MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple recently reported sales of 3.72 million Macs in the third quarter, its fewest in any quarter since 2010. It was also the first time Apple sold fewer than four million Macs in any quarter since 2013. For that reason, it should come as no surprise that Apple's share of the worldwide notebook market took a hit last quarter. Taiwanese research firm TrendForce estimates that Apple...

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced over two years ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari. Safari Technology Preview release 63 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for Dark Mode, Custom Elements, Media,...

Apple's latest retail location is set to open in Kyoto, Japan at 10:00 a.m. local time on August 25, the company announced today on its Apple Japan YouTube site and on a new page for the upcoming store. The new Kyoto store will be Apple's ninth retail store in Japan, and the first that's located in Kyoto. Apple has several other stores in Tokyo, along with locations in Osaka, Aichi, Miyagi,...

When Apple introduced refreshed MacBook Pro models back in July, the company also debuted new Leather Sleeves that are designed to fit 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. In our latest YouTube video, we went hands-on with one of the new Leather Sleeves to see whether or not they're worth the $179 to $199 price tag. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Available in...

Newton, a popular email service for iOS and Mac, is shutting down on September 25, the company's founder Rohit Nadhani announced today. Newton is a subscription-based app that costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, a business model that did not end up being successful. Nadhani says that the company explored "various business models" but wasn't able to "successfully figure out profitability &...

Apple has become a member of The Thread Group, an organization that supports companies interested in innovating networking solutions for consumer smart home devices using the Thread mesh standard (via 9to5Mac). Apple has been added to the list of official members on the group's website, although what that means in practical terms is unclear. According to literature available online, the...

Microsoft last month announced plans to shut down Skype 7, aka Skype Classic, on PCs and Macs in September, with the company encouraging customers to instead upgrade to the latest version of Skype, Skype 8. Skype 8, first introduced last year, features a total design overhaul that has not been popular with some customers, which led some Skype users to be unhappy with Microsoft's announcement. ...

Apple is partnering up with Akamai, Etsy, and Swiss Re to develop two new wind and solar energy farms in Illinois and Virginia, the companies announced today. The new energy projects are set to generate 290 megawatts for the PJM electric grid in the Eastern United States, covering areas like Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. A solar farm in China As a collective,...

There are many hidden features in both macOS and iOS that often go under the radar, either because they haven't received a lot of attention from Apple in marketing materials or they've been forgotten after a period of time. In our latest video over on YouTube, we've done a second video in our macOS tips series, offering up some useful tricks and shortcuts you might not know about. Subscribe ...

For the past several years, I have had my Apple-provided @me.com email address set up as an alias in Gmail, and enabled auto-forwarding of my iCloud emails to my Gmail account. This allows me to use Gmail as my one-stop-shop for sending and receiving emails from both my @gmail.com and @me.com addresses. However, it recently came to my attention that many of my emails sent from my @me.com...

Seagate's LaCie brand is well-known for its line of rugged, durable hard drives that are protected by an iconic orange bumper, and this spring, LaCie unveiled its latest accessory in the rugged lineup, the 4TB USB-C LaCie Rugged RAID Pro. Design If you've seen a hard drive in LaCie's rugged collection before, the Rugged RAID Pro will look immediately familiar. It features an...

In July it was discovered that Apple is planning to discontinue its physical Photo Books printing service on September 30, 2018. With Apple's first-party option disappearing, users will be left to create and buy physical books from third-party companies, and now one such company -- Mimeo Photos -- has announced the release of "identical" formats, templates, and book sizes that Apple Photo Books...

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced over two years ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari. Safari Technology Preview release 62 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for Intelligent Tracking Prevention,...

Upwork, the largest global freelancing website, today shared a list of the top 20 fastest growing skills in the U.S. freelance job market, providing a closer look at trends in the industry. Apple's design framework for iOS and tvOS apps, UIKit, and its development tool, Xcode, both made the list in the second quarter of 2018:Blockchain Google Cloud Platform Volusion Risk management Product ...

Apple has outlined which of its products are eligible for sales tax holidays in a handful of U.S. states over the coming days. The sales tax holidays run from August 3 to August 5 in Missouri, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Virginia, and from August 1 to August 5 in Wisconsin. Sales tax holidays in Alabama and Tennessee have already ended. Apple will not collect sales tax on eligible...

Logitech has announced its acquisition of Blue, the California-based maker of studio-quality microphones, in a $117 million cash deal. Blue, creator of the popular Yeti and Snowball microphone lines, will join Logitech's portfolio of other brands, which includes Jaybird, Ultimate Ears, and ASTRO gaming. In a blog post, Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell explained how the acquisition would...

Microsoft today launched a much-requested dark mode for its Outlook.com web mail service. The company teased the new mode earlier this month, suggesting it would be reminiscent of last year's Halloween theme for Outlook. The new dark mode actually adopts shades of grey to generate panel contrast, providing a more polished look as a result. You can enable it from the Quick settings menu (the...

Apple reseller B&H Photo today kicked off a new series of promos that let customers get free gift card credit at B&H Photo when they purchase one of Apple's new 2018 MacBook Pros. With the promotion, purchases of a 13-inch MacBook Pro come with a B&H Photo $50 e-gift card and purchases of a 15-inch MacBook Pro come with a $100 e-gift card. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these...