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TUAW at Macworld/iWorld 2014: Hider 2 from MacPaw Software
The best way to make sure that nobody steals or reads documents on your Mac that you don't want to share is to make them invisible. That's what Hider 2 from MacPaw Software accomplishes quickly and easily! The app isn't live in the Mac App Store until Wednesday, but we were able to get you a very good look at how it works. The video is just over a minute long and introduces you to this worthwhile security application. Hider 2 will normally sell for US$19.95, but will be available for about 50 percent off as an introductory offer.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for March 17, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
AtmoBar brings Netatmo weather data to the Mac
A few years back I reviewed Netatmo, a personal weather station that delivers information on both inside and outside temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide level, and other bits of information about your home's comfort. The device syncs to an iOS app, so you're never more than a tap away from current data and history regarding your personal comfort. Recently I heard about an OS X app that places the Netatmo information in your Mac's menu bar. AtmoBar (US$2.99) is in the Mac App Store now, and it's a very slick way of looking at your weather data with a click. As you'd expect, AtmoBar installs easily from the Mac App Store. Once it is launched, there's just one thing you have to do -- log into your Netatmo account. Once that's done, you see the current outdoor and indoor temperatures in your menu bar. With a click, a dropdown appears with detailed information, including the outdoor and indoor temperatures, barometric pressure indoors, outdoor and indoor humidity, and the indoor sound and CO2 levels. The outdoor and indoor temperatures are also graphed from midnight to the current time. Click disclosure triangles on the dropdown, and you're greeted with more graphs for all of the items that are not graphed by default. Unfortunately, the popup graphs need a little work. For example, some of the graphs had no scale on the vertical axis (see humidity outdoor graph image in the slideshow), or had metric values where they should have been imperial values (see pressure indoor graph image in the slideshow). Still, it's a good start for an app and a wonderful companion app for Mac users who happen to have the Netatmo weather station in their homes. With a few fixes, this app will become indispensable for Netatmo users.
AnyFont helps you configure custom fonts for all your iOS applications
AnyFont (US$1.99) enables you to add custom True Type and Open Type fonts to your iOS device for use in any application. When I first heard about this app, I was curious. How could an app like this "break sandboxing," the security feature that keeps each app separate and safe? I contact the developer, Florian Schimanke, who explained the steps the application takes. "[In iOS 7], it is possible to include fonts in configuration profiles. You can do this for example using the Apple Configurator from the Mac App Store," he wrote. "[AnyFont] takes the fonts that are added to the app's storage by the user via iTunes file sharing or the 'Open in...' dialog and creates a configuration profile from it so it can be installed on the device. AnyFont hands over the newly created profile to Safari which then takes the user to the installation process. When finished, the user is then taken back to AnyFont." I added a copy of the app to my iPod and dropped in a copy of a True Type (ttf) font I found on my Mac. I then launched the app and selected the font, which moved me through a few screens to the "Install Profile" pane you see in the image at the top of this post. From there, I clicked Install and then consented to having the profile install the font. A further tap to "Done" and I was ready to start using my new font. What's more, once installed, the font appears in the General > Profiles settings, making it simple to remove the item should you change your mind in the future or wish to tidy up your device. A visit to Pages showed the new font was installed and ready for use. If you regularly perform content creation on iOS, this clever two-dollar utility will expand your font horizon. I found it easy to use and that it delivered exactly the functionality promised.
It's developers like Jalada GmbH that will eventually kill the Mac App Store
Nobody wants to give their money to developers who are willfully engaging in content theft and underhanded sales techniques, but that's exactly what Hamburg-based Jalada GmbH is. If you check out the full list of software currently available from Jalada, you'll find a whopping 18 apps in all. The company offers three basic language translators in slightly different wrapping, all priced at US$9.99; three photo editors with horrible reviews, priced at as much as $59.99; and a trio of what are essentially rich text editors. It's basic stuff that anyone can find online (or already on their computer) for free. This is the kind of crapware that makes App Store shoppers roll their eyes, but there's not much you can do about banning overpriced, underperforming apps from a marketplace like Apple's. What you can do, however, is notice when such a developer crosses the line from simply selling trash, to targeting other developers and exploiting popular IPs to push garbage to trusting consumers. Yoshi! This is a game called Carry on Farming by Jalada GmbH. I probably don't have to point out what I'm about to, but that dinosaur is Yoshi. And just to make sure we all know it wasn't just a simple mix-up, Jalada published another game a few months later with Yoshi again in a starring role. Ignoring the fact that Yoshi is one of the most recognizable characters in all of gaming, and that the IP owner is one of the most powerful companies in interactive entertainment, Jalada is blatantly stealing copyrighted content. This isn't the Google Play store we're talking about here; this is supposed to be Apple's "walled garden," where this kind of stuff doesn't happen, and if it does, it's taken care of expeditiously. These apps have been sitting on the App Store since early 2011. Textual Textual is a well-known IRC client for OS X developed by Michael Morris. It launched along with the Mac App Store and has been a mainstay ever since. It's been updated consistently; it offers a huge list of features; and it's considered to be one of the best IRC clients currently available for Mac users. Rather than sell newer versions of Textual as standalone apps, Morris has kept all Textual updates free, so you won't find a Textual 2 or Textual 3 on the App Store. You will, however, find Textual 4. On October 18, 2013, Morris pushed an update that brought Textual up to version 3.2.3. The next day, Jalada launched its third rich text editor on the App Store. The company named the app Textual 4. It was the first time the name "Textual" appeared on any of Jalada's apps, and Textual 4 launched in version 4.1. Note: A version of a word processing app called "Jalada Textual" was sold in 2009 via an old version of the Jalada website. There was never a "Textual 2" or "Textual 3" from the company, and no apparent updates to the original Textual app until Jalada launched Textual 4 in the App Store. It seems a bit unlikely, but it is possible that Jalada had no knowledge of the IRC app. I'll leave it to you to make up your own mind on that. Morris's Textual eventually reached version 4.0 about a month and a half later, and at the moment a Mac App Store search for the app brings up both Textual and Textual 4, and both apps are in version 4.x.x. The App Store experience Things like this simply can't continue if the App Store is to continue to thrive. Digital shoppers are willing to spend far more of their money on Apple's marketplaces as compared to Google's because it's (in theory) policed to keep unscrupulous developers -- like Jalada GmbH -- out. If you can't search for a popular app or purchase a game with an instantly recognizable game character without the possibility of a fraudulent company collecting the revenue, the system has a serious flaw. Until Apple stops turning a blind eye to these types of situations, the walled garden has a gaping hole.
Apple selling $20 Lion and Mountain Lion redemption codes for older Macs
Apple has begun selling redemption codes for OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion on Apple.com. Each code costs US$19.99 and allows the buyer to redeem that code inside the Mac App Store so they can download the OS. At first, the move may seem an odd one since anyone can download OS X 10.9 Mavericks for free, but as TechCrunch notes, the sale of the older OSes compensates for the lack of availability of those versions of OS X on the App Store: We did some asking around about the thinking behind this particular arrangement and the nut of it is that Apple only offers one version of OS X at a time for purchase on the Mac App Store: the current one. But OS X Mavericks, though it does support some devices as far back as 2007, still has a lot of compatibility gaps for old Macs. If you've previously purchased either Lion or Mountain Lion, these are freely downloadable from the Mac App Store, but this new arrangement allows customers who may not (for some reason) have owned either one to purchase new copies. This will also allow users who have old Macs running Leopard or Snow Leopard to upgrade to 'new-er' versions of OS X. After a buyer purchases a code, they will receive it via email. Buyers can then copy and paste that code into the Redeem section of the Mac App Store and their download will commence.
It's time for an App Store pricing revolution
Loyalty is a powerful factor in consumer choice, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a company that has benefited more from customer loyalty than Apple. That's what makes the company's lack of support for software upgrade pricing so puzzling. Offering a discount on a new product (or more fleshed-out version of an existing product) to thank those who are already using your software is good business, and the lack of such an option on the App Store is, at this point, baffling. Remember how things worked before we had a one-stop shop like the App Store for our software needs? When a new or vastly improved version of an application was released, it would be offered at two different pricing tiers: Full price for new customers and a discounted price for those who already owned the previous version. This ensured that brand-new users paid their entry fee while giving returning customers more of a reason to upgrade, along with a pleasant feeling of being rewarded for their allegiance. The App Store has no such option, requiring updates either be applied to an existing product for free or be sold separately as an entirely new app with one price for all users. This structure works just fine for Apple's OS X upgrades, which are now priced cheaper than a trip to the gas pump, but Apple isn't relying solely on the revenue from each new version of OS X to pay its bills. Many of the App Store's developers, on the other hand, live or die by the sales of their software alone. When it comes to launching a new and improved version of an existing app, developers are already working from a disadvantage, and to not be able to offer a lower price to loyal users can be painful. "How much is the new version worth to me? I can already use the older app to do many of the same things, so the value of the upgrade is much lower to me: I can't justify the cost of making a full investment in the app all over again," Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group, tells us. "As someone who has already invested in the previous version, what will make the investment worthwhile would be discounted upgrade pricing based on the relative increase in value of the new version, rather than having to pay for the full value of the app all over again. Otherwise, it may not be worth purchasing." The Omni Group -- developers of business and productivity software such as OmniGraffle and OmniFocus -- believes so strongly in the upgrade pricing strategy that it went so far as to create an OS X app called OmniKeyMaster that scanned for existing purchases and then offered customers discounts on upgrades from its own online shop. This is a fantastic solution, or at least it was for the few days between the announcement of OmniKeyMaster and the blog post by Omni detailing why the app would no longer be available. But can you really blame Omni for trying? Apple has left developers little choice but to attempt to sneak through loopholes in order to offer a pricing structure that has been an industry standard for decades. Apple is in love with simplicity, and a one-price-fits-all model is certainly simple. Unfortunately that simplicity comes at a cost to both developers and consumers, not to mention Apple itself. By not providing a paid upgrade option, developers are unable to offer loyal customers a break -- thus driving sales. Customers are hurt by not being able to take advantage of these would-be discounts, sometimes forcing them to purchase two different versions of a single product at each app's full price. Meanwhile, by incentivizing non-App Store purchases and forcing developers like Omni to promote upgrade pricing through their own online shops, Apple is missing its cut of the sales. Newer developers -- the ones that need a marketplace like the App Store the most -- are left with few options. What we end up with is an App Store filled with paid "Pro" versions of each app struggling for footing alongside free, stripped-down skeleton versions of the same apps. If the free iteration of the app in question offers an adequate experience, many customers won't see the value in the paid version. At the same time, if the freebie fall short, there's virtually no chance of getting a user to throw down the money for the real app. Some developers have found a way to promote new paid versions of their products -- such as offering limited-time launch discounts -- but this is a bandage on a hatchet wound. Sure, users who catch wind of huge launch discounts on new apps can benefit, but should those who happen to miss the chatter be punished? This strategy might work for apps that only cost a few bucks, but when these price cuts could have a noticeable effect on your bank account, like in the Mac App Store where software can run hundreds of dollars, it can often be the deciding factor when determining whether or not to upgrade. For its part, Apple hasn't officially come out for or against upgrade pricing as a practice, but if the company does indeed support the idea, it's clearly not very high on the priority list. Whether we can ever expect to see such an option is anyone's guess, but in the meantime we're missing out on a better version of the App Store that we should have had all along.
Apple stops Omni Group from offering upgrade pricing for Mac App Store apps
Last week we told you how The Omni Group released OmniKeyMaster, an app that works by searching your Mac for Omni apps from the Mac App Store and then lets you purchase the newest version from the web at upgrade pricing. At the time, I said OmniKeyMaster was a "clever way to get around the fact that the Mac App Store doesn't offer upgrade pricing -- something Apple will hopefully change in the future." As of today, OmniKeyMaster is no more. The company announced that OmniKeyMaster violates Apple's Mac App Store policies. Writing in a blog post, the company said: My apologies: I'm afraid we will not be able to offer upgrade pricing to our Mac App Store customers after all. So long as we continue to sell our apps through the Mac App Store, we are not allowed to distribute updates through other channels to apps which were purchased from the App Store. We still feel upgrade pricing is important for customers purchasing serious productivity software, since the initial value received from purchasing an app like OmniGraffle or OmniPlan is much different from the incremental value of upgrading that app from version 5.0 to version 6.0. We will continue to ask Apple to support upgrade pricing in the App Store, and I would encourage others to do the same, but until that happens, upgrade pricing will only be available to customers who buy our apps direct from our online store. This move will be sure to generate a lot of outrage -- particularly since Apple was no doubt behind the cessation of OmniKeyMaster. Hopefully the Cupertino company will one day allow app upgrade pricing in the Mac App Store -- something both users and developers want.
Upgrade pricing is the App Store's weakness
When Apple opened the Mac App Store (2011) it made tracking and downloading software purchases much easier for the consumer, but it created a conundrum for software developers in some areas. In his 2012 Macworld article, "Why developers, customers should be wary of the Mac App Store," Lex Friedman noted that the store "lacked support for upgrade pricing, limited root access, and banned apps that accessed private APIs (application programming interface-code provided by Apple that developers can use to make their apps) or attempted to tweak elements of the Mac's interface." Software companies often post the coveted try-before-you buy versions on their own web sites, because that's another stumbling block not available in the Mac App Store. The issue of upgrade pricing for a company's loyal customers is not so easily resolved. Jeff Gamet at the Mac Observer wrote this week that "Apple has worked to make the Mac and iOS App Stores more friendly for developers and customers, but there are still some big omissions that need to be addressed, like upgrade pricing. Some developers will sell new apps at a discount on the Mac App Store as a workaround for upgrade pricing, which works, but still doesn't address the underlying problem: upgrade pricing is an industry standard, and it's a glaring omission at the Mac App Store." Jeff details how the creative team at The Omni Group solved their software upgrade management problem by developing a free utility tool called OmniKeyMaster. Their software includes OmniFocus, OnmiGraffle, OmniPlan and OmniOutliner for the Mac. According to The Omni Group, "OmniKeyMaster finds Omni apps that you've purchased from the Mac App Store and offers to generate Omni store licenses for them. Select the licenses you'd like to create from the Ready for Import tab." Omni uses your name and email address to generate a license for a major update. The Mac Observer further writes that "The upside is that you can take advantage of upgrade pricing. The downside is that Apple's App Store app on your Mac won't handle future updates for you." Omni apps check for updates from within the program, so that you won't miss any minor updates. What you lose is the convenience that the App Store provides by notifying you of updates, which appears as a red number on your App Store icon in your Dock. Jeff Gamet's article sums up the upgrade pricing problem developers put up with from the Mac App Store well and thinks that Omni's solution is "a clever way to work around a big App Store limitation, but it also underscores a problem developers deal with every day." He thinks the Mac App Store is remiss in not providing upgrade pricing and calls for Apple to add upgrade pricing to the store. It is interesting that the users who commented on the the article do not seem to agree with Jeff's assessment. They seem to think that the omission of upgrade pricing leads to less expensive software. According to AppShopper there are 16,541 Mac apps available in the Mac App Store and I wonder how the developers of those apps feel about the lack of upgrade pricing. What are your thoughts on upgrade pricing? Fun Tidbits Wikipedia writes "An update to the Mac App Store for OS X Mountain Lion also introduced an Easter egg in which, if one downloads an app from the Mac App Store and goes to one's applications folder before the app has finished downloading, one will see the application's timestamp as "January 24, 1984," the date the original Macintosh went on sale. This is the first time an Easter egg has appeared in a piece of Apple software since Steve Jobs' ban on Easter eggs when he returned to lead Apple." Wikipedia includes a page on which it lists all the software available for the Macintosh. It's rather incomplete even though it was updated on August 9, 2013, but it's not a bad starting point if you seek a particular kind of software. Related Articles Omni Group releases OmniKeyMaster OS X app for discounted upgrades of apps bought in the Mac App Store (TUAW) Mac App Store apps to get subscriptions support in OS X 10.9 Mavericks (TUAW) Detailed look at pricing an app for the Mac App Store (TUAW) Mac App Store Overview (TUAW) Apple's Mac App Store Opens for Business (Apple PR) [via The Mac Observer]
Omni Group releases OmniKeyMaster OS X app for discounted upgrades of apps bought in the Mac App Store
The Omni Group, makers of popular productivity apps like OmniFocus, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner and OmniPlan have released a small, free OS X app that allows users who have previously purchased versions of its software through the Mac App Store to qualify for upgrade purchasing through the company's web store for the next version of its apps. Called OmniKeyMaster, the app works by searching your hard drive for Omni apps from the Mac App Store. It then lets you purchase the newest version of the app at upgrade pricing. As Omni Group explains on their website: OmniKeyMaster is a simple app that finds App Store copies of Omni apps installed on your Mac, then generates equivalent licenses from our store -- for free. This gives Mac App Store customers access to discounted pricing when upgrading from the Standard edition to Professional, or when upgrading from one major version to the next. Another benefit: since they don't have to wait in an approval queue, our direct releases sometimes get earlier access to new features and bug fixes. OmniKeyMaster lets App Store customers access those builds, as well. OmniKeyMaster is a clever way to get around the fact that the Mac App Store doesn't offer upgrade pricing -- something Apple will hopefully change in the future.
I'm afraid to tell you about Shrook, but RSS users deserve to know
As I write this article I am filled with fear. I'm going to tell you about the only RSS reader I have found that fits my style of browsing, but I'm worried that in doing so I will unintentionally curse it. You see, ever since the death of Google Reader, I've been searching high and low for an RSS reader that meets my needs. It needs to be fast (web-based or standalone app, it doesn't matter); it must accept OPML files; and it needs to have a reliable search feature. That's not too much to ask, is it? Well apparently it is, because after over a month and a half of searching and testing, I've only just now stumbled across Shrook, the free RSS reader of my dreams. I'm not going to go through the entire list of both standalone and web apps that failed me, but here are a few dead-end streets I found myself on: Feedly -- No search feature (unless you're one of 5,000 testers of the US$5 Feedly Pro). AOL Reader -- No search feature. Digg Reader -- No search feature. (seeing a pattern yet?) NetNewsWire -- Has a search feature! Huzzah! It also has system-crippling memory requirements and can't do anything in less than 45 seconds. I has a sad. As you can see, the most common reason for disappointment was a lack of search features. I thought I had discovered my new go-to in The Old Reader and then, after the service blew up in popularity, almost died entirely and was brought back to life, the search option disappeared. It was like a sign from the internet gods that I should just give up. And then I found Shrook on the Mac App Store. Shrook has been around for a very, very long time, and although I had overlooked it in my panicky search for a Google Reader replacement, I finally figured I'd give it a shot. All I can say is that it's as close to perfect as I could possibly want. It's fast, has a fantastic search function and auto-refreshes constantly, but uses only a small fraction of the system resources of every other standalone reader I've tried. Oh, and it's free. I don't know what kind of voodoo magic was used to code Shrook, and frankly I don't want to know. The only thing that I ask of the RSS gods is that Shrook live on for eternity. Now go download it and enjoy it with me; just please don't break it, or so help me...
Contact management app VipOrbit hits Mac App Store
If you're an iOS power user, there's a good chance you're already familiar with the VipOrbit contact-management apps. The apps -- for iPhone and iPad -- are essentially address books on steroids, complete with options to track every essential detail you'd ever need to know about a person, including digital aliases, social media activity and schedules. Now the company has pulled the curtains back on an all-new VipOrbit app for Mac, ensuring that you are never without your digital contact almanac as long as you're within arm's reach of your tablet, phone or computer. VipOrbit for Mac is now available in the Mac App Store at a price point of US$29.99 ($70 off of the regular price), with both the iPad and iPhone apps now discounted to free. In order to get all three of the apps to play nicely together -- and sync all of your important information in real time across your gadgets -- you'll need a subscription to the VipSync service which runs $4.99 per month or $45 per year. We'll be putting the VipOrbit system to the test over the next week or so and plan on having a full review of all three apps ready for you next week, so stay tuned!
Share Bucket offers a free OS X Skitch-like capture and annotation utility
Share Bucket (free) enables you to annotate and upload screen captures. While it may not be the most original idea on the Mac App Store, it's certainly a welcome entry to the field. It offers simple, cloud-integrated sharing with a few minor growing pains. Share Bucket supports Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive. You pick the destination and authenticate. Menu bar-based options enable you to capture and annotate, or to upload existing images to your account. Once uploaded, the app triggers notification center, so you always know when the material is ready to use. A URL awaits you on the system pasteboard. A critical "Auto-upload" option in Preferences allows you to automatically shoot and upload. That's perfect for anyone who takes occasional screenshots and wants immediate gratification from a shareable asset. Share Bucket did experience some issues during my testing. After editing the image you see at the start of this post, here's what it uploaded to Google. Essentially, it failed to include my most recent edit, creating a one-step-out-of-date result. I would have liked an option to auto-move screenshots to a specific folder after upload, as well as a menu item that enabled me to clean up yesterday's screenshot, last week's screenshots and all screenshots from my Google Drive. The one option it does have, which is quite nice, is an Auto-delete one. You specify the time limit in days (I have it set up for three days), and it removes shared files at least that old. Another welcome option enables you to automatically downscale images from Retina Macs. Despite a rather ugly menu bar icon, I like Share Bucket and look forward to giving it a deeper test run over the next few weeks. For a free app, it offers excellent utility.
If you bought Logic Pro within 30 days of Logic Pro X release, you may get a refund
This isn't exactly unprecedented, but there's been some discussion about "upgrade pricing" regarding Logic Pro X today, so I thought this would be good info for Logic Pro customers. First, if you bought Logic Pro within 30 days, consider contacting Apple support -- you may be able to get a refund (within a week). With that money you can happily upgrade to Logic Pro X through the Mac App Store. As for the upgrade pricing for customers beyond 30 days, I'm not sure why that was ever a mystery. When Final Cut Pro X debuted, there wasn't upgrade pricing, either. Logic Pro X continues the Mac App Store practice of no upgrades from purchases made off the store. In a short amount of time it won't matter, as pros will have purchased the update through the MAS anyway. Unless Apple creates another version currently on the Store that requires a separate purchase also from the Store -- but it hasn't done that with any of its apps thus far.
DevJuice: Organize code snippets with Code Collector Pro
Code Collector Pro (on sale for US$9.99, normally $19.99) offers a snippet manager for your development needs. I bought myself a copy a few weeks ago, when it suddenly went on sale, and have spent the time since kicking its wheels. I was surprised to find out how much I like it. It offers excellent language-specific contextual highlighting, flexible tag support and easy-to-use searching. Whenever you have a snippet you want to store, just add a new item, paste and edit its metadata. I installed it into my Dock on day one, and it's been there ever since. I have not yet found a reason to close it, hide it or put it away. That's a big deal for me given how zealously I guard my permanent Dock items. Previously, I've tried using special-purpose Xcode projects, TextEdit files and even Notes to organize code bits. I was never really satisfied with any of those solutions. Code Collector Pro was built specifically for these kinds of short methods and functions that don't fit into class categories or helper libraries and it's doing a grand job in keeping those labeled, readable and (most importantly) findable. I really like the app and I suspect that you will too. There's a free 14-day trial available on the dev website and the app can be purchased at the Mac App Store.
Mac App Store apps to get subscriptions support in OS X 10.9 Mavericks
Developers will be happy to hear that subscriptions support is coming to OS X apps sold through the Mac App Store in OS X 10.9 Mavericks. App subscriptions have long been possible in iOS apps, but this is the first time they will be available on OS X. As 9to5Mac points out, iOS subscriptions currently come in two flavors: renewing and nonrenewing. Both types of subscriptions will make their way to OS X this fall. Once subscriptions come to the Mac App Store, users will be able to manage them via a "Subscriptions" control panel in their account settings. Best of all, the ability to manage subscriptions on OS X will now allow users to control them from any Apple device, which means that users who use iOS and OS X apps that have subscriptions (like Evernote or Wunderlist) won't have to leave their desktop to enable a subscription through their iPhone. Subscriptions in the Mac App Store will be available in OS X Mavericks when it ships this fall.
LightScribe software for optical disc labels finally updated
Optical discs... Apple hates them, but lots of people still use them. Blu-ray has been a relatively slow starter in the computer world and we will never see that technology in an Apple product. LightScribe software has been around since 2004 when HP brought it to market. If you had a LightScribe-compatible disc burner, you could use a LightScribe-branded CD or DVD and create a label using the laser in the CD burner. It could be plain text, or even etched photographs on the label. It was a great system, but when Apple updated to a new version of Mac OS X the LightScribe software tended to fail, and you were back to using an ink marker or a stick-on label. Finally, the LightScribe system software has a Mountain Lion-friendly update. The LightScribe free applications are running again, and so are some of the third-party apps I've tested. The LightScribe free apps give you pretty basic disc labels, but Roxio Toast and apps like Disc Cover 3 (now on sale for US$14.99 through the Mac app store) can output some very detailed and attractive discs. If you already have a LightScribe-enabled disc burner, rejoice. If you don't have one, it's dead easy to burn permanent labels on your optical discs. LightScribe-enabled DVD burners are available from Samsung, LG, LaCie and others. Other World Computing keeps a good stock of LightScribe hardware and blank discs. Hopefully, HP will do a better job of keeping its software up to date, because optical discs are not dead, and Apple's OS X Mavericks is just around the corner. We can't be sure HP will stay committed to LightScribe forever. Updates may remain spotty on both the Mac and Windows side, but the LightScribe software is working now, so grab it if you like LightScribe and its easy labeling features.
Review of Typist - It's Time to Stop Fumbling Around
If you are tired of hunt-and-peck typing, you should learn how to touch type. The App Store offers a free program called Typist that will do just that. It won't relieve the tedium of learning touch typing, because there are no entertaining games or letters to shoot from the sky. This is a basic "type what you see on screen" program that follows the traditional way to learn touch typing. Typist 2.3 works fine in the two systems in which I tested it: Mac OSX 10.6.8 and OS X 10.8.3. It is just so quiet that it's unnerving. You hear nothing, unless you make a mistake, and then you hear a typewriter-type sound to notify you. You are then given the lesson again, unless you choose to use the odd interface to pick another lesson. You must finish the whole lesson correctly to move on uninterrupted. The screen shot below shows you the basic screen in which you choose lessons. If you don't know how to touch type, this program helps you learn, but as it cautions, you must practice, practice, practice, which is also amazingly boring. It's the only way to get better. I suggest you pick a soothing iTunes playlist to accompany your lesson while you plug away at this tutorial. To its credit Typist includes Dvorak Keyboard and Calculator Keypad lessons. The program tracks your strokes per minute, typing speed, error ratio, and time it took you to complete each screen. The simple Preferences include options to change the space after a period to one or two spaces, how large your characters draw onscreen, and an option to choose a different background color. On the Web, one space is recommended so as not to create gutters of white space in a document. The character size oddly includes Small (Fixed), Small/Midium, and Small - Large. I don't know why the options are not typed similarly, but I recommend that the developer correct the spelling of "medium." Capitalization in the preference titles is also inconsistent, which irks me. You can change the lavender default background color with a click on the color tile. It brings up Apple's color picker so that you can choose any other color. The developer, Takeshi Ogihara, could use some English language assistance for his short help file, but seems to cover most questions you might have. Interface issues When you finish a practice screen, you type any key to continue to the next screen. An Abandon Practice mini-dialog offers an odd box in which you click arrows to go back to the main menu or skip to the next lesson on the bottom of the screen. Does anyone read the Apple Interface Guidelines anymore? There is a Start Dictation command in the Edit menu which you can activate, but it doesn't seem to work. I was not able to deactivate it, even when I quit and relaunched the program. This seems to be a stock command provided by Apple that wasn't disabled in the program. What I like Typist teaches how to touch type in the traditional manner. It covers how to place your hands on the keyboard. It tracks your speed. The interface is easy to understand. What I don't like The interface includes odd dialogs and navigation elements. Takeshi Ogihara's web site has not been updated with information on the latest version, released in April. Typist never covers how to hold your hands. You need to keep your wrists raised off your desk, otherwise you can trigger carpal tunnel problems over time. I recommend you read this short article, Type Right - Prevent RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome By Typing Right, on About.com or the longer one at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Friday Favorite: Type2Phone
Type2Phone (US$4.99) is one of the most practical tools in my development toolbox. It emulates a Bluetooth keyboard from your Mac. With it, you type to your iOS device using your normal desktop keyboard. While this may not sound like a big thing for many iOS users -- after all, the onboard keyboards and new dictation features streamline text entry -- it is a huge deal for devs and IT coordinators who have to keep typing similar things into apps and settings, over and over again. For example, take Game Center development. You usually work with many different accounts, testing to see how access works for new users, for those with a good history of application use or for those who have unlocked certain achievements. In a normal debug session, you may sign out and sign in with various credentials dozens of times. Type2Phone makes that a practical exercise in testing instead of torment. Or, take today. I was trying to set up a SOCKS proxy system and had to keep typing addresses for various configurations. Once again Type2Phone came to the rescue. It's so much more practical to type or paste longwinded URLs like http://10.0.0.1:8888/Public/socks.pac from my home desktop than to laboriously tip-tip-tap it on the phone or iPad. Type2Phone was designed smartly, with re-use in mind. I long ago synced it to my primary dev units. Now, I just select each unit from the in-app pop-up list, and I'm ready to type right away. To be fair, there are a few unhappy reviews over at the Mac App Store, but they describe situations (primarily beachballs) that I have not encountered, and I'm a pretty heavy user of the product. For me, Type2Phone is an essential software component. My development life would be way harder without it. And that's why I consider it my Friday favorite for this week.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown Mac version not on Steam
Though XCOM: Enemy Unknown Elite Edition arrived on Mac on April 25, one place it didn't launch was Steam. A representative of the Mac version's developer, Feral Interactive, told Joystiq that it "does not release games on Steam." This isn't the only game that Feral has shipped on platforms not owned by Valve, as the developer is credited with creating Mac versions of BioShock 2, Grid and both Batman: Arkham City and Arkham Asylum, among many other games. When asked about whether any games from its catalog would launch on Steam at any point, the representative said they "do not talk about future products." Feral is offering XCOM: Enemy Unknown on the Mac App Store, among other online retailers listed on its site.
