MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple today announced two clean energy programs aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of its manufacturing partners in China. Apple says the programs will avoid over 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution in China between now and 2020, which is equivalent to taking 4 million cars off the road for a year. “Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, and the time...

At its Twitter Flight developer conference, Twitter today announced plans for a redesigned and updated Twitter for Mac client, reports TechCrunch. The new Twitter for Mac app will include support for several newer Twitter features such as in-line Vine, video, and GIF playback, group Direct Messages, photo Direct Messages, and in-line replies. Image via TechCrunch The app, which will be...

Along with updates for iOS, OS X, and watchOS 2, Apple today released a new version of iTunes, iTunes 12.3.1. The update is a minor one, with the release notes only saying it improves overall stability and performance. The iTunes update can be downloaded from the software update function in the Mac App Store. iTunes 12.3.1 comes just over a month after the release of iTunes 12.3, which...

Ruben Profit, a 24-year-old employee at an Apple Store in New York's Queens Center Mall, has been charged with grand larceny and faces up to fifteen years in prison for an illegal scheme he ran while using his privileges as an Apple retail employee (via NBC). Profit used re-coded Visa and American Express debit, credit, or gift cards to purchase numerous Apple gift cards, which he would then...

San Francisco-based accessory manufacturer Waterfield Designs today unveiled a new line of protective cases for the newly announced Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2. The company promises that the custom-fit cases protect the new Apple accessories from everyday drops and dings, and are thin and light enough to slip into bigger bags. The Waterfield Magic Keyboard Slip case The Magic Keyboard ...

Video game developer and digital distribution company Valve began sending out emails to customers who pre-ordered its new streaming device, the Steam Link, over the weekend, apologizing to Mac users that the box won't function with Apple's ecosystem at launch. The company has begun shipping the initial wave of pre-orders to customers, but cited "temporary software issues" that prevent it from...

Apple has announced that it will be opening its 21st retail store in China in Dalian, a major port city in southern Liaoning Province, on Saturday, October 24 at 9:30 AM local time. The new store will be located in the six-floor Parkland shopping mall at 19 Jiefang Road in the urban Zhongshan District. Parkland six-floor shopping mall in Dalian, China (Image: yongonthego) In early 2012, Apple ...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with MEGAMAC to offer a 128GB Angelbird SSD2go Pocket, which is a USB 3.0 ultra portable solid state drive that can, as the name suggests, fit right in a pocket. Angelbird is known for making high-quality products, and the SSD2go is no exception. It has an aluminum casing and it's highly resistant to physical impact, vibration, force, and temperature....

Earlier this week, Google released Chrome 46 with a long list of bug fixes and feature improvements to improve memory and power usage, but unmentioned was the removal of "OK Google" voice-based search activation. As noted by VentureBeat, it's no longer possible to use the "OK Google" phrase to trigger a voice search, which has been a feature built into the Chrome browser since May of 2014. "OK ...

Popular photo editing app Pixelmator for Mac was today updated to version 3.4, adding full support for Apple's latest operating system, OS X El Capitan. The new version of Pixelmator supports the Split View feature in El Capitan, allowing Pixelmator to be used in full screen mode alongside another app at the same time. The Pixelmator Photos Extension, which can be used directly within...

Apple has announced that its first two retail stores in the Middle East will open in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two most populous cities in the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday, October 29. The nearest Apple Stores to the UAE are currently located several hours away in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. The new Apple Store in Dubai will be located at the Mall of the Emirates, and will...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art today shared details on its annual 2016 Gala and Costume Institute exhibition, which will be sponsored by Apple with Jony Ive serving as a co-chair. The theme for the 2016 event, which will take place on May 2, is "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology." The Met Gala, held each year, is a fund raising event that benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art...

Microsoft today released updates for each of its Office 2016 apps, introducing feature improvements, security enhancements, and bug fixes to Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. All apps have been updated with a security fix for vulnerabilities that could allow remote code execution should a user open a specially crafted Office file. All of the apps have also gained new Chinese and Japanese ...

Dutch electro-house DJ Hardwell, one of the most popular EDM artists worldwide, has announced on Twitter that he will be talking about his career and performing a special live set at the Apple Store in Amsterdam on Thursday, October 15 at 7:15 PM local time. Hardwell's set will be recorded for broadcast on Beats 1 radio on Apple Music. Apple is accepting a limited number of reservations for...

Along with the release of the new line of iMacs, Apple also announced an update for iMovie, going live today. The new 10.1 version of the video editing software introduces 4K video editing along with 1080p HD video that runs at 60 frames per second "for smoother, more true-to-life action." What's New in Version 10.1 • Create and share movies at stunning 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) on...

The U.S. Justice Department yesterday recommended that the court-appointed monitor placed on Apple during the price-fixing e-book case that began two years ago does not need to be extended (via Bloomberg). The Justice Department said that it's largely satisfied with Apple's response of reforms and compliance with the antitrust laws, even though it believes the Cupertino-based company had internal ...

India-based consumer electronics chain Croma has announced a new partnership with Apple to introduce a few store-within-a-store locations in the country. Croma will host the Cupertino-based company's products at six of its retail locations as a test for the partnership, with hope to expand in the future (via The Economic Times). "We are proud to partner Apple to launch the Apple Store in India ...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Duluth Pack to give one lucky MacRumors reader a chance to win one of the company's Deluxe Laptop Daypacks. Made of a rugged canvas, the Deluxe Laptop Daypack includes leather accents for better durability and resistance to wear, and it has adjustable leather shoulder straps for comfort. There's a big pocket on the outside for holding things like...