tag:owened.co.nz,2014:/feedOwened2017-06-28T04:49:16-07:00Owen Williamshttp://owened.co.nzSvbtle.comtag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/i-ve-moved-my-internet-home2017-06-28T04:49:16-07:002017-06-28T04:49:16-07:00I've moved my internet home<p>If you’re reading this blog, it’s been archived for a while, but I forgot to give it a formal goodbye. I’ve moved all of my writing to my new brand, <a href="https://char.gd">Charged</a>, which encompasses a weekly newsletter, podcast and posts. As for my freelance work, you can <a href="http://owenwillia.ms">follow that here.</a>, or <a href="http://twitter.com/ow">just keep in touch on Twitter!</a></p>
<p>Thanks for reading, and if you found this, I appreciate all of the comments, feedback and other thoughts that got me to where I am today. Svbtle was an incredible platform for a time that helped rocketship my career as a writer, and I’m sad to say goodbye. </p>
<p>For now, as long as they’ll have me, this will stay online as an archive. Otherwise, see you on the internets! </p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/lenovo-product-engineer-ashton-kutcher-not-concerned-about-upcoming-ipad-launch2014-10-09T19:25:19-07:002014-10-09T19:25:19-07:00Lenovo Product Engineer Ashton Kutcher 'Not Concerned' About Upcoming iPad Launch<p>I chortled at this little quote from Ashton Kutcher, the token celebrity at Lenovo, when asked if he was worried about future iPads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Not at all. I’m not concerned about it in the least bit. Maybe it will be an iPhone Plus Plus. I think Apple has their fingers in a lot of things. We are really focused on this space and this product. I will be really surprised if they launch anything that approaches what we have here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The gold is that he thinks Apple’s got too many fingers in too many pies, when Lenovo has four tablet lines, three notebook brands, three desktop brands, a server line, its own phones <em>and</em> owns Motorola. </p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/paypal-goes-after-apple-in-a-full-page-nyt-ad2014-09-15T16:24:24-07:002014-09-15T16:24:24-07:00PayPal going after Apple with a full page NYT ad shows just how big Apple Pay will be<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/kknkmu29tlumg.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/kknkmu29tlumg_small.png" alt="paypal-e28093-we-the-people-ad.png"></a></p>
<blockquote class="short">
<p>“We the people want our money safer than our selfies. PayPal, protecting the people economy.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a sign of a company that is afraid of just how successful Apple Pay is going to be and how deeply it will cut into its core business. Apple Pay is the first mobile-phone payments solution that has a shot at the mainstream.</p>
<p>Paypal is known for bad security (especially its <a href="https://www.duosecurity.com/blog/duo-security-researchers-uncover-bypass-of-paypal-s-two-factor-authentication">crappy two factor authentication</a>), <a href="https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=paypal%20witholding%20money">withholding money</a> from its customers and generally being bad at doing payments.</p>
<p>Paypal is not “for the people” - I can tell you that first hand. I use the service because I essentially am forced to due to lack of other options to bill my writing clients. I don’t <em>want</em> to use it and they’ve previously held my money hostage and left me out of pocket.</p>
<p>Nobody will miss it when something better comes along and Paypal is showing just how vulnerable it is to disruption right now. Payments companies reacting so bitterly to Apple Pay only means one thing: they’re afraid of how popular it’ll be.</p>
<p>Like this? You’ll love my <a href="http://owenwillia.ms/newsletter">weekly newsletter</a>.</p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/apple-pay-the-first-mobile-payments-solution-that-youll-actually-use-12014-09-13T18:00:07-07:002014-09-13T18:00:07-07:00Apple Pay, the first mobile payments solution that you'll actually use<p>Perhaps the most interesting thing Apple introduced this week is Apple Pay, a payment solution that uses familiar NFC technology, but skips the previous hurdles to actually making payments with your phone. </p>
<p>Apple is taking just 0.15% of each transaction and seems interested in little else other than making mobile payments awesome (which in turn drives iPhone sales).</p>
<p>Android fans seem annoyed by the notion that Apple has NFC now, claiming that they’ve had it for years. The only difference is Android’s had it for years and <em>still</em> failed to get anywhere with it thanks to a mess of standards and lack of co-operative banks.</p>
<p>Apple Pay has a strong chance that <em>real</em> people will be using it, in the near future. Stay tuned on this one, it won’t seem like its going anywhere at first, but it’ll eventually be everywhere. Everyone will be clamouring to copy it.</p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/reactions-to-apple-announcing-a-watch-are-eerily-similar-to-when-it-announced-an-ipod2014-09-10T13:34:54-07:002014-09-10T13:34:54-07:00People are reacting to Apple’s Watch the same way they did to the iPod in 2001<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/a8wrkwvzicv8q.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/a8wrkwvzicv8q_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 8.45.59 am.png"></a></p>
<blockquote class="short">
<p>“People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”<br>
― Steve Jobs</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yesterday, Apple <a href="http://www.apple.com/watch/">unveiled a Watch</a>. It’s incredibly well designed and thought out <a href="https://twitter.com/ow/status/509528461140951040">compared to anything we’ve seen on the market</a> so far, but people are having a hard time understanding how this is a big deal. </p>
<p>Lots have reacted saying they don’t believe it has a market, it doesn’t look good, it’s worse than the devices that are already out there, it doesn’t make any sense, people are “disappointed”, etc.</p>
<p>The reactions to the new device are <a href="http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=500">eerily similar to when Apple</a> unveiled the first iPod in 2001. Commenters were disappointed. They thought it was too expensive. And Apple went on to sell millions of iPods.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/wwsq9jydynwkvg.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/wwsq9jydynwkvg_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 8.33.13 am.png"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/da4zarxkj2y0ga.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/da4zarxkj2y0ga_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 8.33.16 am.png"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/0g3cnzur61wjyw.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/0g3cnzur61wjyw_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 8.33.24 am.png"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/a1jbl9arclelg.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/a1jbl9arclelg_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 8.33.32 am.png"></a></p>
<p>When something that has a chance to change the way we think about devices/interactions comes along, people tend to have a hard time understanding it. People react negatively, in a passionate way.</p>
<p>The Apple Watch will be huge, in time, but right now people are in the ‘don’t get it’ phase. Such a device is deeply personal; something that people care about and are proud to own. This is exactly how Apple is positioning the device and is similar to how people feel about their iPhones. But right now, the proposition of a Watch is confusing to them.</p>
<p>I found the concept of wearing a smart watch upsetting <a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/07/20/believe-the-hype-smartwatches-can-deliver-on-their-potential/">until I actually tried one</a>. I suspect this will be the case for many people. Yes, Apple’s Watch is not perfect. But it’s closer to it than anyone else has gotten.</p>
<p>It’s also best to keep in mind that many of the folks you see online writing about these devices are <em>not</em> the target market. The target market is non-techies.</p>
<p>Don’t make knee jerk reactions to this thing, because you’ll look stupid in a few years when you actually end up with one of these. Many people misjudge something that can totally disrupt a market as “dumb” or a “gimmick” but if you look carefully, it may change the way we think about things.</p>
<p>Here’s my thoughts on the device:</p>
<ol>
<li>It will sell, fast. In a year or two.</li>
<li>It makes previous attempts look silly (despite not being perfect itself)</li>
<li>Apple nailed it by positioning it as an ‘intimate’ device</li>
<li>People will be surprised by how it looks in the real world</li>
<li>It’s got quite broad appeal</li>
<li>It’s bulky now, it’ll shrink as technology gets better</li>
<li>By the time January rolls around many people will want one</li>
<li>My largest concern is how often I’m expected to upgrade it. Yearly? Every second year?</li>
<li>I’d like one</li>
</ol>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/50002014-09-01T15:32:06-07:002014-09-01T15:32:06-07:005000<p>Overnight, I clocked over 5000 followers on Twitter. I don’t want to brag about this – the number itself doesn’t really mean much – but I wanted to write something to reflect on how Twitter’s changed my life in positive ways.</p>
<p>I’m incredibly thankful for the friendships it’s forged, which I never thought possible when I joined the network. Over the last five years, it’s given me some crazy opportunities and connections I may have never had otherwise.</p>
<p>Some random things that couldn’t have happened without Twitter: I met my current flatmates, <a href="http://twitter.com/smayjay">Samme</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/charliprangley">Charli</a>, got a gig <a href="http://thenextweb.com/author/owilliams">writing at The Next Web</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ow/status/481629510261948416">made some incredible friends in San Francisco</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ow/status/484100324961947648">around North America</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ow/status/482657682357100545">got a tour inside Apple</a>, got a job at Xero and more stuff that I can’t recall right now.</p>
<p>Despite my complaints when Twitter changes something, it’ll always be a special place to me. The service connected me to so many amazing people and given me some incredible friends around the world I’d have never made otherwise. </p>
<p>It’s incredible how just 140 characters can connect people from all sides of the globe. The community is great, it just takes work to find like-minded people.</p>
<p>Some random, special thanks to some people from Twitter:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/alex">@alex</a> for being an inspiring writer and good friend to me</li>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/rrhoover">@rrhoover</a> for teaching me how to hustle </li>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/bradmccarty">@bradmccarty</a> / <a href="http://twitter.com/panzer">@panzer</a> / [@martinsfp](http:/twitter.com/martinsfp) for giving me the opportunity to write at The Next Web initially and still to this day</li>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/tomwarren">@tomwarren</a> for being the first person to let me write for a real site</li>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/edzitron">@edzitron</a> for being a crazy funny British guy but always available for real talk</li>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/femkesvs">@femkesvs</a>, my girlfriend, for putting up with my tweeting habits</li>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/nzben">@nzben</a> for being the dude that’s stuck around in my timeline for the longest ;)</li>
</ul>
<p>…and to everyone else for following along. I hope to meet more of you :)</p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/thoughts-on-legality-of-accessing-netflix-outside-the-usa2014-08-05T15:32:50-07:002014-08-05T15:32:50-07:00Thoughts on legality of accessing Netflix outside the USA<p>There’s been <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/2ck137/sky_tv_bans_slingshot_advertisements/">a lot of discussion</a> over the last few days on the legality of accessing Netflix in New Zealand by using <a href="http://www.unblock-us.com/">unblocking tools</a>. Earlier this week, the major content license holder – SKY – <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/60473570/sky-tv-bans-slingshot-advertisements.html">stopped an ISP from advertising its services</a> which allow region unblocking on the TV network.</p>
<p>There’s been lots of back and forth over the legality of doing so based on our current, vague laws and if you could be caught. It’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>Essentially, <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/DLM346899.html">it’s a grey area</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s my thoughts on the matter and why I’ll continue to use these tools to access things like Netflix and Hulu:</p>
<ul>
<li>There’s no evidence this is actually illegal.</li>
<li>It’s extremely unlikely a case against you to actually reach the courts as it’s almost undetectable.</li>
<li>Any case against you seems to be highly unlikely to stand up in court without a law change.</li>
<li>The options in New Zealand by ‘content holders’ are a pittance at best. It’s insulting how bad they are.</li>
<li>It’s extremely unlikely Netflix/Hulu or any other service will be motivated to flag you to law enforcement for using their services. They like money.</li>
</ul>
<p>I’d be happy to hear from any actual lawyers on their interpretations of this, but that’s pretty much where I stand.</p>
<p>If Sky and other content providers are so scared in New Zealand, perhaps they should suck it up and build something the people want rather than just aggressively attempting to strangle those that deliver services people desire.</p>
<p>My plea to SKY, TVNZ and other content holders in New Zealand is this: Instead of insulting our intelligence, work with people to understand why they use these services and build something better.</p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/400-free-beautiful-highresolution-wallpapers2014-07-26T19:23:02-07:002014-07-26T19:23:02-07:00400+ free, beautiful, high-resolution wallpapers<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/er7zznspsr06a.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/er7zznspsr06a_small.jpg" alt="397.jpg"></a></p>
<p>I’ve always struggled to pick wallpapers. It’s difficult, time consuming and a search for “wallpaper” on the internet inevitably returns hundreds of hideous ones.</p>
<p>I use a service called <a href="http://splashboxapp.com">Splashbox</a> to synchronize images from <a href="http://unsplash.com/">Unsplash</a> for free as they’re added. Unfortunately, Splashbox is invite only at the moment so people can’t get in very easily. </p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/dfxllundklvw9g.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/dfxllundklvw9g_small.jpg" alt="312.jpg"></a></p>
<p>The beauty of Unsplash, is the images are <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/#_=_">100% free and can be redistributed</a>. I do not own these photos, but they are public domain and there isn’t an easy way to get all of them.</p>
<p>People are always asking me where I get my beautiful wallpapers. Now you know. There are the occasional odd ones in here, but it’s worth it to have nice pictures all the time.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/jizoydkvnzowq.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/jizoydkvnzowq_small.jpg" alt="185.jpg"></a></p>
<p>So, I present to you 400 free, high-resolution images for your wallpaper on your Mac/PC/Tablet/Whatever. I’ll update this post every 100 new photos or so.</p>
<p>➤ <a href="https://mega.co.nz/#!fgkBhDiZ!qUEQr4yEixwGoQyIHKz0Ckij4Vkm2vl56fY785c8QyM">Download the ZIP</a> (now with fixed URL)</p>
<p>Just a word of warning, it’s <strong>1.6 GB</strong>. There’s also a risk my file server will be crushed, so ping me at <a href="http://twitter.com/ow">@ow</a> if it’s broken and I’ll fix it.</p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/why-writing-and-subscribing-to-newsletters-is-awesome2014-07-24T15:44:23-07:002014-07-24T15:44:23-07:00Why writing newsletters is awesome (and hard)<p>Two months ago, I started a newsletter to get myself reading more and to give back to the community since I saw a gap for a weekly, easy to read roundup of technology/startups and other interesting posts from around the web.</p>
<p>My thought was that it would be great to have a way to cut through all the noise and clickbait online, so I started Charged, a weekly email newsletter that’s delivered in the weekend. I’ve learnt a lot since starting it and I wanted to share some quick thoughts on what I’ve discovered so far:</p>
<h2 id="convincing-people-to-hand-over-their-email-ad_2">Convincing people to hand over their email address <a class="head_anchor" href="#convincing-people-to-hand-over-their-email-ad_2">#</a>
</h2>
<p>As it turns out, people are a little hesitant to hand over their email address, even if you promise that you’re going to deliver a super awesome amazing thing! </p>
<p>You really have to show value in a few different ways before people are willing to sign up. From what I’ve noticed, the easiest ways to do this are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Being consistently awesome with emails (that’s sort of obvious)</li>
<li>Having people other than yourself tout how awesome the emails are</li>
</ul>
<p>That second one seems to be key - if someone posts how much they love Charged on Twitter or Facebook, it’s much more compelling than me tweeting “sign up for my super awesome newsletter” because of course I think it’s awesome! </p>
<p>The awesome thing is that when people truly do love it, they will share it for you! I’ve had some of the awesome people who subscribe to Charged regularly tweet about editions and share it with their friends, which I appreciate more than they know. It’s awesome and helps confirm it’s worth writing.</p>
<h2 id="it39s-actually-hard-to-write-consistently-eve_2">It’s actually hard to write consistently every week <a class="head_anchor" href="#it39s-actually-hard-to-write-consistently-eve_2">#</a>
</h2>
<p>I thought it would be easy to sit down every weekend and write out a newsletter since I really love doing it. It turns out, sometimes, you just don’t want to write… because you have to and because it takes <em>a lot</em> of time.</p>
<p>It’s an interesting phenomenon because you sit down to get it done and find yourself doing all sorts of nonsense on the computer (cleaning up your desktop, browsing Reddit) before doing the primary activity that you <em>have</em> to do… despite the fact that delaying it will not help the problem.</p>
<p>This isn’t because I don’t love doing it, but seems to be more because it seems like a huge mountain of work when I approach it. Writing Charged is <em>hard</em> work - I have to collate the best of news from the week (while sifting through the crap), then the best blogs, then I go back through my Twitter favorites to find interesting tweets, then I have to go and grab the details of all the interesting startups I found that week. It takes a lot of time and it’s hard to know where to start.</p>
<p>But what matters is getting started. As soon as you write the first word, you’re on a roll. Before that, it’s easy to do a million other things instead of actually writing. I found getting myself out of the house to somewhere unfamiliar helped with this a lot.</p>
<h3 id="listen-to-feedback-but-not-everyone39s-feedba_3">Listen to feedback, but not everyone’s feedback <a class="head_anchor" href="#listen-to-feedback-but-not-everyone39s-feedba_3">#</a>
</h3>
<p>My list grew pretty quickly after starting to around 700 subscribers now. I didn’t expect that and I’ve encouraged people to reply directly (I use my personal email address to send the newsletter) with thoughts and feedback.</p>
<p>I actually get a surprising amount of replies with things ranging from praise, to comments about my bias(?!), to hate about the design, my writing style and the content. </p>
<p>Some of this feedback was legitimately useful and has helped refine the newsletter from the very early editions to a easier reading and more brief version that it is today. </p>
<p>But some of the feedback I’ve received would mean making huge changes to the newsletter. One reader suggested I remove all sense of opinion or comment from the newsletter, to just present the news. This, however, flies in the face of what I wanted to do.</p>
<p>I’m building a newsletter that’s fun, lightweight and easy to read. Not just regurgitating the news. Removing all personality would mean just rewriting whatever’s online from the week and that’s a little boring. The value is in perspective. </p>
<p>Feedback is good. But not all feedback. You have to choose who to listen to. You can’t please everyone.</p>
<h2 id="newsletters-are-far-more-beneficial-than-i-ex_2">Newsletters are far more beneficial than I expected <a class="head_anchor" href="#newsletters-are-far-more-beneficial-than-i-ex_2">#</a>
</h2>
<p>I have always hated email. With a passion. I pretty much nuclear unsubscribed from everything automated in my inbox and I still get tons of email daily.</p>
<p>But I’ve found a new appreciation for newsletters written by actual people. Perhaps it’s come from the appreciation of how much hard work goes into these, but I’ve also learnt that they’re incredibly valuable because they offer a level of personality you can’t get on tech sites or even some people’s blogs.</p>
<p>When you’re writing a newsletter, it feels like you’re talking directly to a person. Not an audience. Not site visitors. You’re talking directly into someone’s inbox. It’s a level of personal that can’t be achieved on a blog and so when I write my content I don’t want waste anyone’s time and only include what matters to me, in the hope that those receiving it will think it matters too.</p>
<p>It turns out that because newsletters that are run by actual people are hand crafted, you can learn a lot from them and get some of the best content you might not have found online.</p>
<p>As a result of this new appreciation, I’ve signed up for some other newsletters that I really enjoyed:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://ben-evans.com/news/">Benedict Evans’ mobile newsletter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.jonrussell.me/weekly-newsletter">Jon Russell’s Tech in Asia</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I’m always looking for more, too, so if you have any you love please do let me know! </p>
<p>The other benefit? I read a bunch more now. Not just from The Verge, Engadget and other tech blogs, but from actual people. It’s great. I just wish there was more time to read it all :)</p>
<h2 id="timing_2">Timing <a class="head_anchor" href="#timing_2">#</a>
</h2>
<p>This is a hard one. Everyone online says you shouldn’t send an email in the early morning, but as it turns out, that’s what works perfect for Charged. </p>
<p>Sending it at 8AM PT means that the newsletter ends up being read by around 70% of the list within 48 hours of sending. That seems pretty effective to me. </p>
<p>It took a lot of tinkering and sending at different times to get it right. I think it could be better (like delivering at 8am in the recipients timezone). But it works for now.</p>
<h2 id="growing-a-newsletter-is-hard_2">Growing a newsletter is hard <a class="head_anchor" href="#growing-a-newsletter-is-hard_2">#</a>
</h2>
<p>I consider myself pretty lucky that I’ve grown Charged to 700 subscribers in 8 editions, but I want to do more. There’s only so many times I can tweet it. Advertising is a bit expensive.</p>
<p>The important thing, it seems to far, is to make it something that’s inherently useful to people. Something they love and appreciate receiving every week; once you reach that point they’re your advocates and will share it for you. </p>
<p>If you write something that matters, the people will come.</p>
<p>That’s what I’ve learnt so far about newsletters; I’ll write more here as I learn more. I’m no pro at it, but I think if you’re thoughtful, willing to take feedback and willing to put the effort into building an email people will value, it’s a great idea to run a newsletter.</p>
<p>Interestingly, email newsletters seem to be experiencing a renaissance right now. I wonder why that is? </p>
<p>If you’re interested in mine after reading this, you can <a href="http://owenwillia.ms">sign up for Charged here</a>… or <a href="http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/home/?u=7ba9643cb80dac69c6818848c&id=00010c34a8">read previous editions here</a>.</p>
tag:owened.co.nz,2014:Post/misleading-interface-design2014-07-20T13:58:07-07:002014-07-20T13:58:07-07:00Misleading interface design<p>I had an interesting experience this week when I tried to cancel my Spotify account. When you visit the cancellation page, you’re asked to give a reason about why you’re cancelling. Fair enough, but what caught me out is Spotify trying to trick you into staying subscribed.</p>
<p>Spotify uses a tactic where it makes the link for “stay premium” a big obvious button and the “cancel my account” button a small link to the right. Since you’re unlikely to read the button and just click on it (because a good interface would make the action button the <em>right</em> thing), I clicked the big green button and assumed I had cancelled. </p>
<p>I didn’t actually realize I had been tricked into staying subscribed until after I came back five minutes later. Here’s the interface in question.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nukpui1a2eimsw.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nukpui1a2eimsw_small.png" alt="Bs97FyNCIAA5hD5.png"></a></p>
<p>This is horrible on many levels, because it’s clearly the company trying to trick those who already want to leave into paying them more money. It’s not about retaining them so much as tricking them into thinking they’re no longer paying. Horrible and desperate.</p>
<p>If you actually figure out what happened and click the correct button, you’re presented with a second screen that begs you to stay. This is customised based on what you click. </p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/yalgggqcsbiniq.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/yalgggqcsbiniq_small.png" alt="Bs995UICQAAh6wy.png"></a></p>
<p>I found the one for “it’s too expensive” quite funny but it tries a little too hard (they don’t want to see what happens if I don’t get caffeine for a day). To me, it just seems like they’re trying to guilt me into staying subscribed.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/no3pcff0y3wqea.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/no3pcff0y3wqea_small.png" alt="Bs97ZadCMAAqJcJ.png"></a></p>
<p>This page, again, attempts to trick you into staying subscribed by using the same button technique from earlier. </p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/mj0knewebecyia.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/mj0knewebecyia_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-07-21 at 9.23.59 am.png"></a></p>
<p>It’s not uncommon for websites to beg you to stay – Facebook does it too by showing you pictures of your friends – but I’m not sure it’s really necessary when I’ve already decided to stop giving them money (and have already been tricked once). I’m sure this page converts a small percentage of users into staying, but I’m not sure it’s worth it.</p>
<p>After you make it past this page, there’s a final confirmation to make sure you <em>really</em> want to cancel. This page actually has the buttons organized the opposite way around, just to confuse you even further. It also has a song embedded (Jackson 5 - I want you back) to try and guilt you further into staying.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/oftywielw10cpa.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/oftywielw10cpa_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014-07-21 at 9.24.19 am.png"></a></p>
<p>It’s funny how startups love good interface design, write about it and spend a lot of time talking about why they build great interfaces but when it comes down to money and losing users, are willing to build terrible interfaces that trick them into paying more.</p>
<p>This experience didn’t make me want to stay on Spotify – especially after I was tricked the first time – and made me quite bitter when I had to come back and cancel a second time. </p>
<p>If your startup respects your user’s intelligence enough, let them stop paying you in an easy manner. It’s fine to ask why, but don’t try to trick them using interface design that’s obviously misleading. That just means they won’t ever come back.</p>
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