running with paper

I hear there’s Facebook 3.0! I’ve been avoiding lists of features, but I hope:

1. I can “like” things
2. I will actually get relevant updates in News and Status Updates instead of a few random ones
3. Hiding preferences carry over – I don’t want to see a thousand FarmVille updates (sorry friends) ever, especially my phone
4. I no longer have to break my friends, family, and colleagues into individual groups to see their updates
5. Ridding of having to scroll horizontally past Mafia, FarmVille, InaneQuiz 3283, and more, just to get over to the special collection updates
6. Ability to suppress things which I cannot access – game updates – via the mobile interface
7. Ability to include things I want priority access to – pictures, notes – via the mobile interface

Lexulous 1.4

• Stop terminating unexpectedly
• Handle errors better – I should not have to be reminded to ensure I’m connected to the net every time I click an action button
• If you can’t fix that, and I do have to hit PLAY | YES I’M CONNECTED | PLAY all the time, make the word lookup tool hold the word so I don’t have to type it twice
• Make the board “bigger” – I am quite impressed by the tile offset when I move (if I happen to be a right handed player) but it gets a little iffy at the edges of the boards – make a border

The error correction is what drives me the most batty. But I usually play Lexulous on the iPhone when I am stuck in an otherwise completely dead zone of time, space, and reality. So I put up with three clicks to play a tile set instead of one. And it may not be completely Lexulous’ fault. I’ve reported the errors and asked to beta test the next version – no soap. So we’ll see how 1.4 handles the situation.

I’m assuming there’s some kind of low level communication going on without any decent return packets for the game. And it might be that AT&T service is so horrendous here in South Florida (and I spend far too much time with an “E” on my screen rather than a “3G” to prove it) that Lexulous can’t help but error out. So it might need more flexibility in waiting for acks back, or taking a bit longer to punch through. I know I’ve played a move, gone to my next game, played that move, clicked for my next game and ended back up with my first, my tiles unplayed.

Not sure what else is getting upgraded besides the 3.0 iPhone interface, but can I have a folder, please? Or more? I would love to nest my applications. Between the applications I have and others have (the hub, the kids) I am drowning in pages and pages of apps I don’t want to use! Maybe even a profile. One for him, one for me. Please.

It was bound to happen, and it has. ITunes, designed for simple users. A computer, a device, maybe two.

Real life doesn’t work that way.

Six computers in this house. Two Windows desktops (XP and 2000). A Windows Laptop (XP). Another Windows Laptop (Vista or 7, I forget). Two Macs – soon to be three.

Between us we have a dying 30GB 2nd Gen iPod, a wonky 10GB 3rd Gen Mini, one iPhone, and the newest addition to the family, an iPod shuffle for workouts and music-on the go. We are smart, educated computer professionals, well versed in the Way Things Should Be Done.

However, we do them the way they happen to fit. Our reality grew organically. One device, then another, add some, take some away. The upshot of it is that all of the devices currently sync to 1 of the Macs and none of the other devices.

Since ITunes doesn’t really care what device you have, iPod or not, this can lead to several kinds of trouble. Our most recent and poignant example was sleepy time music. We’ve got several gigs full of kid pop on the iPhone, and when we’re on one of our many road trips, we plug it in and the kids listen as they drop off for naps on said long rides (we have racked up 80,000 miles in the last three years if that tells you anything).

So the next time the iPhone sync’d, and then the Shuffle sync’d, guess what the Shuffle had as its top 25 list? Kid music.

Granted – you want to make the user experience easy for users – but to force them into planning elaborate structures (and yes, more than one iTunes account or machine is elaborate) to keep their family’s music from cross-pollution of preferences is just … not right. At least identify the devices – both by your internal mechanisms (read the device codes and profiles) and external mechanisms (device name – friendly or TRY to identify the millions of other media players that aren’t from Apple). Allow users to create device profiles, and fine tune further if they like. So iPhone preferences and ratings don’t leak into the Shuffle.

At the very least, ITunes, ask me before you start synching something simply because I plug it in. Or make me set a setting to ask you to ask me before synching when I plug in. Desperate for a charge, I plugged my iPhone into my sister’s computer the other day and it started synching. She warned me (I’m not the usual updater, I leave it to the Hub for the movement) so I stopped it. But if one of the kids had decided to help me by plugging in my phone? Not necessarily the best thing to just start synching willy-nilly. And yes, they’re allowed to touch the technology; we try to guide rather than hide, even when it results in a few mishaps.

And please, get a make over, ITunes. You don’t seem to handle interfacing with the Photo app very well, according to Tog (I can’t find the darn article now). So how about a rebuild? IMood, IGroove, IMedia …. IVibe?