Year: 2012
Why is iCloud Free?
With the recent purchase of Instagram by Facebook, there has been a lot of chatter online about free services.
It all boils down to something pretty simple. If you don’t pay for a service, you will either:
- See ads
- Be sad when the service is bought or folds
The reality is that free services can’t run forever without one of those two things happening. In the case of Instagram, the service was bought by a company that offers a free-to-users-but-with-ads service. (It just so happens the service is disliked by many nerds, hence the outcry online.)
Where does iCloud fit in to this? iCloud isn’t backed by piles of VC money, nor is it paid for by ads. Does that mean that it will go away one day?
Surely not, because iCloud is the exception to the rule.
Unlike the iTunes, iBooks and App stores, iCloud has no way of making money directly. It’s a big, bold red line on the books. But Apple made and gives iCloud away because it makes their hardware more desirable.
While Apple considers itself a software company, its hardware is what pays the bills. It uses its software to sell its hardware.
iCloud makes iOS devices and the company’s online stores easier to use. iCloud makes it easier to spend money within the Apple ecosystem.
Why would Apple ever charge for that?
Update: Tons of people have been telling me iCloud isn’t free for all users. I do understand that some people pay for more storage space, but my guess is that most users don’t have that need. (In fact, I pay for additional storage, but I have three devices tied to my account.)
Instagram Gains 10 Million Users in 10 Days
Is Social Media Making Us Lonely?
Stephen Marche at The Atlantic:
Social media—from Facebook to Twitter—have made us more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, new research suggests that we have never been lonelier (or more narcissistic)—and that this loneliness is making us mentally and physically ill. A report on what the epidemic of loneliness is doing to our souls and our society.
Apple Releases Flashback Removal Tool
This Java security update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware.
This update also configures the Java web plug-in to disable the automatic execution of Java applets. Users may re-enable automatic execution of Java applets using the Java Preferences application. If the Java web plug-in detects that no applets have been run for an extended period of time it will again disable Java applets.
Good on Apple for handling this so quickly.
Field Notes: The National Crop Edition
I always have a Field Notes brand notebook in my pocket, and I’m psyched about the Spring 2012 edition. As a subscriber, I’ll get them in the mail automatically, but I ordered the box set anyways.
Oh, and if you have any of the Raven ones, feel free to mail me one or seven.
More on Irn-Bru
On this week’s episode of Ungeniused, I drink an Irn-Bru for the first time.
Marketplace Airs Video From Foxconn
Marketplace Shanghai Bureau Chief Rob Schmitz is only the second reporter ever to gain access to visit the factory floor at Apple’s Chinese producer Foxconn. In this exclusive video, see highlights from his tour of the assembly line and the Foxconn campus and facilities to see what living and working conditions are like for the hundreds of thousands of workers there.
It’s amazing to me how much of this is done by hand.
Google+ Gets Revamped
Following the Money
Jeffrey Inscho at Static Made:
Developers of the next Instagram: please give users the opportunity to directly support your service by paying for it! Please take our money! Please have a sustainable business plan, or better yet, a platform philosophy!
Some platforms are doing it and it’s working. Look at Pinboard. Look at 500pixels. Look at Instapaper. All thriving with a paying user base. It’s time for us, as empowered users of technology, to start following the money.
This.
The 512 Podcast 008 – Just For The Creeping
This week on the 512 Podcast, Myke and I discuss Facebook’s purchase of Instagram and Bartending, including how to self-publish with Amazon and why I’ve dropped the price of the book to $4.99.
Stop Crying About Free Services
If Facebook buying Instagram pissed you off, I have a suggestion. Don’t just stop using Instagram, stop using free social networks and services period. Stop using sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare or Pinterest, because it is a given that they will all inevitably let you down in favor of the bottom line. More often than not, when you actually quit a service, it’s not because they were evil. It’s just because they either became useless or boring. The reality is that you’re not going to stop using services that are useful to you. You’re just going to waste time switching from one company to the next until your latest service inevitably falls short or sells out.