Apple on Tuesday released updated versions of its suite of iWork apps for iOS. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers for iOS were each updated to version 1.7 to makes it easier to collaborate and share items with iWork for Mac and Microsoft Office. Apple has a complete list of all features compatible between Microsoft Office and iWork for iOS

Apple also released an update to iWork for Mac; the iWork 9.3 update adds support for the new features introduced in the iWork for iOS apps.

Pages, iWork’s word processing program, got a slew of new features to help the iOS app work more seamlessly with Microsoft Word and Pages for Mac. This update introduces the Change Tracking feature to iOS; you can now track changes to body text in a document you’re editing. The Change Tracking feature also brings the ability to accept or reject individual changes, and you can now import a Pages or Word document that has change tracking enabled and continue to track these changes through iOS. These changes will be preserved when exporting a document from your iOS device to Pages or Word later on.

Other changes include the ability to add reflections to shapes and lock or unlock objects. Calculations in tables will also be preserved when importing from and exporting to Pages for Mac. (A full list of compatible features between Pages for iOS and Microsoft Word is available on Apple's Pages compatibility page.)

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

As Apple gets ready for the fall launch of iCloud, its brand new Internet service for Mac and Windows, it seems only right to mark (if not exactly mourn) the passing of MobileMe, one of the rare product flops Apple has seen in recent years. While there was much to praise about MobileMe, there were too many problems—both real and perceived—that ultimately doomed the service.

What went wrong with Apple's pioneering Web services infrastructure? Why did Apple feel that its only option was to demolish the MobileMe brand? In part, it was a simple matter of established pattern. As we saw with MobileMe's predecessors, iTools (2000-2002), and .Mac (2002-2008), when Apple is ready to move on, these services simply cease to exist. MobileMe is on the same path, despite its being granted an unprecedented year to wave goodbye.

MobileMe featured several elegant-looking Web-based applications including Mail, Contacts, and Calendar, and offered corporate-style sync functionality to all users. Apple also threw in 20GB of online storage, the ability to synchronize browser bookmarks, an online photo gallery for all computers and devices, and more. The service also functioned as a Web host, specifically interoperable with Apple’s iWeb, itself on the slow road to oblivion.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Whether it’s the kitchen of a four-star restaurant or of a home cook just trying to get dinner on table in a timely fashion, organization is everything. Long before anything hits the pan, you should have every ingredient measured out and within reach to avoid those last-second scrambles that usually end up with your entrée burnt beyond recognition. There’s even a term for it—mise en place—which more or less means “everything in place.”

Given that 20 Minute Meals carries the imprimatur of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, it’s little wonder that the $8 app for the iPhone and iPod touch from Zolmo places such an emphasis on organization. In fact, the cooking and recipe app is so meticulously put together, its superior design easily overshadows a few nagging flaws that might otherwise leave a bad taste in your mouth.

20 Minute Meals offers around five dozen recipes, organized into categories like “easy pasta,” “simple risottos,” and “tasty stir-fries.” The app includes a few vegetarian recipes, even breaking those out into their own category. Tap on a recipe, and you’ll be treated to a tabbed interface—the Summary screen shows a picture of the finished dish, a You’ll Need tab lists the ingredients and cookware required, while Steps walks you through the recipe. In a particularly clever touch, a button in the upper right corner of each recipe shows you the number of servings for each dish (either two or four people). For some recipes, you can tap that number to switch between the two- and four-serving amounts of ingredients—ideal for those times when you want to serve that spicy cod with lemon zucchini couscous to four diners instead of just two.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here