MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple today released Safari 7.0.4 for OS X Mavericks and Safari 6.1.4 for OS X Mountain Lion and Lion, addressing a significant memory corruption issue in the WebKit engine powering Apple's browser. It also addresses an issue with handling of unicode characters that could be exploited.The Safari 7.0.4 update is recommended for all OS X Mavericks users and contains improvements to security. For ...

International aid organization Baptist World Aid Australia released its Electronics Industry Trends report that examines working conditions for employees throughout the technology supply and manufacturing chain (via ZDNet). Apple was one of the highest-ranking brands in the report, which includes suppliers in all facets of the supply chain starting with mineral extraction and extending to the end ...

Google has usurped Apple as the world's most valuable brand in Millward Brown's annual BrandZ study of global brands (via The Telegraph). This comes after the survey had named Apple the top brand for the past three years. The study saw Apple's brand value decline 20%, from $185 billion to $147 billion, while Google saw a 40% increase, from $113 billion to $158 billion. Samsung also grew,...

Waterfield Designs today introduced its new Mac Pro Go Case, a bag designed to transport the 2013 Mac Pro and necessary accessories. Created from padded ballistic nylon, the case is designed to fit snugly around Apple's newest desktop computer. The case cushions the Mac Pro with both internal padding and a plush liner, and there's a heavy duty plastic plate to protect the bottom of the...

OS X 10.9.3, released last week, boosted the maximum VRAM used by the Intel HD 5000/5100/5200 graphics chips used in the most recent 2013/2014 MacBook Airs and Retina MacBook Pros. First noticed by French site Mac4Ever [Google Translation], updating to 10.9.3 increases available VRAM from 1024MB to 1536MB, boosting the size of the shared memory, possibly to further improve 4K performance on...

The original "rainbow" Apple logo signs that were used at Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters are set to be auctioned off in June for somewhere between $10,000-$15,000, reports Design Taxi (via The Verge). The signs will be auctioned off by British auction house Bonhams, with the larger, 46 x 49 inch version made out of foam and the smaller, 33 x 36 inch version made out of fiberglass. ...

Activist investor Carl Icahn has purchased another 2.8 million Apple shares worth some $1.70 billion according to a regulatory filing from Thursday (via The Wall Street Journal). In total, Icahn now owns more than 7.5 million shares of Apple, bringing his stake to almost $4.5 billion. Icahn's investment follows Apple's April announcement of a dramatic increase in its share repurchase...

There's a great deal on the entry-level 27-inch 3.2GHz iMac with 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive this week. It's available for $1,659.99 from Best Buy, Amazon, and B&H Photo, which marks a discount of $139 and one of the lowest prices we've seen. The best deal for many users will likely be from B&H Photo, as the site does not charge sales tax outside of the state of New York. Best Buy and ...

Apple today released iTunes 11.2 with several improvements to Podcast browsing, giving users a way to find new episodes with an "Unplayed" tab and the ability to save favorite episodes to a computer. Episodes can also now be deleted after they're played, and episodes that are available to download or stream can be found in the "Feed" tab. There's a fix for an issue that caused iTunes to become ...

Shipping estimates for the Mac Pro through Apple's online store continue to rapidly improve, with the company's European stores such as the UK now showing 1-2 weeks for new orders. Online stores for other regions are still listing estimates of 2-3 weeks, but they should be seeing a similar improvement shortly. After months of shortages for the completely revamped Mac Pro following its...

Apple today updated its professional audio software Logic Pro X to version 10.0.7, adding support for 24 processing threads on 12-core Mac Pro models along with several new features to enhance the functionality of the app and an array of bug fixes. What's new - Now supports 24 processing threads on 12-core Mac Pro models - The current volume, pan, and send values for all selected tracks...

Google has launched a new feature for its experimental Chrome Canary browser for Mac, enabling a beta function that allows users to open local Mac files using Chrome apps in Finder. Using the feature, Chrome apps can be associated with OS X files, bringing Google one step closer to replacing desktop functionality with its browser. For example, the Chrome Text app can be used to open any Mac...

There are some decent deals to be had on several Apple products this week, including the iMac, the cellular iPad Air, and the 2013 MacBook Air, all of which are available at low prices from various retailers. B&H, for example, is currently offering the 21.5-inch 2.7Ghz iMac with 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive for $1,149, a $149 savings off the regular price. The higher-end 21.5-inch iMac ...

Apple's head of North American sales, Zane Rowe, will be leaving the company, reports The Wall Street Journal. Rowe, who initially joined the company two years ago from United Continental Holdings, will be replaced by Doug Beck. Beck already oversees sales in both Japan and Korea, and following Rowe's departure, he will take over North American sales.Doug Beck has done a great job helping to...

Apple today seeded build 13D61 of OS X 10.9.3 to developers, just over a week after releasing the ninth OS X beta, build 13D55, and nearly two months after the first 10.9.3 beta. This seed is accompanied by Safari 7.0.4. The beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center. Apple continues to ask developers to focus on...

The latest OS X beta, 10.9.3, may see a public release within the next few days, as AppleCare employees have received a fresh build of the beta. The last build seeded to developers was 13D55, but as noted by 9to5Mac, employees have been given build 13D62, which suggests the beta is nearing the end states of testing.The OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Update is recommended for all Mavericks users. It...

Apple is apparently gearing up to open a sixth retail location in Manhattan by late 2015, according to a new report from ifoAppleStore.  The current interior of the building as occupied by VBH (via ifoAppleStore) Likely to be located at 940 Madison Avenue, the future store will occupy a former banking complex built in 1921 that currently houses luxury retailer VBH. The building itself...

New Apple Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts has received a signing bonus potentially worth $68 million at current share prices, in the form of 113,334 restricted stock units that vest over the next four years.Ahrendts will receive shares spread over several different vesting periods between June 1, 2014 and June 14, 2018, assuming Ahrendts stays with the company. ...