Adam Engst catches us up on the status and success of the TidBITS subscription model they introduced last year as a method of helping fund the publication, how the experiment has worked, and the kind of content that it helps fund. The topic quickly turns to Google’s announcement of the demise of Reader, the RSS-reader and aggregator, why it is happening, and what it means in the larger world of platforms, services and the like. Adam and Chuck also cover why the rate of change may actually be too fast in the software world, why users sometimes resist, and several pricing models that might integrate with fast and slow revisions to the tools we use.
This edition of MacVoices is sponsored by Transporter, the off-cloud social storage drive for sharing, accessing and backing up your files in real time. Works with Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Windows. Get your Transporter for 10% off by ordering from the Transporter web site here, and using the code “macvoices” when you do.
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Chuck Joiner is the producer and host of MacVoices, MacVoicesTV. You can catch up with what he’s doing on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, App.net and LinkedIn.
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Adam C. Engst is the publisher of TidBITS and Take Control Books. He has written numerous books, including the best-selling Internet Starter Kit series, and many magazine articles – thanks to Contributing Editor positions at MacUser, MacWEEK, and now Macworld. His innovations include the creation of the first advertising program to support an Internet publication in 1992, the first flat-rate accounts for graphical Internet access in 1993, and the Take Control electronic book series. His awards include the MDJ Power 25 ranking as the most influential person in the Macintosh industry outside of Apple every year since 2000, inclusion on the MacTech 25 list of influential people in the Macintosh technical community, and being named one of MacDirectory’s top ten visionaries. And yes, he has been turned into an action figure. Want more? Follow Adam on Twitter for 140-character musings on a variety of topics.
OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion Fixes Nagging Bugs by Adam C. Engst on TidBITS
FlippedBITS: Booting Your Mac from a Duplicate by Joe Kissell on TidBITS
Thoughts Prompted by Google Reader’s Demise by Adam C. Engst on TidBITS
Free Disrupts Telecom Market in France by Kirk McElhearn on TidBITS
