Apple Celebrates 5 Years of App Store With Free App Promotion, Timeline

Ahead of the App Store’s fifth anniversary on Wednesday, July 10, Apple has launched a new promotion that includes five “groundbreaking” iOS apps and five “landmark” iOS games; these apps will be available for free for a limited time to celebrate the first five years of App Store. Apple has posted an official page with links to download the apps and games on iTunes.

From the 500 apps available at launch in 2008 to the more than 900,000 at your fingertips today, it’s been a remarkably prolific five years for the App Store. To celebrate, we’re giving everyone five landmark games and five groundbreaking apps for a limited time. Plus, look back at the key moments that have made the App Store the world’s most innovative destination for apps.

The apps and games picked by Apple include Day One (a journaling application with an OS X counterpart that was named “Mac App of the Year” in 2012), award-winning game Badland, Infinity Blade II, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Over, and Traktor DJ. Read more

Enhancing Reminders with AppleScript and Macros

As The Omni Group keeps working on OmniFocus 2 for Mac and Apple continues seeding new betas of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks to developers, I have been reconsidering Reminders’ simplicity and enjoying the built-in iCloud sync, which, unlike other types of iCloud, is working fine for me. However, two things I miss from OmniFocus are the possibility to integrate the app with a web browser through bookmarklets and the system-wide Quick Entry panel; I use both tools on a daily basis to easily save a browser’s tab into OmniFocus’ Inbox, or to bring up a text field where I can jot down an idea and know that, no matter the app I’m using, it’ll be saved into OmniFocus. Luckily for me, Apple’s Reminders app comes with a good AppleScript Dictionary, which is likely something that Reminders’ core mainstream audience won’t ever care about, but that we can leverage to extend the app’s capabilities and input areas beyond Mountain Lion’s leather-and-paper window.

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Will OS X Mavericks be Free?→

Thomas Brand of Egg Freckles commenting on Mountain Lion’s adoption rate and whether OS X Mavericks will be free following a discussion from the Accidental Tech Podcast:

A free mavericks sounds temping towards encouraging adoption, but I suspect Apple won’t change the price of the next version of OS X. As John points out any price above free can still be seen as an obstacle, and although Apple doesn’t need the money there is no point leaving it on the table. Marco also makes the point that Macs last a lot longer than their iOS counterparts, contributing to the overall Mac user base longer. And until Apple improves the upgrade process so that it is worry-free there will always be a hesitation over upgrading. With automatic application updates on the horizon for the next version of OS X, it appears as if Apple is taking the right steps towards worry-free, zero-cost, operating system updates. Just don’t count on Mavericks catching the wave this time around.

The first Mac I purchased and the Mac I’m still using is a polycarbonate MacBook, a laptop that’s been far surpassed by today’s MacBook Airs, yet still a computer that has plenty of life in it and is certainly capable enough for writing and browsing the net. It’s going to be a five year old computer this year, but I’m not sure if I’m really ready for another big purchase. Lion is the latest OS that will run on my machine, although I’m mostly content with that.

Upgrading an iPhone every two years is easy. It isn’t terribly expensive considering that most of us have two-year contracts and pay a subsidized fee for the phone every two years in the United States. Having the latest iPhone every couple of years, if you care, isn’t difficult when you’re already on a carrier’s schedule. The iOS adoption rate is pretty high because people usually have the latest iPhone or a pretty recent one and iOS software updates are pretty comparable to app updates.

Even upgrading an iPad every year or two isn’t too hard on the wallet when you can turn around and sell last-year’s model on eBay for a decent price. I’m handing down my iPads to my family who wants them or needs them, my first generation iPad still getting plenty of use elsewhere. I imagine iOS 7 will run just fine on my third generation iPad.

Buying a new Mac every couple of years isn’t cheap, and although Apple does the best job by far of having both a well rounded choice of computers and easy to understand configurations, it’s still a tough choice as it’s an investment and not a gadget. I think that’s sometimes hard to get across when we work around developers who want or need the latest Macs to get their jobs done, or other tech journalists who have to have the latest stuff just because, but honestly I think most people purchase a Mac with the intent of using it for a long time. If that means it can’t run the latest version of OS X, oh well I guess.

I think Thomas’ assumptions are correct in that people are generally hesitant to upgrade, more so when the press makes a big deal about the Mac App Store and 3rd party apps, Lion’s and Mountain Lion’s upgrade process, and the lack of real installation media. I wonder if it’s a combination of Windows stigmas for new Mac users and people who just don’t want to mess with something that works. Maybe people don’t understand how easy the upgrade process really is if they’re applicable. I also wonder if people feel there’s any real reason to upgrade Lion or Mountain Lion if they’re on Snow Leopard, provided that there are few visual changes or new and shiny things where people can really see the difference. I’d say the best feature in Mountain Lion is Power Nap, but only select MacBooks can take advantage of it and it’s not something you can really show off. Plus, how much press attention does OS X or new MacBooks get on any given day? iPhones, iPads, and iOS 7 are the hot things right now.

Then there’s the price. I don’t think Mavericks will be free either, but I’m not sure it would matter much either way. I think adoption will stay the pace — people who want to upgrade their Macs will upgrade no matter what. Apple will still have old Macs to contend with, people who fear the process, and people who don’t care as much about staying up to date on their Macs when they’re really not utilizing the Mac App Store and just their web browser and something like iPhoto. If apps like Notes and Reminders and didn’t get a large swath of people to upgrade to Mountain Lion, will people want to upgrade to Mavericks for iBooks and Maps? Especially when Maps got such negative attention in iOS 6? I don’t think they’re killer apps but they’re very to nice to have. I do think that if Mavericks’ power saving features work out and get lots of positive attention from the press, and last generation Macs actually get better battery life as a result, it will be a much more attractive upgrade since that’s a huge benefit. People like me might even finally buy a new Mac as a result.

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Automating Mail Signatures and Senders with AppleScript and Keyboard Maestro

Mail Keyboard Maestro

Mail Keyboard Maestro

I’m aware of the fact that it’s a common trend to call email a “nightmare” these days, but the truth is – email works for me. I have multiple addresses set up, I have my filters and smart folders to automate the process of filing and finding emails, and I’m enjoying the renewed interest of iOS developers in building email apps that solve old problems in new ways. But there is one thing I don’t like: Apple’s Mail app and how many clicks it takes to switch between configured accounts and signatures. As you can guess, I came up with a way to automate the process using AppleScript and (optionally) Keyboard Maestro.

I receive several messages every day to different email addresses, but I always want to reply with the same address and the same signature. Apple’s Mail app makes it easy to see all messages sent to all accounts with the unified Inbox, but it makes it surprisingly hard to set default accounts and signatures that should always be treated as, well, default ones. I don’t want to click on menus for accounts and signatures: I want to hit ⌘R and receive a new Reply window with the account and signature I want already set. Read more

Apple’s Poster Celebrating 5 Years of App Store→

Ahead of the App Store’s fifth anniversary on July 10, Apple has sent tech reports a celebrative poster with a timeline of the App Store from 2008 to 2013. The Financial Times’ Tim Bradshaw received a copy and posted a photo (via MacRumors).

Two things stand out to me: Apple’s focus on third-party apps and games in the poster, and how much quicker downloads have been growing in the past year. It’s also nice to see the original Instagram icon in there.

It’ll be interesting to see if Apple will post an interactive “5 Years of App Store” page as they did with iTunes (when they also sent celebrative items to the press).

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“Jobs” Poster Debut→

Moviefone:

“Some see what’s possible, others change what’s possible” are the words sprawled across this exclusive poster for “Jobs,” which features a nearly unrecognizable Ashton Kutcher.

Kutcher is utterly transformed into late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in the colorful new poster (below). Sporting Jobs’s signature round-framed glasses and beard, the actor certainly looks the role.

The movie’s poster focuses, unsurprisingly, on Kutcher, whose resemblance to Steve Jobs is almost uncanny in some shots (shown so far). But as I (briefly) argued last week on The Prompt, I worry that, with such a strong visual resemblance, Kutcher’s voice will break the illusion.

 

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