MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

An opera exploring the life of the late Steve Jobs has won the financial backing of opera companies in San Francisco and Seattle, ensuring the musical production will be shown in the Apple co-founder's home state of California (via CBS SF Local). The partnerships were announced on Tuesday, ahead of the premiere of "The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs" this July at the Sante Fe Opera's open-air...

Apple is planning a massive expansion of its data center in Reno, Nevada, according to information shared today by Reno-Gazette Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon who covered a Reno City Council meeting Apple attended to discuss the project. Apple will invest $1 billion in expanding its current data center at the Reno Technology Park, nearly doubling the size of the original project. Apple's ...

After spending months in preview, Microsoft today is officially launching its Visual Studio coding platform for the Mac (via VentureBeat). Visual Studio allows developers to code applications using Microsoft's integrated development environment (IDE) on Apple's macOS platform, which they can sync across both Windows and Mac devices. Thanks to integration with Xamarin, a cross-platform software ...

Aspyr is set to release action-adventure game Mafia III for Mac on Thursday with support for Apple's Metal API, according to MacGamerHQ. The open-world game developed by Hangar 3 is the third installment in the Mafia series to offer both third-person perspective gaming and a cover system, featuring melee combat, character interrogation, and more. The game is set in 1968 New Bordeaux –...

Opera web browser has undergone a major user interface redesign that features quick access tools to popular messaging apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger (via TechCrunch). Codenamed "Reborn", the design overhaul project has been evident in beta builds for some weeks, but the new browser version is now available as a stable release and existing users should receive the...

Apple subsidiary FileMaker today announced the launch of FileMaker 16, the newest version of the company's popular database platform that's designed to make it easy for businesses to build a range of customized apps able to work effortlessly across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and the Web. FileMaker 16 focuses on enhancing mobility, scalability, and security, along with providing new features...

Apple may be planning to purchase half a city block in downtown Reno, Nevada, for the purpose of creating a purchasing and receiving facility, reports Reno's KRNV. The Reno City Council will discuss Apple's plans to purchase the property, located at 6th Street and Evans Avenue, at a Wednesday meeting. Apple is planning to build the facility alongside a planned data center at the Reno...

The developers of open source video transcoder app Handbrake have issued a security warning to Mac users after a mirror download server hosting the software was hacked. The alert was issued on Saturday after it was discovered that the original HandBrake-1.0.7.dmg installer file on mirror server download.handbrake.fr had been replaced by a malicious file. The affected server has been shut...

Construction barricades have recently begun disappearing around Apple's first retail location in Singapore, revealing a large mural and 12 smaller pieces of artwork that showcase the Apple logo, a heart, and a little red dot, referencing Apple's love for Singapore. Inside each of the little red dots Apple has personalized the barricades further, changing the artwork to represent illustrator...

Apple updated its website on Wednesday with U.S. job creation numbers from 2016, revealing that the company has generated a total of 2 million jobs across all 50 states. Last year saw Apple spend more than $50 billion with 9,000 U.S. suppliers and manufacturers, and create around 90,000 supplier and manufacturer jobs, bringing the total number to 450,000 jobs, up from 361,000 in 2015....

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced one year 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 29 includes fixes and improvements for JavaScript, CSS, Rendering, Web Inspector, WebCrypto,...

Apple today updated its official list of vintage and obsolete products to add the 2010 13-inch MacBook, the final plastic-shelled MacBook it produced before discontinuing the line, and several 2009 MacBook Pro models. Apple first introduced the unibody polycarbonate MacBook, the third design iteration of the MacBook line, in late 2009, offering it in black and white. The MacBook was sold for...

Last November, longtime Mac vendor OWC was among the first wave of companies to announce Thunderbolt 3 docks designed to expand the capabilities of the new MacBook Pro. It's taken a while to finalize the product design, testing, and manufacturing, but OWC's Thunderbolt 3 Dock is now just about ready to ship and we've had a chance to spend some time with a production-ready unit. Priced at...

A malware research team has discovered a new piece of Mac malware that reportedly affects all versions of MacOS and is signed with a valid developer certificate authenticated by Apple (via The Hacker News). The malware has been dubbed "DOK" and is being disseminated through an email phishing campaign which researchers at CheckPoint say is specifically targeting macOS users, making it the first ...

Apple's third retail store in the United Arab Emirates opened today at the Dubai Mall, and Apple has shared several photos from its debut on the official Apple news site. Apple Dubai Mall, located in downtown Dubai, features massive windows with an impressive view of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world, along with the Dubai Fountain below. It spans two stories and offers the...

Tweetbot for Mac has been updated with support for a number of changes that Twitter has introduced in recent months. The most notable change is that users can now send images within Direct Messages, in line with official Twitter platforms. Clicking on the new camera button to the left of the message field within a Direct Message brings up a Finder window for selecting images, which are...

GIF creation and sharing company Tenor is today introducing the first app that puts GIFs directly into the Touch Bar of the 2016 MacBook Pro, which is debuting amid a rebranding of the company's Mac app as well. Previously known as "GIF Keyboard" the app will now be called "Tenor for Mac," and when it's launched on the desktop Tenor will display emojis on the Touch Bar and allow users to tap one...

After revealing the G-Drive USB-C a few weeks ago, Western Digital today announced the launch of a trio of upgrades coming to a few of its G-Technology product lines, including the G-Drive with Thunderbolt 3, G-Raid with Thunderbolt 3, and G-Speed Shuttle XL. The performance upgrades mainly account for optimized speeds that will help creative professionals who capture and transfer heavy loads of...