Just happened to stop in at apple.com this morning and saw this teaser.

Now what could it be?

I rolled it around for a bit, and decided to put a stake in the ground. I'm probably way wrong, but maybe there will some other interesting ideas.

I think we're going to see software for the iPhone that turns it into a remote control for iTunes. The two devices would connect over the LAN. And it will do things that a remote has never been able to do, because it has a software-controlled display and it knows what content is on your server that can be played. And it knows about your playlists.

Apple has always shipped fairly useless dinky remotes with Mac Mini's and Apple TVs (I don't think iMacs or laptops come with them) but I've never been able to use them. And likewise, the full-screen software for controlling iTunes is (I find) cumbersome and difficult to control. Seems like the UI for remote control belongs on an iPhone. And btw, there isn't an Android version of the software. Sorry.

That's my wild speculation for today!

PS: I like the idea that Apple is going directly to the customers instead of going through the press. No reason for a middleman here. They are perfectly capable of teasing on their own.

PPS: Names for such a product: iMote, airMote.

PPPS: As has been pointed out in the comments, they already have such a product. Never mind.

 11/15/2010; 3:01:52 PM.   .

I went to dinner last night with a couple of old friends who live on the Upper West Side. As I left my apartment, I thought I might text them to say I was on my way. As I walked to the train station I thought about an app I wished existed.

I'd like to connect my iPhone with the computer at my host's home, just for the next 1/2 hour, so they could watch my progress. That way if I was going to be ten minutes late they would know as soon as I knew. Obviously this is an opt-in thing on both ends.

Similarly if I'm going to visit someone who's going to pick me up at a train station. I used to ask people who were visiting me in Berkeley to text me when they got to the MacArthur station on BART. That was approximately when I would have to leave to meet them at the North Berkeley station. This could be automated.

Is it possible this app already exists?

 11/15/2010; 10:57:10 AM.   .

I woke up this morning to stories in my aggregator about path.com. I had heard about it before their launch, and was intrigued by the name. Turns out it's yet another instant photo sharing iPhone app. I have limited enthusiasm for them, I already use my iPhone, extensively, with Flickr and Twitter.

Even so, first thing this morning I signed up for a Path account on my iPhone.

After entering my name and email address, gender and password, it asked if it can use my location. I said yes. Then I went to the People section to start looking for friends to share my pictures with. I was astonished to see a list of suggestions, all of whom are people I know. I was confused. How could they know I know all these people? I jumped to an incorrect conclusion, they were all following me. I smiled -- it's really cool that all these people, some of whom I haven't spoken with in years, are following me on Path. After happily adding eight people (noting that Andrew Baron had signed up twice, with two different email addresses), I realized that can't be it. Some of these people are so totally offline they could never be using this app on its first day of public existence.

So I went to Twitter and asked if anyone knew how they were doing it.

fr8d had the obvious (in hindsight) answer: They looked in my iPhone's address book.

I never said they could. What else did they do with my contacts? Send a copy to their server for safe-keeping? Foolish me, but I thought that was my iPhone and my contact list. I paid huge money for the iPhone, so it's not like it could be anyone's "business model" to use that data. But now, as far as I know, some unknown startup in California has all my data.

As I fumed, I said -- The tech industry is a virus.

An analogy. I'm standing on a subway platform and someone behind me is reading my credit card numbers aloud. I turn around and see they have my wallet. At that point does it matter if they're going to use the info to buy some goodies at Crate & Barrel or is the damage already done?

It's like spammers took over technology, like the pet food guys did in 1999. Everyone has a scam. This year the scam is to grab all the user's data and resell it. It's gotten to the point where it's a risky proposition to try out a new iPhone product.

Another example. When I realized that any random Twitter app who you give your credentials to can download all your private direct messages, that was the end of me using Twitter apps that want credentials. Meanwhile the team at Twitter Corp has always had access to this info. Who's to say their interpretation of one of their terms of service is that they get to analyze and mine every bit of text I enter into the system even text that's only meant for one other person to read?

It's bad. That's the point of this message. I'm trying to end it on a positive note but I can't think of one.

 11/15/2010; 9:24:28 AM.   .