Reportage: An iPhone Twitter Client with Focus

I follow < 200 people on Twitter, which is paltry compared to many. But even with that relatively low number I can lose track of a few contacts. Days will go by without one of their posts making it into my short-term viewing window, which prompts me to wonder what they've been up to lately. I guess groups would help, but honestly I hate dealing with Twitter groups. Having to keep each group updated, dealing with flipping from group to group when I read, wondering if Jeff Atwood really belongs in my Dev group or my Interesting People group...ugh it's a pain. Especially using any of the available iPhone clients. (TweetDeck = CrashDeck on the iPhone). I stumbled across an interesting iPhone client called Reportage that quickly and easily answers the question- "dude, what have you been up to lately?"

Reportage bills itself as "the radical Twitter radio tuner for your iPhone", and it really does take a unique approach. Reportage displays your Following list and overlays unread counts over it. At a glance I can see how active people have been. With a click, I can drill into their most recent updates. Think how cool that is- with 3 clicks I can get the most recent local Boston news, TechCrunch articles, and quotes from ShitMyDadSays. Trying to do that using a client like Tweetie would have taken me 15 minutes. Reportage also has a nifty little radio dial UI, where you can scroll across your contacts with a flick and "tune in" to each.

If you're currently following thousands of Twitter users, then you likely don't really care what most of them are up to at any given moment. With that kind of overhead, Reportage may not be for you. Also Reportage is missing some standard features that you just absolutely must have if you want to be a real Twitter client. Like search, trends, Instapaper/View In Safari, and Go To User. However it's a great start and a unique client which is probably worth the 99 cents to check out.

(download)

Zune HD Would Have Been Huge in 2006

Zunehd1

The lickable hotness of the Zune HD cannot be denied. But to be a successful gadget, you've got to bring more to the table than just hotness. You've got to give people a reason to cough up the cash. From the Zune HD press release:

  • Built-in HD Radio™ receiver. Allows you to listen to higher-quality sound than is available from traditional radio channels, as well as access additional programming through HD2 and HD3 multicast channels from many of your favorite local FM radio stations at no extra cost.
  • HD video output capabilities. Supports HD video playback from the device through a premium HDMI A/V docking station (sold separately) directly to an HDTV in 720p, making it easy to enjoy better-than-DVD-quality video on your own big screen at home.
  • OLED touch screen. Allows you to easily flip through music, movies and other content. The 3.3-inch glass screen and 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offer a premium viewing experience.
  • Built-in Wi-Fi. Allows for browsing, streaming or downloading new music from Zune Marketplace.
  • Internet browser. Full-screen Web browsing, optimized for the multitouch screen with zoom-in and zoom-out gestures.
  • Accessories, at home and on the road. Zune HD and AV Dock charges and syncs players while playing supported 720p HD videos on HDTVs. Play HD Radio, music and podcasts from your Zune HD device through your car stereo using the Zune Premium Car Pack.
Sick display, WiFi, Web Browser, online music store, built-in radio. A device like this would have ruled the world, selling millions of units and ending up stealing back a huge chunk of media player market share for Microsoft...in 2006. That's ~ 1 year before Apple released it's first iPod Touch and changed mobile media devices forever. 

Sure with Zune's bad ass Nvidia Tegra processor, the screen is going to dampen any geek who lays eyes upon it. But what's the point? Downloadable band photos? Zune's video store is horrific, and watching old episodes of Monk on your OLED screen or via HDMI won't change that. Unless Microsoft has something up it's sleeve, like an exclusive Netflix streaming deal or Flash browser support, I don't see a compelling reason to buy a Zune HD. Apple's devices currently do things like provide GPS driving directions, manage my budget, create spreadsheets and stream live NY Yankee games. And if I ask them to slum it, they'll even lower themselves to simply playing audio + video. Given the choice, which would you spend your money on?

HD radio? People actually still listen to radio with services like Pandora, Last.FM, Spotify out there? Really??

The Apple Tablet is Going to Melt Faces

161384-apple_tablet_180

The buzz around the rumored Apple tablet grows by the day, but overall reaction has been mixed. Many are anticipating that it will end in disaster, just as many other ventures into tablet computing have. I think the world is ready for a tablet, and Apple is in the perfect position to deliver yet another life-changing device.

The iPhone isn't a Phone Anymore
At some point, many iPhone and iPod Touch owners realize that the primary function of their device has become secondary; where the amount of time using their device as a computer begins to dwarf the amount of time using it as a phone or media player. This is the prime explanation why millions of people have gleefully allowed AT&T to ruin their phone calls for years without ditching their iPhone. We simply don't care about the phone part as much. I reached this point some time ago with my iPod Touch. I spend a few hours each week listening to my music library, but a few hours each day doing other things. Checking email, browsing the web, reading an ebook, calculating a budget, booking a flight, listening to web radio...last night I watched the Yankees game live on my goddamn iPod. The iPhone is no longer a phone, it's a computer of sorts. That's how people are using them. So the iPhone OS is already proven as a valid (and popular) app platform.

The iTablet as the Ultimate Media Device
Let me know if this sounds familiar- I have a MacBook and a PC laptop packed TO THE GILLS with pricey software. They sit idle each night as more and more of my daily tasks are accommodated by my iPod Touch. I can grab the Touch and in a few clicks get the information I need. The only times I fire up a laptop are:
  1. When I need more screen real estate.
  2. When I need to view Flash.
  3. When I need more computing power or better I/O.
The Apple tablet can eliminate #1 and #2, but it can't compete with #3. And it shouldn't even try. The iTablet shouldn't try to be a "MacBook with a touchscreen". Instead it should just keep pushing in the current iPhone OS direction, with focus on making it the ultimate media device. The lack of computing power problem will gradually be solved by the cloud.

The Cloud Makes the Tablet Relevant
Add the cloud to the tablet and, as Satchmo used to say, "you has Jazz". Yesterday I used my iPod to work on my budget spreadsheet in Google Docs. Again, I used my media player with it's 3.5 inch display to work on a spreadsheet. And it wasn't an unpleasant experience. That's a testament to Google's web apps, and also highlights the point that as web apps becoming more powerful the need for computing power becomes less important. Sure, I'll still grab the laptop if I need dev tools to get my job done. But since more and more of my daily tasks are being shifted to the web, a tablet makes more sense now than it has in the past. This trend will continue.

So Why Not Use a Netbook?
Sex appeal. Packing the Apple Tablet with media-centric features and a big, glorious display is going to blow any netbook experience away. Can you imagine sitting on the commuter train streaming Netflix on this thing? Or flipping full-color pages of Newsweek on your flat panel tablet as people look at you like you're from the effing future? Game over, man. This thing will sell. The only way the Apple Tablet bombs is if Apple tries to cram OS X in there and make it a netbook.