MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Engadget has publicized an unconfirmed rumor from NewTechSpy that Apple is working on incorporating color LCD buttons alongside the trackpad of future MacBooks. The new LCD keys would reportedly change their image based on what function they are assigned to. The idea appears to be similar to the much publicized OLED Optimus keyboard...

Member Michael Lehn today reported the discovery of a security flaw in the Open "safe" files after downloading feature of Safari, also being reported by heise online. The flaw has been independantly confirmed. When the Open "safe" files option is checked in the General tab of Safari preferences, a downloaded archive (zip file) containing a shell script named with a .jpg or .mov extension and...

Several sites reported on speculation that Apple was going to upgrade the current 100-song limit on Motorola iTunes phones. This was based on images found in the latest iTunes binary indicating that the users phone could be upgraded: "Want more music on your mobile phone with iTunes? Upgrade now". The celebration appears to be premature as the iTunes product manager clarified that "the...

Apple has added new video content to their iTunes Music Store (iTunes URLs): School House Rock Saved By the Bell The Biggest Loser Behind Scenes - Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2006 The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit episodes are filed under Music...

MacDailyNews republishes an unsubstantiated rumor from Briefing.com that Disney could be interested in purchasing a stake in iTunes, which would then spin off into its own publicly traded company via an IPO. "We are hearing some chatter this morning about Apple Computer (AAPL) that we can't confirm, but found interesting nonetheless. The rumor is that Disney (DIS) could buy a stake in AAPL's...

Hexus.net vaguely claimed that Intel's Core duo may have support for 64-bit processing. The report is poorly written so is difficult to gather much from it, however, several Mac websites have started reporting it, so it is now linked here for interest sake. It appears that even if the Core Duo had hidden 64-bit capabilities, it is not active on shipping models, making the point somewhat moot. ...

For some reason, an old lawsuit attempt has resurfaced again as "news". The original lawsuit information appeared in January 2005. Thomas William Slattery has filed a class action suit against Apple Computer Inc. in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging Apple is guilt of violating federal antitrust laws and California's unfair competition law by requiring users...

Several people linked to an article that discusses the possibility of Apple buying Palm. This doesn't even qualify as speculation, but simply as wishful thinking on the part of some Palm investors calling for Palm to be put up for sale. Apple reportedly did have some interest in purchasing Palm a number of...

Flickr photo has been circulating which claims to be an invitation to an Apple Event on February 22, 2006. The image appears to be of the status light of the AirPort Express. No official confirmation of this image has been provided, and it is widely suspected of being a fake at this...

One user reports that Apple's German Store and UK Store have already removed the 17" G5 iMac from their listings. The price of the 20" G5 iMac was recently reduced by Apple in an attempt to clear...

Several sites have picked up on comments by Appleinsider that they continue to expect a special music event later this month. This was previously reported. No new information appears...

Macworld.co.uk reports on analyst notes from American Technology Research that SigmaTel may not be used by Apple for an upcoming entry-level iPod. There has been ongoing speculation that Apple's iPod shuffle will be replaced by a 1GB iPod nano in the...

Analyst speculation claims that the Shuffle will soon be replaced by a 1GB version of the Nano. Similar rumors/speculation appeared in late December prior to Macworld San...

Engadget publishes pictures which were sent in anonymously. The same photos were sent to a number of sites including MacRumors. According to Engadget the following is written on the blurry shots of what appears to be an Apple branded SIM card: xx/50 Test Unit [digits written in sharpie] Apple Computer Internal Test ...

Rumors of a Red iPod have been circulating after comments by Bono that a red Amex card and red iPod would be released to benefit AIDS research: The idea is that around 40 percent of the profits received from the sale of these special red products would go to the Global Fund to Fight Aids....

MacSpeedZone posts their benchmarks for the Dual Core Intel iMac and claims that Macworld's initial test were misleading: This is where the Macworld "First Lab Tests" article falls a little flat ... obscuring the processor capacity vs processor usage problem inherent with mutiprocessor machines (or multi-core ... same difference). Using Macworld's logic we could argue, given the data above, the...

Bear Stearns speculates that Google will create an iTunes competitor. Google recently entered the Video download market in early January. "We would expect Google to rollout a Beta service within 3 to 6 months. We note that Google has not confirmed our expectations, and that our thinking is based on Mosaic theory"...

Rob Galbraith has noted that Apple updated their site and will be offering all owners of Aperture a free update to the Universal Binary version. A Universal version of Aperture, which will run natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Mac computers, will be available before the end of March 2006. New and existing owners of Aperture will be able to crossgrade to the Universal version at no...