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Apple seeds third OS X 10.9.2 beta to developers

Apple has seeded the third OS X 10.9.2 beta to registered Mac developers this afternoon. The release comes just one week after the second beta, suggesting Apple is honing in on a final version.

The new build is available to registered Mac developers through the Software Update tab in the Mac App Store, or as a full download via the Mac section of Apple’s online developer portal…

Haswell-based Mac mini refresh underway in late-February

Apple's Mac mini is way overdue for a specs bump - it's now been a whopping 458 days since the $599 desktop received its last hardware refresh, bringing faster processors and other updated internals.

According to a Belgian retailer’s online storefront, Apple's most affordable Mac desktop is about to be updated with the latest Intel Haswell Core i5 and Core i7 processors.

This information has been corroborated by at least one source who was able to confirm that the Mac mini refresh tidbit came from “reliable sources”...

Pixelmator 3.1 brings photo printing, Mac Pro GPU acceleration and more

Pixelmator is my favorite Photoshop replacement and today's 3.1 update code-named Marble brings a new Order Prints feature, full support for the Mac Pro and its dual-GPUs, including 16-bits per channel color image support, a few new effects, a number of improvements for Layer Styles, Type Tool and selections and a whole bunch of other minor refinements and bug fixes. The update is free for those who've purchased the app, a $29.99 download from the Mac App Store...

Blizzard’s upcoming Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has entered open beta, download now

Games maker Blizzard Entertainment, currently a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, has just posted a downloadable beta of its upcoming Warcraft-themed free-to-play strategy card game, titled Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. It's been in closed beta since August of last year.

The open beta is now available to Mac and Windows users in North America through the Blizzard website. The game is about  lively duels that "evoke the spirit of a friendly match played beside a crackling tavern fire"...

Poll: is Apple going to advertise the Mac’s 30th anniversary during Super Bowl?

This one's a stretch, but Apple's Macintosh is soon celebrating its 30th anniversary and advertising legend Lee Clow hinted in a pair of tweets that the company just might celebrate the occasion by running an ad during the Super Bowl XLVIII.

"Good football. Good sunset. Mac's gonna be 30 this week," his tweet reads. "Gonna be a good Super Bowl. Mac's gonna be 30 :)," another tweet teased.

Clow was Steve's personal friend and he is the Chairman, Global Director and former Chief Creative Office of TBWA\Worldwide, one of the world's top ad shops.

More importantly, the advertising guru helped create Apple’s ‘Think Different’ slogan, the iPod silhouettes ad series and the famous ’1984′ ad, which was directed by Ridley Scot and televised as part of the third quarter Super Bowl XVIII telecast on this day thirty years ago.

So, is Apple going to run this epic ad (or a new one) during the upcoming Super Bowl?

Chrome 32 for Mac: noisy tab indicators, supervised users, stronger malware protection

If you prefer Google's Chrome over Apple's Safari on your Mac desktops and notebooks, good news: the search monster yesterday updated the browser with a few new features that help restrict kids' use of the Internet while boosting their parents' protection from malware.

I was instantly sold on the incredibly useful noisy tab indicators that make it easier to figure out which tab sound is coming from.

Now, why didn't I think of that? Chrome 32 for Mac, Windows and Linux is now available for download and there's a detailed description of the new features right below...

Apple seeds second OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 beta to developers

Apple has seeded the second OS X 10.9.2 beta to registered Mac developers this afternoon. The release comes nearly a month after the first beta, which was posted on December 19.

The new build is available to registered developers through the Software Update tab in the Mac App Store, or as a full download via the Mac section of Apple’s online developer portal…

Task-focused email app Mail Pilot hits Mac App Store

Available as a free public preview since December 3, 2013, Mindsense on Thursday released its Mail Pilot for public consumption in the Mac App Store, priced at $9.99 a pop. Originally a 2012 Kickstarter project, this email application for the Mac promises to change the game by being task instead of email-oriented. What does that mean?

Well, all your messages in Mail Pilot are action-based. For example, Mark as Unread becomes Complete/Incomplete, a message can have a reminder attached to it so you can get notified when it’s time to deal with it, you can Set Aside messages that you want to come back to later (great for Inbox Zero fanatics) and lots more.

This task-oriented approach allows for a more intuitive email that lets you get stuff done faster and get on with your life...

Check out Google Now integration on your Mac in latest Chrome Canary release

CNET reported last summer that Google Now cards were heading to Google’s Chrome browser for the Mac. Six months later, Google releases a brand new Google Canary build with Google Now cards functionality nested right inside the browser's notification center which sits in your Mac's status bar.

Although not all Google Now cards are available in this alpha release of Chrome, the search company has integrated a few of the most popular ones like sports scores, real-time weather updates, and travel information...

Give your Mac an iOS 7-style Lock screen with this screensaver

With the release of OS X Mavericks, Apple reaffirmed that it is in no hurry to bring the design of iOS over to the Mac—the two have little in common when it comes to UI. But there are ways to customize your Mac to look more like iOS such as utilities, icon packs, and now this.

What you see above is a new screensaver for OS X that resembles the iconic iOS 7 Lock screen. It features an oversized, 4-digit clock, an animated background, and the text 'Press any key to unlock.' The screensaver is totally customizable and fairly easy to install. Take a look...

Offline mode finally coming to SimCity for Mac, EA confirms

Following numerous delays, Electronic Arts in August 2013 finally unleashed SimCity on the Mac.

Unfortunately, the long-expected launch quickly turned into a PR catastrophe as players started to complain about some very steep system requirements, crashes and installation issues.

The bug-ridden rocky launch put super-publisher Electronic Arts on the defensive, especially after the media slammed EA over SimCity's reliance on an Internet connection. Electronic Arts today finally confirmed that a future update will remove that restriction, allowing players to enjoy the city-building simulator when offline...