Alex Stone

It’s late and I’m tired and my computer is being a pain. So I’m gonna complain about something.

This morning’s topic… things that my favorite iPhone apps should be able to do, but don’t.

eBay - I should be able to post items from my phone. This would make cleaning out the garage and basement much easier if I could post and track items as I’m discovering them. Maybe someone should use the eBay API (does that even exist?) and make one.

The App Store - I should be able to flag or bookmark an app. Keep a track of it. Maybe I want to wait for an app to go on sale or keep an eye and see how people are rating it before I make a purchasing decision.

Also, I should be able to return games, at least for 75% value (I understand overhead costs money). Nothing stings more than buying a crappy game or app from the app store only to find that it sucks. Sometimes the ratings aren’t the best way to go. Even after reading through dozens of 5-star ratings and checking out reviews on Youtube, I still ended up regretting Zenonia over Need for Speed Underground.

Tumblr Pro - Frankly, whoever is putting this out should be dragged into the streets and beaten. Mob justice. This app is literally the web version of the dashboard, running as an app. They charged people money to access a web page.

IGN - Video reviews. Just link to Youtube clips and I’ll shut up about this (although embedded content is always nice, too).

Around Me - I don’t understand why this app can’t keep track of the places I frequent and figure out stuff I like. And then… when in a new town, it will direct me to places that I might enjoy that I have never tried before.

Ustream - let me see my friend’s streams! That’s it.

Weather - My friend, Chris, pointed this out to me. The weather app still requires you to punch in a zip code. Which is fine and all, but why not use the GPS and figure out where I am for the default set up. All other weather apps are ugly and I don’t want to install them.

Settings - Okay, so my iPhone has GPS, right? And my phone is super sophisticated, right? I should be able to flag a place as a known location and as I move around, it should actively switch my wifi on and off as I move in and out of these areas. For example… I’m about to leave the house and go somewhere. Once I’m outside the house and down the street, just cut off my Wifi and save some power. If my phone is just idling, not really using any data, switch off the 3G.

In conclusion, the following sites and services need iPhone apps, ASAP:
Vimeo, Start.io, Spymaster, Twitter (1st party app), Flickr, Hulu, TiVo, Wachovia, and the Adobe Suite*

*it would be great to monitor render queues remotely as well as control Adobe Encoder remotely.