MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Hardmac reports that Apple may be preparing to roll-out a new high-end video codec to compete against the existing H.264 standard of which it has been a staunch proponent. First, a transition towards better codec, dropping the efficient but CPU-consuming encoding codec H.264 for adopting Wavelet transform-type of codec which will allow even better compression rate while offering better...

Screenshot from Macworld's coverage quoting Jobs on Verizon cell site Multiple sites have noted that during today's iPhone 4 press conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioned that the company has cell towers for both AT&T and Verizon on its campus, unsurprisingly sparking speculation that the existence of a Verizon cell site supports hopes of future support for the carrier on Apple's portable...

Apple's surprise announcement of a last minute press conference this Friday has led to a flurry of speculation about what Apple might be planning on doing. Apple will certainly be addressing the widely reported signal loss issue with the iPhone 4 in some form during the event. The speculation has ranged anywhere from free bumper cases to a full iPhone 4 recall. If a recent Steve Jobs email is...

Apple's iOS devices are beginning to make their usefulness as musical instruments known, with a number of musicians adopting them for use on stage in increasingly prominent roles. Last night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, English New Wave band Squeeze performed one of its early UK hits, "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)", with keyboardist Stephen Large sharing time between his Roland VK-8...

Earlier this evening, there was a single report from a Gizmodo reader that believed that his replacement iPhone 4 was actually physically different from his previous one: Well, when I got the new phone it was different. It was different hardware. The black [plastic] bezel isn't as black on the new one. I couldn't see the proximity sensor at all on the previous iPhone 4, now I can. The stainless...

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...