MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple has been hit with a judgment for ¥330 million ($3.3 million) in a Japanese court case over infringement of a patent by the company's click wheel system used on a number of past iPod models and the current iPod classic, reports Dow Jones Business News.The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) to pay Y330 million in damages to Japanese inventor Norihiko Saito in a...

Apple has introduced a new 'Employees on iTunes' section of the iTunes Store to showcase books, songs, movies and TV shows that Apple employees have contributed to in some manner.The section, which was first noted by 9to5Mac, is only accessible by Apple employees. Senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue sent an email to Apple employees explaining the new program:Team,...

In addition to grand openings for new Apple retail stores in Virginia and British Columbia scheduled for this Saturday, the company will also be opening its new OEZ retail store in Munich, Germany. The store will be the company's second in Munich once it opens to the public at 9:30 AM Saturday. Apple's ifc mall retail store in Hong Kong Apple is also planning an expansion to landmark ifc mall ...

Following today's launch of updated iMacs, Apple has released an iMac (late 2013) EFI Update 2.1 for the new machines.This update is recommended for iMac (late 2013) models. This update addresses an issue which may cause a black screen to appear when installing Windows 7 or Windows 8 using Boot Camp Assistant if both an external optical drive and USB thumb drive are connected to the system....

Image editing software Pixelmator was updated to version 2.21 today, adding a multitude of new enhancements that increase the overall speed of the app.Today we are happy to release the first Pixelmator 2.2.1 update. That may sound minor in numbers, but in our little Pixelmator world, it's a major one. We've done some radical improvements behind the scenes. One of them is a new Pixelmator file...

Apple has announced that it will be holding a grand opening for its Potomac Town Center retail store in Woodbridge, Virginia this Saturday at 10:00 AM. Located right off of Interstate 95 about 20-25 miles south of Washington, DC, the new store is located in the Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center, a nearly year-old outdoor shopping center anchored by a Wegmans supermarket. The new Apple...

Apple is sending emails offering refunds to customers who purchased a Breaking Bad "Season Pass" for the fifth season of the series on iTunes. In early September, Apple was sued in a class action lawsuit for failing to provide all 16 episodes of Breaking Bad season 5 to "Season Pass" purchasers on iTunes, instead only providing 8 episodes.We apologize for any confusion the naming of "Season 5"...

The Los Altos home where Steve Jobs first began building computers may be turned into a protected historical site, reports CNN. Located on 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos, California, the house was first inhabited by Jobs and his family after they moved to the area when he was in seventh grade. In the garage attached to the house, Jobs and Steve Wozniak famously assembled the first Apple 1...

Apple today updated its iOS device configuration tool for Mac, Apple Configurator, with support for iOS 7's new set of features and restrictions. The Mac app, which was launched in early 2012, allows users to mass configure and deploy iPods, iPads and iPhones in enterprise or educational environments. The new update enables users to allow AirDrop, Control Center and Notification Center on the...

Electronic Arts today announced the first expansion pack for SimCity, called Cities of Tomorrow. The expansion is designed to take place 50 years in the future, incorporating new technologies and experimental urban planning techniques for futuristic world-building capabilities. "Will the world of tomorrow be a utopia powered by clean energy or an industrial society consumed by mass...

Apple today began offering refurbished units of its mid-2013 11-inch MacBook Air models in its online store. The move comes a little over three months after they were announced in June, and both stock configurations are currently available. The current 13-inch MacBook Air has yet to appear in Apple's store for refurbished products. Both models include Intel's Haswell processors and "all-day" ...

As part of a new 3.0 update for iCloud Control Panel for Windows, Apple has created new browser plugins for both the Chrome and Firefox Windows apps. Using the plugins, Windows users can now sync their iOS Safari bookmarks with the Chrome and Firefox browsers. Previously, browser syncing was limited to Internet Explorer. iCloud keeps mail, contacts, and calendars up to date between your...

Google is launching a new, entirely separate company called Calico. The firm will be dedicated to tacking major, long-term healthcare initiatives like significantly extending the human lifespan.Calico will be helmed by Arthur Levinson, the chairman and former CEO of biotech firm Genentech. Levinson is also a longtime board member and Chairman of Apple, and a director of Hoffmann-La Roche, a...

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has released its annual rankings for customer satisfaction in the category of personal computers, which include both traditional computers and tablets, with Apple’s line of Macs as well as the iPad topping the survey’s rankings for the tenth straight year. Apple’s satisfaction rating of 87 is ranked above other competitors such as...

Apple's newest retail store in Station Park near Salt Lake City, Utah is set to open on Friday, September 20, the same day that Apple will begin selling its iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in stores. Located in Farmington, Utah, Station Park is an outdoor shopping mall that features a number of upscale retail stores. The Apple Store, which spans approximately 10,000 square-feet, is located in the...

Apple has updated OS X Server, the application that runs on top of OS X Mountain Lion to expand the system's server feature set.The update adds several bug fixes, though the 'What's New' section includes a number of new features that were originally added back in December 2012.What's new- Fix for administering Profile Manager from iPad mini.- Support for using bonded or virtual network...

Unibox, a new Messages-style email client that was first announced in August of 2012, is now available for download as part of a public beta test. The app is designed to make email more "personal" by organizing emails into a contact-centric view. Unibox's interface is divided into two main panes, with the left side displaying contacts and the right side displaying all messages that have been...

Apple is finalizing lease plans for the luxury shopping mall planned for the World Trade Center site, according to a report from IFOAppleStore.IFO claims the mall developer has already signed a lease with Victoria's Secret and negotiations are in process with Michael Kors, Swatch and Abercrombie & Fitch, among other retailers, including Apple.The website for the project contains a number of...