App Store

My One Star Review Addiction

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I confess I am addicted. Whenever I venture into the Mac’s or iOS App Stores I have to select the Most Critical reviews option and read the bizarre one star reviews.  I have mentioned some, such as for Pixelmator, Panogaea and a MIDI controller, in the past.  It is a fascinating world where people plainly do not know how to use their computer, complain that an app lacks a specific feature although no one ever suggested that such a feature was included or are just plain stupid and are willing to publicly voice their own shortcomings and/or put the blame on the developers.

Apple’s [wikipop search=”Mac_OS_X_Lion”]OS X 10.7 (known as Lion)[/wikipop] has been around for almost a year. Every new Mac sold in that time uses it as do the countless older Macs which have been updated.  It is used every day by millions of people without any problem.  Yet we are still being treated to delights such as…

What can one say? Perhaps if the reviewer had persevered for more than an hour they may have eventually found the View menu (to clarify: this contains options on how you want to View things) and the option to Show Status Bar on the bottom of the window…

 

And what about Quick Look with the Space Bar?  What about it?  It is much improved with Lion…

Thanks for sharing.  My addiction is satiated for today.

 

After posting this this morning… a few hours later Serendipity kicks in.

Then It Bash Me…. HTML Porn Arched In Their Heads.

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Not sure which was the more surprising; that someone should charge for an app to Learn HTML (presumably for people who are unable to type HTML Tutorial into Google) or that it should only be available to adults because of its…

Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity, Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor, Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence, Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

But never mind all that nonsense we have the spam comment of the day to entice us:

There be obliged be a through for my kids to practice at familiar with what they learn in class. Then it bash me – songs!! Come down with a refrain common hoop-shaped and arched in their heads and they’ll not in a million years forget detract a ado for each of my English games, using (Insert link to your product here) merely the idiolect used in distinction! This is the first it! How are you?

Twinkle Twinkle Magic Trackpad

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The Trackpad Magic app lets you play various instruments with the Magic Trackpad or MacBook’s Trackpad. It also features a variety of graphical effects and several [wikipop]musical scales[/wikipop]. Pressing the T key shows a grid to aid note finding. Pressing the I key cycles through the scales. The Doe Ray Me scale puts the G in the middle of the trackpad. With the C on the left edge you can pick your way through [wikipop]Twinkle Twinkle Little Star[/wikipop]. Turning off the grid and doing it blindfolded in the dark earns extra points 😉

Planet Panogaea

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More bizarre one star reviews on the app store. This time for Panogaea. It is claimed that it does nothing and is a scam.

Admittedly having a web site which is still under construction does did not inspire confidence (The site is now up and running) but it all seems to work as described…

Video Player

You can just click and drag directly in the image (using the Command and Control modifier keys) to make the changes. Full documentation and examples are available from the Help menu.

An Introduction to Panogaea from Kevin Gross from the official Panogaea support site.

UnMac Apps from the Mac App Store

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Mac users have come to expect a certain standard and consistency from their software. OK we can tolerate the non-standard interface once in a while but some things are just assumed. Until today’s launch of the Mac App store. What we have are a lot of ports from the iPad/iPhone school of app development with no consideration for, or perhaps even an understanding of, how such apps will be used and be expected to work on a Mac. Sadly these are supposed to have been vetted by Apple before being allowed into the store. With no demo/trial versions available from the store you do not know what you are getting until you already have it. So please can we have apps that…

…ask if you want to save your unsaved work when you Quit them?

…have an Edit menu and an Undo?

…comply with click and drag norms instead of leaping back several decades with a click, move and click again interface? These probably worked fine with a couple of fingers on a touch screen but not so good on a Mac – even with a Magic Track Pad.

…accept images dragged into them rather than having to Open them from the File menu?

…give us a clue what we are supposed to do? There is a Help menu on the Mac. I posted instructions for PinBall HD this afternoon… A couple of hours later it had been well used…

It also seems a bit hit and miss which apps are marked as installed. Those you acquire through the App Store are but those from other sources are not; yet some of my Apple apps are marked as installed Aperture, Garageband etc. although not from the App Store while others are not iWorks etc. If we are going for seamless updating surely all installed applications should be noted and updated as and when.

Update:
It seems software purchased directly from Apple through an Apple account is recognised as installed by the App Store; if purchased elsewhere it is not recognised.

Mac Pinball HD controls

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At least a copy of Pinball HD from the Mac App Store means that I no longer have to steal borrow the girl’s iPad to get my daily fix of The Deep table:

Alas there does not seem to be much in the way of instructions or a high score table (not that I ever get on it!). Thus far I have figured:

Down arrow: To pull back trigger/launcher (moves slowly – keep pressing to get any power)

Left & Right arrows or shift keys: left & right flippers

C: Toggle camera view Zooming, fixed perspective, fixed looking straight down

Esc: Exit full screen

⌘F: Enter full screen

Space: Nudge the table (use with caution)

Enter: Toggle pause

You have got the mission…

Update: The app was updated on January 26th, through the App Store, rectifying many of the problems with the early version – but still no high score table 🙁