Fri, Aug 31, 2012
Tim Culpan, Bloomberg
Apple Inc. (AAPL) will use screens from AU Optronics Corp. (2409) and LG Display Co. (034220) for a smaller version of the iPad to be released in October, according to four people familiar with the plans.
Peter Cohen, The Loop
Foo Yun Chee, Reuters
Apple and four major publishers have offered to allow retailers such as Amazon to sell e-books at a discount for two years in a bid to end an EU antitrust investigation and stave off possible fines, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Erica Ogg, GigaOM
Reg Hardware
Mountain Lion Server turns traditional serving on its head: it is almost stupidly cheap, it has no artificial client limits, it is almost sinfully easy to implement, and it instals on any Mac capable of running Mountain Lion. If you need to provide some kind of server services then get this.
Nilay Patel, The Verge
And Apple almost certainly likes the confusion: there's no more distinctive multitouch gesture than pinch-to-zoom, and it's great for Apple if everyone thinks it's patented. Steve Jobs standing on stage doing an exaggerated pinch-to-zoom with his hands right before saying multitouch was patented wasn't some coincidence. It was a master salesman at work — and his work seems to have been extremely effective.
Nathan Alderman, Macworld
Maxthon’s perfectly fine for anything you’d want to do on the Web, and it definitely feels at least a bit faster than any other browser. But its rough edges and clear debts to other browsers make it feel more like a hastily assembled knockoff than a bold new challenger.
Joel Mathis, Macworld
Apple is now buying back used models of its iPhone 4S as part of its Reuse and Recycle Program—a possible harbinger of the unveiling of the company's next-generation iPhone.
Gets you a gift card, which you can use to buy back more Apple products.
Christina Bonnington And Spencer Ackerman, Wired
It seemed like a simple enough idea for an iPhone app: Send users a pop-up notice whenever a flying robots kills someone in one of America’s many undeclared wars. But Apple keeps blocking the Drones+ program from its App Store — and therefore, from iPhones everywhere. The Cupertino company says the content is “objectionable and crude,” according to Apple’s latest rejection letter.
Thu, Aug 30, 2012
Leah Yamshon, Macworld
This no-frills tool provides an excellent way to save power in between uses.
Rich Mogull, Macworld
Thanks to changes Apple has made, most of us are likely to be safe from this threat.
That said, although you likely aren’t at risk today, it is clear that Java still represents one of the biggest, most persistent security problems face users of all operating systems. So I recommend you consider implementing the precautions suggested below.
Joel Mathis, Macworld
The revamped application has been upgraded with Apple’s latest-generation computers and operating system in mind—it supports the high-definition Retina display available on the new MacBook Pro, and it offers a number of features that take advantage of Mountain Lion, including the ability to use the new dictation tool in both Mac and Windows, the addition of Windows notifications in the Mac’s Notification Center, the ability to organize Windows apps in Launchpad, and the use of Mountain Lion gestures (such as pinch-to-zoom) in Windows applications.
Allyson Kazmucha, IMore
By default, Notification Center will add app alerts in the order in which the app was installed. You can take control of notification handling on your iPhone or iPad, however, and organizing alerts and notifications in a way that makes the most sense to you.
Erik Eckel, TechRepublic
While iCloud, again, is awesome for personal use, businesses will find themselves better served by a terminal server parked in a secure data center, VPN access to a corporate server, or another cloud-based file sharing solution that ensures only authorized users securely access corporate data.
Kevin Drum, Mother Jones
"The 'scaling the view' if the operating system receives 'two or more input points' part you reference could be the two-finger tap to zoom out. It's a pretty nice feature that not a lot of people know about. In maps, just as you double tap with one finger to zoom in, you can single tap with two fingers to zoom out. I use it all the time."
Nick Clayton, Wall Street Journal
Ian Betteridge, Mac Life
Of all the hundreds of ways of organizing information, a flexible, smartly linked wiki is one of the most modern, useful, and efficient. VoodooPad lets you easily whip up personal wiki pages including text, images, and more.
Liz Gannes, All Things D
Lift allows you to join or create a “habit,” click a big button once a day if you’ve met your goal, and give and receive props to other users. All activity is public.
Shawn Blanc
But in my willingness to break habits and workflows that may no longer be the case for me — I’m considering a transition away from Yojimbo.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Steve Wildstrom, TechPinions
Depth, expertise, and reflection are all lacking. So is serious research. If you are going to write about a patent case, it’s a good idea to read the patents in dispute.
Wed, Aug 29, 2012
YMP Now
Ina Fried, All Things D
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs let his design team come up with great ideas, while Cook's job was to make them profitable by focusing relentlessly on the bottom line. Cook seems to be taking the same approach to retail, with a focus on "revenue and profits, not customers."
Jordan Golson, MacRumors
Kaylie Moise, Macgasm
Apple has released an update for the Apple TV that brings the iTunes Festival directly to your main screen.
Similar to the Hulu Plus app that was released earlier this month, the iTunes Festival app just appears on the home screen of your Apple TV.
Sam Biddle, Gizmodo
The manual could easily serve as the Humanity 101 textbook for a robot university, but at Apple, it's an exhaustive manual to understanding customers and making them happy. Sales, it turns out, take a backseat to good vibes—almost the entire volume is dedicated to empathizing, consoling, cheering up, and correcting various Genius Bar confrontations. The assumption, it'd seem, is that a happy customer is a customer who will buy things.
Michael Rose, TUAW
If you did install the Oracle build and you're concerned about the new exploit, you can disable the Java plugin in each of your browsers individually, or uninstall the beta build entirely.
Tue, Aug 28, 2012
Bob Brown, Network World
Researchers have discovered that relatively little exposure to tablets and other electronics with backlit displays can keep people up at night by messing with their circadian rhythms.
Quentin Fottrell, MarketWatch
Part of the problem is that with digital content, one doesn’t have the same rights as with print books and CDs. Customers own a license to use the digital files—but they don’t actually own them.
Allyson Kazmucha, IMore
Eric Slivka, MacRumors
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
If Samsung is forced to stop copying Apple, there is only one option left — innovate. Instead of sitting back and making their phones and tablets look exactly like the iPhone and iPad, Samsung will now have to do some work. The hardware and software will have to be different, unique and innovative.
Or Google will innovate until it's good enough, and every OEM just bundle some anti-virus and launcher apps, and compete on price. Just like the PC market.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
The company was quick to assure customers that it hasn’t cancelled plans to release Tweetbot for Mac sometime soon; rather, the company simply stopped offering access to the prerelease version of the software because it didn’t want to prematurely inflate its user count unnecessarily.
The other consequence on the preciousness of user tokens - expect to see less free Twitter clients, and probably no more demos or trials of paid clients.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Eighteen-year-old Eric Shine insists that he did try to pay, using the mobile Apple Store app’s EasyPay option on his phone, but that the purchase didn’t go through. A New York court will hear his case in October.
However Shine’s case pans out, his claims provide an important reminder about EasyPay and its promise of simplified shopping: With great convenience comes great responsibility for making sure that you’ve followed every step in the process—right down to confirming that your purchase has gone through.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Philip Michaels, Macworld
Dan Moren, Macworld
Apple on Monday announced that two of its influential executives have been promoted and are joining the company’s executive management team.
Mon, Aug 27, 2012
David Morgenstern, ZDNet
Leanna Lofte, IMore
Matthew Yglesias, Slate
In some sense there'd be "more innovation" in this world since there'd be this kind of arbitrary proliferation of user interfaces. But in a more important sense there'd be less competition, since there are only so many viable ways for a person to interact with a car and a lot of those ways suck.
Nick Wingfield, New York Times
Whether consumers respond by buying the more distinctive devices is another question entirely.
Marco Arment
So while this Retina MacBook Pro is the best computer I’ve ever used, I’m also impatiently waiting for the day when I can comfortably make one of these my only computer, and it’s not there yet.
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note
Microsoft and Apple saw that an armed peace was a better solution than constant IP conflicts. Can Samsung and Apple decide to do something similar and feed engineers rather than platoons of high-priced lawyers (the real winners in these battles)?
It’s a nice thought but I doubt it’ll happen. Gates and Jobs had known one another for a long time; there was animosity, but also familiarity. There is no such comfort between Apple and Samsung execs. There is, instead, a wide cultural divide.
Sun, Aug 26, 2012
Geoffrey Goetz, GigaOM
Andreas On Coding
So because I have a US IP address I can no longer update my Swedish apps? I took the advice and called Apple Support. A lady informed me that because I didn’t have active AppleCare for my Macs there was nothing they could do. She offered me to by a one-time pass for $49 or a three year plan for $249. Paying $49 to help Apple debug their DRM? WTF!
Dan Frakes: When the iPhone debuted, it was widely criticized for having no buttons/keys. Now people think the iPhone’s design is “obvious.”
Marco Arment
Maybe we’ll pay this theoretical “extra $20” in patent-license fees for our smartphone up front, a surcharge less than any carrier in the U.S. will charge to “activate” it, because it’s a drop in the bucket relative to the $2,000-over-two-years contract. In that case, this discussion is moot.
Or that extra $20 is significant, we won’t pay it, and the manufacturers will find a way to save $20 somewhere else to remain competitive and continue selling us their products that are so close to the iPhone that they run into these patents.
And Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
If the verdict stands, then the costs of the judgment will be reflected in the cost of mobile devices. Furthermore, other manufacturers will feel the need to buy Apple’s official permission to build useful phones, passing down the possible $20-per-handset fee.
And it’s possible that the next great phone, the one that shames the iPhone the same way that the iPhone buried the Blackberry, will never make it to market. Designing and selling an advanced smartphone just became a dangerous business.
ÜberTech
At least in this part of the world, buying from the Mac App Store isn’t a preference. It’s the only way. There are very few apps on my Mac that haven’t been bought from the App Store, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
Farhad Manjoo, PandoDaily
Of the three paths open to tech companies in the wake of the iPhone—ignore Apple, out-innovate Apple, or copy Apple—Samsung’s decision has fared best. Yes, Samsung’s copying was amateurish and panicky, and now it will have to pay for its indiscretions. But the costs of patent infringement will fall far short of what Samsung gained by aping Apple. Over the last few years, thanks to its brilliant mimicry, Samsung became a global force in the smartphone business. This verdict will do little to roll back that success.
Groklaw
There were 700 questions, remember, and one thing is plain, that the jury didn't take the time to avoid inconsistencies, one of which resulted in the jury casually throwing numbers around, like $2 million dollars for a nonfringement.
Enrique Gutierrez, Google+
I'm writing this post after the fourth group of Starbucks patrons have made the connection that Samsung is now the same as Apple. They don't know the details, they don't really care, what they know is Apple is saying that Samsung is the same as Apple ... and with one simple Google Search, you get prices that are basically half for what seems to be the same products -- for nearly everything.
Robert Scoble, Google+
Why? It only cost $1 billion to become the #2 most profitable mobile company. Remember how much Microsoft paid for Skype? $8 billion. So, for 1/8th of a Skype Samsung took RIM's place and kicked HTC's behind.
Trey Smith App Blog
After digging deeper in these top grossing apps, you can see they consist of nearly every free to play genre there is… Social games, click games, gambling games, turn based games, card games, etc but all of these have two things in common: They each have lots of in app purchases and they encourage the user to buy stuff (a call to action).
Sat, Aug 25, 2012
John C. Abell, Reuters
Microsoft did not have a strategic motive to innovate, only one to iterate.
Apple, on the other hand, has always been a consumer company. The dynamic is reversed: Apple caters to a whimsical, easily distracted crowd, winning it over one person at a time. Much tougher. To pull that off you have to be not only a serial innovator but also correct most of the time.
Brian X. Chen And Lisa Alcalay Klug, New York Times
Microsoft and its main hardware partner Nokia, at the very least, should have an easier time of it. Robert Barr, executive director of the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Law and Technology, said that the user interface — the icons and other features that users see and touch — of the Nokia Windows phones look distinctly different from the iPhone. Nokia, a longtime maker of phones, also has a thick portfolio of patents to protect itself.
Things could get tougher, however, for Google, or any phone maker using its Android software.
Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac
Cook notes that Apple seemingly did not want to go to trial with Samsung. These events only occured after Apple repeatedly asked Samsung to stop copying. Cook ends his email to employees by saying how proud he is of the work of each employee and that “values have won.”
Jennifer Smith, Wall Street Journal
Court documents show that some Morrison Foerster partners and of counsel billed a median rate of $582 an hour for work on portions of the case, while some Quinn Emanuel partners billed on average $821 per hour. Spokeswomen for both law firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Apple's release notes for the OS X 10.8.1 update released on Thursday made no mention of widely reported issues with laptop battery life under the initial shipping version of Mountain Lion. However, our testing reveals that the update can indeed significantly improve the runtime of Apple laptops over the original shipping version of Mountain Lion.
That's the good news. The bad news is that battery life may still not be as good as it was under Lion (OS X 10.7.4). And according to scattered reports from readers, the fixes that accompany the update may not fix the situation for everyone.
Barbara E. Hemandez, NBC Bay Area
Apple unveiled that its iOS 6 will introduce its new "Made for iPhone" hearing aids that will give the hearing-impaired a better digital experience, and now it's applying for two patents to do just that.
Nilay Patel, The Verge
In the long term, we're sure to see lots of UI behaviors change across Android — most companies have already moved away from the bounceback scrolling behavior protected by the Apple patent in this case, and we're sure to see tap-to-zoom and multitouch scrolling behavior affected on new devices as well. We're also sure to see new handsets adopt highly differentiated designs, as Apple has proven both its design patent and trade dress claims are strong enough to persuade a jury. That's already happening, and it's a good thing; Samsung's the only phone maker Apple has sued for copying the iPhone's design, and its more recent devices like the Galaxy S III already have unique designs. More differentiation in the market is ultimately good for consumers.
Daniel Jalkut, Red Sweater
As Apple becomes increasingly involved in the vetting of which software should be sold to, or allowed to run on customers’ computers, it’s worth considering whether they will be tempted to use these powers for less honorable goals. I would not have been surprised if Apple’s blacklisting here had been for non-technical reasons, but in spite of my initial paranoia, the Exceptions.plist file seems to only contain amendments that are genuinely for the good of users and developers.
Bryan Bishop, The Verge
After a surprisingly short time, court officials informed us that the jury in the Apple v. Samsung case had reached a verdict — and when it came, it wasn't good news for Samsung. The jury found in Apple's favor almost overwhelming, deciding that Samsung had infringement upon Apple's intellectual property with multiple devices. Apple won't be getting the more than $2.5 billion it had asked for, but it will be getting at least $1,051,885,000.
The jury didn't think much of Samsung allegations of infringement, either. They didn't feel that Apple had committed a single count of infringement — at least not anything that Samsung had demonstrated — against either Samsung's standards-essential or utility patents. As such, the company will be receiving nothing for its troubles.
Also:
Karissa Bell, Macworld
Launch Readomator, sign in with your Instapaper account, and you are greeted with a list of your saved Instapaper articles. Turn on the podcast switch, and iTunes launches and begins to convert your saved articles into podcasts, which you can then download in iTunes.
Jonathan Dann, Facebook
Today we released a new version of Facebook for iOS that's faster, more reliable, and easier to use than ever before. The development of this new app signals a shift in how Facebook is building mobile products, with a focus on digging deep into individual platforms. To understand how we approached this shift, let's take a look at how Facebook has evolved on mobile.
Fri, Aug 24, 2012
Joel Mathis, Macworld
A new version of SketchBook Pro, the “artistic toolkit” application for the Mac, has made its debut on the Mac App Store, offering an interface overhaul and cloud support among other features.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Matt Gemmell
As it turned out, there was no need for me to be scared about the stuff I needed to do to recreate all the stuff that the App Store provides. If you don’t manage to get onto the App Store (or even if you do), there’s another way you can get your apps out there, and it’s not much extra trouble.
Evan Ramstad and Min Sun Lee, Wall Street Journal
The judges ordered Apple to pay 20 million won, or $17,650 in damages for each violated patent. Samsung was ordered to pay 25 million won, or $22,000. Both companies had sought damages of 100 million won, or about $90,000, from the other.
The court banned sales of Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2, as well as Samsung's Galaxy S, Galaxy SII and Galaxy Nexus smartphones, as well as the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy 10.1 tablet computers.
Carmine Gallo, Retail Customer Experience
When it comes to hiring, the Apple Store doesn't care about how much you know as much as it wants to know how much you care. The ideal Apple Store candidate knows a little about computers and a lot about people.
Brent Simmons, Inesential.com
Steven Sande, TUAW
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
The 5.0 version of the app opens and operates significantly faster on the iPhone and iPad than it did in its previous iterations, which Facebook touts as evidence that it's retooling the way it thinks so that it's a "mobile first" company.
Lukas Hermann, MacStories
If you desperately need a simple and reliable to-do app solution for all of your Apple devices, and if you’re really sure you will use it (especially after you’ve tried the Mac trial), you should consider using Things 2.0 full time. I think it is well worth the price.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Apple lists a variety of fixes and improvements that the update includes. Among them is a fix for Migration Assistant crash, improvements to the Mail app’s support for Microsoft Exchange, and resolution for a bug that affected connecting to SMB servers with long names.
Thu, Aug 23, 2012
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
Joel Mathis, Macworld
The principle new feature is compatibility with OS X Mountain Lion. That compatibility includes support for AirPlay mirroring, meaning you can wirelessly stream Windows applications (as well as Mac apps) to a high-definition television via Apple TV. The update also includes support for the USB 3.0 ports and high-definition Retina display on the new generation of MacBook Pro.
Jeff Hunter, AnyList
StaceyHigginbotham, GigaOM
The first is to push more consumers over to the Mobile Shared Data plan, and the second is to establish a precedent that will put its Wi-Fi network on the same legal footing as its cellular one, especially when it comes to network neutrality. Success in the first effort will help AT&T in the near term as it drives people off their grandfathered unlimited plans and tiered plans, while success in the second will give AT&T more wiggle room as it fights the FCC and consumer advocates over network neutrality.
Jordan Golson, MacRumors
Apple does tend to remove older advertisements from its website and YouTube over time, but the company still has ads on YouTube from as far back as November 2010.
That bad, eh?
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Wed, Aug 22, 2012
Shelly Brisbin, Macworld
Developers, designers, audio pros, or anyone who uses a large number of folders will welcome the ability to jump directly to a frequently used folder or file from within any application. Even better—you can do so without searching, or clicking through stacks of open Finder windows.
TJ Luoma, TUAW
However, if you learn nothing else today, learn this: the Mobile Documents folder is not to be trifled with. Leave it alone. Don't move or rename any files or folders you find in there. You can probably safely copy files from there, but I wouldn't do anything more than that.
Associated Press
Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville
Ryan Faas, Cult Of Mac
Although Apple has kept fairly quiet about it, the company has developed a business to business app distribution option that leverages the existing Volume Purchase Program (VPP) for businesses.
Apple has come a long way since web apps are all we need on the phone.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
After Twitter announced some tough new rules for third-party developers last week, it remains unclear precisely what those changes might mean for the future of your favorite third-party Twitter client.
Tue, Aug 21, 2012
Brendan Wilhide, Macworld
Michael Lee, ZDNet
Apple's Remote Desktop has been erroneously informing users that it has been encrypting data, when a bug has actually meant that the data transmitted was sent in the clear.
Graham Spencer, MacStories
Brian X. Chen, New York Times
Public Knowledge, a nonprofit group that focuses on Internet law, says that by prohibiting its other customers from using the video-calling feature on the network, AT&T is violating net-neutrality rules by blocking a service that potentially competes with its own.
Leanna Lofte, IMore
Lister is stylish new list app for the iPhone. It offers a nice, clean interface for shopping and to-do lists that can be password protected on a per-list basis. You can also add pricing to shopping list items so that you can quickly see the total cost associated with each list.
Reda Lemeden, Smashing Magazine
Sarah Perez, TechCrunch
IPhone Development
Richard Hoffman, Computerworld
My advice: With any sealed-unit Mac, the best bet unless your replacement cycle is short (two to three years) may be to completely max it out with the fully-loaded, most capable build-to-order configuration -- CPU, RAM and storage.
Tim Bajarin, TechPinions
It is this anticipation of what people will want in a tech product and Apple’s ability to not only see the future and then create the products people want even if they don’t know they want or need them that makes life difficult for those who compete with them.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Mon, Aug 20, 2012
Gabe Weatherhead, Macworld
Like everyone else, I need to keep track of lots of bits of information. Some of those bits are as simple as the brand of salad dressing my wife likes; others are as complex as an outline for a multi-year project at work. Whatever the size, origin, and purpose of these bits, I keep track of them all by saving them in a reliable system of plain-text notes—a system that enables me to find any bit of information whenever I need it, in a form that makes sense to me when I do.
This system is based on two simple principles: All notes are saved in plain-text files, and I follow some basic but strict guidelines for creating and storing them.
Mark Potts, Recovering Journalist
What Kaiser heard at the conference sounded to him—a decidedly non-techie print newsman whose expertise was mostly in international affairs—like science fiction. On the long flight home, he wrote a seven-page memo to Washington Post Publisher Don Graham and other top executives at the paper about what he'd seen and heard—and what he thought The Post should do about it. (How much have things changed? Bob wrote his first draft in longhand, on a legal pad; I'm writing this on an iPad.)
Kirk McELhearn, Macworld
Matthew Green, A Few Thoughts On Cryptographic Engineering
To me, the disconcerting thing about iMessage is how rapidly it's gone from no deployment to securing billions of text messages for millions of users. And this despite the fact that the full protocol has never been published by Apple or (to my knowledge) vetted by security experts. (Note: if I'm wrong about this, let me know and I'll eat my words.)
What's worse is that Apple has been hyping iMessage as a secure protocol; they even propose it as a solution to some serious SMS spoofing bugs.
MG Siegler, Massive Greatness
Bloomberg
Big Fish Games Inc. is introducing a version of its gambling application Big Fish Casino with real-money betting in the U.K., where it is legal, the Seattle-based company said.
Even as Apple's storefront plays host to an increasing number of casino apps, the Cupertino, California-based company isn't taking a cut of sales from gambling in its apps, Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for Apple, said in an interview.
Sun, Aug 19, 2012
Trevor Mogg, Digital Trends
Double, which its maker claims offers the “most elegant way to be somewhere else in the world without flying there,” comprises a pair of wheels, a battery-powered motor, an adjustable pole and an iPad holder.
Marco Arment
His password-deadlock scenario is worth noting.
Mark Crump, GigaOM
Things was my task management tool of choice in the pre-cloud era. When Cultured Code announced recently that, finally, after four years that cloud syncing was finally here, I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to try it out. Here’s my take on the new software.
Tim Stevens, Engadget
"Apple takes security very seriously. When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attacks. One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they're directed to an unknown website or address over SMS."
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
This small, power-efficient device is dead simple for home use.
Josh Johnson, Mactuts+
Disk Utility is an application that’s built into OS X that can perform lots of useful and even scary actions. Experienced users find frequent need of this handy tool but those newer to the Mac experience are often cautioned to steer clear, for good reason. Today we’re going to take a very brief look at what Disk Utility is, when you should use it and how to avoid erasing important information while doing so.
Sat, Aug 18, 2012
Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld
Apple and Facebook this week each filed plans to expand data center operations in Prineville, Ore., a little community that's on its way to becoming one of the largest data center locations in U.S.
Topher Kessler, CNET
Similar to the old due date feature, if the "remind me" option is set then the program will color the task pink to indicate its due date has arrived; however, this behavior now comes with the notification that will appear in Notification Center.
John Letzing, Wall Street Journal
Lawyers is the new Wall Street.
Mat Honan, Wired
My data came back to me on an external hard drive, organized by file types. The thing I cared most about, above all else, was my photo library. And there, in a folder full of JPGs, was photo after photo after photo that I had feared were gone forever. Subfolders were organized by the year, month and day files were created. I went immediately to the folder that bore the date my daughter was born. They were there. Everything was there. We were floored. I nearly cried.
Remember: backup! At least two copies locally, one copy offsite.
Marco Arment
The bigger question is what the rules will be in a few months or years, and whether the clients we like will be arbitrarily cut off when Twitter’s next big initiative starts.
The rules will change if and when the current advertisement initiatives do not make enough money for Twitter.
Jared Newman, PCWorld
Mobile Share is a new type of wireless plan that AT&T will launch on August 23. It allows users to share a single bucket of data across multiple phones, tablets and hotspots, and includes unlimited talk and text.
Pay us more money before you can use that same piece of bandwidth.
David Streitfeld, New York Times
Needing special equipment to read something seemed to go against everything Mr. Gass was defending in his “Defense.” In an interview, he explained how his thinking about technology had shifted over the last decade.
Victor Agreda, Jr, TUAW
Fri, Aug 17, 2012
Horace Dediu, Asymco
The accusation that employment is being sacrificed for the sake of profits seems disingenuous. The stores were never designed as a profit center. They have to be profitable in the sense that they have to justify themselves. But we need to recognize that they on a brand and product mix that is unique to that store. In return, they are designed to sustain that brand and offer a service rather than merely a sales channel.
Fraser Speirs
In a sense, yes, I'm cheating in that I'm not actually programming on the iPad itself but so what? The entire point of mobile devices is that a good proportion of their power comes from being always connected to the Internet. You wouldn't say that you can't search the web with an iPad just because you can't store and search Google's index database on the device.
The idea of not owning infrastructure is really interesting and important to me. I want to stay as agile as possible with our technology and buying only what I need when I need it is an important part of this.
Shelly Brisbin, Macworld
Like antivirus software, Cookie Stumbler combines an application with a subscription to regularly updated definition files. These definitions identify known advertising and tracking cookies, and delete them, based on your preferences.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Developers aren’t necessarily panicking yet, and users shouldn’t either. But Thursday’s new rules are Thursday's new rules, and it remains possible that Twitter could crack down even more strictly in the future.
It’s clear that, in the near term, Twitter isn’t going anywhere, even if its support for third-party clients is. But the company’s lastest changes mean that your favorite Twitter app may one day no longer be supported by its third-party developer, and that may well give you at least 140 moments of pause.
Also:
•
On Twitter’s API changes (Rafe Colburn, rc3.org): I don’t think that the people who run the company are really in touch with what its users love the most about it.
Edward Marks
The use of a black status bar and rounded corners can increase the usability of your iPhone application by bounding your content and thus separating it from the viewport.
Janko Roettgers, GigaOM
Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times
The filing never explicitly says that Apple is interested in the fingerprint technology piece of AuthenTec's portfolio of products, definitely the coolest of its offerings.
In additon to the obvious security benefits of fingerprint technology, AuthenTec's sensors can associate different functions with different fingers, so in theory, you could teach your phone that if you touch it with your right pinky finger it will open your email inbox, or speed dial your mom if you swipe your right thumb across the screen.
Maybe Apple can even tell whether you are touching with your left hand or right hand, and can adjust the UI accordingly.
Steven Sande, TUAW
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
Though I stopped working for Apple in 2009, I still believe that, at its heart, the Apple Store is about caring for its customers, not its cashflow. It’s about the person who’s never even seen a Mac before, walking in and interacting with an iMac. It’s the about the woman who couldn’t turn her computer on when she started coming to the store for workshops, but just walked out with a self-created slideshow movie for her daughter’s wedding.
Ian Sherr, Dow Jones
Apple Inc.'s retail boss told employees that the company made mistakes with its staffing levels, leading to news reports that the company was cutting employees, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Thu, Aug 16, 2012
Jessica E. Vascellaro And Shalini Ramachandran, Wall Street Journal
Apple Inc. is in talks with some of the biggest U.S. cable operators about letting consumers use an Apple device as a set-top box for live television and other content, according to people familiar with the matter.
Is Apple going to negotiate with each and every individual cable and satellite company all over the world? Why not just build the Apple TV set, and have all the world's content feed into the TV?
NASDAQ
The iPod obliterated its competition years ago, and no other MP3 maker has yet come close to cracking its market share. Apple sold some $6.12 billion worth of iPods in the past 12 months, which puts it revenue-wise in the realm of PetSmart and significantly above Facebook. iPods were about 3% of Apple's overall revenues last quarter.
Seems to me that iPod Touch will, inevitably, gain cellular data, become a smaller-sized iPad, and be sold by the truckloads.
Nick Wingfield, New York Times
If you’re thinking about selling your iPhone so you can use the money to buy Apple’s new smartphone when it comes out, better act fast.
Allyson Kazmucha, IMore
There are a few ways to bypass Gatekeeper if you run into this issue. Follow along and we'll show you how.
Sharif Sakr, Engadget
Karen Haslam, Macworld UK
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Wed, Aug 15, 2012
IT.Enquirer
Using Mountain Lion’s Mail and Reminders, you can create a system that will alert you when something important happens. With MailTags 3.1.2 in the mix, you have yourself a complete task management system.
David Carnoy, CNET
The iMac is a great machine until something goes wrong. Here's why you might think twice about buying one.
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville
So while iCloud is nice for syncing data from apps where you don’t save files – calendars, to-do apps, etc. – it is far less practical than Dropbox for storing documents. If you already use Dropbox, this is probably obvious, but if not, its worth trying.
Steven Sande, TUAW
As with the rest of the bumpers, the (PRODUCT) RED bumper feature two-tone colors and metal buttons for volume and power. Plus, it protects your iPhone from scratches on the metal sides.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
You simply drag files or folders onto the application window, select the change you want to make from a popup menu and the settings for that change, and click a button. The application can perform its operations on all of the contents of a folder, including all of the sub-folders and files it contains. You can create droplets that you can use with specific settings, so you can reuse them easily.
Joshua Schnell, Macgasm
Tue, Aug 14, 2012
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Roger Kay, Forbes
My own sense is that photo handling was an afterthought for Apple, which was concerned with music when it created iTunes. iPhoto is sort of a bolt on. Between iCloud, iOS, OS X, iPhoto, and iTunes, something is getting lost in the shuffle. And no application of genius seems to make a difference.
Ian Sherr, Wall Street Journal
John Gruber, Daring Fireball
But now this. The 15-inch MacBook Pro With Retina display. This is a boom. A revolution in resolution. The display I’ve been craving ever since I first saw high-resolution laser printer output.
Programming In The Twenty-First Century
It would be wonderful to be in a position of developing software, blindly sending it out into the world, and making a fortune. It does happen. But when it doesn't, it's better to take responsibility for the failure and dig deeper into what to do about it rather than throwing up your hands and blaming the system.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
The interesting thing here is that while Mail will allow you to save printed PDF files to iCloud, there’s no way to access them because Mail doesn’t have a documents window. Likewise, if you were to go to icloud.com and click on Mail, you’d find no storage location for anything created by Mail. It doesn’t exist.
Sounds like a bug to me.
Mon, Aug 13, 2012
Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review
Apple's security architecture is so sturdy, and so tightly woven into its hardware and software, that it is both easy for consumers to use encryption on their phones and very difficult for someone else to steal the encrypted information.
Alex Howard, O'reilly Radar
OpenPlans looks to improve transportation infrastructure with open data and open source code.
Cliff Joseph, Macworld UK
Mellel can be used for straightforward letters and other documents, but its main emphasis is on the creation of longer documents, with something of an academic or technical focus. The program has always included strong multi-language support, as well as cross-referencing and bookmarking features. Version 3.0 also includes a ‘live bibliography’ option that will update the end-of-document bibliography automatically as you add the relevant references to the main text of your document.
Brooke Crothers, CNET
Apple's Retina displays are drop-dead gorgeous. But be careful what you wish for.
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Sun, Aug 12, 2012
Chris Ziegler, The Verge
Apple also proposed a royalty discount structure based on a variety of factors, using the Windows Mobile-based Blackjack II as an example: QWERTY form factor would give a 20 percent discount, Apple patents that Microsoft had already licensed inside Windows Mobile would give another 40 percent, and a cross-licensing deal on Samsung's patents would be 20 percent — a grand total of an 80 percent discount in this particular case (granted, a Blackjack II doesn't bear much resemblance to an iPhone).
I do wonder if Samsung at any point told Apple: we want to license iOS, not patents. Give us that, or we'll just copy every single detail.
Sat, Aug 11, 2012
Ina Fried, All Things D
Apple executives have testified the company was “shocked” when Samsung debuted its first Galaxy phones. But, considering the Korean company was a major supplier, Apple apparently was also willing to make a deal with its rival.
In October 2010, Apple offered to license its portfolio of patents to Samsung provided the Korean company was willing to pay on the order of $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet.
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
"I haven’t given up on TextMate," Odgaard told Ars.
Adam Dachis, Lifehacker
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Apple has sold 46.5 million iPod touch units in the US between the device's introduction in 2007 and the second quarter of 2012. (That's in addition to the nearly 86 million iPhones and 34 million iPads sold during that time.)
Marco Arment
So I picked Sublime Text. So far, I don’t love it, but I like it. The more I used Chocolat, the less I liked it, but as I continue to use Sublime Text 2, I like it more.
And I think it has a more promising future of stable, high-quality, long-term development than anything else on this list except BBEdit, which I still wish was more my style, but it still isn’t.
Personally, I am using BBedit on Mac, and Sublime Text 2 on Windows. However, I don't use a lot of the advanced features on both editors.
Brendan Wilhide, Macworld
It’s a powerful yet easy to use firewall that lets users block applications from accessing the Internet.
You can prevent certain apps from phoning home.
Fri, Aug 10, 2012
Iljitsch Van Beijnum, Ars Technica
Apple's ruthless simplification left Mountain Lion skinnier than we'd like.
Apple is definitely bringing OS X to a new direction. It will not be iOS, but it will not be the same OS X.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Dave Caolo, TUAW
Eric Slivka, MacRumors
With a number of retailers and carriers beginning to drop prices on the iPhone as the introduction of Apple's next-generation hardware approaches, Apple has officially continued to maintain standard on-contract pricing of $199/$299/$399 for the iPhone 4S, $99 for the iPhone 4, and free for the iPhone 3GS.
Gene Steinberg, Laptop Magazine
Ian Sherr, Wall Street Journal
The increased popularity among older consumers could have influenced Apple’s decision to put out the “Genius” ads, BrandIndex said.
“It appears that the 35+ demographic, which includes Boomers 50 and over, may need more product hand-holding than the younger group–hence the Genius,” BrandIndex said, adding that Apple’s decision to run the ads during prime-time Olympics coverage, where the audience is easily over 35 years old, made sense as well.
Never assume older = less capable of using a computing device.
Dan Frakes, Macworld
The flagship feature of Things 2 is cloud syncing, called Things Cloud.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
OS X has long offered the ability to encrypt your startup disk using Apple’s FileVault, but Mountain Lion extends this feature to other disks, even to simple USB flash drives. Here is an overview of how this feature works, how you can encrypt and decrypt a disk, and what options you have when doing so.
Jual Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
Kelly Guimont, TUAW
I had a chance to briefly chat with Allan today, and he told me that he will continue to be an active developer on TextMate; it was not a lack of personal time that pushed him to this decision. He is not abandoning TextMate to an open source wasteland -- he truly hopes and believes this approach will be better for everyone.
Also:
Joel Mathis, Macworld
Thu, Aug 9, 2012
Nathan Alderman, Macworld
I can’t recommend Safari 6 under Lion; its few interface improvements can’t outweigh its surly performance. Under Mountain Lion, it’s a blast to use, and its relatively few additions all prove worthwhile. Other browsers may give you more raw power in some respects, but Safari still delivers the most elegant and enjoyable Web experience.
I have to say this again: I simply love the two features in Safari that no other browsers (that I know of) have matched: smart zooming, and Reader.
Brian Barrett, Gizmodo
That Apple made the retina MacBook Pro a difficult nut to crack isn't a new revelation; iFixit already deemed it the "least repairable laptop" ever back in June. But now we know that if your fancy $2200+ does break, it's going to cost almost a new laptop's worth to fix it.
Shawn Blanc
Leaman Crews, Low End Mac
Wed, Aug 8, 2012
Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times
Apple was explaining the proper way to embed videos in iOS 6 and used the Rickroll as its example.
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Some bit of software within Mountain Lion indeed appears to noticeably reduce battery life for Apple's portable Macs. Following on numerous reports lodged in Apple's support forums, we did some additional testing using our Retina MacBook Pro review unit, which seemed to lose approximately 38 percent of its previous 8-hour runtime after installing Mountain Lion. Apple support technicians are continuing to gather evidence from users reporting problems, though at least one user has been told that an update from the Mac App Store should address the issue.
Dan Moren, Macworld
However, the utility of Dropzone is multiplied by its extensibility. On the developer's site, you'll find an extensive list of additional actions created by users.
IFixIt
Graham Spencer, MacStories
John Paczkowski and Ina Fried, All Things D
Nathan Olivarez-Giles And Mat Honan, Wired
Apple on Tuesday ordered its support staff to immediately stop processing AppleID password changes requested over the phone, following the identity hacking of Wired reporter Mat Honan over the weekend, according to Apple employees.
An Apple worker with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Wired that the over-the-phone password freeze would last at least 24 hours. The employee speculated that the freeze was put in place to give Apple more time to determine what security policies needed to be changed, if any.
Joe Kissell, TidBITS
It turns out Mail in Mountain Lion does handle outgoing mail differently than before, and for some users, it can be frustratingly difficult to predict what account Mail will send messages from.
Ken Segall's Observatory
What made her head spin was the fact that Apple has been telling people for decades that its products are easier to use than those of its competitors, and here they are saying that ordinary people need help.
Joshua Schnell, Macgasm
Mike Schramm, TUAW
Apple has finished smoothing out its Xcode releases with version 4.4.1, which finally brings Xcode out as a standalone app. Instead of just including the developer tools (such as legacy simulators and optional command-line tools), it now has sectioned those off into a separate downloads preference pane.
Glenn Fleishman and Jeff Carlson, TidBITS
Matt Neuburg, TidBITS
What Mountain Lion brings to the Modern Document Model mix are two checkboxes, in the General system preference pane, affecting the behavior of applications when documents close, along with some new menu items.
Nathan Olivarez-Giles, Wired
Previously, Amazon allowed people to call in and change the email address associated with an Amazon account or add a credit card number to an Amazon account as long as the caller could identify him or herself by name, email address and mailing address — three bits of personal information that are easily found online.
On Tuesday, Amazon handed down to its customer service department a policy change that no longer allows people to call in and change account settings, such as credit cards or email addresses associated with its user accounts.
Farhad Manjoo, Slate
The four things you need to do right now to avoid the fate of tech writer Mat Honan.
Tue, Aug 7, 2012
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Roman Loyola, Macworld
It’s actually very easy to remove the glass. Magnets hold the glass in place, and all you need are a pair of suction cups to attach to the glass so you can pull the glass away from the machine.
Miriam Gottfried, Wall Street Journal
And now that three of the top four carriers stock the iPhone, it looks more of a burden than a differentiator. With Apple charging about $620 for each iPhone, according to UBS, carriers have to offer a subsidy of about $420 in order to sell customers the device for just $200. That is significantly higher than the roughly $300 carriers pay to subsidize some high-end Android phones.
Mat Honan, Wired
But what happened to me exposes vital security flaws in several customer service systems, most notably Apple’s and Amazon’s. Apple tech support gave the hackers access to my iCloud account. Amazon tech support gave them the ability to see a piece of information — a partial credit card number — that Apple used to release information. In short, the very four digits that Amazon considers unimportant enough to display in the clear on the web are precisely the same ones that Apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification. The disconnect exposes flaws in data management policies endemic to the entire technology industry, and points to a looming nightmare as we enter the era of cloud computing and connected devices.
This isn’t just my problem. Since Friday, Aug. 3, when hackers broke into my accounts, I’ve heard from other users who were compromised in the same way, at least one of whom was targeted by the same group.
Dan Frakes, Macworld
The fact that Battery Status lets you use a single menu-bar space to monitor all your batteries makes it both useful and prudent.
Mike Schramm, TUAW
Here's a discouraging statistic for independent developers looking to break into the increasingly crowded iOS App Store. According to a report from mobile analytics firm Adeven, over two thirds of the store consists of "zombie" apps, which generate few downloads and almost no revenue to their creators.
Depressing, isn't it?
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Lex Friedman, Dan Moren, Macworld
There are many steps you can take to keep your data secure, and some important questions you might want to consider before you sign up for new services or add new devices.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Matthew Panzarino, The Next Web
So, the deal surrounding the YouTube app is all about Google’s desire to get ads in front of a huge, untapped market of viewers, and Apple’s desire to exit Google from as much of its iOS platform as humanly possible. Next up is the hardest nut to crack: Search.
Mon, Aug 6, 2012
And Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
With 10.8, iOS sends its roots deeply into the Mac experience. The end result isn’t a Mac that feels like an iPad. It’s a PC in which your data and your user experience flow between desktop and mobile devices freely and easily.
Asher Moses, Sydney Morning Herald
But it appears that if you erase the data from your Apple device or remove the iCloud account when the device is not connected to the internet, it doesn't de-link the device from your account on Apple's servers.
When the new owner logs in to the device with their own Apple ID and switches on iCloud / Find My Device, the previous owner is still able to track the device and wipe the data using their own iCloud account, without knowing the Apple ID details of the new owner.
David Morgenstern, ZDNet
According to Adobe, the company worked closely together to test Creative Suite with Mountain Lion. An Adobe technical note says that there are no CS updates needed for the system upgrade.
However, reading down the compatibility list, I note potential caveats with security and plug-ins. For example, Creative Suite 5 and 5.5 aren't signed by the new Developer ID authentication and require a Digital Signature verification method.
Agen G. N. Schmitz, TidBITS
Sun, Aug 5, 2012
@mat: Wow. Okay. So I've confirmed with both the hacker and Apple how this happened. Was via a phone call to Apple tech support.
OS X Daily
James Gleick, New York Times
Who’s the boss of our fingers?
Julie Ng
As Mat’s case demonstrated, we’re often only as safe and secure as our passwords.
Mac Performance Guide
If one edits a document than does Save As, then both the edited original document and the copy are saved, thus not only saving a new copy, but silently saving the original with the same changes, thus overwriting the original.
Embrace the new model of document management with Saves, Duplicates, and Reverts. Don't use Save As. Once you get used it, life will be better.
Daniel Jalkut, Red Sweater
Culturally and technologically, we have certainly come a long way from plain-text passphrases stored in a file, but it’s clear there is a lot more to be done. In the mean time, I’ll just be here fumbling with my phone every other minute, cursing Apple as I bask in a moderate sense of security for having jumped through all these hoops.
Sat, Aug 4, 2012
Mat Honan, Emptypage
So maybe you saw my Twitter going nuts tonight. Or you saw Gizmodo’s Twitter account blow up. Or you saw this in AllThingsD. Or this in the DailyDot. Although embarrassing, Twitter was the least of it. In short, someone gained entry to my iCloud account, used it to remote wipe all of my devices, and get entry into other accounts too.
Michael Rose, TUAW
Liz Gannes, All Things D
Also:
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Users claim that battery life reported by their systems is significantly lower after installing Mountain Lion—in some cases, it's nearly half of what was reported under Lion. The batteries themselves also seem to drain noticeably faster, with more than one user claiming that it was possible to watch the battery indicator drop in capacity.
John Kirk, TechPinions
Alexis Santos, Engadget
NVIDIA's screaming Kepler architecture has more than enough oomph for the MacBook to handle most current games thrown at it, providing an enjoyable experience at respectable settings and resolutions. If playing video games is your prime directive, a portable rig built for gaming from the ground up should still top your list, but rest assured that Apple's "best Mac ever" can have some fun too.
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
Nathan Alderman, Macworld
I need to give Firefox abundant credit for its suite of tools for Web developers. It’s by far the best I’ve seen in any browser, both in its breadth and its visual style.
Fri, Aug 3, 2012
Mark Milian, Bloomberg
“When they attend all of these events, they’re kind of evangelizing,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach. “They’ve got to continue to do that.”
The change in Apple’s public speaking this year may be a result of Cook’s preference for having his team network within the industry, and not rely solely on Apple-specific events, Wu said.
Apple is doubling down on transparency and secrecy.
Adam Fields (Work Stuff)
Matt Neuburg, TidBITS
And so the user, who did not quit the application deliberately, is puzzled and annoyed, and in order to continue using this application must now search for it and relaunch it all over again.
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Has Mountain Lion been feeling faster for you compared to Lion on the same machine? It's probably not just you: Mountain Lion appears to include improved graphics drivers and low-level graphics subsystem improvements. According to our testing, these improvements result in an approximate performance increase of up to 10 percent. Those improvements can make your current hardware feel faster despite the fact that your CPU can't magically crunch numbers any faster. The changes also lay the foundation for Apple to update OS X's OpenGL support in a more timely manner, which could potentially lead to better graphics performance in the future.
Thu, Aug 2, 2012
Shawn Blanc
Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville
Check your accounts before pressing the "send" button.
Philip Michaels, Macworld
“We take notes because we want to save information that helps us get things done,” Tamte says. And to his way of thinking, too many of the note-taking apps he’s tried on his iPad just don’t let that happen easily enough.
Fortunately for Tamte, he runs a software company. So he can create an app that addresses his complaints.
Olga Kharif, Bloomberg
Getting noticed on Apple Inc. (AAPL) (AAPL)’s App Store has become more expensive for developers this year, while application downloads haven’t increased much, according to Fiksu Inc., a digital marketing company.
Tony Bradley, PCWorld
Once the dust has settled some, I’ll be able to determine if Apple Mail will work for me long term, or if the novelty of Reminders and iOS integration isn’t really worth it.
Grant Brünner, Macgasm
Philip Michaels, Macworld
But you know what? If Apple manages to reach the people it’s targeting with these ads, all of these critiques amount to a little more than hot air.
Just make sure existing Apple customers will not be ashamed to recommend Macs to their friends. :)
Dan Knight, Low End Mac
Dan Frakes, Macworld
Assuming your Mac qualifies, what Power Nap means is that whenever you wake your laptop, all your updated data is there, ready for use; any software updates are ready to be installed or downloaded; and your backups have been updated, so you can pack up and be on your way. In other words, Mountain Lion took a great feature from iOS and made it better for the Mac.
If only Macs can recognise whether they are on Wi-Fi or tethered to bandwidth-limited iOS devices, just like IOS devices knowing the difference between Wi-Fi and cellular 3G or 4G.
Wed, Aug 1, 2012
Katherine Rushton, Telegraph
Speaking at a British Business conference running alongside the Olympic Games, Sir Jonathan said that it was not uncommon for Apple’s designers to feel they are "pursuing something that we think 'that's really incredibly compelling', but we're really struggling to solve the problem that it represents".
However, the designer added that the firm does not get enough credit for its decisions to stop working on devices that are “competent” as opposed to “great”.
Robin Wauters, The Next Web
J.D. Biersdorfer, New York Times
Lukas Mathis, Ignore The Code
But with either an L-shaped connector or the MagSafe 1’s stronger magnets, this probably wouldn’t have happened. And perhaps the thicker glass on the older MacBooks would have survived this accident. Tiny design decisions can add up.
Jason D. O'Grady, ZDNet
Mike Schramm, TUAW
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Marco Arment
Fortunately, you can avoid both risks, for the most part, by creating an additional user in iTunes Connect that only has access to sales reports.
Karissa Bell, Macworld
Launch the app and your Mac’s external speakers are immediately muted. Better yet, they remain muted, even if you launch another application, or if your headphones come unplugged. If you do have headphones plugged in, however, that volume is maintained and can be freely adjusted.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
If you’re concerned, you have two tools you can use: The first is to stop shopping at the Mac App Store when possible, and buy apps direct from developers instead. And the second is to share your feedback with Apple directly.
It’s definitely too soon to panic about the future of the Mac App Store and OS X. But it’s not too soon to be concerned.