MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Redesigning an input device is a risky business. When Apple introduced its latest MacBooks, some users complained that the new butterfly mechanism in the keys was a turnoff. They criticized the keyboard for its lack of travel, and said the experience of typing was not much different to tapping on a touch screen. Other users felt okay with the change. Whichever side people fell on the debate,...

We've already looked at LG's UltraFine 5K and 27UD88 displays as companions for Apple's latest notebooks, and today we're taking a look at another USB-C display option that brings something quite different: LG's 38UC99 curved "UltraWide" display. This is a desk-filling display in the truest sense of the term: 37.5 inches on the diagonal with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a native resolution of...

Apple announced today that it will set up two additional research and development centers in China, to go with the two locations in the country that it announced last year. The new R&D centers will open in Shanghai and Suzhou, the company said in a statement on its Chinese website on Friday. Apple hopes the centers will help it to attract graduates from institutes such as Peking University,...

WePay, an online payment service provider, today announced that its customers can now accept Apple Pay and Android Pay on the web. WePay's biggest customers include popular crowdfunding website GoFundMe, cloud productivity software company Zoho, and cloud-based accounting software service FreshBooks. Some of its other clients include Constant Contact, Meetup, Chargebee, Infusionsoft, Invoice ...

Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and more than 60 other companies have either decided not to sign, or have yet to sign, a new legal brief filed in federal court in Hawaii this week, constituting the makings of a lawsuit looking to block the second version of President Donald Trump's travel ban (via Reuters). Trump referred to the new order as a "watered-down version" of the...

The seventeenth annual CanSecWest security conference is underway in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, where researchers are competing in the 10th anniversary Pwn2Own computer hacking contest for over $1 million in prizes. Day one results have already been published over at the Zero Day Initiative website, with a couple of successful Mac-related exploits already appearing in the list of...

Version 57 of the desktop Chrome web browser includes a new CPU throttling feature that Google says will lead to 25 percent fewer busy background tabs and help reduce overall power consumption. Charges that Chrome is a battery hog have long dogged Google's browser, leading the company to make efficient power usage a key pillar in its long-term development strategy for the software. Throttling...

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Cisco have filed an amicus brief supporting Google in an ongoing case dealing with security and privacy, topics that Apple has been known to advocate in the past (via Business Insider). Most recently, Google's case has led to a court in Pennsylvania requesting the company to comply to an FBI warrant asking for emails residing on foreign servers. Although it's...

Jonathan Blow's console and PC puzzle game The Witness has launched on the Mac App Store a little over a year after first debuting on PS4 and Windows PCs. Like other platforms, the game costs $39.99 [Direct Link] and tasks players with deciphering hundreds of puzzles set on a mysterious island. Since its release early last year the game has received critical acclaim for its puzzle design,...

Apple has announced that its relocated St. Johns Town Center store in Jacksonville, Florida opens Saturday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. local time. The next-generation store will be located at 4835 River City Drive, just down the street from its current store at 4712 River City Drive in the open-air shopping complex. Apple's existing St. Johns Town Center store opened in March 2005 Apple's new...

Readdle today updated its popular PDF Expert app for the Mac to version 2.2, overhauling the app and adding new features to make editing and annotating PDFs even easier than before. New editing tools automatically detect the font, size, and opacity of the original text in a PDF document, so PDFs can be edited more like regular text documents for a much quicker editing experience. Readdle...

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 25 includes fixes and improvements for Resource Timing, User Timing, WebCrypto, Web API, Web...

Apple is promoting a limited time financing offer on its UK online store that allows customers to buy an Apple product and pay it back over 12 months without being charged any interest. A minimum spend of £399 (or £99 via PayPal Credit) is required to qualify for the deal, which covers most products including MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones, although some Apple Watch 2 models are not eligible. ...

Mozilla has heralded the release of a new version of Firefox that it says enables resource-intensive web content like games, apps, and image-editors to run in a browser window at previously unachievable native speeds. To accomplish the feat, Firefox 52 supports Web Assembly, a new standard developed by Mozilla, which it calls "a game changer for the web". WebAssembly allows complex apps,...

Apple has announced that component supplier Ibiden has become the first company in Japan to guarantee all of its Apple manufacturing will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy. Ibiden is planning to invest in more than 20 new renewable energy facilities, including one of the largest floating solar photovoltaic systems in the country. "We're proud to partner with suppliers like Ibiden ...

LG's UltraFine 5K Display now ships in 1-2 business days on Apple's website in the United States and Canada, signaling that the display is finally back in stock after having been backordered for up to 4-6 weeks due to an interference issue. Specifically, some users experienced flickering issues with the UltraFine 5K Display when it came within close proximity of a Wi-Fi router, or in some...

Apple today announced that its second retail store in the German city of Cologne will open later this month. The address of the brick-and-mortar store is Schildergasse 1-9, which sits on one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe. Doors open on March 25. The announcement confirms long-held rumors that Apple has been planning a second store in the city. Evidence surfaced in January that...

Use of iPads and MacBooks in U.S. schools hit a new low last year, with Apple struggling to make further inroads into the education sector, according to new figures (via The New York Times). According to research company Futuresource Consulting, in 2016 the number of devices in American classrooms that run iOS and macOS fell to third place behind both Google-powered laptops and Windows...