Monthly Archives: March 2020

Apple has agreed to a settlement of $500 million due to their purposely slowing down of older model iPhones.

The decision was filed in court on Friday 6 March in Canada, and is awaiting final court approval. The proposed amount will account for small payouts of $25 per handset to customers and members in the US who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 line. The settlement will also include payment to attorneys, which has been quoted at $93 million, plus up to $1.5 million for expenses.

Apple has faced many class action lawsuits between 2017 and 2018 which were compiled into one complaint. This came from the discovery that Apple limited processor speeds as phone batteries aged, whereas users were led to believe that their phones were slowing down solely from age. It wasn’t revealed that Apple had used an intended feature to slow iPhones, or if customers could have replaced the battery to fix this, rather than having to buy a new phone.

Apple was also charged with a €25 million fine for this last month from French authorities. Italy has also censured Apple through a €10 million fine. Apple has since apologised and lowered the cost of battery replacements to $29 from $79.

Full case details can be read here https://www.cohenmilstein.com/case-study/re-apple-inc-device-performance-litigation.

Due to the increasing numbers of cases of people infected with coronavirus in the UK, the government may issue recommendations or even restrictions on use of transport and travel movements. At this time, it is unknown if this will actually happen, but we would like to offer some advice on working from home for a longer period of time than usual – if the need does arise.

Most, if not all, of your systems should be accessible online, with a little preparation.

Office 365
If you are using Microsoft services such as Office 365, your apps and files such as Outlook, SharePoint,OneDrive are all accessible via portal.office.com.

G Suite
If you use Google service, such as Gmail, Google Docs or Google Photos, these are all accessible online via gsuite.google.com.

Hosted Exchange
If you use our Exchange email service, you can access OWA (Outlook Web App) via directionforward.com/owa.

Webmail
If you use our Webmail email service, you can access via directionforward.com/webmail.

Shared Drive
If you use our Shared Drive service, you can access via directionforward.com/shareddrive.

What will be needed to work from home:

• A computer with a working internet connection.
• A headset that connects to your computer, if you use your work desk phone regularly.

What can you do to prepare for working from home:

• Ensure you have all your login credentials required to access your account(s).
• Ensure you have any devices you may need for MFA (Multi Factor Authentication).
• Ensure all the files you need to access are saved to your cloud service. N.B. You won’t be able to access files that are only stored on your office machine.
• Install the app or software for your work desk phone on your home computer – exactly what this is depends on your service.
• Ask your team which apps and methods they prefer to use to keep in touch, eg Slack, Teams, Skype, etc.

If you are using your own computer when working from home, we recommend setting up a new separate user account for your work – in order to keep your personal data separate. For those who don’t have a workable device, companies may consider supplying one. Laptops fit for purpose start from around £330+VAT.

For further information and advice, please contact us.

Microsoft is developing a new version of their operating system, Windows 10X, which is designed for dual-screen devices but will very likely be brought to all devices eventually.

Much like Apple’s MacBook touchbar, Microsoft has revealed a new user interface as part of Windows 10X, the ‘Wonder Bar’. This has easily accessible buttons, a trackpad and space to display videos. The Microsoft Surface Neo laptop already has this, but it could become standard on Windows devices. The ‘Wonder Bar’ allows users to search easily and place apps or websites. When apps are launched, they will appear on one side of the screen with a span gesture to drag across the two screens.

Windows 10X will run traditional Windows desktop applications, but it will run them in “containers”. By running apps via a container, they remain separate from the core Windows operating system and thus can’t cause crashes or security problems – creating higher security for systems. Traditional apps will work immediately on Windows 10X without software developers having to make changes.

There are some limitations which come with the container approach, such as system tray icons and software which requires deeper access to Windows, not being supported. The container also won’t allow startup tasks to launch at login and background tasks might be suspended. This is because Microsoft wants to preserve battery life and increase security on Windows 10X.

Windows 10X and Microsoft’s dual-screen devices are still a while off yet, although Microsoft already offers Windows 10X development tools so developers can optimise their apps in time for the new OS. Microsoft provides videos on the new Windows 10X and more here: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/virtual-events.