MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Reuters reports that HBO's chief executive hopes to make a deal with Apple for supplying iPod/iTunes Video content at some point in the future. Fox had previously made similar comments....

MacRumors Forums is approaching its two millionth post. To celebrate, we are having an avatar-creating contest. Winners will be chosen in three categories: * Best Animated Avatar * Best Static Avatar * Best Apple-themed Avatar Click here for a full list of rules and how to enter. The MacRumors Forums reached one million posts on August 23, 2004 and held a similar contest then....

Appleinsider reports that the early Intel Mac prototypes "sport an unfamiliar boot chime". They speculate that Apple could change the startup sound on the upcoming Intel...

The New York Post revives a connection between Apple and Sirius Satellite Radio. Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin has spoken with Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steven Jobs about working together This is not new information as it was revealed in Feb 2005 by Mel Karmazin. At that time, Apple wasn't interested in putting a satellite radio into the...

A first time poster to MacGeneration (French) forums posted the contents of an email, which was originally sent to another website. The writer claims that Apple is reviving "Yellow Box for Windows" -- a development environment which promised Mac OS X developers the ability to develop and then deploy on both Mac OS X and Windows environments. The original plans for Yellow Box were promised...

Digitimes reports that Apple's Intel lineup of Macs will launch on June 6 2006 in Taiwan. Intel processors will be initially adopted in Apple Computer's entry-level Macintosh PC lineup, including the Mac Mini, iBook, and iMac series, with a launch in Taiwan slated for June 6 2006, according to sources at Taiwan PC distributors. The...

While the internet has been rumbling in recent weeks over Sony's Rootkit DRM for Windows, one unannounced feature of the software installed apparently included open-source code to apply Apple's FairPlay DRM to included tracks. The inactive code apparently supports conversion into FairPlay from a wide variety of file formats: MP3, MAV, RAW audio, and standard unprotected audio CDs. A breakdown ...

Reuters reports that Fox Filmed Entertainment is "open to" a deal with Apple's iTunes: "Of course, we'd be open to that. We believe it would be a great opportunity," James Gianopulos said at the Reuters Media and Advertising Summit. Apple launched video sales with iTunes on October 12th with only 5 television shows, but with the promise of more content in the near...

Available via Software Update: iPod Updater 2005-11-17 includes new iPod Software 1.1.3 for iPod shuffle. iPod Updater 2005-11-17 contains the same software versions as iPod Updater 2005-10-12 for all other iPod models. Features of iPod Software 1.1.3 iPod shuffle: Bug fixes...

According to an unconfirmed report, Apple is set to release new versions of iLife and iWork in mid-January. iLife '06 will include support for a $50 optional remote control accessory -- and presumably bundling the Front Row media application into the Apple suite. Front Row was originally released with the iMac, which comes with the remote standard. Meanwhile there are whispers that iWork...

Apple quietly rolled out a "broadband tuner" application today, which is geared toward speeding up connections on high latency internet connections. The installer increases the default values for the size of the TCP send and receive buffers. With larger buffers more data can be in transit at once. A startup configuration file is also updated so that these changes will persist across restarts....

OSX86Project.org posts unconfirmed reports that the latest version of Mac OS X 10.4.3 for Intel appears to contain some substantial upgrades. First and foremost, they claim that Rosetta has been upgraded to fully support a PowerPC G4 processor including Altivec support. Also, new ATI drives appear to offer more support for additional PC ATI graphic card...

Amazon reveals that Apple's Aperture software tool will be released on November 30th. According to an email from Amazon to one of our users, this is the official release date, and will not ship until that time. Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com. I'm sorry if the information you found under "Your Account" was unclear. Although we do have your copy of "Apple Aperture Post Production...

Looprumors.com claims that the iPod shuffle may get a redesign by January 2006. The new models are rumored to be smaller than the current shuffle, available in both black and white, with a better grip for easier switch...

Digitimes reports that Apple is looking for quotes for low-density NAND flash from Hynix Semiconductor. Apple presently receives most of its supply of flash chips from Samsung and Toshiba, but due to high demand for these products, Apple is looking towards Hynix to fulfill their low-density needs for the iPod shuffle. With increased supplies of products available, overall pricing for these...

According to reports, Apple has seeded Mac OS X 10.4.4 Build 8G7 to developers. The newest build is said to offer a number of fixes for the Mac operating...

Appleinsider posts some vague hints that Apple may be ramping up for a hardware announcement sometime this week. ...sources speculate that the announcement could range anywhere from the externally-rumored pink Madonna iPod (her new album is due on Tuesday) to dual-core versions of Apple's Xserve enterprise servers....

Appleinsider quotes analyst Charles Wolf who claims that the estimates of Windows to Mac switchers may be higher then previous expected. The numbers however are based on significant amount of guesswork, so it is hard to draw many conclusions: "If we assume that all of the growth in Mac shipments during the past three quarters resulted...