The Mac App Store Gets A New Look In macOS Mojave

Alongside the announcement of macOS Mojave at the WWDC keynote, Apple previewed an all-new Mac App Store featuring a new look and rich editorial content deigned to make it easier to find Mac apps.

Like the iOS App Store, which was redesigned last year, the new Mac App Store celebrates apps, games and developers with an all-new Discover tab featuring stories, in-depth interviews, helpful tips, collections of “must-have” apps, and more. Users can also explore new Create, Work, Play and Develop tabs to find the perfect app for a specific project or purpose — from music, video and photography apps to business utilities and games.

The Mac App Store already offers the largest catalog of Mac apps and is available in 155 countries. Apps coming soon include Office from Microsoft, Lightroom CC from Adobe, BBEdit from Bare Bones, Transmit from Panic, Live Studio from Snap Inc. and Houseparty, among others.

With the new Discover tab, each week users can find in-depth editorial about the best Mac Apps (as determined by Apple)Nthrough stories and collections and see what’s most popular with top charts. For the first time, videos that autoplay will provide users with dynamic app previews.

Create, Work, Play and Develop tabs provide recommendations and expertise about apps within each of these themes. The new Mac App Store will be available with macOS Mojave this fall. 

macOS High Sierra Bug Unlocks App Store Systems Preferences With Any Password

A bug report submitted on Open Radar reveals a security vulnerability in the current version of macOS High Sierra that allows the App Store menu in System Preferences to be unlocked with any password. This only appears to be when logged in as a local admin. The security vulnerability means that anyone with administrator-level access to your Mac could unlock the App Store preferences and enable or disable settings to automatically install macOS updates, app updates, system data files, and even security updates that would fix a bug like this one. The security flaw is present in macOS 10.13.2 which is the current public version of macOS High Sierra, but resolved in the latest beta version of macOS 10.13.3.

Life Is Strange Is Now On The Mac App Store

Life is Strange is now available on the Mac App Store. It requires macOS 10.11 or higher and costs $4.99. Life is Strange is a 5-part adventure that explores complex issues with story based choice and consequences. Life is Strange was my game of the year in 2015. If you haven’t play it yet, I highly recommend you give it a try. 

Best Of 2014 For The App Store And iTunes

Apple has published their Best of 2014 iTunes and App Store lists, which include editorial picks for the best releases in apps, music, movies, TV shows, books and podcasts from 2014.

Apps:

• iPhone App of the Year: Elevate Brain Training
• iPhone Game of the Year: Threes
• iPad App of the Year: Pixelmator 
• iPad Game of the Year: Monument Valley
• Mac App of the Year: Notability
• Mac Game of the Year: Tomb Raider

Music:

• Best Artist: Beyoncé
• Best Album: “1989” by Taylor Swift
• Best Song: “Fancy” (feat. Charli XCX) by Iggy Azalea
• Best New Artist: Sam Smith

Movies:

• Best Blockbuster: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
• Best Family Movie: “The LEGO Movie”
• Best Director: Richard Linklater
• Best Discovery: “Obvious Child”

TV Shows:

• TV Show of the Year: “Fargo”
• Best Performances: “True Detective”, Season 1
• Best Discovery: “The Honorable Woman”
• Best Breakthrough: “Key & Peele”, Volume 4

Books:

• Best Fiction: “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr
• Best Nonfiction: “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” by Jeff Hobbs

Apple Rewords Free Apps To Get Apps In The App Store

Apple has changed free games in its App Store. The app purchase buttons that used to read “Free” now read "Get" instead. The change has been seen on both the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store.  Apps that have an upfront cost continue to be listed with a price underneath, but apps that do not now display the new wording. It’s unknown why Apple has decided to replace Free with Get, but it may have to do with apps with in-app purchases are not free.