These aren’t pie in the sky ideas. They’re just products that don’t exist yet, and for whatever reason, haven’t arrived. Here’s my wish list in no particular order.
1. New MacPro. I always want to have the fastest Mac because, well, I often feel the need for speed. I’d like to see a new Mac Pro with 1) Thunderbolt, 2) a smaller, less massive enclosure, 3) USB 3 ports. Any new Intel chipset would probably have that USB 3 support. Why USB 3? Well because, you know, Thunderbolt has been so phenomenally, outrageously successful and there are a gazillion products built around it.
Image Credit: Apple
2. Desktop cordless phones with Mac interface. Recently, I bought a Panasonic KX-TG6641 phone system for use with my new Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect. The base station and its remotes are nice, but the mentality there is still a Japanese feature phone from the 1990s. It has lots of esoteric features, a complex instruction book, but no interface to my Mac – the one thing I want. I don’t need a proprietary Panasonic phone book, trapped in that system, but I do need a USB port and an interface to my Lion Address Book. Come on guys. It’s 2012.
Image Credit: Panasonic
3. Brydge for iPad. I suppose, with funding tight and as many journalists as customers waiting for a unit, I’ll be way down the reviewer’s list. But I want one.
Image Credit: Brydge
4. Serious Carrier Operations Flight Simulator for OS X. Years ago, I became irretrievably lost* in the F/A-18 Simulator from GSC on my Blue & White G3. Since then, the computing and graphics power available to use for simulators has grown enormously, but developers haven’t followed up or maintained their carrier operations and combat simulators. There are good flight simulators for other than carrier operations, notably X-Plane.* And there is an iPad app called X-Plane carrier. I might review some of these. [* UPDATE: May 17. I have since learned that X-Plane does, in fact, have a carrier landing mode. I’m all over it.]
Image Credit: Pete Mantx
But I want the real thing. I want a big 27-inch screen, I want a joystick, and I want that carrier out there kicking up foam. I want to see the LSO talking to me. When I’m holding an iPad and playing a game, I feel like a chimp with an Etch a Sketch.
5. Thunderbolt RAID 5. For my, ahem, new Mac Pro. I want this from a company I know and trust, and I want to have an elegant solution to replacing failed drives without having to buy a basket full of extra, matching sized drives at the time of purchase. I don’t know if that can be solved, except to go with a Drobo right now, and I’m not happy with what I’ve heard about the speed of Drobos. I continue to investigate and fantasize.
6. Time Machine Pro. I use DataBackup 3 from Prosoft. It’s a great product. But I also use Apple’s Time Machine, and I often wish TIme Machine were a bit more flexible, powerful, and communicative with me. Hey, Apple, how about Time Machine Pro? It would have all those features we’ve been writing about and wishing for. Someday, I’ll make a formal list, but not here.
7. Affordable, Powerful IPv6 Router. High end, small business routers with CPUs powerful enough to do stateful packet inspection (SPI) are expensive. And they’re hard to manage. Home routers for under US$100 are pitiful when it comes to SPI and intrusion detection. What I want is a first class home router that’s IPv6 certified and blessed by the major ISPs, has serious protection, and doesn’t try to soak me with annual license fees like business routers. And I want a Mac-like, awesome management interface, accessible with Safari. I think $295 is a sweet spot. I’m probably delusional wishing for this one.
Reader Feedback
Okay, I’ve thrown out a lot of URLs and wishes. Most certainly, I haven’t covered every base for every wish. If you have anything to add to help me with this wish list, please chime in below. And while you’re at it, tell us all what products you’re wishing for these days.
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* Start playing at 9 pm. Become immersed. Look at the clock: it’s 11 pm. Carry on. Play some more. Look at the clock. Blink. It’s 1 am. Vow to go to bed. Play a little longer. Blink. It’s 2:30 am. Finally go to bed. Start over the next evening.