MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple had just over $65 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of the last fiscal quarter, according to the company's quarterly filing (PDF). Apple has so much cash, it was pointed out last month, that its cash on hand exceeds the market capitalization of Nokia, RIM, HTC and Motorola Mobility combined. If Apple had no revenue, its cash-on-hand would sustain operations through the...

Skype today released its new Skype 5.2 for Mac, adding a pair of significant new features in group video screen sharing and a revamped call control bar that includes video support. Group screen sharing, which requires the same premium package as for basic group video, allows users to share their screens with all participants in the group call, marking a significant enhancement for...

Last week we reported that there was no Welcome video that had become custom on new installations of Mac OS X. While that is technically true, it seems Apple has replaced it with a similar "Welcome" animation for some installations (presumably clean): The intro animation similarly displays the word "Welcome" in a variety of languages, but no accompanying soundtrack. Beta testers of iOS 5...

In its annual ranking of the largest retailers by U.S. sales, the National Retail Federation has pegged Apple in 21st place in 2010 with over $18 billion in sales between its retail and iTunes stores (via The Next Web). Apple's retail sales grew 32.3% year-over-year in 2010, second only to Amazon's 46.2% growth among the top 100 U.S. retailers. Interestingly, Apple's $18 billion in U.S....

MacLife.de reports [Google translation] that the boxed version of iWork '09 is currently out of stock at a number of prominent German retailers, including Amazon.de, Cyberport.de, Gravis.de, and Alternate.de. Apple of course began offering the individual iWork '09 applications via the Mac App Store from its launch in early January, pricing the three applications at $19.99 each. The company...

With the Pegasus R4 and R6 Thunderbolt RAID Enclosures now shipping, the first review units are starting to appear at various publications. Macworld has some early benchmarks comparing a 6-drive RAID 5 Promise enclosure to a 4-drive RAID 5 SmartStore DS 4600. The comparisons aren't entirely equal as the Promise enclosure doesn't support USB or FirewWire, so they had to make do with comparing...

Apple today released a pair of Java updates for users of Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard, patching vulnerabilities and increasing reliability and compatibility. - Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5 (75.45 MB, Requires Mac OS X 10.6.4)Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_26.- Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 10...

Since the release of Mac OS X 10.6.8 last week, a number of Xserve users have reported in Apple's discussion forums (via MacNN) issues with a hardware monitoring daemon known as hwmond generating significant CPU loads of up to 95%.Member Arminhempel reports a CPU load up to 70 percent after every reboot on several Xserves he manages; Jean-Serge Remy has an Xserve Xeon showing an 84 percent hit,...

While Apple has received significant criticism for stripping out a number of features from its professional-level video production software in the transition to Final Cut Pro X, the company has said that it will be updating the new application on a regular basis, and has acknowledged that it is working on restoring some of the lost features. One of those missing features is compatibility for...

Apple today released Thunderbolt Firmware Update, a small update offering "performance and stability fixes" for machines supporting the new high-speed data connectivity standard.This update provides Thunderbolt performance and stability fixes. When your computer restarts a gray screen will appear with a status bar to indicate the progress of the update. Do not disturb or shut off the power...

Earlier this month, after 15 years of promises and delays, the long awaited sequel to Duke Nukem 3D was finally released. While Duke Nukem Forever was met with poor reviews, if you still wanted to relive the experience on your Mac, you'll have a chance this August. Aspyr announced today that Duke Nukem Forever will be officially making its way to the Mac in August. Aspyr is offering it...

Team Fortress 2, Valve's class-based cartoonish first-person shooter, which was one of the first Steam-powered games to arrive on the Mac, is now totally free. Valve will generate revenue from TF2 by selling the many items available through random drops in the game via microtransactions in a TF2 store. Players can purchase new weapons and upgrades through the Steam Wallet, Steam's...

It's been three days since Apple released Final Cut Pro X, a complete redesign of its flagship video editing suite. Early reaction has been mixed at best, with users giving poor marks to the software on the Mac App Store and in reviews. Even Conan O'Brien poked fun at the new release. Apple seems to be addressing concerns through David Pogue's column at the New York Times, assisting David with ...

Conan O'Brien mocked Apple's latest release of Final Cut Pro during his show last night. Final Cut Pro X has been receiving a significant number of negative reviews due to a loss of features as compared to Final Cut Pro 7. ...

CNBC will run a one-hour special on Apple CEO Steve Jobs tomorrow night, Thursday June 23rd at 9PM EDT. The show, part of CNBC's Titans series, will offer a look at Steve within interviews from a number of observers, including John Sculley, the former Pepsi-Co exec who famously pushed Jobs out of his own company. From his parents' California garage he launched the personal computer revolution...

Concurrent with the launch of Final Cut Pro X yesterday, Apple discontinued both Final Cut Express and Final Cut Server. Final Cut Express was Apple's "lite" video editing program, meant to bridge the gap between the free iMovie and $999 Final Cut Studio package. With Final Cut Pro now priced at $299, Apple clearly felt that a bridge program was no longer necessary. Both Express and Server ...

Mozilla today released Firefox 5, the latest version of the world's second most popular web-browser. Mozilla has transitioned to a rapid release cycle for Firefox, offering more full-featured releases more quickly than previously. Firefox 4 was released just this past March. The company claims 1,000 improvements and enhancements are present in this version of Firefox, including support...

Following its release this morning, the first hands-on videos from Final Cut Pro X are beginning to trickle out. Here's a first look from Matt's Macintosh channel on YouTube as Matt explored the new Final Cut: Hat tip to The Loop...