I’m writing this from by iPhone using WordPress’s iPhone app. You can check it out at iPhone.wordpress.org.
Generally I find it very syriaght forward and easy to use but the edit options are pretty much limited to writing straight HTML. Needless to say, the iPhone is not the best platform for writing verbose code. Still, it’s very cool to be able to do this 
Thanks to Mat for calling me on the lack of clarity in my idea post. I realize that it ended up being a bit more of a brain dump and much less of a coherent project idea. I’ve found that I’ve been able to sell the idea pretty well in person, but text is a much more difficult medium for me.
So here’s the quick pitch:
Native iPhone application for one site/blog (e.g. The Sartorialist) which leverages all the great features of an RSS reader, can be used offline, supports comments, and most importantly has an interface which is tailored to the content.
If the major contents of the site are images, then the interface should give the user the tools to browse through them in a way suited to images, not to the the generic RSS format.
Is that more clear?
EDIT: I’ve added a couple of edits for clarity’s sake.
I’ve been ranting a lot lately about people sharing their ideas. However, to my shame I’ve actually been holding back on posting this one out of all the fears that I mentioned back in “Don’t hide your ideas”.
So here’s my one big idea which may be made of Awesome or 100% Fail. Most likely, it’s somewhere in between:
There are some very, very popular blogs out there with huge readerships. I’m thinking specifically here of The Sartorialist, a fashion photographer who wanders around world cities taking some amazing shots of people with great style.
However, for most people the only way to get all of those fantastic photos is to stop back at the site every day and look for updates.
“But, Kevin, why don’t those poor, misguided fashionistas just subscribe to it in their RSS aggregator of choice?”
Because they don’t know what a RSS aggregator is and don’t want to know.
There are plenty of people, no, probably most people who get their news, blogs, and media every day by opening up a folder of bookmarks. And lots of those people have iPhones. I’ve talked to these folks and they would love to catch up on their favorite writers, wonks and icons while they rode the train in. But they’re not ready to fire up Google Reader just quite yet.
Couple of problems I want to solve for users:
Problem #1: Understanding RSS and then subscribing to a feed is a pretty high barrier to entry for most people.
Potential Solution: One blog, One app. They’re already subscribed because they installed the app. Done. They have their posts and they’re happy. No technical understanding necessary.
Problem #2: Generalized aggregators have generalized interfaces which don’t display non-general content in the most compelling and fun to use way.
Potential Solution: Since RSS is pretty standardized, write a solid RSS engine which is repurposable but don’t try to be all things to all blogs on the interface side. Sites like The Sartorialist have very particular content and only ever post a couple of different kinds of content. [EDIT for clarity] The goal here is to write an individual custom interface for a site like The Sartorialist. [/EDIT]
Problem #3: Commenting. It just isn’t there.
Potential Solution: It’s easy to forget that half of the blog experience for many people is the social thing that comes out of commenting. I haven’t found a good mobile aggregator that handles commenting at all, let alone well. So we give the user a way to comment and be updated when someone replies to that thread.
Problem #4: Brand and the trusted source.
Potential Solution: Would you rather use a dull, all-purpose reader or a shiny, colorful, feature-full application from your favorite content provider? …Ok, well you’re reading my blog, so you’re a geek and you probably prefer the all-purpose reader like me. But feeling that you’re still connected to your favorite content provider will make a lot of people feel a lot more comfortable.
So why not just make a custom web page? [EDIT] Because a custom application is going to give you a better experience. [/EDIT] It’s all the same reasons to write any native app for the iPhone: intuitive, tactile interfaces; faster load times (not a lot of pesky graphics); easily statefull; offline reading… You know the drill.
So what do You think? Somebody already do it? What’s wrong with it? What’s right with it? Want to get involved? I love any and all feed back.
Couple more features for the wifi-finder app I’d like to see:
So following up on App Idea: Finding WiFi on my iPhone, there is one app that I’ve found for the iPhone: iphone.jiwire.com
It’s a pretty hot little app. My quick thoughts:
What I like about it:
What I don’t like:
So, I’m walking through the city and I have a couple of hours to kill. I’d like to mess around on the net and my 3G iPhone just isn’t cutting it. I want to break out my laptop.
But where is the wifi? I mean real wifi. There are plenty of sites out there for finding it, but there’s problems with these sites:
I want the iSepta of wifi-finding.
I want to:
And I want to do it on my iPhone. Who wants to build it with me?
—–
Notes:
Here are the sites I’ve been looking at:
http://www.ilovefreewifi.com/
http://www.wififreespot.com/pa.html
http://www.wifinder.com/advanced/results/state/Pennsylvania/1/0/0/0/html/
http://www.technewsworld.com/hotspot-locator/
http://www.openwifispots.com/
Please let me know if you’ve seen solutions to this problem. It’s not a rocket-surgery idea, so I’m sure other people are working on it.
My buddy JR had this idea for an iPhone app that I really like. It’s called Laundry Time!
Problem:
Solution:
You open up your Laundry Time! application on your iPhone and set the two alarms. They take different amounts of time, so you get two different dials/time-setter-thingers and since you don’t necessarily start them at the same time, you can start one and then start the other later if necessary. Or, if you’re like me, you can start them both at the same time since I like to get these things done in one fell swoop.
——-
As with all app ideas, if you like it, comment! If you hate it, comment! If you want to work on it with me, comment!
