Apple has announced new research studies for autism, epilepsy, and melanoma, all of them being based in ResearchKit. Notably, the John Hopkins Epilepsy study is the first to use the Apple Watch, with the Watch app capable of tracking and logging seizures as well as performing response tests.
IFixit’s teardown of the new 21-inch iMac doesn’t dig into the model with the 4K display, but seeing as the models don’t differ that much, the only things they found inside were minor changes to the layout and components. RAM is still soldered to the logic board, the iMac is still very difficult to open, all of which adds up to the lowest possible repairability score.
In a memo to employees, Apple CEO Tim Cook has said Apple employees are now eligible for restricted stock unit grants, which were previously only given to employees in certain positions. 9to5Mac explains it as being a way of keeping Apple talent around, in addition to the pre-existing employee stock purchase programs which offer discounts on Apple stock.
Ever since they started deploying Macs in their workforce (to the tune of 1,900 Macs per week for a total of around 130,000 Macs), IBM says Mac users call the helpdesk less than their PC-toting counterparts. Only 5% of Mac users called the help desk for assistance, compared to 40% of PC users — while that’s not saying much, there’s certainly evidence to say that Macs are a suitable alternative to PCs when it comes do getting work done. But we already know that, right?
Apple has seeded the fourth beta of OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 to developers and members of its public beta testing program.
In somewhat sadder news, the founder of ifoAppleStore, Gary Allen, has died. According to the Washington Post, Allen died from brain cancer at 67. IfoAppleStore was a fascinating site which covered every aspect of Apple Retail — he’s visited Australia a few times too, for the opening of the Sydney Apple Store (and others, I believe).
Facebook says they’re aware of the issue which leads to excessive battery drain on iOS due to background activity, and they’re working on a fix. The issue is that the app continues to be active in the background, even when background app refresh is turned off entirely.
MacStories tells us about Live GIF, an app that generates GIFs from Live Photos, which solves the issue of sharing your Live Photos with non-Apple users. Your Live Photo does lose the audio portion when converted, but hey, it’s better than nothing.
If you can’t find a Notification Centre widget that you like, Macworld has a few game recommendations that you can play directly from Notification Centre. From Minesweeper to Tappy Bird (yes, it’s what you think it is), they’re the kind of simple games you’d expect.
TechCrunch has a list of lesser-known Apple products. They title their post “Apple products you never knew existed”, but any Apple fan should have at least heard of some of them. I mean, sure, the Apple Pipin is rare and all, but the eMac? A flower power iMac? The iPod Hi-Fi? Those are all mainstream!
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2015/10/friday-morning-news161015/