MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

As is traditional for Apple, the company took down its regional online stores globally yesterday in anticipation of the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros. But far from simply updating the sites to showcase the new computers, on its U.K. site at least, Apple took the opportunity to hike its Mac prices across the board. As noted following yesterday's event, rather than position the new...

Shortly after Apple's October 2016 event, where the company debuted the new 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, Microsoft launched a new promotion aiming to convert unsatisfied MacBook owners to either the Surface Book or Surface Pro 4. Today, we are announcing a limited-time “trade up” offer to invite more people to experience Surface. If you have a Mac but want to experience the ultimate...

Belkin today announced the launch of its Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD, which is designed to work with the USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports on Apple's new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro machines. Created to be a "complete single-cable docking solution," the Express Dock HD features 40Gb/s data transfer speeds, 85 watts of power delivery for charging, and support for a single 5K monitor or two 4K...

Though the new MacBook Pro models equipped with a Touch Bar won't be in the hands of consumers for at least two more weeks, Apple today updated many of its Mac apps with support for the feature. GarageBand, iMovie, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and Xcode are now able to work with the Touch Bar built into new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro machines. In Xcode, the Touch Bar offers up...

Alongside the new MacBook Pros, which only include four USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support, Apple has released a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter. Priced at $49, the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter will allow customers who purchased a new MacBook Pro to connect Thunderbolt 2 accessories like hard drives to one of the Thunderbolt 3 ports in the new MacBook Pro....

Apple today released a major update for Final Cut Pro X, its video editing software aimed at professionals. Today's update includes a new look for the software, support for the Touch Bar included in the new MacBook Pro, and a host of other features. Final Cut Pro X features a revamped interface that's designed to streamline the layout for optimal screen space on the MacBook Pro, plus it...

During today's event, Apple announced that it has teamed up with LG to create 4K and 5K UltraFine Displays specifically designed to work with the new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models that debuted this morning. Priced at $1,299.95, the 27-inch 5K LG UltraFine Display features a 5120 x 2880 resolution and P3 wide color gamut. It uses multi-stream transport so it's powered by a single...

While new MacBook Pros with faster specs and a Touch Bar launched earlier today, Apple continues to sell base model 2015 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros on its website for the same entry-level prices of $1,299 and $1,999 respectively. Higher-end models with faster specs and more storage are no longer available for purchase. 2015 MacBook Pros should remain a popular option among customers...

Apple did not update the MacBook Air line as expected today, signaling that it will slowly phase out the MacBook Air machines in favor of the MacBook and MacBook Pro lineups. While there is no new MacBook Air available for purchase, Apple is continuing to offer the 13-inch MacBook Air models that were last updated in 2015. The 11-inch MacBook Air has been officially discontinued and can no...

Apple has discontinued its non-Retina legacy MacBook Pro, the last Mac it sold with a built-in CD/DVD drive. The 13-inch notebook had not been updated since June 2012, but it remained available for purchase on Apple's website for $1,099 until today. Apple continues to sell a standalone SuperDrive for $79 that connects with a traditional USB cable. As with the 12-inch MacBook, a dongle would...

During its keynote today, Apple briefly mentioned that Touch Bar will be gaining heavy support from third party applications when the laptop launches. Namely, Microsoft is working on introducing support for Touch Bar into Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Skype. Apple didn't say specifically what the Touch Bar will be able to do within each app, but the company gave detailed demos of what users...

Apple announced a new Retina display 'Touch Bar' replacing the function key strip on the keyboards of its two top-tier MacBook Pro notebooks at its "Hello again" event today. Apple software engineer Craig Federighi showed off the customizable sapphire crystal Touch Bar in action, which can also be used as a traditional Function key set and supports a host of native and third-party apps....

At the beginning of its "Hello Again" Town Hall event today Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company is launching a new accessibility website to help promote the accessibility features in its products. Image via The Verge It's all about the accessibility features that we've designed and built into our products. We believe that technology should be accessible to everyone, and we hope this...

Adobe for the second time this month has released Flash Player security updates to address critical vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS systems. Adobe gave the security fixes its highest severity rating, meaning users should immediately update to the latest Flash Player version through the built-in update mechanism, or ...

An Italian judge has accepted a nearly $50,000 settlement agreement with the head of Apple's Irish-based unit as part of a probe into allegations that the company failed to pay taxes in Italy (via Reuters). A six-month jail sentence for the Apple executive has been converted into the payment of a 45,000 euro ($49,126) fine as part of the settlement agreement, according to Reuters' source....

Apple's "Hello Again" media event kicks off at 10:00 AM Pacific tomorrow, and as usual some MacRumors readers who can't follow the event live are interested in avoiding all of the announcements and waiting until Apple posts the recorded video of the event so as to experience it without already knowing the outcome. For those individuals, we've posted this news story, which will be updated with ...

Apple today released another 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 16 includes bug fixes and updates for URL parser, Gamepad API, CSS, Media, Fetch API, JavaScript, Web...

Apple design chief Jony Ive and industrial designer Marc Newson are set to design London hotel Claridge's 2016 Christmas Tree, it has been revealed (via The Verge). The Claridge Christmas tree has become something of a festive Mayfair landmark, drawing Londoners and tourists alike, with notable designers having created the seasonal decoration since 2009. Ive and Newson's creation will be ...