Month: April 2022

Rumor: Apple’s logo to appear on NFL Coaches Headsets in 2022?

For eight years, the Bose logo was painted onto every NFL coaching headset, but Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal reports that Bose is now officially out as a league sponsor. Could the Apple logo replace Bose on NFL coaches’ headsets in 2022?

Bose followed Motorola, after the league went with the shield on its headsets for a season. The question now becomes which NFL partner ends up in that high-profile space.

Lefton mentions Apple as a potential headset sponsor, especially if Apple purchases the rights to Sunday Ticket. That would make for some awkward conversations between the league and Microsoft, which supplies the league’s ubiquitous sideline tablets (and which sometimes are referred to as iPads).

Whatever the partner, the relationship has real value. Via Lefton, Navigate Research estimates that the headsets are seen, on average, for eight minutes per game.

Via: NBC Sports

Apple Business Essentials now available for small businesses

Thousands of small businesses in the Apple Business Essentials beta reported significant time savings and renewed ability to focus on their mission.
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced that Apple Business Essentialsis now available to all small businesses in the US. The new service brings together device management, 24/7 Apple support, and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans. Apple also unveiled new AppleCare+ for Business Essentials options that can be added to any plan. Additionally, a two-month free trial will be available to all customers, including those who have been using Apple Business Essentials in beta.
“Apple has a deep and decades-long commitment to helping small businesses thrive. From dedicated business teams in our stores to the App Store Small Business Program, our goal is to help each company grow, compete, and succeed,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Enterprise and Education Marketing. “We look forward to bringing Apple Business Essentials to even more small businesses to simplify device management, storage, support, and repairs. Using this new service leads to invaluable time savings for customers — including those without dedicated IT staff — that they can invest back into their business.”
Apple Business Essentials supports small businesses throughout the entire device management life cycle — from device setup, to device upgrades — while providing strong security, prioritized support, and data storage and backup. The complete solution begins with simple employee onboarding, allowing a small business to easily configure, deploy, and manage Apple products from anywhere. With the Collections feature, groups of apps can be delivered to employees or teams, and settings can be automatically pushed to devices, such as VPN configurations, Wi-Fi passwords, and more.
MacBook Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPad Pro using Apple Business Essentials.
Apple Business Essentials is now available as a subscription for all small businesses in the US. The new service brings together device management, 24/7 Apple support, and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans, now available with AppleCare+ for Business Essentials.
Employees simply sign in to their work account on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac using a Managed Apple ID. Once they sign in, they will have access to everything they need to be productive, including the new Apple Business Essentials app, where they can download work apps available to them. Managed Apple IDs can be created by federating with Microsoft Azure Active Directory and, coming later this spring, with Google Workspace identity services, allowing employees to log in to their device with a single business username and password. Apple Business Essentials works with company-provided and personally owned devices, and with Apple’s User Enrollment feature, employees’ personal information stays private and cryptographically separated from work data.
In addition to a streamlined setup, Apple Business Essentials provides a dedicated iCloud work account for simple and secure storage, backup, and collaboration on files and documents. Business data is automatically stored and backed up on iPhone or iPad, making it easy to upgrade to a new device. And iCloud Drive keeps information synced across Mac, making it easy to move between devices at work.

AppleCare+ for Business Essentials

Beginning today, businesses have the option to add prioritized support for employee devices with AppleCare+ for Business Essentials. This service includes 24/7 access to phone support, training for both IT administrators and employees, and up to two device repairs per plan — by individual, group, or device — each year. Employees can initiate repairs directly from the Apple Business Essentials app, and an Apple-trained technician can come onsite in as little as four hours to get their iPhone back up and running.1
“Espresso machines are the last piece of food service equipment art, and the centerpiece of every cafe. We take pride in being part of the international coffee community with a superior customer experience in the Minneapolis area,” said Peter Kelsch, Espresso Services Inc.’s president. “I started this business in 1989 on Apple products, and now iPhone, iPad, and Mac are used across sales, operations, and service for our coffee equipment business. Apple Business Essentials makes deployment and security simple for our business as we continue to grow, and will reduce our IT management overhead and streamline our growth process. It’s going to be a game-changer for our business.”
A customer sitting on his desk using Managed Lost Mode with Apple Business Essentials on an iMac.
Matt Lichtfuss, information technology director for Espresso Services Inc. in Minneapolis, uses Managed Lost Mode with Apple Business Essentials. The new service has made deployment and managed security simple for the business, and streamlines IT management to support the company’s growth.
Pricing and Availability
Apple Business Essentials is now available as a subscription for all small businesses in the US. Flexible plans can be customized to support each user and device in an organization with up to 2TB of secure storage in iCloud, starting at $2.99 (US) per month after a two-month free trial. Plans that include AppleCare+ for Apple Business Essentials start at $9.99 (US) per month. Sign up today at apple.com/business/essentials.

Did You Know: Siri can play Games (besides being your digital assistant)

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="401"] Image: MacOSXDaily.com[/caption]

Siri is useful for a whole bunch of stuff.  From finding the nearest pizza place, to opening an app on your device.

But did you also know that it can play games to?  I found this little hint on another web site that I thought I'd share with you.

The game is the classic True or False.

Here's how to activate it:

  1. Activate Siri.
  2. Say: “hey Siri let’s play true or false!”
  3. Follow the screens.

Note: You may have to try variations of the above to activate the game correctly, as it doesn't always come up.

App Spotlight: A new column for CompuScoop.com

There are many apps in the iOS and Mac app store.  Some suck, but most of them are very useful but are not well known.

Starting this week, I will select an app from the App Store, review it, and tell you my honest opinion(s) on it.  I will start with a unbiased review of some of MY apps, and then do a call out for others in the coming weeks and months.

This column will appear at random times.

Do you have an app that you'd like me to review?  Just contact me anytime with:

  • Accepting iOS and/or Mac Apps (sorry, no Android or Windows at this time).
  • Name of app.
  • App's cost.
  • Is it an iOS or Mac App.
  • URL of where app is.
  • What it does.

Looking forward to reviewing your apps in the coming weeks and months.

You may have Missed:

Verified by MonsterInsights