The iPhone 3GS: Should You Get It? - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/30/the-iphone-3gs-should-you-get-it/ <comment><USER2> I just can't afford the monthly bill. That bill, despite my lifestyle, tells me it's a want not a need.

</comment><comment><USER3> Many of the reasons to want a 3GS apply just, if not more validly, to the Hero or Pre. Alas, there's no mention of other multitouch phones.

</comment><comment><USER4> If you're in Canada, wait until October, Telus and Bell are supposedly going to break the Rogers iPhone monopoly this fall. And next year, a whole bunch of new wireless companies are joining the market. It's a bad time to be signing a 3 year contract.

<comment><USER5> While this would be great if it was true, I highly doubt it. Bell and Telus are on a cdma network, currently no cdma iPhone exists. So unless apple has one hiding around for all this time, we are not getting any iPhones on Telus or Bell.

As for the new companies, who knows?

Edited for grammar(which is still terrible, just less terrible).

<comment><USER4> They've been building a HSPDA network for about a year now:

[http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/07/21/tech- cellphone...](http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/07/21/tech- cellphones.html)

Rumor has it they are ahead of schedule, and launching in October.

<http://www.thestar.com/business/article/656939>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> iPhone 3GS seems to be have overheating issues ([http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/30/iphones-heating-up- anyone...](http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/30/iphones-heating-up-anyone- playing-hot-potato-with-their-3gs)) Strangely I had overheating issues and battery charging problems in iPhone 3G after upgrading to OS 3.0. Managed to solve it ([http://www.manu-j.com/blog/fix-iphone-os-30-battery- charging...](http://www.manu-j.com/blog/fix-iphone-os-30-battery-charging- problems/353/)) but it included a hard reset. On the upside phone now runs ultra cool and battery is lasting longer in 3.0

<comment><USER7> haven't had any heating issues, but the battery definitely is lasting longer in OS 3.0.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Video taking, scrubbing, uploading to youtube, and sending a link to the grandparents is pretty nice. I can do all that in 10 minutes on one device now.

I guess this is not a big deal to most people.

</comment><comment><USER9> Yes.

If you want to have a beautifully crafted full-fledged computer in your pocket. Yes.

Bonus, it also makes phone calls.

<comment><USER10> this is how I feel about my iPhone 3G. Bonus, it doesn't overheat like the 3GS does.

<comment><USER11> I haven't had any problems with overheating. The increased CPU speed, RAM, better camera and oil resistant screen coating are a big improvement over the 3G. (Note that I don't particularly care about the compass, I've never needed one so far).

<comment><USER12> The compass is fun! You can wager with friends: "That's due north." "No, that's about 12 degrees off towards the northwest." "Wanna bet?"

It's almost as much fun as "guess the driving distance between two randomly chosen landmarks" with Google Maps.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Avoiding Stupidity - <AUTHOR> https://fs.blog/2014/06/avoiding-stupidity/ <comment><USER2> I have to agree. When IT systems get overly complicated or bogged down, it's usually traceable to a few bad design decisions, or a silly obsession of a given developer or manager.

If you probe their decision making, often you'll hear something like, "but I thought that Foo was the future at the time".

Another common one is, "I did that to avoid X from happening. Once X happened in another application or shop and created a mess."

Often it turns out that X is either rare, or there were simpler ways to avoid X or reduce the spillage if X does happen. Don't overcompensate.

It's good to run ideas by other people and give them the freedom/comfort to comment without consequences. Two heads are usually better than one. We all have quirks and blind-spots in our thinking.</comment>


What's the deal with BizDev? - <AUTHOR> http://onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/whats-the-deal-with-bizdev/ No disrespect intended, but BizDev people are really just sales people with a very small prospect base, and usually high quota numbers. They are chasing "the big deals". There are few constraints put on them, because the relationships are "strategic", and so this pattern of cozying up to large vendors, bending over backwards to impress them, only to usually have the rug pulled out later happens again and again. <comment><USER2> The bizdev strategy he points to has always confused me in it's logic. Maybe I'm too conservative, maybe going for the big vender is sales diversification. What would the math look like re costs vs. returns over 2 years w/a team of 4, and with the IBM like vender buy out?

<comment><USER3> In the case I referenced, the costs were very high, and the returns were 0. IBM bought our main competitor and we shelved the project. No one actually needed an OS/390 port.

Yes, it's only one datapoint, but I've seen that pattern far too often in my years. I just posted a link to part 2 of the article. Enjoy</comment></comment>


SAP South Africa's MD Implicated In Alleged $38M SAP Kickback Scandal - tefo-mohapi http://www.iafrikan.com/2017/02/21/sap-south-africas-managing-director-implicated-in-alleged-38-million-sap-licenses-purchasing-and-kickback-scandal/ <comment><AUTHOR> This is just the tip of the iceberg. Companies like Microsoft, Oracle, CISCO etc routinely lobby (a euphemism for kickbacks in kind) with governments in developing countries to corner big contracts.

These governments could invest a fraction of that money in open source tools and reap benefits for years to come. Unfortunately neither intent nor ability exists in these governments (including mine in India) to think for themselves.

</comment><comment><USER2> Gosh, This, the Rand manipulation, the deep rooted corruption in the ANC who looted R41B! I just wish SA realized its potential without the human scum.

<comment><USER3> You wish for the wildlife to riot?!

<comment> tefo-mohapi Wildlife?

<comment><USER4> He means that without any humans left, the only ones left to influence the country will be the wildlife.

<comment> tefo-mohapi Ok</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Muse – Tool for Thought on iPad - <AUTHOR> https://launch-preview.museapp.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hey all, Muse cofounder here. I've been on Hacker News 13 years but this is my first Show HN. You might know me from YC08 and as Heroku cofounder and author of 12factor.net.

Today my team and I are launching Muse, a thinking tool.

Engineers sometimes talk about "typing problems" and "thinking problems"; Muse is for the latter. For example: designing a distributed system, doing a deep read of an algorithms paper, or creating a product roadmap.

My colleagues and I spent a few years doing research at a lab called Ink & Switch. You can read HN discussions of our publications on software performance [1], the creative process [2], and local-first software [3].

[1]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18506170](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18506170)

[2]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20255457](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20255457)

[3]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21581444](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21581444)

One research question for us was whether touchscreens could ever be as powerful as desktop tools like vim or emacs. That resulted a prototype we named Muse. We saw commercial potential and spun it out of the lab last year.

A founding insight for Muse is that deep thinking happens away from the computer. e.g. in a sketchbook, on a whiteboard, or just in your head. There are some up-and-coming tools for thought like Notion and Roam but they're tied to the desktop/laptop form factor and primarily focused on text. We saw an opportunity for a thinking tool that blends together visual media, text, and offers spatial navigation on a tablet.

Since this is a technical crowd, you might be interested in some of the challenges building this thing, like maintaining 120fps at all times. There is no concept of opening a file or a loading screen—you just navigate to a document and it's already there. Ink rendering is another ongoing engineering challenge, from point simplification to curve fitting to stroke masking for the eraser. Happy to talk about any of this in the comments.

We're charging $100/year, comparable to other prosumer tools like Dropbox, Evernote, Roam, etc. There's a generous free tier and you can export your data as a flat files (PNG, PDF, TXT).

We're building in public on Twitter: [https://twitter.com/MuseAppHQ](https://twitter.com/MuseAppHQ) and Mark and I talk shop on our podcast: [https://museapp.com/podcast](https://museapp.com/podcast)

HN is known for sharp critique, so bring it on. Will also answer questions or accept praise if you feel like doing one of those :-)

<comment><USER3> > We're charging $100/year, comparable to other prosumer tools like Dropbox, > Evernote...

Well Evernote has a free tier and past that it's really <$50 per year - <USER2> there is currently an additional 40% off, so I think your competitor pricing research might be a little off.

I mean if you are really comparing against Evernote it's really free for a similar service, and offer multi-device sync between mobile and their desktop app as a service, so I would say the Evernote free tier is the most comparable even though I like the look of your product.

This is a $19.99 app or $2.99 per month subscription to compete with things like notability.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a reasonable objection. Muse does have a free tier also.

Notability is a great app, but it's a sketchbook so not really a comparison.

<comment><USER4> You should make clear somewhere (in the App Store description ideally, otherwise on your website) what are the limitations of the free version.

<comment><USER5> Yeah - it's not clear at all.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is very cool.

The price point was a shock.

I think committing to a year-long subscription is a tough sell. Not because the product isn't great, but because I've tried apps before and then abandoned them because they didn't become a habit. Maybe it lasted a month, maybe two, but they never became part of my routine.

So committing to paying for a year up front is a tough sell.

The other question is why it is a subscription. Not why _you_ want it to be a subscription, but why the product needs to be. You mention in another comment that "all content is stored 100% on-device". So it's not that I'm paying for cloud storage (which I already have, and I don't have multiple iPads so it would be more of a peace of mind thing anyway.)

I understand that it funds your continued development, but it's hard for me to see what that means. Is there a product roadmap so I can say, "Yeah, actually, I want to pay for those new features."

Here's how I would pay:

1\. One-time cost for software that would get updates until the next major version.

2\. Monthly subscription for software if there is a product roadmap. I want to see what I'm buying.

3\. Yearly subscription with a discount to (2). The commitment is worth something to you. It would have to be worth it to me too.

Rough guesses:

1\. $50

2\. $10/mo

3\. $100/yr

</comment><comment><USER7> If the app stores all my data locally, why does it require an email? It doesn't even say _why_ an email is required, just an annoying "Enter your email to get started" with no option to skip.

I don't understand why apps have gotten so hostile towards curious users.

For me, that's a hard _Nope_.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's fair, and we're considering ways to make it possible to try the app without an email.

However I'm curious: do you apply this same criteria when trying software like Notion, Figma, or Google Docs? I assume you have different criteria based on whether the software is downloaded to your local device or not, but would love to understand why that's so.

<comment><USER7> > However I'm curious: do you apply this same criteria when trying software > like Notion, Figma, or Google Docs?

Above you mentioned your preference for keeping data local to the device. That is one of the big motivators for even downloading the app. I don't use Notion or Figma, and prefer Pages or Numbers to Google Docs when possible, so yes I do apply the same criteria.

Even though I avoid it when possible, I can at least understand why a tool like Google Docs which is cloud first or collaborative by nature requires an account. Why a local-first app requires an email is a complete mystery to me. What's the benefit to me as a user? If you don't make that case, I assume it's for marketing and pass on it.

<comment><USER7> Also, so much of the junk mail I get now is notifications from products and services I used for a while and stopped using later. I'm sure every vendor thinks their product or service announcements are meaningful and worthwhile. But ultimately the bulk of them are just pleas to get me back on their service/ site.

So now I avoid dropping my email when I can avoid it. Passing it out to try a new product just doesn't cross that bar.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Last year I stumbled upon the research articles about Muse development at Ink & Switch. They exude care and craftsmanship. Really fun to read. Highly recommended. Muse's newsletter is great, too. [https://www.inkandswitch.com/](https://www.inkandswitch.com/)

I didn't know anyone on the Muse team but was so curious I reached out and asked for beta access and they kindly gave it. I've been using for about a year. I really love it. My use cases are light -- hobby sketches, sundry visual notes -- but I keep finding more things to use it for because it's just so... fun. It's fun feeling so extended and free using a digital tool.

I'm pleased to see it on HN front page.

<comment><AUTHOR> A year, wow--that's the very earliest beta we made available. It was pretty rough back then, so thanks for sticking with it!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've been using Muse for a while and it's a lovely, beautifully designed product. Feels like the rare tool that really gets the most out of my iPad Pro hardware. I use it for most of my deep brainstorming sessions.

I'm a PhD student so I have a limited budget, but I don't mind the $100/year price point. It's become a key tool in my research workflow so it's totally worth it. I find it a bit odd that people think Netflix is worth more money than a tool that might transform your creative output.

<comment><USER10> > I find it a bit odd that people think Netflix is worth more money than a > tool that might transform your creative output.

While the price is nearly the same, Netflix pays for thousands of employees and hundreds of actresses & crews to produce entertainment.

This app doesn't have hundreds of employees doing my thinking, reviewing my notes, or making suggestions. Apples & oranges

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Congrats on the launch, it's great to see the space develop as well as more applications being designed for specific uses, I can see Muse fitting in with my other iPad habits (such as Fresco for wire design), and targeting a specific user for their niche.

The price tag certainly has HN crawling, clearly without downloading and seeing how simple it is to use with only an email. Most prosumer companies play down the cost, and highlight the free trial. Given the "power user" nature of getting up to speed with Muse (video + 9 "tasks" to complete) it's worth trying to remove all friction from installs since you'll get churn from a subset even before prompting them about the price, due to the commitment someone needs to make with new habit forming and learning.

Will you be adding collaboration into the app? With remote teams increasing I can see this helping share ideas and promote collaboration outside of Google Docs/Notion/Figma etc.

Did you dog food the development? I imagine designing and building the app would have required a lot of deep thinking!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, and yes collaboration is on the roadmap. Because thinking is first and foremost a private activity, we wanted to get the single-user experience right as a foundation.

Heavy dogfooding, yes! I use Muse for absolutely everything in designing, planning, and thinking about strategy for our company and product. Can't imagine my life without it after a year of using the product.

<comment><USER11> Awesome. Keep it up and I look forward to seeing the feature roll out over the coming months!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> If you're in the early stage building a product, their podcast is extremely helpful. It really deserves a Show HN all of its own.

[https://museapp.com/podcast](https://museapp.com/podcast)

I particularly enjoyed two recent ones, Authentic Marketing[0] and Principled Products[1] (which also has some background about 12 Factor Apps, if you remember that). Very useful for our stage where we have a new thing, but we're still trying to figure out how to explain it.

Thanks Adam, et al!

[0] [https://overcast.fm/+Y-HVh9MxU](https://overcast.fm/+Y-HVh9MxU) [1] [https://overcast.fm/+Y-HUBwJwA](https://overcast.fm/+Y-HUBwJwA)

</comment><comment><USER13> My feedback... 1\. Trial is way too short for a $99 purchase. 2\. Adding a photo, deleting, and re-adding uses up "trial cards" \- so the trial is really just tutorial-level playing with the software. 3\. Not clear why I can add elements to the top layer... why would I have an Empty Board and a photo next to each other? Why can't I drag the photo into the Empty Board? Instead, the photo covers the board. Confusing. 4\. I know you aren't alone, but why do you need my email address before I know anything about this app? Just let me tap open and experiment before you ask. 5\. If you must have an email, why aren't you supporting Sign in with Apple so I can use a relay email? 6\. I'm not clear when I would open this app. I would've prefer a full page of example boards to see how power users would/will use this tool. I can always delete example boards, but instead I have a blank page and 4 second videos. That screams time investment and learning curve ahead.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback.

\- You can use the trial for unlimited time, and many folks do.

\- We've tried onboarding that includes sample boards, but this tends to be confusing because it's someone else's thoughts rather than your own.

\- There is a learning curve--we like tools take a bit of time investment, but one that will pay off with power and flexibility in the long run. vim and emacs were two inspirations here. [https://museapp.com/handbook](https://museapp.com/handbook)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Sorry, $100/year just feels too high. It's about the same price as a Photoshop subscription.

Correction: Previously I got some numbers mixed up, and I said it's almost twice the price.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're able to judge the fairness of the price without having tried the product?

We have quite a few paying customers, and I think they'd say it's worth it because it helps them think and be creative in a way that no other tool does.

But obviously that's a decision that's up to each person, and we offer a free tier so you can find out for yourself.

Happily we're a small team, so we only need a few thousand customers at this price to make it sustainable.

<comment><USER15> You may find more value digging into why the grandparent (And many others here) didn't find value from the demo and propositions on your home page, than arguing with us here.

One of the most important concepts I learned doing 100's of pitches is that understanding the value of your product is not the customer's problem - it's yours. Find a way to communicate it better :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'd consider $100, but not a $100 per year subscription? Come on!

<comment><AUTHOR> Out of curiosity, what's your take on the price of Dropbox ($120/year), Evernote ($96/year), or Roam ($165/year)?

<comment><USER16> Dropbox is a service. Even if you don't use the app, they are providing value to you. Evernote app is free, but the value comes from storage and sync (access).

Apps don't provide value unless you use them.

<comment><USER17> Most things don't provide value unless you use them. Netflix isn't valuable unless you use it, do you abhor their subscription pricing?

If you consistently use the app, and they consistently improve it, don't you think it's fair to consistently pay for it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Nice to see Muse launch! I've been using the beta for a few months now after stumbling on the Ink & Switch design essay when researching tools for thought.

It's awesome, I can recommend it wholeheartedly - the modeless interaction and spatial organisation might seem subtle, however they really enable a very smooth workflow that allows to think about something without being distracted by the tool. The best example is probably erasing something in Muse with the 'left finger on screen mode' in contrast to tapping an eraser symbol as in the standard design of note-taking apps. This gets internalized pretty quickly and then erasing doesn't distract ones line of thought anymore. I actually find myself doing this 'second finger erasing' by accident in other note-taking apps all the time.

Like others in the comments, as a student I also found the price tag a bit hefty - however Adam Wiggins mentioned in an email that they are planning a ~30$/yr educational discount. I personally found that a lot more reasonable, maybe that's interesting to other students as well.

</comment><comment><USER19> This is nearly exactly my dream rewrite of my iOS app Mindscope [http://www.mindscopeapp.com/](http://www.mindscopeapp.com/) that I never quite got around to doing. Love this. Congrats!

Mindscope always was text (and later arrows) only, which had its advantages because it forced focus. But I love the Apple Pencil support!

I love seeing your solutions to the same problems I encountered developing Mindscope. Especially Love your solution for dragging one card into another by dragging it then pinching into the other. It feels very natural.

Major props.

</comment><comment><USER20> All this talk of a free tier, but I can't see any information about it on the website or app store. Is it the "Free Trial", which indicates to me that it's a time limited demo?

I want this information before installing yet another app that appears too expensive for the value it provides. If I think the free tier might work for me, I'm much more likely to be convinced to go paid once I experience the value it adds to my life.

If this was $8/month I probably wouldn't have given the price a second thought, even though I'm fully capable of basic math.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good feedback! We used to include the trial terms (unlimited time, up to 100 cards) in the signup email but now that it's direct download from the App Store we need to find another place.

And good point about monthly vs yearly perception.

<comment><USER21> I also think that $8/mo (or $9, whatever) is a much lower barrier to entry.

The difference here is I'm unsure how much I'd actually use it... so if I like it I'd happily pay monthly for a sort of extended "pro" trial, knowing that if it turns out I don't really use it I can just cancel in the App Store.

At $100/year I have to be pretty sure I'll use it a lot: I probably have a dozen different subscriptions in that range but I definitely don't want two dozen.

I'm not saying I won't give you the $100, just that I prefer to trial full- featured products and I'm happy to pay for an open-ended trial within reason. No idea how typical that attitude is.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> When I bought an iPad pro, I asked friends what are their favorite apps. One person religiously vouched for how much Muse has affected the way they work on a day to day. Like me, they are a artist and in the software space, and felt Muse gave them the ability to both organize things spatially, while making use of the iPad's drawing features in everything they do.

I was able to get on the beta and found it quite satisfying as an application. Its basically the missing OS for iPad to let you do everything that you imagine the iPad is supposed to let you do.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is amazing, thank you <3

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I wanted to try this app. My iPhone firewall (lockdown.com) showed a bunch of tracking apps all "calling home" to I uninstalled it without trying.

<comment><USER24> [https://lockdownhq.com](https://lockdownhq.com) Looks impressive, glad you mentioned it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> There seems to be a lot of griping about the $100/year price here. The folks behind Muse have made what seems to be a solid product and want to charge for it to build a sustainable business. I don't understand what the issue is.

On the one hand, people complain about having to pay for things (especially subscriptions). On the other, they complain about startups that try to grow fast, subsidize the cost of the product with venture money, and get acquired and shut down. I don't have a problem with either approach; I think they both have their place.

But how can software developers trying to build great products (and businesses) escape this lose-lose scenario?

You may not feel that this specific product is worth $100/year to you. That's fine; not everything is for everyone. But how do we, as a tech community, better support people and teams trying to create value in a sustainable way?

<comment><USER26> FWIW, I paid for this the second I crossed the free trial threshold. The polish is 1% level. It's truly a next-level product.

<comment><USER8> I agree. That price for a great home to do great thinking? Well worth it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> In defense of price...

I'd consider it as much an investment in the iPad itself as it is in the software. In other words, assuming you have already bought an iPad, I'd argue there are hardly any apps that truly take advantage of the tablet interface (exceptions include Affinity by Serif, Procreate). For me, Muse took an expensive screen and delivered on the promise of the iPad/tablet that Apple/the rest of the tech world fumbled. Long live Muse...

</comment><comment><USER21> Oh wow, you have to enter your email address to even try out the app. That's a way bigger barrier to entry than a $100 price point.

Until they change that, there's no way I'm using or recommending their app.

Is this now considered acceptable for productivity apps?

Edit: and how does that work with GDPR?

</comment><comment><USER28> I've tested it a bit:

\- This looks _really promising_. It is aleady quite usable and there are some really nify ideas in there.

\- The price is extremely steep for an app and in addition it it is recurring and the only options are yearly payments.

\- Looking at what those guys have created and written before this looks like something I could lobe in the long run (end user programmability, local first etc)

To say exactly how good it is: if there was a monthly payment option I'd probably have signed up already just to support it (I do that from time to time with ideas I love even thought I often end up cancelling most of them.)

</comment><comment><USER29> I'm extremely impressed with the demo/free tier so far! Out of curiosity, have you tried LiquidText? This is how I envisioned that app working!

Also, so far, I can see myself //easily// getting lost in the nesting. In my "outer most" board, I had to handwrite "HOME" in the top left just to make easier.

I think //searching// is a killer missing feature right now. Also, limits on board nesting depth, and board "templates" something to let me setup a "deep reading a PDF" board template that is reusable.

</comment><comment><USER30> I used Muse during the private beta and found it to be a refreshing take on free-form note taking. I've yet to figure out how to incorporate it into my workflow, but I'm very, very happy to see a passionate team working on fluid, performant software.

The gestural interface and limited toolset made it easy to focus on taking notes and arranging thoughts rather than "fighting the program" and wasting time choosing between dozens of pens and colours.

Best of luck with the launch!

</comment><comment><USER31> lol $100 for a year. What happens when the company goes away?

How does world-class apps like Procreate make money? They've been providing free major updates for years!

<comment><USER32> I genuinely don't know. Would you care to explain how procreate makes money if you do know?

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I've been looking for a note taking / chart app that worked spatially like this and that would allow you to zoom indefinitely from high level concepts into low level details. Specifically something that worked collaboratively like lucidchart, google docs, etc.

Is there anything similar to this that works in the browser? I'm tempted to buy an iPad just to try this out. Looks great!

</comment><comment><USER21> I think it looks pretty interesting and I will definitely give it a try. If I find it useful I don't have any problem with the price.

I have several projects where something like this, done "right" (whatever that means for me) could be a big help: starting a newsletter; moving to a new city; writing a book; maybe also building an app.

I wonder, though, how is it not "just" an interactive Mood Board?

So I can put in some screenshots and links and add some text and sketch on it, this by itself could be good for research... but how do I connect things? Is there some kind of hierarchy I can apply? Will it give me some kind of insight after the fact or do I just play with my Boards and then, I dunno, export them when I'm done?

I found the Handbook pretty helpful but I would suggest having a couple videos available on the landing page so I can easily get a sense of what you can do with the app. And at least one of them should be a power-user example.

Good luck with it! I like the idea of the single-app business with a small team; I hope it works out for you.

</comment><comment><USER34> Hi Adam,

Thank you for sharing Muse! I love it.

In one of your comments you mention:

"There is a learning curve--we like tools take a bit of time investment, but one that will pay off with power and flexibility in the long run. vim and emacs were two inspirations here. "

I'm building a product with a similar sort of learning curve. Do you have any resources you recommend for better understanding how to build these types of products?

Thanks!

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a really good question—I would love such a resource.

There are some design discussions on the emacs mailing list about the tradeoff between accessibility and power tool that might be relevant: [https://lwn.net/Articles/819452/](https://lwn.net/Articles/819452/)

It's a whole new ballgame in the mobile era though. People have been trained to dismiss an app if they can't figure it out in 10 seconds of use.

Mark and I talked about that on this podcast about our love of manuals, so maybe that's a start: [https://museapp.com/podcast/3-read-the-fabulous- manual](https://museapp.com/podcast/3-read-the-fabulous-manual)

<comment><USER28> FWIW I enjoyed the manual. Too many tools go "all UX - no manual" and think a manual isn't necessary. Often I am afraid this leads to products that become less useful than they could have been.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I can not imagine ever paying €109,99 per year for any app. Not even an app that I would use every day.

But maybe I'm not the intended consumer?

</comment><comment><USER35> How would you compare this to Microsoft OneNote? It is free and cross platform. It also lets you put "anything" on your space and lets you scribble or type anywhere.

What would you say justifies the $99 jump to Muse?

[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft- onenote/id410395246](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft- onenote/id410395246)

<comment><USER36> I'm able to play videos through Muse.. which is so far useful. Wish muse had infinite scroll and zoom.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Are you planning on offering some kind of API/integration ability? I'm thinking it would be great to have structured content, such as rendered org mode or Markdown, in a widget I can put on a board. Especially if I could link widgets and link to boards, which would allow for creating really interesting mind mapping abilities.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes! Check out our research on this topic: [https://www.inkandswitch.com/end- user-programming.html](https://www.inkandswitch.com/end-user-programming.html) \-- although a simple API and Shortcuts hooks would be a good starting place.

<comment><USER37> Cool, thanks for replying. I would also request a desktop version of the app. While the gestures would be different, it would be really nice to be able to share the content across devices.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> This looks awesome! Congrats on the launch!

I am a current paid user for Miro and use it in much the same way you show here but with the added benefit of allowing external collaborators on browsers.

But, if I didn't include so many external users, I'd try this. Hell I may try it right now any way. Looks so smooth.

<comment><AUTHOR> Miro is a solid choice for group whiteboarding, and being native to the web has lots of advantages. Their iPad app is pretty good too.

We wanted to start with getting the single-user experience completely right, but Miro-like collaboration is on the roadmap.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Just downloaded this, looking forward to fitting it into my workflow!

It's a bit of a bummer that it only really supports landscape mode, though — I strongly prefer portrait mode when working on the iPad. What was the design decision to only (primarily) support one mode?

<comment><AUTHOR> Portrait-orientation boards are coming soon!

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> It's a beautiful app, but personally I don't see the need for a subscription service, if it's a standalone app (no mention of cloud hosting or back-end servers to maintain) and would expect a bit more detail before paying $100 USD/y.

</comment><comment><USER41> I'd buy it if it's 9 dollar a year, but a hundred is a stretch too much.

</comment><comment><USER42> 99$ per year? Well I guess Im not the target audience.

Got to admit, it looks pretty nice. That price is just... nope.

For the curious, I might have bought it for a one-time 20$ AND only directly from the app store, no 3rd party service dependencies

</comment><comment><USER43> Looks like the new OneNote on steroids.

I like it.

I am deeply integrated with Office and Onenote at this point, so I don't see myself switching. But, it seems like something I was planning to do when I purchased my Surface pro 7.

</comment><comment><USER44> I read a lot of pdfs. But there doesn't seem to be any quick way to scroll through pages except by hand, zoom in or out a single page or search within a pdf. Basic functionalities actually.

</comment><comment><USER45> Been following your journey and I was waiting for the free tier. A free form note taking app is something I've missed and I think muse would perfectly fit this.

<comment><USER45> Been using it for a couple of hours now. I'm sold with the PDF excerpt feature. Reading books and papers is going to be fun!

Can you elaborate on the data residency aspects? It's mentioned that all data is stored on the iPad. Do I need to have an iCloud storage account eventually as I accumulate more notes?

<comment><USER46> No need for iCloud storage. You are only limited by the storage on the iPad itself as everything is stored locally.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> I wouldn't mind paying you as a company or dev $100, but just the fact that Apple will take $30 is giving me shivers. It is brutal.

</comment><comment><USER31> Does each board have unlimited canvas size?

<comment><USER36> Only in 1 dimension (x)

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> Looks cool. Reminded me of padlet.com

</comment><comment><USER49> this makes me want an iPad, looks beautiful, bookmarked for the future!

</comment><comment><USER50> Impressive UX work, and looks genuinely useful, but I'm always wary of storing any of my work in proprietary formats without the ability to export it in readable form. Is there export? If I were to decide to stop the subscription, in what form can I download my work, if at all?

<comment><USER46> Yes, you can export all your content as a .muse bundle — which you can rename to a .zip and unzip to get all the source data.

Also, even after your subscription ends, you will still have access to your content (and to the export feature) indefinitely. You just can't create new cards (as long as you have more than 100).

It's really important to us that your data isn't locked into Muse, not by the data format and not by a subscription requirement.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What books are you currently reading? - <AUTHOR>

Please don't limit your responses to technical and nonfiction materials! <comment><USER2> "Consider Phlebas"

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/031600538X>

"Chaos: Making a New Science"

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143113453>

"The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't"

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/159420411X>

</comment><comment><USER3> "Lean Analytics"

I have never been able to finish a non-technical/non-fictional book after childhood to be honest! ;) I prefer a movie for that.

</comment><comment><USER4> Lev Grossman's The Magicians, and rereading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. I just finished Ed Sweeney's biography of Cochise a couple days ago.

</comment><comment><USER5> The Design of Everyday Things: <http://www.amazon.com/dp/0465067107>

</comment><comment><USER6> Antifragile

by Nassim Taleb

</comment><comment><USER7> The Steve Jobs Biography and Inspired: How to create products people love

</comment><comment><USER8> PAIP, Clean Code.</comment>


A robot will take your order now - <AUTHOR> http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-robot-will-take-your-order-now-2016-05-25 <comment><AUTHOR> It seems like the robot doesn't actually carry the food to the table? Hard to tell from the video.</comment>