And this one is also for people who want to work and who want to play.

Matt Alexander:

Regardless of Readability’s various flaws, Arc 90 has contributed something measurably new to the debate concerning content monetization. Perhaps the experiment failed, broached copyright, and any number of other touchy buzz-words, but the service unquestionably furthered the discussion.

Absolutely; I agree wholeheartedly. The ambition and aim of Readability should be applauded — they were trying to advance the state of writing and reading on the Web. At its start, Readability’s subscription and payment model had an air of excitement and innovation to it. Alas, questions about their intentions and their business model were often met with either finger pointing, skirting, or silence.

On episode 71 of The Big Web Show, Jeffrey Zeldman and Rich Ziade describe Readability as an “amoral R&D company”. Implying that they should just do what they’ll do in the hopes to build something that is both game changing and sustainable, and therefore they are not responsible for any damage which might be incurred at their hands (such as the inability to channel subscriber funds to publishers, or the repurposing and redistribution of other people’s original content).

For a company that says they are advocates for writing and reading on the web, it is their attitude that saddens me and makes me uncomfortable with their products.

Here’s the video of Microsoft’s 45-minute press event yesterday introducing and demoing the Surface. I think this is a smart move in the right direction for Microsoft. The Touch Cover looks like a great idea, and it also gives a bit more context for why they needed to add a built-in stand (however, I could have sworn I heard a cricket when Steven Sinofsky revealed the kickstand).

But there are still two big unknowns: pricing and availability.

Seriously though, the just-announced Microsoft Surface does have a rad promo video.

Horace Dediu:

Yesterday’s reveal of Surface, Microsoft’s first personal computer, was a watershed event in the evolution of value chains around computing.

John Moltz:

[W]e used to pay considerably more for professional laptops.

My college laptop was a Dell Inspiron (circa 2000). I can’t remember all the specs, but I do remember it had a 14-inch screen, 128 MB of RAM, and a massive 6 GB hard drive. I paid somewhere around $2,000 for it. Can you imagine? Paying two grand for a Dell?

I think this line from Ben Brooks is a very apt description of the iOS 6 update:

I don’t think this is an update that makes me say “wow” as much as it makes me say “nice”.

For folks who never have their iPhone more than an arm’s reach away, these types of refining software updates are most welcomed. They may not seem like the most amazing thing in the world when you’re only reading about the features, but once you’ve used them there’s no going back. I liken it to the removing of a pea from underneath the mattress.

Great article by Chuck Skoda, sharing his thoughtful observations of iOS 6 after a week of using the first beta.

It’s amazing the little nuggets that show up on these slides. Such as: “Folders in Notes [on Mountain Lion]” (hi, Sean), “Location based reminders for iPad”, and “New iPad Clock app”.

My thanks to Omni Group for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.

Sarah wakes up, prepares a full breakfast, and fires up her standard suite for design. Two new, time-consuming projects this week — it’s time to start planning much further than was previously warranted. Should’ve started yesterday.

OmniPlan for iPad is perfect for this. An intuitive interface keeps unnecessary controls out of your way until you need them, and you don’t have to become an expert in another field.

It’s just Sarah, three months of work, and a beautiful timeline to keep her studio of one on track. Available in the App Store for $50.

Love this idea from Cabel Sasser:

When my phone was stolen in SF last year, they immediately powered it down to stop Find My iPhone. Settings idea: “Shutdown Requires PIN”?

And, though it’s an edge case, this would also make the non-removable battery even more of a feature.

For this week’s episode of The B&B Podcast, I’m here at WWDC with just my iPad. Ben and I discuss the crazy method we took to live stream the show, the new retina MacBook Pro, Ben’s ridiculous computer buying, iOS 6, how we use RSS versus Twitter, and more.

Andy Ihnatko:

For a dramatic example of the improvement, start browsing the web. Bitmapped images (rendered at traditional pixel density) look like utter trash alongside the Retina-quality text that flows around it.

Just like on the new iPad. And so it begins.

Rich Ziade:

As of June 30, 2012, Readability will no longer accept reader fees.

And they’re giving the $150,000 in unclaimed funds (which accounts for 90% of payments) to charity. But why not refund that $150K to those who subscribed with the intention of supporting writers?