MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

OS X Yosemite's dark mode, which was demoed on stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, has yet to make it into the beta as an available setting. It is, however, possible to get a glimpse of dark mode with a Terminal command, as discovered by iOS developer Hamza Sood. To enable the somewhat functional dark mode: sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences ...

According to a letter filed in the Southern District Court of New York, Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement with both class action lawyers and state district attorneys over e-book price-fixing, reports Bloomberg. Settlement details remain sealed and must be approved by the court. If approved, this agreement will end litigation ahead of a potentially costly damages trial that was...

G-Technology has introduced the new G-Speed Studio (via iLounge), a 4-bay Thunderbolt 2 storage solution configurable in RAID 0,1, 5, and 10. Taking strong design cues from Apple's 2013 Mac Pro, the revamped G-Speed Studio features a shiny black enclosure that fits right in on a desktop also sporting a Mac Pro. Wider than the Mac Pro, the G-Speed Studio also features smart fan technology and ...

Best Buy is offering a $100 discount on all of the newest 2014 MacBook Air models, bringing the entry-level 11-inch model down to $799. Best Buy is also offering a second deal for students with a valid .EDU email address that gives $150 off any Mac, and these two deals can be combined, cutting prices to the absolute lowest we've seen. - 11.6" MacBook Air, 4GB, 128GB SSD: $899 -> $799 ->...

BestBuy is offering free shipping and $100 off all the newest MacBook Air models. This brings the base MacBook Air model down to $799 -- the lowest we've seen for the latest generation models. The discount kicks off today, but appears to extend all week. - 11.6" MacBook Air, 4GB, 128GB SSD: $899 -> $799 - 11.6" MacBook Air, 4GB, 256GB SSD: $1099 -> $999 - 13.3" MacBook Air, 4GB, 128GB...

NPR Yesterday wrote a story on the efforts of tech companies to protect consumer data, which included an extensive chart on how companies measure up when it comes to encryption. While Apple was found to be encrypting iMessage end-to-end, as well as email from customers to iCloud, it was found to be one of the few global email providers based in the U.S. that does not encrypt customer email in...

There are some great deals on Apple-related accessories and services this week, as well as some decent discounts on the iPad mini and the 13 and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. Beats Studio over-ear headphones can be purchased (in six colors) for $180 through Groupon, which is $89 off the price when purchased directly from Beats. Target is also offering 25 percent off Beats Music gift cards,...

Apple has released a new video on its YouTube channel depicting employees preparing for the grand opening of the new Omotesando, Tokyo Apple Store. Employees can be seen stocking, setting up displays and putting up advertisements around the new store, offering a look at how Apple prepares its retail stores. The new store features a "green curtain" of vines and plants on the side to help with ...

Apple today seeded build 13E16 of OS X 10.9.4 to developers, approximately two weeks after releasing the first OS X 10.9.4 beta and almost a month after the public release of OS X 10.9.3, which included enhanced support for 4K displays and syncing improvements. The beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center. It remains...

Nearly six months post launch, base configurations of the new Mac Pro are now available to ship within 24 hours from Apple's online store for its North American and Asia Pacific regions. Base models in other countries are still listed at 3-5 business days, but those should also move to 24 hours soon. Custom-configured models are listed as available to ship in 1 -2 weeks in most countries. In ...

Apple today released MacBook Air SMC update 2.0 for mid-2013 MacBook Air models, addressing an issue that could cause excessive battery drain when the computer's lid is closed.This update is recommended for MacBook Air (Mid 2013) models. This update addresses an issue which may cause the battery to drain faster than expected when the lid is closed.This is the second battery fix released for...

Apple, along with fellow tech companies Intel, Yahoo, and Google, has given $2 million in cash and other services to offset taxpayer costs of hosting Super Bowl 50 in the Bay Area, reports the San Jose Mercury News (via AppleInsider). In exchange for their donations, each company will receive their own private Super Bowl suite and publicity around the time of the game in 2016. In total, the...

Apple Retail Store employees in Australia have reached an agreement with the company on a new four-year contract, bringing the base pay for entry-level employees up to $22.45 ($20.95 USD) and allowing for 2% annual pay increases, reports ifoAppleStore. The contract (PDF link), which was approved by 90% of the country's retail employees and certified by the Australian government, will go into...

LaCie has upgraded its Rugged Hard Drive, adding an integrated Thunderbolt cable and improved damage resistance. The SSD version, available in 250 and 500GB capacities, achieves transfer speeds of up to 387MB/s. There is a USB 3.0 interface as well, though only the Thunderbolt cable is permanently attached.The integrated Thunderbolt cable allowed LaCie to increase protection against water and...

During yesterday's WWDC keynote, Apple announced several improvements to Safari in OS X Yosemite, including HTML5 video support for Netflix. According to Apple, the improvements bring an extra two hours of video watching under a single battery charge when streaming Netflix video with Yosemite. Netflix today confirmed that it supports HTML5 video streaming on Safari in OS X Yosemite, explaining ...

New Apple CFO Luca Maestri's profile has appeared on the company's executive page just a couple days after officially being named CFO, succeeding longtime CFO Peter Oppenheimer. Luca Maestri is Apple’s senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer reporting to CEO Tim Cook. As CFO, Luca oversees the accounting, business support, financial planning and analysis, treasury, M&A, investor...

Earlier today as Apple was unveiling OS X Yosemite for the first time at the Worldwide Developers Conference, software chief Craig Federighi announced that there would be a public open beta for the new operating system ahead of its launch this fall. Now, users on our forums have discovered an AppleSeed sign up page for the program, with Apple noting that the program is open to the first one...

At today's WWDC keynote event, Apple announced iCloud Drive and Mail Drop, two new cloud-based services that are a part of the new OS X Yosemite. iCloud Drive allows users to store all of their individual files from OS X and iOS in addition to data from applications on Apple's cloud storage service, with the feature syncing all files across every Mac. The files stored on iCloud Drive are...