Hurricane Sandy is now only a memory as the cleanup in affected areas continues. It's always great to see corporations jumping to the aid of those affected by such tragedies, and that includes Apple, who has lit up donations to the American Red Cross via iTunes. The kindness has also spread to AT&T and T-Mobile, who are sharing network capacity in affected areas of New York and New Jersey to make sure you'll have a connection no matter where you are. Kudos!
Previously known as the awkward-sounding Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac, Microsoft's sync app has been rebranded as simply Windows Phone for a new version 3.0 now available in the Mac App Store. The app allows Windows Phone users to sync their handsets to the likes of iTunes, iPhoto and Aperture, with the latest version adding drag and drop of files to and from your handset and the Mac, support for Apple's latest photo applications and Retina Display support. The sync app also adds a couple of tasty features for those picking up a new Windows Phone 8-powered handset, such as support for battery charge state and enhanced support for ringtone files. Windows Phone 3.0 is free and available now on the Mac App Store.
The Google Maps blog announced the debut of Google Earth 7 for Mac, Windows and Linux on Wednesday, adding both 3D imagery and a tour guide mode. "Take flight over entire metropolitan areas in 3D, no pilot license necessary!" the website teases. "Let the new tour guide show you famous landmarks and natural wonders." In reality, Google Earth 7 is grounded to around 11,000 popular sites around the world, but the search giant promises that number is growing. Tour guide mode seems particularly interesting for those about to embark on a journey to a strange new land -- assuming that city is on the list, of course. The basic version of Google Earth 7 is free and available for download now.
In a joint press release Wednesday afternoon, carriers AT&T and T-Mobile announced a joint agreement to "enable roaming on their networks to customers of both companies" in areas of New York and New Jersey hit by Superstorm Sandy. The shared network capacity means that customers with a compatible device should get a signal no matter where they are, seamlessly and without any cost to the end user. So don't be surprised if you see a different network name pop up on your handset, folks -- it's just a small taste of what might have been had the FCC not squashed the planned merger of the country's two GSM carriers.
Pulse is one of the more popular news readers on the iPad, so it may come as no surprise to discover that the platform has served up four billion stories since launching back in May, 2010. The company announced the news on their blog Wednesday, which notes that it took 100 days to hit the first 10 million, a number that the app serves up daily now. Those impressive numbers have inspired the company to launch Pulse Insights, a "data and design initiative" aimed at reporting on the world of publishing and reading "from the perspective of our community." You can check out Pulse Insights right from your copy of the free Pulse app, which is also now available as a web app as well.
According to AppleInsider, select developers received an invitation to "participate in the next Mountain Lion Software Update seed project, OS X 10.8.3." The invitations were emailed on Wednesday, and it appears Apple plans to test the next OS X Mountain Lion update with a smaller group of developers before releasing a beta version to everyone with a developer account. There's no word yet on what OS X 10.8.3 might offer up as yet, but the last version was a pretty significant one that hit in mid-September, adding the promised Facebook integration from the desktop.
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