MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple today seeded build 12D74 of OS X Mountain Lion to developers, marking the eleventh beta iteration of the newest version of Mountain Lion. 10.8.3 was first seeded to developers in November of 2012. Build 12D74 comes two weeks after build 12D68 and features no listed changes. Registered developers can download the update on Apple’s Developer Page. This post originally referred to...

The very different designs for Apple's and Google's planned headquarters buildings are a reflection of their corporate personalities, argues a professor of architecture at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. In an interview with Professor Brian Schermer by digital news site Quartz (via Business Insider), the workplace design expert comments on the two companies' respective plans for their ...

Apple's System Status page is showing multiple iCloud services with 'issues': Services listed as being affected are Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud and Backup. The services have been having problems for nearly five hours already, and Apple has not yet provided a timeframe for a fix. (Thanks, Guillermo.) Update 8:28 AM: The issues are persisting some seven hours after Apple first...

South Carolina-based accessory maker Twelve South has released a new version of its BookBook case, this time for the 15" MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The case matches those available for the iPad and iPhone, as well as existing ones for the 11" and 13" MacBook Air models. The 13" MacBook Pro with Retina fits into the existing case designed for the 13" MacBook Air.Designed exclusively for...

Critically acclaimed strategy game "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" is headed to the Mac in a few months, Feral Interactive announced today. The popular strategy game is coming in a special "Elite Edition", which includes previously released add-on content.The Mac release of "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" is the "Elite Edition", and contains all previously released add-on content and updates. "XCOM: Enemy Unknown ...

Realmac Software, the company behind popular gesture-based task list Clear, today announced that Clear for Mac will work with the Leap Motion controller. Leap Motion's controller is a touch-free device that allows users to control their computers via hand gestures in three dimensions. It works in conjunction with the Leap Motion software, and development units have been sent to 10,000...

The Apple fan behind the Every Apple TV ad YouTube channel has created a new channel and blog with the self-explanatory title Every Steve Jobs video, offering a total of around 150 clips of varying lengths. The site's creator told MacRumors that he wanted to get them online in time for Steve Jobs' birthday on February 24. I'm a long time Apple enthusiast and throughout the years have...

LEGO The Lord of the Rings, which was released for consoles and PCs late last year, has finally made its way to the Mac. The game, which is based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, incorporates events from all three of the movies. It features actual film dialogue along with RPG elements that are not present in other LEGO games, such as an expanding inventory and open world exploration. F...

Just a couple days after a clip of Jony Ive's appearance on BBC's Blue Peter was revealed, journalist Tom Davenport (via CNET) says he's found an insightful portion of the clip that was cut out. In the new segment, Ive talks about how product naming philosophy can affect the design process.If we’re thinking of lunchbox, we’d be really careful about not having the word ‘box’ already give...

Pureinfotech links (via Neowin) to a YouTube video claiming to show a 'Hackintosh' Surface Pro running OS X Mountain Lion. The new Surface Pro tablet, which runs full Windows 8, launched earlier this month starting at $899. Comments on the YouTube video are largely skeptical, suggesting that it's simply a remote desktop connection to a Mac. However, there's no technical reason why a...

Firefox 19 is slated to be launched on Tuesday, but as noted by The Next Web, the latest version is already available for download from Mozilla's servers. The U.S. version of Firefox 19 for the Mac can be found in the aforementioned folder by accessing the Mac directory and then selecting “en-US.” Most notably, this update includes a built-in PDF viewer, making former PDF viewing plug-ins ...

RetailWeek is reporting that former Apple Senior Vice President of Retail John Browett has taken a job as the chief executive of United Kingdom fashion and accessories retailer Monsoon Accessorize. Browett will start on March 4, almost 5 months after leaving his position at Apple.Browett had been with Apple for about seven months and was hired after Apple had conducted a 7 month search for the r...

Apple today seeded build 12D68 of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 to developers, marking the tenth beta iteration of the newest version of Mountain Lion. 10.8.3 was first seeded to developers in November 2012. Build 12D68 comes roughly a week after build 12D65. Registered developers can download the update on Apple's Developer Page. This post originally referred to Build 12D68 as the eleventh...

Belkin is taking pre-orders for its $299 Thunderbolt Express Dock and is telling buyers that it should begin shipping next week. The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock is an easy, powerful way to take advantage of Thunderbolt technology. The Thunderbolt Express Dock lets you use a single connection to create high-speed, reliable transfers between your laptop and up to eight other devices, including ...

Other World Computing has begun selling NewerTech's miniStack MAX, an ambitious all-in-one hard drive, Blu-Ray/CD/DVD reader/burner, SD card reader and USB hub in one compact enclosure meant to match the footprint of the Mac mini. There is also a version that reads Blu-Ray discs, but does not write them.A number of products designed to fit under the Mac mini have been released over the years,...

Apple today released MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.7, addressing an issue related to batteries with more than 1000 charge cycles. The update applies to Mid 2010 and Early 2011 models of the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro and is a complement to earlier updates addressing the same issue for other machines.About MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.7 This update addresses a rare issue on some...

Microsoft yesterday released a new 14.3.1 update for Office for Mac 2011 to fix a bug in the licensing alerts, which caused Office applications to claim they were unlicensed. The problem was seemingly introduced during a previous bug-fix update.Stability is improved This update fixes an issue that may cause Office 2011 applications to report a problem with Licensing even though the applications...

The third week of Apple's "Get Stuff Done" Mac App Store promotion began today, dropping prices on a new set of apps. During the first week of the promotion Apple discounted several task management apps, and last week, several organizational apps went on sale. This week Apple is highlighting apps that fall into the Mac Utility category, such as login-saving app 1Password and popular calendar ...