MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

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...

As revealed in a regulatory filing yesterday, Apple senior vice president for hardware engineering Bob Mansfield on Monday exercised a set of stock options he has held for a number of years, immediately selling off the stock for a gain of nearly $12.5 million. Under the stock option program, Mansfield was eligible to purchase 30,000 of Apple stock at a price of $36.54 per share and immediately...

Intuit has begun offering its entry-level financial management software Quicken Essentials for Mac on the Mac App Store. This is the standard edition of Essentials that has been on sale for quite a while, not a new version -- something Intuit is quick to point out in the description for the software. It's merely a new distribution point. Quicken Essentials for Mac, a basic starter edition,...

Back in late December, Apple was fined $1.2 million by Italian regulators over allegations that the company promoted its AppleCare extended warranty program to customers without adequately disclosing that many of the program's benefits were already included in the standard two-year warranty required by Italian law. As noted by @setteBIT, Apple has now added to its Italian online store a...

Apple has pushed out Build 11D50 of OS X 10.7.3 to registered developers. Apple continues to report no known issues in the seed notes, and asks developers to focus their testing on Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight and Safari. The previous builds had appeared to be close to a final release, but Apple is clearly still making some final tweaks to the update. The release description has...

As noted in our forums, Apple today pushed out a new firmware update specifically targeting users of the company's Mid-2010 13-inch MacBook Pro model. The new MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.5 brings compatibility with Lion Internet Recovery, allowing users of OS X Lion to reinstall the operating system from scratch on a brand-new hard drive without the need for physical recovery media.About ...

Virgin America has named one of its fleet after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, emblazoning a popular Jobs quote "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" on the side of this Airbus A320. Steve mentioned the phrase in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, noting that it was originally used in The Whole Earth Catalog in the 1970's: On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an ...

Apple is planning to open a new store-within-a-store concept at the legendary Harrods department store on Brompton Road in London, according to 9to5Mac. Harrods boasts more than 1 million square feet of selling space across 330 departments -- plenty of room for an Apple Store of sorts. The store-in-store concept will feature wooden tables and signage but won't have the signature feature of...

One week after the previous developer seed, Apple late yesterday pushed out Build 11D46 of OS X 10.7.3 to registered developers. Apple continues to report no known issues in the seed notes, and asks developers to focus their testing on iCloud Document Storage, Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight and Safari. The file size has once again grown slightly, with the delta version of the new build ...

Das Keyboard, a popular keyboard manufacturer that specializes in "clicky" mechanical keyboards like the Apple Extended Keyboard or the IBM Model M, has announced a Macintosh-edition of its Model S Professional keyboard. Das's keyboards are a favorite of many computer users, including MacRumors chief Arnold Kim. The Model S Professional for Mac is the same keyboard as the Model S that Das...

In a preliminary ruling (PDF) today, the ITC ruled that Motorola's smartphones do not violate the Apple patents at issue, though the decision still needs to be approved by the full six-member ITC panel. On this date, the ALJ issued an initial determination on violation of Section 337 and recommended determination on remedy and bond in the above-referenced investigation. It is held that no...

At CES, Bullettrain announced their new eXpress keyboard platform that offers a single enclosure for the Magic Trackpad and Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard. The enclosure mimics the layout of an Apple laptop, placing the trackpad below the keyboard. This gives it a bit more of a familiar feel for those transitioning between a notebook and a desktop setup. Both the keyboard and Magic...

Adobe today announced the release of a free public beta of Photoshop Lightroom 4, the company's digital photo management and post-production software. The software is the primary competitor to Apple's Aperture and a popular option for photographers.New Features in Lightroom 4 Beta - Highlight and shadow recovery brings out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright...