Apple has just updated their ITunes Connect app submission service to allow developers to schedule pricing changes as well as set specific launch dates for their apps, according to an Twitter by user amcdev. The latter’s a big change: up until now, companies have had no say as to when their apps will go live. Even

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Apple gives developers ability to schedule app sales

(Image courtesy of AppleInsider and iPhones.ru) Apple may take some heat for its App Store policies, but never let it be said that they aren’t constantly working to improve their developer relationships. This week’s big change came in the form of new tools to allow iPhone OS developers to set the exact release date of their applications as well as schedule price changes. AppleInsider has all the details on the new changes to Apple’s iTunesConnect web interface, which is not limited only to iPhone OS developers — it applies to all of Apple’s iTunes media partners. The new tools automate two tasks that publishers will likely see as a welcome change. Publishers can now schedule a release date in advance for both new and updated applications, which is perfect for developers who want to time an app’s release around a press release or other event. Developers can also schedule price changes to occur at a specific date, or even end them the same way, which will be useful for limited-time sale pricing. Previously, devs had to handle such tasks manually. As you can see from the screenshot courtesy of iPhones.ru above , “a publisher can choose to release an app on March 4th under pricing tier 1 ($0.99) and pre-schedule the price to rise to tier 2 ($1.99) two weeks later,” AppleInsider explains . “Successive price changes could also be scheduled in the interface; it’s not limited to two entries.” Never let it be said that Apple isn’t listening to developers and trying to make their lives easier.

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iPhone Developers Gain Ability to Automate Release Date & Price Changes

After being promised several months ago, Amazon’s free Kindle for Mac has finally arrived in beta form — right as Apple’s iPad and its accompanying iBooks app looms large over the horizon. Kindle for Mac joins a vast array of available options for Amazon e-book buyers. In addition to the company’s own $259 Kindle 2 and $489 Kindle DX hardware options, e-books purchased through Amazon can also be read on the iPhone or iPod touch, Blackberry, Windows PC and now Mac — and presumably an updated iPad version is yet to come as well. According to AppleInsider , Kindle for Mac allows users to purchase and download from Amazon’s ever-expanding catalog of more than 450,000 e-books and read them on the device of your choice. Amazon’s Whispersync technology is featured on all versions of the software and hardware, which automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and the last page read across devices. For instance, you can start reading an e-book on the new Mac version, then open the same tome on your iPhone and pick right up where you left off, on the go. "Kindle for Mac is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," said Amazon Kindle director Jay Marine. "For those customers around the world who don’t yet have a Kindle, Kindle for Mac is a great way to instantly access and read the most popular new releases as well as their old favorites." Of course, Amazon would probably prefer that e-book buyers still favor the hardware Kindle over the software options, but ultimately the company has done the right thing by making it available on every possible platform — especially given that Apple will likely have its own iBooks for iPad in its own walled garden as usual. Kindle for Mac isn’t quite feature complete yet — Amazon plans to add more new features, such as full text search and the ability to create and edit notes and highlights. The free beta version is available for download now and requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 or greater and an Intel processor

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Amazon Kindle for Mac Beta Now Available

It was bound to happen, sooner or later. Steve Jobs is simply too important, too impressive, too easy a target not to base a character on him and turn it into a sitcom. And that’s what might very well be happening, if the pilot currently in development in Hollywood gets optioned for a series. Yesterday, Media Rights Capital released a statement on its website describing how, working with cable channel EPIX, they have green-lit a pilot episode for a proposed sitcom series entitled — what else? –  iCON . From MRC’s website: EPIX and Media Rights Capital have made a team for iCON, a comedy series pilot that will be developed by Larry Charles, the Emmy-winning TV writer/producer, and the director of the Sacha Baron Cohen features Borat and Bruno. Charles will oversee development of the script and will direct the half-hour pilot of a series written by Dan Lyons. A technology consultant for Newsweek, Lyons created the Fake Steve Jobs blog and wrote the novel Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs—A Parody. Yes, you read that right. Fake Steve himself is penning the script (it’s most likely he already has , given how sporadic the updates have been in recent weeks on the Fake Steve Jobs blog .) If you’re a fan of Fake Steve, this is exhilarating news; Lyons is not only an insightful author but is in possession of a Sahara-dry wit, to boot. In addition to his Fake Steve sideshow, Lyons is the author of Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs – A Parody . You might say he really knows the subject matter. And then there’s Larry Charles.

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New Sitcom Pilot to be Based Not-So-Loosely on Steve Jobs

An Australian tech website has started running ads featuring Mac Pros and MacBook Pros whose entry-level prices are noticeably higher than those in the current Mac lineup. So what, right? The ads are probably incorrectly labeled, or something. But the word on the street (well, the word on Engadget , anyway) is that these might predict the much-anticipated Mac refreshes that we’ve been waiting for. From Engadget: Apple’s Australian online store lists the most affordable versions of the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Pro at A$1599, A$1999 and A$3599, respectively, but the ads show significantly higher “starting at” prices of A$1899, A$2399, and A$4499. Following the ads to Apple’s Australian online store reveals the same Mac models at the same old prices, so either these ads are terribly wrong or they’re been released a little early… It has been over a year since Apple released a major update to its high-end Mac Pro computer. I know very well because I bought one last April at an astronomically high price, and as such, guard it with my life. (No one else is allowed near it. No one!) If history has taught me anything, it is that I am not allowed to have the best and brightest kit for long. Therefore, an update is imminent. As for the MacBook Pro, we can probably expect to see Apple upgrade it with Intel’s powerful i7 Chipset

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Australian Website Hints at New Macs, Higher Prices

Apple has redesigned its iWork.com Website for the iPad and iPhone, allowing documents to be viewed on touchscreen devices. The company also unveiled new ways to share documents, allowing documents to become public. The updated interface now allows documents to be scrolled using a finger, an action that has become common for iPhone users and upcoming

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Apple Ads iPad Sharing for iWork.com

Last week DynDNS released its beta support for Wide Area Bonjour and DNS Service Discovery. This means that if you own your own domain name, and you have a Custom DNS service with DynDNS, you can configure your Apple AirPort device (AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express and Time Capsule) to present itself as part of that domain, automatically updating your domain name and broadcasting configured services. What is Wide Area Bonjour? Wide Area Bonjour enables the same zero-config automatic service discovery functionality over the public Internet that we all enjoy on our local network (seeing our shared files, printers, scanners and so forth). If you have a MobileMe account and utilize the Back To My Mac functionality, you’re already using Wide Area Bonjour without even knowing it. Why would we use this? Most of us who use DynDNS use it to be able to let the IP Address that our ISP give us resolve with a friendly domain name (such as myname.homedns.org). This basic free DynDNS service works really well as long as you have a third-party router that supports DynDNS (which most of them do). Unfortunately Apple, being Apple, does not support DynDNS in its routers, leaving you to run the OS X DynDNS updater application on your computer. The downside to this is that if your computer is asleep and your home Internet connection drops and reconnects (giving you a new IP address) DynDNS does not get updated until the computer wakes up. When wanting to use Snow Leopard’s Wake On Demand feature this is a problem, so this has meant “tough luck,” requiring you to run the DynDNS Mac client on multiple machines and hope the IP updating occurs often enough. It generally works fine, with the occasional expected downtime when your home IP changes at midday if computers are sleeping. Does it work?

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DynDNS Wide Area Bonjour Support Goes Beta

This week Apple tweaked up the iWork.com service a tad by including new sharing features and improvements to the UI, according to AppleInsider . Delving in, Apple stated that users can now create a public link which will allow them to share documents with large groups of people or on websites and social networks.  You’ll no longer need to set a password or send out an invite.  Anyone who is in possession of the public link will be able to view documents that are shared in such a manner, but cannot add comments or notes. Apple also went to say that users would now be able to download documents that get shared on iWork.com without ever having to leave from the Shared Documents page.  That same page also gives users the capability to track the number of times that their public documents are viewed. Lastly, Apple also redesigned the iWork.com’s Sign In and Shared Documents page for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, in order to make it less of an effort for users to access their documents while they are on the go. "The new interface and improved scrolling help you find your shared documents faster," according to Apple.  "Visit www.iwork.com from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch to view your shared documents." However, in order to get the most out of this service, Apple is advising users to make sure they are using the latest and greatest version of iWork on their Mac.  And if you so enjoy the service, they are requesting that you leave them some comments on the new updates. iWork image courtesy of macsales.com  

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Apple Tweaks and Adds To iWork.com Beta Service

The money transfer company made infamous by eBay has revamped their app to allow money transfers to happen easier than ever, by adding the "bump" technology feature according to InformationWeek . The feature in Version 2.0 of the Send Money app allows users to move funds quickly between PayPal accounts just by putting the two phones together.  The app also includes a split feature that lets users divide and reimburse each other for the cost of a meal, including tax and tip for up to 20 people. Then there is also a third feature named Collect Money, which lets a person request money from multiple people for collective purchases, like gifts from a group.  Additionally, gifts of money can also be sent immediately. PayPal mobile transactions jumped dramatically in 2009, up to $141 million in 2009 from $25 million in 2008, according to PayPal.  ABI Research predicted that $119 billion will be spent by consumers via their mobile phones through 2015. "PayPal Send Money lets consumers access their wallets through their phones," said Osama Bedier, PayPal VP of platform and emerging technology.  "Because with PayPal, the wallet lives in the cloud — the mobile phone is just one device customers can use to access it." Some other various features of the app include the capability to set up reminders for recurring payments and the ability to manage PayPal accounts.  For international exchanges, the app also includes a global currency calendar as well as 15 languages. The app does require a PayPal membership as well as a PIN or password for every transaction in an effort to prevent unauthorized usage.  The app is free through the App Store. With that, MaclLife readers, have you used PayPal’s app prior to this new update for all your transaction needs?  If not, will you now?  Feel free to leave comments below! Image courtesy of maldonjewellery.com  

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PayPal Revamps App With "Bump" Feature

Apple continues to release developer seeds of Mac OS X 10.6.3 for testing, but judging from those using it, the official release may be getting close. On Tuesday, Apple made Mac OS X 10.6.3 Build 10D571 available to developers, and MacRumors managed to get the details , courtesy of website iPhone in Canada . Cupertino has asked developers to “focus their testing on Graphics Drivers, iChat, Quicktime and Fonts.” Among the two biggest issued addressed with the new developer seed: – Issues addressed that caused background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail when scrolling – Issue resolved that caused machines using BTMM and the Bonjour Sleep Proxy to wake unexpectedly A known issue affecting Software Update has also been documented, and to test the problem, Apple is having last week’s Safari 4.0.5 update offered again in the new build. It’s been 11 days since the last developer build of Mac OS X 10.6.3 was seeded, and MacRumors is predicting “a final version to the public in the relatively near future.” While Apple’s update schedule can be a slippery fish to catch, as developer seeds get released at a faster pace, it’s a good sign that development is winding down on a particular release. Apple released the final Mac OS X 10.6.2 update in early November and began seeding 10.6.3 to developers in early January.

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Mac OS X 10.6.3 Gets One Step Closer to Reality