MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

MacTech benchmarks the new Mac Office 2008 and provides the following conclusion: In general, Office 2008 is faster than Office 2004 when run on Intel Macs. And, on the PowerPC (represented by our PowerBook G4), it certainly runs "well enough" albeit marginally slower. Microsoft hosted a day-long conference on the new Office 2008. Attendees will reportedly receive a free copy of...

MacRumors reader Matthew Yohe was in the Badge Pickup line at 8am. I guess everyone was eager to get into the Microsoft Office 2008 preview....

Appleinsider reports that the rumored Newton-successor is not ready for launch at Macworld San Francisco this week. Rumors of the return of the larger-than-iPhone tablet were revived back in September 2007 by Appleinsider. The new device is said to be powered by the same touch OS X which currently powers the iPhone, though with a more advanced implementation of multi-touch. The current...

Walking around San Francisco today, you could tell that Macworld was coming. And in case you forgot or didn't know about the conference, Apple has placed ads on every street-corner to remind you. Curiously, the ads are promoting the iPod, however currently we do not expect Apple to be introducing updates to the iPod during this Macworld. Meanwhile, fellow members of the press are...

Apple has released a new Get A Mac Ad, entitled "Time Machine." The ad, as you would expect, touts Leopard's Time Machine...

Macworld 2008 Stand in line here for Keynote I flew in this afternoon, and Longofest should be arriving tonight, and we'll be making our keynote preparations tomorrow. The keynote kicks off on Tuesday along with the opening of the Expo floor, so real coverage will begin...

MacRumors is hosting a casual gathering for readers at ThirstyBear on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 from 6pm to 9pm. View Larger Map No age restrictions. It is literally down the street from the Moscone center. So after a day of drooling at the new MacBook Nano/Mini/Thin, come talk about it. arn, WildCowboy and longofest will be there. Come say hi. If you are planning or...

Engadget posts a video of Elantech's multitouch trackpad called "Multi-fingers Smartpad". The prototype is demoed here, and shows the pinch/reverse-pinch zoom as well as rotation. Apple is rumored to be introducing a multi-touch track pad at Macworld...

Apple will kick off the 2008 Macworld San Francisco on January 15th 2008 with a keynote speech from Steve Jobs. News sites across the web will cover every announcement in detail, while Apple's site will be updated with any new products announced. The keynote takes places on January 15th, 2008 at 9AM Pacific time and will be covered live at MacRumorsLive.com Some readers prefer watching the ...

Newsgator announced that they've released NetNewsWire for Mac for free. The popular newsreader was previously $29.95. They also announced the release of NetNewsWire 3.1 with a number of new performance, memory and user interface...

MacUser's Cyrus Farivar has compiled a list of places to eat around the Moscone centre for the Macworld Expo visitors. The download (.zip) is formatted in iPod notes format for installation on your iPod. To install: Download the .zip file and unstuff it. Plug your iPod into your Mac. When it mounts, find the Notes folder. Drag the MacworldEats folder into the Notes folder. To use:: Go to...

The 2008 Hess Events List has been posted which details the parties and meetings at Macworld San Francisco 2008 this year. We're still in the final stages of working out our own MacRumors.com meetup which looks like it will take places on Tuesday, January 15th (keynote day). Details to be announced when we are able...

Arstechnica has released this year's Macworld Keynote bingo card (iPhone version available). So, what kind of squares can we expect in this post-Leopard world? iPhone software updates? Booooring. Might as well add a square for Mac OS X 10.5.2 while we're at it. But since this is Macworld, let's trot out some of the few remaining Mac-related hardware fantasies. Of course, they took a risk by...

I've heard various whispers about the new thin MacBook. Here are a few additional tidbits and confirmations about what might be coming from Apple on Tuesday. - A slim notebook, but not a "sub notebook" - 13.3" screen - Not a "Pro" machine - External Optical Drive - It will be called the MacBook Air A reminder, though, that Apple has been known to seed people with false specs/designs,...

In the weeks heading into Macworld, both Apple Stores and Apple Retailers are reportedly running low on stock of Apple's iMac. In contrast, Apple's online store still shows shipping "within 24-hours". The significance of the low iMac stock is unclear, but could simply be due to recovering inventories after the holiday rush. Of all the Mac models, the iMac seems least likely to undergo a...

BoyGeniusReport revives earlier rumors that Apple and Jay-Z will be forming a record label around iTunes. They now expect this new record label to be launched at Macworld Expo 2008. This incarnation of the rumor, however, eliminates Beyonce's involvement. The new report claims that a "high-up person" associated with Jay-Z has confirmed that plans are "a go". BoyGeniusReport had previously...

Happy New Year to all! All of us at MacRumors hope everyone had a great end of year celebration. Now is the time to get back on board with the new year and use your new 'gifts' to keep in shape, get in shape or keep a resolution! For that to happen we have created a variety of Challenges for participation. Each Quarter everyone will be invited to a 5k and 10k time trial - this is to promote...

Amazon has announced that they have added Warner Music Group's catalog to their MP3 Download Store. MP3s downloaded from Amazon's store can be played on Apple's iPod and iPhone and contain no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions. Apple provides music without DRM in their...