Dear Merlin...

Dear Phantom Fish,

My main motivators for buying this iPod from which I write to you were the three Rs - Reading, Writing, and Rocking. The iPod has, obviously, got the Rocking portion covered. The Writing aspect hasn’t been too heavily investigated yet, as it has been somewhat usurped by Games (making an unexpected charge from far left field).

Which leaves us with Reading - one of the most important aspects of the purchase. My goal was to be able to catch up on whatever my few subscriptions had to say while on my way to and from work, so that I wasn’t tempted to waste time that could be better spent with family.

After some consideration I ended up buying Byline for two reasons - * Mr Merlin Mann, for noting that he uses Byline (and I am nothing if not a blind follower of others) * My dear friend Paul, for regularly expressing his dissatisfaction with the NNW iPhone client.

So now, after some months of regular usage, there are a couple of things I’d love you to address. Some of them are possibly specific to my individual needs, while some others I believe to be more global.

1. Fix the cancel button in open/copy dialogue (and expand functionality, while you’re there)

   This is an easy one - when I ‘tap and hold’ a link in an article, it seems like the cancel button only registers taps near the top line, rather than the whole cancel button.

   There’s also scope to make that menu more useful - let me send the link to Instapaper, email it (see below), send to Tweetie, and so on.

2. Add in-app email

   It can and should be done. That difference in experience between emailing from Byline and Instapaper is massive, and it’s a quick win to make me (and I’m sure, countless others) much happier.

3. Steal (or if you prefer - be inspired by) Tweetie’s ‘swipe top to go home’

   It’s such a great gesture, it should be a standard for any iPhone app that let’s you drill down.

4. Allow me to select which feeds or folders I want to sync

   I don’t want to see my Vimeo feed on my iPod, so it would be great to have a list view of all my feeds, and be able to swipe them and select/deselect Byline sync.

   Bonus points if you can figure a nice way to let me do things like “sync , but dont synch any items with ” (per-feed would be best)

5. Create a left-handed localisation

   In brief - damn all you right-handed users. That’s all I have to say on this.

   Paul suggested maybe just have a ‘Next Unread’ button on the bottom of the screen - the bottom of the screen is much easier to access from with hand.

6. A better way to get stuff into Instapaper

   There are a lot of times I come across a piece of news that I really want to hang onto for later, and I’d like a simpler way to do this.

   I am know that I can star the item, and subscribe to my starred items in Instapaper, but I am keen for a more direct and elegant solution. Also, a way to Instapaper a link inside the article I am reading (as per item 1).

   The real clincher for this would be if there was a system-wide “offline cache” for requests - something that all apps could send to, which would process them once a network connection was established (instead of needing to remember to open each app to let it send its requests).

   I am so enamoured of this offline cache that I might just send a message to Apple as well (unless something Magical happens on the 27th)

All that being said - I’m still wrapped with Byline, and I’m looking forward to the UI changes you have shown for 3.0. Keep it up, and be happy.

Cheers, gizo

Dear Merlin,

Re: Fake Rocks, Salami Commanders, and Just Enough to Start

I’ve been a card-carrying member of the Unofficial Merlin Mann Internet Stalker Collective (aka. Mann Chaser) for quite some time now. I think I first heard from you during an early episode of MacBreak Weekly, and quickly amassed a collection of URL’s to stalk follow your internet trajectory.

When you had your recent rebirth and published the ‘Better’ manifesto I was right with you. I understood and appreciated where you were heading, and I was more than happy to come for the ride. Dammit, I was even excited about it.

Lets be honest - you’re charismatic, witty, and have the kind of ease about you that I (and many others) would love to carry. It’s fantastically easy for me to subscribe to your varied RSS feeds and Podcasts ¹ , and to find value and comfort in them. It’s fantastically easy to be swept up in your enthusiasm for creating. But truthfully, I’m ashamed to say that I seem to spend more time taking in your jokes and wit while ignoring or hiding from the core message.

So here I sit, a few days later, with Clackity in my mind, and the bolognese base for a funky lasagne bubbling away behind me. I’m preparing dinner in advance for some old friends who are coming over tomorrow night. When there’s two kids under 4 in your house, it get’s difficult to do big things.

Our coming guests are old friends - when I moved out of home, I moved in with them. They were a couple then, they are a quartet now. It’s slightly creepy how friends all seem to breed together, and equally as sad when they drift apart as their kids force them into new circles, by virtue of a different year level at school, a different suburb, or something else similarly inane.

This change is coming. I know it, I feel it. I am resigned to it, and slightly resentful of it. At least we have our childless friends who will remain close. There will be no external influence to push and pull us apart. They will remain close despite the suburbs, and our children will grow knowing them always near. I am comforted by this.

They like lasagne also, so everything should be fine.

I’m not sure where this first letter is headed, and I’m well aware of its complete lack of editing. I’m sure it will get better. Not this letter, obviously, but maybe the next one, or the one after that. Eventually it will suck less, or at least I will accept the suckiness, and carry on regardless.

I’d better head off to take care of the bolognese, and get started on the bechamel.

Keep on keeping on, eh Merlin? And know that you bring joy and some inspiration to at least one mid-30’s dad with thinning hair and a fairly low-quality beard.

Cheers,
gizo

1. Also here here, here, here, and here. ↑