Mac App Store - page 13

Apple has released the Gold Master build of the next version of of its Mac OS X operating system to developers, meaning that 10.7 Lion could see release to the public as early as next week, exclusively through the Mac App Store.

For users looking to upgrade, this is uncharted territory: the first OS X upgrade to be delivered digitally. To help you prepare for Lion and guarantee your machine is one hundred percent ready to upgrade the second Lion drops, we’ve put together this handy guide.

Here’s how to prepare your Mac for Lion, and do it right.

We know the release of OS X Lion is imminent, not just because Apple said it was coming in July, but because supplies of MacBook Airs and MacBooks are dangerously constrained, yet Apple is holding back new models.

So when’s Lion dropping? The latest rumor says right after this holiday weekend… and we’re inclined to believe it.

As some of you may already be aware from the previous posts I’ve written, I’m a huge fan of first-person shooters. While I’m certain I could never pluck up the courage to handle real arsenal, the number of precious years I’ve wasted on FPS games is frightening.

One of my favorite first-person shooters for iOS is Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. 2, which has just dropped into the Mac App Store, and will no doubt ensure my family don’t see much of me this weekend.

We love Jan Michael Cart’s incredible iOS concept videos. We still wish Apple would bring his dashboard and voice recognition concepts to iOS 5.

Perhaps Cart’s latest idea is the one most closely in reach: he envisions cross-platform text chat between iOS and OS X computers, and foresees Apple releasing their new iMessage client on the Mac App Store.

Final Cut Pro X might now finally be available for purchase on the Mac App Store for a lower price than ever, but for some video professionals, it has not been worth the wait: a pretty update that sadly jettisons many of the features that they depend on. There may be hope on the horizon, though: Apple has reportedly claimed that Final Cut Pro X will be getting some of these missing features in future updates.

Apple just announced its all-new Final Cut Pro X video editing software, which is now available from the Mac App Store today along with Motion 5 and Compressor 4.

The Reeder app from Silvio Rizzi has been one of the most successful Google Reader clients for iOS devices, and has proven to be incredibly popular on the Mac since its beta release last November. Today, Reeder leaves its beta tag behind and arrives in the Mac App Store.

Apple’s been promising that come Lion, OS X and OS X Server will be united… but with Snow Leopard Server costing $470 more than a retail copy of OS X, how will that go down?

New evidence suggests it’ll be simple: every copy of Lion will be able to function as a server, but you’ll need to enable that functionality by purchasing it through the Mac App Store.

Next time you install OS X? You’ll be slurping it down through the Mac App Store, not loading it up through an optical disc like some sort of caveman.

Never one to shy away for “Me-Too”-isms, Amazon has just launched their own analogue to the popular Mac App Store.

Weather HD is already one of the most successful weather applications for iOS devices – featuring in our roundup of the best weather applications in the App Store. Now Vimov have brought their creation to the Mac App Store to change the way in which you view the weather forecast on your Mac.

Shortly after announcing big changes to its web application, Twitter has pushed out an update to its free application for the Mac. Version 2.1 boasts an improved user interface and new features that make the application a whole lot nicer.

A digital game manual discovered on Steam for the upcoming Duke Nukem Forever release features some information regarding Apple’s App Store that suggests the title could be headed to iOS devices.

Starjimstar from the Touch Arcade forums found that at the bottom of all the legal text in the game’s documentation, there’s some “Apple App Store Additional License Terms.”

The latest build of Mac OS X Lion introduces an iOS-like method of removing applications installed via the Mac App Store. Within the new Launchpad application, users can click and hold on an app’s icon to start the ‘jiggling’ – just like in iOS – and an ‘X’ button appears in the corner of each icon which users can click to uninstall applications.

Don’t worry about deleting applications accidentally, however; just like iOS, users will be greeted with a message that asks them whether they’re sure they wish to delete the application. Clicking delete will move the application, and any files associated with it, to the Trash.

This feature currently only works with applications purchased from the Mac App Store, but I’m hoping it works with any application installed on your Mac when Lion is finally released.

[via MacRumors]

In an internal memo to its employees, Apple has announced the end of its iWork and MobileMe rebate programs with effect from close of business on April 18th. The rebate programs allowed customers to save $30 on MobileMe when purchasing a new Mac or iPad, and $30 on iWork when purchasing a new Mac.

The termination of these programs follows reports that Apple is set to revamp its MobileMe service over the coming months. A new MobileMe service, said to feature a digital “music locker” for streaming content from the cloud to Apple devices – as well as the “Media Stream” and “Find my Friends” features – is rumored to launch either later this month or at WWDC in June.

Though it’s not clear why iWork was also cut from the rebate program, it’s believed this is simply due to the release of iWork 2011 later this year. I think the the Mac App Store could also play a part in this: if Apple has decided to offer future iWork releases exclusively through the App Store as separate purchases, there may be a new way for customers to claim rebates – such as promo codes – or no rebates at all.

[via 9to5 Mac]

Good news for RSS users: NetNewsWire Lite is now in the Mac App Store.

This free news reader remains one of the nicest around, and this new update looks particularly smart, with new toolbar icons and a complete re-write of all the code behind the scenes.

Note that “Lite” means “lite”. This is a deliberately lightweight, stripped-down cousin of the much meatier NetNewsWire application (which will be on the App Store at a later date). That means that some features some people insist on – like syncing with Google Reader – are not included.

But if, like me, you just want to keep an eye on some feeds and do it quickly, NNW is an excellent choice of news reader. Recommended.

Although buyers of new MacBook Pros should have it come preinstalled on their machines, if you want FaceTime on your existing Mac, it’s going to cost you some bread, or beans, or shekels, or whatever your preferred pecuniary vernacular.

It won’t cost you much, though. Coming out of public beta, FaceTime for Mac has just hit the Mac App Store for just $0.99.

Changes over the beta aren’t significant… but explicit mention is made that 720p video calling is supported. Considering the fact that today’s MacBook Pros ship with “FaceTime HD” cameras, it looks like Apple has finally embraced the full capabilities of their 1280×1024 FaceTime nee iSight webcams.

Last week, one of the most interesting Mac programs to come out in years hit the App Store in Sparrow for Mac, an elegant and attractive e-mail client that looks and acts a lot like Twitter.

I loved it, comparing it to more full-featured clients like Postbox 2 by saying Sparrow was “the equivalent of skipping stones, not piloting a submarine.”

I decided to reach out to Sparrow for Mac team member Dom Leca and ask him a few questions about the origins, inspiration and future of the e-mail program that treats your Gmail as if it were Twitter.

So how are things going over on the Mac App Store? What are developers noticing when their apps first go on sale there?

Marzban Cooper, one of the team behind zen word processor OmmWriter, spoke to Cult of Mac today with some interesting observations about the transition to the Store, and its effect on sales.

His only wish? That there was a similar store for Windows, so he could do the same with the forthcoming Windows version of the application.

If you bought your copy of excellent FTP client Transmit directly from its makers at Panic Inc, then stand up and shout “YAY”, because you can go grab yourself an updated version today.

But if you bought your copy via the magical Mac App Store, turn towards Cupertino and shout “BOO”, because the exact same update was submitted to their approval system three weeks ago, and still hasn’t been approved.

Mizage, makers of the Divvy window management application, have come up with a clever way round the problem of migrating customers from traditional online purchases to official Mac App Store purchases: if you can prove you’ve bought their app twice, they’ll refund your original payment.

Even if you haven’t heard of Michael Göbel before, perhaps you’ve encountered his software. A prolific worker, Michael’s been building an impressive portfolio of applications over the last few years.

Like all developers, he now faces the new challenges of selling via the Mac App Store, and today sent out an email to customers explaining his plans for the future.

As you might expect, the new App Store manages software updates in a manner very similar to the iOS Store you’ll be familiar with if you use an iDevice.

If there are updates available for any of your installed applications, the Updates icon in the toolbar will sport a numbered icon telling you how many, as shown above.

To install the updates, just go to the Updates tab and click the UPDATE button:

During the update, you’ll see a little progress bar in situ, telling you when things are downloading and when they’re installing. If you previously removed the app from your Dock when it installed from the App Store, it won’t be re-added to the Dock by the installation process.

The Mac App Store had a pretty big first day, racking up over a million downloads, but that’s more than just a big number for Apple… even successful software companies with proven distribution strategies are being wowed by the sort of numbers they’re seeing.

Take the chart above courtesy of Evernote, the popular virtual notebook and productivity suite. Note what happens to the Mac numbers come the Mac App Store launch day. Holy bejeebus.

There’s still some confusion regarding the new Mac App Store, and how it works with applications you already own.

The App Store software tries hard to spot which applications you already have installed, but it doesn’t always get this right.

The result is that sometimes the Store will show you an “Installed” icon, but sometimes it won’t even when it ought to. In which case, it will offer you the chance to buy an app, even if you already own it.

As far as I can see, there are several likely scenarios…