Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Wish List for Apple in 2017

Everyone is writing about what to expect or what they would want in the world of tech and gadgets in 2017. Here are my wishes for Apple:


  • Cool new iPhone - new camera, better/bigger screen. Need a reason to upgrade from 6
  • iOS improvements - simpler lock screen (iOS 10 really bungled it up), more intelligence, more customization (preference for maps, browsers, etc.)
  • Photo management is appalling! All I want is a single place (cloud) where all of the family's photos will end up. Is that too much to ask???
  • Free storage for backups. Do not make me pay $3/month - it's not cool
  • Music in iOS automatically blares the first song in alphabetic order when I connect the phone to car's media interface. Mine happens to be "ABCs" from "Baby Loves Jazz" album. Super annoying! Can I choose some other behavior to be the default instead?
  • iOS/Apple TV - need to support multi-user login. Why is Apple TV stuck with my kid as the only user???
  • MacBook Pro 2016 is slow and expensive. TouchBar seems unnecessary. Meh... I want a better laptop to replace mine from 2014. Could it be a tablet? Perhaps...
  • Continue freeing us from wires. Bluetooth earbuds - good (but VERY expensive). Wireless charging, please!
  • Siri has a LONG way to go on accuracy of recognition for speakers with [HHHeavy Russian] accent
  • Either miniaturize key Apple Watch components (heart rate monitor, Taptic engine, etc.) and stick them into rings/bracelets/third-party watches/phone/etc., or make a MUCH better-looking watch (like, making it round might be a good start).
  • Where is Augmented (or mixed)/Virtual Reality?
  • Home AI... Learn from Mark Zuckerberg's 2016 project. Need voice pickup/speaker/camera/WiFi/other sensors in each room + a bunch of AI-based features. 


And while I am at this...


  • Google - make Maps smarter. When I open the app in the morning, take a wild guess and offer "work" as the destination automatically, please (Apple's maps do that, but the navigation is - well, you know). Also, can you please add speed limit info? 


  • Wireless service providers - give up on data caps already. You know it's going to happen eventually - just do it already! Unlimited talk + unlimited data. Let's go!


  • Amazon - make Prime Video app for Apple TV. Your app on my TiVo does nothing to enhance my enjoyment of The Grand Tour. Quite the opposite!


  • Dunkin Donuts - please make your loyalty card available for Apple Pay. You promised this over a year ago. What gives?


  • Everyone - can we ditch the passwords already? Pretty please? How about some biometrics instead? Fingerprints, iris scans, face recognition, voice recognition, whatever... 


  • Anyone - see the last bullet regarding home AI in my Apple wish list. Make a device in the shape of a light bulb that combines all these features. One for each room for easy retrofitting!

VirtualBox Attached Media Conflict

This is for posterity sake, in case the same error happens again. Somehow, an image of VirtualBox Guest Additions media got "stuck" in the VM settings and my Windows 10 VM refused to load. Scary error in VirtualBox...

The solution was simple, but took a while to flail and eventually Google my way to it: How-To: Resolve Attached Media Conflicts in VirtualBox

Edit corresponding .vbox XML file and remove <Image> element from <DVDImages>: