As pointed out byMacStories, Apple recently removed trials for the iWork suite and Aperture 3 from Apple.com. The webpage formerly home to the iWork trial now includes a message informing users that iWork apps, such as Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, are available through the Mac App Store.Apple removed the trial for a short while last year before returning it; however, the company also informed users last month that the iWork.com Beta service would shut down July 31. Apple does not currently offer trial versions of the $20 Mac Store apps.
Thanks to your amazing support, we feel confident that Apple might revise its position on the Push API. We’ll submit a first version of Sparrow 1.2 including it. This might delay Sparrow 1.2 validation but we’re already working with some partners to include Push in future versions of Sparrow without needing Apple clearance.
Push is coming. With or without Apple.
The team also said version 1.2 will include localization in nine languages, landscape mode when composing, and swipe up and down gestures to move between messages.
A screenshot gallery and version 1.1 updates are below.
Developer ZeptoLab UK Limited released a Mac App Store version of its physics puzzler Cut the Rope originally released by publisher Chillingo on iOS in October 2010. According toChillingo, the iOS game reached over 1 million downloads in just nine days and the franchise has now hit over 100 million downloads. The Mac App Store version is the first full desktop release of the game and it was optimized for landscape orientation with “crisp images on monitors up to 2560×1440 resolution.”
ZeptoLab also redesigned some of the game’s original levels for a smooth experience with mice and trackpads. Scoreloop is supported currently when it comes to online leaderboards, but the press release said there would be support for Game Center on OS X when it launches. The game is available on the Mac App Store now as a 133MB download and features 250 levels and 10 level boxes for $4.99 (requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher). The full press release is after the break (via Reuters):
Jumsoft has just released Book Palette 1.0on the Mac App Store– a collection of templates and themes for Apple’s recently released iBooks Author platform. The first release of many to come includes 10 templates from business to cookbooks that all include customizable layouts, covers, chapter pages, tables of contents, glossary pages, and everything included in the iBooks author app. It looks like Apple isn’t going to have an issue with developers selling additional add-on content for iBooks Author through the Mac App Store.
Although Jumsoft has designed the templates to be ready to go with the default designs and layouts, they explained just how customizable they are: Expand Expanding Close
Snapseed for iOS is among the indispensable image editing apps for avid photographers on the go. With a vast selection of professional-grade filters and cool effects, its attractive user interface and editing tools such as Grunge, Vintage and Drama, no wonder Apple named Snapseed the iPad App of the Year 2011 in its annual iTunes Rewind 2011 selection.
The Mac version brings all these features and more on your desktop, featuring tools such as Auto Correct and Selective Adjust for precise editing. You can quickly touch up photographs in low-light conditions and adjust the white balance, saturation and contrast, add various image borders, crop, straighten and rotate your images, apply a bunch of filters and special effects and share your work on Facebook and Flickr.
If you enjoyed FX Photo Studio Pro for Mac (review), this one is a must-have. Snapseed is a $20 download from the Mac App Store. The program supports both Mac OS 10.6.8 and 10.7.2. Nik Software, the company behind Snapseed, also announced it will “soon” port the program to Tegra-powered Android tablets running Ice Cream Sandwich. Surprisingly enough, Nik Software plans to price Snapseed for Android at just $5. The full press release notes are available after the break:
Apple subsidiary FileMaker Inc., just announced they shipped over 1 million units of Bento, their personal database tool currently available for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Originally released in 2008, Bento is now available in seven languages with dedicated clients for iPhone and iPad ($4.99) that sync with Bento for Mac currently available on the Mac App Store for $49.99.
Vice President of Marketing and Services for FileMaker, Inc., Ryan Rosenberg said the following in a statement:
“Bento’s elegance has led to sales of more than a million units, meeting the needs of customers ranging from ranchers and mobile dentists to personal trainers and rock bands. With Bento on your iPad, iPhone, or Mac it’s easy to organize your contacts, track projects, plan events and manage just about anything.”
The full press release is available after the break.
It would seem that the Mac App Store, a central -but not exclusive- online repository for Mac software, has renewed the interest amongst game developers for the Mac platform. Perhaps it is the hype, maybe it is due to Apple’s marketing, or the iCloud allure, or lower app prices, or the sheer size and convenience of an Apple-branded distribution channel. Nevertheless, evidently, more triple-As have become available on the Mac these days – good news for gaming aficionados.
Firemint, the developer that previously ported its popular Flight Control onto the Mac, is bringing another smash iOS hit, Real Racing 2, to the Mac desktop. Available for $12.99 (non-U.S. users, follow this link), the 711MB download lets you enjoy high-definition racing powered by Firemint’s proprietary Mint3D engine.
You can also use your iPhone or iPad as a steering wheel. Firemint highlighted noteworthy features, such as the 16-car grid, Quick Race and Career modes, and 15 racing tracks. It also has a decent selection of 30 officially licensed cars, including the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35), 2012 McLaren MP4-12C and more.
In addition, Firemint recently updated the iPad version with native 1080p video output via AirPlay. It is discounted for a limited time from $10 to just 99 cents. More Mac gaming news is featured after the break.
Apple just issued a press release announcing that its App Store mobile bazaar now carries over half a million apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Additionally, customers have downloaded apps from the Mac App Store over a hundred million times. The App Store has passed over eighteen billion downloads since its inception and continues to clock more than a billion downloads a month.
An Apple spokesperson confirmed to The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple that Mac App Store downloads don’t include Lion, updates or downloads to other Macs. Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the October 4 iPhone 4S introduction that they were approaching 60 million Mac users worldwide and that Mac OS X Lion had been download from the Mac App Store over six million times. The press release quotes Apple’s head of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller:
In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry. With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.
The statement also features quotes from Autodesk and Pixelmator, developers who saw tremendous success with their iOS and Mac offerings. AutoCAD in late-August 2011 made its Mac App Store debut, along with companion iOS apps on the App Store such as the free AutoCAD WS app for iPad and iPhone or sketchbook for iPhone, a pro-grade paint and drawing app that recently raked in fourteen million dollars, or about $9.8 million after Apple’s customary thirty percent cut.
Pixelmator, a popular image editing program, was recently updated to version 2.0. This nifty Photoshop alternative is being exclusively distributed on the Mac App Store and in no time proved one of the most popular downloads on the store. The success has prompted Apple to name Pixelmator the Mac App of the Year in the iTunes Rewind 2011 charts released last week.
Update: Apple has now released Logic Pro 9 ($199) and MainStage 2 ($29) in the Mac App Store. Weighing in at 413 MB, Logic Pro 9 requires 3.6GB of disk space and still comes with all the built-in plug-ins and sounds. However, for commenters pointing out the many GBs of additional content bundled with the soon to be discontinued $499 Logic Studio, Apple is making 19GB of additional content available via in-app downloads. Otherwise the app, at first glance, appears to be largely unchanged.
To accompany the release the of the new Mac App Store versions, Logic Pro was also updated to version 9.1.6 today. Apple also updated Aperture in the Mac App Store to version 3.2.2., which mainly fixes an issue with “auto-imported Photo Stream images”.
Apple has officially informed retailers they’ll be moving distribution of their Logic Pro and Logic Express digital audio workstations to a download-only, Mac App Store model (via MacRumors):
Apple today issued a notice to resellers announcing that it has discontinued the boxed versions of its Logic Studio and Logic Express audio software packages effectively immediately, also announcing that the Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 components will be moving to the Mac App Store for distribution.
The report notes Apple said “new” versions of Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 (components of Logic Pro) would be coming to the Mac App Store, although it’s unclear what that means for Logic Express (essentially a light version of Logic Pro 9), and Soundtrack Pro. The packaged version of Logic Studio currently sells for $499.
In June Apple released a completely redesigned, and some would argue scaled back, version of their Final Cut Pro video editing suite called Final Cut Pro X. That update was also released as a download through the Mac App Store, but wasn’t well received, and some fear that the Logic apps are headed in the same direction. Apple just recently launched a universal iOS version of GarageBand, their consumer/amateur version of Logic Pro that ships with iLife. No word on a potential Logic Studio iOS app.
We already know about all of the excellent Black Friday deals popping up in our live price guide— like an 11” MacBook Air for $849.99, and this 13″ 2.4GHz MacBook Pro for $1050. In addition to all of the great hardware on sale, almost all of the biggest iOS app publishers are running Thanksgiving and Black Friday promotions too. There’s also some great Mac App Store apps on sale. We’ve compiled the best of the best… Expand Expanding Close
Apple has just begun seeding OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D16) to developers this afternoon. The set focus areas for this release are iCloud document storage, Address Book, iCal, and Mail. 10.7.3 weighs in at 633MB, and has no known issues right now. OS X Server 10.7.3 is also accompanying today’s update, with the same focus areas and build number.
Nuance just dropped a new Dragon dictation product in the Mac App Store called Dragon Express ($49 introductory price), a scaled-back, less expensive version of their Dragon Dictate software. This new version will reside in Lion’s menubar, allowing you to activate the dictate window with a keyboard shortcut or mouse click, and begin converting your speech to text immediately. From there you’ll be able to quickly email it, run a web search with the text, copy it, or share to the usual social networking suspects.
“Dragon Express is a great app for those who are new to speech recognition or who are looking for an easy-to-use dictation tool that allows them to use their voice instead of typing,” said Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager, Dragon, Nuance. “For those looking for a more full-featured speech recognition program, we recommend Dragon Dictate, which provides the full capabilities of advanced speech recognition technology.”
Nuance speech recognition technology is currently baked into Apple’s Siri voice-controlled assistant, although Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky told 9to5Mac in a recent interview it could likely be replaced if “better speech recognition comes along”. If you’re wondering how Dragon Express stacks up against their full-fledged dictate software, Nuance posted the chart below comparing the feature sets of the two apps:
(via MacStories) comparing features of Express and Dictate
Photoshop Elements 10 (App store) and Premiere Elements 10(App Store) became available overnight with the same functionality improvements that the box versions produced, including:
New Facebook features allow you to auto analyze your images to identify people and tag them based on your Facebook friends. Those tags are then carried over to Facebook when uploading from Elements. A new object-based search is one of the most impressive enhancements, allowing you to find images containing a particular object such as a house or vehicle.
Other features include auto enhance and color correct for video footage, allowing you to “Automatically boost tone and vibrance without affecting skin tones, or use sliders to adjust color with complete control”. You can now also paint 1 of 100 new paint effects onto specific photo areas, add new text effects, and immediately upload video clips to Facebook and Youtube. Learn more about all the new features in these latest releases here.
Could Apple have plans to integrate iMessage, the new all-in-one messaging app in iOS 5, into OS Lion’s iChat, an app that is indeed in need of desperate attention? Perhaps.
The evidence comes from a developer who provided the following hints found in iChat’s framework in Lion. Of course it is only speculation at this point, but MacRumors guesses these elements have been added to provide cross-platform support for the iMessage protocol in iChat.
Buried in the framework of OS X Lion’s iChat, are two new properties – The “timeDelivered” and “timeRead’ fields that indicate the tracking of delivery and read receipts for instant messages. These features, however, are not supported in any of iChat’s native messaging protocols, while the same features are offered in Apple’s iMessage protocol. These properties were also not present in previous versions of iChat prior to OS X Lion.
The rumors of Logic Pro X have shown the possibility for the long-standing Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to shift in a new direction. Logic is quickly becoming tightly integrated with all things “Apple.” Will the new Logic Pro X alienate the professional market? It is a valid question. Logic was always destined to merge with other visual and UI ideas from Apple Apps. Apple is all about its common themes and designs. It is what makes Apple a continued dominant innovator in the technology market. Utilizing the Mac App Store to sell Logic Pro X has a two-fold benefit. One they promote the App Store to audio software consumers. Two they effectively lower the price of Logic while reducing cost. It is cheaper to sell a “digital” product than it is to sell a “physical” product. A “physical” product involves packaging, shipping, warehouses, store related costs, etc… The audio software market is saturated with Digital Audio Workstations. (DAWs) Anything Apple can do for Logic to gain more exposure, lower costs, and lower the price for consumers boosts Logic’s competitive edge in the market. It is really a win win situation for Apple and Logic. Whether or not these decisions make Logic Pro X a poor man’s DAW is yet to be seen.
Many of these decisions by Apple are moving Logic into a better competitive position in its market. There is little to no information in terms of the exclusion of long time standard features in Logic Pro X. It is a DAW’s feature set that makes it valid in a professional setting. The hobbyist application focuses on an entirely different music making approach. The addition of Waveburner into Logic itself, and the decision to exclude MainStage do shed light on Apple’s intentions with Logic. It is moving away from live performance options and focusing on studio production. Logic’s original niche is as a midi sequencer and studio production environment. Another audio software giant with a unique penchant for creative features is Propellerhead’s Reason, which is due at the end of the month…
Apple was a good sport too and allowed one third party app in the top two rows of apps.
Update:Macrumors notes that Apple has begun selling Final Cut Pro 7 (which is likely not enhanced for Lion) the old fashioned way.
We confirmed with an Apple telesales representative at 800-MY-APPLE that Final Cut Studio, part number MB642Z/A, is again available for $999, and $899 for educational customers. The product is only available through the 800-number and is not available in Apple Retail Stores or on the Apple Online Store.
Final Cut Pro 7 was pulled ahead of the release of Final Cut Pro X in June but there has been some backlash among the higher end users because of missing features. Apple, for what it is worth, promised feature updates by the end of summer (which is coming on pretty fast now). Expand Expanding Close
We’ve received multiple complaints from readers that Apple isn’t honoring customers who purchased their Macs at Amazon as part of their Lion Up to Date program. Purchases were to have been made on or after July 21st 2011 and it stipulates that they include refurbished or new computers bought at an Apple Authorized Reseller. The above was sent to a customer who bought directly through Amazon on July 31th. Here’s another. We imagine this is a clerical error on Apple’s part. Expand Expanding Close
The update addresses a few issues including the Wifi issues we’ve been hearing much about. It also appears to incorporate the recent Migration Assistant update. It is available via Software Update and weighs in at a paltry 17.4MB on our rig.
The 10.7.1 update is recommended for all users running OS X Lion and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:
– Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari – Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out – Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections – Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion
The Mac App store still lists Lion at 10.7 so it isn’t clear if new updaters will always have to do additional updates. We’re also left wondering if this update fixes the “video performance after a sleep” that new Lion Mac users have been reporting.
Update: Interesting there is a direct link (here) for New Mac Mini and MacBook Air users (68MB) which updates a few more issues (below):
Tab for Google+ is an app available on the Mac App Store that brings Google+’s web functionality to the Mac desktop. The app is available for free and offers just about every feature plus.google.com offers — except Hangouts. Upon logging in via your Google account, you’ll be greeted with the main sections of the app: Streams, Photos, Circles, Profile and Notifications.
The sections follow suit with the functionality of the website. Streams and Photos curates content from the people you’re following. Circles allows you to see your list of circles and the content coming in from each specific one. Lastly, Notifications let’s you know what’s going on with your account.
Of course, this application won’t replace Google+’s website, rather it’s just a nice app that sits in your applications bar to view while you work. Perhaps if the website is more your thing, check out Google+ for Mac which is essentially just a browser window. We’re hearing the developer is working to make it native though. Check out another screenshot after the break:
Our good friends in Applecare alerted us to the fact that Lion USB keys were now available and in stock through AppleCare. While officially they will cost a lofty $69, it appears, at least from the wording above, that some customers that aren’t able to use Lion’s recovery tools may be eligible to receive the USB drive at no cost.
We’ve detailled how to make a Lion recovery key from a Snow Leopard Key (automated or on your own, cheap) so don’t put Apple though the hassle, OK?
Update: We’ve been debunked by the new AOLEngadget! Head below for details.
The $29.99 download is 3.5GB so your download times may vary. After Lion downloads we are expecting an update to iWork shortly as well. On the hardware side we are expecting some new Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs, new Mac Minis and a new Thunderbolt Display as well.
How fast is your download? Are you getting the good speed? Full specs and details below:
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