MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Disney today released Star Wars: The Force Awakens onto digital platforms, including iTunes, Disney Movies Anywhere, and other Digital HD platforms. The company first confirmed the release date in early March, also announcing the long-awaited film will launch at physical retailers on April 5. The iTunes version of the film has the same bonus content as the standard retail editions set to...

The discovery of a change in file naming conventions in OS X 10.11.4 is behind a recent growth in speculation that Apple is set to rebrand its OS X desktop operating system. Screenshot from Mac OS 8 released in 1997. The rumor appears to have begun on Tuesday after Brazilian Apple blog MacMagazine reported that a name used for an Interface Builder document tucked away in the OS X System...

Designer Martin Hajek, who often creates renderings of upcoming devices based on rumors, has mocked up what a thinner 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro with some MacBook-style design elements could look like. The design, which also includes a conceptual version of "macOS," features smaller side bezels and a much thinner chassis, one that's not quite as thin as the Retina MacBook but much thinner than ...

Popular calendar app Fantastical 2 for Mac was today updated with a long list of new features, introducing a multitude of small but significant changes. The new version of the app includes Exchange support with native account syncing so Exchange users can respond to invitations and use availability lookup, categories, and people lookup. With the new availability feature, enabled through a...

Seagate today announced the launch of the Innov8, which it claims to be the world's first desktop-class external hard drive that does not need to be plugged into a power outlet. The HDD is compatible with the Retina MacBook and other USB-C notebooks. Innov8 is an 8TB hard drive powered by a single USB-C cable, eliminating the need for a dedicated power source or adapter. The achievement was...

Amazon has tightened restrictions on the sale of USB-C cables and adapters on its online store in an effort to protect customers from risky substandard products (via The Verge). The online retailer added non-compliant USB-C cables to its list of prohibited items, following a flood of potentially damaging third-party cables onto the market. The new note on Amazon's page of undesirables...

Apple officially opened one of its first Jony Ive-inspired "next-generation" retail stores in the U.S. over the weekend. The new-look store is located at the Shops of Saddle Creek South in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee, and shows off some of the new design elements, as shown in photos provided to AppleInsider. The store is described as having a high-flung ceiling lined with...

Apple today updated its investor relations page to note it will announce its earnings for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2016 on Monday, April 25. The earnings release will provide a look at sales of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus following Apple's record first quarter, which saw the company announce 74.8 million iPhone sales and $18.4 billion profit on $75.9 billion in...

Alongside OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan, Apple has released an iTunes 12.3.3 update, introducing support for the iPhone SE and iPad Pro. Following the update, those who purchase a 9.7-inch iPad Pro or an iPhone SE will be able to sync their devices with their computers once they are available for purchase. In a recent interview, Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue promised Apple would introduce a new...

Apple today released OS X 10.11.4 to the public, marking the launch of the third update to the El Capitan operating system that was first released on September 30. In testing since January 11, OS X 10.11.4 comes two months after the release of OS X 10.11.3. The OS X 10.11.4 update is available to all OS X El Capitan users and can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac...

Manufacturers of counterfeit Apple products often go to great lengths to make their knock-offs look genuine, which brings the added risk of concealing potentially dangerous flaws in substituted electrical components. In the past we've covered the efforts manufacturers go to when counterfeiting iPhone and iPad chargers, courtesy of product teardowns on Ken Shirrif's technology blog. Now, a new...

Apple's March 2016 media event will be kicking off at 10:00 AM Pacific on Monday, and as is tradition some MacRumors readers who can't follow the event live are interested in avoiding all of the announcements and waiting until Apple posts the recorded video of the event so as to experience it without already knowing the outcome. For those individuals, we've posted this news story, which...

Madame Tussauds revealed its Steve Wozniak wax figure Saturday morning at the Silicon Valley Comic Con opening ceremony. The figure will be on display at Tussauds' Comic Con booth for the entire weekend before it's moved to its San Francisco location for permanent display. Steve Wozniak, left, next to his wax figure, right. Chris Cooper, Madame Tussauds general manager, said that the company...

The sixteenth annual CanSecWest security conference is underway in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, and researchers participating in the Pwn2Own computer hacking contest have already discovered multiple vulnerabilities in OS X and the Safari web browser on the desktop. On day one of the event, independent security researcher JungHoon Lee earned $60,000 after exploiting both OS X and...

iPhoto and Aperture were discontinued in the spring of 2015 when Photos for OS X launched as part of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, but the software continues to be used by many Mac owners who previously had it installed on their machines. Though Aperture and iPhoto are not available in the Mac App Store and are no longer being updated, the software has remained functional with OS X Yosemite and OS X...

Launched last November, Formative is a web mini-series created by Reddit and Google Cloud Platform that "aims to explore one defining moment in a person's life." The first seven episodes included guests such as YouTuber Casey Neistat and GoPro CEO Nick Woodman, among other various entrepreneurs. In the final episode of the show, which launched today, the spotlight shifts to the formative...

Apple, Google, McDonald's, and IKEA representatives will be in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss their tax deals in Europe, reports Reuters. The hearing will be hosted by the European Parliament's tax committee, but the lawmakers do not have the power to order any changes, according to the report. Nevertheless, the meeting should raise some important questions about each company's compliance with ...

Adobe today announced the launch of its newest Creative Cloud app, Adobe Experience Design, otherwise known as Adobe XD. Previously referred to as "Project Comet," Adobe XD is designed to address the pain points in creative workflows with an end-to-end experience for designers that encompasses designing, prototyping, and sharing. With Adobe XD, designers can create, test, and share mockups...