Crazy Idea No. 33379444

I was just watching someone else pick up a computer and announce their intention to visit Twitter, and I had an idea. The hash symbol on Twitter allows tweets of innumerable authors can be tied together into one list of constantly updating writers, and these popular subjects are ranked on the internet, as Trending Topics. There could, and should be a show on Sky tv, where for a half-hour to an hour, Sky highlights the "Trending Topics" from across all Sky channels, and shows us unedited clips of them. The title of the show? #.

What I Twot.

I just hit the button that makes the thing go fast and make my words appear on Twitter, and it struck me that what I was thinking, seemed an immensely odd thing - in that it hadn't happened yet.

Let me show you:

Cjay79Why can't I buy a copy of Football Manager 2009 from iTunes? It seems a logical step, to me. One that to my mind, suits all.

I don't want to play Football Manager right now, I've been successfully on the wagon for around a year. But what I was thinking was along the lines of this: Apple computers, run Apple software. They may now be able to install Windows on a partitioned drive and run stuff not meant for Apple computers, but historically, Apple computers run Apple software or software written for Apple computers. Software intended for Apple computers is not, and has not been in adequate supply. You might find some Apple software on a dusty, untidy shelf at the back of PC World, or near the laptops in Currys, and in the past you'd have to dig up the Yellow Pages to find your local computer store, just outside the city centre. Stores like Amazon and Play may well have levelled the field, but it's still harder to get than software intended for Windows. At the same time, Apple have made a name for themselves with the iTunes store. Say what you will, but this is THE digital store. I know lots of people who don't like iTunes as a media manager, spoiled by too many years of Media player, and I know plenty of people who don't like the iTunes prices, for other reasons. But iTunes is still the recognised name for a digital media store. It's still the major player, the big fish in a small tank when it comes to selling music or movies online. Amazon may be making inroads, and once Netflix moves outside the U.S.A. then it might make serious money.....but this is also the piece of software linked in every way, to one of the most prized pieces of modern consumer technology: The iPhone, and it's voice-calling handicapped brother, the iPod Touch.

I guess what I'm saying is this: A student gets his student loans in, gets his new Macbook computer, has his new iPhone on charge. He sits down, boots it up for the first time, and runs some of the programs that came pre-installed. He checks out what his computer can do(By means of his software), and what it can't yet do. He begins to stretch out a little, and consider what he'd like to be able to do with himself. He thinks "I've got a camcorder, and I've got some ideas. I wanna make a movie. I've got iMovie on there, and that's fine, but I want greater flexibility and horsepower.". He opens up iTunes, and goes to the App Store - not the iPhone App Store, but the Mac App Store - and he looks through the list of video applications onscreen. He finds Final Cut Express, which for what he needs is just right, and with his student discount being reflected by his iTunes account, the price suits him too. He considers a special offer brought up in the Shopping Cart screen, which gives him a further hundred pounds off the total cost, if he buys Final Cut Express alongside Adobe After Effects(Again, both reflect his student discount), and makes his purchase.

His computer, combined with his iPhone, gives him the freedom to have his laptop evolve with his needs. Instead of having to worry about re-installing every program he removes, all the CD's or DVD's, along with all the serial numbers he'd have to find to install it.....instead he can open his iTunes account and simply re-download purchased software, which is already authenticated via his iTunes account(So no serial numbers). Using the internet via the ethernet port, the wifi card, or the iPhone tether, this student is able to access the software he needs when he needs it, where he needs it. He's on downtime after finishing a video project? Erase the video programs and download Football Manager. Or even better, Warcraft III. World of Warcraft, even. No serial numbers, and convenient access via a digital platform everyone knows. Then when it's back to work, he can use the iPhone's data connection while on a train ride home to re-install MS Office or iWork, Photoshop CS3 or iWeb.

I'm surprised this doesn't exist yet, because Apple already altered our preconceptions about data. People wander around all day with a computer in their hand all day - it has a touchscreen and a 3G chip in it. There's no removable data drive there, only a connection to directly copy files from another computer. The Macbook Air came out, without an optical drive. True, you could use software to access another computer's optical drive via a network connection, or you could shell out for an external drive, but it came with no such device. A few years earlier, Apple were one of the first computer manufacturers to abandon floppy disk drives entirely, with the rise of the iMac.

So, with this kind of history, and every other kind of digital media available on their own storefront....why can't I buy full software for digital download from the iTunes store? That way I wouldn't have to wait for Amazon to deliver it, or cross my fingers that Apple's own partner courier service - which has non-negotiable rules on when it can deliver things - will knock at the door while I'm sitting on the floor behind it.

A Dedication

I promised I'd post this for someone who wanted to see this. It was a drawing I did for Jac's last birthday, of her Dog Murphy. Here's the original linework:

It was originally an area around the size of an A5 piece of paper, right in the middle of a piece of A4. It sits in a frame on Jac's mantlepiece now, as the final version I did, I couldn't print in time to present it as a card. Either way, here's the final version.

(Please note: Larger versions of both the linework and final colour

can be found by clicking here and here.)

So there we go Grandpa, as promised.