Friday Recap: Sparrow and Acrylic Teams Acquired, Plus a Trio of App Updates
Friday Recap: Sparrow and Acrylic Teams Acquired, Plus a Trio of App Updates
Google Swoops Down, Gobbles Up Sparrow
The first of two major acquisition announcements today, the makers of the third-party Sparrow app for Mac and iPhone were the first out of the gate, announcing that Google has scooped up the company for what The Verge is claiming to be less than $25 million. While the Sparrow team plans to continue supporting the existing apps, it seems as if the promised iPad edition will never come, and CEO Dom Leca has also told users via email that no further new features will be added. However, the existing apps will continue to be offered from their respective iOS and Mac App Stores. So what will the Sparrow team do at Google? Why, Gmail work, of course, and already rumors are brewing that a dedicated Gmail for Mac client could see the eventual light of day. If anyone can do it, it's those guys.
Evernote Safari Web Clipper Now Features Smart Filing
The Evernote TechBlog today announced an update to the company's Safari Web Clipper, adding Smart Filing to help users better organize their clippings on the go. The Clipper also now offers as selection of related notes pulled from your Evernote account, which the company calls "a great way to find connections and rediscover all the things you have in Evernote." The Web Clipper also better detects articles, reducing the need for manually selecting content, and even allows Premium subscription users to clip straight into Shared Notebooks. Last but not least, the updated Clipper offers Simultaneous Search, which offers up content from your Evernote account any time you do a Google, Yahoo or Bing search from Safari. The faster, more reliable Safari Web Clipper with automatically update for those who have it installed, or can be downloaded directly from the company's website.
Civilization V: Campaign Edition for Mac Gains Retina Display Support
Aspyr released an update to Civilization V: Campaign Edition for Mac on Thursday, adding support for the the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Now available in the Mac App Store, the update brings parity with the Steam version of Civilization V released last week, while taking advantage of that luscious 2880 x 1800 resolution display. An enhanced UI promises to make playability sharper than ever before on your new 15-inch MacBook Pro, while also addressing issues with restoring DLC after updates and the "Trading Post" graphic. The update can be accessed from the Updates tab for regular Mac users and Steam customers will be prompted to update after launch; for everyone else, the Mac App Store update awaits.
Acrylic Software Packs Its Bags, Joins Facebook
Sparrow wasn't the only Mac and iOS developer to get swallowed up today -- the folks up at Acrylic Software in Vancouver announced Friday that they'll be packing their bags and heading to San Francisco, where they'll be joining the design team at Facebook. "For the past four years, we’ve worked tirelessly on creating truly awesome products with a focus on innovation and great design, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish during that time," writes Dustin MacDonald on the company's blog. "Our flagship apps, Wallet and Pulp, have been used and loved by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Building these products has been a fun and exciting ride, but the time has come to move on to newer and bigger challenges." Although we'd agree that "Facebook is an invaluable service that we all use daily," that's little consolation for the existing users of Wallet or Pulp, both of which will remain available for purchase even though "there are no plans for further development on them."
PDF Expert for iPad Adds SkyDrive, Office 365 Support
Readdle checked in with MacLife.com to let us know that PDF Expert for iPad 4.1 is now available from the App Store, and it's a pretty substantial update to the popular document reader and editor. The update brings Microsoft SkyDrive and Office 365 SharePoint support, allowing automatic syncing with SkyDrive as well as Dropbox and other forms of WebDAV storage. Audio notes can now be recorded from within the app and attached to PDF files, and version 4.1 promises a "new, blazingly fast rendering engine" on top of plenty of smaller enhancements. The update is free for existing customers and available now in the App Store.
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