With not so much as a hint of fanfare (and a very loose definition of ” coming soon “), Amazon has quietly unleashed its Kindle app for Mac. The 22MB file is for Intel-based machines only, OS X 10.5 and above. Nothing too fancy, it does exactly what you’d expect in terms of functionality… and not much else.

Oh hey, the Kindle app for OS X is out. It’s free, but you have to buy the books, of course. It doesn’t have multitouch, like the Windows app , though. [ Amazon via TUAW ] More

It’s apparently true: Steam is coming to Mac . Not just Steam, though. Judging by these awesome teasers released by Valve , so are Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2 AND Left 4 Dead. Ho-lee crap . UPDATE: We’ve got all six teasers now

“Why the hell is Steve staring at the beach ball ?” That was the question of the afternoon at NeXT’s 1987 company retreat. “It’s always about beach balls with him,” they muttered derisively, “what’s so interesting about beach balls ?” These, of course, were but the first of millions of much more profane Apple/beach ball related mutterings to come. And that last question, made up as it may be, is a good one: There is nothing interesting about beach balls, rainbow colored, spinning or otherwise. Nothing at all. Join me in cursing that day. [ AllAboutSteveJobs ]

If you’re a Mac user, you may not know about Steam. By Valve (makers of Half-Life and L4D) it’s the greatest game distribution service in existence—like an iTunes for PC games. Now, it could be coming to Macs. In Steam’s latest beta release, a search through its files revealed a number of OSX-specific assets, like a Steam dock icon (among loads of others). Since there’s no reason for OSX resources—that I should add, are specifically labeled “OSX”—to make their way into a PC product, it seems pretty certain that, yes, Steam is coming to Mac

It ain’t the first HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter that we’ve heard of , but there’s nothing like a little competition in a market that Apple’s own closed mindset helped create. Bitterness aside, we’re pretty stoked to hear that Kanex — the same company responsible for that oh-so-handy Mini DisplayPort Adapter for Mac mini — has introduced its own solution for piping Blu-ray, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 signals right onto that gorgeous 27-inch panel that resides in your iMac. Our BFFs over at TUAW stopped by the outfit’s Macworld booth in order to give it a look, and they said that every pixel looked absolutely fantastic. Sadly, it looks as if you’ll have to wait until April to drop your buck-fifty (not including cables), but hey, it’s not like using that 13-inch CRT for a few more months will kill you.

Preemptive apologies to those of you who read Gizmodo to get away from work: Sorry! Now pay attention: The next version of Office for Mac is on its way, and we’ve got a sneak peak. There’s been a funny disconnect over the years between Office for Mac and Office for PC, which staggered release dates and differing feature sets between the two. To an extent, Office 2011 for Mac brings the platforms back in sync. Here’s what to expect: &bull Ribbons! : The ribbon interface, which took over Office on Windows in v.2007 and found its way into some of Windows 7’s default apps, like Paint, has finally made the jump to Mac. Luckily, Microsoft opted for a native look, building the new ribbons out of familiar interface elements and keeping the aesthetic sufficiently Mac-like.

It’s a funny thing, really. iTunes has somehow managed to become the world’s largest seller of music in just seven years, yet it’s easily one of the buggiest , most resource intensive and altogether unlikable pieces of software to ever come from the labs of Cupertino. From Microsoft’s perspective, however, they’re really just interested in the first bit, and in particular, why it wasn’t able to take advantage of the market opportunity in the way Jobs and company did. Groklaw managed to dig up a handful of email chains that were made public after the Comes v. Microsoft antitrust litigation, and the content is nothing short of eye-opening. One particular snippet from Bill Gates was exceptionally juicy, as he noted (in a number of words) that Apple had somehow managed to “get a better licensing deal than anyone else has gotten for music.” Jim Allchin’s terse reply consisted of two statements, one of which was “we were smoked.” Frankly, this unearthing couldn’t have come at a better time

PC users have been making a 3D mess of their virtual Windows 7 desktops with BumpTop now for nearly a year , and have been doing it two-fingered since October saw the 1.2 multitouch release . Now you Apple fans can get a feel too, with BumpTop Mac newly available. There’s a free version for you to try, or a $29 Pro edition that adds support for multitouch trackpads, enabling you to quickly form piles of docs and filter through them. Yes, piles of documents, much like that leaning tower of expense reports your co-workers have been giving a wide berth whenever they walk by. After the break you’ll find a video of it all in action, and you can get your free trial at the read link — assuming you’re running OS 10.5 or higher. Continue reading BumpTop hits the Mac, covers your OS X desktop with piles just like your real desktop (video) BumpTop hits the Mac, covers your OS X desktop with piles just like your real desktop (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:24:00 EST.

BumpTop’s been bumping kicking around for a few months on Windows, and even made a cameo in HP’s newest touch tablets. Today, it arrives on what feels like its natural home: OS X . The BumpTop concept is the same as it is in Windows, which is to say it’s a 3D sandbox of a regular desktop. Icons can be placed on the floor—the main desktop surface—or any one of its four walls, which can be viewed from the top down, or head on. Icons can be stacked, literally, into piles which can then be previewed in a variety of ways, and interact with one another as solid objects would.