Apple Wishlist 08

While I do believe that Apple has a lot to teach both the computer and consumer electronics worlds about elegance and user interface design, there are a few things I would like to see that they have not done. So here is my wish list for Apple products and features.

• Cooler AppleTV - The AppleTV runs HOT. This could be as simple as a software update. The AppleTV should power down the harddrive when ever possible. When its not doing anything it should either go completely to sleep in some sort of wake on lan mode (or wireless polling mode). Failing a sleep mode, it could run the CPU at the minimum clock rate. Given its foot print, it is probably using a laptop chip set and CPU, so advance power saving modes should be possible in the hardware. It runs hot enough that I worry about harddrive life, and concerned about its 24/7 power consumption.
  
  
• Podcast Playlists - I want Podcast play lists that work just like music playlists. I want to create a smart playlist of all business podcasts, and be able to just play the whole list with each podcast leading into the next. This used to work on the older iPods, and is a feature I miss terribly. (This appears to be fixed in the latest iTunes, if you don't have random play turned on. However it still doesn't work on the iPod.)
  
  
• Apple Cube TNG - I'm not the only person who thinks this way. Everyone of my close friends who have macs have expressed interest in a product like this. Take the Mac Mini foot print and grow it vertically. Add either dual dual-core CPUs, or a single quad-core (which ever is cheaper/easier); support at least 4GB of RAM; and possibly support larger harddrives. (Support of for firewire external harddrives makes the larger harddrive issue less important.)