MacRumors

Apple today updated its three iWork apps for the Mac, adding new features and OS X El Capitan support to Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. All three apps now support the new Split View multitasking feature in OS X El Capitan, allowing them to be used side-by-side with another app while in fullscreen mode.

There are also new Force Touch gestures in each of the apps, which work with the new Force Touch Magic Trackpad and the trackpad in the Retina MacBook Pro and the 12-inch MacBook. In all three of the apps, a Force click on an image will allow them to be edited, and this Force gesture has built-in haptic feedback.

Keynote and Pages have gained support for opening presentations and documents from 2006 and 2008 versions of the software, while Numbers is now able to open Numbers '08 spreadsheets. Shared Pages, Keynote, and Numbers documents can now be previewed on iOS and Android browsers.

Apple has also updated its iWork apps for iOS, notably adding split-screen multitasking support on the iPad and support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. On the iPad, the three apps have also gained new Multi-Touch gestures for selecting text, a new Shortcut Bar that provides quick access to formatting tools, and new keyboard shortcuts when connected to a wireless keyboard.

Each of the iWork apps has also received a long list of other minor feature improvements and updates that are available in both the iOS and Mac versions of the software. A full list of the improvements can be found on Apple's dedicated Pages, Numbers, and Keynote website.

Apple's line of iWork apps are free to users who have recently purchased a new Mac or iOS device. Otherwise, each iWork app for Mac is available for $19.99 while each iWork app for iOS is available for $9.99.

Pages for Mac - [Mac App Store]
Keynote for Mac - [Mac App Store]
Numbers for Mac - [Mac App Store]

Pages for iOS - [App Store]
Keynote for iOS - [App Store]
Numbers for iOS - [App Store]

Update: Apple has also removed the "beta" label from its iWork for iCloud apps.

IBM this year began adopting Macs for its employees, a move the company says has been highly successful. Speaking at the JAMF Nation User Conference (via AppleInsider) earlier this week, IBM vice president of Workplace-as-a-Service Fletcher Previn said that far fewer Mac users require help with their machines than IBM's PC users.

"Every Mac that we buy is making and saving IBM money," he said, as the Macs require less management and setup effort than PCs, even though they cost more up front.

Just five percent of employees using Macs call IBM's internal help desk for troubleshooting, while 40 percent of the company's PC users make calls to the help desk. According to Previn, these numbers point towards the Mac's ease of use and the solid job the IBM team has done setting up Macs at the company. IBM's Mac onboarding experience is highly streamlined, making it easy for employees to do much of the setup work themselves in a short period of time.

IBM's deployment allows for employees to receive a shrink-wrapped, brand new Mac and quickly and easily set it up on their own. Using Apple's Device Enrollment Program and JAMF Software's Casper Suite, users set up and install IT-approved apps, software and configurations.

JAMF Software's Self Service allows IBM and its employees a simple method for installing licensed software. In an example given by Previn, the employee simply needs to click install for Microsoft Office, and IT will handle the licensing on the backend without exposing any of it to the user.

IBM is rolling out 1,900 Macs to its employees each week, and there are more than 130,000 iOS and Mac devices being used by IBM employees at the current time. In July, IBM CIO Jeff Smith said he thought IBM might end up purchasing 150,000 to 200,000 Macs on a regular basis for the company's 400,000 employees.

As of 2014, Apple and IBM have been working together to create specialized enterprise-focused apps and services for iOS devices. Under the partnership, IBM is selling iOS devices to its corporate customers, developing apps, and providing on-demand AppleCare service.

Facebook today acknowledged its awareness of an issue raised by a few iOS users last week, who saw large amounts of battery drain on their iPhones while the social networking app ran in the background, even with background app refresh toggled off. Speaking with TechCrunch, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed the company's awareness of the bug and promised a fix would be in place "soon."

“We have heard reports of some people experiencing battery issues with our iOS app. We’re looking into this and hope to have a fix in place soon,” the spokesperson said.

A number of Facebook users have commented on the issue of background battery drain over the past week, with users on the MacRumors Forums posting about the issue as far back as last Thursday. One poster (seen above) saw Facebook responsible for a dramatic 39 percent battery usage over a six day period, despite having background app refresh set to off.

Several sites have attempted to theorize on the cause behind the overzealous battery drain, including MacStories, hypothesizing that the reason behind the bug could be silent audio emanating from the service's auto-playing videos. Since most people don't bother with turning off auto-play, Facebook could be keeping a muted audio track running in the background with users largely unaware, letting it run and "consume energy to perform background tasks" even after leaving the app.

The company itself hasn't commented on the source of the bug, but at least those affected can look forward to a fix for it in the future.

Apple today announced that researchers from Duke University, Johns Hopkins and Oregon Health & Science University are launching three new ResearchKit studies on autism, epilepsy and melanoma.

“We’re honored to work with world-class medical institutions and provide them with tools to better understand diseases and ultimately help people lead healthier lives,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of Operations. “In just six months, ResearchKit apps studying everything from asthma and diabetes to Parkinson’s disease, are already providing insights to scientists around the world and more than 100,000 participants are choosing to contribute their data to advance science and medical research.”

New ResearchKit Studies

- Autism & Beyond: Duke University and Duke Medicine, in partnership with Peking University in China and other international institutions, are researching whether the front-facing iPhone camera can be used to detect signs of developmental issues at a much younger age. The study uses emotion detection algorithms to measure a child’s reaction to videos shown on iPhone.

- EpiWatch: The EpiWatch app developed by Johns Hopkins will test whether the Apple Watch's sensors can be used to detect the onset and duration of seizures. The app will feature a custom Apple Watch complication that provides patients with one-touch access to record accelerometer and heart rate sensor data, and will also keep a log of all seizures and track medication adherence.

- Melanoma: Oregon Health & Science University is studying whether digital images taken on an iPhone can be used to learn about mole growth and melanoma risks. Participants can document mole changes and share them directly with health professionals, and researchers will be able to capture these images to help create detection algorithms for future melanoma screening.

ResearchKit is an open source framework, launched in early 2014, that enables developers to create their own iPhone apps for research purposes, with studies available for asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and more. More than 50 developers and researchers have already contributed new research modules to the open source framework.

In just six months, more than 50 researchers have contributed active tasks to support new methods of research, including tasks to study tone audiometry for hearing loss; the ability to measure reaction time through delivery of a known stimulus to a known response; a timed walk test; PSAT to assess the speed of information processing and working memory, and the mathematical puzzle Tower of Hanoi often used for cognition studies.

ResearchKit apps can access data from the Health app with permission, and use iPhone sensors such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone and GPS to track a user's activity levels, motor impairments, memory and more. The research apps, available on the App Store in the U.S. and select other countries, are compatible with the iPhone 5 or later and fifth-generation iPod touch or later.

ResearchKit studies generally have higher signup rates than traditional medical studies, with more than 100,000 participants contributing their data to the iPhone-based platform since its wide launch in April 2014.

Apple has raised its prices for the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Pro this week in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey as the values of foreign currencies continue to fluctuate against the U.S. dollar.

MacBook Air prices in New Zealand, for example, ranged between NZ$1,399.00 and NZ$1,799.00 for stock configurations prior to the price increase, but the lineup is now priced between NZ$1,599.00 and NZ$2,199.00.

Similarly, the base model Mac mini now starts at NZ$899, up from NZ$749, while the base model Mac Pro rose from NZ$4,499.00 to NZ$5,699.00. The 12-inch MacBook is now priced from NZ$2,399, a $400 increase over the original NZ$1,999 price.

The price increases were consistent on the Apple Online Store in the other affected countries. In Brazil, for instance, the MacBook Air now costs between R$ 8.499,00 and R$ 11.499,00, up from between R$ 5.899,00 and R$ 7.699,00.

Retina MacBook Pro prices now start at kr 14 990,00 in Norway, as another example, an increase over the former kr 12 590,00 price for the entry-level configuration. In Malaysia, the Retina MacBook Pro is also now more expensive, at RM 5,899.00 and up.

Apple reports its quarterly earnings in U.S. dollars, and routinely adjusts its prices in foreign countries due to currency exchange rates that are beyond its control. Australia, Canada and Europe have faced similar price increases this year.

Update: MacRumors has confirmed several tips from readers about similar price increases on Macs and some other products in Australia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of the OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, just one week after releasing the third OS X 10.11.1 beta and two weeks after the public release of OS X El Capitan on September 30.

The new beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Apple Developer Center.

OS X 10.11.1, like iOS 9.1, includes support for a range of new emoji like cheese wedge, taco, burrito, popcorn, middle finger, unicorn head, and more. New emoji were introduced in the first OS X 10.11.1 beta. Subsequent betas have not included any other outward-facing changes.

It is unknown what the first update to OS X El Capitan will bring aside from updated emoji, but as a minor .1 update, it's likely to focus primarly on bug fixes and performance improvements for issues encountered following the operating system's official release. According to Apple's beta release notes, OS X 10.11.1 offers stability, compatibility, and security improvements.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today informed employees of a new stock incentive program, which will see Apple making all of its employees eligible to earn Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).

RSUs are normally only given to top Apple management and people from the product teams to retain talent over several years, but now other employees, including those in retail and on the AppleCare teams, will also be eligible to receive stock grants.

Tim Cook announced the new program in an email (via 9to5Mac) that was sent out to employees this morning.

This year, I'm excited to let you know that the Executive Team has created a new program for stock ownership through RSU grants. It's designed to reach employees who were not previously eligible, including many in our amazing retail and AppleCare teams.

This new program extends eligibility to everyone not covered by other RSU programs, effectively making everyone who works at Apple eligible for an RSU grant. This is an unusual step, and very special -- just like our team.

Please check HRWeb for details on this new program.

At Apple, our most important resource -- our soul -- is our people. Along with our many progressive benefit plans, this is another way for us to say thanks. On behalf of the Executive Team, I'd like to thank you for your many contributions to Apple. Working with all of you is the privilege of a lifetime.

Apple has long had an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) that allows employees to acquire Apple stock at a discount, but Restricted Stock Units are given as a form of compensation and do not require employees to purchase the stock. Restricted Stock Units typically vest over a period of many years, providing motivation for employees to stay at the company.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, for example, will receive a total of 1,000,000 shares of Apple stock should he stay with the company until 2021 so long as Apple performs well. Cook will earn 100,000 RSUs in August 2016, 100,000 in August 2021, and an additional 800,000 RSUs divided over 10 years so long as Apple's total shareholder return is in the top third of companies in the S&P 500.

With the ability to earn RSUs for staying on at Apple, employees may be motivated to stick with the company until those Restricted Stock Units vest. According to Apple employees that spoke to 9to5Mac, Apple has already started distributing RSU awards to employees in grants ranging from $1000 to $2000 worth of shares.