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Showing posts with label March 16. Show all posts
Showing posts with label March 16. Show all posts
Apple today notified its employees about a new volunteer program that it's launching, which is designed to encourage Apple employees in select locations to volunteer in their local communities.



Under the new Apple Global Volunteer Program, Apple is offering employees a way to receive training and tools to help them create and publicize local volunteer events to better their communities. The program, currently available in the United States, Sydney, and Cork, also aims to help employees find activities to volunteer for.



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Since its launch in 2011, the Apple Matching Gifts Program has been an astounding success, with a combined total of over $78 million donated to charities and non-profits around the world. Now employees in the U.S. have a new way to make an even bigger impact on the causes they care about where they live: the Apple Global Volunteer Program. The program empowers employees to become Volunteer Champions and receive training and tools to help organize and publicize volunteer events in their communities. It also makes it easy for employees to find activities where they can volunteer their time and quality for Matching Gifts. Right now we're piloting the program in the US, Sydney, and Cork with the goal of expanding it worldwide in the future.

The launch of the Apple Global Volunteer Program comes just months after Apple made efforts to expand employee benefit packages under the direction Denise Young Smith, who took over as head of human resources at Apple early last year. Improved benefits included more maternity/paternity leave for parents, educational reimbursements, and an expansion of Apple's long-running donation matching program.



Apple's Matching Gifts Program [PDF] has existed since 2011, seeing the company match the money its employees contribute to charities (up to $10,000 per employee per year), but with the expansion, Apple also began matching time volunteered. As of October 2014, Apple donates $25 per hour to any non-profit where an employee volunteers.



As stated in the memo sent to employees, Apple's charitable efforts have thus far raised a combined total of $78 million for charities and non-profit organizations around the world.


















In just over a month, we will finally have the long-awaited Apple Watch in our hands, or technically, on our wrists. The first thing you'll need to do once you get a hold of the new gadget is pair it with your iPhone and prepare to install apps for it.



To make sure you are ready for the big day, we have a how-to guide for pairing your iPhone with your Apple Watch. It won’t be hard, but it will use technology to pair the two devices in a way we’ve never seen before on an Apple product.



Apple Watch will require connection to an iPhone 5, 5s, 5c, 6, or 6 Plus running iOS 8.2. With varying methods of connectivity between the devices, Apple has developed a interesting system to pair the two devices using a camera feature.



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Steps for Pairing Apple Watch with iPhone







  1. Launch the Apple Watch App on your iPhone

  2. Tap "Start Pairing" on the main screen

  3. Hold Apple Watch up to your iPhone's camera so the screen is in alignment with the yellow outlined box on your iPhone's screen

  4. Follow the on-screen instructions provided in the Apple Watch app


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Alternate Method for Pairing Apple Watch Manually




If you do not wish to use the camera feature, you can alternatively pair Apple Watch with your iPhone manually.




  1. Launch the Apple Watch App on your iPhone

  2. Tap "Start Pairing" on the main screen

  3. Tap "Pair Apple Watch Manually" at the bottom of the camera viewfinder screen

  4. Tap the "i" icon on Apple Watch to see its name

  5. Select that name on the Apple Watch iPhone app from the list that appears on the screen

  6. Follow the on-screen instructions provided in the Apple Watch app


Download Apple Watch Apps




For the time being, third-party Apple Watch apps are actually hosted on the iPhone, with the apps able to serve various types of extensions to the Apple Watch for notifications and interactivity. Later this year, Apple will allow developers to begin developing apps that will run natively on the Apple Watch.



Once your Apple Watch is paired with your iPhone, you will have access to a host of settings to configure and personalize your Apple Watch. You will also be able to download apps from a special Apple Watch App Store, which will be updated regularly with new content from developers. An App Store for Apple Watch is built right into the Apple Watch companion app for iPhone, where Apple is expected to present a variety of Apple Watch-compatible apps in a manner similar to that seen for the regular App Store, which will presumably also include Apple Watch content.



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Apple Watch will be available for pre-order in the first wave of nine launch countries on April 10, both online and in Apple retail stores, and will the device will launch in those countries on Friday, April 24. Prices start at $349 for the aluminum Apple Watch Sport model, $549 for the stainless steel Apple Watch model, and $10,000 for the gold Apple Watch Edition model. Starting April 10, you will be able to make a reservation or stop by to try on Apple Watch at an Apple retail store and pre-order your selection at that time.


















Don’t listen to the Apple Watch haters

Why Apple Watch Will Succeed

Like clockwork, the release of any new Apple product elicits almost reflexive groans from analysts and pundits who are quick to predict failure for whatever Apple's latest venture happens to be. And so it goes with the Apple Watch, a device that no one outside of the tech press has even used, much less seen in person.


While tempering Apple Watch sales expectations is certainly fair game, some of the wildly pessimistic takes on the Apple Watch we've seen have been downright preposterous.


Continue reading...





Otterbox is well known for offering some of the most protective iPhone cases on the market, and the company's offerings for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus don't seem to be any exception. We went hands-on with Otterbox's two most protective cases for Apple's new devices, the Defender and the Commuter.



As with all of Otterbox's rugged iPhone cases, more protection requires sacrificing the sleek, slim design of the iPhone. Both the Defender and the Commuter are bulky, but offer drop protection, dust protection, and screen protection. Check out our review to see the differences between the two cases.






Otterbox cases can be purchased from the Otterbox website. The Commuter for the iPhone 6 is priced at $39.90 and the iPhone 6 Plus version is priced at $49.90. The more protective Defender case for the iPhone 6 is priced at $59.50 and the iPhone 6 Plus version of the Defender is available for $69.90.


















Google Vs. Yahoo Firefox

Google has enjoyed a long run as the world's most dominant search engine, although the company is finding that this level of dominance is getting tough to maintain. Earlier this year, we saw evidence that Mozilla's deal to replace Google with Yahoo as its default search engine has made a small but significant dent in Google's overall share of the search market, which nonetheless remains high at an estimated 75%. Even so, Google doesn't like having anyone challenge its search crown and Search Engine Land reports that Google now "almost looks desperate" in its attempts to lure Firefox users away from Yahoo.


Continue reading...





Apple plans to lure Android switchers to the iPhone by offering them Apple gift cards in exchange for their Android devices, reports 9to5Mac . The gift cards will be available under a new recycling and trade-in program that will provide in-store credit for users who trade in old smartphones, including those that come from rival smartphone manufacturers.



The new program will work similarly to Apple's existing trade-in program, which provides users with gift cards for older Apple devices that can be used towards a new purchase. Value of the gift cards provided to Android switchers will vary based on the individual device, its age, and its condition.



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Apple has been making efforts in recent months to attract users switching from Android devices. In addition to this new trade-in program, the company has also created a detailed guide that walks Android users through moving data from their Android devices to the iPhone.



Following the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the devices had brought the highest Android switcher rate Apple had seen in three years. At the time, Cook also said he expects to see more customers switching over to iPhone.



Apple retail employees will begin receiving training on the new trade-in program this week and it will launch in the near future.


















Following the premiere of Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine this weekend at SXSW in Austin, Texas, reviews of the film have begun circulating in the media. The Guardian notes that the documentary portrays Jobs as "a man with dazzling talent and monomaniacal focus, but utterly lacking in empathy," with director Alex Gibney showing several examples of the late Apple co-founder's less-desirable behaviour that are typically overshadowed by his successes.



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"Yet this man, whose belief in his own righteousness was unshakeable, also terminated Apple’s philanthropic programmes, presided over huge corporate tax evasion, paid Chinese workers making iPhones a pittance, and only stumped up maintenance for his first daughter after dragging his ex-girlfriend through the courts, claiming that she was promiscuous and he was infertile, until a DNA test proved otherwise. Finally, he agreed to pay $500 a month – he was worth $200m at the time."

Apple senior executive Eddy Cue was quick to express his disappointment in the documentary, describing the film on Twitter as "an inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend" and "not a reflection of the Steve I knew." Cue added that the best portrayal of Jobs is in the upcoming book "Becoming Steve Jobs," which he describes as "well done and first to get it right."





The Hollywood Reporter has a nearly equal assessment of The Man in the Machine, describing the film as a "two hour-plus corrective to uncritical idolatry of [Jobs], a film that roots around in his misdeeds and mean traits, not in search of a complete portrait, but in the spirit of a Judgment Day prosecutor who knows damn well the defendant was not a holy man."



Other publications that reviewed the documentary include Variety , TechnologyTell and Indiewire . The film is expected to debut in theaters later this year.


















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