Apple News Weekly

Apple closed a number of U.S. retail stores last week, and is closing another half dozen more this week for undisclosed renovations. All of the stores closing are street-level locations and the most likely reason is to retrofit the stores with Apple's new security grate system. Apple closed a number of other stores last fall for the same reason.


Security grating barely visible at Apple's 4th Street store in Berkeley, California
The stores are closed for between 7 to 10 days each, and locations closed this week include Los Gatos (CA), Coconut Point (FL), Leawood (KS), Friendly Center (NC), Manhasset (NY), and Bridgeport Village (OR).

Last week, Bethesda Row (MD), Village Pointe (NE), and Crocker Park (OH), and perhaps others were all closed, apparently for the same reason.

Progress continues on the independent film "Jobs", which will see Ashton Kutcher play the role of the Apple co-founder and CEO. According to Variety, actor Josh Gad is in talks to portray Steve Wozniak in the film, which will focus on the early days of Apple.

Written by Matt Whiteley, pic chronicles Steve Jobs from wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple, where he became one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of our time.

Gad is making a deal to play Wozniak, who created the Apple I computer and co-created the Apple II computer in the mid-1970s.

Gad is best known for his starring role in The Book of Mormon, a satirical Broadway musical from the creators of irreverent animated television show South Park. Gad has also held a number of other film, TV, and stage roles, and has occasionally served as a correspondent for The Daily Show.

Production on "Jobs" is reportedly set to begin next month. The film is a separate project from the upcoming Sony Pictures film based on Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs.

(Photo by Taylor Hill / Getty Images)

The critically acclaimed Deus Ex: Human Revolution has finally arrived on the Mac, after being promised in September of last year. Unlike some games released for the Mac recently, Human Revolution was just released for PC and consoles last summer. Some game titles new to the Mac were originally released as many as 6 years ago.

When former SWAT commander Adam Jensen is forced to undergo cybernetic augmentation, he discovers that the boundary between man and machine is a point of no return. Uncover the truth behind a global conspiracy in a first-person role-playing game where you must combine combat, stealth, hacking and social interaction to determine the course of human evolution.

In a world where amoral corporations market biomechanical modifications and those who protest against them are silenced, only those who adapt survive. Discover the true potential of your augmentations and manipulate Adam’s body into your perfect machine.

The Mac version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution already includes the 'Missing Link' downloadable content pack, the Explosive Mission and Tactical Enhancement expansion packs, a 44-minute "making-of" documentary, a 40-page book of design and concept art, motion comic, a soundtrack composed by Michael McCann, and three trailers.

The game weighs in at more than 15 gigabytes and does not support any of the following graphics cards: ATI X1xxx series, ATI HD2xxx series, NVIDIA 9400, NVIDIA 7xxx series, NVIDIA 320M, Intel HD3000 and Intel GMA series.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition is available for $49.99 on the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

Earlier this week, we noted that Microsoft had pulled its Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2 from Microsoft AutoUpdate after users reported issues with Outlook database corruption. While the issues could be fixed and the update remained available for those looking to manually rebuild their databases and install the software, Microsoft opted to remove SP2 from AutoUpdate in order to protect those users who were unaware of the potential issues with the update.

Microsoft today announced that it has released an update to SP2, known as Microsoft Office 2011 14.2.1.

This update is primarily preventative and targets those who have not yet installed SP2; however, whether you have or have not installed SP2, please run this update to bring your installation of Microsoft Office:Mac 2011 to the latest version.

The downloads weighs in at 110 MB and requires a minimum of Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 (14.1.0).

The next version of iPhoto will be redesigned to be more like the iOS version of iPhoto, according to Belgian website Apple Weetjes [Google Translate].

The report includes a couple of details about potential new features. The new Mac version of iPhoto is said to gain the excellent iPhoto Journals feature and a redesigned photo retouching system, both inspired by the iOS version of iPhoto. The site also claims that the new iPhoto will require OS X Lion or Mountain Lion -- Snow Leopard won't be supported.

Apple Weetjes doesn't have much of a track record on rumors, but the features they mention do seem likely to make their way to the Mac version of iPhoto at some point.

via AppleInsider

Last week, we noted that Apple had begun sending emails to at least some current MobileMe users offering them free copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard in order to assist them with ultimately upgrading to OS X Lion in advance of MobileMe's discontinuation at the end of June. Lion is required for full compatibility with iCloud, Apple's free service that replaces many of MobileMe's features.


Several readers who requested free copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard have reported receiving their shipments over the past day or two, with each disc arriving with a printed copy of the software license.

The discs contain Mac OS X 10.6.3, the standard retail version of Snow Leopard. After upgrading their systems to Snow Leopard using the disc, users will have to upgrade again to Mac OS X 10.6.8 via Software Update. Once that upgrade is completed, users can access the Mac App Store and purchase OS X Lion for $29.99.

The free Snow Leopard upgrade effectively cuts in half the fee for pre-Snow Leopard users to upgrade to Lion, as they would ordinarily have to purchase Snow Leopard on disc for $29 and then Lion through the Mac App Store for $29.99. By targeting the program at existing MobileMe members who have yet to transition their accounts to iCloud, Apple hopes to encourage as many users as possible to make the move before MobileMe services are officially turned off.

(Thanks, Ben!)

Following last week's retail store opening in Rome, Italy, Apple has announced another international grand opening this week with the debut of the Gran Plaza 2 store in Madrid, Spain.


Centro Comercial Gran Plaza 2 under construction
Rather than the traditional Saturday grand opening, the Gran Plaza 2 store will open to the public at 10:00 AM on Friday, April 27 to coincide with the opening of the shopping center itself.

The new store will be Apple's sixth in Spain and third in the Madrid area, joining two other mall-based stores: Parquesur and Xanadú.

Apple is continuing its roughly biweekly release cycle for developer builds of OS X 10.7.4, pushing out Build 11E52 for testing yesterday.


As with the last several builds, Apple lists no known issues. The company is also asking developers to focus their testing on Graphics, iCal, Mail, Printing, and Time Machine.

Work on OS X 10.7.4 continues as Apple is also pushing forward on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which is due for release in "late summer". Earlier this week, Apple released its third developer preview of Mountain Lion for testing.

(Thanks, TTR!)

Following the release of Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2 earlier this month, a number of users began reporting issues with corruption of Microsoft Outlook databases. In response, Microsoft early last week acknowledged the issue, providing a workaround for those who had yet to update their Office installations and a fix for those who had already updated and were experiencing problems with Outlook.


On Friday, Microsoft announced that it was taking an additional step and removing Office for 2011 SP2 from Microsoft AutoUpdate until the Outlook corruption is resolved. The update can, however, still be downloaded manually and installed once users follow the directions to rebuild their Outlook databases.

Our goal is provide the simplest update experience for everyone – so we have temporarily stopped pushing out the SP2 update through Microsoft AutoUpdate while we investigate the issue. Customers are still able to obtain the SP2 update via the Microsoft Downloads site by clicking here. We encourage you to either wait for the AutoUpdate, or follow the directions in the above blog post before manually updating to ensure you don’t experience issues. We will provide an update once we have more information to share.

Office for Mac SP2 is Microsoft's second major update to the company's flagship productivity suite for Mac. The release offers a number of security and usability improvements, with a heavy focus on Outlook, which was new in Office 2011 and replaced Entourage.

Ahead of its May 15th launch date, Blizzard is opening its Diablo III beta test to all comers as a stress test on the game's servers. The free open beta weekend runs from now through Monday morning.

We're pleased to announce the Diablo III open beta weekend, which offers open access to all players with a valid Battle.net account! Beginning this Friday everyone is invited to log in and help us put the game and servers through their paces in this three day stress test as we march toward the game's release on May 15. You can begin downloading the Diablo III client right now!

From Friday, April 20 at 12:01 p.m. PDT (noon), until Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT you'll be able to log in, team up with friends, and play each of the five heroic classes to level 13 as you fight to save the world from the impending demonic invasion.

Blizzard's website has more details about exactly how to join the open beta. Diablo III will be $59.99 when it launches on May 15th and will be available as a digital download from Blizzard, or via the more traditional boxed copy.