MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Following reports yesterday that Apple would open its first Dutch retail store in Amsterdam on March 3, the company has confirmed that date today with emails to customers and a new dedicated store page on its website. The new store will open at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 3, with press reportedly having been invited to a preview event two days earlier. With the opening, the Netherlands will ...

After one false alert claiming a February 18 opening for Apple's new Amsterdam retail store, the company's first in the Netherlands, One More Thing now reports [Google translation] that the grand opening is apparently set for March 3. Glass staircase at Apple's Amsterdam retail store The sources of the information are said to be "numerous and come from different angles", making One More...

9to5Mac reports that Apple is working on an overhaul of its iTunes Store and App Store marketplaces, seeking to simplify the user experience while also increasing interactivity and discoverability. The revamped stores are reportedly planned to launch later this year.The new design is said to be even simpler and more user-friendly than the current design. Apple is working on ways to enhance the...

As noticed by several users running the developer preview version of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple is no longer including its X11 application for running software through the X Window System interface. A popular option for scientists and others seeking to run specialized UNIX software both on local machines and across networks, X11 has been available on OS X for a number of years and has been...

Cult of Mac points to a report from French site MacGeneration highlighting the system requirements for OS X Mountain Lion. Among those Macs currently compatible with OS X Lion, those with lower-end Intel GMA X3100 or GMA 950 integrated graphics will not be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion:- Any Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook from late 2007 – late 2008 (Model Numbers: MB061*/B, MB062*/B, MB063*/B,...

Alongside the OS X Mountain Lion developer preview released today, Apple has also pushed out Safari 5.2 for Lion to developers. The update brings a number of new features that will be included with Safari in OS X Mountain Lion later this year. Among the new additions are a unified address/search bar, new persistent Reader icon that is blue when available and grey when inactive, and new URL...

While OS X Lion was initially announced as an exclusive Mac App Store release, Apple did backtrack slightly before launch with a decision to offer a $69 USB thumb drive to assist users without access to broadband connections. As reported by Pocket-lint, Apple has decided to end that experiment with OS X Mountain Lion, making the forthcoming release a true Mac App Store exclusive.Apple has...

Apple today released Xcode 4.3 [Mac App Store], making a number of improvements to the software. Among the notable changes, Xcode is now offered directly as an app. It had previously been offered as an installer package, and the move simplifies the installation and update process.What's New in Version 4.3 Xcode is now distributed as an application, rather than as an installer. This change...

Hardware.info points to a presentation slide from NVIDIA showing the range of products the company's graphics chips power. The tagline reads,"From Super Phones to Super Computers". The site also noted a strange looking Mac notebook in the middle of the lineup. The notebook seems to carry characteristics from both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro line. The lower part of the body has a...

M.I.C gadget reports that it has received information from sources indicating that Apple is "close to finally updating" its aging Mac Pro line. As we detailed in a report last month, the window for a potential Mac Pro update is approaching as Intel prepares to launch its Sandy Bridge E Xeon processors and AMD is pushing out its new "Tahiti" family of graphics cards. But M.I.C gadget reports...

CLOG, a new quarterly architecture magazine, has opted to cover Apple in its just-published February 2012 issue. The magazine offers nearly 150 pages of stories and images about Apple and architecture, with coverage ranging from Steve Jobs' boyhood Eichler home to the company's forthcoming "spaceship campus" to Apple's network of over 350 retail stores around the world.With one of the largest...

Google has received approval from the European Union for its planned purchase of Motorola Mobility. This is one of a number of governmental approvals that Google needs before the purchase can continue, including sign-offs from the governments of Israel, Taiwan, China, and the United States. The U.S. Justice Department is expected to approve the acquisition this week. Reuters: The EU...

Apple today launched its annual back to school promotion in Japan, offering students purchasing a new Mac a gift card worth ¥10,000 (US$129) and redeemable in the App Store, Mac App Store, or iTunes Store. The program runs through May 22. The promotion is valid on all standard and build-to-order Mac models with the exception of the Mac mini. Refurbished Macs are also not eligible for the...

Last July, Apple discontinued the white MacBook from its consumer lineup, pushing consumers toward the company's popular MacBook Air line or the 13-inch MacBook Pro. The company didn't kill off the MacBook entirely though, as it continued to offer it to educational institutions. Apple has now notified resellers that it has ended that distribution channel as well, classifying the MacBook as...

Last month, we noted that Apple had signed a pair of leases for over 300,000 square feet of space in Sunnyvale, the company's first venture into the city next door to its home in Cupertino, California. The leases were said to be part of a larger effort in which Apple was looking to secure 700,000-800,000 square feet of space in Sunnyvale as it continues to grow and to tide it over until its...

9to5Mac reports that Apple is in "early discussions" with Sam's Club to bring the Apple store-within-a-store concept to the popular warehouse club chain that operates as a division of Walmart.Sam’s Club and Apple are not only in early discussions for the Apple store-in-store program, but a backup plan is also being discussed. This plan consists of Sam’s Club simply selling Apple’s Macs, but ...

As the Mac becomes more popular, the arrival of A-List titles to the platform is beginning to become a more common occurrence. The latest top-shelf game to hit the Mac is Id Software's RAGE, which has gone live both on the >Mac App Store [Direct Link] and on publisher Aspyr's GameAgent online store. The game takes place more than 100 years after the impact of an asteroid destroys most life...

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple today began seeding Safari 5.1.4 to developers for testing, signaling the next round of improvements for Apple's browser software. Safari 5.1.4 is available in versions for OS X Lion, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and Windows, and the release notes ask developers to focus their testing on JavaScript performance, interactions between plug-ins and zooming, and PDF printing.Jav...