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First beta of OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 seeded to devs

Sticking to its accelerated releases schedule for operating system upgrades which now calls for one major OS X release each year, Apple's software teams have now began work on what would become the fourth major update to OS X Mavericks.

Simultaneously, its main group continues work on OS X 10.10, which will be previewed at next Monday's WWDC alongside iOS 8 and other "exciting" goodies.

The first OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 beta (build 13E9) has now been seeded to Apple's registered Mac developers. The work-in-progress software should become available to the general public through the company's OS X Beta Seed Program...

iTunes 11.2.2 update arrives with podcast bug fix and stability improvements

Apple has just released a new version of iTunes. This is a third update to the company's desktop jukebox application in less than two weeks.

iTunes 11.2.2 is now available through your Mac's Software Update, offering several stability improvements and fixing a bug related to the software's handling of podcasts.

The update is recommended for all iTunes users and should be now available for Mac and Windows via the Mac App Store's Updates tab or as a standalone download via Apple's website...

Google releases VirusTotal Uploader for OS X

Google on Monday released a useful tool for OS X aimed at beefing up Mac security by making it easy to upload suspicious files for scanning. The software works in conjunction with the popular VirusTotal service which was designed to accept user-submitted suspicious files.

It's simple to use and the whole experience is quite frictionless. After installing the free tool onto your Mac, you can simply right click on any file and selecting the pertinent option from the context menu to upload the file to VirusTotal for scanning...

Apple now makes it clear you’re not allowed to update or redownload refunded apps

If you've ever asked for a refund on a Mac, iPhone, iPod touch or iPad app you purchased in the Mac App Store or the App Store, Apple somewhat unexpectedly did allow you to update your existing installations - even reinstall previously refunded apps.

That's no longer the case. According to multiple reports, users who try to update or reinstall refunded iOS and OS X applications are now greeted with a prompt informing them that Apple no longer supports the practice...

Revived rumor reiterates Apple continues to prototype Macs with ARM chips

It's been speculated for years that Macs which run ARM-based processors instead of Intel chips have been in internal testing for quite some time.

This weekend a French publication has resurrected the rumor, claiming that the iPhone maker is indeed actively prototyping several ARM-based Mac models.

Moreover, the company is also working on a brand new keyboard which integrates the Magic Trackpad, Apple's multitouch trackpad currently available as a standalone $69 accessory. But why would Apple transition from Intel to ARM-based chips and what benefits would such a major brain transplant bring to your daily computing?

Read on for the full reveal...

Pixelmator 3.2 is out: all-new Repair tool, Lock Layers feature, 16-bit channels and more

After previewing Pixelmator 3.2 a little more than a month ago, the team on Thursday released the updated software for public consumption.

Bumped to version 3.2, Pixelmator's 'Sandstone' update is now available free in the Mac App Store to those who own this popular Photoshop alternative for the Mac. The headline new feature: a much improved Repair tool.

It uses “the latest breakthrough technologies” to make it easy and fun to remove dust, blemishes and entire objects from your images, “with an unsurpassed level of precision and quality”.

Also on tap in this Pixelmator update: a Lock Layers Feature and 16-bits per channel support for all Macs (previously, only the new Mac Pro supported higher-fidelity color channels)...

Day One for Mac updated with search and tag refinements, more

My favorite journaling app for iOS and OS X, Day One, has received a nice update today on the Mac side, bringing a couple improvements to the already well-rounded experience, along with a host of bug fixes.

The 2012 Mac App of the Year, Day One version 1.9.4 will now show your most recent entry location in the Map view by default. Your tags are now included in Momento text entry imports and there's a "greatly improved search" for multi-byte characters, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Emoji and so forth.

This update is of course free for existing users. Day One for OS X is $9.99 in the Mac App Store...

New ‘Notifyr’ app pushes your iPhone notifications to your Mac

A new iPhone app has surfaced in the App Store that offers a fairly unique feature: the ability to push notifications to your Mac. It's called Notifyr, and it utilizes a companion OS X client and Bluetooth LE tech to automatically send your iOS notifications to your desktop.

The whole thing is fairly easy to set up. After you've downloaded both the iOS app and the Mac client, you'll follow the usual bluetooth pairing procedure. And once that's done, you should start seeing all of your iOS notifications pop up in your Mac's Notification Center...

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 hit Mac

Texas-based Aspyr Media today announced that it's ported Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 shooters to the Mac.

Both games, including all downloadable packs for each, are available starting today through multiple outlets, including the Steam platform, Aspyr’s online store GameAgent.com and other participating online Mac game retailers.

At the time of this writing, neither game was available through the Mac App Store. Aspyr is the same company which brought you the Mac port of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare back in 2008 as the first title in the series...

Apple releases iTunes 11.2.1 to fix hidden /Users folder in OS X 10.9.3

Apple tonight released a minor update for its iTunes desktop client, bringing the app to version 11.2.1. The update doesn't appear to offer up any new features, but it does seem to fix the hidden /Users folder bug.

Following yesterday's release of OS X 10.9.3, some users complained that their /Users folder had disappeared. We passed along a simple workaround for the bug earlier today, but now an official fix is available...

How to fix disappearing /Users folder in OS X 10.9.3

Apple yesterday released the OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Software Update and some of the people who have installed it reported that their /Users folder has seemingly disappeared from the Finder.

The /Users folder is located at the top level of your hard drive and holds sub-folders for specific user accounts so some feared 10.9.3 has messed up their system. Turns out the folder is there, it’s just hidden and here's how to unhide it...