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Daily Update for Sept. 8, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Final Cut Studio on sale again via Apple telesales, video editors worldwide breathe sighs of relief
If you're one of the many Final Cut Pro users unhappy with Apple's latest version -- and you haven't been lured into Adobe's open arms -- today brings good news. According to MacRumors, Cupertino will continue to offer the previous, discontinued version via telephone sales. Calling 800-MY-APPLE and asking for Final Cut Studio (part number MB642Z/A) will net you Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, Color 1.5 and Compressor 3.5 for $999, or $899 for qualified educational customers. That's a far cry from the $299.99 for Final Cut Pro X, but if you're interested in, say, opening legacy projects or outputting to tape, you might grudgingly pony up the extra dough.
Mac App Store highlights 'Enhanced for OS X Lion' apps
Apple has highlighted several apps on the Mac App Store that have been "Enhanced for OS X Lion." Apple's own iLife and iWork apps occupy the top spots, naturally, but over forty third-party apps are featured too. In Apple's words, "OS X Lion is packed with innovative features including Multi-Touch Gestures, Full-Screen Apps, Resume, Auto-Save, and Versions. Here are the apps and games currently taking advantage of these new enhancements." Apple's featured a wide array of apps, so there should be something there for everyone. If you're running OS X Lion, it's definitely worth a look.
Sparrow co-founder tells why the Mac App Store is crucial to his success
Sparrow co-founder Dominique Leca gave an interesting interview to Business Insider (BI) in which he reveals his thoughts about the Mac App Store from a developer's perspective. We've covered Sparrow, the popular third-party OS X email client, many times before. It launched on the Mac App Store at the beginning of the year and since then has become a hit, not only for its design, but for its tight integration with Gmail. The US$9.99 price for a full-featured app doesn't hurt either. But how does Leca feel about Apple taking almost a third of each sale? He's got no problem with it whatsoever. "We think the Mac App Store gives us a fair deal," Leca told BI. "It is required to get noticed, especially for an app like Sparrow. People don't wake up in the morning thinking they want to change their mail client. So more than any developer, we need to be there." He notes that after Sparrow debuted on the Mac App Store, the company started selling a licensed version on its website. After six months, only 2% of Sparrow sales come from their website, and 98% come from the Mac App Store. In six months of sales from the Mac App Store, Sparrow has made more than half a million dollars. That's more than enough to make Leca a fan of Apple's store. However, he does have some suggestions as to how Apple could improve the Mac App Store. He points out that users seem to be confused between the App Store for iOS devices and the Mac App Store. Many don't understand why they have to go to two different places to buy apps. He hopes that Apple will begin advertising the Mac App Store so users understand it better. He also notes that handling app updates is a bit of a pain in the Mac App Store. If there's a bug in an app, it could take as many as three to four days to get the fixed app into the store. "But on the bright side, developers have to ship something almost perfect. Without this, the Mac App Store would be crowded with junk apps." Finally Leca says that he wishes Apple would segregate their apps into a specific section of the Mac App Store -- one that is outside of the top charts -- so third-party apps could get more exposure. Many of Apple's products like Pages, Keynote, Numbers, FaceTime, iPhoto, and OS X Lion consistently hold top-12 spots in the top charts, which means some good Mac apps stay hidden behind the tiny "Show All" button. Leca has some other interesting thoughts about Apple and the Mac App Store so be sure to check out the original interview over on BI.
Daily Mac App: SiteSucker
Back in the pre-ubiquitous internet days, services like AvantGo allowed you to cache and store websites for offline viewing. These days there's little need for that kind of thing, simply because we're very rarely offline. Having said that, there are times when a solid internet connection just isn't available and it would be nice to keep on working, reading or browsing sites. That's where a program like SiteSucker comes in. SiteSucker, as the name suggests, sucks down a localized version of site of your choice to your Mac's hard drive for viewing offline. Simply type in the URL of the site you want and press "Download," SiteSucker will do the rest, scanning, downloading and processing the site into an offline viewable form for when you haven't got an internet connection on hand. The number of levels deep SiteSucker will scan and download can be user defined, so if you're looking for a small skim of the site, a one or two level archive will do. If you want a more in depth, browsable localised site something more like a four to six level download will probably be best. You can also set limits on the number of files downloaded, the minimum and maximum file size as well as a minimum image size to download. File type limits can also be imposed as can paths to include or exclude, and whether or not to limit it to the original site's server. Once you've got your site downloaded, it's just a case of opening it up in Safari or any other browser of your choice from your disk. If you've ever wanted to keep an offline version of a site for tinkering, browsing or analysis, SiteSucker gets the job done fast, efficiently and automatically, all for the great price of free from the Mac App Store.
Daily Mac App: ClamXav
Antivirus on a Mac might be a touchy subject, but if you'd like the reassurance of a virus scanner that's not intrusive and can be called on-demand, then the free ClamXav is a great choice. While you may or may not need a virus scanner on a Mac, there's no harm in having one that you can run as and when, perhaps if you're sending a file to a Windows using colleague for instance. Just because a potentially infected file goes totally unnoticed on your Mac, doesn't mean it's not going to wreak havoc on your poor unsuspecting friend's Windows box. ClamXav is the Mac GUI variant of the open source ClamAV project, and has recently entered the Mac App Store, making it even easier to get on-demand protection. Thanks to the ClamAV antivirus engine, ClamXav will detect both Mac and Windows threats and remove them quickly and easily. You get a Services menu option, which allows you to scan files as and when, be it that PDF you just downloaded or your entire disc. You can define file exclusions and even save your favorite scan locations for frequent scanning tasks. Virus definition updates are of course free, and you can get ClamXav to update when you first start the program or on a set schedule. While ClamXav may not be the fastest scanner on the block, it's free, gets the job done, and most importantly, won't bog your system down. If you ever share files with Windows users, or just want to make sure you're not going to fall foul of a Mac malware uprising if it ever comes into being, then ClamXav is a great occasional use scanner.
Daily Mac App: Full Deck Solitaire
Solitaire is one of the enduring classics of computer gaming, keeping all the skill and entertainment of the real thing and ditching all the shuffling and laying out. Full Deck Solitaire is fantastic free solitaire game available from the Mac App Store. Full Deck comes with 22 "deliciously delightful" solitaire games wrapped into one tight little package. You've got the old favorites like Klondike, Spider solitaire and Pyramid, combined with the less common likes of Thieves of Egypt and Tri Peaks solitaire -- there's something for almost everyone. The card movements are all well animated, with appropriate optional sound effects, and you've even got the option of an animated "video background" of the sea lapping up on the shore on a moonlit night. You can of course use your own background image if the stock green ones don't do it for you. You also have three decks to choose from antique, clean and large print, or if you hate all of them, you can define your own card backs from an image of your choice. You have three choices of card size too, meaning you can just about customise the whole card playing area to your liking, including playing full screen on Lion. Each game has a nice load of statistics, that tell you how many games you failed to win, at least in my case, and of course there's a full set of rules available should you have never played a particular game before. So, if you're looking for a decent solitaire game for your Mac on the cheap, you can't get much cheaper and better than the free Full Deck Solitaire.
OS X Lion 10.7.1 update hits Mac App Store - one week later
One week after its release through Software Update, the 10.7.1 update for OS X Lion has made its way onto the Mac App Store. It's not clear if the delay was intentional or not. Unforeseen technical issues may have complicated issuing an update to such a large piece of software on Apple's new app distribution platform. However, it's just as likely that this will be Apple's strategy going forward: offer OS X updates through traditional channels like Software Update and direct download to more tech-savvy users who typically watch for these kinds of things, give the update a week to settle, then offer the download to the more casual set who only updates via the Mac App Store. In that case, those of us who update right away might end up acting as de facto beta testers during that week. It's too early to tell either way what Apple's intent for future OS X updates will be. However, if the 10.7.2 Lion update has the same weeklong delay between Software Update and the Mac App Store, it makes it more likely that Apple plans to follow that pattern going forward.
Daily Mac App: War Pinball HD
Can't get enough pinball on your Mac? War Pinball HD from Gameprom takes the great pinball engine we saw in Pinball HD and adds some war film tie-ins to the mix. You've got three tables on offer in War Pinball HD, two based on Charlie Sheen flicks, Platoon and Navy Seals, and one on a Chuck Norris special, Missing in Action. Each table is stacked full of images, props and sounds from the movies. You've even got unique elements like Huey's, Subs and a giant Chuck Norris on the table that form part of the missions available to each table. Of course because it's war-themed you've got oodles of gun fire and explosions. Almost every action on the table has some sort of well thought out and integrated sound effect or clip from the respective movie, making the soundscape within War Pinball HD incredibly immersive. It draws you in and really adds to the action. In the settings there's a toggle for some of the more sweary clips, just in case youngsters are playing. Even the menu music and sound effects are great. If you're a fan of American war films, you're going to love it. The game's graphics look great of course, and you can even play it in 3D with some suitable glasses. Gameplay is top notch too, as each table plays really well, with enough side missions and targets to keep you entertained. If you're hankering for some decent pinball action on your Mac, the US$2.99 War Pinball HD brings pinball and war together to give you one of the best pinball games available in the Mac App Store.
Daily Mac App: Sunset
Sometimes your screen is just too bright in the evenings. For the sake of your eyes, Sunset lets you reduce the brightness of your monitor below that of the standard brightness controls and without having to adjust the backlight. If you reduce the brightness of your screen using the on-board controls, what you're doing is reducing the brightness of the backlight bulbs or LEDs behind the screen. Sometimes that can cause buzzing, or other droning noises, and sometimes that just isn't dim enough. Sunset takes a different approach purely in software that overlays a dimming mask over your screen with different levels to suit your brightness needs. This means that if your display makes an annoying sound when dimmed, or you just can't get it dim enough, Sunset will dim your display to your satisfaction without issue. Sure, dimming your display with Sunset doesn't affect electricity usage or the life of your backlight, but it will save your eyes at night. The little program sits in the menu bar and can be configured to respond to global shortcut keys like F1 & F2. If you have more than one display, Sunset can dim all of them to the same level or you can pick and choose which one to dim independently. The only thing missing is some sort of auto-dimming set to a specific timer, but the manual control works well. Sunset is great if your lowest monitor's brightness setting is just too bright, or it makes an annoying sound when not on full brightness. It's simple, easy to use and gets the job done for an introductory price of US$1.99 (regular price $3.99).
Browse vacation spots with Kayak Explore for Mac
Travel site Kayak.com has released its first OS X app, Kayak Explore. The app works as a sort of travel guidebook that helps users make up their minds about what destinations they should explore on their next trip. When you launch the app, you're presented with a map and five photos, each of which represents a different vacation destination. Beneath the photo, you'll find a price for the trip, including flights and hotel. At the bottom of the screen is a slider with back and next arrows, which cycles through the list of destinations. Adjusting the slider to the left or right allows you to select a price range. The filter bar allows you to customize the auto-generated vacation destinations. You can select from categories such as romantic, shopping, urban, historic, and more; change your departure airport; adjust the number of travelers and narrow your trip to a specific month. Clicking on any of the destinations brings up a details windows that shows flight prices from different airlines and details about the hotel, such as maps, photos, reviews and rates. If you want to book any of the flights or destinations, click the Book Now button, and it will take you to the provider's website where you can complete your purchase. I'm a fan of Kayak.com, and I think their Kayak HD app is one of the best travel apps for the iPad. However, the Kayak Explore Mac app seems almost pointless. It's more of a kiosk you'd expect to see at an airport or Kayak's website. While the effort is appreciated, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come in the Mac App Store: apps that are little more than branding materials for companies, serve little purpose or provide little more than shallow benefits for users. Kayak Explore is a free download from the Mac App Store.
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.
