David Pogue's Comments:
Richard Whitelock
Just a note from a 20-year veteran of Macintosh music programs. First, the spirit is in the right place—anything that lets the musician out of ordinary people is a welcome development!
However, it’s not a new idea. In fact, you can already buy transcription software for single-line melodies, so this might be much effort about nothing. Here you go: http://www.wildcat.com/Web/Wildcat/Html/Site/Homepage.htm
Also, I hate to say it, but if anything should have set the world on fire with undiscovered musical talent, it would have been GarageBand. Unfortunately, GarageBand remains the ugly little iLife stepchild, the one that hardly anyone even opens. That doesn’t give me high hopes for Whistler’s adoption curve.
Dan Lundmark
Man, this one takes me back. Remember the old System 7 days? Interaction with your actual desktop was the hot idea of the day. Googly Eyes used to follow your cursor…Talking Moose would make fun of you when it detected idleness…After Dark’s Lawnmower Man screensaver would mow the pixels off your screen, one row at a time. This one has a little bit of the Tamagotchi/Pet Rock thing happening, with just enough Aquarium simulator.
You *do* plan to offer a choice of different plants, don’t you?
Anyway, this one’s my favorite seed of an idea; I hope it takes root. I’ll bet that if it blossomed, it would flower on the world’s Mac desktops like creeping ivy.
Andrew Wilson
I like the sense of humor behind it. I’m just not clear on what exactly it does—and how fast the novelty would wear off.
Michael Yuan
Here we are 35 years into the personal-computer revolution, and we’re still talking about keeping our recipes on the thing?
Seriously, though, I love the Apple-esque goodness going on here. Clever use of Apple technologies and conventions. Exploiting the Front Row remote is pure genius. And the design is total kitchen-counter joy.
Except the part about dimming the screen when a dialog box is on the screen; I think that’s kind of pushy. Isn’t the Macintosh Way to eliminate modal dialog boxes whenever possible?
Also: The list of recipes needs some category system; otherwise, that scrolling list could get out of hand mighty fast. (It took Apple a couple versions of iPhoto to realize this and add folders to the Source list.)
Kevin Capizzi
Wow, I would really like to have this one. Forget feasibility—that’s not my job. The idea is delicious. Just one thing: how will you feel in 2008 when Apple rolls it into Safari?
Cameron Westland
Beautiful, simple, and clever.
Unfortunately, it’s just what geeks need: One less reason ever to go outside.
David Pogue
New York TimesDavid Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. With 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how-to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the "for Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music); in 1999, he launched his own series of complete, funny computer books called the Missing Manual series, which now includes 30 titles.