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Apple Boosts LTE Support With iOS 6.1

Apple today released iOS 6.1, which adds LTE support for more carriers and the ability to purchase Fandango movie tickets via Siri, among other things.  “iOS 6 is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and with nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said in a Monday statement. “iOS 6.1 brings LTE support to more markets around the world, so even more users can enjoy ultrafast Safari browsing, FaceTime video calls, iCloud services, and iTunes and App Store downloads.”

 

The update adds 36 iPhone carriers and 23 iPad carriers to the list of those that support LTE, something Apple CEO Tim Cook first tipped during an earnings call last week. LTE is available on iPhone 5 and the cellular versions of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad.

LTE will now be available from carriers in regions like  Italy, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, the Philippines, and several Middle Eastern countries, Cook said last week. A full list of those carriers is available on Apple’s website.

Meanwhile, users with a Siri-enhanced iOS device will be able to purchase movie tickets via the Fandango app using Apple’s voice assistant, but only in the U.S. On the music front, iTunes Match subscribers will also be able to download individual songs from iCloud.

In addition, Apple said iOS 6.1 adds a new button to reset its Advertising Identifier, which controls how your Web activity on the iOS device is shared with advertisers. You can find it via Settings > General > About > Advertising.

To see if iOS 6.1 is available for your phone, navigate to Settings > General > Software Update. The update requires at least 1GB of storage to download and will take about a half hour over Wi-Fi. You can also connect your device to your PC and download via iTunes.

Your device will need to reboot once the update is installed. You will then have to re-enter your Apple ID credentials for iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime purposes.

Apple released its last update, iOS 6.0.2, in December, which addressed problems with Wi-Fi connectivity.

 

 

RIM expects enterprise rush

With a week to go to the launch of BlackBerry 10, Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10) is now available for download. Given RIM’s previous dominance in the corporate mobility space, BES 10 is a vital component of the BlackBerry 10 ecosystem. A challenge for RIM ahead of the BlackBerry 10 launch is to make it as simple as possible for the new devices to be supported in the corporate environment in order to keep existing corporate customers on board.

RIM says BES 10 is the evolution of its enterprise mobile management solutions and offers support for all BlackBerry devices, as well as iOS and Android. Until now, enterprises could use RIM’s Mobile Fusion service to manage PlayBook tablets, iOS and Android devices while using the previous version of BES to manage BlackBerry smartphones. BES 10 now offers the ability to manage these various components from a single Web console.

It has been noted that, while the current version of BES 10 incorporates Mobile Fusion and RIM’s older BlackBerry management software into a single console, organisations still need to run the Mobile Fusion and BlackBerry Enterprise Server on different servers. According to RIM, a BES 10 update (expected to be released in May), will allow for all the infrastructure components to run on the same server.

According to RIM, through its BlackBerry 10 Ready programme, existing customers will be able to trade in their existing BES licences for BES 10 licences at no charge until the end of the year. The BES 10 software is also available as a limited 60-day free-trial and is available here.
RIM says BES 10 offers support for corporate-owned and personal device deployments. “It includes an intuitive, unified, Web-based administration console to manage devices and users. It also supports BlackBerry Balance technology,” says RIM.
BlackBerry Balance separates and secures work applications and data from personal content within a single device.

BES 10 also offers access to RIM’s new corporate app storefront for BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry World for Work. “Administrators can push and install the organisation’s mandatory apps to both corporate and personal-owned devices and publish recommended apps to employees,” says RIM.

Rapid switch

Speaking to Reuters, RIM’s senior head of enterprise software, Peter Devenyi, said BES 10 builds on RIM’s core strength of security but also offers a range of innovations that cater to the latest needs of IT departments.
“We definitely anticipate that [enterprise] customers will be making the switch to BB10 rapidly,” said Devenyi, adding that BlackBerry Balance is a key differentiator which is now built into the core of BlackBerry 10.

“This opens up the world of personally-owned devices in a way that makes IT departments and corporations comfortable, because they can truly manage the corporate side of the device, while not inhibiting the use of the device by the individual who actually owns it.”
The BlackBerry Balance feature has also been welcomed by analysts. Scotiabank analyst Gus Papageorgiou says it could be a big factor in swaying enterprise customers to adopt BlackBerry 10 devices. “The BB10’s ability to segment between corporate and personal settings will be a hit with enterprise IT departments and users alike.”

Next week’s BlackBerry 10 launch is billed as the most important launch in RIM’s history, and will be marked with numerous events around the world.
RIM shares rallied yesterday on the back of comments made by RIM CEO Thorsten Heins during an interview with German newspaper Die Welt. Heins said he would be willing to discuss the possibility of licensing RIM’s BlackBerry 10 OS to other companies and “the sale of hardware production”. Heins, however, emphasised that the current focus is on launching the new OS.

Best ADSL ISP network in SA

Using the 141,900 speed test results over the last three months from the Johannesburg server, MyBroadband calculated the average download speed, upload speed and latency for tests from 10Mbps ADSL connections.

The ensure accuracy, MyBroadband used IP address filtering, survey input and other mechanisms.

The following table provides an overview of the average 10Mbps ADSL results per network.

ISP account Download (kbps) Upload (kbps) Latency (ms)
Web Africa ADSL 4,639 563 80
Internet Solutions Consumer ADSL 4,279 632 61
Telkom ADSL 4,070 517 70
MWEB 3,901 573 59
Cybersmart 3,146 603 94

“Unavoidable” Windows 7 migration before death of XP in 2014

In the face of many firms and individuals now considering Windows 8 as their next potential operating system (or not as the case may be) RES Software has undertaken a Windows 7 migration survey in order to try and gauge the state of corporate mindsets as they stand today.  The company suggests that its analysis of more than 330 IT professionals worldwide across a variety of industries may provide some insight into a finding that only 30 percent of organisations have fully deployed the Windows 7 operating system.

 

http://www.itassetmanagement.net/2012/10/11/unavoidable-windows-7-migration-death-xp-2014/

 

Apple TV arrives in SA

Local distributor of Apple products Core Group has announced that as of tomorrow, the Apple TV set-top box will be available in SA.The recommended retail price for the Apple TV is R1 099, and Core says the product will be available at Apple premium resellers (iStore and Digicape) and selected Apple authorised retailers (Incredible Connection, Dion Wired, Makro and Hi-Fi Corporation).

Core says: “Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video, music and photo libraries from your computer right on your HD TV – and with iCloud you can instantly enjoy content that was purchased on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as well.”

The Apple TV can also be controlled by iOS devices through a free app.

The local release of Apple TV follows the roll out of the iTunes Store to SA. The local version of the store currently offers music and a limited selection of movies (TV series and games are still not available in SA).