The Branded and Gilded Life

The EPIC battle at the App Store


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Well, that one blew up quickly. And what was behind the scenes in gaming moved center stage.

Apple collects a toll of 30% on all the apps purchased at its store. 

Obviously developers aren't happy to part with a hefty amount for every sale.

But they had no choice. 

The business is worth $550 billion for Apple. And just like that, the battle lines were drawn.

EPIC is the game developer behind Fortnite.

And it has a substantial number of players invested in the game - 350 million

When EPIC introduced a direct payment system - a discount inside its app on iOS, Apple booted the company off the platform.

EPIC has taken Apple to court.

And used Apple's most iconic ad against it - 1984.

It had become a part of advertising lore and stands for all things Apple.

Ran just once on Superbowl but got huge publicity as publications and the news talked of this feisty company taking on the establishment.

Now, in 2020, Apple is the most valuable company in the world.

And a feisty game company which is poised to remake the gaming ecosystem, has fired the first shot across the bow.

An update: Apple has reduced commissions for companies earning less than $1 million to 15%.

The good things in life are free. Like Unsplash.

Wikipedia showed that you could get authentic information for free and build a sustainable entity.

Yes, it does threaten to go under every now and then, but there are enough well-wishers to keep it afloat.

Unsplash does that for photography. Great shots on a variety of subjects you can use as you please.

Even for commercial purposes. As a courtesy, just credit the photographer. But it's not essential.

In a world where businesses hold on to their prized intellectual property, Unsplash throws away the keys.

Read the license terms. Pretty clear and comprehensive.

So, how did this wonder come to be?

Mikeal Cho, the CEO of a company called Crew had shot multiple photographs for a job.

Instead of trashing the ones he couldn't use, he put them up on a simple site 

And posted the link on Hacker News, a site that generates a huge amount of traffic from the tech obsessed.

And like ants to a sugar party, people flocked to it.

The photographer called to ask why traffic to his site was exploding.

It started off as a side project for the company

Now, it gets over 1 billion views a month. The photos are still free.

Someone must be making money, right?

The Veery is a bird. And a meteorologist.

It belongs to the thrush species. Small, brown, ordinary. And hard to find.

But it sings.  A veery hitting the high flutey notes has half a million views on YouTube.

And it features on a Netflix show called 'Connected'

Starting with a project to map the veery's migration pattern.

Bird nets are put up in a habitat where they're spotted.

And lured with a ringtone of their own song.

The trapped birds are fitted with tiny GPS devices to track flying patterns.

This is where it gets interesting.

The veery flies from the tip of the US to Brazil, about 4000 miles away. 

Crossing the oceans. And then flies back. Which is remarkable in itself. But migratory patterns are well known.

The stranger pattern was that the birds would begin their nesting at different times each year.

So, what made them vary the timing of the trip?

They had to cross zones with intense hurricane activity.

And this tiny bird seemed to know months in advance when the hurricanes would hit.

If the birds left early, bad hurricane year. Or else, it would be ok.

It's the dream of every meteorologist. An early warning hurricane system.

Already installed by nature in the veery

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The Branded and Gilded LifeBy Connecting the not-so-obvious branding dots