MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

ifoAppleStore reports that Apple is planning to open its first retail store in the state of Idaho, which will become the 42nd state in the U.S. with an Apple retail presence. Apple's first Idaho store is reportedly set to open in Boise as early as September. Far out and left out. That's the way Idaho residents have felt for nine years without an Apple retail store. Now their laments will end with ...

All Things D reports on comments made by CBS CEO Les Moonves during today's earnings conference call. Moonves reported said that the prices of some of its shows will be $0.99, possibly reflecting moves by Apple. "There are certain shows that will be sold on Apple for 99 cents," Moonves said today, adding, however, that details have not been worked out. Despite these comments, All Things D...

AE Portal News reported last week on a Twitter post claiming that Apple has laid off 40 members of its Final Cut team focused on the company's professional-level video editing software tools. The cuts were apparently focused on remote teams based in the Los Angeles and Austin areas. And while it doesn't mean that Final Cut is doomed, it is interesting that Pro App teams in LA and Austin were cut...

Nuance Communications today announced that it has acquired MacSpeech, the leading provider of speech recognition products for the Mac platform. MacSpeech's "Dictate" product for Mac OS X, selected as Best of Show at Macworld San Francisco 2008, already utilizes Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition engine and will allow Nuance to build on its current success with Dragon...

With another Tuesday right around the corner, the MacBook Pro update rumor mill is grinding away again, and this time it's a claim from our forums that Best Buy's internal inventory system has been updated with three new Apple products in the "Mobile Computing" category. Speculation on the identity of the new products ranges from updated MacBook Pro models to forthcoming Wi-Fi-only iPad models...

SachManya announced Yapper at Macworld, a web-based tool that allows you to build an iPhone App based on an RSS feed. The product is targeted at bloggers and other content providers who want to create an iPhone app quickly based on their existing content. Yapper handles app creation after the customer submits the rss links and relevant icon graphics. The final app is submitted by Yapper...

Quickoffice demoned Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite, a $9.99 iPhone application that allows you to access, view, edit and share Microsoft Office documents on your iPhone. The app also integrates with various cloud services including MobileMe, Dropbox, Google Docs, and Box.net. Features include: - Create, Open & Edit Microsoft Office Files (DOC, DOCX, XLS and XLSX) - Email, View & Access...

Microvision showed their SHOWWX which they described as the world's first laser pico projector. Like all pico projectors, the purpose of the device is to project video from your laptop or iPhone/iPod Touch to a wall or screen. The use of laser technology gives the SHOWWX a few advantages including being always in focus and vivid colors with a brightness of 10 lumens. A cable allows you to...

Ten One Design showed off their Inklet trackpad tablet software for the Mac. Inklet is a $25 application that allows you to use your MacBook, Pro and Air multi-touch trackpad as a pressure sensitive drawing tablet. The drawing area is shown in the second screen and can be resized (pinch/zoom) and panned around (two finger drag). This video shows it in action: Macworld hosted a DEMO...

Canson demonstrated PaperShow which is a presentation tool that uses a paper/pen combination that controls your presentation and allows you to annotate in real time. The product includes specially marked paper and a pen with a camera. You print out your presentation onto the special paper and annotate it in real time with the pen. The pen follows the microscopic dots that are on the...

Carina Software demoed their Sky Voyager application which is a virtual planetarium that has a large database of stars and deep sky objects. It also supports the iPhone 3GS compass to identify stars and objects by holding your iPhone up to the sky. The app also supports their SkyFi wireless adapter which provides a serial interface for remote telescope control directly from your iPhone. ...

New York Times columnist David Pogue delivered his version of the Macworld Keynote speech this morning at Macworld San Francisco 2010. Pogue's presentation took place on opening morning of the expo, a spot held traditionally by Steve Jobs' keynote in year's past. The event was held in talk-show like fashion with musical numbers from Pogue himself including a rendition of his iPhone: The...

Apple today released 2009 Aluminum Keyboard Firmware Update 1.0, addressing battery life issues with Apple's recently-redesigned wireless keyboard when used with other Bluetooth devices. This firmware update improves battery performance of the 2009 Aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard when used in combination with other Bluetooth devices (example. Magic Mouse, Bluetooth headsets). The update appears...

Apple today released iLife Support 9.0.4 via Software Update, bringing stability improvements and compatibility with Apple's new Aperture 3 release. Provides system software resources that are shared by iLife and other applications. This update improves overall stability for the Media Browser and iPhoto slideshows. It also provides compatibility between Aperture 3 and the Media Browser. The...

Apple today released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.0, bringing compatibility with a number of digital camera models to iPhoto '09 and Apple's new Aperture 3 release. This update extends RAW image compatibility for Aperture 3 and iPhoto 09 for the following cameras and formats: - Canon PowerShot S90 - Canon sRAW - Canon mRAW - Leica D-LUX 4 - Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 - Panasonic...

Apple today released Aperture SlideShow Support Update 1.0, addressing an issue with Aperture 3's integration of video clips in slideshows. Aperture 3 was released earlier today. This update addresses an issue affecting the playback of video clips used in Aperture 3 slideshows on Snow Leopard. The update is recommended for all users of Aperture 3.The update weighs in at 62.3 MB and requires Mac ...

Valleywag reports that The Wall Street Journal's online executive editor Alan Murray posted to his Twitter account last Thursday, claiming that that he had done so from an iPad. The tweet was quickly deleted, however, and it appears that it had been posted during a meeting with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, part of Jobs' recent trip to New York to show off the gadget to publishing executives in a bid to ...

New Media Age reports (via paidContent:UK) that Apple has hired two new managers focused on mobile advertising sales in its international markets as it seeks to takes advantage of its recent acquisition of Quattro Wireless. According to the report, Apple has hired Theo Theodorou, previously a director of digital sales at publisher Hachette Filipacchi, as head of sales for the Europe, Middle...