MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

A number of tidbits related to Apple's retail store initiative have surfaced in recent days, with Apple apparently making progress on several new stores in Germany and the Netherlands as it opens a new store in the United Kingdom this weekend. iFun.de reports [Google translation] that workers have begun removing scaffolding and barriers outside of Apple's first Berlin store. The site reported...

Apple today updated both of its photo editing and management platforms. Aperture has been updated to version 3.4.4 while iPhoto has been updated to version 9.4.3. The updates contain several bug fixes and stability improvements and can be downloaded via the Mac App Store or Software Update. Aperture 3.4.4:-Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly during image...

Back in 1983, Apple's Macintosh team attended a retreat at the La Playa Carmel hotel in Carmel, California, where employee shenanigans resulted in a 30-year company gathering ban from the resort. According to SFGate, the La Playa Carmel, which is located about two hours south of Cupertino, recently lifted the restrictions preventing Apple from using the spot for corporate retreats. Apple has...

Last night, a number of employees of longtime Mac developer Ambrosia Software tweeted that they had been let go from their jobs and that the company was shutting down.However, today The Mac Observer spoke with Ambrosia president Andrew Welch who said the company is not shutting down but employees had been let go.Mr. Welch didn't say if Ambrosia is scaling back on its app lineup, but his...

Storage maker CalDigit this week announced a new portable dock called the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station, adding to the growing collection of Thunderbolt docks introduced recently from Sonnet, Belkin and Matrox. CalDigit's entry costs $199 and provides users with USB 3.0, Audio In and Out jacks, Ethernet, and HDMI in a portable aluminum case.“As Macs are getting thinner, and more portable we...

Apple today issued build 12E30 of OS X Mountain Lion to developers, eight days after the first beta of OS X 10.8.4 was released. The first build asked developers to focus on Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers and Safari, with no issues mentioned. Registered developers can download the update on Apple's Developer Page...

Apple hasn't sold a notebook docking solution since the Duo Dock for the PowerBook Duo. However, a new campaign on Kickstarter has designed a new dock that can be used with any current MacBook Pro model, including the new Retina units.The ZenDock connects to the Thunderbolt, USB, Gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire ports, while leaving a clever gap for the MagSafe power adapter to slide through. A...

Microsoft today announced that it will end support for Office 2008 for Mac next Tuesday, on April 9.Support for Office for Mac 2008 will end April 9th, 2013. View the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy for further details, such as the support dates for this product.Microsoft recommends that affected users purchase an Office 365 subscription, which includes Office for Mac 2011 and future updates...

Sonnet has announced a new Thunderbolt dock that combines USB 3.0, SATA and eSATA, FireWire 800, audio input and output, and Gigabit Ethernet ports, a DVD or Blu-ray reader/burner, as well as a 2.5" or 3.5" 6 Gb/s SATA drive bay.The dock is available for pre-order for $400 with a DVD drive and $450 with a Blu-ray drive. Additional choices are available with hard drives built-in.Back in...

Just two weeks after Sapphire introduced the Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition graphics card for the Mac Pro, EVGA today announced the launch of its GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition. Based on the popular year-old card for PCs, the new GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition carries 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and adds another high-end graphics option for current Mac Pro users.The EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition graphics card...

Mozilla has today launched Firefox 20, adding a number of significant improvements to the browser. Users are now able to initiate private browsing without the need to open a new window or close a current browsing session. There is a new function in place that allows users to close a hanging plugin without the need to shut down the entire browser, and the update also includes a new download...

Apple today issued the first beta of OS X 10.8.4 to AppleSeed members, just over two weeks after OS X 10.8.3 was released. The 10.8.4 beta is build 12E27, while 10.8.3 was build 12D78.Apple is asking users to focus on Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers and Safari, though no specific issues were...

The Next Web is reporting that a group of iOS developers has been targeted with a series of rapid-fire messages on iMessage, creating a sort of denial-of-service (DoS) attack that crashes the iMessage app.Grant Paul, one of the targeted iOS developers explains how the attack worked:“What’s happening is a simple flood: Apple doesn’t seem to limit how fast messages can be sent, so the...

Twitter has released a significant update to its TweetDeck Mac App, adding features like improved filters, new font sizes, and the advanced search tools that were originally added to the Chrome application in December. Column filters, which have long been a part of the TweetDeck Web app, are a new addition to the Mac version, along with tools for filtering columns by content and users. With ...

Former Apple employee Tim Holmes recently discovered a set of photographs taken on an Apple QuickTake camera -- one of the first digital cameras made -- from the night Steve Jobs returned to Apple after it purchased NeXT. Holmes notes in the description that the colors are incorrect in the photos because of the poor quality of digital cameras in 1996, and that Jobs' jacket was actually black,...

Back in September, Google purchased Nik Software of Snapseed fame. In addition to being the team behind the iOS photo editing app that was named Apple’s 2011 iPad App of the Year, Nik Software also produces several plug-ins for professional image editing applications like Aperture, Lightroom, and Photoshop. As of today, Nik's plug-ins are available as a single bundle, which is priced at...

After more than 10 years in beta, the open source launch utility Quicksilver has finally reached version 1.0.The utility is a Spotlight-on-steroids type utility, that allows power users to open and manipulate files quickly from the keyboard.After almost 10 years of testing, Quicksilver lays the beta tag to rest. (If the lack of an eszett brings a tear to your eye, you can always reminisce by...

Blizzard today announced Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a new free-to-play collectible card game set in the Warcraft universe. In a first for Blizzard, it will be available on the iPad in addition to the Mac and PC. It appears that players will be able to play multiplayer games across platforms.Set in the World of Warcraft universe, each Hearthstone deck will revolve around heroes of nine of...