We use Skype a lot to keep in touch with everyone at Cult of Mac, so we’re always happy to see some solid updates come out for the app.
Earlier today, Skype released version 4.6 of their iOS app, which brings a couple of new features as well as some bug fixes and general improvements. Like some previous versions of Skype though, this one doesn’t work with jailbroken iPhones so not everyone will get to enjoy the glory.
Hot on the heels of a hack over the weekend that compromised Evernote users’ emails, usernames and passwords — and resulted in the company initiating a password reset on all accounts — Evernote’s hurrying through a new two-factor authentication process, which would allow you to authorize your account in a variety of ways, like entering a code you receive by SMS message.
Evernote’s not the only company to roll out two-factor authentication after a breach: Dropbox also introduced two-factor authentication after a hack last year. If Evernote uses Dropbox’s method, it won’t be obligatory, but instead something you turn on optionally in your account. Better safe than sorry.
Source: Information Week
Google has released the first update to its official Maps app for the iPhone. Google Maps 1.1 includes integration with Google Contacts so you can quickly search for friends’ addresses by name. There’s also a local places search for finding business around you with keywords like “restaurants” and “bars.”
Evernote just released an update for its Mac app, and if you got it from the App Store you mightn’t notice anything new other than being forced to change your password because Evernote got hacked. But if you got the update from outside the MAS, then you can enjoy the fancy new clipper that sits in the menu bar.
iOS 6.1.2 is out now, quashing some battery life and Microsoft Exchange issues… but is it safe to update if you’re a jailbreaker?
Right now, the answer to that question is a qualified no. If you want to keep your jailbreak, you shouldn’t update yet, but according to Team Evad3rs member Planetbeing, iOS 6.1.2 will in all likelihood be jailbreakable in very quick time. [Update: Planetbeing now says that Evasi0n will be updated tonight with iOS 6.1.2 support!]
The official Dropbox app for iOS has today been updated to add push notifications and an all-new PDF viewer. With version 2.1, users will now receive an alert when a folder has been shared with them. The update is available to download from the App Store now.
Rdio — for my money, the best à la carte streaming music subscription service out there — just released a nice update to their iOS app, making it easier (and prettier) than ever to interact with your music.
If you run a Mac server, check your Mac App Store updates: OS X Server 2.2.1 has arrived, bringing a panoply of new features and bug fixes.
Headlining is a new feature called Caching Server, which Apple claims will speed up Mac App Store downloads. Although the exact mechanism isn’t stated, it’s easy to imagine that what will happen is if one Mac connected to the server downloads an update, it’ll be cached locally for other Macs to download instantly.
There’s also a monitoring service for Time Machine, telling admins which Macs have backed themselves up and when. Wiki Server support for Retina MacBook Pros and a new Centralized Certificate Management interface are also new.
You can download OS X Server for any Mac running Mountain Lion at the link below.
Source: iTunes
Google Currents 2.0, the latest edition of Google’s magazine-like news reader, has today arrived on iOS — just over a month after it launched on Android. The update brings a whole host of new features and improvements, including the edition sidebar, fast scan, and breaking stories ranked by Google News.
Cyclemeter, long my favorite iPhone app for tracking and recording my rides using GPS, has been updated to support the iPad. This makes it — as far as I know anyway — the only app which will natively turn your iPad mini into a dash-mounted in-flight computer for your bike.
The official YouTube Capture for iPhone and iPod touch has today been updated to introduce support for 1080p video uploading — a feature which many felt should have been included from day one. Prior to this update, which also promises improvements to audio sync and upload speeds, users were limited to uploads in 720p resolution.
According to Google engineer, Frank Petterson, on his own Google+ profile page, the search giant’s social network iOS apps just got a little more international, as the app just became available in 48 new countries and territories.
If you need something with more oomph for managing your photos than iPhoto but don’t really care for Aperture, good news: Adobe has updated Photoshop Lightroom to version 4.3, not just fixing a ton of bugs, but adding Retina support for MacBook Pros and adding support for twenty new digital cameras.
Writing Kit, the app with which I write each and every Cult of Mac post for your daily enjoyment, has received an update. And it’s a big one. If you never use the app much, it might at first appear to have changed very little. But if you’re a regular writer, then the changes are huge.
Paper is an iPad app which proves that you don’t need to add bells and whistles to your software if it’s well designed. Unless your app is a bell and whistle simulator, I guess.
But Paper, which won fans with its ultra-simple interface and amazingly natural brush-and-paint engine, really was a little too stripped down. The new v1.2.1 fixes that, adding custom color palettes and a very sweet new color mixer, plus support for a pressure-sensitive stylus.
So, the wacky little app-thingy that we all wondered about in iOS 6, Passbook, seems like it’s starting to grow up a bit. Now, when you tap the App Store button in the Passbook App, the new “Apps for Passbook” section of the iTunes App Store, only available via your iPhone running iOS, has quite a few new apps available.
Apple updated iPhoto ’11 today to version 9.4.1, which includes several bug fixes, including an issue with downloading or viewing photos synched from Facebook albums, a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion. The update can be found in the Mac App Store directly, or pulled up in the Software Update item in the Apple Menu.
The iOS 6-compatible updates continue to deluge our App Store apps, and the latest is Drafts, the excellent inbox for almost everything on your iPhone or iPad. Drafts takes plain text (or Markdown text) and pipes it to any and every place you could possibly need it.
The update adds support for the new tall iPhone, as well as a whole bunch of neat iOS 6-only features. Let's take a quick look:
OmniFocus for iPad just got a big old update, and it adds two huge features, along with the usual tweaks (and in this case, iOS 6 compatibility).
Now, iPad users can enter tasks using Siri, and everyone can take advantage of TextExpander Touch support.
Subatomic Studios has released its first update to Fieldrunners 2, the popular sequel to the original tower defense game for the iPhone. Version 1.1 of Fieldrunners 2 is now available in the App Store, and the update brings an easier Causal mode, new map updates, Game Center integration, Endless mode, and more.
Apple just released OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion a month ago, and now it’s already got an update. If you click “Software Update…” from your Apple icon menu, 10.8.1 should be ready to download. The update weighs only 24.2MB, and is mostly just a bunch of bug fixes, but you can read the full notes here:
Shortly after iOS 6 beta 1 made its debut in early June, Cult of Mac reported that users are no longer required to enter their iTunes password when downloading updates or previous purchases from the App Store. In iOS 6 beta 3, Apple has expanded this feature to cover free apps, too.
The big advantage Jambone’s Jambox has over its competitors is upgradeable firmware. The speaker is in fact a tiny computer which can be updated from time to time. Previous additions have been the spookily excellent surround-sound simulation called Live Audio, and you can also install one of many apps which add new voices, or let you access third-party services.
The Jambox might not be the loudest or even the best-sounding speaker out there, but it is certainly the most future-proof. And now another update adds yet more new features.
Blogsy, the iPad blogging app, has been updated to version 4. In addition to working with a few new blogging services (Squarespace, Joomla and MetaWeblog), it adds a slew of new features. I have used Bloggsy in the past but found it had too many glitches and weird UI behaviors for me to actually work with it, so I had one question: Could I write this post in it without tearing my hair out?
CineXPlayer, the excellent, rock-solid, play-anything video player for iOS, had gotten yet another big update. Every time the app is bumped to a new version, I wonder what the developers will be able to add next time. And today’s answer is… Quite a lot.