The App Store is a hard business and getting harder. Unlike almost any other aspect of Apple's business, "premium" isn't stressed. Prices have raced to the bottom, discovery is a perpetual challenge, and casino games are thriving, not beautiful, magnificent, audacious new software ideas. What affect is that having on indie software developers? Screens VNC developer Luc Vandal writes:
I believe that we will see a consolidation of the market at some point. This reminds me of the early 1990s, where any kid with a few thousands of dollars could start his own snowboard company. Eventually, the market got saturated and many of those companies disappeared, got acquired or merged together in order to gather forces, improve their products and be more competitive. This is the normal process for any mature market.
Another trend we should see in the future is more collaboration and joint ventures amongst indie developers. By doing so, you get to work as a team, share the work load, bear the risks together and create better apps. I feel this approach would be very interesting because it would bring the best of both worlds: the freedom and perks of the indie life with the pleasure and experience of working with a team on projects you could not achieve on our own.
Of the two, this is the most interesting solution to me.
That's an incredibly optimistic, forward thinking take by Vandal, and one I also very much hope gets embraced.
Vandal wrote his piece after hearing the news that Kevin Hoctor was going to Apple to work on Mail and Notes (congrats again, Kevin!). Hoctor, the indie developer behind MoneyWell, is only the most recent of many indie developers doing exactly the same thing.
On one hand it's great all these super-talented developers are going to work on the OS, frameworks, and first-party apps we all depend on every day. On the other, it's sad that talent isn't able to better earn a living dreaming up the next great app on their own.
Again, in a perfect world, Apple, Google, and other platform vendors would compete on who had the best apps, the most high-quality and valuable apps, and the make sure the economy promoted ambition and fair pricing. Hopefully we'll get there, and going to big software houses will be a career choice, not an economic one.
Source: Luc Vandal, Kevin Hoctor

Gorgeous new Pride Apple Watch bands are now available at some Apple Stores
Apple's latest Pride Apple Watch bands are now available to buy in some Apple Stores, although whether you can walk into a store and pick one up yourself will very much depend on where you happen to be.

Rare Steve Jobs check for $9.18 goes under the hammer, could fetch $25k
A rare check signed by Steve Jobs dated July 23, 1976, has just gone up for auction and could be worth a lot more than it was originally written out for...

Apple store workers get surprise pay rise as union pressure grows
Apple plans to give U.S. workers a pay rise in the face of growing pressure from unions that are emerging in some retail locations.

Track your sleep to see your night habits and develop better resting tools
Getting proper sleep these days can be hard, but a good sleep tracker can potentially help fix the problem. Tracking your sleep can give you valuable data on how long and well you slept, as well as insight into how you can ultimately get better rest. Here are the best ones.