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Apple awarded patents for virtual keyboard, Pages and more
According to Patently Apple, the US Patent and Trademark Office has just published 23 new patents granted to Apple, including one regarding virtual keyboards and another for Pages, part of Apple's iWork suite. Apple filed a patent application for a virtual keyboard just two months before the original iPhone's launch. It covers a method of operating a touchscreen to activate one of a number of virtual keys, allowing the device to work out which key you meant to touch even though your finger may not actually be on it. The Pages patent deals with the process it has to go through to convert files from other programs, like Microsoft's Word, Excel or PowerPoint or PDF files, which turns out to be much more complicated than you'd think. The other patents cover a number of products, from a world travel kit power adapter and technical details of the DisplayPort adapter to editing blocks of a web page in an email program and multimedia data transfer.
Buy individual iWork, iLife apps from the Mac App Store
Apple's iWork suite is a nice collection, but some users don't need all three apps. Fortunately, the Mac App Store lets you pick and choose between iWork and iLife apps. Starting today, you can buy and install only the apps you want for US$20 each. For iWork customers, that means Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Buy all three and spend $60. That's a savings of $40. Now some of you are probably saying "$40? But iWork '09 only cost $80? So if I can get them for $60, that's a savings of $20." Ah, but you are forgetting that the app you are buying can be used on all of your computers, meaning that you are really getting what used to be called the "Family Pack" which sold for $100. The Mac App Store also recognizes if you already own them, so you won't have to buy them again. Similarly, the iLife apps can be purchased individually. You'll find iPhoto or iMovie or GarageBand on sale for $15 each. That's a significant savings over the $80 for iLife Family Pack. There's one big caveat, however: you will not find iWeb or iDVD in the Mac App Store. Maybe they're coming later, but it seems more likely that Apple signified that they were cutting them lose when they were included in the boxed set of iLife but never mentioned during the announcement. Where is iWork '11? Several of us were surprised to see that iWork '11 is not on the Mac App Store. iWork '09 is, obviously, a few years old now and the Mac community has been anticipating a new release. the Mac App Store just seemed like it would be a good opportunity. Not yet, but hopefully soon. Just a reminder: there has never been Mac upgrade pricing on iWork or iLife, so if you buy Pages from iWork '09 today for $20 and iWork '11 is introduced next week, expect to pay full price for that upgrade. Caveat emptor. UPDATE: If you already own these apps but the Mac App Store doesn't recognize it, make sure they are up to date (iWork just had an update last night). After updating apps, restart App Store app and it should recognize they are installed.
iWork suite gains iOS 4.2 support on iPad
The iWork productivity suite for iPad is receiving significant upgrades to coincide with the release of iOS 4.2, Macworld reports. Most significantly, the three iWork tools (Numbers, Keynotes, and Pages) will support multitasking on the iPad. Multitasking in 4.2 will already be familiar to many iPhone users. When you switch away from one of the iWork applications, the iPad will save the state of your work in iWork. When you come back to that application later, you'll be able to resume right where you left off. iWork has many other updates. The Tools menus have been simplified and now support AirPrint. PDFs should be more reliable when created in iWork, fixing a font compatibility issue. Keynote now supports more presenter-display functionality, allowing a presenter to see notes and slide information on their iPad without that view also being sent to the presentation projector. Keynote should also be more reliable when importing from PowerPoint and Keynote '09. Numbers is updated to allow you to preview how your spreadsheet will print when using multiple pages, but now it also includes an AutoFit function. There are many usability upgrades to Numbers and Pages which add up to really making the iWork apps a much more functional productivity suite. These iWork updates should be available today (November 22), coinciding with the release of iOS 4.2.
iWork '11 may wait for the Mac App Store
Plenty of people, including some of us at TUAW, thought an updated iWork suite would debut alongside iLife at the recent "Back to the Mac" event. iWork was a no-show at that event, however, and AppleInsider claims it's because Apple is holding off on a release of iWork '11 until the launch of the Mac App Store in January. AppleInsider notes that images shown during the event showed each iWork application available for individual purchase at US$19.99 each on the Mac App Store. Even purchased separately at this price, the three applications that make up Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) would cost less than Apple's current $79 price for the iWork '09 bundle. Precedent exists in this area: iPad versions of Apple's iWork apps are available for $9.99 each on the App Store. It's possible that Apple could be going digital-only for iWork '11 and selling it exclusively as a means of "eating its own dog food" -- by committing to selling its own iWork applications exclusively via the Mac App Store, Apple would demonstrate that it has confidence in the endeavor. This is a change I'd welcome, personally; while I use Pages every day, I use Keynote only a few times per year, and I've launched Numbers maybe once or twice since buying iWork. Paying $40 for one essential app and one "nice to have if I need it" app is a lot easier to swallow than paying $79 for the entire suite. For that reason alone, I'm looking forward to the Mac App Store.
TUAW TV Live today at 5 PM ET: Writing tools for Mac
Monday was the start of NaNoWriMo, the annual writing fest in which authors from around the globe attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. I've started on my third novel, and as usual I'm having a blast thinking up characters, situations, plot lines, and just how I'm going to wrap up this entire story. There are a number of wonderful writing tools for the Mac, so on today's episode of TUAW TV Live, I thought I'd introduce to you at least 10 of them. You don't need to be a budding novelist or screenwriter to benefit from the power of some of these tools, so if you do any sort of writing I think you'll enjoy this afternoon's show. We'll start at 5 PM ET (2 PM PT) sharp. Just drop by TUAW about 5 minutes before the start of the show and you'll find a post with a livestream viewer and chat box. You can also join us or watch old episodes of TUAW TV Live at ustream.tv/tuaw.
Apple's MobileMe News details how iWork for iPad works with iDisk
iWork for iPad was updated yesterday with many changes, one of those being that the mobile app suite now includes integration with the MobileMe iDisk. What does that mean for iPad users who use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote? You can save your documents to the iDisk and then open them either from the iPad or any other internet-attached Mac or Windows machine. The details were posted on MobileMe News, the blog of the MobileMe team. Windows users can point a browser to me.com/idisk and upload existing Microsoft Office documents. Once the documents are in the cloud, they can be opened from the iPad for viewing or editing. Once work has been completed on the documents, they can be saved back to the iDisk as iWork, Microsoft Office, or PDF files. It would be nice if iWork for iPad also supported Dropbox or Box.net, but for the time being, it's good to see that Apple has added support for their own cloud storage solution. [via TiPB]
Apple updates iWork for iPad
A couple of nice iWork for iPad updates are out on the store today bringing a boatload of new features. Numbers, now at version 1.2, introduces improved exports, object grouping and ungrouping, and better hyperlinks, among other new features. Pages, also updated to version 1.2, provides WebDAV and MobileMe iDisk support, txt file compatibility, and many performance enhancements. The third member of the iWork family, Keynote, has added new animations, the ability to group and animate objects, and export to PowerPoint. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote cost $9.99 each on App Store. Updates are free. Thanks, Ben
iWork Update 9.0.4 brings ePub file support to Pages, fixes bugs
A new update to iWork is providing some fixes to bugs (primarily with tables) in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, but also provides a new export option that makes Pages documents compatible with iBooks. The iWork 9.0.4 update is recommended for anyone using iWork 9.0 - 9.0.3. The fixes for Keynote include patching an issue that occurred when printing handouts with rule lines, resolving a problem with the slide switcher, and also fixes an issue when automatically resizing some images when changing the size of a slide. Pages received the fix for tables, as well as the ePub export option. Numbers was impacted the least, with only the table fix being applied to the app. The update is available via Software Update or can be downloaded from the Apple Support Downloads page. It's about 71.2 MB in size via Software Update. There's also a MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update for mid-2010 15-inch and 17-inch models. Thanks to Michael K. for the tip!
Pages for iPhone screenshots?
It seems that Apple is working to bring the iWork apps to the iPhone. Now available for the iPad, Keynote, Pages and Numbers were among the top sellers for many weeks after their release, making some users eager for iPhone editions. While browsing the Canadian online Apple Store, Engadget noticed that, if you select an unlocked iPhone, you see a blurb about "iWork for iPhone." Not to mention the "Open in Keynote" prompt that appeared in Mail. 9to5 Mac ups the ante with alleged screenshots of a beta of Pages for the iPhone. Citing a "tipster," 9to5 reports that the apps will be universal and work across devices. Make sense to us, though I don't know if I'd be willing to scale down to that small screen after using Pages, etc. on an iPad.
Pages for iPhone gets a full walkthrough
We've been seeing hints here and there that the iPad versions of Apple's iWork apps will eventually trickle down to the iPhone and iPod touch, and now it looks like we've got some definitive proof: 9to5 Mac has published a thorough screenshot walkthrough of Pages. As you'd expect, it looks a lot like a smaller version of Pages for the iPad, but there are some interesting tidbits here and there: all documents sync over the air with all your iOS devices, there's integration with the oft-forgotten iWork.com, and you can export in .doc and PDF in addition to Pages format. Interesting stuff, to say the least -- hit the read link for the complete set of shots.
Apple updates the iWork suite for iPad
iWork users rejoice! Apple is updating Pages, Numbers and Keynote for the iPad. A quick check at the app store or through iTunes should get you all sparkly and new. In Pages, one of the big fixes is that the tool and ruler and now available in Landscape view. That's a biggy because you had to be in portrait view to see any of those tools in version 1.0. Apple has also added some additional language support in the apps, and done some work to get better compatibility with Microsoft Word documents. Here's the details for all the updated apps, which appear to have fixed some of the worst complaints people had.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Transferring iWork files from iPad without iTunes
Dearest Aunt TUAW, Is there a way to transfer files from apps like Keynote and Pages to a computer that does not have iTunes installed? Yours truly, Nephew Jack Read on for Auntie's answer.
Estimates: iWork for iPad is a giant cash cow for Apple
The folks at Business Insider (BI) are reporting that Apple's iWork apps for iPad -- Pages, Keynote and Numbers -- have likely generated US$3 million in revenue since the iPad was launched in the US. If the trend continues, the apps could bring in $40 million per year. Where did BI get their numbers? Some broad assumptions, honestly. Discussions with developers who consistently have apps in the top ten suggested that top paid iPad apps will sell about 7,500 copies on a Saturday or Sunday, and about 2,500 on a weekday. At $10/each, that works out to approximately $825,000 per week. Admittedly, it's "a very rough estimate." The iWork apps have been among the top 10 paid apps since the iPad's release in the US. An estimate, yes, but it does illustrate an important point: users want "serious" work apps for the iPad. Sure, the initial user base was largely fans who already enjoy the iWork apps, but that fact that those apps are still among the top ten suggest that customers other than the fanboys are buying. Not bad for three productivity apps on a platform that "won't mean business." [Via AppleInsider]
Found Footage: How to write a screenplay on the iPad
Nate and Biagio over at jokeandbiagio.com have come up with a Pages hack for writing screenplays on the iPad. At this time, there are a few iPhone apps for writing screenplays, but none of them exist in an iPad version... yet. As you can see in the video above, the solution that these two Hollywood hotshots have come up with is not perfect -- they gripe about the lack of the toolbar in landscape mode in Pages for iPad as much as I do -- but it proves that screenwriting on the iPad can be done. Nate came up with a template in the Mac version of Pages '09 that includes a bunch of screenplay styles, such as CH for character, PA for parenthetical, SL for slug, AC for action, TR for transition, etc... You can download the template here -- note that if you're reading this on your iPad and have Pages for iPad installed, you can open the template directly in Pages and get started on that Oscar-winning screenplay today.
Entelligence: the iPad as a productivity tool
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. When Apple announced the iPad, Steve Jobs positioned it in the space directly between the laptop and phone. That greatly interests me because there are moments in my life where my phone is too small and my laptop too large. While the iPad clearly won't replace my phone anytime soon, my question is: Can it replace my laptop on occasion and serve as a content creation as well as content consumption tool? A few weeks ago, I deliberately left my laptop at home for a week of heavy business travel. Instead, I relied mostly on three phones: an iPhone, a Pre and an HD2. And now I've been using a production iPad for the four activities that were difficult and uncomfortable on my phone. Here's what I learned.
Screenshot Plus and iWork: the poor man's screenshot editing suite
Despite their office productivity leanings, the iWork suite of apps (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) also serve as good image editors. With each app, you can crop and mask an image, as well as create alpha channels. While a handful of useful paid-for screen capture apps are available for Mac OS X -- and many with very useful advanced features -- the one-two combination of the Screenshot Plus Dashboard widget and iWork can serve as an adequate pseudo screen capturing app. While you can use Command-Shift-3 (or 4) as well as Control-Command-Shift-3 (or 4) to accomplish similar tasks, Screen Capture Plus also includes niceties, such as timed screen grabs and image file type options that, in addition to its straightforward functions, don't require much fiddling with.
iWork.com beta improves iPhone/iPod touch support, public sharing
Apple has updated the iWork.com beta with improved iPhone and iPod touch support as well as 1-click sharing of documents publicly. Previously, iWork.com let you share Keynote '09, Pages '09, or Numbers '09 documents via a browser with invited members of a team. Now, you can create a public link that allows anyone to see your files, no invitation necessary. It couldn't be easier to set up: With the document open, select "Public" and then "Show public URL." From there you just copy and paste. You can also track the number of views your publicly shared documents receive. The other addition is improved iPhone and iPod touch support. The login interface is much improved as well as the list of documents. I've got a number of large Keynote slide shows up there, and not all of them fit on my iPhone's screen, but they were easy to flick through. It's a nice update to a service we haven't heard much about lately. To share a document via iWork.com, select "Share via iWork.com" from the share menu of a Keynote '09, Pages '09, or Numbers '09 document. %Gallery-88444%
Apple announces new version of iWork apps for iPad
iWork wasn't the first thing that came to mind when thinking of the new features the iPad would have, but Steve Jobs thought of it and told Apple's design team to create a version specifically tailored to the iPad's strengths. A new version of iWorks now exists for the iPad, and it includes the same three apps that come with the full, Mac version of iWorks: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. The interface is engineered directly to the iPad's multitouch screen. Rather than floating palettes, the palettes on the iPad appear to be more of an "on-demand" feature. There's also a specific data-entry keyboard for Numbers, which shows off the flexibility of the multitouch interface. According to reports so far, it looks much more powerful than a typical iPhone app. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote cost $9.99 each. So far there's no information on whether this will be ported to the iPhone/iPod touch.
What to do when your Numbers' charts don't paste correctly
The iWork suite of apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) play nice with each other -- for the most part. Objects such as shapes, text boxes and tables created in one app can easily be copied and pasted onto another and retain their styles. Even an image with an instant alpha filter applied will retain its transparency when pasted onto another iWork app. However, the iWork apps don't always play nice with each other when it comes to charts. In particular, copying a chart created in Numbers and pasting it onto either a Keynote presentation or Pages document doesn't always bring the chart's legend with it respective to how it looked in Numbers. Sometimes, the legend may be misaligned, and sometimes it may even show up on a completely different page in the document. To address this annoyance, just highlight all of the elements (the entire chart and the legend, or anything else you want retained) of the chart that you'd like to copy. Then click on Numbers "Arrange" menu and select "Group" (or hit Command-Option-G). Now, the legend of your chart retains its alignment when pasted onto either a Keynote presentation or a Pages document. To alter or undo this, just select "Ungroup" (Command-Option-Shift-G) from the same file menu.
iWork a quiet hit with sales up 50% this year
While no one was looking, the Apple iWork suite jumped 50% in sales this year over 2008 levels. The retail sales analysts at the NPD Group say much of the current popularity of the program stem from the sales of Snow Leopard, which bundled the productivity apps for U.S. $169.00 for a single-user version and $229.00 for a family set. AppleInsider quotes Steven Baker, NPD's V.P. of industry analysis, saying "These have been, I think, pretty successful products for them (Apple), generating a lot of pretty decent average selling prices and decent revenue numbers." I really like the iWork apps. My last book was mostly written on Pages, then sent off to the publisher as an RTF formatted file. Keynote is very powerful, and doesn't have the tired old look of PowerPoint. Apple is apparently working on moving a good deal of iWork to the cloud, and Microsoft is taking the same path with Office. [via AppleInsider]
