Apple's iPhone Battery 'Slowdown' to be Optional

Apple is making the feature to slowdown the battery on iPhone an optional

After dealing with huge backlash for slowing down the iPhone Apple has decided to bring new software which will make this feature optional. This update will effectively result in switching off the “battery saver” feature which was the major cause of slowing down some of the Apple models. This option will be made available in the following smartphone models namely iPhone 6+, 6 Plus along with the S editions as well as smaller iPhone SE model. This would also be applicable for the iPhone 7 and 7Plus editions.

Apple has to deal with huge backlash month for slowing down the smartphones deliberately and it has apologized for the same. Customers and fans were angry with the Apple for not accepting this fault and before its discovery were made. Over the years it was suspected that Apple used to deliberately slow down some of its devices in order to push the need to upgrade.

Apple has maintained that it has slowed down some of the phones due to their ageing batteries and it was done in a bid to prolong the life of the iPhone devices. Users will get the ability to get rid of the battery performance throttling on these models with upcoming iOS 11.3 software update. With this update users will get the ability to switch off the battery saver on their iPhone. Apple has asserted that battery saver feature was designed to ringing dynamic management of the resources on the iPhone to offer maximum performance in order to prevent any kind of unexpected shutdowns.

Apple understands that its battery management code will remain under close scrutiny by the computer engineers, fans and tech enthusiasts in the upcoming days. Therefore Apple will be showing more information related to the battery and any kind of the path to the code will be displayed instantly.

Drop in price for the battery replacement

Simply by replacing the battery on their iPhone, users will be able to get same old performance without any issues. Apple has stated that it will be lowering the price for the out-of-warranty batter replacement service from hefty $79 to just $29. This price drop is available for the iPhone users in the US territory and it is applicable for devices like iPhone 6 and later models. Similarly in UK Apple has lowered the price from £79 to £25. A number of tech enthusiasts has complained that the issue related to the battery performance issue is quite rampant across the varied iPhone variants present in the market and it is a cause of concerns for millions of users worldwide.

As the long standing myth Apple deliberately goes on slowing down it older devices in order to boost the sales of the new one has been busted. Apple has come under scrutiny of the regulators, fans and customers therefore it is actively indulging in offering as many options as possible to enhance their battery performance on the iPhone models.

Why You Should Invest in a Blog for Your Website

Are you looking for a way to start generating more traffic to your website? Maybe you have seen a dip in traffic due to search engine algorithm changes or you have generally struggled to maintain the numbers of visitors you want? There are so many different marketing strategies out there to try but you don’t want to waste time on ones that won’t get results. You want to make sure you are investing your time in marketing techniques that are going to help you to achieve your business goals. You want to increase your website traffic and drive more conversions.

If you haven’t already tried blogging as a marketing strategy, the first question is -why not? Websites with a blog tend to have 434% more indexed pages and more indexed pages mean that your website will perform better in organic search results. If your website features higher up in search results then you are going to get more website visitors. Just make sure that your web hosting plan will be able to support increased levels of traffic before you start. Most shared web hosting plans often include “unlimited” bandwidth but we all know that’s a false promise!

Attracting blog readers

Blogging also allows you to provide expertise on subjects that people search for, which are related to your business. For example, if you run a hair salon, a good way of attracting visitors to your website might be to write a blog on how to copy a celeb’s hairstyle or covering different hair trends that are emerging in the industry.

Or if you are a builder, you could do a regular blog providing tips on smaller DIY jobs like tiling. Once you have attracted them to your site with your expertise, you have the opportunity to showcase your services. So they might have a look at an extension you recently completed or a new kitchen that you fitted. Or they may decide that tiling is actually too difficult for them to do themselves and contact your company to do it instead. Creating useful blogs will enable you to build up authority – recognition that you know what you are talking about and that people find your website to be of great use.

Whatever type of industry you work in, blogging is one of the best ways to generate organic traffic to your website. Also, if you add social media sharing buttons onto your blog, when you write something that someone really appreciates, they might share it with their friends on Facebook, Twitter etc. That means that your audience reach increases and more people might start following your blog, looking out for your useful tips and advice.

Interaction and engagement with audience

You can also open up comments on your blog to enable a two-way communication with your website visitors. Maybe there is an issue with your website that is stopping people from contacting you, or a user is struggling to find a specific product, they can use the comments to raise this. Or they might want you to go into more detail about a specific topic, enabling you to reply to them and start building that relationship.

They might suggest another topic for your next blog that would help them and many other people. You might not have any idea that people need help with a specific task unless they ask you. Then that could open up a huge opportunity if there is a big demand for people to learn about your next blog topic.

One thing that sometimes puts people off blogging is that they think it takes up too much time. It doesn’t have to take up hours of your day, most blogs are around 600-1000 words long which shouldn’t take too long if you already have an idea of what you want to cover.

If writing isn’t your strong point or you really don’t have the time, then you can always employ a freelance writer to do it for you. You can provide them with some bullet points of what you want to cover and they will write the blog for you. Or you can simply ask them to research the topic themselves and produce a blog. There are lots of ways to get a blog created, so don’t worry if you’re not a wordsmith or you don’t have the time to write your own blogs.

HomePod Apple Smart Speaker: Features, Release Date And Everything We Know

Everything you need to know about the Apple HomePod

We have been waiting long for the Apple’s HomePod as it makes its debut about six months ago. In June Apple unveiled its very first smart speaker in a bid to give a stiff competition to the ever popular Amazon’s Echo speaker but apple has been quite shy to bring to the market by postponing the launch date again and again. Apple HomePod worked just like any other smart speaker where it brings a wireless audio experience powered with the voice control offered with the help of Siri. Apple promised that it will bring a premium sound experience which will be coupled with the enhanced voice-control functionality with Siri support resulting in a much better experience than the Amazon Echo speaker. Being an Apple product it is designed to work seamlessly with the Apple Music along with some advanced features like smart home integration, multi-room audio as well as voice messaging.

Apple HomePod Key features you would love

Apple is coming quite late into the category of smart home speaker which is led solely by Amazon with its Echo and Echo dot models. Now the major competitor for HomePod includes the Alexa powered Echo series made by Amazon and the Google’s very own Home speakers. Apple has spent a huge time with several of years of research and development in order to come up with its own version of the smart speaker. It had given two years of free reign to the Amazon while it kept on developing the smartphone therefore it will come with a premium price tag along with some cool features baked right into the smart speaker.

HomePod becomes the first smart speaker from Apple which gets powered by Siri. Apple has baked in a number of features based its voice and smartphone assistant Siri into this smart speaker in a bid to give competition to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Siri will allow users to send messages, play a podcast, set a timer or even check the news. Furthermore it will allow users to link a wide range of HomeKit smart home tech appliances with it to turn it a true smart home. Apple has brought the HomeKit ability right into the smart speaker to bring the function of controlling multiple devices or home accessories by simply saying “Hey Sir, I am Home”. You can turn on and off the lights, set up the temperature and perform other smart home automation right by speaking to the HomePod.

Finally the wait is over for the Apple fans

The HomePod will be making its available for pre-order on January 26 in the UK and it will be realizing worldwide on 9the February 2018. A number o fans had gone ahead and waiting whole night for the HomePod sales to begin but they were left disappointed. Apple had announced it at the WWDC developers conference in June but it kept getting delayed from November to December then finally to New Year. Apple has priced the HomePod at just $319 in the US while in UK it will cost around £ 319.

The Cool Stuff in iOS 11.3

The iOS 11.3 beta version has just been released recently with a lot of cool stuff for developers to check out. No one expected the .3 version of the OS to contain a lot of improvements to the overall OS. Besides the smoothing up of edges and giving everything a more polished feel, Apple has also gone the extra step in introducing a lot more features than before in iOS 11.3.

Besides the basic fixes and patches, Apple has also introduced a new animoji, a fix for that battery fiasco and AR upgrades. Apple iOS 11.3 will be available for iPhone 5 and upwards.

That Battery Fiasco and iOS 11.3: 

So a while back Apple had to disclose a feature that makes your IPhone’s processing slower due to an ageing battery, Apple had to apologize for secretly doing this and now has released a way to take control of your own battery through iOS 11.3.

As of iOS 11.3 you can switch off this battery feature or check out your battery’s health by going to Settings>Battery. With iOS 11.3 your IPhone will inform you if you need a battery swap and for a limited period only, and by that I mean a year, you can get a battery swap at just $29.

Adding more to AR with iOS 11.3: 

Although Apple’s ARKit can do a lot, it still had some limitations in that you couldn’t add stuff in vertical terms. You could add for example a sofa against a wall but you couldn’t stand a cabinet against the wall.

Now all that is changed in iOS 11.3. The newer version of iOS can not only recognize vertical spaces but also oddly shaped items as well. Besides this, the ARKit can now also recognize pictures or posters and give out AR content.

More Animojis and iOS 11.3: 

Users with an IPhone X may be aware of animojis, the floating avatar that you can control with your face when you want to send those emotion filled messages.

With iOS 11.3, Apple has added a few more to the floating avatar group, namely a dragon, a skull, a lion and a bear.

Once deleted Stays Deleted in iOS 11.3: 

In iOS 11.3 you can now read and delete your messages from any Apple device and what’s more is that if you delete a message from your laptop then it will be deleted across all other Apple devices as well.

Introducing business chat in iOS 11.3: 

iOS 11.3 is also introducing business chat where you can chat with businesses on business chat instead of phoning them or looking them up online for any enquiries. You can even stop chats whenever you like and you don’t even have to send your personal info to them.

All your medical records in one place: 

Visiting a number of doctors and hospitals all requires you to make several folders and whats more is that you have to lug these medical files to every doctor visit you make. With iOS 11.3 all that is in the past with all your medical files stored in one location.

5 ways to adapt your online store in 2018

The new year has arrived, and with it comes an opportunity for change. So, take a look at your online store – what can be done to elevate it into the future? These five ways to adapt it will ensure it strives in 2018 and the years ahead.

Is your hosting provider good enough? 

Think about how your store is doing. Are you receiving more and more traffic as time goes on? Are you unhappy with the reliability and/or support of your hosting provider? If so, it might be time to reconsider. Begin the year with a new hosting provider that fulfils your demands and meets your needs.

Shared hosting is ideal for small online stores, as highlighted by Ecommerce Guide, but if your store is beginning to grow bigger, it may be time to make that step up and invest in a dedicated server. It’ll cope better with larger audiences, with faster speed times and a much lower risk of any downtime.

Ensure your design is set for the future

One of, if not the most effective way of getting customers to stick around on your store is through its design. Consider your store’s ease of access – can customers find their way around easily? Or are vital links and features hidden behind a garish, difficult design?

Although it’s good to be independent and innovative, look at competitors to see where their designs succeed. Flat design is often the way forward and looks to be so for the significant future, so ensure your online store brings your products and services to the forefront, with a minimal design to prevent any distractions or confusion.

Think about mobile browsing

Online shopping via mobile is becoming more popular than ever, and so it’s important your mobile design is just as forward-thinking and easy to use as the desktop version. 62% of e-commerce shoppers used their mobile phones to make purchases in the last six months, which means it’s definitely a priority.

Upon mobiles, online stores should be quick, simple and striking, bringing the product to the forefront and omitting any unnecessary steps – the process from browsing to buying should be minimal and fast. As handheld devices begin to overtake desktops, it’s important to be prepared.
Consider changes in the market

Make sure you remain vigilant and prepared for any shifts or changes in the market. Trends often change and phases of popularity for certain products can be short-lived, and so it’s crucial you remain a frontrunner and get ahead of the competition – innovation is key. Observe the market and be prepared for the tides of new demands and expiring products, and be prepared to reinvent and introduce new ideas to keep customers coming back. Remember – if you’re not forward-thinking, they’ll likely end up looking elsewhere.

Employ new levels of security

Hackers and attackers are always finding new ways to breach the security of online stores, so make sure you’re prepared for any eventuality. Ensure your security is top-level – especially when dealing with a large number of customers – as confidential details could easily be discovered should an attack be successful.

SQL injection is a common threat in e-commerce, but thankfully there are many methods of prevention that’ll protect you from any harm. This is crucial – should a customer fall victim to a hack, they’ll likely never shop with you again.

Do you have any more tips for adapting an online store for the future ahead? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.