Fresh off the presses, here is MacAppStorm’s weekly news roundup.
Happy reading!
RIP, iWork.com
iWork.com was the next Apple web-based service to take the hit this week, as the company reminded users of the service that it will be shut down come July 31, with all services moving to iCloud.
The message on iWork.com, reminding users that the service shuts down on July 31.
Apple has provided instructions on their website on how to save copies of any existing documents on iWork onto their computer before the deadline arrives, along with an message encouraging users to migrate over to iCloud, which offers cloud-based remote storage of both documents and data.
iWork.com was first launched as a beta in early 2009 with integration with iWork ’09 and has since then complemented MobileMe as Apple’s online storage and integration system, which was given the final chop last week. The new, upcoming version of Mountain Lion, scheduled to be released later this month, will offer tighter iCloud integration along with synchronisation of any documents created in iWork across all devices, including the iPad and iPhone.
If you are a user of iWork.com, then you can find Apple’s official instructions on how to migrate your documents in their support article.
What happened to App Store updates this week?
Apple received a slight bit of controversy this week as it was found that the company was pushing out corrupted updates to Mac and iOS applications via the App Store. The issue was first noted by Instapaper’s developer Marco Arment, who highlighted that the latest version of his app, 4.2.3, crashed immediately on launch and would not load even after deletion and reinstallation.
The App Store page for Instapaper, with a warning to users not to update the app.
The issue mostly was related to iOS apps and only a couple of Mac apps were affected however the problem did attract some criticism, especially as it was discovered that it was an Apple issue, not a developer one. The company released a statement on Tuesday stating that the problem had only affected a “small number of users” and that DRM (digital rights management) was the reason for the faults experienced.
The issue has since then been fixed and Apple has also stated that it will remove any one-star reviews that developers received owing to the issue. Users of any affected apps are strongly advised, if they haven’t done so already, to head over to the App Store and update them all to ensure that they work fully.
Sparrow updated with Mountain Lion and retina-display support
Sparrow received an update back last week to version 1.6.2, which brought along retina-display support for the new MacBook Pro along with full Mountain Lion and Notification Centre support, as well as a few minor bug fixes (including sending and archiving in Quick Reply and Growl notification support with Growl 1.3 and POP-based e-mail accounts). The update is available either for download either via the app itself or through the App Store.
MadAppDeals.com, a new Mac app deals website, goes live
A new Mac app deals website, Mad App Deals has been launched which plans to feature four great Mac apps that will be discounted for a 24-hour period. The website is backed by FIPLAB, a British-based Mac developer that has already given us favourites such as MenuTab for Facebook, and Tab for Google+ and you can sign up to their newsletter on their website which will alert you weekly about the latest deals on the site.
Mad App Deals is a new website offering weekly Mac app deals every Friday.
Developers of Mac apps can also sign onto the promotion scheme by submitting a form on their website with their app for consideration and new deals are pushed out every Friday for some early weekend cheer!
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!