MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple's WWDC keynote will be kicking off in just a few hours, 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 will be updated with a...

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with Mashable at a ceremony yesterday honoring the recipients of the company's WWDC Scholarship Program, which awards up to 350 students and developers with tickets to the week-long Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The program aims to promote diversity amongst lesser-represented groups in the tech industry - such as women - by awarding tickets to WWDC...

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off next Monday, but there's no reason to wait to make a purchase of a new iPad or Mac -- Apple isn't expected to introduce any new hardware at the event, instead focusing on software and services. Deals this week are decent, but there aren't many discounts on iPads to be had. There are a couple iMac deals worth checking out if you've been...

For several years running, AltConf has been held at the same time as Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, giving developers who did not get a ticket to attend WWDC a place to go to meet up and mingle. Content streamed live from Apple, including developer sessions and keynote events, has been shown at AltConf in past years, but this year, Apple has barred AltConf from streaming video...

Following several months of development, Tapbots today released Tweetbot 2 for Mac with a major visual overhaul inspired by the flat design of OS X Yosemite and more consistent with the iPhone version of the Twitter client. Tweetbot 2 for Mac is available as a free update through the Mac App Store for existing Tweetbot users and has been discounted to $12.99 from its regular $19.99 price for the...

Apple has set a principal amount of ¥250 billion ($2.01 billion) for its bond sale in Japan per a final pricing term sheet published by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The yen-denominated bonds have an interest rate of 0.350% and are set to mature on June 10, 2020. Interest is to be paid semi-annually on June 10 and December 10, commencing December 10, 2015. The global ...

Following this morning's iCloud and iTunes downtime, Apple's services appear to be experiencing another outage, this time affecting several of the company's online stores. The App Store, iTunes Store, Mac App Store, iBooks Store, and Apple TV are non-functional for some users at the current time, with content inaccessible. MacRumors has received several complaints about App Store apps not...

A number of iCloud services are currently experiencing downtime in the United States, Canada and other countries, an issue that became widespread within the past hour or so. A significant number of users have tipped MacRumors and posted on Twitter and other social media platforms about being unable to sign into iCloud or access related services such as Mail and Find My iPhone. iTunes is ...

Apple's data center in Maiden, North Carolina has been affected by a chlorine leak that has injured at least five people, reports The Charlotte Observer. The leak was reported at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time and hazmat crews are said to be on site. Little else is known about the leak, including its cause, but it follows a fire last week at Apple's former GT Advanced facility in Mesa, Arizona. The...

As we head into June, deals aren't as good as they've been in past weeks, but there are still some decent discounts to be had. Best Buy is selling several of its iPad mini 3 models at a discount of $100 this week, and it's also offering $100 off the 2015 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage. The 2014 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro is being sold at low prices following last...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York today rejected Apple's bid to disqualify antitrust compliance monitor Michael Bromwich, who was appointed to watch the company since it was found liable of conspiring with publishers to fix e-book prices a few years ago, reports Reuters."The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said a lower court judge did not abuse her...

Local news affiliate ABC 15 Arizona is reporting that Apple's facility in Mesa, Arizona, which it acquired through its ill-fated partnership with GT Advanced last year, caught fire this afternoon. While the second-alarm fire has since been extinguished on the rooftop, which is equipped with multiple solar panels, local firefighters and emergency crews remain on the scene and authorities are...

Apple is considering issuing about 200 billion yen ($1.62 billion) in bonds as early as June in Japan, in what would be the company's first fundraising activity in the country, according to Nikkei. The report claims that Apple plans to take advantage of low interest rates in Japan to procure the funds, which could be used to boost shareholder rewards and expand Japanese operations."Early this...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published a patent application filed by Apple in September 2011 (via AppleInsider), detailing a new keyboard that includes inputs for both traditional mechanical keystrokes along with a new touch-sensitive interface laid over each individual key. The so-called "Fusion keyboard" would be able to detect the traditional swipe and zoom inputs of a MacBook ...

It's nearly Memorial Day, which means there's a long three-day weekend coming up and some solid deals on Apple products from vendors who are cutting prices in the hopes of drawing customers into stores over the weekend. Best Buy's offering a can't-miss deal on the 13-inch MacBook Air and the high-end 27-inch Retina iMac is available for the lowest price we've seen. The 2014 15-inch Retina...

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today confirmed that the asset management firm no longer expects an Apple-branded television set to launch in the future. The news comes courtesy of Munster's Company Note updates and follows yesterday's confirmation, out of The Wall Street Journal, that Apple ditched plans for such a television set over a year ago. Munster was well-known to tout beliefs that ...

Now that Mother's Day has come to an end and we're heading into June, deals have died down a bit. You can still get a decent discount on an iMac, older iPad, older MacBook Air, or Retina MacBook Pro, but when it comes to newer iPads and Macs, you might want to wait a week or two in case there are good Memorial Day discounts. The exception is the Retina iMac, which is available for the lowest...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Intrepid Bag Co to give MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's high-quality Journeyman Commuter Leather Messenger Bags. Priced at $379, the Journeyman is a cross-body messenger bag made from Latigo Saddle Leather in a rich brown color. The bag has a minimalist design with a simple flap held by two buckles, but it's equipped with...