"Real messaging" aside, this is an interesting question. It'd be great to hear from iain_hecker if they considered using RabbitMQ (or similar) and if yes, why SQS/SNS were chosen.

Also, I'd be interested to read more about how you handle authentication across web/mobile. Thank you for the blog post and for taking the time to answer questions here. :-)

We have considered stuff like RabbitMQ. They would be excellent solutions too and we are working on a part of our architecture with MQTT/protobuf (more on that later, I'm sure). We went with SNS/SQS because we don't have to build a cluster with that. Building clusters is hard and Amazon takes care of that. Since we were already using a bunch of AWS products, this was a nice fit and we're quite happy with it.

Authentication is a good idea for an article too. Thanks :)

If it isn't the Thoughtbot one, could you please provide a link to your book?

The thoughbot book is available here: https://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails. Great stuff going on there -- heartily recommend it.

We wrote our book from the start to be complimentary to the thoughtbot book. They are creating a great introduction through intermediate content and lots of info on rails integration.

My recommendation: buy both, read theirs, then ours :-)

thanks @jayunit

xoxo ngauthier

Saving time doesn't necessarily mean laziness, especially if one has to meet tight deadlines (which may or may not be the case here).

I don't understand why the grand parent is being down-voted, he just offered an different view.

I suspect it's because Apple are generally seen as sticklers for perfection when it comes to presentation and people think it's unlike that they've cut corners on something like this for a new product launch.

I recommend the videos at http://ideveloper.tv. They are high quality and the conversational style really helps.

The conclusion of the article is that by pricing relatively low, Apple makes "the attractive new market for tablets a lot less attractive for companies planning to sell less than 10 million tablets this year."

While the claim that the new iPad is cheaper than its predecessor aims to highlight Apple's pricing strategy, it is not a premise. Even if the iPad 2 was more expensive than the original iPad, it could still be cheap in relation to competitive offerings. It could be sold at a price allowing only for small profit margins without economies of scale. His premise is that it is.

No. The article states that Apple has priced their tablet $100 cheaper than the first iPad; it surmises due to high competition in the marketplace, Apple have adjusted their pricing structure to gain a competitive advantage.

This is a premise and it's also incorrect.

The iPad is being sold at the same price as the previous offering. They haven't adjusted their pricing strategy.

At http://www.dashboardtosuccess.com/take-a-tour.html the smaller photo has a visible iStockPhoto watermark. You probably forgot to replace it with the right one I suppose.

I agree with ookblah above. Also, letting people donate with PayPal would decrease the friction of making one. Best of luck!

It would take out the element of scarcity.

Even if the train doesn't fill up, you still need to pay for your ticket to compensate for the fixed costs.