Note taking app Vesper is now substantially more expensive, and that’s a good thing

Henrik Carlsson posted this on 28 feb 15

Today/yesterday a new version of the note taking app Vesper came out. What’s more important is that Q Branch, the developers, also raised the price of it quite a bit. Here’s Gruber’s post on it:

Put another way, we’re going to charge something sane or die trying. We tried following the iOS App Store trend by pricing Vesper at just $2.99 for months. It didn’t work. Prices like that are not sane, and not sustainable, at least for well-crafted productivity apps. So Q Branch is drawing a line in the sand, and we hope other iOS developers will follow.

I think this is a good move that more people should follow. If you make something that you think are a premium product, and you have users that agree, you should be able to charge a premium price. It is ridiculous that anything that costs more than a buck or two in the app store(s) are considered expensive, no matter how good the software is question is.

Software developers have been trying to outprice each other in a race to the bottom and the only way out is probably if a few brave indie developers chose to do what Q Branch does; teach users that you get what you pay for and that an ”expensive app” (that still costs less than a cup of coffee and a donut) can be worth its price.

Here’s Dave Wiskus’ comment after the first day with the higher price:

Yesterday we moved to sane/sustainable pricing for @vesperapp. First day sales were so-so.

But first day revenue was *fantastic*.

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 28 feb 15

In 2015 every reporter should know how to start a blog. Basic professional skill. It’s not hard.

Dave Winer. (2015)

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 26 feb 15

Att det ska vara så svårt att bara säga: ”nej, det är klart att vi inte ska ha ett militärt samarbete med ett land som piskar oliktänkande”?

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 26 feb 15

Net neutrality is impossible unless everything on the Internet is non-commercial, and that ain’t happening anytime soon, nor is it in any way desirable.

– Dave Winer. (2015)

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 26 feb 15

”I en perfekt värld hade vi aldrig träffats”

http://andrev.cafe.se/rymdslottet-s01e10-i-en-perfekt-varld-hade-vi-aldrig-traffats/

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Use your own ”printing press” from time to time

Henrik Carlsson posted this on 26 feb 15 and tagged it with Blogging Social Networks WordPress

I think Dave Winer really nails it with this quote and elaboration:¹

A.J. Liebling said, famously: ”Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” That’s so true, and with blogging everyone can own their own, and therefore be free. However, we’re trading that in for a bit more engagement.

– Dave Winer. (2015)

I will link to this post on twitter so likely most of you who read it will find it there. You’re likely tweeting quite a lot yourself, and that is a good thing. I don’t think you should stop tweeting, and I’m pretty sure Dave doesn’t think that either. I am, however, saying that you should also use your own ”printing press” from time to time.

Use your blog for some of your writing!² Don’t have a blog? Get one!

I have a lot of bad things to say about WordPress, but if you want an easy-to-setup, easy-to-manage blog you should give it a try. (This site is a WordPress site.) It’s optimal if you self-host it. That way you definitely own every word on it.

Don’t feel like self-hosting? Get an account at WordPress.com. Yes, you are using somebody else’s ”printing press” but at least that somebody is somebody who is dedicated to open publishing and to ensure that you own what you write and that you can write whatever the hell you want.

Afraid that nobody will read what you write if it’s not on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or [insert whatever]? Write in on your blog and then link to it on your social networks of choice?

You can even use a tool such as Dave’s Radio3 that allows you to make a link blog, or a list of short status updates, and simultaneously publish to Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and an RSS-feed. It’s a great tool that I use for most of my tweeting these days. That way, what I tweet also ends of as link-posts or status-posts here on the blog as well.

But what if I really don’t like WordPress?

There are other options, for both self-hosted and hosted solutions. If you decide to go with a hosted one, the most important thing is to make sure that it has a clear and easy way for you to export everything you write in full fidelity.

I should admit that I’d never heard of neither Liebling nor the famous saying before. ↩
If you find yourself writing more than two consecutive tweets about the same thing, maybe it is not something that you be tweeted. Maybe it should be written as a blog post instead. ↩

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 26 feb 15

Astronomers find a shockingly ancient black hole the size of 12 billion suns.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/02/25/astronomers-find-a-shockingly-ancient-black-hole-the-size-of-12-billion-suns/

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 26 feb 15

“the lack of motion at Joyent wasn’t a problem […]. It was what I, as a removed-from-the-fray developer want.”

http://scripting.com/2015/02/25/commentsOnTheNodeFoundation.html

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Henrik Carlsson posted this on 25 feb 15

Skid-VM, ni vet det där som skulle vara en investering, verkar bli en förlustaffär för Faluns butiker.

http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/gavledala/skid-vm-en-small-for-faluns-handlare