A CTO's holiday wish list

As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, I’ve been thinking about a few Christmas wishes that if granted would make my life a whole lot easier, or at least more pleasant. Some of these wishes are within reason; others are probably wishful thinking. This being a magical season, though, perhaps some of these requests would result in a miracle or two on Second Street here in San Francisco. I have been a good boy, after all.

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It would be great if Santa could have his elves port Groove Workspace to Mac OS X. I finally saw the light with OS X, but as I migrate my applications over from Windows XP, Groove sits orphaned outside of OS X, peering in from Virtual PC with its nose pressed against the OS X window, longing for the warmth inside. I really like Groove, but it’s a second-class citizen within my new environment, so I have a feeling I won’t use it as much in OS X. That’s too bad.

I travel quite a bit, and unfortunately, some key mobility issues remain unaddressed since last year. Here's hoping that Santa brings Wi-Fi to the United terminals in Chicago's O’Hare, Boston's Logan, and anywhere else business travelers fritter time away during layovers. While Santa's at it, he should bring Wi-Fi to the domestic skies in the United States with Connexion by Boeing. Although around for awhile, this service seems to be limited to transatlantic routes on Lufthansa and British Airways with plans to launch on a few non-U.S. airlines in 2004. It works and I know business travelers would pay for it – what’s holding things back here in the States? OK, one last thing for business travelers, I promise: AC power in coach. I know some airlines have this, but if Santa can urge airlines to make it standard, it would really make my holiday season.

While we’re talking wireless, let’s solve that “last wire” problem once and for all – I’m talking wireless electricity, Santa. I’ve got a Bluetooth phone and Palm, and a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled laptop, but I keep tripping over the power cords -- my only personal computing tethers at this point. I’m watching a company named MobileWise, which conceptually has an interesting solution similar to Wi-Fi – a base station plugged into your wired power supply that wirelessly transmits electricity to an adapter within the device that needs power. Because the base station is required, this solution doesn’t provide absolute mobility in terms of electricity, but it’s an innovative move in the right direction.

Finally how about mobile phone technology that works reliably? I recently upgraded to a new phone using all the latest technologies like Bluetooth and GSM. I can IM, send and receive e-mail, get driving directions, and read the latest news headlines; however, the number of times I have to say, “I lost you, let me call you from a landline” seems to have increased even though I supposedly live in the most technologically advanced region in the world. Hey, Santa, can you ask the phone companies to focus on actual phone calls again?

My last wish doesn’t really help anyone but me – I’d like a new iPod. The 40GB one. With its slim design, Santa should have no problem squeezing it down the chimney. Oh, I forgot peace on earth and goodwill toward men (and women). Let's throw that in, too.