Federico Viticci

10877 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

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Twitter for Mac Review: Love It, Hate It, Tweet It

At some point in the past months, I thought I would never had the chance to write this review. But it’s happening. Twitter for Mac, what you expected to be called Tweetie 2.0 before Atebits became part of Twitter, is now live in the Mac App Store. It’s available for free here.

Like I said, months ago an idea started to grow on me: Tweetie 2.0 for Mac, the way I saw it back then, was never going to happen. Kaput. Vaporware. Twitter killed it, and with it – Loren Brichter’s enthusiasm and passion and willingness to provide millions of Mac users out there the sequel to what I think it’s still one of the finest Twitter clients ever created for the platform. And it’s not that the term “sequel” doesn’t apply really well to this whole saga: Twitter acquired Atebits but Loren had promised that MacHeist customers would get early access to Tweetie 2; Tweetie for iPhone was rebranded; the guy even started making promises and interviews about an app that “was coming”. Just like in the best stories of sequels that seem to never happen, people began to lose faith in Brichter, Twitter and Tweetie 2.0. They moved on. Read more

Apple Releases Remote Desktop In The Mac App Store and 3.4 Update

Earlier today, Apple released its VNC app / remote administration and assistance software Apple Remote Desktop in the Mac App Store. The app is available here at $79.99 (Mac App Store link) and, together with Aperture, it’s one of the “pro apps” that Apple decided to feature for the Mac App Store grand opening.The app, specifically tailored for network admins and users who need to manage a series of OS X machines in a local network, offers a huge feature set with functionalities such as software distribution, task server for package installations, UNIX shell scripts execution on clients and remote Automator tasks.

Today Apple also released an update to Remote Desktop, which reaches version 3.4 and it’s the same version that’s being sold in the Mac App Store. There’s no real changelog for this update just yet, except that Apple marks it as “recommended” for all Apple Remote Desktop users and addresses compatibility issues. More information are available here.

You can buy Apple Remote Desktop in the Mac App Store here.

How To Fix Mac App Store “Error 100”

The Mac App Store went live less than an hour ago and as I installed the OS X 10.6.6 update required to use the new Store, I rebooted my computer and logged in the Mac App Store using my Apple ID. As I tried to download a free app, the Mac App Store returned Error 100, saying:

We could not complete your App Store request. An unknown error occurred.

We’re also getting several reports from users still unable to download apps from the Mac App Store because of this error. The cause seems to be lying in the fact that in the first minutes the Mac App Store went live and Apple let users log in with Apple IDs, they didn’t include the updated Terms and Conditions to accept before start using the Store. Thus many users, including me, logged in without accepting the Terms and were unable to download apps because they were stuck in some sort of “limbo”.

Here’s how you can fix it:

  • Sign out from the Mac App Store. You can do it by accessing the “Quick Links” section in the Mac App Store homepage and clicking on “Account”. Sign out.

  • Quit the Mac App Store app.

  • Log out from your computer; log in again.

  • Open the Mac App Store, sign in with your Apple ID, try to download a free app and accept the Terms and Conditions when asked. After that, the download should start.

  • If a logout doesn’t fix the issue, restart your Mac instead. We’re hearing that a reboot fixed the problem for many users.

If you’re still experiencing the issue, please let us know in the comments.

Twitter for Mac Is Live In The Mac App Store

Finally, it happened. Twitter for Mac, a.k.a Tweetie 2, is now available in the Mac App Store. It’s available here, for free. The long anticipated sequel to the original Tweetie for Mac marks a huge milestone for Twitter, and we’ll have a in-depth review later today.

In  the meantime, go download the app here and enjoy.

Apple Releases OS X 10.6.6 and Mac App Store

A few minutes ago Apple released OS X 10.6.6 with access to the Mac App Store in Software Update. It is available now as a free 114 MB download for Snow Leopard users. As noted by Macworld, the Mac App Store already includes some apps from Apple such as the iLife ‘11 suite with standalone apps sold at $15 each. Sadly, there’s no iWork ‘11 in the Mac App Store – the iWork ‘09 apps are sold at $20 each.

Aperture and Apple Remote Desktop are also on sale in the Mac App Store, both available at $79.99.

Full changelog and first screenshots of the Mac App Store below.

Update: here are the direct links to the OS X 10.6.6. update.

Update #2: And here’s everything you need to know about the Mac App Store.

Read more

You Can Buy Hacked iTunes Accounts in China

According to a report from AFP, hacked iTunes accounts complete with credit card information are available for sale on Chinese online retailer Taobao. The hacked accounts give you “free” access to music, TV shows, movies, apps – anything you can buy in the iTunes Store. AFP is reporting that hacked accounts are sold starting at 30 yuan ($4) but, as noted by the Global Times, price may go up to 200 yuan, too. Around 50,000 accounts are being sold on Taobao.

“At this time, we have not received any information from Apple or any other principal related to the iTunes accounts indicating that these products either violate our listing rules or infringe on the IP of others,” the company said.

Experts said hackers either hack foreign users’ iTunes accounts, which keep credit card numbers on file, or steal details of overseas credit cards to register several iTunes accounts that are then put on sale.

It is unclear whether or not this sale of hacked accounts has been going around for months. Either way, sometimes the best solution to prevent your account from being hacked is very simple: keep a strong password. [AFP via 9to5]

Hint At iWork ‘11 Coming Tomorrow On The Mac App Store?

As noted by 9to5mac, some graphic files found in the latest update to Keynote Remote, released today together with new Keynote features for iWork.com, hint at the presence of the iWork ‘11 suite on the Mac App Store tomorrow. Rumors of a new version of iWork have been going around since November, when AppleInsider suggested that, according to their sources, iWork ‘11 should have been released together with iLife ‘11 but was put on the shelf at the last minute and saved for a Mac App Store launch in January.

Today’s update to Keynote Remote includes two slightly changed Keynote icons that have “2011” on them. Traditionally, Apple updates the Keynote icon with a new year on it as a new version is released – it happened in the past with Keynote ‘09 as well, for example.

Of course, Apple might just have included these updated files and then release iWork ‘09 as standalone apps in the Mac App Store tomorrow. With all the rumors that have been going around recently, though, and the fact that Apple has heavily featured iWork apps in its Mac App Store promo material, there might be the possibility of seeing iWork ‘11 showing up tomorrow as a digital download in the new Store.

Mac App Store Preview: Filr, The Simple File Tagger & Renamer

Developed by NovaStorm Software, Filr is a new simple utility for OS X that will be released tomorrow in the Mac App Store. The app, very user-friendly and straightforward in its approach, will let users do three things: rename files, tag them and apply comments to them. Unlike many other batch renaming tools available online, Filr will be focused on letting users modify one file at a time.

Tags you apply to files will be based on the OpenMeta standard, and thus will be compatible with most tagging softwares available for the Mac such as Ironic Software’s Leap 2. The Spotlight comments you’ll be able to attach to files will also be compatible with a variety of Mac apps such as Yojimbo or DEVONthink.

Overall, Filr looks like a really simple and focused app to quickly get more metadata into your Mac files, for more organization and better search functionalities in combination with other apps. Looking forward to it tomorrow, on the Mac App Store.

Mac App Store and OS X 10.6.6 Coming Tomorrow at 12 PM ET

We know the Mac App Store is launching tomorrow, on January 6. We also know that Mac OS X 10.6.6 will be required to use the Mac App Store. Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop, however, confirms that according to his sources (and when Jim says “my sources tell me” he always means “someone at Apple told me”) the Mac App Store is launching tomorrow at 12 PM ET, 9 AM Cupertino time.

According to my sources, the Mac App Store will be available at 12:00 pm (noon) ET on Thursday. That puts it at about 9:00 am PT where Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, Calif.

Of course, this means that come 12 PM tomorrow we should fire up Software Update and find a 10.6.6 update that, among fixes, will include the Mac App Store as a new system app. It is still unknown whether or not Apple will also offer a standalone Mac App Store download for 10.6.6 users on its website.

So anyway, get your credit cards ready: we’re 23 hours away from the Mac App Store.