MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Google announced yesterday that it will "de-emphasize" Adobe Flash in its Chrome browser in favor of HTML5 from next month. As of Chrome 53, whenever the web browser comes across a site that loads Flash "behind the scenes" it will block the offending content and switch to the faster HTML5 web standard whenever it is available. Google notified users of the change to its browser's behavior...

Every time you visit a website you are sharing information about yourself with the outside world. This article runs through a number of methods you can use to gain more control over what gets shared, and who it gets shared with, whenever you use Apple's Safari browser to access the web on a Mac. It also covers methods you can use to prevent traces of your browsing history from showing up on...

Apple today released another update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari. Safari Technology Preview release 10 includes bug fixes and updates for JavaScript, web APIs, Apple Pay, Apple Pay, Web Inspector, MathML,...

Apple and Broadcom have jointly filed counterclaims against the California Institute of Technology in an ongoing Wi-Fi-related lawsuit, denying any alleged infringement of the technologies and urging the court to invalidate the asserted patents, according to court documents filed electronically this week. Apple argued that Caltech did not file the lawsuit until May 26, 2016, more than six...

Popular writing app and Apple Design Award winner Ulysses gained WordPress publishing and Dropbox support today, in a simultaneous update to its iOS and Mac apps. The changes that come with version 2.6 of the writing app mean that bloggers can publish their texts straight to a WordPress account, complete with tag, category, excerpt, and featured image support. Writers using the iOS or Mac ...

Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 48 for desktop yesterday, introducing a long-awaited multi-process feature to the browser along with a handful of interface tweaks. Firefox 48 is the first version of the browser to include Electrolysis (or e10s), a multi-process feature Mozilla developers have been working on for over seven years. Multi-process Firefox separates web content and...

Apple today released iTunes 12.4.3, a minor update that fixes a bug that could cause playlist changes made on iPhones or iPads to not appear in iTunes. Following the update, syncing should function as intended, with playlist changes showing up across all devices.This update resolves an issue where playlist changes made on other devices may not appear in iTunes.The new 12.4.3 update can be...

Apple will no longer have to pay $625.6 million to VirnetX, which claimed the Cupertino company was infringing upon four Internet security-related patents. The decision came last Friday afternoon from U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder in Tyler, Texas, claiming that it was "unfair" on Apple's part that two VirnetX lawsuits were aimed at the company in one trial (via Reuters). The case with...

After more than 20 years in operation, once popular software payments processor Kagi yesterday announced on its home page that it has shut down effectively immediately. Longtime Mac users are probably familiar with Kagi, which assisted numerous small developers in accepting credit card payments from users. Kagi arose in the 1990s on the popularity of shareware, which allowed developers to...

Apple has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against Samsung's request to send a longstanding patent lawsuit between the two companies back to lower court for further proceedings, reports Reuters. Apple told the court that its South Korean rival has "no evidence" that design patent damages should be based on anything less than the value of an entire smartphone, according to court documents...

Apple has raised $7 billion in debt through a five-part bond sale of both fixed and floating rate notes, according to the company's final pricing term sheet filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The five-part sale includes: $350 million maturing in 2019 with a floating interest rate based on three month LIBOR plus 14 basis points $1.15 billion maturing in 2019...

Apple market director Jason Barlia has confirmed the company's plans to open a retail store at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in Lower Manhattan, according to CNET. The store will be located in the Oculus transit and retail complex, and it is expected to open later this year. WTC Transportation Hub - Oculus (Image: Priscilla C. via Instagram) The location will mark Apple's tenth...

In addition to expanding its retail footprint in China over the past few years, Apple is moving ahead with new stores in other countries. Photos obtained by MacRumors from reader Myles today reveal progress on Apple's first retail store in Singapore, a location that has been confirmed by Apple since November 2015 and under renovation since earlier this year. Construction of the store's glass ...

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi had a surprise in store for attendees of its new Redmi Pro smartphone launch event today, unveiling its first ever PC laptop, named the "Mi Notebook Air". The familiar-named $750 aluminum notebook closely resembles a MacBook and features a 13.3-inch 1080p display, up to 2.7GHz Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB solid-state storage, and a...

Apple today reported a negative-growth June quarter in iPhone sales and revenue, and its guidance for the fourth quarter of the 2016 fiscal year suggests that the downward trend is likely to continue through summer. Apple expects fourth quarter revenue of between $45.5 billion and $47.5 billion, which would be up to 12 percent lower than the $51.5 billion in revenue it posted in the year-ago...

Six people from New York have been charged with allegedly attempting fraudulent transactions at the Deer Park Apple Store near Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune. Lake County authorities tell the paper that the scheme is an "organized criminal enterprise." Last week, authorities learned that the scheme was being attempted at various Apple Stores in the Chicago area. The suspects were...

Apple became a target of anti-U.S. protest in China this week, following an international ruling against the country's controversial territorial claims. Reuters reports that a "handful" of unofficial Apple stores were picketed and social media users encouraged each other to destroy their Apple products, as the company became a symbol of perceived injustice in its biggest overseas market....

Apple has posted a series of job listings for its first retail store in Taiwan. The company is looking to fill Genius, Expert, Manager, Store Leader, and Business Leader positions, among others, while applications for the Apple Store Leader Program are open ahead of a September 2016 start date. Apple confirmed to Reuters that it will open its first retail store in Taiwan, but it did not...