IMHO, the main difference would be in the "marketing points," in the sense that they'll attract different kind of people. While technically it's possible for castAR to do what Oculus does, Carmack and Elsworth names alone should show the type of early adopters for each products.
Without a doubt, castAR will close the kickstarter funding. So both of them are facing the chicken and egg problem, I believe castAR will have a huge problem here. To your "game changer" point, castAR is trying to reach a higher sky than Oculus.
I mean, I can see myself having a small space near my bed for Oculus and attaching it to the Steam Machine within a year or two. CastAR? Maybe 5 years ahead of its time? The current implementation of the magic wand worries me. From the video, the awkward looking Jenga-like game seems slow and not 1-to-1 interaction. Although it could be a "beta" thing, Oculus didn't have HD to begin with.
As gamer, I think HD Oculus would be a better purchase, and wait for castAR v2 or v3, I have serious doubt they'll reach mass market.
Feedback: the player panel, instead having tabs for Now Playing / Queue, why not move the tabs below the player buttons, and have Comments / Queue tabs.
> The whole crowdfunding space seems to operate pretty illogically.
It's logical to me. I won't be happy if I'm charged upfront, and the project is only half funded. There won't be any incentive to back a project early on, and there will be more unsuccessful projects.
It seems that Indiegogo now also has the "Kickstarter way" of backing as an option. And I'm seeing more and more projects use that.
Stopped using reader since Flipboard. But after the death of Reader, I find myself using Digg reader instead of Flipboard. I love that popularity dots.
So I guess I'm glad Google off'ed Reader, at least for me.
> It started with an internal meeting that focused on the expectations set and how we were going to now deliver. That’s when it happened. I blurted those horrible words out. “We need to under promise and over deliver.”
Dude, those are the words to live by. Not marketing spiel. By saying it to the client you did the exact opposite. You over promised.
Thank you, great list and kudos to those who produce the screencasts.
But man, screencasts will date fast. I learned a lot from [Node Tuts](http://nodetuts.com/), like how to use expressJS and MongoDB using Mongoose. Now all those contents are gone (well not technically, I saved them somewhere and it's still on Vimeo - but the tutorials are basically wrong). Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the tuts, I can pickup Mongoose today, and have no problem adapting.
For those new to the platform, there's nothing more frustrating than spending 30-60 minutes watching a few videos, then follow the instructions down to a T and failed.
I think part of iOS 7 task is to create buzz. And it's doing it successfully (with hundreds of votes and comments on this and Marco Arment's thread). The last few iOS iteration, for lack of a better word, has been boring.
At this point, iOS is walking on the similar path to Windows Phone 7. Looking back at WP7, it did generate a lot of buzz, it rallies a lot of MS fan out to become the product's evangelist.
Time will tell whether iOS 7 will sell. I bet it will.
Another vote for convenience. As others here, I've bought games I haven't played and I can't recall any digitally purchased games that I never played.
Even though in this particular case, I can log into humble bundle and see a list there. But, it's still easier to launch steam and see what's the best way to kill a couple hours before bed.
> So 40% of users assume they're going to get spammed
That is your assumption. Not your customers'. They probably just don't need another push notification if they also got the email confirmation that the item has been shipped. Or they just prefer to not be disturbed unless it's really important matters.
Update: just had a look at your app. I understand why people don't want push notifications from it. It's not the type of app that really needs attentions like chat, phone call, meetings, email, or tasks. I'll probably use it once. or a few more times if I'm happy with the tiles first time around.
> If users feel spammed, deleting the app is a few taps away.
Are you seriously prefer people delete your app after using it once rather than have it around in case they forgot you exist? "Which app you get that pictures from again? PhotoCeramic?"
> The thing is, a lot of apps can't work without push, or work a lot worse without push, and I think users aren't well equipped to decide in a few seconds.
Umm, No. For me, it's an easy choice. If it's productivity app, push please. If it's a game, nope. I couldn't care less if my friend need me to visit her farm in the middle of the day, while I might enjoy the game when I'm in the john.
I even wish the local notification follow the push notification rules.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, sir. Here's my all-time favorite quote from Ira Glass, to give perspective from the other side.
> "Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.
> A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."
First, don't they want indie game developers to jump to Windows phones and tablets? I'd presume Microsoft could (if not already) let developers to code once and publish everywhere that speaks Microsoft, no?
Second, Walking Dead game was crowned 2012 of the year by many publications, and my personal game of the year Journey, both are technically indie? Shouldn't that mattered?
Without a doubt, castAR will close the kickstarter funding. So both of them are facing the chicken and egg problem, I believe castAR will have a huge problem here. To your "game changer" point, castAR is trying to reach a higher sky than Oculus.
I mean, I can see myself having a small space near my bed for Oculus and attaching it to the Steam Machine within a year or two. CastAR? Maybe 5 years ahead of its time? The current implementation of the magic wand worries me. From the video, the awkward looking Jenga-like game seems slow and not 1-to-1 interaction. Although it could be a "beta" thing, Oculus didn't have HD to begin with.
As gamer, I think HD Oculus would be a better purchase, and wait for castAR v2 or v3, I have serious doubt they'll reach mass market.