512 Pixels

Failure is always an option.

Also, holy crap. via @imyke

This store is gorgeous.

Maciej Ceglowski of Pinboard:

So stop getting caught off guard when your favorite project sells out! “They were getting so popular, why did they have to shut it down?” Because it’s hard to resist a big payday when you are rapidly heading into debt. And because it’s culturally acceptable to leave your user base high and dry if you get a good offer, citing self-inflicted financial hardship.

Like a service? Make them charge you or show you ads. If they won’t do it, clone them and do it yourself. Soon you’ll be the only game in town!

I just don’t get people who refuse to pay for iOS apps or good web services. I paid for Pinboard, Tweetbot, Instapaper, MarsEdit and a hundred other apps and services because they are all part of my workflow. Without them, I’d be stuck using something else.

Something that would probably worse.

via Marco Arment

This week on the world’s most downloaded Wikipedia-related podcast, Myke and I discussed kangaroos.

Sean Hollister at The Verge:

Starting in late February, developers can submit apps starting at $1.49 and charge as much as $999. We’re not sure why Microsoft chose to set the bar above the 99-cent mental barrier, but there’s some great news for developers when it comes to revenue share — like other app stores, Microsoft will take 30 percent of the proceeds at first, but reduce its cut to 20 percent after your app does $25,000 in sales. More reason to have a blockbuster program, we guess! There’s also a 70–30 split for in-app transactions, but only if you use Microsoft’s billing system — the eBay app, for instance, uses PayPal and doesn’t pay Microsoft a thing.

Seems … familiar.

Robert McMillan at Wired:

For some doctors at Johns Hopkins, the iPad can save an hour to an hour and a half per day — time that would otherwise be spent on collecting paper printouts of medical images, or heading to computer workstations to look them up online. Many doctors say that bringing an iPad to the bedside lets them administer a far more intimate and interactive level of care than they’d previously thought possible.

Harrison Weber at The Next Web:

From reputable news organizations to gossip magazines, everything is moving online. And to keep the flow of information going, content providers need profits. Everyone knows heaping revenues lie in advertising.

He calls out giant web sites like CNN, Mashable and more for having advertising that is distracting and even hides content.

Michael Hiltzik at the LA Times:

The Rochester, N.Y., company said it had $862 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 30, but at the rate it’s losing money from operations (more than $70 million a month), that hoard would barely last a year. As for future revenue, it’s banking heavily on winning patent lawsuits against Apple and the maker of BlackBerry phones.

Well, the contest for the worst product name ever is over.

There’s lots of good info in this PDF.

Daniel Dilger at AppleInsider:

Researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated that Android’s permission-based security system can be easily circumvented due to flaws in the software that licensees add to their devices, according to security testing performed on popular HTC, Samsung, Motorola and Google-branded smartphones.

Yikes.

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