MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple today seeded build 13C59 of OS X 10.9.2 to developers, marking the sixth beta iteration of 10.9.2.The release comes roughly a week after the fifth OS X 10.9.2 beta, build 13C53, and nearly two months after the first OS X 10.9.2 beta. The update is available to registered developers through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center. Apple...

National Geographic Channel show Diggers last year unearthed a time capsule containing a piece of Steve Jobs memorabilia that's been buried for 30 years. A video obtained by CNET shows the excavation and opening of this renowned canister. (Credit: Mike Durkin) The time capsule, known as the "Aspen Time Tube", was buried in 1983 by the organizers of the International Design Conference....

Apple has updated its Compressor encoding app to version 4.4.1, fixing a number of reliability and stability issues. Compressor is used to encode video files for posting to websites like YouTube and Vimeo, burning to DVD or Blu-ray, and more. What's new in Compressor Version 4.1.1• Resolves issues installing Compressor on a system where Qmaster was previously enabled• Improves reliability ...

Apple's current head of human resources, Joel Podolny, has left his role to focus full-time on Apple University, according to Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet, who spoke to Bloomberg. Apple University is called "an increasingly important resource" in the note written to the news site."We are excited that Denise Young Smith will expand her role to lead Apple's worldwide human resources...

Apple's quarterly earnings may be stagnant, but at least one division within the company is showing extraordinary growth. As noted by Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, Apple's iTunes/Software/Services division grew by 34 percent year-over-year after taking into account the 70% Apple pays to developers for App Store purchases. Dediu estimates that Apple's gross revenues from the...

A new Mac OS X trojan horse that monitors web browsing traffic in order to steal Bitcoins has been discovered by SecureMac. The trojan, called OSX/CoinThief.A, is disguised as an innocuous Bitcoin app called StealthBit that purports to send and receive anonymous payments.The app was posted on open-source website GitHub, but the precompiled version of the app had the malicious payload installed. ...

The first Apple retail location could have opened in the late 70s, according to a new account from distinguished Silicon Valley marketer Regis McKenna (via CNET). During a fireside chat held Thursday at the Computer History Museum, McKenna recalled a 1976 meeting in which he turned down an offer from Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to market the Apple II. However, McKenna stated...

Apple today seeded build 13C53 of OS X 10.9.2 to developers, marking the fifth beta iteration of 10.9.2. The release comes a week after the fourth OS X 10.9.2 beta, build 13C48, and over a month after the first OS X 10.9.2 beta. The update is available to registered developers through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center. Apple continues...

Apple's director of Federal Government Affairs appeared at a daylong summit for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to discuss distracted driving. A number of other executives appeared at the session as well, including representatives from Google, Samsung, AT&T, Sprint, Toyota, General Motors, and more.The summit, a multi-part roundtable discussion called...

As noted this morning, Apple has plans to open its first retail store in Brazil on Saturday, February 15. The store is located in the Village Mall luxury shopping center in Rio de Janeiro's famous Barra Da Tijuca borough. Brazilian news site The Globe [Google Translation] had an opportunity to speak with Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer about the store opening, which has been in ...

The first two buildings in Apple's new Austin, Texas campus are ready for occupancy, with the company having been issued temporary occupancy permits for two office buildings that span 290,000 square feet, according to a report in the Austin Business Journal. Photos published last year showed the buildings under construction along with a landscaped pond, fences and sidewalks, while new photos...

An exhaustive list of all the Apple references ever made in long-running television cartoons The Simpsons and Futurama has been compiled by Yoni Heisler of TUAW. On the air since 1989 and 1999, respectively, The Simpsons and Futurama have featured Apple products in various episodes more than 40 times. Some standouts include a 2010 episode of Futurama where Bender declares the Mac to be better...

Following Adobe's release of a "critical" update for Flash Player yesterday to address a security issue that is currently being exploited in the wild, Apple has updated its "Xprotect" anti-malware system to disable older versions of the plug-in. The move forces users to upgrade to the latest version of Flash if they wish to continue using the still-common media plug-in. Updated Xprotect ...

Apple today released a new support document that offers a solution for Late 2013 MacBook Pro and Mac Pro owners having difficulty with Airplay mirroring when connecting to an 802.11 b or g network. The company suggests that users who are experiencing issues with dropped connections and frozen images on the television when using Airplay mirroring should turn off Bluetooth.Turning off...

Steve Jobs had a desire to launch an OS X-compatible Sony VAIO, according to a new blog post from longtime Japanese freelance writer Nobuyuki Hayashi (via The Verge). The account comes from a 2011 interview with former Sony president Kunitake Ando, who stated Jobs and another Apple executive presented him with a VAIO running OS X during a winter golf tournament in Hawaii. Most of Sony's...

Adobe has released a "critical update" for its Adobe Flash Player software on both Mac and Windows, addressing a zero-day vulnerability that gives complete control over compromised systems to hackers. The vulnerability affects all Macs with Adobe Flash Player version 12.0.0.43 and earlier and all users are urged to update immediately. Adobe has a site where users can check what version of Flash...

Screenshots from the latest version of North Korea's home-grown "Red Star" Linux operating system reveal a striking resemblance to OS X, as shown in a new report from IDG News Service. The new look seen in version 3.0 of the software replaces the Windows-inspired design of version 2.0. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, might the folks in Cupertino be pleased when they see the...

Apple CEO Tim Cook will meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gül tomorrow at the ü">Çankaya Presidential Compound in Ankara, according to the President's official calendar. The visit comes as Apple is planning to open its first retail store in the heart of Istanbul's new multi-use Zorlu Center sometime in 2014. Apple is also heavily involved in the bidding for Turkey's $4.5 billion tablet...