MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Alongside yesterday's release of Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2, Apple also pushed out a new developer version of Xcode 4.1 in support of Lion. According to MacStories, the new build brings support for fullscreen mode in project and workspace windows, as well as enhancements to the Core Data editor and...

The Jerusalem Post reports (via Forbes) that Apple is moving forward on plans to build a massive new store in Jerusalem, Israel sometime within the next three years. At a claimed 5,000 square meters (over 50,000 square feet), the store would be by far the largest in Apple's retail chain. According to the report, the store will include an "Apple Digital Library" open to the public, but it is...

Alongside today's release of iOS 4.3.1, Apple has also pushed out Xcode 4.0.1, updating the company's tools for iOS and Mac OS X development. What's New in Version 4.0.1 - Improved Assistant editor logic when switching among different file types - Fixed a bug in "Install Xcode.app" that hangs at 99% complete, never finishing - Fixed a bug that prevented indexing of some projects - Fixed a...

Apple yesterday issued an update to its FaceTime application for Mac OS X available in the Mac App Store. According to the release notes, the update brings improved performance for full screen video. What's new Improves performance when FaceTime is taken full screen.While FaceTime had been a free application during the beta testing phase and comes preinstalled on new MacBook Pros, Apple...

Apple yesterday released Aperture 3.1.2, bringing improvements to iPhoto library importation and other fixes. This update improves overall stability and performance, including specific fixes in the following areas: - Importing iPhoto libraries - Reliability and responsiveness when using brushes to apply adjustments - Reconnecting referenced master imagesFull details on the changes included in ...

Apple is paying close attention to all iPad 2 returns during the first few weeks to make sure there are no major production defects. This policy has led to an amusing story that we thought was entertaining enough to share. The story comes by way of an individual close to Apple: [Apple's] focus this week has been to troubleshoot all the iPad 2s that customers are returning to the stores....

Guardian posts a retrospective piece about the original iPod and points out that the Classic iPod design has not been updated since late 2009. The iPod Classic, as the famous scroll-wheel design is now known, hasn't been updated now since September 2009, with a modest capacity jump from 120GB to 160GB. On the Apple Online Store, shipping times have slipped from 24 hours to 1-3 days. Across the...

TechCrunch points out that Apple today approved updates to two major iOS applications that some had feared would be affected by the new in-app purchasing rules that Apple announced in February. The new rules required that any subscription based services must also provide the same service via the in-app purchase mechanism which is subject to Apple's 30% cut. Subscriptions purchased from within ...

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is canceling future development of its line of Zune hardware devices, shifting the focus of Zune services to Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will cease introducing new versions of the Zune music and video-player amid tepid demand, helping the company shift its focus to mobile phones, according to a person familiar with the decision. The...

Apple executive Phil Schiller yesterday confirmed in a Tweet that Apple still intends on delivering a white iPhone "this spring". While Schiller did not explicitly note that the device would be an iPhone 4, he is presumably referring to the much-delayed white iPhone 4 given that the fifth-generation iPhone is almost certainly not set to launch until the summer timeframe of June or July. The...

Mashable reported that some iPhones were seeing a problem causing it to improperly adjust to daylight savings time in the U.S. Daylight saving time hits tonight/tomorrow morning, which means we all lose an hour of sleep unless you have a Verizon iPhone, in which case youll wake up utterly confused, as phones are currently falling back an hour.They originally pinpoint the problem to Verizon...

Earlier today, Apple released a update for iMovie that brought support to the iPad 2 alongside the iPhone 4 and 4th generation iPod touch. Support for the original iPad was notably absent. Fscklog has posted instructions on how to install iMovie on the original iPad using only the iPhone Configuration Utility 3.3 from Apple. The Configuration Utility was created for developers to manage...

Statesman reports that Apple will be opening a "pop up" store at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas this Friday. Wilemon said the deal for Apple's popup, or temporary, store came together quickly. He said an Apple real estate representative notified him Monday that the company had settled on Sixth and Congress for the location. "They came in town on Monday, did a quick...

Over the past few months, we've been following the dispute between Apple and Microsoft over Apple's attempts to trademark the term "App Store". Microsoft filed an objection to the trademark back in January, arguing that the term is too generic to be trademarked and that protection of it would unfairly hamper competitors' application marketplaces. Last week, Apple fired back, taking steps to ...

Other World Computing today announced the debut of new aftermarket RAM upgrades for the new MacBook Pro models released late last month. Options ranging up to 16 GB are available, well beyond Apple's maximum build-to-order offering of 8 GB. OWC offers the following options and prices: - 4 GB (Replace one existing 2 GB module with a 4 GB module for a total of 6 GB): $59.99 - 8 GB (Replace...

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 4 (74. 81 MB, Requires Mac OS X 10.6.4) Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 4 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_24.- Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 9...

Late last week, a rumor surfaced that a major retailer presumed to be Best Buy had decided to equip all of its on-floor sales employees with iPads in order to promote the company's "Connected World" concept. But according to The Wall Street Journal, the program is much more modest than originally suggested and not limited to the iPad. Sorry Best Buy salespeople, your employer isn't planning to...

MIC Gadget reports that an "engineering prototype" of a 64GB iPhone is being sold on the grey market in Hong Kong. According to Unwire.hk, this suspicious 64GB model has started selling in Sin Tak, the greatest grey market in Hong Kong, and the sellers claimed that these are engineered models and available in small quantity. The back of the units are labeled with "XXGB" (like previous...