MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

After a delay that saw the Leap Motion release pushed from May to July, the company is now working on the final preparations for its touch-free motion tracking device that allows users to control computers via hand gestures. As of this week, the Leap Motion beta will be expanded, giving more than 10,000 developers access to a new developer portal (via CNET) and a new app discovery platform,...

Networking code in OS X Mountain Lion is slowing down file transfers over the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Microsoft's Server Message Block (SMB), according to examinations done by both Ars Technica and AnandTech.The issue affects the new MacBook Air models that come equipped with the 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology. The new MacBook Air and Apple's new AirPort Extreme base station are the first...

Back in 2008, Mirror Worlds LLC accused Apple of patent infringement for its Cover Flow, Spotlight, and Time Machine technologies. While the initial jury ruled against Apple and levied a fine of $625.5 million, a later appeal in federal court saw the ruling reversed. Following further appeal by Mirror Worlds, the dispute made it to the Supreme Court, which today left the federal judgement in...

Brooklyn Nets general manager Billy King today posted a picture of Miami Heat player Shane Battier with Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue and his son Spencer following the Heat's championship win last night over the San Antonio Spurs.From L to R: Spencer Cue, Duke Senior Associate Athletic Director Mike Cragg, Miami Heat player Shane Battier, Eddy Cue Battier played basketball at Duke before ...

The Associated Press reports that yet another working Apple 1 from 1976 is headed to auction, with Christie's placing a $300,000 opening bid and $500,000 estimate on the machine. The machine is owned by Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist from Sacramento, California who acquired it in a swap over three decades ago.Perry, 70, acquired his Apple 1 in either 1979 or 1980, as a secondhand item...

Best Buy has recalled 5,100 third-party replacement MacBook batteries after at least 13 reports of the batteries catching fire.Both the black and white varieties sold between September 2008 and June 2012 -- unit numbers MC-MBOOK13B and MC-MBOOK13W -- have been recalled and Best Buy will give customers replacements or a Best Buy gift card. Best Buy did note that they were not the only company to ...

In an interview with design magazine Dezeen, German industrial designer Richard Sapper revealed that he was once recruited by Steve Jobs to do design work for Apple. The interview doesn't specify when the recruitment happened, but it could have been in the early 80's when Apple was just starting out, or in the mid-90's after Jobs returned to the company.Jobs once wanted to hire me to do the...

Parallels has posted instructions on how to install the developer release of OS X Mavericks into its virtualization software. Installing the beta in a virtual machine allows developers to test their software in a secure environment on production machines, without endangering their day-to-day work.As you may have heard, Apple has released to its Developer Community a preview of the next version...

After releasing OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 to the public in early June, Apple has seeded the first beta of OS X 10.8.5, Build 12F9, to developers. According to 9to5Mac, Apple has also seeded the 10.8.5 beta to its Retail Team. Apple also released a developer preview of OS X Mavericks last week, which is expected to be released to the public this fall. The update is available through the...

EverySteveJobsVideo (via The Loop) today released a never-before-seen video of Steve Jobs in 1994, while he was at NeXT, pondering his legacy in the personal computer field and whether he thought he would be remembered for his work in the future. While Jobs is primarily talking about his accomplishments with Macintosh and personal computing, his thoughts could easily translate to iPhone,...

Apple has updated its enterprise iOS configuration tool, Apple Configurator. The Mac app, originally released last year, allows anyone to mass configure and deploy iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices in an enterprise environment.The new update provides Apple's usual "improvements and bug fixes" including the ability to cancel scheduled or in-progress operations.What's newApple Configurator...

Apple today released updated versions of Java 6 for OS X, bringing additional improvements to security, reliability, and compatibility. This is a standard update to Java 6, which is distributed by Apple. Java 7 is available through Oracle.Java for OS X 2013-004 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_51. On systems that have not already...

Apple's Messages app for OS X has received a significant amount of criticism since its introduction last year as the evolution of iChat. The app has suffered from a number of issues including loss of messages, out-of-order message display, poor synchronization among iMessage devices, and search problems. While Apple has addressed a few of these issues, such as the out-of-order message addressed...

Following the launch of the Jony Ive-led streamlining of the iOS user interface, the designer himself has seen his job title receive a redesign as well. Ive is now the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple; previously, he was SVP of Industrial Design.Jony Ive's Biography Page from Apple.com (Old: Left) Ive received a promotion of sorts back in October when he was put in charge of Human...

Twitter's TweetDeck for Mac has been updated to version 3.0.2, adding a new sidebar on the lefthand side of the application that allows for simpler navigation across columns. The columns can be arranged using new drag and drop options. The update also brings new filter search parameters plus new filter interactions for a number of features including mentions, retweets, favorites, followers,...

The MagCozy, like the KeyBit, is an innovative solution that is designed to help Mac owners keep track of their MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Converters. Apple's MagSafe 2, which was introduced with the 2012 MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro, is incompatible with original MagSafe Power Adapter, necessitating the use of a small converter to charge MagSafe 2 devices with MagSafe adapters. Currently ...

Monday evening following Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Pixar's Michael Johnson hosted a fundraising event for the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, where he serves as a board member. As noted by The Mac Observer, one particularly interesting part of the event was a display of Steve Jobs' personal NeXTcube, loaned for the event by Pixar.Speakers this year included Wil...

At today's Worldwide Developers Conference Keynote, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller announced a new AirPort Base Station and new AirPort Time Capsules, featuring sleek new designs and improved internals. All of the devices feature 802.11ac WiFi, which allows for 40 percent faster data transmissions at the same distance as the previous models. They also...