MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

According to the Online Apple Store, the Airport Extreme Base Station's ship date has slipped to "mid-November". Such a delay would seem to indicate Apple is readying a revision is nearing. However, the extent of the revision is not currently known, as the update may simply be to pass relatively new European environmental regulations (RoHS) that has stopped the sale of the base station and the...

Thinksecret believes that Apple may be able to get its reported "true" video iPod out to production by October, and thus just in time for the holiday buying season. As has been expected, the new iPod would complement the existing lineup at the top-end rather than replacing any existing models. Thinksecret points to recent price drops as evidence that there is now room for the new model in...

Apple has posted a new version of Boot Camp. The following improvements are listed but are similar to the updates from Boot Camp 1.1: Support for the latest Intel-based Macintosh computers Easier partitioning using presets for popular sizes Ability to install Windows XP on any internal disk Support for built-in iSight cameras Support for built-in microphones Right-click when...

Okay, so it isn't an Apple story, but many Apple users have been wondering what Microsoft has been up to with their upcomming "Zune" digital music player. Today, Microsoft released some official details about the device. One of the main highlighted features will be a song-sharing feature that will enable users to share songs to other close-by users wirelessly. The recipient can then play the ...

Many readers have noted that with yeseterday's iPod updates and reduced prices on 5G iPod models, Apple has done away with iPod educational discounts. Apple has traditionally discounted iPods up to 10% for higher-education buyers such as faculty, staff, and students. Of note, the still-running back-to-school promotion is not grandfathering in the new model iPods....

TUAW posts an unconfirmed agenda for the Apple event: Let's just say I have been informed by a little reliable birdy about Tomorrow's event. The line-up will follow this similar structure: Welcoming of Media Members Discussion on iTunes software, iTMS integration into iTunes, and iTMS sales and facts. Announcement of iTunes version 7.0 Announces better search feature for Music Store...

Apple just released a Mac OS X 10.4.8 developer seed marked as build 8L2112 (Intel) and 8L112 (PPC). This latest build was released to developers with little fan fare. An unconfirmed post claimed the latest 10.4.8 build did incorporate enhanced OpenGL performance which led to the following Cinebench 9.5 benchmark on a MacBook Pro which does not appear to demonstrate significant improvements: ...

Apple seeded Mac OS X 10.4.8 to Developers on Friday. A number of issues are fixed in this seed including issues with Image RAW, CoreImage, ColorSync, Rosetta, Xsan and File Manager. The Intel version of the build is said to be 8L2122 and the PowerPC at 8L112. An unconfirmed Digg posting claims that there are a number of other significant changes to 10.4.8 including enahnced OpenGL and...

The Inquirer believes that, contrary to previous rumors, Apple notebooks using Intel's Core 2 Duo mobile variant code-named "Merom" may be delayed until 2007 due to supply issues at Intel. ...Woodcrest is getting the lion's share of production, over 70% of Xeons will be new. Conroe is next in line with 20+%, followed by a syphilitic trickle of Meroms... What this means is Apple is faced with...

ThinkSecret points to channel reports indicating that Apple may be preparing for "at least one" product announcement this Tuesday, September 5th, 2006, but were unable to specify which models would see updates. Meanwhile, more confident reports have pointed to iMac updates on September 12th. Finally, independent but unconfirmed reports claim that the MacBook will receive quiet speed bumps ...

One HardMac reader claims that his new Mac mini shipped with a Core Duo 1.66GHz instead of the advertised Core Solo 1.5GHz as well as a larger hard drive (100GB) and Superdrive (instead of Combo). The site believes this represents a silent upgrade across all Mac mini's consistent with recent rumors of upcoming Mac mini upgrades. Alternatively, it may simply be a mistake, unless there are...

Previously unheard of site macool is claiming that new iPods are shipping from Chinese factories. While some pictures are provided of trucks outside of a factory, none of the supplied pictures at this time can verifiably prove the claims made (hence this story's placement on page 2). If true however, an Apple announcement regarding iPods next Tuesday could be met with in stock models either...

An anonymous source claims Mac OS 10.4.8 has been seeded to developers. Among the preliminary list of changes in the new seed are fixes to AFP Server, WebCore, LoginWindow, CUPS and CDSASSL, and ImageCapture. Also reported is a list of known issues (including double reboots, long reboots, and no localization in some areas). Testers are asked to focus on the following: - AFP - DVD...

According to a MacRumors developer source, ZFS has been added to the list of file systems in the vnode.h header file in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, which could indicate preliminary support for the file system. Apple had contacted Sun earlier this year about the possibility of porting ZFS to Mac OS X. Due to ZFS's high redundancy features, some in the technical community had wondered whether...

While there will be no keynote address at Apple Expo Paris, Apple is planning on hosting a special event at the opening of Photokina 2006 in Germany. Due to the photographic nature of the show, there has been speculation that Apple would be releasing an update to Aperture. One user points out that Apple's Aperture feedback page asks users ...

Following Apple's WWDC keynote last week, there had been speculation and concern amongst messageboards and blogs about Steve Jobs' health. Steve Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer two years ago, but since had reportedly made a full recovery. Information Week blogger obtained an official response from Apple's VP of worldwide corporate communications: Steve's health is robust and we ...

Seagate will be releasing 60GB and 120GB 1.8" hard drives later this year. We did not have a drive for [the handheld video business] that will come in capacities of 60 and 120 GB, and so we will have one in the December quarter and we think that will be a nice little driver for us. We feel a whole lot better about things than Wall Street does right now. 60GB and 120GB drives of this form factor...

A hodgepodge of unlikely claims that are unable to be verified, but posted for your amusement and discussion: - Mac Pro Cube. - 25" iMac in Black - 27" (1920 x 1200) and 37" (4520x2540) displays And a number of tidbits that are believed to be true: - Mac Pro announced at WWDC, shipping in August. - Leopard targeted for shipping in Feb/March 2007. - 24P in Final Cut Pro ready to go,...