Hot and fresh off the presses, here’s Mac AppStorm’s weekly news roundup.
Enjoy!
iTunes 11 will be delayed until November
Just as Hurricane Sandy was battering the East Coast of the United States, Apple dropped the bombshell that iTunes 11, the eagerly anticipated new version of its popular music software, won’t be released until November (the original date was October back at its announcement). According to Apple, the new version is “taking longer than expected” and that they “wanted to take a little extra time to get it right”.
The release of iTunes 11 has been pushed back to November from the original date of October.
The new version of iTunes will featured an overhauled, simpler interface, deeper iCloud integration and a revamped store (presumably to tie in with the redesign in iOS 6).
We’ll keep you updated on this topic as it happens.
Evernote 5 public Beta released
The public beta of Evernote 5 went live a couple of days ago, and it seems that the team really has been hard at work. There’s been a massive interface overhaul of the entire program and primarily the new version focuses on improving the way users manage and access their notes, tags, and notebooks. There’s a new sidebar allowing users to drag items into the Shortcuts area and you can access them quickly using the Command + 1–9 keys on your keyboard, just like your Bookmarks bar in Safari.
The new public beta of Evernote 5.
Evernote state that there’s over 100 new features in this release and they’ve summarised the main ones in their blog announcement of the release. Remember that there are some risks in using beta software, including data loss, so if you don’t want to lose all your Evernote data then I’d recommend that you wait until the final version goes live before downloading.
If you want to try out the Beta version, then head over to Check for Updates in Evernote (making sure that the Update to Beta versions when available option is selected in the Software Update pane of Evernote’s preferences) to download it. Unfortunately, if you’ve got a Mac App Store version of Evernote, you’ll have to wait until the final version is released (as beta versions of software are not permitted in in the Mac App Store).
iPhoto, Safari and Aperture updated
Along with the release of iOS 6.0.1 back on Thursday, Apple has also pushed out updates to iPhoto (version 9.4.2), Aperture (version 3.4.2) and Safari (version 6.0.2). The new versions of Aperture and iPhoto bring a couple of common improvements, including:
- Photos now can be added to shared streams or My Photo Stream by dragging them to “Photo Stream” in the source list.
- Multiple email addresses can now be copied and pasted in the “Shared with” field for shared streams.
- When more than five subscribers “Like” a photo in a shared stream, their names are now displayed correctly.
Both also have the usual array of bug fixes and modifications, with Safari 6.0.2 mostly patching up security issues. You can read the full changelog on Apple’s Support website for iPhoto 9.4.2, Aperture 3.4.2 and Safari 6.0.2 and to download the updates, head over to the App Store, where they should be waiting for you. Some users have reported that the Safari update wasn’t working (this was the case for me when I tried to update a couple of days ago) however the problem seems to have been fixed since.
Clear for Mac announced with iCloud sync
In response to the popularity of their iOS app, the developers of Clear have announced that the Mac version will be available in the App Store from November 8th, priced at $14.99. The app will feature the same intuitive gestures as in the iPhone version via the trackpad, such as left swipe for delete, right swipe for marking a task as completed and swipe up to get rid of all your completed tasks.
The new Clear for Mac, which is due to be released on November 8th.
Clear for Mac will also feature iCloud sync, so you can keep everything in sync across all your devices, as well as full keyboard navigation for quick and easy access. As mentioned above, it’ll be available from November 8th on the Mac App Store (you’ll have to be running Mountain Lion 10.8.2, however!).
Apple posts Samsung apology on their UK website
Remember when we reported on the latest happenings in the Apple v Samsung legal spat? Well, since then (and in accordance with a High Court ruling), Apple has had to issue an apology to Samsung, which has since been reproduced on their UK website.
On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001
The apology then goes on to say (which was quoted by the judge presiding over the case):
The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”
The apology, however, did not confirm with the original terms of the ruling and has since been replaced with a more “toned-down” version, where copies of the ruling can also be read. Apple has also run a series of plain advertisements in the main British newspapers with the same text as the website.
The apology issued by Apple, which was printed in the main UK newspapers (in this case, the Guardian)
You can view the official statement on Apple’s UK website by heading over here.
Heard Anything Else?
If you’ve heard anything else exciting that’s happened this week then go ahead and post a link to it in the Comments section below for the benefit of our other readers!