It’s been a busy one this week with app updates and the launch of Apple’s Best of 2012 for the best Mac applications in the store so read on for our full weekly news roundup!
‘Day One’ and ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’ crowned as App and Game of the Year
Apple have crowned Day One and Deus Ex: Human Revolution as App and Game of the Year 2012 for the Mac in their annual Best of 2012 roundup, just like they did for the iOS App Store (which looked at the top apps in each individual category). Looking at the winners: Day One is a popular journalling application for Mac (we reviewed it back in March 2011 and gave it a very commendable 9 out of 10 rating) that synchronises with iOS via either iCloud or Dropbox and allows you to keep track of all your daily thoughts. You can also add the current weather forecast, locations and places and reminders and the app also supports Markdown for quick and easy text editing. The runner-up to Day One was CameraBag 2, a popular photo editing and filter software.
Day One has been crowned the Mac App of the Year for 2012.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the popular cyberpunk-themed action/shooter game, was crowned Game of the Year, with Splice: Tree of Life coming in a close second. You can also check out Apple’s top 20 apps and games for Mac for the whole of 2012 by heading over here (link to the App Store).
Adobe Creative Suite goes (partially) retina
For those of you waiting for the retina update to Creative Suite, your time of waiting is (partially) over. Adobe has pushed updates to Photoshop, Illustrator and Lightroom which bring retina support (or HiDPI, as they call it) for the new MacBook Pro range, along with a few other features (such as improved 3D effects in Photoshop and a load of bug fixes and new camera and lens support for Lightroom).
To grab the updates, head over to the Adobe Application Manager where they should be ready and waiting for you. There’s unfortunately no word of retina updates to the remaining Creative Suite applications, however given these updates we can be fairly sure that they will be arriving shortly.
Upcoming Alfred 2.0 will feature Workflows
According to a sneak preview on their blog, the new upcoming version of Alfred, version 2.0, will feature easy-to-manage workflows, without a line of code in sight. Workflows are, put simply, an easy way to automate processes on your Mac using a set of triggers, inputs, outputs and actions.
Alfred’s new, upcoming Workflow feature in version 2.0.
So, using the example shown in the screenshot above, typing the keyword movie into Alfred triggers three actions:
- Load YouTube
- Load IMDB
- Load Rotten Tomatoes
This can be really useful for certain things and Alfred 2.0 will let you simply drag and drop items onto the canvas and connect them together – you don’t need a single line of code!
Currently there’s no official release date for Alfred 2.0 however it’s already generating interest, especially among the Mac AppStorm team! We will, of course, keep you posted on any updates to this great piece of software.
Apple fixes yet another Trojan on OS X
Apple has patched up yet another security hole in OS X after it was revealed at the start of this week that a trojan, detected as Trojan.SMSSend.3666 by the Russian security company Doctor Web, was mimicking a typical application installer and trying to get the unsuspecting user to enter their mobile phone number.
The trojan mimicked a typical OS X installer and prompted the user to enter his or her mobile number, causing a costly subscription fee.
The trojan, which up till now only existed on Windows, requires that the user “activates” the program via SMS and prompts him or her for their mobile number. Once entered, the user is charged a subscription fee which is debited from their calling credit (or added onto their monthly bill) on a regular basis. What’s worse is that the installers often either mimic legitimate (and free) software or simply contain useless, random data.
Apple has, however, responded to this threat extremely quickly and has added the definitions to its blacklist, according to MacRumors, meaning that OS X users are no longer under threat from the software. However, it does reiterate the thought that no system is 100% safe from internet threats, and users should always exercise caution (and use some common sense!) when it comes to using the Internet.
iTunes 11.0.1 released, Show Duplicated Items now restored
After the big launch of iTunes 11 a couple of weeks ago, Apple has pushed a minor update to it which fixes a couple of issues. Version 11.0.1 fixes a problem with iTunes Match where purchases in iCloud sometimes did not show up properly and also restores the ability to show any duplicated items in your iTunes library, which was a major gripe to some users. The new version can be grabbed by going over to the Updates section of the App Store, where it should be ready and waiting for you.
Tweetbot 1.1 is out
Tapbots, the developers of the popular OS X Twitter client, Tweetbot for Mac, have pushed out a minor update, bringing the app to version 1.1. The new version brings a new “All Notifications” feature to owners running Mountain Lion, whereby you are notified every single time someone you are following tweets (of course, this could become a little excessive if you are following loads of people, however if you are only following a few this could be quite useful). There is also the usual array of bug fixes and improvements, including better “pin to top” for non-streaming columns and improved Moom compatibility.
Like iTunes 11.0.1, the update can be grabbed via the App Store. And if you haven’t got Tweetbot yet, you can grab it here for only $19.99.
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!