MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple yesterday released Xserve LOM Firmware Update 1.2 for the Early 2008 Xserve, addressing "spurious voltage and fan speed warnings." This update includes changes to the Lights-Out Management environment of the Xserve (Early 2008). It addresses issues that cause frequent power supply and fan notifications to be sent. This update is strongly recommended for all Xserve (Early 2008) systems.App...

TechCrunch reports that they've heard that Apple may be in late stage negotiations to buy Twitter.com for $700 million. Of course, when the site checked with other sources, they were told they knew nothing of the sort... making this rumor seem very questionable. Twitter is a social messaging platform that allows users to broadcast short messages to "followers". The web app has seen a...

TheStreet's David Tong relays that FastMoney's Guy Adami claims that there is "chatter" that Apple is eyeing an Electronic Arts takeover. Adami noted that there is chatter that Apple (AAPL Quote) is eyeing Electronic Arts(ERTS Quote) as a takeover target. Kotaku describes Adami's predictions as "sketchy, at best", so it seems quite unlikely there's any truth to it -- but we report it here for...

Cult of Mac posted a photo of a strange Apple (ish?) branded laptop that measures 9.5" wide and asks "Is this the New Apple Netbook?". Details are sparse and the site is being coy about the origins of the photo but claims it comes from a "trusted contributor": We have more images that will take time to process and details about the provenance of this device we must parse, so bear with us until ...

Microsoft last night released the fourth in its series of "Laptop Hunters" commercials taking aim at Mac prices. In the latest commercial, "Sheila" is in search of a laptop suitable for video editing that is within her budget of $2000. Sheila briefly looks at the entry-level MacBook Pro, but finds its 2 GB of RAM unacceptable. She ultimately settles on an HP HDX 16t, an upgraded version of the...

Apple today announced on its MobileMe News page that Live Chat support for MobileMe is now available in English 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you encounter an issue while using MobileMe and would like to address it immediately, simply go to MobileMe support. Click on the topics at the bottom left of the page to see if your question has already been answered. If it's not, click the Chat Now...

CNET notes that, according Apple's 10-Q document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in association with the release of its earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2009, Apple reduced the number of employees in its retail store division from 15,600 to approximately 14,000 full-time equivalents during the quarter. The retail arm of the company now employs 14,000 full-time equivalent ...

In a press release issued this morning regarding the App Store's one billion app milestone, Apple announced that the winner of the associated contest was 13-year old Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Connecticut. Connor, who downloaded Bump [App Store] as the milestone application, will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, a 32 GB iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a 17" MacBook Pro. "The revolutionary App...

Apple has yet again seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.5.7, this one termed Build 9J56, to developers for testing. World of Apple publishes the seed notes, which detail five changes since the previous build issued last week. Despite many expecting that the previous build of Mac OS X 10.5.7 would be the one to see a public release Apple today has released a new build labelled 9J56. The latest...

SmartHouse reports that LG is preparing to release a 15" display panel based on OLED technology, with the first appearance of the panel to be in a "brand new Apple notebook" in June. A senior executive at LG Display who has been closely involved in the development of display technology for Apple said "The early models will be double, if not triple, the price of an LCD panel however, over time they ...

Macworld reports that Microsoft will end its support of Office 2004 as of October 13, 2009. "In line with Microsoft's standard Support Lifecycle policy, Office 2004 for Mac Mainstream Support will be retired October 13, 2009," the company said in a statement given to Macworld. "The MacBU is continuing to work on updates for Office 2008 for Mac and is hard at work on the next version of Office for...

As mentioned in a Fortune report, Apple has reentered the top 100 of the Fortune 500 rankings for the first time since 1994, jumping 32 spots from last year's rankings to land at #71 in the 2009 rankings. Reflecting a strong 2008 in which its earnings -- if not its stock price -- jumped sharply, Apple (AAPL) this week made its first appearance in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 since Steve Jobs'...

Apple today announced that it is now offering downloadable movie rentals and purchases through the iTunes Store in Germany. Apple today announced that movies from major film studios including Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), The Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures Television and independents including Universum and Shorts International are now...

Along the lines of Microsoft's recent Laptop Hunters ad campaign is this humor video shows "Frank" offered the same deal: ...

Apple today released a pair of software updates for iMovie and Aperture users. iMovie 8.0.2 weighs in at 24.5 MB and requires OS X 10.5.6. This Software Update fixes an issue with projects having a size of 0 KB. Attempting to open these projects would cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly at launch. This Software Update also addresses a problem where full-screen mode could not be accessed on...

Microsoft today announced that it is now offering free, 30-day trial downloads of Office 2008 for users located in the United States. Many of us like to try something before we decide to buy. And with today's launch of the downloadable Office 2008 for Mac Trial, MacBU is giving our customers the option of trying out Office 2008 for 30 days: fully functional, no strings attached. It runs...

Apple has continued its pattern of nearly-weekly seeds of OS X 10.5.7 builds to developers, this time releasing Build 9J47. World of Apple again publishes the seed notes, revealing a continued decrease in the number of fixes since the previous seed. Build 9J47 of Mac OS X 10.5.7 includes only three new fixes but Apple has also increased the number of focus areas in the build. Mac OS X 10.5.7...

Autodesk, creator of the industry standard design and drafting software AutoCAD, is apparently contemplating the return of a version of AutoCAD running natively on Macs. In a recent blog article, Autodesk "Platform Technology Evangelist" Shaan Hurley points readers to a survey allowing them to "help shape the future of the next generation of AutoCAD products for the Apple Mac OS X Operating...