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Microsoft Office is finally available on Apple's Mac App Store
Just as Apple promised back at WWDC last year, Microsoft's Office 365 suite is finally available on the Mac App Store today. It's pretty much what you'd expect: the entire collection of apps, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive, all purchasable within a few clicks on the store. You can also subscribe to Office 365 from within the apps, as you'd expect. Notably, it's the first time Apple has offered a bundle of software on the Mac App Store -- a surprisingly late addition for the company that helped popularize the concept of centralized software downloads.
The new Mac App Store is inspired by iOS
Apple has revealed a redesigned Mac App Store at WWDC 2018, which takes clear design cues from the iOS version of the shop. You'll notice right away that it now looks a lot like the one on your iPhone and iPad, featuring a "Discover" tab that will highlight a wide range of curated content, anything from "best apps" lists to tutorials and behind-the-scenes stories from developers. Ratings and reviews of applications are now front and center, too, while video previews are making its debut on the Mac App Store for the first time -- that's a feature that launched on iOS in 2014.
Apple approved a Mac app with a misbehaving crypto-mining feature
You'd think apps with crypto-miners could only be found in various shady venues on the internet. But that's apparently not the case: a popular alternative for the Mac calendar called Calendar 2 recently gave people a way to unlock its Premium features by bundling in a Monero miner with a recent update. And, yes, it was available for download straight from iTunes -- it's just not clear whether it slipped past Apple's watchful eye or if the tech titan really approved it. While you're supposed to agree to switch the miner on in a dialog box (pictured below), at least one person is saying that it launched without his permission:
Mac exploit lets you change App Store preferences with any password
Apple's Mac password troubles aren't over yet. Users have discovered that it's possible to change Mac App Store preferences in macOS High Sierra using any password. You do need to login as an administrator, which is supposed to unlock preferences, but you're allowed to use any password you like if the preference is locked and you need to get access again. Other sections still require a correct password.
Apple's two-factor authentication still leaves some of your data exposed
Apple took a big step forward when it expanded the scope of its two-step authentication last year, since it's now relatively hard to peek at someone's sensitive content unless you also have their device. However, this extra security measure still isn't the all-encompassing safety net you might expect it to be. Need proof? Just ask Dani Grant: she recently gave a friendly reminder that two-factor doesn't even enter the picture with a number of Apple's services. You only need an Apple ID's email address and password to get into FaceTime, iMessage, iTunes and the company's website. You'll need verification if you change account details, sign in to iCloud or try to buy an app, but that basic login is enough to see people's contact information, view their app download history or impersonate them on iMessage. You don't always get email alerts (they typically appear when signing into FaceTime, iCloud or iMessage for the first time on a new device), so it's possible for someone to misuse your account without your knowledge.
Shazam takes its music discovery powers to the Mac
Shazam has already covered ground on mobile platforms such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8, but now it is prepared to bring its media identification software to more devices. And it all starts with Apple's line of personal computers. The newly minted Shazam for Mac, naturally, features the same discovery tools which have made the app as popular as it is today, with the main differentiator being that it's new for desktops and laptops. Once installed, the application performs in a rather subtle way, running its trademark ID work constantly in the background, if you allow it to. On the home screen, additionally, it only takes a spot on the menu bar to let you glance at recently discovered media. We say "media" because Shazam isn't just capable of recognizing music playing around you, but also other stuff like TV shows -- this is something that's also possible on the smartphone/tablet apps.
Sketch 3 makes a great design tool even better
If you're a designer type, you've probably heard about Sketch. It's an ambitious attempt (by a team of just four people) to produce a vector drawing application that can make the Adobe Creative Suite a moot point for most designers. That's not their mission statement, but they've created a tool that can do just that. Version 3 of Sketch is out now, and it fixes some rough edges and adds some vital features. The banner feature for Sketch 3 is "Symbol" support. This is similar to Smart Objects in Photoshop, where you can create and duplicate a set of layers as an object, and modifying any of those objects applies the changes to every instance of it. Sketch 3 lets you easily turn a group of layers into a Symbol, and then re-use it without worrying about how many elements you'll have to update to institute a design-wide font or color change. I've been using Sketch since version 2 came out, and it actually has replaced Adobe apps for me. Granted, my work is for my own apps and websites these days, so I'm not required to share my files in any common format, and my needs are less particular. Sketch makes generating CSS-friendly graphics, icons and mockups really easy (compared to the learning curve of Illustrator), and the export tools are outstanding for anyone working on web or app design. I won't lie, though, there have been times I thought I could have done something a lot faster in Photoshop than in Sketch. In version 2, scrolling on the screen was abysmal. It's much improved in version 3, but still not perfect. The redraw sometimes leaves artifacts on the screen and usually requires restarting the app. I don't find the mode-based panel on the right to be consistently intuitive, and often spend time searching for the button that will get it back to the set of options I need. That being said, once you get used to it you stop having to think about things like that. Sketch on its own is a great tool for anyone working with graphics at any level of experience. What's cool to me is the user community behind it, though. If you try it out, make sure you check out some of the available resources and see what it can actually do. Plugins can be written in JSTalk (from the developer of Acorn, the other half of my Photoshop/Illustrator replacement), and some of the best have been collected on GitHub. It was the actions from bomberstudios that were a turning point in my path to deciding whether I could stick with Sketch or not. For iOS devs, there are some especially great resources, including the Sketch Mirror app for seeing your designs on iOS devices. There are some great articles out there on workflows so slick they seem magical, and a ton of great resources from sites like Sketch App Sources. Bohemian Coding keeps a pretty good list on their Resources page. If you've never used Sketch, now's a good time to be a new customer. The app is currently US$49, available on the App Store and off (with free trial available). There's no "upgrade price," per App Store standards (read: shortcomings), so version 2 users have to buy the whole app again. Users who purchased in March or after can email the developers and get a non-MAS license. The $49 price is an intro price, and after this week it's set to go up to $74.99. Sketch is a powerful, extensible tool for creating production-ready designs and graphics. It still feels a bit like a work in progress sometimes, but it's always come through for me in the end.
Apple includes Ridiculous Fishing and Wunderlist in its top iOS and OS X apps of 2013
As is tradition near the end of the year, we look back on our most recent lap around the sun and try to forget all those resolutions we didn't meet. Today, Apple's the one in a reflective mood, having published its "Best of 2013" selections for the iOS and Mac App Stores as well as iTunes. Free language teaching app Duolingo tops the iPhone chart, with chainsaw-assisted angling title Ridiculous Fishing snapping up the game-specific award. The iPad app of the year accolade goes to Disney Animated, an interactive guide to the iconic studio's animation process, and SFCave-meets-Super Meat Boy platformer Badland stands at the top of the podium in the games category. The iOS edition of Minecraft is the best selling paid app of 2013 despite its age, while puzzler Candy Crush Saga is both the top free and the top grossing app of the year. In the OS X App Store, to-do list manager Wunderlist takes home the prize for best app of the year, with Lego Lord of the Rings being named the greatest game. For all honorable runner-up mentions and the best-of selections for iTunes music, books, TV, films and more, load up the relevant store and look out for the banner.
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...
Clipr 2.0 adds web access to clipboard history with Pro upgrade
Clipboard manager apps are nothing new, but the feature that intrigued us most about Clipr for Mac back when it debuted in April was the ability to send copied notes directly to our phone via SMS. Now there's a 2.0 version, which lets you ship those notes to the newly launched CliprApp.com website as well. Just as you would with Evernote or other note-sharing apps, you'll need to register your credentials on the site and then login to start syncing. As for the aforementioned SMS capabilities, the messages generated are now cleaner and cruft-free, which developer Eric Mann says leads to a better appearance on smartwatches like the Pebble. Mann also tells us that once the SMS feature is set up, you can configure Pebble's app to pass all text messages directly to the watch. Do note that just like with the SMS feature, you'll need to cough up $0.99 extra for the Pro version before you can gain access to web clippings. Check after the break to see a video of how Clipr works, or you could just download it from the source below.
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!
Outages affect App Store, iBookstore, Mac App Store, and iTunes for some users today
Users of Apple's various online stores including the App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes and iBookstore saw outages today from 11:23 AM to 1:54 PM ET. According to Apple, the outages only affected "some users," but those users were unable to download previously purchased content or restore apps from iCloud. The company has faced a wide range of outages this year across various services for users and developers alike. As Apple and other companies begin to require more and more online connectivity from customers to use the apps, content and services they pay for, these outages will begin to impact more users ability to get what they've paid for. Thankfully these outages have been short-term, lasting only a number of hours in each case. As of this posting, all services are back online except FaceTime, for which "some users" are still seeing issues.
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.
Evernote for Mac adds highlighting, document preview and Skitch annotation
A new Evernote for Mac update is available in the App Store today, and it includes a variety of features for both the free and premium versions. In addition to a nifty highlighting tool, Evernote is improving Skitch integration to simplify annotating and sharing notes. Clicking the Skitch icon in the editor launches the app, allowing users to annotate their notes in Skitch before saving them to Evernote. Premium subscribers can edit full notes in Skitch as PDFs, while free users will have to settle for annotating images only. Lastly, attached documents can now be previewed within notes, though document search is limited to premium account holders. To download the update, head on over to the source link below.
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.
