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iOS Developers Making Leap to the Mac→

iOS Developers Making Leap to the Mac

Chris Foreman at Ars Technica reports about several iOS developers porting their apps to the Mac App Store:

These developers warned, however, that it wasn’t fair to make direct comparisons with the iOS App Store at this early stage. For one, every iOS device has access to the iOS App Store, while only those who applied the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update can access the Mac App Store. And, as Crawford pointed out, there are more iOS devices in active use than there are Macs.

Frampton compared initial sales volumes to the early days of the App Store on the iPhone. “The overall size of the market seems very similar to the early days of the iOS App Store, and in fact I get a very distinct feeling of déjà vu,” he said. “The Mac App Store market may never catch up, but it certainly has a lot of room to grow.”

“Sales tend to eventually level out and that’s yet to happen on the Mac App Store,” Comi agreed.

As more users upgrade to 10.6.6 (a friend of mine ran Software Update a week ago, almost a month after the Mac App Store introduction), there will still be a considerable userbase stuck on previous versions of Snow Leopard. That’s the problem with the Mac App Store coming as an “add-on” to the OS. However, I believe that, in the end, apps will be the reason why these people will be “forced” to upgrade to the latest SL version. The more great apps are released in the Mac App Store, the more people will say “Hey, maybe I really need to update”.

It’s not the Mac App Store as a “feature” by itself, it’s the ecosystem of a platform for great software.

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Manuals on Amazon Suggest Late July Launch for Lion

Several manuals for the upcoming Mac OS X 10.7 Lion have been spotted by 9to5 Mac on the Amazon.UK website and all are set to be released sometime around late July, hinting that the OS will also launch around that time. WWDC is expected to be from July 5 to July 9 and it would make sense for Lion to be released shortly after WWDC as these manuals seem to suggest.

Whilst the release date of these guidebooks don’t confirm a late July launch it makes a late July launch likely because there have been several previous cases of Amazon guidebooks effectively revealing a products launch date, such as Office 2011 last year.

Some of the manual covers include references to the already known features of Launchpad, Mission Control and changes to the dock, all of which were revealed in the ‘Back to the Mac’ event late last year.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Journler Now Open Source, “Per Se” To Be Successor

Philip Dow, unhappy with the current offerings of journaling applications (including his own Journler) for OS X, has opened up the popular diary app over at Sprouted as a complete Xcode project. Journler was closed over a year ago, leaving many dissatisfied customers in its wake. Looking to finally put Journler to a good end, Philip has reluctantly opened up the source code to the public in an effort to rekindle development company Sprouted.

With this rekindling comes a new and improved journaling application dubbed Per Se, which looks stunning if not bold from this first sneak peek. The end goal is to create a realistic journaling experience on the desktop, literally recreating the page metaphor as you write in an open book. Shown in the screen grab above, Per Se includes super fast calendaring, bookmarking, searching, and a tags feature so your records are never lost. We like the developer’s approach in creating an untraditional experience for desktop users, but we have to ask our readers: would you trade a text editor or alternative journaling application for Per Se’s beautiful paper interface?

[via Journler Blog]

Twitterrific 4 For Mac Review

My first exposure to Twitterrific was when MacHeist casually offered Ollie as part of their first nanoBundle, alongside great applications such as WriteRoom and TinyGrab. While the third version quickly grew outdated in part because of Twitter’s continual feature growth and the IconFactory’s focus on providing parity between iPhone and iPad iterations, Ollie remained perched in my menubar for quite a while thanks to its minimal HUD interface. It was this Aqua-less client that faded into the background as I went about my other tasks that was supposed to be a permanent mainstay on my MacBook. I loved everything about it despite criticisms of it being ugly or lacking features, and if I wasn’t as vigorous on Twitter as I am today it would still be perfect for simply reading the latest incoming tweets. Though times changed, and I shelved my favorite mascot for Echofon while Tweetie garnered droves of followers in its presence.

While the OS X version of Twitterrific remained seemingly stagnant, the IconFactory made a rather large push into the Twitter realm with the iOS versions we’re familiar with today. Starting with the iPhone, the IconFactory practiced bringing a familiar experience across mobile devices by simplifying how we interact with Twitter. There is no excess interface or useless presentation of information: the IconFactory replaces Twitter’s originally dull and now confusing web interface with an inline, color-coded approach whose design is recognizable across the Apple community. Macworld named Twitterrific the ‘Twitter Client of the Year’ in 2010’s App Gem Awards, and you can bet the IconFactory would take their award winning design to the desktop. Steve Jobs wasn’t kidding when he said everything was coming, “Back to the Mac.”

Today, I’m glad to say that with the launch of Twitterrific 4 for OS X, it has once again reclaimed dominance on my Coca-Cola bottled desktop.

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My New (Old) Favorite Service: Back to My Mac

Back to My Mac is often ignored by Mac users as just another feature of the equally ignored MobileMe set of online webapps, sync tools and desktop settings. Back to My Mac allows you to display a remote Mac on your local machine’s Finder as if it was within reach, just a few clicks away. Select the remote Mac in the Finder’s sidebar, browse its contents through the Finder itself or just connect to its screen using OS X built-in Screen Sharing features. Back to My Mac, ultimately, enables you to virtually sit in front of your Mac even if the computer is actually miles away from you. All of this happens over the Internet, routed through MobileMe. Read more

Third Build of OS X 10.6.7 Seeded to Developers

A new build of Mac OS X 10.6.7 hit the Developer Center last night, the third one since Apple started seeding 10.6.7 to developers three weeks ago. Build 10J850 mentions, again, Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB and Graphics Drivers as focus areas for developers to test.

The second build of 10.6.7 was released on January 25th, and it appears that Apple is quickly issuing new builds with the same focus areas and no “known issues”.

Verizon 4G LTE Modem Now Supports Mac OS X

Earlier today, Verizon Wireless released an update to their VZAccess Manager software for Mac that brings compatibility with one of the 4G LTE modems sold by the company, the Pantech UML290. Mac users can now connect to Verizon’s LTE network using the new 7.2.4 version of the app, which is available for download here.

The Pantech UML290 will cost you $100 with a two-year contract, with a 4G data plan available at $50 per month for 5 GB of data. The other 4G LTE modem, the LG VL600, doesn’t have OS X support yet. From the system requirements:

- OSX 10.4.72 or higher (Tiger), OSX 10.52 or higher (Leopard) 32-bit, OSX 10.62 or higher (Snow Leopard) 32-bit

- PowerMac G3 or newer with appropriate device interface

PhotoToMac Is The Fastest Way To Transfer Photos to OS X

I share a lot of screenshots and photos between my iPhone and Mac every day. Up until today, I’ve relied on third-party apps like iFiles to import pictures into its library and get them on my Mac using Cyberduck, which can connect to iFiles’ built-in WebDAV server. PhotoToMac, a $1.99 app by Galarina, improved my workflow with a system that allows me to import photos and videos without using additional Mac apps. Files shared with PhotoToMac, in fact, end up directly in the Finder. Read more

A Beautiful Google Analytics Widget for OS X

Created by designer Adrian Kenny and developer Adam Aganou, this one is a beautiful and unobtrusive widget for Google Analytics you might find useful if you’re the Dashboard kind of user. Once authorized with your Google account, it will display visits for the current day, the past day, week, month and year. It’s minimal and elegant. The icon is sweet and the color choice attractive.

There are many Google Analytics widgets out there, but none of them is as sexy as Adrian Kenny’s design. Free download here.