New Apple Products - Amazing Speed for 2017

Apple announced many new products & updates at their Worldwide Developers Conference 2017. These include new watchOS 4 … iOS 11 … macOS High Sierra and some great new products. A new 10.5 inch iPad Pro with an updated 12.9 inch iPad Pro, new 2017 Kaby Lake processors for the iMac and MacBook Pro. Coming soon, we also saw the new iMac Pro and HomePod smart speaker. Check out all the details in the video below. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks Out Against Immigration Executive Order

Image Credit: Apple Inc.

Image Credit: Apple Inc.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken out against the immigration executive order that United States President Donald Trump recently signed. He shared a letter with employees detailing his thoughts and concerns. After recently being "supposedly" understanding of the importance of bringing manufacture of Apple products back to the USA after a meeting with the president, he still has kept a reality check where this is concerned.

"Team, 

In my conversations with officials here in Washington this week, I've made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration -- both to our company and to our nation's future. Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do. 

I've heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about the executive order issued yesterday restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. I share your concerns. It is not a policy we support. 

There are employees at Apple who are directly affected by yesterday's immigration order. Our HR, Legal and Security teams are in contact with them, and Apple will do everything we can to support them. We're providing resources on AppleWeb for anyone with questions or concerns about immigration policies. And we have reached out to the White House to explain the negative effect on our coworkers and our company. 

As I've said many times, diversity makes our team stronger. And if there's one thing I know about the people at Apple, it's the depth of our empathy and support for one another. It's as important now as it's ever been, and it will not weaken one bit. I know I can count on all of you to make sure everyone at Apple feels welcome, respected and valued. 

Apple is open. Open to everyone, no matter where they come from, which language they speak, who they love or how they worship. Our employees represent the finest talent in the world, and our team hails from every corner of the globe. 

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now." 

Tim"

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple and serves on its Board of Directors.

Source: MacRumors

Your iPhone is Your New Backpack

Believe it or not iPhones have a way of simplifying almost anything. Take school for example, a lot of money, time and planning goes into preparing you for a new semester. You have to purchase supplies, new books, reading requirements and much, much more. There’s an app for that. In this list of compiled back-to-school apps you will find almost everything that you are looking for. 

Textbooks aren’t cheap and of course you can buy them used and save money - or you can download CourseSmart and view the full text of more than 7,000 textbooks all on your iPhone for free. Bought for your iPhone the books cost half as much as their print equivalents and without all the weight and bulk on your back. 

For those reading assignments, download Stanza. If you are required to read some of the classics this app has more than 30,000 to choose from, all free. It’s a great app for required reading or just catching up on a good book. 

Your professors talk quickly and you don’t write quite that fast so it’s hard to keep up. Evernote is an app that lets you type and synchronise notes, voice memos, photos from your iPhone directly to the web. You don’t have to worry about missing something, forgetting your notebook or losing your notes, it can all be accessed from the app or the Evernote website. 

If you can get away with having your iPhone out in class, download the Graphing Calculator. This might not get you through advanced calculus but it can help you through most maths courses. With this app you can graph multiple equations and it will email the results to you. 

MyHomework will help you stay on top of your assignments by organising them for you. Keep track of your class schedule and any upcoming assignments. It will colour-code them and keep you aware of their due date. Also, it will automatically sync with your desktop, always keeping you updated. 

Everyone has use for a dictionary every now and then, so download the Dictionary.com app. Whether you are writing a term paper, studying vocabulary or just trying to expand your knowledge of the English language, this app will do just that. 

Documents To Go gives you the ability to sync and view Office files and PDFs to your phone while allowing you to create documents as well. 

Flashcards are the perfect studying strategy and Brainscape is the perfect app. You waste the majority of your time writing out flashcards when you should be studying. With this app you can create free flashcards or download already-made cards to study with. Share them between groups and with syncing, you can always pick up where you left off no matter which device you use. 

One of the worst parts about writing term papers and essays is the bibliography. You’ve spent a lot of time on gruelling research and the worst part is writing out your references. With EasyBib you simply scan the barcode of the book you’ve used and watch as the app creates bibliography magic. 

Going back to school doesn’t have to be expensive or stressful. The iPhone has a way of simplifying lives and tasks and even assignments. These school apps are guaranteed to take some of the load off while keeping you up to date and on top of upcoming assignments.

ExpenseIn Preview: the Brand-New UK App for Receipt Management

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November 2015 will see the introduction of a very exciting new business expenses app, ExpenseIn, for those of us who as part of our general routine have to manage a large number of receipts and complete the associated VAT returns in order to make allowable expenses claims for businesspurposes with the HMRC.

The Problem
Historically, individuals have had to collate all the receipts that they accumulated driving around the country's motorways, attending client, partner or investor meetings and presentations, staying overnight at hotels or B&Bs, while grabbing lunches and lattes on the go. All those receipts would have to be retained and filed, which would invariably mean an overflowing, receipt-stuffed wallet, or desktop spikes with pierced and crumpled bills going all the way back until last Christmas and beyond.

But that's not all.

As a company employee, they would then have to spend hours filling in spreadsheets for the finance department, who would in turn have to scrutinise those returns and interact with said employee until all parties were satisfied that the claims and receipts matched up, with each claim legitimate and in keeping with the latest UK tax requirements. A huge amount of combined company hours.

The ExpenseIn App Solution
So for the self-employed, finance department and business owner, the facility that ExpenseIn provides to track and organise expense records comes as an absolute godsend.

Importantly, a USP of the ExpenseIn app is that it comes from UK tax specialists, with a working knowledge of UK tax law and business practices, who are therefore able to ensure that all updates are fully compliant with the latest in HMRC developments.

Furthermore, the app itself looks extremely efficient, practical and simple to use - receipts are captured and then discarded while their record is easily accessible and exportable in the cloud-based storage system; expenses can be submitted in an intuitively simple way; approval flows are straightforward and logical to set up; and policies are quick to establish or amend.

But what's also very attractive is ExpenseIn's pricing system, which, especially with the annual payment plan, is tremendously competitive, with costs close to half of those of some main competitors.

So taking into account the breadth and depth of ExpenseIn's features, simple yet thorough setup and pricing, we at Geekanoids really can't wait for its November release.

Charge your Devices Safely - Apple Meltdown

I anticipate that this will be an ever evolving article, which I will update from time-to-time with advice and any developments that come from Apple.

A short while ago I awoke to a partially melted Apple USB-to-Lightning cable. This resulted in some plastic peeling off the cable and adhering to my skin. In addition, plenty of phone calls to and from Apple took place. Check out my initial video below.

Following on from the initial phone calls, I was amazed at Apples initial response. Their engineers had stated that this was caused by "external sources". This almost rendered me speechless, but I pushed for a resolution and detail this in the video below.

For the safety of others, I will be following this up with Apple further. I want it taken seriously, as this could have been so much worse and could of course happen to others. 

This is where you come in … please use the comment system below or use our contact page to share you experiences with Apple cables and related products. Have you had this happen to you? Get in touch and we will feature as many as we can.

New Apple MacBook & Apple Watch Opinion

With the recent announcement of the new Apple MacBook alongside updated details of the Apple Watch, I wanted to share my thoughts on these new devices from Apple. I am also very happy to share some thoughts from Will Jones of John Lewis below.

Will Jones, Buyer for Tablets and Computing, at John Lewis, says:
"Apple's latest MacBook provides all the functionality you would imagine but housed in a thinner and lighter body with a higher-resolution display.  A redesigned keyboard, screen and battery enable the impossibly thin and light design, and being available in 3 colour variants means there will be fresh appeal for existing mac users too. The embracing of a USB-C port summarises the balance between design and function, this single socket will power and connect the MacBook. The introduction of a more portable model reflects a wider trend for fast-working, powerful gadgets that are easily transportable yet really pack a punch. Sales of Apple products have risen steadily over the past few years as consumers choose iOS compatible products, aligning with the popularity of the iPhone, and the MacBook category is one which has seen considerable growth with a +22% rise over the past month compared to the same period in 2014."