MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Earlier this week, Apple subsidiary FileMaker Inc. announced that it was discontinuing its consumer-friendly Bento database software to focus on its flagship FileMaker line. Now, AppleInsider is claiming that the company has laid off 20 employees and is undergoing the process of restructuring, according to sources from within the company. Sources say Thursday's rumored job cuts are associated ...

BioShock Infinite, the third game in the first-person shooter series, is set to be released for the Mac on August 29 through a collaboration between Aspyr Media, developer Irrational Games, and publisher 2K Games. Originally released for consoles and PCs in March of this year, BioShock Infinite is set in 1912 in the floating city of Columbia. In the game, players take on the role of former...

Best Buy has launched a new promotion that includes a free third generation Apple TV with the purchase of a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. The company is also currently offering a $200 discount off of the retail price all of its Retina MacBook Pros, including both the 13-inch and 15-inch versions. - 15-inch with 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage - $1,999.99 - 15-inch with 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage -...

Earlier this year, the trade organization behind the USB 3.0 specification proposed a new version of USB 3 that supports 10Gbps of data transfer over a backwards compatible connector.The spec has now been finalized, and the first developer sessions will begin later this month.SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps uses a more efficient data encoding and will deliver more than twice the effective data...

Apple directors Bill Campbell and Millard Drexler recently exercised and sold more than 42,000 Director Stock Options according to documents filed today with the SEC.Drexler, the chairman and CEO of clothing retailer J. Crew, exercised a series of Director Stock Option grants from 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, for a total of 32,562 shares at exercise prices ranging from $113.62 to $202. He then...

Apple today seeded build 12F30 of OS X 10.8.5 to developers, marking the seventh beta iteration of 10.8.5, dating back to the first release on June 19th. The release comes exactly one week after the previous OS X 10.8.5 beta, build 12F26. As with previous betas, the update contains no known issues and can be downloaded via Apple's Developer page or through the software update tool of the Mac...

With a number of U.S. states preparing to host "sales tax holidays" in which certain items can be purchased without being subject to sales taxes, Apple has begun sending out emails to customers in those states reminding them of the potential to save significant amounts of money on purchases such as computers and accessories. Sales tax holidays are typically held in early August as back to...

FileMaker Inc, a subsidiary of Apple, has announced in a statement that it will stop offering Bento, the consumer-friendly version of its popular Mac and iOS database software, in order to focus on its flagship FileMaker product line.FileMaker, Inc. is increasing its focus on FileMaker Product Line software. Thanks to the ease of creating iPad and iPhone solutions, our customers' use of FileMaker ...

Late last week Apple commercials from the 1980s began resurfacing on YouTube channel EveryAppleAds, offering an extensive look at Apple advertising during that time period. Now, the same YouTube channel has uploaded a video of late film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert reviewing similar ads. The video appears to have been recorded at a special Apple event in 1986, as indicated by the Apple...

Apple is set to open a new retail location in Rimini, Italy this Saturday, on August 3. The store is located in the largest shopping mall in the Emilia-Romagna region, Le Befane, which includes more than 130 different retail shops and restaurants. Though Apple has 12 stores spread across the country, the Le Befane location will be the first in Rimini. The location is reportedly quite large,...

According to multiple Twitter reports and a tipster who contacted MacRumors, individual Netflix profiles are now showing up on the Apple TV. The personalized profile feature, which is expected to be launched in August, will allow users of shared Netflix accounts to select a unique profile when accessing the service. Netflix first debuted its personalized user profiles earlier this year at E3,...

Along with the new iOS 7 beta 4 and iTunes 11 releases, Apple has also seeded version 5.4 of its Apple TV software to developers. The third beta of the Apple TV software includes (via Schimanke.com) a function that allows users to purchase music from the iTunes store, a feature that was removed from earlier versions of the Apple TV software. iTunes Music purchases can be made from the...

Apple has released a beta version of iTunes 11.1 with support for iTunes Radio, Apple's new Pandora-like music streaming service. The beta has a build number of iTunes 11.1b44.iTunes Radio is a new internet radio service built into iOS 7, the next version of the Apple TV and the next version of iTunes on Windows and Mac, all expected to be released this fall. The new feature offers music...

Last week, Mac mini shipping times slipped to 5–7 days, but it appears that Apple’s inventory has normalized over the weekend as shipping times (via 9to5Mac) for the standard Mac mini have returned to 24 hours in both the United States and Canada. Mac mini shipping times for many other countries around the world remain at 5 to 7 days, as do shipping times for the Mac mini Server, so it is...

Old Apple commercials from the 1980s have been resurfacing on YouTube channel EveryAppleAds over the past few days, offering an extensive look at vintage Apple advertising that is normally overshadowed by Apple's famous Super Bowl commercial "1984". The commercials, which feature both the Macintosh and the Apple II, introduce and promote the general concept of the PC and its usefulness to...

Apple has formed an academic advisory board for its Supplier Responsibility program to assist with the company's goals to provide "safe and ethical working conditions wherever its products are made."All research that is commissioned by the advisory board or done directly by its members will be subject to the highest academic standards. It is expected that that the new research will result in...

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer sold 37,172 shares of Apple stock on Wednesday as part of a SEC Rule 10b5-1 scheduled trading plan implemented in November of 2011. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC.The sale took place the day after Apple's July earnings announcement, a profitable choice for Oppenheimer as Apple's stock jumped from $420/share to $440/share following the earnings...

14-year-old iOS developer Ross Penman has created 'Dev Center Notifier', a SMS notification system that sends text messages to users when the status of each service on Apple's Developer Center changes. Dev Center Notifier will send an SMS to your phone each time any component of Apple's developer services goes online or offline. Data comes directly from Apple's Developer System Status page.This...