MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Apple today released a new version of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, which comes approximately one month after the first version of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, an update that offered fixes for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities discovered in early January. The new macOS High Sierra update can be downloaded directly from the Mac App Store or through the Software Update function in the Mac App...

Third-party Twitter client "Twitterrific" has dropped the price of the latest Mac app -- Twitterrific 5 for Mac [Direct Link] -- to $7.99, down from $19.99. The new price tag marks the lowest that Iconfactory's app has ever been on the Mac App Store, and follows a 50 percent discount to $9.99 that emerged in December 2017. Twitterrific's sale for Mac appeared over the weekend on February 17, ...

Feral Interactive today announced that epic historical strategy game Thrones of Britannia will be released for macOS "shortly after" the upcoming Windows release on April 19. Originally developed by Creative Assembly, the game is the first in the new Total War Saga series of standalone titles inspired by great turning points in history. Thrones of Britannia is set in the British Isles in ...

Twitter today announced that it plans to stop supporting the Twitter for Mac app in order to focus its attention on a "great Twitter experience that's consistent across all platforms. Starting today, the Twitter for Mac app is no longer available for download, and in 30 days, Twitter plans to stop supporting it all together. Twitter says to get a "full Twitter experience on Mac,"...

Just over two years after "Rise of the Tomb Raider" first launched as an Xbox console exclusive in late 2015, Feral Interactive today announced that it will bring the definitive edition of the game to macOS and Linux this spring. Called "Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration," the Mac game will be a port of the same title that launched for PS4 in late 2016, bundling the base game with all...

To play music from third-party music services like Spotify to your HomePod, you don't need an iOS device -- a Mac will work too. You can send any audio playing on your Mac right to your HomePod, and not just audio from iTunes. To AirPlay from Mac to HomePod, your Mac and your HomePod need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. Make Sure Volume is Enabled in Menu Bar It's easiest to AirPlay...

Last month, Apple sued French tax activist group "Attac" for occupying its flagship Parisian store during a protest of what Attac called "wide-scale tax evasion." Today, Apple has asked the court in Paris to ban the group from its French stores and prevent any further stunts from happening. In response to the court filing, Attac today mobilized in front of the court in further protest,...

VideoLAN on Friday released VLC 3.0 "Vetinari", a major update to the popular media player that is rolling out across all platforms, including macOS, iOS, and tvOS. Version 3 includes a huge number of new features and improvements to the app, including automatic hardware decoding for 4K and 8K playback, support for 10-bit HDR, 360-degree video and 3D audio, and Chromecast streaming with...

Apple seeded the second beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 to developers earlier this week, but it appears an updated version of the second beta was just released this afternoon. The original beta had a build number of 17E150f, while the new update available today from the Developer Center lists a build number of 17E150g. It's not clear why Apple has released an updated version of beta 2, but...

Plugable, a company that offers a range of hubs, docking stations, storage solutions, and other accessories for Mac and Windows machines this week launched a new external NVME SSD that offers 480GB and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity for incredibly fast transfer speeds. The Plugable TBT3-NVME480 SSD is designed for Thunderbolt machines like Apple's latest line of MacBook Pro models, and it offers...

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RWB/RSF) has urged journalists using iCloud in China to migrate away from Apple's cloud service this month, before control of their data is handed over to a Chinese company (via Hong Kong Free Press). Beginning February 28, Apple's iCloud services in mainland China will be operated by Guizhou on the Cloud Big Data (GCBD), which is owned by the Guizhou...

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced almost 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 49 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for Service Workers, Fetch,...

In December, Apple announced its plans to open a new flagship retail location at the Federation Square shopping center in Melbourne, Australia in 2020. Since that announcement, many locals have come out against the store and the demolition of the existing Yarra building, arguing that the public space in Federation Square should stay that way and not be "given up" to a corporation. This week,...

Headup Games today announced that its Portal spin-off game "Bridge Constructor Portal" is now officially available for players to buy on the Mac App Store for $9.99 [Direct Link]. The game first launched on December 20 on the iOS App Store, Google Play Store, and Steam. The Mac App Store version of the game is priced to match the other $9.99 desktop version on Steam, coming in at $5 more than...

Gaming-focused chat platform Discord today announced a new integration with Spotify that will allow users to connect their Spotify accounts to Discord in order to showcase what they're listening to. Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to "Listen Along" to songs and full playlists together with fellow Premium members directly within their Discord server, which syncs up tracks so that each...

Apple will open a retail store in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Saturday, February 24 according to a new webpage for the store published recently on Apple's site. The new three-story Vienna Apple Store is located on Kärntner Straße, a famous shopping street in central Vienna, and for the last several months, Apple has been renovating the location. Kärntner Straße is near...

AppleCare+ for Mac, previously limited to the United States and Japan, is available to purchase in Australia and New Zealand starting today. AppleCare+ extends a Mac's in-warranty hardware coverage to up to three years from its original purchase date, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of AU$149 or NZ$169 for screen or external enclosure ...

Apple today began shipping the 18-core iMac Pro to customers in the United States, just over six weeks after it began accepting orders. The first orders are estimated for delivery starting Tuesday, February 6. MacRumors readers Anthony Berenato and Steve McKinnon both alerted us of the shipped status of their orders, while a few other Apple customers have echoed the same in the iMac Pro...