Build LDAP into the Mac OS X Address Book
The OS X address book is a wonderful thing. It integrates with lots of other Mac software via an API, and it will sync with my Nokia 6600 via iSync. I'm even able to use my address book for my Unix terminal-based mail client (Mutt) via a Little Brother's Database plugin.
Unfortunately, the glorious world of Unix software has no way to get at the address book, though a patch for Thunderbird exists.
A partial solution exists with AddressBook2LDAP, which converts an Address Book so that it can be served by an external LDAP server. In fact that application only points toward the correct solution: someone should write a self-contained miniature LDAP server that directly serves a user's OS X address book. It could restrict itself to the local system, and it should be configured to export the address books either of a single user or all users on the system.
It would be better still if Apple built this directly into their Address Book application.
Such an application would serve as another bridge between Unix and OS X. The fact that it would make my life easier (at least until I see if Tiger's Spotlight-enabled mail client is good enough to become my primary client) is secondary. (I have a workable solution with lbdb, but zillions more Thunderbird-using Mac addicts do not.)
The End of Hierarchical File Storage
Most people never learned to organize files on their hard disks. If you're reading this, I'm probably not talking about you. I'm talking about the kind of person who has every document they've ever created on their desktop, or scattered across their hard drive.
But even those of us who know how to use subdirectories and document trees have a problem. On my 'media' drive (which contains all of my MP3s, video clips, downloaded files, and so on), I have approximately 12,000 files. My home directory on my Powerbook, where I keep most everything else useful, has a mind-boggling 63,000 files in it, though lots of those are from CPAN builds and the like, and are hidden in directories I'll never see. Even excluding those dotfile directories, however, I still have an unbelievable 57,000 files. The overlap between this disk and the media drive should be nothing at all; that implies 69,000 files that I have to look after. And that doesn't count applications or system files.
With all of those files, the idea of creating a single hierarchical taxonomy to sort this data seems daunting to me, and possibly absurd. But I think that there's a better way, a two-pronged solution to making it possible for me to find the veritable needle in my rather substantial haystack.
Bluetooth Speakerphone Software
I love my Powerbook. I love my bluetooth-enabled Nokia 6600 cell phone. I love that I can synchronize my contacts and my calendar between the two of them. It's nice to be able to receive SMS and caller ID in a window on the computer, or at least it would be if I got decent T-Mobile reception in my apartment.
What I don't understand is why I can't use my Macintosh's built-in microphone and speakers to serve as a speakerphone for my mobile phone. I don't know enough about the Bluetooth specifications to know if it's technically feasible with the current generation of the specification. If it is, it's just a little piece of software that somebody should write; if not, it should be added to the next generation of the spec.