Month: May 2018

Replied to

Can I just say how much I appreciate this app’s pricing model?

One of the things I hate the most about “subscription” models is that no matter how many years I’ve supported an app, the moment I stop paying the subscription, I lose access to the entire app – even features I’ve paid for years ago.
It doesn’t matter if I don’t want any future updates, it doesn’t matter if I don’t care about new features; if I want to continue using an old app on an old device, I have to continue paying for the subscription.

Agenda’s developers have come up with a new model – the base app is free, but you can unlock premium features for a one-off cost. This one-off cost would also give you any new features that they bring out in the next 12 months.

After the 12 months have elapsed you have two choices:

  1. pay for another 12 months of new features, or
  2. don’t pay, don’t receive any new features, but keep all the features you’ve already unlocked, and still continue recieving updates to the app (so it’ll continue to work on new devices and receive bug fixes).

This model is more than I could have hoped for; I don’t expect basic updates or bug fixes after I’ve stopped paying, but Agenda’s development team are making this and the base app free for all users.

It doesn’t have to be said, but I’ll definitely be supporting this app.

Drew McCormack also included a small write up on how they implemented this pricing model and I can only hope other app developers start considering alteranatives to the subscription model.

Read The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Book cover image. The silhouette of an Arabian city and a ship over the backdrop of a starry night. The title of the book, The Assassin’s Curse, overlays the illustration in swooping text.

Book cover image. The silhouette of an Arabian city and a ship over the backdrop of a starry night. The title of the book, The Assassin’s Curse, overlays the illustration in swooping text.

📚 I really disliked this at the start. The main protagonist was whiny and annoying; a privileged brat who – unfortunately – does not grow up much during the book.

Luckily once the story got going I enjoyed it well enough.

It felt like the author had a premise she liked but had trouble getting all the characters there (and that was a big chunk of the first book).
I’ve started on the second book already and either I’ve gotten used to the characters and her writing or it’s just better written so far.

Bookmarked I Played Fortnite and Figured Out the Universe (The Atlantic)
The best strategy is blasting everyone you see—until it's not.

Is this too optimistic? Should we be more cautious when sending message out into space? Maybe, but I like the idea of starting off with a show of good faith than entering a room gun blazing.

Fortnite is more Dark Forest theory than not, and maybe that’s true of the universe, too. But sometimes, we have a lever against the vise of game theory, and in this case, it is a single bit of communication. I mean “bit” in the programmer’s sense: a flag with a designated meaning. Nothing more. My heart emote didn’t make Fortnite cuddly and collaborative, but it did allow me to communicate: “Hold up. Let’s do this a different way.”