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Apple is extending its two-step verification option for Apple IDs to a wider range of countries, users say. When the feature first launched in late March, it was restricted to the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Now though people in Canada, Argentina, and Pakistan are reporting getting the feature, and other countries may be following suit.
The people responsible for a new Apple ID phishing scam have compromised 110 websites, says security firm Trend Micro. All of the sites are hosted on a specific IP address, 70.86.13.17, which is registered with an ISP based in Houston, Texas. "Almost all of these sites have not been cleaned," Trend Micro remarks.
Apple has sent out a memo to developers this week, urging them to localize Mac and iOS apps as well as titles on the iBookstore, notes AppleInsider. The message is being delivered through iTunes Connect, and points out that both the iOS and Mac App Stores are accessible in 155 countries and 40 languages. "In addition, the App Store editorial team is always looking for great apps that are localized," Apple writes.
Feral Interactive has announced that Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will be released in the Mac App Store on April 4. Starring classing characters from Sonic the Hedgehog and other SEGA favorites, the racing game allows players to race across tracks inspired by SEGA's most popular game worlds. Full support will be included for Apple's Game Center, allowing up to four players to compete online. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will retail for $25 and is the first Sonic game to to be published on the Mac, with the second, SEGA Superstars Tennis, to follow this year.
Apple on Saturday released a minor update to its app-building software for OS X and iOS, Xcode -- now at version 4.6.1. The most important addition to the program is support for OS X 10.8.3, with a corresponding update to the OS X SDK. It also fixes two specific issues: one where ARC-enabled apps would not launch on Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.x), and a performance regression issue in the Analyze operation. The update to the free app is available exclusively on the Mac App Store, where it has been located since v4.6.
Apple suffered multiple online service outages earlier on Thursday, the company's system status page now confirms. Between 9:40AM and 11:50AM Eastern time, purchases at the iTunes Store and the Mac and iOS App Stores may not have gone through. The company also confirms some Wednesday problems in which people couldn't access iCloud calendars.
Following two weeks of sales on various productivity and organizational programs, the Mac App Store has kicked off the final week of its "Get Stuff Done" promotion with a set of discounts on 10 utility apps, including Calendar helper Fantastical, password manager 1Password and Yoink, a "weigh station" to make dragging files between destinations easier. Apple had earlier discounted a set of "prioritizing" apps during the first week, and organizational programs during the second.
Apple has issued a minor update to its OS X Server app for Mountain Lion, now at version 2.21. The $20 program allows anyone with a Mountain Lion install to turn the OS into a server OS utilizing a suite of utilities included in the application. The update improves the speed of downloading Mac App Store software through improved caching, adds Time Machine service monitoring, brings Retina display support for the Wiki Server, adds the ability to use Active Directory groups in Profile Manager and more.
Apple's new shortened App Store URLs made their public debut during last night's Super Bowl broadcast, notes CNET. Within an ad for Star Trek: Into Darkness,AppStore.com/StarTrekApp was displayed, pointing people to a promotional app for the movie. The new address format is designed to make it easier to market apps, since regular App Store URLs are extremely complex.
In a rare move, Apple has started a three-week "productivity apps" sale called "Get Stuff Done" that offers discounted prices on eight "prioritizing" applications for the Mac on the Mac App Store. The second week will reveal sale prices on as-yet-unnamed organizing apps, and the final week will spotlight savings on utility apps. Sale prices currently ongoing include $3 off the normally $10 to-do app Clear; half-off pricing on Things 2, 2Do, Due, The Hit List and Taskpaper; 40 percent off BreakTime, and substantial savings on Todo.
Apple is now displaying the best Mac apps of 2012 for the Mac App Store, with the App of the Year award going to Day One, a simplified journaling app. CameraBag 2, a desktop photo editing app with built-in filters, was runner up among Mac apps. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition took the top award among Mac App Store games for this year.
Apple has introduced a new version of its system status page for online services. Whereas the old one often lumped multiple problems together into a single update, the new page has individual lights for each aspect of Apple's services, ranging from Maps, Siri, and FaceTime through to the App Stores and various iCloud functions like Mail, Calendar, Back to My Mac, and iTunes Match.
Late Thursday, Apple updated the its OS X Server app for Mountain Lion to version 2.2, with its major new feature being a Caching service designed to speed up software downloads from the Mac App Store. The service caches both software updates and purchased apps. In addition to the caching feature, the update addresses a number of issues in the app, the adaptive firewall feature, and the Mail, Calendar, Contacts and Messenger services. It also makes improvements in the Profile Manager.
Beginning with a new, second OS X 10.8.3 beta build, Apple is now giving developers the option of obtaining beta OS updates through the Mac App Store's Software Update mechanism. The move should make distribution of updates to registered testing devices more uniform, and expands the use of "developer channel" updates available through the store. Apple says that while email notification of new updates will continue as well, a new tool installed by registered developers will allow Software Update to notify users of new builds.
People around the world are having trouble accessing the iTunes Store and the Mac and iOS App Stores, according to accounts on Twitter, and tests by MacNN. While the problems aren't universal, they appear to be affecting people in multiple countries, and in some cases may be creating serious issues. Trying to update iOS apps may fail outright, for example.
Both Apple's iTunes store and Starbucks' website have begun selling a $30 (Product) RED virtual gift card that offers $15 in credit at each of the two vendors: $15 to spend at Starbucks, and $15 to spend on the iTunes store. Five percent of the purchase price goes to the Global Fund AIDS research foundation. The credit is good for anything purchasable in a Starbucks, or from the company's online store (US only). The iTunes half can be used to buy music, movies, apps, audiobooks, e-books and Mac App Store software.
While not the first time on the Macintosh platform, the classic video game Dragon's Lair was launched today in the Mac App Store for modern-day Macs, the first release aimed directly for the Mac since 2002 and available nearly 30 years after its original release. In related gaming news, game distributor GameFly have released a desktop client for both Mac and Windows machines and are celebrating with a giveaway of the 2007 classic BioShock.
[Update: details on Safari update added] Late on Thursday, Apple updated its two photo-oriented programs iPhoto and Aperture, to versions 9.4.2 and 3.4.2 respectively. Both share some commonalities in the updates, but Aperture in particular has addressed a number of issues and enhancements with the new version. In addition, the company issued a small, security-oriented update of Safari 6, which now at v6.0.2 (and currently only available from the Mac App Store) exclusively -- thus far -- for users of Mountain Lion 10.8.2 and higher.
Software developer Creaceed announced today the availability of its new Prizmo 2 app in the Mac App Store. Prizmo 2 is a scanning and OCR app with a focus on efficiency and user-friendliness. The new version brings multiple new features, including support for multipage documents and screenshots.
Apple Mac developers are getting frustrated by increasing waiting times to have their apps approved by Apple for sale through the Mac App Store portal. Data from Shiny Development shows that waiting times for Mac app approvals have blown out to 27 days over the past month. This compares with just 7 days to get an app approved for the iOS App Store.
An overnight error with iTunes prevented many users from downloading content via the service, according to complaints. The overriding issue was an inability to buy or update apps via the App Store; a message would pop up, asking people to accept new terms and conditions for iTunes before the download could continue. Even after accepting, though, the download would again be interrupted by the terms-and-conditions message, ad infinitum.
People are continuing to experience problems trying to redeem Mountain Lion upgrade codes, according tothreads on Apple's support forums. The company today had to reissue codes to people who applied for the Up-to-Date program on Monday, before the program was meant to be launched. Even some new registrants are having problems however, receiving Mac App Store messages telling them that their codes have already been used.
Apple is issuing new Mac App Store codes to people who registered too early for the Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Program, reports say. On Monday the company accidentally made a submission form live, and for a brief time qualifying people received download codes via email. Those codes aren't working as of today's official Mountain Lion launch, requiring the replacements.
Announcing the fact during the company's quarterly earnings, Apple has finalized a date for the launch of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The newest version of the operating system will be released tomorrow, July 25th, exclusively on the Mac App Store. Apple has posted a list on the official Mountain Lion page detailing exactly which Mac models are able to upgrade. The new software relies even further on video card performance, which means some economy systems and other models from recent years may not be qualified.
Apple has begun attaching unique identifiers to the validation receipts for in-app purchases, according to MacRumors. The change is believed to be an escalation in Apple's attempts to defeat a hack allowing free in-app purchases. The Russian coder responsible for the hack has managed to circumvent past Apple measures.
After much speculation and hints from developers testing the forthcoming OS X update, Apple has posted a list on the Mountain Lion page of its website exactly which models are able to upgrade to version 10.8, which is coming out later this month and will sell for $20 exclusively through the Mac App Store. The new version of OS X relies even further on solid video-card specifications, which mean some economy models and other Macs from recent years may not be qualified to update.
Following the release of the Mountain Lion's Golden Master version earlier today, Apple has officially opened the Mac App Store for optimized OS X 10.8 apps to be submitted for review with an email to developers (seen below). The company says they can also submit iOS apps that take advantage of the now-cross-platform Game Center, one of several iOS features that is now making its way to the Mac. OS X Mountain Lion is set to launch later this month.
First noticed and reported on by Instapaper creator Marco Arment, Apple has reported that it has fixed an installer issue that was causing newly-updated apps from the App Store to crash or not install properly. Users who were affected by the bug can now delete and re-download their apps from the store. In a statement, the company said the issue had been rectified, and said "we don't expect [the issue] to occur again."
Apple is now officially responding to complaints of corrupted App Store apps, reports say. On Apple's developer forums, the company has issued a statement: "We are aware of the issue related to apps crashing after update. We are currently working on resolving the issue. Stay tuned for updates," it says. In some cases developers are said to be getting emails directly from Apple, claiming that a dedicated team is working on the problem.
For several days the App Store has sometimes been pushing out corrupted binaries, prominent developers are complaining. Instapaper creator Marco Arment notes that affected apps will crash automatically on launch every time, even after deleting and reinstalling, so long as the broken file is hosted on the App Store. Just under two dozen apps -- including Instapaper -- are known to have been impacted, though the number may be higher. Fixed binaries should now be appearing, but still require people to delete and reinstall their malfunctioning apps.
Automatic app downloads are being integrated into OS X Mountain Lion, checks show. The feature is present in the latest Developer Preview of the OS; under the new option, titles bought at the Mac App Store should, in theory, appear on any other Mac signed in with the same Apple ID. In practice though, the store is marking titles as "installed" on secondary Macs without actually copying any files. The function will likely be turned on in future Developer Previews, or at least the final version of Mountain Lion, due sometime this summer.
Apple sent an email reminder to developers working on apps for the Mac App Store letting them know that new programs will have to be compatible with the platform's forthcoming "sandboxing" constraints in order to be offered in the Mac App Store. Developers are expected to implement sandboxing within their apps by June 1, though existing programs can be updated after that date. Apple has previously extended the deadline for app sandboxing, first November 2011 to March 2012, and later to June 2012.
Two months after its official debut, Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom 4 pro-level photo managing and editing software has come to the Mac App Store. The program is priced identically to the boxed version, but is aimed at new users (since owners of previous versions of Lightroom can upgrade to 4.0 for $79 through Adobe). The program competes with Apple's own Aperture, which costs $80.
The number of titles on the Mac App Store has cracked the 10,000 mark, Mac Génération observes. Apple hasn't formally revealed the figure, but the company typically skips mentioning most app milestones until press events or conference calls. The next opportunity will likely be the keynote at June's WWDC.
Twitter showed renewed interest in its desktop TweetDeck apps after their first release with a version 1.3 update for Windows, Mac (App Store), Google Chrome, and the web. The new version is meant partly to catch up to the mainstream web page and now has optional in-line photo and video previews. Pros and fans of lists can now create, delete, or modify lists, including changing someone's relationship to a list through their profile.
The popular iOS game Cut the Rope is now available in a Mac App Store version for desktops and laptops that features high-resolution graphics, new layouts to accommodate widescreen monitors, new game mechanics to enable use of either a mouse or trackpad in gameplay, and a low price relative to many games on the MAS. The Mac version is the first time the game has come to any desktop platform, says creator ZeptoLab.
Apple has announced an extension on implementing sandboxing for Mac App Store titles. Developers were originally expected to have changes finished by March 1st, but the new deadline is now a full three months later, on June 1st. The technology is already present in OS X 10.7.3 as well as Xcode 4.3 APIs.
Apple stated Friday that the launch of OS X Mountain Lion would be truly download-only. The Mac maker briefed Pocket-lint that it wouldn't stock versions preloaded on USB drives like it has with the current Lion release. Offering a physical option was an "interesting test," but the Mac App Store was "just fine" in practice for getting a copy, Apple said.
In a further move to support use of the Mac App Store for developers, the company has issued a new version of XCode as a free Mac App Store standalone application. The new version, 4.3, is for Lion developers and not the same as the v4.4 that was released earlier today with the developer preview of Mountain Lion. The new version replaces the previous XCode and adds support for delta updates among other changes.
Updates to OS X Mountain Lion will be delivered through the Mac App Store, Pocket-lint says it has learned through one of the company's private product briefings. Present and past versions of OS X have relied on a dedicated Software Update function. In switching to the Mac App Store for patching, Mountain Lion will mimic iOS' App Store-based update system.
In a surprise step, Apple on Thursday gave developers a preview version of OS X Mountain Lion, the next significant update to the core OS. The new version is directly influenced by iOS 5 and includes Notification Center, Reminders, Notes, Game Center, and Twitter integration, with iCloud syncing where it's relevant. AirPlay Mirroring is also new to the Mac and shares exactly what's on screen through an Apple TV.
Apple is launched the annual Japanese version of its back-to-school promotion, intended to encourage Mac sales. Unlike the US and Canada, many schools in Japan start classes on April 1st. This year the company is giving away a 10,000 yen ($129) gift card, which can be used toward content at the iTunes Store, the App Store, and/or the Mac App Store.
Mac game maker Aspyr has selected four titles from its catalog for a special month-end sale. From now through the end of January, Prey, Tomb Raider II, Duke Nukem Forever and Neverwinter Nights 2 for Mac will be on sale for $5, up to 75 percent off their normal price. The sale prices are already available for the Mac App Store versions, which require Intel Macs running OS X 10.6.6 or higher. Graphics requirements vary by game.
The Mac App Store is today celebrating its first anniversary. At first the storefront was only accessible through a Snow Leopard update; access has since been built into OS X Lion, which itself was originally made available as a Mac App Store download. In mid-December announced that it had surpassed 100 million downloads at the store, not including app updates or even Lion sales.
iTunes Connect has returned from a scheduled downtime one day early, reports say. The service for Mac and iOS developers regularly goes offline for several days during the Christmas season. This year Connect was officially scheduled to be offline from December 22nd through to the 29th, during which time no changes by app developers would go live. Why Apple would resume Connect service early is unknown, but the company could theoretically be trying to cope with a heavy backlog.
A new phishing scam is once again targeting owners of Apple products, warns security firm Intego. The attack is said to have begun "on or around" Christmas Day, and involves an email that claims to be from "appleid@id.apple.com" with the subject line "Apple update your Billing Information." It insists that a person's billing information is out of date, and that it must be updated or else Apple will delete the associated account. A provided link looks like it should lead to Apple's online store, but in reality takes victims to a fake sign-in page.
Game makers Aspyr have re-released Doom 3, now in a version designed for modern Intel Macs. The game, first released on OS X in 2004, sports a rare (for the Mac platform) "M" rating for its nightmarish setting, violence and gore. The new version runs only on Intel Core2Duo or later chips under Snow Leopard or Lion, and does not work with the pre-Intel 3000HD integrated graphics chipsets. The engine for Doom 3 was released under the GPL last month.
The venerable graphic text-manipulation app TypeStyler has made its way to the Mac App Store with new version 11, and the company is celebrating the release by putting the program on sale for its lowest-ever price ($60). The new version adds a range of "grunge" effects to the program, allowing designers to create weathered or distressed looks. Graphics can also now be posted directly onto Facebook or Twitter, and the app has new Object positioning abilities.
The NPD Group in a rare step began tracking some of the contributions of non-traditional gaming to the industry for the first time. It estimated that about $1.64 billion came from "other content," which includes mobile games as well as direct downloads and social network games, generated $1.64 billion in revenue. The growth made it larger than the traditional software side of the business, which dropped to $1.3 billion
Mike Yenco has updated his household finance program Finance to version 7.0, bringing it to the Mac App Store and making a number of improvement, including changes in repeating transactions and data entry, better search speed, a new advanced search, better list navigation with mouse, trackpad and arrow key support and other changes. As part of the move to the Mac App Store, the price of Finance has also been lowered.
