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Apple gushes on 30 years of making Macs
This year signifies the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh computer, and who better to reflect on this achievement than the almighty creator Apple? Cupertino has dedicated a corner of its website to such a retrospective, the focal point of which is an inspirational video starring several fans who talk about what Macs have meant to them (embedded below). After learning that Moby is still a thing and that Macs represent a "truly worldwide democratization of creativity," you can peruse a slick, interactive timeline that walks you through all the iterations and how innovative each one was. You can also tell Apple about your first Mac and what you used it for, with that data populating polls around the site. There are worse ways to kill time, so if you've got some to spare, head to the source link and bathe in Cook & Co's glory -- then head on over to our forum to wax poetic about your first Mac.
Deezer unveils personalized music discovery features and native Mac app
It's hard to talk of music streaming service Deezer and not mention the behemoth in the room: Spotify. A launch in the US is certainly needed for Deezer to become a true rival, but in the meantime, it's adding new features for current users, which hail from basically everywhere else. Today sees the reveal of "Hear This," a custom feed which recommends music based on what you've listened to before, what your friends are into, and what Deezer's global editors think is hot. Also coming is "Explore," a browsing tool that lets you filter beats by genre and region. Other minor updates include new search/filter functions and a track history within your Library, as well as a preview mode that allows you to catch 30 seconds of a song before deciding whether to hear more. Deezer also teased that it's concocting a Mac app that'll integrate with Finder, although wouldn't give any timeline for release. Hear This and Explore, however, will arrive shortly: November 12th for Premium subscribers, and November 19th for everybody else.
Apple rolls out updated Mac Pro lineup with faster processors, not much else
They didn't warrant a mention during the big keynote, but those patiently waiting for an update to the desktop-bound Mac Pro weren't left behind by Apple today. The company has quietly updated the line on its website, bringing a rather modest spec bump to the familiar tower. That includes a single 3.2GHz quad-core Xeon processor on the base $2,499 model, which comes paired with 6GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive, and a pair of 2.4GHz six-core processors on the higher-end model, which gets 12GB of RAM as standard and the same 1TB hard drive for $3,799. The $2,999 Mac Pro Server will give you a 3.2GHz quad-core Xeon with 8GB of RAM and a pair of 1TB hard drives. Notably lacking is the addition of Apple's otherwise standard Thunderbolt ports, or 802.11n WiFi connectivity. You can check out all the options available at the source link below. Check out our full coverage of WWDC 2012 at our event hub!
Mac App Store generating error messages instead of app purchases? Here's the fix
Oh, this ain't cool. According to the roughly gazillion complaints we received this morning upon the launch of Apple's Mac App Store, users are seeing the ol' "unknown error occurred (100)" message when first launching the store after the upgrade. According to TUAW, it's a problem with the iTunes Terms and Conditions -- which some users aren't getting prompted to accept, hence the error message. What should you do if you get the error? Quit the store and reload it. If that doesn't work, folks are finding that rebooting and then launching the store again does the trick.
Apple's Mac App Store goes live
Well it's official boys and girls -- Apple's Mac App Store is live as of this morning, and available to use and abuse via a Snow Leopard update (version 10.6.6 to be exact). The OS X application market takes the company's wildly successful iOS App Store to its logical conclusion, bringing an orderly, structured app buying experience to desktops and laptops across the globe. The Store will launch with over 1,000 titles, including Apple standards like the iLife suite broken out into separate parts (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand) selling for $14.99 each, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers for $19.99 apiece, and the bank-breaking Aperture for $79.99. Of course there'll also be third-party apps present at launch, including Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, Pixelmator, Cheetah 3D, and Flight Control HD (yes, a port of the iPad version). The software itself will be a separate application that functions much like the App Store, providing update notifications and a universal installation process. That process, mind you, will be part of the requirements for getting your application into the store, along with Apple's famous content policies -- so we're sure we'll see some irate devs with painful rejection stories. Or maybe not. We know that the company is planning on getting lots of familiar developers into the Store, but we also know that some of what Apple is looking for may not gel with, say... Adobe's installation procedures (or worse). Regardless, right now the number of apps available is small, but you can expect it to grow fast now that every Mac user will get a crack at this software. We're going to be doing a much deeper dive on the experience and report back -- until then, if you're using it, let us know what you think in comments.
MacBook Pro with Intel Core i5 processor revealed via Intel promo flier? (update: prize now Envy 15 instead)
Far be it for us to argue with order of operations, but an apparent Intel Retail Edge Program promotional email has revealed a contest where those who pass this month's training can win one of two MacBook Pros with Intel Core i5 processors inside. Only catch is, that's a model that doesn't yet exist -- whoops! Don't know how long the company expects those winners to wait, but we've gone ahead and kept our calendars clear for the end of the month, just in case Apple feels the urge to send out any last-minute press conference invites. Update: We've been sent a new flier from Intel that "corrects" the contest. The prize is now one of two Envy 15s with Core i5. Sure, we've joked about the physical similarities before, but did someone really mix the two up that egregiously? Only time will tell. Correction email reprinted after the break. [Thanks, Mike!]
