Adding something is easy, adding value is harder. Is this thing I’m working on actually making the product more valuable for people? Can they get more out of it than they did before? There’s a fine line between adding value and subtracting value. Sometimes adding is subtracting. Too much catsup can ruin the fries. Value is about balance.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this for a while now. While 37signals raises this conversation about work projects, it’s applicable far beyond the office.
Shawn Blanc, comparing cloud music services like Rdio to Netflix:
However, I have a different attitude towards movies than I do towards music. I will maybe watch my favorite movies once or twice a year, at the most. A great album that I love I will listen to every day for months and months.
Movies are entertaining. Music is personal.
And so I don’t know if the paradigm that access is better than ownership has the same effect on our music library as it does for our DVD collection. The music we listen to, in many ways, is a definition and extension of who we are.
The Kindle has been a huge success, no doubt about that, but we are continually amazed at just how big a success it has become. Amazon too, apparently. The company just issued a press release to announce that digital book sales have now exceeded sales of all print titles, both hardcover and paperback combined. As of April 1st, for every 100 print books that Amazon has sold (of any kind) the company moved 105 Kindle books, and no that doesn’t include downloads of free titles.
The 13-inch MacBook Air sure seems popular among people I read.
Your choice of UCT doesn’t matter. At all. Trust does. If a granite tablet and a chisel works for you, use it. Fancy notebook, iPhone, whatever. Just ensure that you know beyond a doubt that it will be available if and when you need it, 100% of the time. Floating on top of my mess is a ubiquitous capture tool. Thanks to some hard core behavior modification, I always know where it is.
Apple has signed a cloud-music licensing agreement with EMI Music and is very near to completing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, multiple music industry sources told CNET.
Warner Music Group already had a deal in place with Apple, CNET reported last month. The licensing agreements will enable Apple to launch a fully licensed cloud-music service to rival unlicensed offerings of rivals Amazon and Google.
My buddy Dave over at TUAW, on Fantastical, a new calendar app by Flexibits:
This handy app lives in your menu bar, providing quick access to your many appointments across calendars (including iCal or Outlook 2011). Fantastical supports incredibly rapid and natural full-text entry for appointments, making it easier than ever to get your events where you need them. It looks great, works well and is definitely worth your time.
Every review I’ve read of this app is positive. It seems to work well, and it looks great. However, I’m not convinced of why it exists. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:
<img src=“https://media.512pixels.net/wp-content/uploads/S3/apple-cloud-iphone4-angels-unicorn111.png” alt=“Apple, iCloud, iPhone 4, Angels and the Unicorn of Unrealized Dreams” border=“0” width=“540” height=“476” margin-bottom:“15px” style=“float:center;” />
I have very reliable sources.
It’s entirely possible Apple’s license already covers app developers and Lodsys is just trying to double-dip, but we simply can’t know that without seeing the license and fully evaluating Lodsys’s patent claims against Apple’s code. I can only assume Apple’s lawyers are busily investigating that right now — and I’d imagine the various iOS developers that received letters from Lodsys are impatiently waiting to hear from them.
A poor, unnamed Reuters writer:
The number of households in the United States that own television sets is estimated to have declined for the first time in 20 years, according to forecast figures from the Nielsen Co that were released on Tuesday.
The switch from analog to digital broadcast in 2009, the economic downturn and the trend among consumers to watch TV programs across other platforms, including computers and tablet devices, were given as reasons for the shift.
Shadoe Huard, responding to my thoughts on a best-case scenario for a future iTunes music cloud service:
I think Apple foresees not only the logistical problems they might face, but also all the issues a user’s might encounter. Ease of use seems to play an important role in the way Apple designs iOS software. I think there are too many potential potholes in an entirely cloud based service for Apple to pursue as described by Mr.Hackett. Again, look at what people are saying about what’s currently on the menu.