Happy Friday, dear readers! Have we got a doozy of a recap for you today -- it’s got a little bit of everything, but mostly a whole bunch of savings for indie Mac games, and even a tip on how to start wiping out all that AT&T text messaging spam that you may be getting. It’s the perfect way to end the week, so kick up your feet and get reading on this Friday, April 20, 2012.
We don’t have much time to do any blogging of our own these days (hey, this news doesn’t write itself, folks!), but when we did, MarsEdit was our weapon of choice. Today, the Mac blogging application was bumped to version 3.5, and The Red Sweater Blog has published the details of what’s new. MarsEdit now includes rich-text formatting macros for quickly aiding in common blogging tasks, improved support for OS X Lion full-screen mode, tweaks to Tumblr connectivity and a considerably long list of other bug fixes and other improvements. Whether you’ve purchased the app straight from the developer or via the Mac App Store, MarsEdit 3.5 is a free upgrade, so have at it, fellow bloggers.
If you’re like some folks we know, you’re always looking for ways to save when it comes time to buy new Mac games. The folks at Indie Royale feel your pain and are happy to help feed your addiction on the cheap by debuting six quality, independent games as part of its Spring Bundle. How does $50 worth of apps for one crazy low price sound? Yeah, we thought so. The Indie Royale Spring Bundle includes Unstoppable Gorg, Depths of Peril, Tobe's Vertical Adventure, Inferno+, Slydris, and Ballistic, but if you pay at least $5 for the bundle, you’ve got a nice bonus coming on top of all that fun -- Danimal Cannons “Roots” music album, billed as “one of the most acclaimed chiptune releases of 2011,” available in 320k MP3 and FLAC formats. So why are you still reading this? There are only four days left to grab the deal, ya lunkheads!
We don’t know about you, but SMS spam seems to be on the rise, particular from AT&T. As it turns out, there might be a way to eliminate it -- or at the very least, report it to the carrier so you’ll feel better about it. TidBITS has all the details, which basically involves forwarding the unwanted SMS text message in question to 7726 (that’s S-P-A-M on a dial pad, in case you were wondering). AT&T will respond asking for the number the offending message originally came from -- copy and paste it into your reply and you’ll get a grateful reply back from Ma Bell. And in case you’re wondering, the entire exchange won’t cost you a dime, although by now most of us have been strong armed into an unlimited text messaging plan anyway.
What’s this? A second Mac gaming bundle available in the same week?? We must really love you Mac gamers! (Now you’ll have no reason not to renew that Mac|Life subscription with all the money we’re saving you today.) The folks at HumbleBundle have nabbed Bonanicula, the new game from the creators of Machinarium, which is also included in the bundle along with Samorost 2, Kooky and Windosill -- that is, assuming you pay the minimum amount, which is currently $8.76. HumbleBundle’s proceeds support the World Land Trust charity and all games are cross-platform, so they’ll work equally well on Mac, Windows or Linux. Purchased elsewhere, you’d be looking at upwards of $53 for this bundle -- and it’s not often you just saunter in and name your own price, you know.
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has cut a deal with the local government of Prineville, Oregon, where it plans to build a new data center on a 160-acre piece of property. According to Associated Press, Apple has agreed to invest $250 million into the site, plus an annual $150,000 “project fee” which will be paid to the local government in lieu of property taxes over the next 15 years. Apple’s commitment also includes hiring a minimum of 35 locals, who will be paid 150 percent of the average living wage in that county. The iPhone maker purchased the land back in February for a reported $5.6 million, where it plans to build a data center similar to the one recently launched in Maiden, North Carolina, which currently powers a big chunk of the Apple’s iCloud service.
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(Image courtesy of TidBITS.com)
