A year ago Apple launched iWork.com in beta, which allowed users of their office suite of applications to publish documents online. It’s a light feature set compared to Google Docs and Office 10 – just viewing and commenting. But a job posting suggests Apple may be creating a true collaborative cloud based version of the iWork apps.

The job posting popped up on CrunchBoard on December 22. Apple is looking for a mid level engineer to “be part of the core development team” and “engage in an area from design to development” of a new javascript rich internet application for the iWork team:

The Productivity team (i.e. iWork) is seeking an energetic, highly motivated software engineer in building a scalable rich internet application. The person will be part of the core development team and engage in an area from design to development of the software system.

Besides exceptional programming skills and devotion to creating great software, we look for one or more of the following kinds of expertise or experience:

• JavaScript language and browser technology – understanding from inside-out, or
• Computer graphics – the mathematics, algorithms and programming, or
• Experience developing scalable rich internet application, or
• Experience developing presentation/collaboration or word processing projects

BS or better in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Apple has job postings all the time. But what caught our eye on this one is the language around building an application, from design to development. That suggests something different than just joining the existing team. Apple is putting together a whole new team, for a new project, and they need outside expertise.

Want the job? Apply here.

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The only good thing about the deadline for this week’s TechCrunch round-up falling on Christmas Day is the absolute certain fact that you won’t be reading the results. After all, with the holiday season in full swing, no one in their right mind will be reading TechCrunch. I certainly won’t.

Safe in that knowledge, I can pretty claim anything I like. That this week’s top story was Mark Zuckerberg being eaten by zebras, for example, or Al Qaeda investing in Twitter. Hell, I could probably claim that Spotify is profitable and it would still pass entirely without remark. Who would know? Just me and Google’s spider.

But I’m a professional – which is why I only missed my Christmas Day deadline by 24 hours – and as such I take seriously my responsibility to bring you this week’s top stories, regardless of whether you care or not. Hell, I’ve even come up with a festive theme in a vain attempt to keep you reading. Even though I know you’re not.

Here we go then…

On the first day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you….

One billion dollar exits
Sarah rounded off her South American research trip by profiling Wences Casares and examining the difference between billion dollar exits and what it means to feel “success”.

On the second day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Two out of every ten companies suffering from “stealth disease”
Vivek tells stealth start-ups: Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets.

On the third day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Three years of Crunchies
The first tickets to the third annual Crunchies sold out very quickly, but there’s still plenty of time to vote for the winners across 18 categories before voting closes on January 6th.

On the fourth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Four screenings of Avatar
Or at least that’s how many Arrington has attended since the movie launched this week and he described it as ‘The iPhone Of Movies’.

On the fifth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Five hundred and fifty million dollars
Over half a billion dollars; the price that Yelp turned down when they walked away from selling to Google.

On the sixth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Six-ty thousand nooks will be shipped by Barnes & Noble this year
…despite issues with shipping pre-orders.

On the seventh day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Seven million more dollars raised by ChaCha
….despite issues with their entire business being a joke.

On the eighth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Eight million dollars raised by Livemocha
…in a round led by August Capital to allow the online language-learning community to build new partnership deals and work on product development.

On the ninth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Nine ‘rock-star’ names associated with WePay’s new group payments services
Levchin, McClure, Conway, Y Combinator…

On the tenth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Ten IPO Candidates for 2010
….and, from Europe, ten disappointing tech stories of 2009.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Eleven billion valuation for Facebook
Up from the company’s $10billion valuation earlier this year.

And finally. On the twelfth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…

Twelve (at least) religions that I’ve certainly offended by suggesting that the entire world stops for Christmas. I look forward to the comments. Not that I’ll be reading them – after all, it’s Christmas!

Have a good week!

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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We're not going so far as to suggest that this here patent application foreshadows the kind of keyboard that'll be on a certain Apple tablet that may or may not be real, but if the suits in Cupertino do actually have such a device in the works, they'd be silly to not apply this technology to it. Dug up by Apple Insider, the latest app details a multitouch tactile keyboard that would boast a dynamic surface for helping typists keep track of where they're at on the board. Essentially, the surface would utilize an "articulating frame" in order to raise and retract bumps to make typing without physical keys a wee bit easier, and while we're certain that it would take some getting used to, it's bound to be simpler than banging on a static surface that requires your eyes to be on it. Don't go getting your hopes up, though -- wouldn't want to get them crushed when late January brings you an iPod touch with a camera, now would you?

Latest Apple patent app details multitouch tactile keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Videos: Probably Fake Apple Tablet In Action. But Awesome.
• Switched On: Tabula rasa

It's the final Christmas morning of the decade, and considering that there are only two or three of these left before the world ends, we certainly hope an exuberant Santa Claus dropped off a fairly swank stash of gadgetry overnight. 'Course, today just wouldn't be today without pigging out on calorie-infested foods and spending copious quantities of time with folks you dearly love and desperately loathe, but frankly -- we're just interested in learning what kind of gizmos entered your life this morning for the first time. Tell us what you did (or didn't) get in comments below, and be sure to tell us if you reacted similarly to the kids posted up after the break (no fibbing -- Sir Kringle is already making his list for next year, don'tcha know?).

When you're done, check out what people got excited about in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Continue reading So, what'd you get?

So, what'd you get? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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