MacRumors App

[Surely]

Use your laptop then.

Brilliant comment #2. Thanks for the input.

When my laptop can fit in my pocket, we'll talk.

Stop the presses! It can! It's called an iPhone! And it needs a MacRumors App

True enough.

I think that if an App can be designed that will enhance the MacRumors experience on the iPhone, it will be well received.

 

[marksman]

I have said this several times but I am desperately wanting someone to release a vbulletin front end app for the iPhone. I guess I will have to mosey over the VBulletin developer areas and see if there is any interest. I have been too lazy to do it too far.

Using many VBulletin forums every day, including 6 of my own, there are some aspects of it which just suck on the iPhone. Even if every install went with a modified skin to address some of the issues, there is more that can be done with it.

So I would love a vbulletin front end that would allow you to access multiple vbulletin forums from it. I think ultimately this will happen, it is just a matter of when.

 

[w00master]

I understand RSS is a very useful tool for people who like that kind of thing. *I* don't. I hate RSS.

Wow, *hate* is a bit of a strong word for RSS, don't you think? What you list for what you're looking for in a MacRumors app would require (I believe) quite a bit of reworking, coding, etc. that I'm unsure that Arn is prepared to do.

Why do you "hate" RSS anyway? RSS allows you to read "news" in the way *you* want to read news. Many sites not only provide RSS feeds for their "main page," but also for specific categories and subcategories. Other sites even go so far as allowing users to create their own custom RSS feeds (a la Digg, Delicious, etc.) Macrumors even gives you the ability to track a Forum thread via RSS. However, RSS really isn't designed for contact tracking, etc.

I couldn't browse without RSS + Reader. RSS allows me to within 10 min time check 300 websites and allows me to read the articles *when I want to read them.* I also use RSS + Reader to keep a running tally of gifts I'm planning on buying for friends/family. Also, I use RSS + Reader to keep track of my UPS/FedEx/Postal Service tracking numbers.

Perhaps it's the RSS reader? Perhaps you just "don't get it?" I'm very curious on how anyone could "hate" RSS.

w00master

 

[Rojo]

Wow, *hate* is a bit of a strong word for RSS, don't you think?

Is it?
How about "strongly dislike." That better?

What you list for what you're looking for in a MacRumors app would require (I believe) quite a bit of reworking, coding, etc. that I'm unsure that Arn is prepared to do.

You may be right. And if Arn just wasn't interested at all, or if someone had said earlier "a macrumors app would be way too complicated a task to be worth all the trouble," than I would accept that. I know nothing about coding, or what it would involve to make such an app. But for people to say that the wish for such an app is "dumb" is a bit "strong" too, in my opinion.

Why do you "hate" RSS anyway? RSS allows you to read "news" in the way *you* want to read news. Many sites not only provide RSS feeds for their "main page," but also for specific categories and subcategories. Other sites even go so far as allowing users to create their own custom RSS feeds (a la Digg, Delicious, etc.) Macrumors even gives you the ability to track a Forum thread via RSS.

That's nice. I would have never have known that, had you not pointed it out here. Just now, I tried looking for how to track a macrumors forum thread via RSS, but couldn't figure it out. Oh well, I guess I'm too much of a dummy!

But that's sort of my point. Not only is it not very clear for me how to track a specific thread via RSS, but it's already way too complicated than I want it to be. If I have to go somewhere, copy a RSS feed, then launch an RSS reader, and paste the feed into it in order to track a thread I MIGHT be interested in -- then it's already too much work, especially if I decide later that I don't want to track that thread anymore, and I then have to delete it from my feeds.

However, RSS really isn't designed for contact tracking, etc.

Exactly. Simply reading macrumors articles is about 25% of what I like to do with the site. The other 75% I can NOT do with RSS.

Perhaps it's the RSS reader? Perhaps you just "don't get it?" I'm very curious on how anyone could "hate" RSS.

I've tried quite a few RSS readers in the past -- while they varied in subtle ways, they all did pretty much the same thing, and that "thing" is what I don't like. I even tried the "NetNewsWire" iPhone app, just to give it a chance, and ending up deleting it. It didn't deliver my sites the way *I* want them delivered to me -- instead it made them all a big mess.

I'm sorry, I just don't like RSS. I don't think it's a question of "not getting it" -- it's more of "it's just not for me."

 

[GyozaKing]

Hmmm, sounds like you should get your hands dirty and learn how to code, so you can have apps tailored for just you...

 

[neiltc13]

What you guys are actually asking for is a forum management tool and so far I don't recall seeing any which were actually developed for desktops, never mind little handhelds.

I remember someone proposed one for that nonsense "My Dream App" contest but it never got made (like everything else those guys do, it's a lot of hot air).

As for RSS, it's incredibly powerful. I don't particularly like NetNewsWire (NewsFire is a better Mac alternative) but I stick with it because it syncs across all of my devices. I get near-instant updates from around fifty websites or so, and manually going to each one and checking if there's anything new would be a massive chore. Some of them aren't updated very frequently but I always know the moment when they are.

RSS is not meant to be used as a replacement for visiting the site but instead it's a tool which can be used to send you to the content you want to read. For example, I used to browse gaming websites and trawl through their news looking for things that interested me, but now with RSS I can simply skip a story with the space bar if I'm not interested rather than scrolling through pages and pages of things which I don't want to read. When I do find a story which is interesting to me I read it on the website by clicking the link in the RSS reader.

RSS is not really designed for keeping you up to date on what's happening on a message board.

 

[Dipdip]

Is it?
especially if I decide later that I don't want to track that thread anymore, and I then have to delete it from my feeds.

You can delete feeds in the NetNewsWire app. Just press edit and then delete which ever feed you don't want.

 

[Niiro13]

You can delete feeds in the NetNewsWire app. Just press edit and then delete which ever feed you don't want.

They're not saying that they can't delete.

They're saying that they have to delete if they don't want to track it anymore.

Honestly, that sounds like subscriptions in forums anyway, so I don't see the difference. Now are you (whoever's for the app) simply talking about an RSS reader that has the ability to send people PMs?

 

[Rojo]

RSS is not really designed for keeping you up to date on what's happening on a message board.

YUP! Which is exactly why it's not right for me...

Now are you (whoever's for the app) simply talking about an RSS reader that has the ability to send people PMs?

I don't want an RSS reader! Even one that could send PMs.

I understand an RSS reader is a great tool for anyone who regularly checks 10 or more sites constantly. But for someone like me, I only regularly check maybe 3 sites at most -- Macrumors, Facebook, and site for a hobby. They're not the only sites I ever go to, of course -- they're just the ones I go to on a regular basis, several times a day. So why on Earth would I use an RSS reader for so few sites? It makes no sense. Macrumors mobile is ok, for the moment. But a native app that could do all the functionality of the regular site would be even better. If it's not possible, it's not possible...end of story. Just please no more pushing RSS!

 

[Nickelz92]

I'd buy it. Would you?

Yes or no? I really don't know. There's really no point. Yes, a mobile Safari-formatted site would be nice. All that's left to do is make a nice Web Clip and you're good to go. No App needed.

 

[Surely]

Yes or no? I really don't know. There's really no point. Yes, a mobile Safari-formatted site would be nice. All that's left to do is make a nice Web Clip and you're good to go. No App needed.

There already is a mobile iPhone-formatted version, complete with Web Clip icon. As I've commented somewhere above, I'm not the biggest fan of it, and I prefer the regular site on my iPhone over it.

That being said, and even after considering all of the pro and con comments above, I still think that a nice App version can be created and would be useful. And, if it had the functionality and UI I am interested in, I would download it and use it. So there really is a point.

This thread has been an interesting debate.....