Here’s a crazy Mac App Store rumor for the day / week / month. AppleTell claims one of those famous ‘inside sources’ has let them know that Apple is targeting next Monday, December 13, as launch day for the Mac App Store.

An inside source has just told us that Apple is targeting a Monday, December 13th launch of the Mac App Store. The company apparently told developers to have their software prepared for a launch as early as Monday the 6th of this month, but our contact would be shocked if that happened at this point. Apple has made no official announcements regarding this, and delays could always happen, but there’s a push to be launched before Christmas, well ahead of the previously estimated January release.

According to AppleTell’s source, Steve Jobs himself is pushing for the early opening of the new store and Apple is ahead of schedule in their preparation for release.

If this rumor proves accurate, the Mac App Store would open well ahead of the originally announced schedule – which had it set to open in late January of 2011.

Rumor News Via: MacRumors

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Post tags: Mac App Store, Mac App Store launch

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Osfoora – a very popular Twitter app for iOS devices – is coming to the Mac. The app’s developer has posted the screenshot shown above to a popular design-sharing site, and says the Mac version is just at a pre-alpha stage right now.

Given how gorgeous Osfoora is on the iPad, I will definitely be interested in seeing what its Mac version has to offer. I’ve been using Tweetie as my Mac Twitter client ever since it came out, but it has not been updated in some time and I’m open to some new options on my MacBook.

News Via: Macstories

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Post tags: Mac Twitter apps, Osfoora, Osfoora for Mac

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Apple has been doling out a little more information about the upcoming Mac App Store to developers this week. One interesting point is that no trial, demo, or beta versions of apps will not be allowed.

Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore," Apple wrote. "The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App Store should be fully functional, retail versions of your apps.

Presumably this means no ‘Lite’ versions like we see on the iOS App Store. This feels a little dumb to me. It means customers and potential customers need to navigate various ‘storefronts’ if they want a trial version, or they just skip the Mac App Store altogether if they’re happy working with developers’ web sites. It’s not as clean an approach as with iOS – where there is just a single, easy to use, store for apps. I’m sure there are likely solid reasons why this policy is in place, but it doesn’t seem like a great way to get users flocking to the new store.

News via: Apple Insider

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Post tags: app demos, Mac App Store policies, trial versions

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VMware Fusion 3 for Mac – the excellent virtualization app – is on offer at a huge discount today at the MacMall site. It is down from $79.99 (standard price) to just $17.99 with a $20 instant rebate and a $30 mail-in-rebate.

I’ve used VMware for many years to run Windows on my MacBooks (generally just to be able to use one specific Windows app) and it has always done a stellar job.

The Mac Mall deal is for today only – 11/29/10 until 11:59 PST – and you can check out the details or place your order here:

http://www.macmall.com/p/product~dpno~7938980~pdp.ficdfbi

Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac – another excellent option for running virtual machines on your Mac – is also on sale today for $20 off its normal price; so it’s at $59.99 rather than $79.99. Details here:

http://www.macmall.com/p/Parallels-Software/product~dpno~8182810~pdp.gcajhfd

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Post tags: Cyber Monday deals, Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac, VMware Fusion 3 for Mac

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If you’re a Mac user and a fan of strategy games this is a good week for you. It has seen the release of one very good looking new title – Field of Fire – and the latest release in an epic and hugely popular series, Sid Meier’s Civilization V.

Here’s an Intro to Field of Glory, which is a turn-based strategy game based on a tabletop title and covering Roman warfare and some epic battles:

Field of Glory is an approachable and fun wargame system for your PC that covers the ancient and medieval worlds. Its intuitive user interface makes it an ideal game to pick up for new comers to the hobby, while it’s subtlety and depth ensure long term interest for the grognard.

Find out what it is like to be a Caesar at the battle of Philippi against Pompey. Command from the rear or inspire your men and risk death and injury in the front line.

The initial release covers the Rise of Rome from Zama in North Africa to the battles of Boudicca’s revolt in Britain. Later releases will expand to new periods and new areas of the ancient and medieval world.

Based on the popular Field of Glory tabletop wargaming system from Slitherine, developed by HexWar, the Mac edition has an easy to use interface with a focus on having a fun game. In particular it is very easy to play multi-player against other users across the internet.

Field of Glory goes for $39.95 and includes three expansion packs from its PC version. You can see more details on it and place an order here:

http://www.freeverse.com/mac/product/?id=9024

Civilization V is the latest installment of one of the most famous PC strategy games ever. It’s available via Steam under the SteamPlay banner, and is priced well considering you get both Mac and Windows versions of the game for $50. Moe information and purchase details here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/8930/

I’ve played a lot of the Civilization series over the years, but right now I think I want to have a go at Field of Fire, as I enjoy that era for strategy / war games.

News via: TUAW

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Post tags: Civilzation V for Mac, Field of Fire, Mac strategy games, Sid Meier's Civilzation V for Mac

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I’ve been using Chrome as my browser on my MacBook Pro just about ever since its first Mac version was released. During this time I’ve tried giving Safari another go several times. I start thinking about how it’s the built-in Mac browser and each new update of it is supposed to make it even more blazingly fast than the last – and I try it out for a few days and always find myself hating it and rushing back to Chrome.

I was reminded of this today because I saw this post at MG Siegler’s parislemon site. Here’s part of his summary on his latest effort to swap to Safari:

In my week of using Safari, I have never seen so many beachballs. I have no idea why this was the case day in and day out, I was just doing regular browsing. The type of browsing that Chrome never has any problems with.

In general, Safari seemed noticeably slower than Chrome on everything from startup to rendering. And there were a number of quirks I saw when browsing certain pages that I don’t see with Chrome.

That’s pretty much exactly what I get each time I try out Safari. Slower across the board than Chrome, and way too many times when I ‘m watching the stupid spinning beachball – which I very rarely ever see in Chrome.

I’m very happy using Chrome, and feel like I’ve given Safari ample opportunity to show me what it’s got, and it’s never held a candle to Chrome – so no more Safari tryouts for me until they bring out a version that makes me coffee while it loads pages.

The other thing the parislemon post reminded me of was that I’d been wanting to turn Flash off in Chrome for a while now. When I have an occasional issue with my MBP slowing down, it almost invariably turns out to be a result of a Flash plugin bringing the house down – it’s about time to try out just not using it at all. So I followed these simple instructions to disable the only two Flash plugins I could find for Chrome.

I’ll share some thoughts on how that goes once I’ve had some time to see the effect of disabling these Flash plugins.

What do you all use as your browser? If you’re Mac user have you tried Chrome? Does Safari work much better for you than it does for me?

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Post tags: Chrome, Flash plugins, Mac browsers, Safari

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Shakespeare In Bits is a great concept. It’s Shakespeare plays in fun, easy-to-digest bits, and much more. It features wonderful animations, a number of fun and enticing ways to get involved with the content, and features the voice talents of some top-notch actors to bring the characters to life – such as Michael Sheen (30 Rock, Frost/Nixon) and Kate Beckinsale (The Aviator, Underworld) in the SIB: Romeo and Juliet app, and Stephen Dillane (King Arthur, The Hours) as Macbeth and Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter) in the upcoming second installment of the series, SIB: Macbeth.

And it’s coming to the Mac App Store.

I reviewed the iPad edition of SIB – Romeo and Juliet a few months back and loved it. You can check out the review here: http://justanotheripadblog.com/ipad-apps/cool-things-shakespeare-in-bits-romeo-juliet-ipad-edition/

Here’s a little more information about the iOS apps and the developers’ plans for the Mac App Store:

The iPad and iPhone editions of ‘Shakespeare In Bits: Romeo & Juliet’ are currently being featured on the US App Store as part of its ‘American Education Week’ feature. Released in May 2010 and featuring the voice talents of Michael Sheen (30 Rock, Frost/Nixon) and Kate Beckinsale (The Aviator, Underworld) as the tragic couple, ‘Romeo & Juliet’ has achieved over 10,000 downloads of its Full and Lite editions for iOS devices, and continues to prove popular with students and educators alike. It has been featured several times on App Store home pages worldwide, and was chosen by Apple as ‘App of the Week’ in September 2010 in the UK and Ireland.

"We’re excited about the Mac App store, and we see it as an ideal distribution platform for Shakespeare In Bits," said Michael Cordner, director and lead technologist of Mindconnex Learning. "Our new Mac version nicely compliments the existing iPhone and iPad versions, and provides new options for teachers looking for a compelling way to present Shakespeare to their classes."

Shakespeare In Bits: Romeo & Juliet for Mac Product Features:
* The unabridged original play text, broken into easily digested ‘bits’
* Three hours of animation with full audio, (Audio provided by Naxos Audiobooks)
* A new mac-exclusive subtitle feature which shows the currently spoken lines of text in the animation window.
* Complete notes, summaries, and analyses for each section
* A unique in-line translation system for obscure words and phrases
* Biographies for each character, accessed from the main play or through the cast browser
* A character relationship map, demonstrating key relationships in the play

I’m happy to see this series coming to the Mac. The Romeo and Juliet title is expected to be available when the Mac App Store opens, with Macbeth following along soon after. Good stuff.

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Post tags: Mac App Store, Shakespeare In Bits

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Apparently Steve Jobs is at it again, acting as an Apple customer service rep and answering another email question from a user. TUAW reader Jared sent them in an exchange with Jobs on the subject of streaming presentations to Apple TV …

In his email to Jobs, Jared asked if the new Apple TV would accept presentations via an iOS device or a Mac, and told his Steveness "if it will, I will go buy two at an apple store tonight." Jobs replied, "It’s all coming soon. Stay tuned."

For anyone who has to do presentations in front of groups of people, this would be very, very good news. Being able to throw your Keynote slideshow up onto a big screen, wirelessly and without jaibreak, via Apple TV would be superb. I’d love to that feature included in iWork 11 and even more so on an updated iPad version, which would offer the ability to walk around the room while presenting.

News Via: TUAW

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Post tags: Apple TV, iWork 11, Keynote 11

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Who doesn’t like Dashboard widgdets? I know I like ‘em lots. If you’re an Apple fan and you’re on the lookout for bargains on Apple products, then the Apple Store Discounts Widget may be right up your alley.

The Apple Store Discounts widget displays the day’s current-selling "hot deals" in both product-spotlight and list-view formats, allowing Apple discount shoppers to have access to the most current hot deals in certified refurbished or reconditioned Macs, iMacs, MacBooks, iPods as well as many Mac accessories.

I just discovered and installed this widget yesterday. It works well, does just what it says on the box. It lets you quickly swap between seeing The Current Hot Buy or All of Today’s Discounts in a list. Definitely a handy little widget to have around. Here’s where you can grab it:

http://www.macintoshos.com/apple-store-discounts-widget

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Post tags: Apple Store Discounts Widget, Dashboard widgets

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Reeder – the hugely popular RSS reader app for iOS – is going to have a big brother Mac version very soon. As you can see in the screenshot above, it is listed as ‘Coming soon’ at the Reeder website. If you’re a fan of Reeder for all your iOS RSS reading pleasure, and also own a Mac, here’s even better news via Twitter:

Just in case you can’t see the tweet from @reederapp, it reads ‘Public beta for the Mac should be ready sometime this month. Not long at all then.

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Post tags: Mac applications, Mac RSS applications, Reeder for Mac

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In watching and listening to what developers and journalists think about the Mac App Store, I’ve noted a lot of thoughts and discussion on what pricing will be like for applications in the new store. The overwhelming, nearly unanimous, consensus among those I’ve seen talking about this is that prices will be ‘low’ or ‘lower’ (than current Mac software sold independently, without a central store for Mac applications.

Because the iOS App Store has been a bit infamous for the ‘race to the bottom’ pricing model, especially among iPhone apps, it seems nearly everyone expects to see a similar sort of dynamic in the Mac App Store – though with the bottom presumably being a bit higher than the level for iPhone apps.

TUAW did a post recently where they shared some ‘example’ prices – extracted from a reader’s zoom and enhance efforts on Apple’s promo image for the Mac App Store (the same one shown at the top of this post). Many of the applications shown in the promo image – such as Apple’s own iLife and iWork suite apps – could be seen as sort of bellwether applications for pricing levels.

These same apps are the ones that set the pricing bar on the iPad, and so if these are real (and not just photoshopped in), then they’re the first official indication we’ve gotten of just where Apple imagines pricing should be on the App Store. And where is that? Turns out they’re pretty close to current software prices — the iLife apps are priced out at $15, while the iWork apps are priced at $20, and when you add them all up, they cost about the same as the bundles you can buy in the Apple retail store.

There’s also a few other titles (which appear to be just placeholders, not official Apple software, unless they’re going to premiere some new apps with the App Store) at various prices. There’s a dice game called Roll ‘Em which is priced for free, an app called Color Studio at $29.99, and another game called Fast Lane priced at just $4.99. So as you might expect, there will be prices all over the place..

And they’ve got a guess on where Mac application prices may level off at in the store …

But it sounds like Apple is aiming to hit about $15-20 for a standard full-featured Mac app.

I think that sounds reasonable, though my guess is more like $15-45 for typical, full-featured apps. Despite all the ‘race to the bottom’ reputation for the IOS App Store, it seems to me that iPad apps have established some more reasonable pricing levels – and users seem to have accepted that trend. So if users are relatively happy to think along the lines of apps for bigger devices having bigger price tags, then Mac App Store prices should be another level or two up from iPad prices. I’d be perfectly happy if $15-45 is the typical range, while of course some applications might come in well north of that, and some more ‘novelty’ type apps may come in much lower.

What do you all think?  What’s your ‘typical’ range you expect to see for full-featured Mac applications in the Mac App Store?

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Post tags: Mac App Store, Mac App Store pricing, Mac application pricing

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Apple is looking to hire reviewers for the soon-to-launch Mac App Store. They’ve got a job posting up for the role of ‘Mac Application Reviewer’. Here’s what they’re looking for:

Job title
Mac Application Reviewer

Location
Santa Clara Valley

Job type
Full Time

Job description
Mac Application Reviewer

Apple Worldwide Developer Relations is seeking a software application specialist; someone who is meticulous, analytical, able to exercise objective analysis, and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment and has strong customer service skills.

Candidate needs to be able to organize and prioritize a heavy workload. The candidate must be hardworking, detail-oriented, and able to work quickly & efficiently. We˙re looking for a self-starter, a quick learner with excellent communication skills, who is able to work independently and as part of a team.

Experience with Mac OS X required.
Proficiency in written French, German or Japanese a plus.

A few little interesting bits in there …

– For starters, the use of the word ‘application’ rather than app. I imagine this terminology will continue to be used to distinguish between Mac and iOS software.

– I love the ‘fast-paced environment’ phrase. If volume of apps and updates submitted comes anywhere even remotely near the iOS App Store, fast-paced won’t be the half of it.

– There’s no mention of having the skillz needed to make bizarre, thoroughly inconsistent decisions that go against all stated App Store policies – so some of the iOS store reviewers need not apply.

News via: 9to5Mac

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Post tags: Apple, Mac App Store, Mac App Store reviewers

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According to those infamous ‘people familiar with the matter’ Apple’s iWork 11 productivity apps suite may already be finalized and ready to ship, but is being held back to launch at the same time as the Mac App Store.

Apple Insider is also hearing that the apps that make up the iWork 11 suite – Keynote, Numbers, and Pages – will be available to be purchased individually (not just as a bundle) in the Mac App Store, and that Apple may decide not to offer a retail box version and sell the new suite online only.

I have been trialing the iWork suite on my MacBook, but will hold off on purchasing now until the apps hit the Mac App Store, which is due to open in late January.

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Post tags: Apple, iWork 11

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An iPhoto update was released this week. iPhoto 9.1 apparently includes a fix for a nasty bug that caused photo deletion during imports. Here’s the official wording on the update, straight from Apple’s support document on it:

This update adds several new print product options to iPhoto ’11. It also improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues.

• Provides the ability to create and order calendars in iPhoto.
• Additional letterpress holiday greeting card themes are now available.
• Fixes an issue that prevented videos downloaded from MobileMe or Flickr from importing correctly into iPhoto events.
• The update is recommended for all users of iPhoto ’11.

Gotta love the Apple update numbering syntax here. 9.1 is an update for iPhoto 11.  Who’s on first?

News via: 9to5Mac

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Macgasm covered a possible case of ‘name squatting’ on the Mac App Store earlier this week – where it was originally thought that someone had grabbed up the name registration for a well-established Mac app called Fluid before the publishers of the app could do so. Yesterday Macgasm published an update post – as they discovered that the name was apparently automatically awarded to an iOS developer, because it is reserved in the iOS App Store.

According to Fabien, “The Mac AppStore and iOS AppStore seem to be the same entity so any name already used in the iPhone/iTouch/iPad AppStore will not be available on the “Mac AppStore.”

Fabien goes on to say that he did not reserve the application name on the Mac App Store, and it seems like it was already awarded to him because of his reservation in the iOS App Store. This is not good news for Apple or OS X developers.

Confused? Me too to be honest. 

I do know one thing – I agree with Joshua Schnell at Macgasm, that this is potentially a huge mess for Apple and the Mac App Store. Especially when you think about all the spammy iOS app publishers – those that have hundreds of apps in the iOS App Store – often all covering near identical ground.

Hopefully Apple has got some sort of system that is better than what we know so far for reserving names in the iOS and Mac App stores, and hopefully they’ll have more to say on this soon.

In the meantime, see Macgasm’s post here for more detail on the brewing names mess:

http://www.macgasm.net/2010/11/05/update-squatters-mac-app-store/

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Post tags: Mac App Store name registration

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Yesterday Skype released Skype 5.0 (beta) for Mac, and boy does it look like a major step up for the application. For starters, it’s got a revamped look and feel that ‘simplifies navigation and provides a more Mac-like experience’. The app is now all in one window and now integrates the Mac Address Book – hurrah to that, the separate little windows for it always bugged the heck out of me.

Another headline new feature is group video calling, which allows for video calls with more than two people at a time – as long as all the participants are using this latest beta for Mac or Skype for Windows 5.0.

The new Skype for Mac also offers our popular new feature – group video calling – which allows you to make video calls with more than two people at a time as long as all participants are on the new Mac beta or Skype for Windows 5.0.

Here are some of the other notable new features:

• New call control bar — Hang up, mute and more from a mini Skype toolbar that sits on top of any web pages, documents or photos you’ve got open
• Search chat content to easily navigate past conversations
• Offline IM so that you can send and receive instant messages even if the recipient is offline
• Personalise contacts via user profiles
• Quickly rejoin calls if your Internet connection fails momentarily
• Floating Contacts Monitor to see your online contacts and contact groups

I haven’t had a chance to download the new beta just yet, but I’m really looking forward to grabbing it and checking it out.

For more details on Skype 5.0 (beta) for Mac and to download it, visit the Skype page for it here:

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/on-your-computer/macosx/beta/

News via: Skype Blogs

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Post tags: Mac apps, Skype 5.0 for Mac, Skype for Mac

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According to a recent report at TUAW, Apple has started accepting app submissions for the Mac App Store. They’ve apparently sent an email out to developers with links to help on setting up iTunes Connect accounts and similar help topics.

Apps can now be submitted for approval for the upcoming new Mac App Store – due to open in around two and a half months.

I’m excited to see which developers and apps will be on board for the launch of the new store.

News via: TUAW

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Sophos – a leading antivirus and data protection applications vendor – has launched a free Mac antivirus application for home users. Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac is available now as a free download.

The app is based on Sophos’ ‘flagship security software’ which provides protection to over 100 million business users round the world. Here’s a little more detail on the new home edition for Mac, via the Sophos site:

Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac provides automatic detection against existing and new threats for Mac OS X. The free software also incorporates strong disinfection capabilities, capable of removing malware infections that may already be present on the Mac computer.

Although malware is more common on Windows than it is on Macs, there is a growing concern that, as Mac OS X market-share continues to grow, the operating system will become a more attractive target for cybercriminals.

Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac detects both Mac and Windows malware, and is backed by SophosLabs, Sophos’s global network of highly skilled researchers and analysts, protecting businesses from known and emerging malware – viruses, Trojans, spyware and rootkits. SophosLabs ensures that Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition can even proactively stop brand new unseen threats before they can install on your Mac.

Technical Specifications:

- Mac with Intel or PowerPC processor
- 256 MB of memory
- 150 MB of available disk space
- Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
- Supports all Apple Mac hardware including iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air

I worked with Sophos for many years when I was a network manager for some large multinational companies, and it always did a stellar job and was nearly always well ahead of Norton and others in detecting and protecting against all the new threats that came along.

Though the Mac is considered nearly bullet-proof right now, I tend to agree that as it grows in market share and popularity more and more malware will be targeted at it. So I’m very keen to give the new Sophos application a try. I’ve downloaded it already and will be installing it later today.

For lots more detail on Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac, and to download a free copy, go to:

http://www.sophos.com/freemacav

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Post tags: Mac antivirus apps, Mac malware apps, Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac

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As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m very interested in following Mac and iOS developers’ thoughts on the Mac App Store, and hearing about their plans for bringing their apps (or not) to it.

Justin Williams is a developer with notable apps on both the iOS and Mac platforms already. His Second Gear development firm publishes the Today and Check Off calendar and task management apps for Mac OS X, and also the Elements Dropbox-powered text editor app for iOS. He’s got a great blog post up where he shares his initial thinking on the Mac App Store and the approach he’ll take with his apps in relation to it.

Here are a few slices of Justin’s post that caught my eye:

On initial reactions:

My first reaction to the Mac App Store was that of frustration and confusion. I haven’t exactly been the biggest cheerleader for the App Store platform, but I’ve come to accept it as a requirement to do business with Apple on the iOS platform. That said, I concede that the App Store puts my software in front of a lot more eyeballs than trying to manage the sales of mobile software on my own Web site and store.

It’s so successful in fact that for the first time ever, I am making more money off of iOS software sales than my Mac products. I never expected that to happen!

On plans for his apps:

Assuming both applications are accepted, both Today and Check Off will be in the App Store on day 1 as the exclusive distribution channel. At that point in time, I will shut down the existing Second Gear store and channel any sales traffic from my Web site to the Mac App Store.

And just a couple of his reasons behind his initial thinking:

The Mac App Store requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard, so I can cut off supporting Leopard in both products for new sales. I don’t have too many Leopard users at this point, but taking the time to ensure that my products work on two desktop platforms is a pain and I’m incredibly lazy.

I can focus on what I’m good at: building software. Maintaining my store, licensing information and the like isn’t a ton of work, but it is work that takes away from me improving my products.

That last one in particular is one I’ve heard echoed by many developers when talking about the Mac App Store. Justin also sees the lack of a demo / trial system as one of the biggest sticking points with store, again just as many others have cited.

Justin’s full post is an excellent read – give it a look here:

http://carpeaqua.com/2010/10/27/my-mac-app-store-blueprint/

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Post tags: developers views on Mac App Store

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Adium – the versatile and popular IM client for the Mac – has released a new version, V. 1.4. Here’s what’s new in this version:

Requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later
Added Twitter
Added IRC
Greatly improved group chats and group chat bookmarks
Updated to libpurple 2.6.6 with added fixes
Mind-bogglingly large number of enhancements and bug fixes
Sport an Adium t-shirt, hoodie, and more!

Adium is a free IM application for Mac OS X that connects to GoogleTalk, AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. You can get lots more info on it, or download a copy, here:

http://adium.im/

News via: TUAW

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Post tags: Adium, Mac IM applications, Mac instant messaging apps

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Marco Arment – the developer of the Instapaper bookmarking service (and the excellent iOS apps for it) and the Tumblr blogging platform – has got an excellent post up outlining his views on why the Mac App Store is not made for today’s Mac developers.

He outlines a number unknowns about the Mac App Store that are cause for concern for current Mac software and gives his best guess on how they will pan out when the store is open. Here are some of those:

• The prohibition on private API usage will keep a lot of popular Mac apps out of the Store. Are they serious about that? (My guess: Yes.)
• Will there be any good way for developers to get customer lists from App Store buyers? (My guess: No.)
• Will there be any good ways to “crossgrade” buyers from the retail edition of an app to the App Store edition without making them pay again in full? (My guess: No.)
• Will time-limited trials be permitted? (My guess: No.)
• Will upgrade pricing for new versions be implemented? (My guess: No.)
• Will refunds be any easier? (My guess: No.)

Arment believes that selling apps outside of the Mac App Store will be the way that the vast majority of current Mac developers end up going. He believes the new store will have much greater appeal for iOS developers, and offers up some solid reasons why.

I have to say that in talking to iOS developers I do see that a very high percentage are enthusiastic about the Mac App Store – and Arment himself says that as both a user and an iOS developer he is excited about the potential of this new market.

His full post is a great read. Check it out here when you have a chance:

http://www.marco.org/1432156914

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© patrickj for Just Mac Apps, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: developers views on Mac App Store, Marco Arment

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SBSH’s SafeWallet for Mac OS X was released earlier this month. SafeWallet has a solid reputation in the mobile arena and has been available on iOS for over a year. It’s good to see it has also made it to the Mac platform. Here’s more detail on it, straight from the SBSH site:

SBSH SafeWallet is a powerful and most secure password manager, that allows you to store all your passwords and sensitive information in one protected place! SafeWallet for OS X offers seamless syncing with SafeWallet for iPhone and iPod Touch, allowing you to carry all your sensitive information wherever you go, securely!

SafeWallet for Mac OS X Highlights

• Remember Only One – All other passwords are stored securely in SafeWallet, ready for use whenever needed.
• AES 256-bit Encryption – Makes sure all your sensitive information is safe and sound. It works for the US government and intelligence forces, and now it can also work for you!
• Password Generator – SafeWallet generates highly powerful passwords and remembers them for you!
• Auto Close – SafeWallet shuts down automatically when not used, making sure your private information isn’t accessible to anyone but you.
• Smart Structure – Easily navigate through hierarchical folders and browse the cards storing your private information. Create cards with a variety of predefined configurations, or just reconfigure the card to your liking!
• iPhone and iPod Touch – Keep your information available and safe wherever you go! Use SafeWallet on your iPhone and enjoy seamless syncing with SafeWallet on your Mac OS X!

I haven’t tried SafeWallet out yet, as I am 100% happy with 1Password as my password manager across the Mac and my iOS devices – but I have used other SBSH apps back in my Windows Mobile days and I know that they are excellent developers.

I imagine we may well see SafeWallet for Mac in the Mac App Store as well.

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© patrickj for Just Mac Apps, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mac password manager apps, SafeWallet for Mac OS X, SBSH Software

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Here’s another couple of standout iOS apps that will be coming to the Mac App Store – Solar Walk and Star Walk from Vito Technology.

Star Walk is a delightful ‘personal planetarium’ app that was chosen by Apple as one of the Best Apps of 2009; and Solar Walk is a powerful astronomy app that offers 3D views of our solar system and beautiful graphics.

Our contact at Vito tells me that they will be bringing both of these titles to the Mac App Store, and possibly others as well once they see how these two fare.

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© patrickj for Just Mac Apps, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iOS apps coming to Mac App Store, Solar Walk, Star Walk

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So I’ve been emailing a few iOS developer contacts over recent days, asking them whether they have any plans for the Mac App Store.  One of the replies I got today was from Alex, the lead developer of the excellent Podcaster app for the iPhone.

I’ve always liked to think of Podcaster (formerly know as RSS Player) as the app that refreshes the parts the iPod app just doesn’t reach. If you’ve ever seen the old-school Heineken ads that ran in the UK years ago, you might know what I mean by that. If not, here are a few of the capabilities of Podcaster that make it so much better than the iPod app for enjoying podcasts

* Download any size episode EDGE or 3G. 
* Background playback of audio
* Refresh subscriptions Over the Air
* Great customer support

I’m happy to see that Alex is full of enthusiasm about the Mac App Store, and is planning to bring a desktop app for managing podcasts to it.  Here’s some of what he had to say on the subject:

We had no intention of making a podcaster program for the Mac until Apple announced the Mac App Store.  We didn’t think we had any market but since Mac users will now have a central place to buy programs, we figure it’s enough reason to make a desktop app.

Overall, I think the Mac App Store is a great idea. It will give all developers a level playing ground and give users a central place to buy programs. We are all really excited about it. We plan to have a desktop app for managing podcasts out soon and then we will follow up by adding play features.

Cool. That’s certainly an app that will go straight onto my short list for apps to get in the new Mac App Store.

I’ll be sharing some more reactions on the Mac App Store from iOS devs soon.

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© patrickj for Just Mac Apps, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iOS devs on the Mac App Store, Podcaster

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I’m not having a happy computing kinda day so far – and even though I know it’s mostly my own fault I figured I’d gripe a little about it and share my crazy Activity Monitor screenshot. In the screenie above, you can hopefully see that Activity Monitor is showing the Mail app as using 157% of CPU resources. It actually showed it as above 200% at one point but I wasn’t fast enough on the screencap trigger to get it.

As you might imagine, by the time I got my lovely MacBook Pro into this unhappy state, things were not exactly racing along on the MBP. In fact, things were barely, barely crawling along.

The reasons I say this was mostly my fault (and I probably want to swap out mostly for entirely) include:

– I think I hadn’t rebooted the MBP in around 6 days.

– I let a Parallels Desktop upgrade install while a Time Machine backup was running.

– While those two were battling with each other for all available MBP resources, I also had running: Mail.app, Tweetie, Evernote, Things,iTunes, and Chrome with around 15 tabs open.

I’m not sure why the Mac doesn’t have a clever little popup for these sort of occasions. I think it should – something along the lines of …

Oi, wanker – you might want to reboot sometime around now-ish

Or perhaps that’s what Activity Monitor was conveying to me. 

Anyway, that’s my handy Mac tip for the day: best not to look for optimal performance from your Mac when Activity Monitor reckons a single app is using more than 200% of CPU cycles.

Actually, kidding aside, my one little tip (for myself as much as anyone) is to go to reboot faster when having a bad period with the Mac. I tend to take time looking for the offending app or process that is chewing up an undue amount of resources, exit and re-open apps, and so on – when in all likelihood on most occasions it’s quicker and less painful to just do a restart.

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© patrickj for Just Mac Apps, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Activity Monitor going apeshit, Mail.app

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