MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Case Logic to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's new Larimer Rolltop Backpacks. The backpack is available in "Hudson," a mix of blue, mint, yellow, and green, or "Petrol Green," a mix of green, tan, blue, and red. It's described by Case Logic as a utilitarian daypack that's able to hold a ton of stuff thanks to a multitude...

Norway-based company Opera Software today announced the addition of a new power saving mode to its Opera web browser, which is designed to extend battery life when the browser is used on a notebook computer like Apple's line of MacBooks. According to Opera, the new power saving mode, which is available today in the developer stream, can extend laptop battery life by up to 50% compared to...

In a briefing with reporters, FBI director James Comey said that he expects litigation over the encryption of mobile devices to continue, as encryption is "essential tradecraft" of terrorist organizations like ISIS, reports Reuters. Comey indicated that the debate involving both legal and privacy issues over whether the federal government can compel tech companies to unlock personal devices in...

Darren Haas, one of the last remaining members of the original team that developed Siri, has left Apple to work at General Electric, reports The Information. Haas worked on Siri before it was purchased by Apple in 2010 and has been at Apple since then working on cloud engineering services. Haas's departure follows the departure of Steve D'Aurora and comes amid rumors that Apple's efforts to...

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced on March 30. Apple uses Safari Technology Preview to test features that may eventually be introduced in the release version of Safari. Safari Technology Preview release 4 includes a long list of bug fixes and updates for networking, media, JavaScript, CSS, web APIs, Web Inspector,...

Facebook-owned WhatsApp today announced the launch of a desktop app for Mac OS X, allowing users to easily carry on their conversations from their computers natively. The move comes several months after debuting a web version of its popular chat service. Today we're introducing a desktop app so you have a new way to stay in touch anytime and anywhere - whether on your phone or computer at...

Apple's FileMaker subsidiary today announced the launch of FileMaker 15, the latest version of the company's database platform for easily building customized apps. FileMaker's emphasis is on bridging the gap between generic apps and custom coding to allow teams with limited IT resources to efficiently build custom apps for a variety of platforms. Mobility is a key focus of FileMaker 15, with ...

Although the Apple Car is only a rumor at this point, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Chief Design Officer Jony Ive have landed spots on The Drive's list of The 10 Most Influential People in Automotive Technology (via Patently Apple). The Apple executives join well-known automotive industry individuals like Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, and Uri Levine, founder of popular crowd-sourced...

Apple is now accepting donations to the Canadian Red Cross through iTunes in Canada to help people affected by large wildfires in the Fort McMurray, Alberta area. iTunes donations to the Canadian Red Cross can be made in the amount of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, or $200. iTunes Store credit cannot be used to make a donation and no tax receipt will be provided. The Fort McMurray wildfires...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been named as one of several tech industry executives that will speak at Startup Fest Europe, a festival geared towards helping startups grow faster, according to the event website.Tim Cook (Apple) and Travis Kalanick (Uber) have accepted their invitation to come to the Netherlands with great enthusiasm. Neelie Kroes (special envoy StartupDelta) personally invited Cook and...

Apple CEO Tim Cook will visit Beijing later in May to meet with high-level government officials as the company looks to counter a series of recent setbacks in the country (via Reuters). According to sources familiar with the matter, Cook plans to meet senior government and Communist Party leaders to discuss a range of issues, including weakening iPhone sales and the company's loss of control...

Bob Kupbens, Apple's Vice President of Online Retail, has resigned from the company, reports 9to5Mac. The former Delta Airlines VP was hired by Apple in March 2014 shortly after Angela Ahrendts was confirmed the company's next senior VP. The hires came as Apple sought to beef up its retail division following two years without a retail leader since John Browett's dismissal in 2012. Kupbens...

Google today applied for a patent for an electric vehicle charging system and, as spotted by Quartz, one of the inventors listed on the patent application is Kurt Adelberger, who left Google for Apple in July 2015. The hire marks yet another potential addition to Apple's rumored electric car team. Adelberger, according to his LinkedIn page, has been serving as a Product Designer at Apple. At ...

Twitter today updated its dedicated Mac app with support for several Twitter features that have previously been available to Twitter users on iOS and the web, including Moments and Polls. Introduced in October, Moments is a new Twitter tab that's designed to help users discover popular news stories, events, and trending topics, aggregating interesting content into categories like News, Sports, ...

MacRumors forum member MBP* posted this question about his 2014 MacBook Pro's battery under Mac Basics and Help:"I have a 2014 13" Retina MacBook Pro which I used extensively on a daily basis. I purchased AppleCare for the sole reason of protection against battery depletion over the coming years. It's hard for me to tell whether my battery has lost capacity, but I'm sure it has against the...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art today opened its "Manus x Machina" Costume Institute Exhibition, which is being sponsored by Apple. The show focuses on the dichotomy between handmade haute couture and machine-made fashion, featuring pieces that juxtapose traditional hand techniques like embroidery, pleating, and lacework with technologies like laser cutting and thermo shaping. Apple Design...

Former Grey Group chief creative officer and New York president Tor Myhren has officially joined Apple and has been added to the company's Executive Profiles webpage. Apple first announced Myhren's plans to join the company back in December of 2015, when it announced new roles for Jeff Williams and Phil Schiller. According to his profile, Myhren will lead a creative team focused on Apple's...

Although Apple recently refreshed its 12-inch MacBook lineup with a faster SSD, new sixth-generation Skylake processors, and longer battery life, the Retina Macbook's USB Type-C input remains the notebook's single port, apart from a 3.5mm headphone jack. Similar to the launch of the first generation device in 2015, many fans lament not only the inability to use traditional USB 3.0 inputs without...