MacGraPhoto 2 represents the trend that’s become popular during the last few years of offering bulk discounts for Mac software, a model embraced by the popular MacHeist bundle, among others. Like last year, the MacGraPhoto bundle will cost buyers $39.99. That’ll get you $444 worth of software.

Here’s a list and brief description of what’s included:

• AtomicView. This is, basically, an iPhoto or Aperture alternative that lets you organize, browse and convert photos, video and sound. It actively uses your Mac’s GPU to provide advanced multi-threaded task management and quick-scrolling. Looks like a very handy tool for the amateur multimedia enthusiast, or even the budding professional.
• Sandvox. It’s a website builder that offers templates, live previews, and is tailored to both beginners and professionals. It’s an iWeb alternative that’s a little more flexible, without the learning curve that comes with Dreamweaver.
• Snapshot. This app lets you prepare your digital images for printing. It supports cropping and framing, multiple layouts and even some fun features like borders and speech bubbles. It’s perfect for those who don’t want to get into something like Photoshop, but do want to make sure photos look good before printing.
• Sketch. This is a vector drawing app that keeps things very simple, and focused on your drawing. The canvas is continuous and supports unlimited layers, so that you can just get down to work.
• ImageFramer. This app is dedicated entirely to putting frames on your photos, and also allows you to do things like add watermarks and batch frame entire sets of photo files. It could be handy if you’re creating a gallery website to show off your painting, for instance.
• Layers. Take a screencap of your desktop as a layered .PSD file with Layers. That means things like palettes, toolboxes, icons, and the dock are each captured on separate layers. This is a great tool is do a lot of work with screenshots.
• Hydra. This app allows you to create HDR photos from multiple image files. You don’t need to use a tripod with Hydra, as is often the case with HDR photo apps. It also comes with a plug-in for Aperture and Lightroom, so you can create HDR photos right in those applications.
• Posterino. This is a poster, collage, postcard and greeting card creation app for the Mac. Just pick a template, choose an iPhoto album or specific photos, and you’re on your way.
• Swift Publisher. A desktop publishing app that lets you layout, design and print flyers, booklets, brochures and more, Swift Publisher comes with many bundled templates, and a variety of editing tools. One reviewer described it as what “Apple’s Pages should have been.”

The bundle also comes with a bonus app called DVD-Library that lets you catalog manage, and even backup your DVDs on your Mac. My DVD collection is virtually non-existent these days, but for those with lots of physical media still taking up shelf space, this app could help.

All apps included in the bundle are Apple Staff Picks and have been rated four stars or higher by sites like MacUpdate and Macworld. MacGraPhoto 2 is available for another 19 days, and there are trial versions available for many of the included apps, so you can take your time making a decision. For my money, though, Layers alone is worth the price of admission.

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If you’re looking for a gift to buy yourself this holiday season (or someone else, I suppose, though I never find that people much like software gifts), the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle has just arrived and is well worth considering. Like MacHeist and many other software bundles, MacUpdate’s offers a heaping helping of software at a bargain basement price.

The bundle includes 11 quality Mac apps, including both utilities and games, and if you’re lucky enough to be one of the first 10,000 buyers, you also get three additional pieces of software at no extra charge (around 1,200 had been sold at the time of this writing). Best of all, if you’re unsure about any of the apps included, you can download a preview package that includes trial versions of each.

The total cost of the Holiday Bundle is $49.99, which is a nearly 90 percent discount from the cumulative regular price of $446.77. Even if two of the apps on offer are part of your prospective to-buy list, there’s no better time to snatch them up. Here’s a quick look at what’s included in the deal:

• Path Finder – Finder replacement. Looks like Finder, but features numerous enhancements, including a dual pane file browser, tabbed browsing, easy Mac package navigation, disk image creation and OS X command line access.
• Socialite – Used to be EventBox. It’s an aggregator for your social networks and news sources, including Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and RSS. Learn more in our recent article about the program.
• Yep – PDF and document management app. It’s described by the developers as an iPhoto or iTunes for your iWork, Office and PDF files. You can navigate your file structure to find them and move them, and also preview them within the app.
• Radio Gaga – Nothing to do with the Lady of the same name. It’s an internet radio player and recorder. You can add your own stations or use the built-in directory of more than 10,000.
• Garage Sale – eBay auction creator and client. You can build your auction using templates and a WYSIWYG editor, broadcast them using Twitter, and also keep an eye on auctions you’re bidding on. PayPal support is also built-in.
• DragThing – An OS X launcher. It’s a dock, but more versatile than the one that ships with OS X, and you can have more than one using DragThing. Billed as a way to keep your desktop clean, so that you can have your files available without wasting all that space and memory.
• Speed Download – Download manager and accelerator. I’ve never used one of these, but this one does have the advantage of doubling as a full-featured FTP client, which is good enough for me.
• HealthNut – Calorie tracker and food diary. Just in time for helping exacerbate the guilt of stuffing your face over the holidays, and helping you stay on track with your consequent New Year’s resolution to lose weight.
• PCalc – Scientific calculator application. Features support for hex, octal and binary calculations and unit conversions, and is completely scriptable. Also includes a companion dashboard widget.
• Machinarium – The much-loved Mac puzzle/adventure game. You’re a robot who has to travel through a world of robots to find your robot lover. On the way, you’ll run into countless puzzles and brain teasers.
• iRip – A utility for getting music from your iPod onto your Mac. This is the one that made headlines a little while ago when it had to change its name to iRip because Apple took issue with its original name, “iPodRip.”

That’s the basic bundle, but as mentioned, you also get three other apps if you buy it soon. Those three are PowerTunes (manage multiple iTunes libraries), Holiday DVD Templates (self-explanatory) and FlagIt! (flag add-on for Apple Mail). The MacUpdate Holiday Bundle is only available for around 12 more days, so if you’re going to bite, you’ve got less than two weeks to do it.

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The seven apps are all new to me, but they seem to have garnered favorable reviews and even some official accolades from Apple itself. They also cover quite a range, meaning that no two really duplicate the functions or features of the others. Here’s a brief rundown of the apps you get in the bundle.

• GraphicConverter – Does what it says. You can open basically any image file, and then save it as another. You can also do some light editing, organize your photos, run a slide show, and automate your image processing to make working with large batches of files easier.
• Picturesque – Provides a lot of easy, 1-click or simplified image enhancement abilities. Great for those who don’t have the patience or time to learn more advanced programs like Photoshop, or who want really quick turnaround times for time sensitive activities like blogging.
• ImageFramer – Add frames to your pictures. A little weird, in my opinion, but if you’re looking for something different for your photos, this could be it.
• Funtastic Photos – Photo correction and enhancement which automatically preserves your original. Also packs a number of sharing features, and a rich print layout system.
• Graphic Designer Toolbox – Combine building blocks to create crazy new graphic effects and images. You use the unique interface to marry various elements together in a non-destructive process that is both deceptively simple and incredibly deep. Weird but cool.
• DrawIt – A vector image editor and drawing app. Tons of shapes are included in the default set, and there’s support for user-created ones, too. A nice little app that will have you creating Mac-friendly icons and more with relative ease.
• HoudahGeo – Add geolocation data to your photos. HoudahGeo lets you specify information like latitude, longitude, altitude and viewing angle in an image file’s EXIF, XMP or IPTC tags.

All of the apps included in MacGraPhoto have apparently been Apple Staff Picks except for Graphic Designer Toolbox, which won a Think Different award for graphic image editors. At the very least, you’ll probably shave a few steps off of your current process for doing light image editing by picking up the bundle. Plus, if you tell three people about the deal and they buy the pack as a result, the price of your purchase is refunded and you get it free. The bundle pricing expires in a little over five days.

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A storm sprang up this week around reports that, due to disagreements between Apple and Sony BMG, the upcoming Michael Jackson album “This Is It” — a tie-in to the movie of the same name and bound to be a sales success — would not be available on iTunes, the world’s biggest digital music provider.

When Michael Jackson tragically died in late June, sales of his music on iTunes sky-rocketed. A day after he died, eight of the 10 top-selling albums were from Michael Jackson. Eight of the 10 top-selling music videos, too. Five of the 10 top-selling singles were also from Jackson. It was a trend that would continue for weeks. With interest in (and thirst for) Michael Jackson music and video at an all-time high, online music vendors have a vested interest in the new album.

So it came as something of a surprise when, two days ago, news broke that iTunes was to be denied the chance to sell the upcoming album. Paul Reskinoff reported that, according to confidential information leaked to Digital Music News, Sony BMG and the Jackson Estate were insisting downloads could only occur within the constraints of a bundled, full album. So, if a customer wanted just one song from “This Is It,” they’d be forced to buy and download the entire album to get it. Apple’s policy, on the other hand, is well established in these matters; it insists on making individual tracks available for purchase and download. Hence the current standoff.

In his MediaMemo column on All Things Digital, Peter Kafka writes:

…the story is a familiar one, because it’s a longstanding dispute between Apple (AAPL) and the music business. The industry, for both financial and artistic reasons, has tried to keep music bundled together, while Apple insists on selling it a la carte.

Apple usually wins these disputes: Even the stubborn iconoclasts in Radiohead eventually bowed to Steve Jobs’s will and turned their precious albums into individual songs.

Lois Najarian, Sony’s Senior Vice President of Publicity yesterday told Wired.com:

I’m happy to report that… Michael Jackson’s This Is It album will indeed be for sale on iTunes Oct. 27. I don’t have much more information to impart other than that right now, but suffice [it] to say fans will be able to purchase it there.

It was always unlikely Apple would have been blocked from selling the new album — the contract Apple has with Sony BMG to distribute its catalogue of music would see to that. So the question now is not if the album will be sold on iTunes, but how? Najarian doesn’t say, adding only that Apple and Sony BMG are “working on that now.”

Will Sony acquiesce to Apple’s rules, or, controversially, could we see Apple agree to the album-bundling method? It’s not impossible, given how well this release is expected to sell; Apple might be prepared to make an exception to its own (usually immutable) rules in favor of meeting the guaranteed demand of its iTunes customers. Plus, I’m sure the sales revenue it generates will not be unwelcome, either.

Whether temporarily or otherwise, if Apple does indeed make an exception and bow to Sony’s wishes, it’s a decision sure to cause frustration and anger amongst iTunes customers. And you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be hearing from some pretty miffed artists unhappy they weren’t afforded the same special treatment as the late, great, King of Pop.

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Today, MacHeist announced the contents of their latest application bundle, providing the opportunity to purchase software to the value of $558 for the bargain price of $39. A huge range of applications are included, ranging from eBay companions to professional 3-D animation tools.

Over the past few months, various ‘missions’ have given regular readers the chance to gain additional discounts on the bundle and gather free licenses for various applications. The final bundle will be on sale for two weeks, with 25 percent of all money paid being donated to a charity of your choice. This analysis will take a brief look at each application on offer to see just how far your $39 can go.

iSale (SRP $39.95)

iSale is a fully fledged desktop application for eBay, allowing you to create really good looking auctions with ease. Interesting features include the ability to easily integrate video descriptions into your auction, and a companion iPhone app. iSale’s main competitor is GarageSale.

Picturesque (SRP $34.95)

Pitched as “Making Images Gorgeous,” Picturesque is a simple image editing tool which allows you to quickly and easily add interesting effects to your photographs and graphics. It isn’t a great image editor as such, but more of an enhancement tool for adding reflections, 3D effects, curves, shadows, borders etc. It isn’t an app I’d pay $35 for, but is good to have included.

SousChef (SRP $30.00)

As someone who loves cooking, I’m very interested to give SousChef a try. I’m not generally a fan of desktop software for managing recipes (searching the Internet generally works fine), but the fact that SousChef collates every users recipe into a searchable ‘cloud’ does offer an interesting angle. It also has a great large text mode for viewing your recipe across the kitchen.

World of Goo (SRP $20.00)

World of Goo is a physics based puzzle/construction game with, as the name would suggest, copious amounts of goo. Its unusual, cartoon style graphics coupled with a reasonably realistic physics engine make for a reasonably odd experience. If you’re not really into puzzle games, I expect it will only provide a few hours of entertainment, though it’s received some very good reviews.

PhoneView (SRP $19.95)

I’ve been trying various applications similar to PhoneView for some time, a tool which allows you to access and manage iPhone data from your Mac. In particular, I like to maintain a backup of all my SMS messages for safe keeping. While I do generally trust iTunes, PhoneView looks like a great application for keeping your own additional iPhone backup.

LittleSnapper (SRP $39.00)

LittleSnapper is a brilliant application for storing and editing screenshots or web page ‘snaps’. The interface is delightful, it integrates with all major web browsers, and vector based editing tools allow you to annotate your images in a really impressive fashion. If you need an app for keeping track of inspirational websites, graphics and screenshots, the inclusion of LittleSnapper alone justifies the $39 price tag.

Acorn (SRP $49.95)

Acorn isn’t an application I’ve come across previously, but again falls into the category of an “image editor for the rest of us.” It strips away all the Photoshop bloat and provides a simple way for a regular Mac user to edit photographs or create simple graphics.

Kinemac (SRP $299.00)

Dubbed a “3D real time animation & presentation app,” Kinemac allows you to create impressive 3-D animations without requiring vast amounts of knowledge. It’s a reasonably technical tool, and while undoubtedly impressive, probably won’t really appeal to the average Mac user. The high price tag does bump up the value of the MacHeist bundle, which is undoubtedly one reason for its inclusion.

WireTap Studio (SRP $69.00)

WireTap allows you to record any audio which is being played by your Mac. Similar to Audio Hijack Pro, it provides a simple way to record audio in a lossless format, organize and store clips, and export to a variety of formats. Very useful for recording podcasts, iTunes audio, or Skype conversations.

This app is only ‘unlocked’ when $100,000 is raised for charity (likely to only take a couple of days).

BoinxTV (SRP $199.00)

We’ve covered BoinxTV in an in-depth review previously, so I’d recommend reading Matthew’s comments from a few months ago. Essentially it is a simple way to create and edit great looking video presentations, save them to disk, and broadcast them in real-time if desired.

This app is only ‘unlocked’ at a certain point, which is yet to be announced.

The Hit List (SRP $69.95)

The Hit List is a direct competitor to Things, providing a simple tool for organizing lists and “Getting Things Done.” It combines a simple interface with a powerful feature set, genuinely helping you to stay on top of your tasks. It’s definitely worth trying out.

This app is only ‘unlocked’ at a certain point, which is yet to be announced.

Espresso (SRP $80.00)

Espresso was only released from beta a couple of days ago, and offers an impressive text/code editor, integrated FTP, CSS editing tools, powerful preview functionality, and plugin support. It’s a fantastic competitor to Coda for web developers, and is another gem in this bundle of apps.

This app is only ‘unlocked’ at a certain point, which is yet to be announced.

Big Bang Board Games (SRP $24.95)

The seemingly obligatory board game app for MacHeist, Big Bang Board Games offers an impressive 3-D interface for playing Checkers, Chess, Reversi, Backgammon and more. Online multiplayer support is also built in, and it’s a fun app to open when you need to kill a few minutes — a huge step forward from Minesweeper!

This app is only available for the first 25,000 buyers.

Conclusion

As ever, this year’s MacHeist bundle packs a decent punch across a wide range of software genres. There will be an app (or two!) for you whether you’re looking for games, web development, image editing, or audio/video tools.

The price of $39 is an absolute steal for such a powerful collection of applications, and I’d definitely urge you to consider it a good investment for your software needs over the coming year!

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For the first time in the App Store (at least as far as games are concerned) competing developers are joining forces to release their wares as one in the 5 Fingers Bundle ($5 in the App Store). Similar in concept to MacUpdate, these five developers are offering their great games as one, for almost a 60 percent savings.

As many of us have experienced before, bundles usually have a shining star or two while the rest just ride the coattails. So what do you get with the 5 Fingers Bundle?

• Chopper – Was a No. 1 game for a while.
• BurnBall – I’ve become addicted to playing this game.
• Up There – A beautifully designed game, featured by Apple.
• Blackbeard’s Assault – A classic Zuma-style game with incredible graphics.
• Sneezies – A bubble-popping game which seems to have a great following.

Tim Haines — developer of BurnBall — shared the following:

In an increasingly competitive market, five different development teams have taken a break from fighting for a spot in the App Store Top 100 to create something wonderful. Independently connected through a shared admiration and enthusiasm for each other’s work, they have joined forces and worked together to deliver a bundle brimming with quality.

Since the bundle consists of five games from five different developers, I was curious how updates would be addressed. According to Haines, bug fixes will be nearly immediate. App updates to the individual games will be handled in the Bundle on something close to a monthly basis.

Of course the $4.99 price tag may not represent a deal for you if you own 3 or more of the games already. But if you’ve found yourself bumping up against the 148 app limit, this is a good way to squeeze some additional apps onto your iPhone or iPod touch.

I wonder how this model will affect sales of the individual apps. It’s win-win for consumers, who will not only get 5 great apps for a bargain price, but who may also find developers with other apps they didn’t previously know about. With such a generous pricing model and update strategy, I hope it works out as well for the developers.

I love the concept, and think many others will too. Will we see more competing developers ‘shacking up’ together for similar bundles in the future? I think it’s a great way to play off each others’ customer base, but I guess only time will tell. For now we’ll chalk it up as yet another interesting experiment in the youthful Wild West that is the App Store.

A similar promotion has launched this week, with a few notable differences. Give Good Food to Your Mac (organized by Aquafadas) offers a huge range of different applications, with discounts increasing progressively depending upon the number of applications you purchase.

Claudia Zimmer, Aquafadas’ CEO explains:

We are pleased to introduce the Third Edition of ‘Give Good Food to your Mac’. It’s a chance for us to build a community among developers and together, create opportunities that would not be possible alone. Mac users benefit from it as they can discover our software at great prices.

The Discounts Available

While the promotion doesn’t feature the world’s catchiest name, it does give some great discounts. Buying 3 apps saves you 20%, 4 apps saves 30%, and 5 or more knocks a whopping 50% off the normal retail price. As you add applications to your cart, it’s simple to see how much you stand to save, along with how many more applications you need to reach the next level.

Applications Featured

Rather than the MacHeist route of featuring only a few, large applications, Give Good Food to Your Mac includes a fairly formidable list of developers and apps. Everything from games and fitness apps, through to organization tools and web design software. Several applications which have been featured in bundles previously (such as DEVONthink and Rapidweaver) are present and, while there is some junk in there, the list is fairly impressive:

• AlienConverter from AlienCrypt
• Amigos Number Puzzles from Amigos Software
• Amigos Spanish from Amigos Software
• BannerZest from Aquafadas
• BannerZest Pro from Aquafadas
• Bee Docs’ Timeline 3D edition 2.2 from BeeDocs
• BeFit – Get Fit, Stay Fit, BeFit! from Jon Brown Designs
• Blue Crab from Limit Point Software
• Cheetah 3D from MW 3D-Solutions
• Comic Boom from Toon Boom Animation Inc.
• DejalNarrator 2.0.3 from Dejal
• DEVONagent from DEVONtechnologies, LLC
• DEVONthink Personal from DEVONtechnologies, LLC
• DiscLabel from SmileOnMyMac
• dJay 2.1.3 from Algoriddim GmbH
• Dossier from Vortimac
• Dragoman from Dare to be Creative Ltd.
• FastCut 3.0.6 from TimesForFun
• Flip Boom Classic from Toon Boom Animations Inc.
• Fluffy’s Log 1.1.1 from Shallot Patch
• French Verb Game from Amigos Software
• FunBooth 0.9.3 from SourceBits
• Geoaze Pro from SilverLint Creative Software
• Geoaze Standard from SilverLint Creative Software
• GhostReader English Version from ConvenienceWare
• GhostReader French version from ConvenienceWare
• HoudahGeo from Houdah Software
• HoudahSpot from Houdah Software
• Hydra 1.6 + Aperture plug-in from Creaceed
• iArchiver from Dare to be Creative Ltd.
• iDive from Aquafadas
• iKanji 1.0 from ThinkMac Software
• JABMenu 2.0.1 from JNSoftware
• Kameleon From Option-6 Products
• Librarian Pro from Koingo Software
• MacCleanse from Koingo Software
• MacPilot 3 from Koingo Software
• Mail Attachments iConizer from Lokiware
• Mental Case from MacCoreMac Software
• Money 3 from Jumsoft
• Nutritionist from Dr. Frank Kowalewski
• PearNote 1.0 from UsefulFruit Software
• PulpMotion from Aquafadas
• Pulpmotion Advanced from Aquafadas
• RapidWeaver 4 from Realmac Software
• Relationship from Jumsoft
• Renamer4Mac from Dare to be Creative Ltd.
• ResizeMe 1.2.0 from Dare to be Creative Ltd.
• RubiTrack from Toolsfactory software inc.
• Scorecard 1.4.1 from CynicalPeak Software
• ScreenAudit 1.3 from ArtenScience
• Scribbles from Atebits
• Secret of the Lost Cavern From Coladia
• Share Tool from Yazsoft
• ShoveBox from Wonder Warp Software SP
• Speed Download 5 from Yazsoft
• SplitFuse 1.3 from LikelySoft
• SWF&FLV Player from Eltima Software
• Syncmate from Eltima Software
• Tangerine! from Potion Factory
• Today 1. 3 from Second Gear LLC
• Together from Reinvented Software
• Toon Boom Studio From Toon Boom Animation Inc.
• VideoPier HD from Aquafadas
• Voice Candy from Potion Factory
• VoltaicHD from Systemic pty Ltd. Trading as Shedworx
• You Control: Desktops 1.3 from You Software
• Yummy Soup from HungrySeacow Software

The “kitchen” will remain open between the 17th of November and the 1st of December 2008. It’s worth taking a look at the above list — if any more than 3 applications stand out, you’ll be in for a great discount.

Enjoy the Christmas meal!

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It’s likely you’ve heard mention of the Axiotron Modbook, the third party (and only) Apple tablet computing solution, but I like talking about it anyway. Axiotron, a small company operating out of El Segundo, California, won high acclaim for their Modbook, taking best in show at 2007′s Macworld convention.

The Modbook is a converted Macbook, equipped with a Wacom-penabled touchscreen display. It’s a drool-worthy piece of tech, especially for graphic designers who do a lot of field work. And now you can drool even more, because the Modbook now comes complete with Sketchbook Express 2009, an exclusive version of Autodesk’s graphics software.

If you work with Wacom tablets in any kind of graphic design/illustration capacity, then you’ve probably also heard of Sketchbook Pro, formerly of Alias, until it was acquired by Autodesk. Sketchbook Pro 2009 was released earlier this year, finally bringing Intel compatibility to the versatile graphics editing software. I’d previously been a huge fan of Sketchbook Pro, but switched to Corel Painter when the program wouldn’t work on my black MacBook. Getting Sketchbook Pro 2009 was like hooking up with an old friend after a lengthy absence. The Express edition that bundles with the Modbook features much of the functionality of the full version, but users are limited to three layers, whereas the full version supports unlimited stacking.

Currently, Axiotron only offers their service for pre-aluminum MacBooks (no MacBook Pros, either), but they’ve recently committed to supporting new models in the new year. You can get a Modbook either by ordering one directly from Axiotron, or by buying Modservice, which uses your existing MacBook for the conversion. Existing Modbook owners can pick up SketchBook Express free by clicking the download link on the application overview page.

Modbooks start at $2,199, while Modservice using your existing notebook starts at $1,299. Not a bad idea if you have oodles of cash lying around and you’ve just upgraded to a new MacBook and haven’t found a use for your last gen model.

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A subsidized laptop offering from Apple would help alleviate complaints arising from the October 14 event that pricing on their new notebooks remained too high. Thompson also thinks that Apple is keen to avoid a netbook, as it might cannibalize MacBook sales, so discounting an existing product through a third-party allows them to essentially have their cake and eat it too.

The model to be discounted is thought to be the $999 entry-level white MacBook, a likely choice because it would require a much smaller subsidy than any of the new aluminum models. Many other computer manufacturers, like Dell and Asus, currently offer netbook/subscription packages with wireless carriers like the one proposed between Apple and O2, though such bundles have failed to attract much interest in North America.

O2 is already the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.K., making it the natural choice for a laptop subsidy partnership. Vodafone and Orange currently offer netbooks bundled with mobile broadband subscriptions in the U.K. Vodafone has both £25 and a £30 per month plans, offering 1GB and 3GB of data transfer, each of which includes an Inspiron Mini, free of charge. Orange offers 3GB at £25 per month, and throws in an Eee PC 900 (WinXP, 16GB SSD) for no further cost. Both providers require a two year minimum subscription to get the free hardware. If Apple does go ahead and offer a similar deal in partnership with O2, expect similar monthly pricing and bandwidth limits, and not free, but deeply discounted hardware.

Would you sign a contract to pick up an Apple notebook for a low initial cost? Or are mobile broadband bundles just another example of the cheap razor/expensive blades school of marketing misdirection?

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