MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Macworld yesterday noted that IDG World Expo has officially opened registration for Macworld Expo 2011, scheduled for January 26th through 29th in San Francisco. Free expo-only passes are available through July 26th, with pre-sale prices going up to $25 after that time. Onsite expo-only passes will be available at the conference for $50. Packages and pricing for conference sessions at...

BoyGeniusReports posts pictures of one customer's iPhone 4 having caught fire. The photos come from an AT&T source after the customer brought the iPhone 4 in. It's the first time our guy has seen this happen (us too), but the brand new iPhone 4 caught on fire while being hooked up to a computer using the Apple USB cable that accompanied the device. The customer wanted to exchange the iPhone...

Electric car development company Tesla Motors today announced that it has hired George Blankenship, former Vice President of Real Estate for Apple, to head up the company's retail effort as it looks to begin offering its cars for sale with initial retail stores in Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington, DC. As Apple's Vice President of Real Estate, he created one of the most successful retail growth...

Fstoppers posts an in-depth look at a recent fashion photo shoot conducted by fashion photographer Lee Morris using only an iPhone 3GS for the camera work. While the photos were processed in Photoshop, Morris notes that photos taken with professional-level cameras would be subjected to the same treatment. Post-processing, many observers have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the...

Macworld notes that Apple has launched a new bargain bin of sorts for HD movie sales in its U.S. iTunes Store, featuring 30 titles in a dedicated "HD Movies $9.99" section [iTunes Store] of the store, although a handful of the films are priced even lower. No, Apple has not (yet) managed to finish dragging the studios into the 21st century en masse. But it has introduced a $10 HD movies section...

The Loop reports that Apple's iTunes U channel for distributing educational content via the iTunes Store has surpassed 250 million downloads since its inception. Everyone knows about the success of the iTunes Store and the amount of of music, video and apps that are downloaded, but there is a lesser known part of iTunes that is equally successful in its market. Apple told me on Tuesday that...

LOOPRumors reports that it has received information claiming that Apple will be holding a special media event within the next 60 days to introduce a new iMac running both Mac OS X and an iOS touch interface. LOOPRumors received a tidbit of information today suggesting Apple is planning to develop a hybrid OS into their next iMac. The iMac should be equipped with both Mac OS X and a touch...

Gizmodo notes that the SD card slot on Apple's new Mac mini released last week appears to support SDXC cards, offering users the ability to mount cards based on the newest SD specification designed for capacities out to 2 TB while also maintaining backwards compatibility with SDHC and standard SD cards. While SDXC cards are only just coming out, typically pushing capacities only out to 64 GB,...

Apple today posted the session videos from its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) held last week. The turnaround time on the video release marks a substantial improvement from last year, when it took five weeks for the videos to be posted. Even more importantly, this year's videos appear to be free to all Registered Apple Developers. Last year's package was free only for conference...

Apple notes on its MobileMe News page that, alongside yesterday's iTunes 9.2 release, the company updated its MobileMe Control Panel for Windows application that allows Windows users to sync contacts, calendars and other information with MobileMe. In addition to being compatible with iTunes v.9.2, the new Control Panel delivers improved contact sync with Microsoft Outlook, giving you the new...

Fortune reports on a new research note from Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu speculating that Apple's first foray beyond its exclusive relationship with AT&T for the iPhone in the U.S. may be T-Mobile, not Verizon as many observers have been hoping for. Wu's primary support for his claim is the fact that T-Mobile runs a GSM network like AT&T, and while it operates on a different frequency than...

Reuters reports that shares of ARM Holdings jumped as much as 32% today on renewed rumors that Apple is looking to take over the company. It is unclear exactly what triggered the new round of speculation, as the rumor first surfaced in earnest in late April. At the time, ARM dismissed the rumors, arguing that such an acquisition makes no sense given ARM's business model. And with respect to...

Microsoft yesterday released a set of updates for users of its Office for Mac productivity suite, bringing security and performance fixes to Office 2008 and 2004, as well as a pair of ancillary updates. - Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.5 Update (332.8 MB): The update addresses security issues and fixes issues with the custom dictionary functionality that prevent users from adding entries...

Adobe today announced the release of Photoshop Lightroom 3, the company's professional photo management and manipulation application that serves as a competitor to Apple's Aperture software. First released as a public beta in October 2009, the final version of Lightroom 3 introduces a completely redesigned performance architecture that better handles growing image libraries and provides an...

In a blog post, Cisco Senior Manager for Public Relations Kristin Carvell reports that Cisco has licensed the "iOS" name to Apple for use in describing the operating system formerly known as "iPhone OS" that runs the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Cisco owns a trademark on the "IOS" name for its software running on the vast majority of its network infrastructure equipment. Cisco has agreed to...

Running the risk of having the news swamped by all the WWDC goings-on today, Nike and Polar have announced the launch of a new Polar WearLink+ heart rate monitor compatible with the Nike + iPod system for the fifth-generation iPod nano. Nike, Inc and Polar, the market leader and pioneer in heart rate training technology, have introduced the Polar WearLink+ that works with Nike+. This new product ...

All Things Digital has posted the full, uncut video of the opening session of its D8 conference last week, which featured an interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs conducted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Video clips from the interview were posted soon after it ended, but with the full 90+ minute interview now available, Apple fans have a warm-up act to enjoy before Jobs takes the stage for...

An eleven-year-old boy in Northern California accidentally downloaded the $999.99 BarMax bar exam preparation application (iTunes link) using an iPod touch. He didn't mean to make the purchase and was surprised when it started to download the 1GB app. His mother was equally shocked, especially after she learned the price and that her son had not been prompted for an iTunes password. They...