MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

In a blog post published last week, Other World Computing unravels a mystery that has seen conflicting information over whether "Late 2008" aluminum MacBooks and MacBook Pros support a maximum of 8 GB of RAM. According to the report, Apple apparently quietly changed a December 2009 firmware update for the machines at some point to boost maximum RAM support from 6 GB to 8 GB. The discovery...

One reader noted that the Higher Education institutional order pages for the iPad 2 are live. Now this doesn't actually let you (or anyone) order an iPad 2. You can create a proposal for your Apple Authorized Purchasing Agent. But it does show the iPad 2 with all different accessory options, in case you want to practice for 12:01am Friday, March 11th. As we had known, iPad 2 Smart...

Last week, we noted that Apple is apparently set to open its first retail store in Hong Kong by the end of the year, pursuing a 15,000 square-foot space in the IFC Mall. A tipster by the name of Sean has sent us the above photo showing the space already sectioned off in the mall for Apple's store. While the coverings for the store are currently simple white wallboard, Sean tells us that ten ...

In contrast to the limited distribution channels and lengthy staggered rollout for the original iPad, Apple appears to be moving full-speed ahead with a broad launch of the iPad 2 in the United States on March 11th, and over two dozen other countries following just two weeks later. As noted by 9 to 5 Mac, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Sam's Club will all be carrying the device as of March 11th. ...

Business Insider offers a vague rumor that Apple may be set to introduce a new social app for iOS devices at tomorrow's media event. Specifically, our source speculates that the app could have some sort of media sharing and location sharing features. Maybe photo sharing. It could be part of Ping, it could replace Ping, it could be part of MobileMe (which may go free), or it could be separate...

Last October, we cited data from media search site MeFeedia showing that 54% of H.264-encoded video from its large stable of partners was available in HTML5 format, demonstrating rapid adoption of the standard. MeFeedia today provides an update showing that that number is now up to 63%. - Over the last 12 months we have seen a rise from 10% to 63% of web videos becoming HTML5 compatible. -...

Earlier today, BGR posted an image it had received from a source claiming that it was a rear view of the second-generation iPad. The image has of course received a fair bit of traction on Apple-focused sites this morning, but it is almost certainly fake. MacRumors received the same image this morning, with the source claiming that he or she had "hacked Apple.com servers" to find it and that ...

Crunchgear posts the invite to UK reporters about their March 2nd event. Apple is hosting a simulcast of the event at the BBC Television Center. While the simultaneous event is generating some speculation, we've...

Bloomberg reports on an article from the South China Morning Post claiming that Apple is making plans for its first two retail stores in Hong Kong, with the first store set to open by the end of the year and a second one by the third quarter of 2012. The company will open its first outlet in the city, a 15,000 square foot store at the IFC Mall in Central, by the end of the year, the report said. ...

As noted by Patently Apple, Apple has filed for a European trademark on the term "Places", potentially hoping to utilize the term as part of a revamped MobileMe service offering social networking and geolocation features. Earlier today, Apple discontinued its boxed version of MobileMe and removed the service from its online store, suggesting that a rumored transition to a revamped free service ...

While today's big news has been the release of new MacBook Pros, the downtime on Apple's online store also brought a number of other changes for other machines, primarily in the areas of build-to-order hard drive and RAM upgrades. On the hard drive front, build-to-order upgrades to 500 GB hard drives on the MacBook and Mac mini saw $50 price drops. The MacBook comes with a 250 GB hard drive...

A fair amount of controversy was raised earlier this week when it was revealed that Apple had rejected an App Store submission from Readability, the popular subscription service that strips away extraneous content from web articles. The confusion continued when Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly emailed a developer to say that Apple's in-app subscription requirements were intended for content...

Apple yesterday released a software update (Version 1.1) for the current sixth-generation iPod nano, adding new functionality to the device's sleep/wake button to allow users to turn the device completely off and to customize the double-click functionality of the sleep/wake button to control audio playback. The changes are detailed in a new support document. With the update, users can now...

DigiTimes relays a report from Economic Daily News which identifies Wintek as the touch panel supplier for white iPhone 5s: Wintek reportedly to be the sole touch panel supply for white iPhone 5s and may replace TPK Touch Solutions to become the leading touch panel maker worldwide in 2011 as Apple plans to focus on white models for the iPhone 5, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News...

Several MacRumors readers have alerted us that they recently participated in an online market research survey in which respondents were asked to identify how familiar they were with a variety of iOS devices and other portable devices. Among the devices presented to respondents was an "iPod3D", which was accompanied by the following description: iPod3D, which plays movies in 3D and requires...

Apple retail store location at Fifth Avenue Mall in Anchorage, Alaska ifoAppleStore reports that new job listings from Apple confirm earlier rumors that the company is preparing to open a retail store in the Fifth Avenue Mall in Anchorage, Alaska. The new store would be the company's first in Alaska and furthest-north of all of Apple's stores around the world. According to the original tip,...

Mockup of 7-inch iPad compared to current model Czech site SuperApple.cz reports [Google translation] that it has heard from a pair of sources that Apple is developing a new, smaller iPad with a display measuring slightly under 6 inches. According to the report, the smaller iPad would carry the same resolution as the current iPad, although it is unclear how users would be expected to deal...

The past few days have been filled with tabloid speculation about Steve Jobs' health, with reports pegging him as having visited Stanford Cancer Center in recent weeks, presumably to receive treatment. The tabloid speculation was somewhat countered by word that Jobs would join other Silicon Valley tech executives for a dinner with President Barack Obama to discuss technology and innovation in...