Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
Popular: As soon as Apple (AAPL) began taking orders for its redesigned high-end desktop computer, consumers snapped up its entire available inventory, AppleInsider notes. Apple began taking pre-orders for the Mac Pro early Thursday morning. Default Mac Pro models debuted on Apple’s online store with a shipping date of Dec. 30. Within hours, the shipping date had slipped to February, indicating that the launch inventory of default configurations had been exhausted. Apple is not posting a specific shipping dates within February. The new Mac Pro has been extensively restyled, replacing the prior model’s gray-grilled box with a smaller, sleek black cylinder. The base model starts at $2,999. Apple has touted the new Mac Pro’s U.S. based assembly, pointing out that it also includes many U.S.-manufactured components, Time notes. Tim Cook has signaled that Apple plans to return some product production to the U.S. after more than a decade of outsourcing most of its manufacturing to Asian suppliers.
Peeping?: Software has been developed that allows law enforcement agencies and hackers to activate the web cameras in Apple computers without alerting their owners, MacRumors notes. The software reportedly permits the cameras to be activated without triggering the green indicator light next to the camera lens. The green light is meant to signal to computer users that the camera is in use. With the software, third parties can spy on the activities of computer users without the victim knowing he or she is being surveilled. Software to activate webcams in desktop computers and laptops has been around for some time, but this is the first confirmation that Apple’s LED camera indicator light can be switched off while the camera is in use. Concerned users can eliminate the chance of camera hijacking by affixing a tape across the camera lens, blocking any the view of any illicit observers.
Top List: Apple has released a list of this year’s most downloaded apps from its App Store, USA TODAY notes. In 2013, the company said that the most downloaded app for the iPhone — perhaps not to anyone’s great surprise — was the confection game Candy Crush Saga. Following the sweet game were Google’s (GOOG) YouTube app, Temple Run 2, Vine, Google Maps, Snapchat, Facebook’s (FB) Instagram, Facebook, Pandora (P) Radio and Despicable Me: Minion Rush.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
