MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Chuq Von Rospach, a writer and former Apple employee, has penned a blog post in which he opines that customers shouldn't be forced to pay extra for the Touch Bar in order to have the highest-end MacBook Pro currently available. The current [MacBook Pro] line forces users to pay for the Touch Bar on the higher end devices whether they want it or not, and that's a cost users shouldn't need to...

F1 2017, the official game of the current 2017 Formula One World Championship, got its release on Mac today, coinciding with its debut on PC for the first time in the acclaimed series' history. According to publishers Feral Interactive, F1 2017 offers gamers all the on-track excitement of Formula 1, while also providing access to the off-track dealings and vehicle development that goes along...

Apple CEO Tim Cook is on the road in the weeks ahead of the iPhone 8 reveal, expected sometime in early-to-mid September. In a tweet posted this morning, Cook shared a visit he made in Cincinnati to CTS (Cincinnati Test Systems), where he met and discussed with the teams who build leak detection equipment for Apple. CTS builds leak detection hardware for a variety of industries, including...

Western Digital has announced the 20TB My Book Duo, the company's highest-capacity desktop hard drive ever. The storage system comes with proprietary RAID 0/1 support offering speeds of up to 360MB per second sequential reads, as well as auto management of drive operations to help ensure read/write cycle data integrity. The My Book Duo also comes with a USB Type-C port with all cables...

Apple today started sending out emails to customers who are using older versions of its pro apps to inform them about impending incompatibilities with macOS High Sierra. MacRumors readers Lee and Dane both received emails letting them know that macOS High Sierra will not work with Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio, both of which are 32-bit apps that last saw updates in 2010.Our records show...

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced 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 38 includes fixes and improvements for Fetch API, Web Payments, CSS, Web API, Media, Apple Pay, Web...

Apple is planning to build a new data center in Waukee, Iowa, according to a meeting agenda published by the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board and shared by The Des Moines Register. At a meeting that will take place Thursday morning, the board plans to review Apple's application for investment in the city and will "consider an undisclosed amount of incentives" to encourage Apple to...

Code42, the company behind the popular cloud backup solution CrashPlan, today announced that it is sunsetting its CrashPlan for Home subscription options in the near future. Starting today, Code42 will no longer offer or renew CrashPlan for Home subscriptions. In a video message, Code42 CEO Joe Payne said the company is ending its personal subscription options to focus solely on the business...

Earlier in August, it was announced that a remastered version of the popular first-person shooter BioShock would be arriving on macOS platforms sometime this year. Today, BioShock Remastered has launched for compatible Mac computers on Steam and the online Feral store, and an official version of the remastered game for the Mac App Store is set to debut in the near future. Users who download...

Promise Technology today announced the launch of its second-generation personal cloud device, the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo. Like the company's original Apollo product, the Cloud 2 Duo is designed to provide a network-attached storage solution to families and small businesses who want the cloud's ease of use with the security of local storage. The Cloud 2 Duo offers double the storage capacity of the ...

If MacRumors gave out an award for Most Revealing Apple Leak of the Year, there's a good chance the plaudits for 2017 would go to Apple's unintentional public release of HomePod firmware. Apple's beta code turned out to include a trove of intriguing references to upcoming products yet to be announced, including the Apple Watch Series 3, the so-called "iPhone 8", and a fifth-generation Apple TV. ...

A hidden web page has been discovered on Apple servers containing a job description for a "talented engineer" to work on a "critical infrastructure component" and an invitation to apply for the position at the Cupertino-based company. The web page, originally located at us-west-1.blobstore.apple.com but since taken down, was discovered on Saturday by ZDNet's Zach Whittaker and describes a...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with WaterField Designs to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Zip Laptop Brief, which is one of WaterField Designs' newest products. Like all WaterField Designs bags, the Zip Brief is carefully constructed right in San Francisco in small batches. It's available in four color combinations and made from either a ballistic nylon or waxed canvas,...

Apple has leased additional office buildings in Santa Clara, California, and has started "a significant reconstruction" of the interior space, reports the San Jose Mercury News. The two buildings under construction are located near the southeast corner of Kifer Road and Uranium Drive in Santa Clara, approximately six miles away from 1 Infinite Loop and five miles away from its new Apple Park...

Skype today announced the release of a preview version of its next-generation desktop software, which is designed to emulate the redesigned mobile experience that it released in June. The new version of Skype shares design elements with the mobile version, but it has been created for the desktop's larger screen. Microsoft calls it the "most expressive Skype ever" with livelier group chats,...

Best Buy today announced the upcoming launch of a 50-hour sale filled with Black Friday-like deals in celebration of its 51st anniversary. The sale will kick off this Friday and will last through Sunday night. Best Buy's sale will see the company offering discounts on a wide range of Apple products, from the MacBook to the iPhone. Select MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac models will be up to...

Sling TV announced its first in-browser desktop content player on Tuesday. Using the latest version of Google Chrome, subscribers to the streaming television platform can log in at sling.com to access their favorite content and start playback right from within the browser. It's not yet clear at what quality the content is played within the browser, but Sling TV customers watching on Google...

Twelve South today announced the launch of the Curve, a new stand based on a simple, classic design. Described as an "elegant" stand that's designed to complement the lines of an Apple notebook while elevating it to an ideal angle, Curve comes in a matte black aluminum that matches well with the Space Gray MacBook models. Curve elevates the screen by 6.5 inches while keeping 70 percent of ...