably sets it outside of most user's budgets (though until Firefox builds this feature in, I definitely recommend 1Passwd as a happy customer).

But don't stop there - Colin and the Firefox team want to hear your thoughts on these features, as well as all the others missing from the browser that you simply can't live without. In fact, they want all the email they can get their hands on, so head on over to Colin's blog to get the email address with which you can help make Firefox a better browser for the Mac.

Major new features in the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard like Time Machine are great, but I've been thinking about all the other aspects of the Mac OS X experience that could use some spit and polish from Apple's engineers. They've done a fantastic job building a damn impressive OS over the years, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvements both big and small (besides: they have to keep their OS product cycle on a good pace). Following is a list of 10 unlikely requests I have for the next version of Mac OS X that might not be worthy of a Stevenote, but they could bring smiles and sighs of satisfied relief to many a user:

• Removing applications - and all their baggage: Deleting (or "uninstalling") an app on Mac OS X is easy: you just move it to the trash. But what about all the extra data apps create when you use them (databases, media libraries, etc.)? Sure there are 3rd party apps like AppZapper that truly remove the app and all those extras, but I think Leopard needs an integrated, obvious and thorough process for removing apps and their extra baggage (perhaps AppZapper could go the way of CoverFlow?). I can't count the number of times I've been asked how to do it by users both old and new. This method could include a dialog when dragging an app to the trash which asks the user if they want to nuke the 'extra' files like Application Support directories and preferences. I know many apps don't leave much behind, but it all can pile up, and there are at least a few apps that really know how to gobble up the mega and gigabytes. To help everyone get on the same page though, a dedicated System Preferences pane would work best.
  
• Don't make me eject an idle drive: This one is always a tricky conversation, and I should disclose up front that I am certainly no developer. All I know is that it seems just a little strange in the year 2006 (or 2007, once Leopard is released) that I still have to eject a flash drive I haven't touched in two hours. Mac OS X is now both smart and pretty - I don't think it should be that hard to implement some kind of smart ejection system that can eject the drive when not in use, but fire it back up when needed. Further, if we set my lazy nerd ambitions aside for a moment, I'm sure this would save the lives of countless finance reports and term papers for all those users who don't understand what 'ejecting' a drive means or why they have to do it.

The kit's been out for a while, and I have been running with my own (with a cheap shoe wallet; not Nike's shoes) for about a week now, so I figured I would post a brief review and some thoughts about one of the most unique (and arguably active) iPod accessories to date.

In a nutshell - it's nice. Very nice. Setting up and configuring the kit was a snap, especially for a couple of typically complex and finicky gadgets like these (cmon, how many times has a wifi connection had an attitude with you?). For those waiting for more confirmation as to whether you need Nike's specialized shoes for this kit to work: you don't. I, like many others already, purchased one of those $8 Nike Run Shoe Wallets we blogged, tossed the sensor inside (with a couple pieces of kleenex to make sure it doesn't bounce around) and attached it to the top of my generic running shoes. I configured my kit by both running and walking a .25 mile distance, and measured my route with the gmap pedometer to make sure the sensor was accurate.

Now a lot of users are (understandably) frustrated with Apple and Nike for designing the kit to only work with the iPod nano. Unfortunately, this is a situation to actually thank these companies for, as hard drive-based iPods aren't designed to take the kind of impact that running delivers; their drives would ultimately end up failing sooner (as opposed to later), and there would be a lot of unhappy, iPod-less runners out there. Believe it or not, Apple (for once) actually saved a lot of people a couple hundred dollars with this move.

I won't spend much more time on a review, as iLounge has already been there, done that. I do, however, think that some feature requests are in order. After all, this is a 1.0 product, right?

• When on a distance run, the audio feedback begins rattling off the remaining distance every 100 meters when the last 500 meters is reached. I realize it's a 'pump you up' technique, but this can get kind of annoying when I'm grooving with a song; an option to toggle this would be super.
• The Nike+ site really needs to discover the wonders of those futuristic 'cookie' things; having to re-login at every visit is so... 1994.
• Speaking of the site - this one might be a little crazier, but: I think it would be a smoother experience if the Nike+ 'application' was simply integrated into iTunes itself (toggle-able in the Sources list: My Library - Podcasts - Videos - Nike+ would be cool). I'm using an iPod with an iPod accessory, and I need to plug said iPod into iTunes to do anything with this running data anyway - why am I surfing out to an external site to view how out of shape I am and challenge friends to distance competitions to see who has to pay for coffee next time we hang out?
• Add a 'podcasts' option to the music choices available for the run. As far as I can tell, if I want to listen to a specific podcast on a run, I need to create a playlist (either on my Mac or 'On the Go' on the iPod itself) and add a podcast in order to listen to it during a run. Clunky.

That's about it for my list of requests for an update to the Nike + iPod Sport Kit product and software. What do you readers think? Has anyone else been stopped dead in their tracks with one problem or another? Sound off.

The iPod is the 800-pound gorilla of the DAP industry - there's no doubt about it (well, almost). In its 4+ years of existence, the player has quickly won owner's hearts because of its ease of use and seamless iTunes management experience, amongst other reasons. I personally have owned one of every generation of iPod since the original 5 GB model with the *gasp* mechanical scroll wheel, before all this fancy touch wheel stuff you young whipper-snappers are spoiled with today.

In all this time, however, the iPod's famously simple UI has more or less remained that way - staggeringly basic. While I personally am no fan of devices that add features and options simply for the sake of claiming 'it has more', I'm starting to think that there are a few areas that the iPod's UI and experience are in serious need of an update. Music (and video) collections are getting larger, people are interacting with their devices and the libraries on their computers through increasingly new (and truly useful) ways, and I think the iPod needs to catch up with the times.