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Autodesk expands Mac application line, enters Mac App Store
Last October Autodesk announced AutoCAD for Mac 2011, signaling a return of the computer automated drafting app of choice to the Mac after a fifteen-year absence. Today Autodesk followed up by announcing two new products for the Mac and a Lion-optimized update to its flagship software. AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac is available only through the Mac App Store. AutoCAD LT will set you back a cool US$899.99, but the cost is understandable if automated drafting is your thing. The differences between AutoCAD LT and the full version of AutoCAD for Mac can be seen here. AutoCAD for Mac 2012 was built specifically for OS X Lion. The flagship app will be available on August 19th and cost $3,995, but it won't be in the Mac App Store. AutoCAD WS for Mac is a free app that provides tools for viewing, editing and sharing designs in AutoCAD formats. Think of it as Adobe Reader for AutoCAD. AutoCAD WS for Mac has complimentary versions on Windows and iOS, which allows users to collaborate on designs across multiple platforms -- desktop, mobile and web. AutoCAD WS for Mac ships August 19th. In the official press release Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business said, "Since the release of AutoCAD for Mac last year, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, further validating the need for professional design and engineering software on the Mac platform. Bringing AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS to the Mac shows our continued commitment to making design more accessible for an ever-greater number of people to shape the world around them." What's also notable about AutoCAD LT is that Autodesk is the one of the first major publishers to bring its flagship product to the Mac App Store. The thing that stopped them from bringing the full version of AutoCAD for Mac to the Mac App Store was its price: $3,995. As Hanspal noted, developers can not price apps above $999.99 on the Mac App Store. With Autodesk leaping into the Mac App Store it will be interesting to see if other major developers like Adobe and Microsoft follow suite with their flagship products.
Daily Mac App: Paprika Recipe Manager
I've been using Paprika Recipe Manager from Hindsight Labs on my iPad for a couple of months, and I've found it's turned my iPad into an invaluable kitchen tool. The only drawback to the app has been that the iPad's touchscreen keyboard made entering recipes by hand somewhat cumbersome. That won't be an issue anymore, because Paprika Recipe Manager is now available in the Mac App Store. Those familiar with Paprika on iOS devices won't find any surprises. The interface is largely the same, though obviously optimized for the traditional mouse/keyboard setup on the Mac. If you haven't used Paprika on any device and you do a lot of cooking, you'll find it an invaluable tool that goes beyond mere recipe management. You might look at an app like Paprika and think, "Why pay for that when I can just enter everything in Excel or something?" That's a fair question, and Paprika's features go a long way toward answering it. The app's built-in template allows you to enter ingredients, instructions, prep time, cook time, and serving sizes manually, but Paprika's powerful, built-in web browser will "grab" recipes from many sites with a single click. To get started, click on the Browser tab in Paprika's side bar to bring up Google (you can change the app's search options via the preferences). Next, simply search for a recipe. If you find one on a site that Paprika supports, click "Save Recipe" in the upper right-hand corner to import it into Paprika's database. You've just created an entire recipe with a single click. This one-click function supports many sites, but if you've found a site isn't part of Paprika's database, all is not lost. You'll find individual clipboard buttons for Name, Ingredients, Directions, and so on at the bottom of the screen, which you can fill in as needed. It's slower than the one-click solution, but still faster than adding a recipe entirely by hand. Like a few other recipe manager apps, Paprika also includes a meal planner, a grocery list function that allows you to add recipe ingredients to your shopping list with one click, and a "scale" function that will allow you to scale recipes up or down depending on how many servings you want to make. This last function can occasionally get confused by recipes with both U.S. and metric measurements, so you may still have to dust off your second-grade memories of fractions. As someone who owns the iPad app, I'm interested in Paprika's syncing service. It's been available on the iOS apps for some time, via a US$9.99 per year in-app purchase. Paprika for Mac comes with this service enabled for free, and once you've created an account on Paprika for Mac you can share information on your iOS device(s). To send recipes to your iPad or iPhone from your Mac, just click the syncing icon in the lower left of Paprika's window. This feature alone makes Paprika for Mac invaluable. Creating and managing recipes on the Mac is easier than it is on the iPad, but carrying my Mac into the kitchen is out of the question. Being able to sync everything to my iPad is a killer feature. At US$19.99, Paprika is significantly pricier than its iOS equivalents, but it's priced well in line with similar Mac apps. The only possible stumbling block for potential buyers is that Paprika requires OS X Lion. Anyone still running Mac OS X Snow Leopard is out of luck. The interface is also very mouse-driven, which may be a potential turnoff for the keyboard enthusiasts out there. Recipe manager apps have been around for a long time, but Paprika's one-click recipe downloader and cloud syncing with the iPhone and iPad are worth the price of admission by themselves. If you're like me and you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, Paprika is definitely worth a download.
Daily Mac App: Drive Mounter
If you have multiple network drives in multiple locations, repeatedly finding and mounting them manually gets old, fast. Drive Mounter takes the tedium out of mounting drives by automating the process. OK, mounting drives can be done at login pretty easily, especially if you're only ever going to be in one place; you can even set up scripts to auto-mount drives here and there. But what happens when you have a portable Mac that you take with you and need different drives mounted in different locations on different networks? Drive Mounter makes it easy by doing all the hard work for you. It remembers which drives should be mounted on which networks and mounts them accordingly when you boot or resume you Mac. It's simple to use, just mount the drives you want to setup once on each network you connect to and record their details in Drive Mounter. Next time you resume from sleep Drive Mounter will mount the appropriate drives for your currently connected network, WiFi or LAN, allowing you to get on with your work. You can also manually force Drive Mounter to mount all the drives on its list, or temporarily disable Drive Mounter if you don't need it. It's got both a Dock icon, which can be disabled, and a menu bar icon from quick access. Drive Mounter is available for US$5.99 and if you connect a lot of network drives, could take the headache out of your work flow. Users familiar with AppleScript will be able to create something like this for free, but for the rest of us, who just want it to work, Drive Mounter could be just the ticket.
Go edging and win free games, your name in Edge, coming soon to MAS
You may remember Edge, the iOS game that picked up a little bit of controversy for a disagreement over the name's trademark. That disagreement has been settled, and the title is now coming out on Steam on August 11, and the Mac App Store a few days after that. To celebrate, Mobiegame and fellow developer Two Tribes are holding an "edging" contest with a very nice prize. Winners will receive each company's entire game catalog, including Edge, Toki Tori, the popular 2D RTS Swords and Soldiers and plenty more. Plus, the winner will get their name included in the Steam release of Edge. You'll be immortalized in the title forever. To enter, you need to take a video of yourself "edging," which is an activity similar to the recent fad of "planking," where you try to hang on to any overhead edge for as long as possible. You can watch the contest announcement video for some goofy examples of how to (and how not to) do it. Seems simple enough to me. Videos have to be submitted by August 15, so get edging right away. Good luck to everyone who enters!
Daily Mac App: Pinball HD
Looking for some classic arcade gaming action on your Mac? Pinball HD might just hit the spot. Originally released for iOS, Pinball HD has made the jump to the Mac App Store bringing you three tables in one and upping the graphics to take advantage of modern Mac hardware. Tables include Wild West, where you have to try and rob a bank and kill Dirty Harry; The Deep, which takes you down to the sea floor; and Jungle Style, which yes, you guessed it, takes you on a trek through the jungle, pinball style. Pinball HD looks great either windowed or fullscreen, with three graphics modes and 2x and 4x anti-aliasing to suit every Mac (a 2011 15" MacBook Pro didn't even break a sweat with everything maxed out). You've even got the option of playing in 3D using some traditional color-based 3D glasses if you have them. Game play is pretty good, with realistic physics and no detectable latency. Each of the tables have missions, which you unlock as you might expect, by hitting targets and fulfilling certain criteria. In Wild West for instance you first unlock the bank vault by hitting targets up top, then you can go rob it by firing the ball into the vault. It's pretty easy to keep up with the action, as the three camera modes do a good job of keeping an eye on the ball. For US$2.99 of your hard-earned cash, Pinball HD brings you enough pinball action to your Mac to keep you entertained on a rainy day.
eBay app up for grabs in Mac App Store
eBay auctioneers unite! A new eBay app just became available on the Mac App Store to help you search for bargains. The eBay app (free) doesn't have seller capabilities, so if you're planning on making your first billion by selling stuff online, you'll still need to get another app like GarageSale or stick to using the horrific eBay website. The eBay app has very few reviews so far on the App Store, most of which are griping about the inability to sell items through the app. The app is very useful for searching, saving searches, and watching auctions, and takes up very little real estate on your Mac desktop. I found it to be quick in terms of response time, much faster than what I usually see when using the eBay website with Safari. %Gallery-130252% The watch list under the My eBay tab in the app is quite interesting, as it updates about every five seconds and displays last minute bid changes without needing to manually refresh. If you're a Mac-owning fan of eBay and love to pick up bargains online, the eBay app is definitely worth the download.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Bookworm
If you're into word games, today's Daily Mac App will be right up your street. Bookworm, from PopCap, is a word game that combines Boggle-style word making with Bejeweled-style tile removal. You're presented with a board of tiles filled from the top that's seven columns wide and seven to eight tiles high. You link adjacent tiles to make words with a minimum length of three letters and for each word you make you get points based on its length and letter types. Each word removes those used tiles from the board. The "Classic game" is simple enough, but as you progress you must deal with "burning tiles" that burn through letters, dropping down one tile per turn. If they reach the bottom of the board it's game over, so you have to use them in a word pretty fast. Other special tiles come into play as rewards. Green tiles appear randomly and will increase your word score if you include them. Gold tiles are earned by creating words with five letters or more, and are worth even more. Diamond and sapphire tiles are also available for massive scores. You can boost your score by creating the suggested bonus words that pop up too. There's also an "Action game" that drops many more burning tiles requiring you to match words as quick as you can to survive. It's a great game for word game fans and can get pretty addictive as you level up at the end of each round. Bookworm is available for US$6.99 from the Mac App Store, directly from PopCap if you're not on Snow Leopard or Lion and is available in the browser for free too.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Solebon Solitaire
Card games have been our entertainment fall back for generations. Solebon Solitaire for the Mac brings the quality, small screen experience of Solebon Solitaire for iOS to your desktop screen. Solebon Solitaire for Mac features 42 solitaire card games in one. You've got old favorites from Klondike, Yukon and Golf to original games such as Ambrose, Provisional and Honeybees -- it's one of the most comprehensive card game collections out there. Smallware have taken the simplicity and clean look from their original iOS offering and brought it to the Mac. It offers a slick, well-animated interface that avoids the frivolous for ease of use. The cards are large, easy to read and look great while card movement animations, deals and transitions are fast and well done. There are no cheats or hints in Solebon; it's serious solitaire for serious players. Some games have options like reverse layouts, the ability to switch on auto play (which speeds up repetitive tasks like moving the cards to the stocks) and the option to disable undo. Speaking of undo, there's unlimited undo available just in case you get stuck. Each game has full lifetime stats, scoring, move tracking and a timer. If you're new to the game there's a full rules sidebar available to get you going. Solebon Solitaire is a well-executed, comprehensive collection of solitaire card games that are easy to play with a mouse or a trackpad. If you like playing cards in the real world, then Solebon is definitely worth checking out for US$4.99.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: DTerm
The Terminal is a Mac power-user's best friend. When you need to get something specific done, access the underlying system, modify files or change some settings, command line is often the best and only way to get it done. Instead of having to go to it, DTerm brings the command line to you. Working in the command line normally means stepping out of your current workflow and stepping into Terminal. Although it can affect anything on the system, and helps you get the job done, it's a very separate process. DTerm, which we covered back in 2008, makes Terminal access context-sensitive. From anywhere in any program you can invoke DTerm using a user-configurable global hotkey, from there you can run commands on the files you're currently working with. No need to manually go through and navigate to the correct file directory, DTerm takes your command line session right there, already set to your current working directory. You can even insert the currently selected documents directly into the command line making it quick and easy. You can run your commands as you normally would, right from the floating DTerm window and even copy them straight out of the prompt. Once you're done you can just hit escape, use the hotkey combo again or simply ignore DTerm and it'll automatically fade out. DTerm brings the command line to you, integrating it more effectively and quickly into your work flow. It's a free download from the Mac App Store and is compatible with Lion. If you ever find yourself in Terminal as part of your workflow, give DTerm a whirl and see whether it speeds up your command line sessions.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Bejeweled 3
Fancy an addictive, fun, casual game for your Mac? Look no further than the classic Bejeweled, now back in its third iteration on the Mac. Played either in full screen or windowed, the standard game hasn't changed, you still match three or more gems in a row to clear them from the board. There are four different play modes to choose from: classic, which you just match the gems until you can't make any more moves, levelling up as you go; Zen, where the board is shaken up if you can't move; Lightning, where you have to match against the clock; and Quest, where you have to complete a set task or puzzle to progress. Four secret modes are also available to unlock like Poker, a cross between gem matching and the classic card game, which are unlocked by playing the four regular game types. Bejeweled 3 has all sorts of fancy gems, which explode, zap and annihilate the gems, while the explosions and sound effects are joined by an announcer who blasts out "Excellent" and "Awesome" when you get on a roll. The game even has a fairly decent midi sound track to it. If you're a fan, the whole experience really draws you in so be prepared to waste a good hour or two before you know it. As with most modern games Bejeweled 3 also comes with achievements in the form of 20 badges to collect, including five "Elite" badges, while you can level up with experience points gained from playing each of the games. Bejeweled 3 is available from the Mac App Store for the rather dear US$19.99, but if you've played the free online version and want the ads gone and a native experience, Bejeweled 3 for Mac delivers in droves and there's even a free trial to test it out.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Producteev
Task management is something most loathe but have to do to keep productive. Producteev, a previously web and iPhone app focused task management service has just launched a Mac app. Producteev focuses on creating and managing tasks with the ability to connect those tasks with other people, other services and sync them to the web. You can create tasks in different categories, arrange them by due date, attach notes and files to them, and even comment on them. You can set up alerts for deadlines and get notified through the app itself, Growl, the Menu bar or Dock icons, or even via email and Gcal with a little help from the web app. You can also apply customizable color coded labels to your tasks to help you differentiate them from one another, as well as "Star" them with a rating from one to five. For an individual, Producteev could be a little over complicated for what you need unless you're a serious multi-level task manager. But for a team, Producteev allows you to share tasks, create and assign them to others (individuals and groups of people) and has the potential to make collaborative tasks just that little bit easier. Comments and file attachments allow adjustments and additions to a task, while everyone can monitor progress and pitch in if needed. The Mac app portion of Producteev is free and so is an individual account with up to two users sharing workspaces. If you want more plans start at US$5 per month and reach up to $30 a month for unlimited users and 1.5 GB of file storage (with a two-week free trial).
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Moonlight Mahjong
There are few games quite as relaxing to play as Mahjong solitaire. Moonlight Mahjong is a great free solitaire game for the Mac, that's tuned for using a trackpad. Not to be confused with classic game of mahjong, Mahjong solitaire is a tile matching game where you're presented with a pile of tiles taken from mahjong (hence the name), with the task of matching pairs to whittle down the pile. The tiles are stacked on top of each other, making only a limited number available for matching at any one time. Moonlight Mahjong gives you the choice of four different playing modes: Scramble and Challenge modes, where you compete against the computer, aka "Tilebot" to clear the board; Puzzle, which is classic mahjong solitaire without Tilebot; and finally Relaxation, which is like Puzzle mode but there are no time limits and your tiles are automatically reshuffled. The 3D tiles give you a bit of depth perception, while the pile is displayed atop one of its gorgeous backgrounds. You've got the choice of some beautiful Hubble images, paintings or photos, while the sound effects have a wind-chime style to them. Having come from iOS, the developers have given the game a touch-like feel by implementing decent multi-touch trackpad controls. You can select a tile by just lifting your finger off the trackpad, while you can move the pile about with standard gestures (pinch-to-zoom etc). Moonlight Mahjong looks great, plays well and adds a little competitive element with the introduction of your Tilebot playing partner. If you're looking for a relaxing game for your Mac and like matching tiles, the free Moonlight Mahjong is definitely worth a look.
PayPal reportedly overcharging some customers for OS X Lion
OS X Lion is only supposed to cost US$29.99 to install on any Macs associated with your iTunes account. Some Lion buyers who purchased it through PayPal are seeing charges way higher than thirty bucks, however. Multiple users have reported the issue on Apple's support forums, and Lion buyer John Christman emailed us earlier today saying PayPal showed nearly $4000 in fees associated with Lion. Apple support is now aware of the problem, and it's been classified as a "known issue" that they're looking into. Meanwhile, several affected customers are seeing their bank accounts significantly overdrawn, with all of the heinous additional bank fees that go along with that, so hopefully Apple also makes good on those additional fees. If there's a lesson to draw from this, here it is: if you pay for iTunes purchases through PayPal, it's probably a good idea to switch to another payment method until this gets sorted out. If you haven't bought Lion yet and you're worried about paying 100 times more for it than you're supposed to, you can always pay for it with an iTunes gift card.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Stuffit Expander
Being able to decompress the plethora of archive types that are flying about the intertubes these days is essential. Stuffit Expander, the free extract-only part of the Stuffit suite is a great utility to have when Finder, or even the Unarchiver, just can't help you out. There are quite a few free extraction tools available for the Mac. We've got the Unarchiver and TinyExpander just to name a few, but Smith Micro's Stuffit Expander handles several file formats that most others just can't, including Smith Micro's .sitx files, with aplomb. It's simple to use, either open the archive from Finder with Stuffit Expander, drag-and-drop the file onto the Expander program or open the archive directly within the app. You can even just drag-and-drop your file onto Stuffit Expander's dock icon to quickly extract the file. If you're going to use it as your primary archive extractor you can also assign various different archive file formats to Stuffit Expander from within the program preferences. When other extractors just can't cope with that unusual archive type, Stuffit Expander steps in. From MIME, StuffitX and yEncode, to AppleSingle, ARC and .btoa files, Stuffit Expander can get you what you need and for that reason, regardless of whether you use the Unarchiver or its kin, it's an essential free Mac app. Stuffit Expander is available for free from the Mac App Store.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: TrashMe
Deleting unused programs to make some space for Lion? You need an app like recently updated TrashMe. It's an app uninstaller with both drag-and-drop to uninstall and application listings that will handle any program you have installed, widgets, Preference panes and even plugins, moving them to the trash with their associated files. TrashMe will also scan user configurable folders for applications, places like the Downloads folder, from which you might have fired up a program once, but never really used it and forgot about it. You can set certain apps as protected, with the Apple default apps protected as standard, just so you don't accidentally delete something important. Like AppCleaner and AppTrap, TrashMe also supports intelligent Trash monitoring (Smart Detection), allowing you to just delete an application the way Apple intended. It will then detect the trashing of an application and offer to find any files that might be associated with it. With the help of a little add-on that can be downloaded from the developers site, TrashMe can also delete files and applications that you don't have write access for. There are also some "hidden" OS X preferences TrashMe can change too, which include the suppression of .DS_Store files on network volumes, a setting to show or hide hidden files and folders and also the ability to disable the warning that OS X pops up when you launch downloaded applications for the first time. TrashMe version 2 is a highly polished uninstaller app that is currently available for US$4.99 from the Mac App Store. Thanks to topherrjames for the suggestion.
Apple expands iOS and Mac App Store into 33 new territories, Tuvalu strangely absent
Brought that shiny new unlocked iPhone 4 home to Tanzania, only have your first App Store experience end in tears? We certainly sympathize, and apparently Apple's heard your plea. Interested developers can now head on over to the iTunes Connect portal, where they'll tick some new checkboxes and soon be on their way, peddling their wares to an additional 33 locales -- but not the home of .tv, unfortunately. Curious if your nation made the cut? Hop on past the break and see if Cupertino thinks you're worthy.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: DaisyDisk
Trying to find space hogs on your various disks can be a nightmare. DaisyDisk makes it easier by letting you visualize your hard drives with beautiful circular sunburst maps. There are quite a few disk space visualizers out there, Disk Inventory X, which we featured recently on the Daily Mac App recently, is a good example that uses classic treemaps to display your data. DaisyDisk, which we reviewed in March, uses a variation on the theme, by representing you disks as circular interactive maps. Zoomed out you see the whole disk at once, from there you can identify any large folders that likely harbor space wasting files. Clicking on one of the folders from the side menu or directly on the map will then take you into that folder and give you another map of the data this time just in that folder. You can quickly drill down and find large files, with gorgeous looking and well animated maps generated each time you click through. Once you've identified a possible candidate for deletion, you can use Quick Look to check out the file by hovering over it and hitting the space bar. If you think it's a file you can do without, you can delete it right from DaisyDisk by hitting delete or dragging it to the target in the lower right-hand corner. DaisyDisk is simple to use, scans your disks really fast and makes hunting for junk files quick, easy and fun. It's an incredibly slick program that's a must-have if you're doing a serious clear out. DaisyDisk is available for US$19.95 from the developers site and will run on Leopard and up, or is currently on sale for half price at $9.99 in the Mac App Store. Thanks to Niko JP 12 for the suggestion.
Poll: Did you download Mac OS X Lion (10.7)?
Apple confirmed Lion's big day during the company's Q3 earnings call this week, and Mac OS 10.7 hit the App Store right on schedule yesterday morning, allowing us to give Snow Leopard the boot and make room for the king of the jungle. We've already installed Lion on a half-dozen of our own systems, testing the new operating system with a variety of configurations for our review. But we want to know about your experience. Did you pull an all-nighter on Tuesday, backing up files, reformatting drives, and updating to 10.6.8? Are you still rockin' dial-up and waiting for the $69 flash drive version to ship next month? Or perhaps you're a PC user, holding out for Windows 8? Let us know in the poll below, and feel free to expand on your decision in the comments as well.%Poll-66596%
Lion will ship on USB drives in August
In the hustle and the bustle today, we failed to note a minor detail in Apple's Lion press announcement, but MacRumors picked it up: Users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school can download Lion at Apple retail stores and later this August, Lion will be made available on a USB thumb drive through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) for $69 (US). So much for the absence of physical media. The option to download at an Apple Store is nice (either bring your Mac, or bring a drive with enough free space to carry Lion home); the USB install media will be equally nice, and very welcome for those supporting multiple machines with touchy ISP connectivity. It's an extra $40, but them's the breaks.
Apple discontinues most boxed software
Considering that the Lion release today (which has gone swimmingly) was a vote of confidence, Apple has moved to get most of its boxed software out of the Apple Store completely, sending a notice out to retailers to discontinue titles like iWork '09, iLife '11, Aperture 3, and most of GarageBand's Jam Pack addons. All of that software will of course be available on the App Store with a download, but Apple won't be keeping them in the actual retail store any longer. This follows Apple's actions earlier this year to remove a number of peripherals and retail games included inside Apple Stores. Much of the hardware is still available, and of course the games can be purchased with a digital download, but Apple seems to want to have its stores as clean and simple as possible. And who can blame them? Apple's latest strategy has been to narrow down product lines and streamline software purchases with an App Store model, and that's worked out just great so far. With Lion already a solid indicator that customers are ready to take to the Mac App Store when needed, there's little if any reason left to bother with actual boxes and discs any more.
