Recent research by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has shown that the big three telcos – that’s Telstra, Optus and Vodafone – have all increased their mobile plan prices in the past year.
Those price increases have come alongside larger data caps in most cases, but the ACCC’s research has found that the average phone user in Australia uses less than 15GB of data each month.
Each of the carriers bump the data allowance up to 80GB a month in their next cheapest plans, and you’ll pay between AU$5 and AU$10 extra a month to get there. But the ACCC suggests this is the behaviour of big telcos which aren’t worried about losing customers to smaller rivals.
First, take a look at your mobile data usage and consider if you’re really using what you’re paying for. If you could do with less data on a cheaper plan, you might be better off with a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).
MVNOs are smaller providers that buy network coverage from the big three and resell it onto their customers, often at much lower prices. These smaller telcos mostly only offer 4G network coverage (although some do have 5G), and in most cases, they’re SIM-only – though some such as Woolworths Mobile and Circles.Life do offer handsets on a plan.
These smaller providers can be a cheaper alternative, though most don’t provide added extras such as streaming service add-ons, international data roaming and 5G network access.
Even if you find yourself burning through your data each month, switching to a smaller telco could still be a good option. Circles.Life, for example, often features in our picks for the best SIM-only plans because it offers 100GB for just AU$30 a month.
If you’re still set on staying with one of the big three, our advice is to take advantage of any discounts and offers available.
You’ll find that Vodafone has upped the data available across all of its plans for as long as you stay connected, though this is only available to new customers or additional services. Vodafone’s also offering three months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free, while Optus has perks such as Optus Sport included for the life of your plan.
Telstra doesn’t have offers going at the moment, though you can get small bonuses such as data-free streaming of Apple Music (if you’ve got a paid subscription) and streaming service add-ons such as Binge and Kayo (Telstra customers can get three months of Binge for free, and AU$10 off Kayo for the first 12 months).
With the immense amount of unused mobile data and plan features that Aussies are paying for, it's wise to take a good look at your current plan and see just how much you could be saving with an alternative.
Before the quantum era can officially begin, scientists must first prove that quantum computers can provide advantages over the classical computers of today which is why IBM researchers recently conducted an experiment to do just that.
According to a new blog post from IBM Quantum, the company's researchers have, for the first time ever, reported a simultaneous proof along with experimental verification of a new kind of quantum advantage. Specifically they showed that even today's noisy qubits offer “more value than bits as a medium of storage during computations”.
IBM's quantum team thinks of computing in terms of circuits and at the start of a circuit, there are a number of classical or quantum bits. These bits are set to an initial value and then the circuit progresses forward through a user-written program, made up of gates. While different gates have different effects on these bits, the output of this kind of circuit is a set of zeroes and ones in both the classical and quantum case.
When it comes to classical computers, these bits are switches that can either be on or off and interact inside gates that flip switches based on the inputs to this gate. Quantum bits or qubits though can take on a combination of these two switch positions and quantum gates create states that incorporate every possible combination of switch positions.
Demonstrating the advantage
In their new academic paper published in Nature Physics titled “Quantum advantage for computations with limited space”, IBM Quantum's researchers set out to prove the advantage quantum computers have over classical computers.
They did this by setting up an experiment using circuits restricted to using two-input gates and limited to using one bit of computational/scrap space to answer the question: “How does the computational power differ when a computer has access to classical scratch space versus quantum scratch space?".
IBM's researchers then proved in their paper that there are functions which a restricted classical computer cannot compute but a restricted quantum computer can. To do so, they pitted a real quantum computer against a classical computer.
In order to increase the computational capabilities of the classical computer used in their experiment, the researchers armed it with access to random Boolean gates. However, even with access to this randomness, the classical computer was still only able to succeed 87.5 percent of the time while a perfect, noiseless quantum computer would be able to succeed 100 percent of the time according to the findings of IBM's paper.
While today's quantum computers are too noisy to achieve this kind of perfect result, IBM Quantum's researchers still managed to achieve a success rate of 93 percent and beat the classical system when carrying out the experiment in real-life by calibrating special entangling gates to perform these circuits more efficiently.
There's a new tvOS 15 in town, after Apple announced the 2021 overhaul to its Apple TV operating system at WWDC.
Overhaul might be a strong word for what transpired, though. We got a glimpse at a couple of small tweaks and features coming to tvOS 15, though nothing like the radical redesign that had been hinted at by the rumor mill in the past few weeks. It was odd not to see any substantial mention of Apple TV Plus either.
There's some additional support for the HomePod Mini, and new collective features that make sharing an Apple TV 4K with your family a little bit easier – but that's it. It's somehow more disappointing than last year's update, which brought in gaming-specific features like quick game resume, support for the Xbox Elite Series 2 and Xbox Adaptive Controllers, HomeKit updates, and the arrival of picture-in-picture mode for dual-feed watching.
We'll run you through these changes in more detail below, but we wouldn't expect too much here, and our wishlist for tvOS 16 is looking to be pretty much the same as what we hoped for with this year's tvOS 15 iteration.
Want to try it out? A tvOS 15 public beta is live right now on the Apple Beta Software Program website, which is available free for anyone with a tvOS 15-compatible device.
So, what's new for tvOS 15? There are a few changes to the Apple TV interface, such as a list of multi-user viewing recommendations that show up no matter whose user profile is selected. So if you're watching with roommates or family members, you'll have a handy place to look through things you all enjoy, and not be cursed with a single person's algorithm for deciding every movie night.
There's the introduction of SharePlay, an Apple-specific feature for co-watching TV streaming services with friends over FaceTime (which is getting some limited support on Android devices too). You'll be able to set it up for a host of streaming platforms over Apple TV like Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Twitch, Pluto TV, ESPN+ and Paramount Plus – though not Netflix – casting from your iPhone to Apple TV hardware while continuing to chat into your handset.
Anyone with a HomePod Mini will also be able to control their Apple TV through the compact smart speaker via Siri voice commands.
HomePod mini(Image credit: TechRadar)
tvOS 15 release date and beta
tvOS 15 looks set to follow a similar release schedule to previous iterations of Apple's TV operating system. That means an announcement at WWDC (check), a private beta shared with developers (check), a public beta available for download (check) and a full rollout in September (it'll happen).
If you want to try tvOS 15 out for yourself, you can download the public beta from Apple's website. While typically more stable than developer betas, the public beta can still be finicky, so take caution when upgrading.
tvOS 15 will also launch alongside iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and watchOS 8, as Apple releases the latest updates to its fleet of smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, and streaming devices.
tvOS 13 focused on multi-user support for TV shows and movies, with each profile getting its own recommendations in the TV app, but now that same functionality will apply to games via Apple Arcade as well.
tvOS 14 added the ability to keep track of individual achievements for every user, and quickly resume games when you come back to them. Apple also updated the software to recognize two new Microsoft controllers, the Xbox Elite Series 2 and Xbox Adaptive Controllers that were released in late 2019.
Two other new additions in tvOS 14 are picture-in-picture, which allow you to keep videos running on the screen in the corner of the screen while you move in between apps, and the addition of smart home camera feeds to Home View. Both those features are on iOS 14, too.
Apple TV Plus(Image credit: Apple)
tvOS 16: what we want to see
It's probably too soon to start thinking about tvOS 16 considering that tvOS 15 hasn't even arrived to the general public yet, but while we wait we though it'd be good to ponder the future of Apple's TV operating system with the hopes of getting these new features:
Kids profiles and Screen Time
AppleInsider has reported on possible Kids profiles for future tvOS updates, restricting mature content and enabling parents to keep tracking of screen time usage, too – and we'd certainly like to see it.
Improved Apple TV Plus integration
One of our main bugbears about Apple TV Plus at launch was the way it was integrated into the Apple TV app, with Plus content being littered around and mixed up with non-Apple content in a confusing manner that doesn't make it clear what's free and what's paywalled content.
A software update for 2021 is the perfect opportunity to remedy this, especially now that Apple TV Plus has expanded its launch lineup, with far more shows and series on offer, from Ted Lasson season 2 to Mythic Quest season 2.
Failing to properly maintain subdomains can leave organizations at risk as they often contain overlooked vulnerabilities according to a new report from security researchers at the Vienna University of Technology and the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
While cybercriminals often try to hijack organizations' subdomains, the researcher's “Can I take your subdomain?” report, which will be presented at the USENIX Security Symposium in August, highlights how even large businesses with well-funded IT teams can fall victim to an attack by abandoning or ignoring unused subdomains.
As reported by The Register, once a subdomain has been neglected by an organization, it can become vulnerable to cookie-based attacks. In such an attack, a cybercriminal will set up their own site hosted on a different server which they will use to replace a company's subdomain.
As websites usually consider their subdomains to be “safe”, cookies from the main website can be overwritten and accessed by the subdomain. This allows an attacker to impersonate other users on a company's corporate network to launch additional attacks or steal sensitive data.
Vulnerable subdomains
In addition to looking into cookie-based attacks, the researchers also investigated other methods used by cybercriminals to takeover subdomains including dangling records, cross-origin resource sharing, postMessage JavaScript attacks and domain relaxation exploits that make it possible for scripts to run across related domains.
To show just how disastrous not properly maintaining one's subdomains can be, they also scanned 50,000 of the world's top websites from the Tranco list to discover 1,520 vulnerable subdomains across 887 sites. Cisco, CNN, Harvard and the US National Institutes of Health were just several of the organizations whose subdomains were susceptible to potential attacks.
After informing IT admins about their findings, only 31 percent of the vulnerable subdomains were secured after a six-month period. Another reason to properly maintain subdomains is due to the fact that organizations with more of them have a much larger attack surface.
In order to avoid falling victim to any potential attacks, organizations should decommission unused subdomains and keep their certificates up to date.
At the WWDC 2021 keynote, Apple revealed watchOS 8, its upcoming update for its Apple Watch operating system. While we likely won’t see its full release until September or October when we expect the Apple Watch 7 to launch, eager adopters can sign up for the watchOS 8 beta now.
The watchOS 8 update brings a new Mindfulness app, sleep app updates to track Respiratory Rate, Fitness Plus updates, and more. They don't look like huge changes, but check watchOS 8 features below for all the new perks coming to your Apple Watch.
And there's good news for older Apple Watch owners: the watchOS 8 support devices list hasn't changed from last year's watchOS 7, meaning Apple Watch 3 and newer devices will be able to download the operating system.
While we don't expect watchOS 8 to publicly launch until later in the year, Apple did release a developer beta immediately after WWDC 2021, which is available now for anyone with a developer account.
For everyone else, a watchOS 8 public beta was released at the end of June, and it's available to anyone with a watchOS 8-compatible Apple Watch (scroll below for the full list). If you want an early look at what's coming in the full release, you can download it now.
What is it? The next major Apple Watch software update
When is it out? Probably September, following a June 7 unveiling
How much will it cost? It will be free
watchOS 8 release date
The watchOS 8 update will probably land in September, as that’s when new versions tend to land, typically alongside new hardware, with the Apple Watch 7 and the iPhone 13 expected this year.
However, although it probably won’t be finished and released until then, watchOS 8 was announced during its annual WWDC event, which this year is being held between June 7 and June 11, and the operating system update was indeed announced during the event's keynote.
Immediately after unveiling watchOS 8 at WWDC 2021, Apple released the developer beta to anyone with a developer account – head to the developer program site to register for the watchOS 8 beta.
The watchOS 8 public beta went live at the end of June, which anyone with a compatible device can download from the public beta site. Of course, some features might not be revealed until a lot closer to the launch of the finished software, so expect them to roll out in successive beta versions leading up to watchOS 8's full release later in the year.
watchOS 8 supported devices
The watchOS 8 update is officially compatible with all models from the Apple Watch 3 onwards, according to Apple's official WWDC 2021 announcement. This doesn't shift from the watchOS 7 compatibility list, so if you've gotten last year's big update, you'll be able to run this year's new software, too.
You'll need an iPhone compatible with the next version of iOS, so if you want to upgrade to watchOS 8, you'll need to pair it with at least an iPhone 6S running iOS 15. This should be true for the developer and public betas, too – keep your iPhone updated to the latest version of iOS to also run the preview version of watchOS on your Apple Watch.
watchOS 8 features
The watchOS 8 update is set to offer a number of smaller features, all augmenting how you normally use your Apple Watches. While we didn't see any monumental upgrades this time around, there are some quality of life improvements for existing apps and new functionality.
(Image credit: Apple)
Wallet: digital IDs, now on your Apple Watch
The Wallet app is adding more ways to wirelessly interact with places and things. Some of this is limited to the Apple Watch 6 and its Ultra Wideband tech, like the ability to unlock your car (first unveiled at WWDC 2020 and coming to select vehicles) and start it from the driver's seat, per Apple's press release.
But most Apple Watches should be able to benefit from adding more digital keys to Wallet for their home, office, and hotel, and use their wearables to unlock them.
Perhaps most surprising: individuals in participating US states will be able to add their driver's license or state ID to Wallet, and some TSA checkpoints will start accepting these digital IDs – just add them in the iOS Wallet app and you can display them on your Apple Watch.
(Image credit: Apple)
New Mindfulness app and sleep tracking
The Breathe app has been incorporated into the new Mindfulness app along with a new activity, Reflect, to walk users through a different kind of mindful session reflecting on past events.
Sleep tracking now monitors a new metric – respiratory rate – which measures breaths per minute. And all data fed into the Health app is also folded into new Trends, tracking how your health metrics shift over longer periods of time.
(Image credit: Apple)
Workout app and Apple Fitness Plus
The watchOS Workout app is getting two new workout activities – Tai Chi and Pilates, both of which are more relaxed and mindful exercises to accompany the yoga workout. These have custom-built heart rate and motion algorithms, per Apple's press release.
There's also new functionality in the Apple Fitness Plus watchOS app, like Picture in Picture support and more filtering options. You can also transfer workouts seamlessly between devices, pausing exercise on one and starting it again on another.
Fitness Plus is also adding more workouts by expert Jeanette Jenkins, as well as a new musical Artist Spotlight Series with workouts tuned to entire playlists by artists like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Alicia Keys.
Photos and Portrait watch faces
The Photos app has been redesigned with new ways to navigate collections, while Memories and Featured Photos sync to the Apple Watch from the iOS app. A new Portraits watch face lets you turn your Portrait-mode photos into watch faces and twist the crown to alter depth.
The Apple Watch will also display the time or complications behind the person in the Portrait, so you won't get numbers covering up their features.
(Image credit: Apple)
Messages and GIF responses
Messages also gets more granular controls, like twisting the crown to move the cursor and even the capability to search and reply with GIFs. There's also a new Contacts app brought over to watchOS to browse, edit, and share contacts from your Apple Watch.
New features in other products also add Apple Watch features, like Intercom, an upgrade for the Home app that lets you see who's at the door via live video feed and even greet them.
The new Focus feature in iOS also comes to watchOS 8: whichever Focus users set on their iPhone will carry over to their Apple Watch, allowing them to set their notification settings to prioritize work, fitness, sleep, or simply do not disturb.
Later in the year, iPad users will be able to download iPadOS 15, the 2021 operating system update, and thanks to Apple's WWDC 2021 keynote speech we're finally getting to find out all about the upcoming update.
A sister update to iOS 15, the new iPadOS has lots of the features of that iPhone operating system, but with a few extras that make the most of the tablet form factor.
It sounds like iPadOS 15 isn't a huge update for Apple tablets, simply improving iPadOS 14 features (and adding some that were curiously absent from 2020's update despite already being on iPhone), but some people might like one or two of the changes.
While a developer beta went live shortly after WWDC 2021, the public beta came out a few weeks later at the end of June – any user with an iPadOS 15-compatible device can download the public beta now and install it for free. Just keep in mind that, while more stable than developer betas, public betas can be a little finicky.
What is it? The third version of iPadOS, an operating system for iPads
When is it out? 'Fall' - presumably September or October
How much will it cost? Nothing
iPadOS 15 release date
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple confirmed iPadOS 15 will be rolling out to compatible iPads in 'Fall' 2021 - that's presumably September or October, when we'd expect the new iPad 10.2 to launch.
A developer beta was released shortly after WWDC 2021, and an iPadOS 15 public beta went live at the end of June – if your device is compatible with iPadOS 15 (see below), it can run the public beta.
To get the public beta running, here's a summary of what you need to do: visit the Apple Beta Software Program site on the device you want to update, sign in with your account, download a beta profile to your device, head to the Settings app and install it, restart your device, and head to Settings > General > Software Update like it was any other software patch.
iPadOS supported devices
Apple confirmed iPadOS 15 will come to 'iPad mini 4 and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and all iPad Pro models'. So what does that mean? Well, all the iPads listed below:
Lots of the new iPadOS 15 features are actually features of iPadOS 14 that have received a rebrand, or improvements from 2020's version. Below we've highlighted the key changes.
(Image credit: Apple)
iPadOS 15 widgets
Widgets were added in iOS 14, but they were locked to the home screen in a panel on the left... for some reason. That wasn't the case for iPhones, and it made the iPad widgets hard to use.
That's changed in iPadOS 15, so you can put widgets wherever you want. There are also widgets for more apps than before, including new widgets for the App Store, Find My, Game Center, Mail, and Contacts, and widgets now come in different sizes than they did before.
Two examples shown were a Photos app that shows you snippets of the pictures you've taken, and a Files widget that's pretty big, so you can see lots of files at once.
iPadOS 15 App Library
An iOS 14 feature that we're finally getting on iPadOS is the App Library, which is a menu where you can list all your apps on a separate screen, much like the app drawer on Android.
It also sorts your apps into categories, so this is a good way to keep all your tools organized if you're a disorganized person, and file your apps by their function or frequency of use.
On iPhones you have to swipe to the end of your home screens to get to the app library, but on iPads you can also bring the thing up easily from any page via the dock.
(Image credit: Apple)
iPadOS 15 multitasking
Another 'new' feature that isn't actually new is multitasking, so you can dual-screen apps and keep them off to the side if you're not using them.
It's not clear how this is different from the current split-screening feature, as the 'shelf' or list of apps to swap between when you're multitasking already exists in prior iPadOS builds.
The way to enable split-screen is different though, as instead of dragging or dropping apps around, a separate menu at the top of the screen lets you enable Split View or Slide Over with a tap.
There's also now quick access to the home screen from Split View, and the ability to use keyboard shortcuts to set up and switch between Split View and Slide Over.
iPadOS 15 Notes app
(Image credit: Apple)
The iOS 'Notes' app has turned into Google Docs, by the sounds of it. You can tag people into documents, see a revision history and more.
One other new improvement is the ability to easily bring up a Quick Note by swiping up on the screen with the Apple Pencil, giving you a way to easily sketch a note or write down an idea.
You can use this while another app is on the main screen, and then copy some data from the app that's open, like the URL of a website.
There are also new ways to tag notes, which means you can categorize your notes and find them through a new feature called the Tag Browser.
iPadOS 15 Universal Control
Want to use your iPad along with your Mac for a seamless expensive? Universal Control may be the feature for you, which allows you to drag and drop between devices.
For example, if you're working on a document on your iPad you will be able to drag it to the side of the screen and pull it up onto your Mac's screen and work from it there. Exactly how you set this up hasn't been made clear yet, but it looks exciting nevertheless.
iPadOS 15 new apps and other features
iPhones have access to Apple's Translate app, which is basically like Google Translate but made by Apple.
This app is now coming to iPadOS, so you can convert text and spoken words between languages. You can also translate things in other apps, like emails in foreign languages for example. And with Auto Translate the app will detect when someone is speaking and in which language, and translate it without having to hit a microphone button.
FaceTime has a variety of improvements, and the biggest of them is a feature called SharePlay that allows you to listen to songs together over Apple Music or watch TV shows in sync, with shared playback controls.
It's sort of like Netflix Party, a feature many used during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, but specifically for Apple devices and through the company's services like streaming platforms.
There's a new Live Text feature too, which recognizes text in a photo and allows you to take a relevant action, such as calling a phone number in a picture, or translate the text. This pairs with Visual Look Up, which can identify objects in a photo.
Updates to Safari meanwhile include a new tab design, and a Tab Groups feature for saving and managing tabs.
There's also a new Focus tool, which is designed to filter out notifications when you want to concentrate on particular tasks. For example, you may want to make sure you don't have Facebook pinging you while you're working. This can be customized so that it only filters out the types of notifications that you don't want to be distracted by.
Plus, like iOS 15, notifications summary will gather together particular notifications at the time of day you choose them to. Find you get lots of notifications during work that you don't want to see until you finish? You can set this up with iPadOS 15.
You can also develop your own apps straight from the tablet with Swift Playgrounds 4. Pus you can move seamlessly between an iPad and a Mac with a single mouse and keyboard, Memories in Photos has a new look and personalized song suggestions, Maps includes new and enhanced details, and there are new privacy and accessibility tools.
As WWDC 2021 kicked off this week (June 7), it began with the official unveiling of iOS 15 which is Apple's operating system for the iPhone line.
As we have already detailed the features for macOS Monterey, watchOS 8 and iPadOS 15, here are all the useful features announced, both at the keynote and on Apple's site, of what is included in iOS 15.
Want to give it a try? While the developer beta was released shortly after WWDC 2021, the iOS 15 public beta went live at the end of June, and it's available for anyone with an iOS 15-compatible device. It's worth noting that this isn't the finished software – just the first of many public beta versions that will slowly add new features.
All features will arrive in iOS 15's finished and full release, which we expect to come out alongside the iPhone 13.
While iOS 14 brought widgets and improvements to iMessage and Shortcuts, it isn’t without its issues, despite how much it improved the operating system for both iPhone and iPad.
This year, it looks like refinement is the theme for iOS 15, with improvements across the board, adding up to a substantial feature set over the previous release.
Latest news
The first public beta has released ahead of schedule at the tail end of June – and anyone with an iOS 15-compatible iPhone can try out the new OS.
Cut to the chase
What is it? The next big update for iOS
When is it out? Probably September 2021, unveiled on June 7
How much will it cost? It will be free, as always
iOS 15 release date
New versions of iOS typically land in mid-September. Generally they’re accompanied by a new iPhone launch, so we could see iOS 15 land alongside the iPhone 13 in September 2021.
Launched at WWDC (and you can see everything that happened here), the developer beta is available now, and we're constantly fishing through the many discoveries that are emerging across this week.
The public beta has arrived ahead of schedule at the end of June, and anyone who has an iOS 15-compatible device can download it now. While the developer betas haven't been too finicky, the public betas are typically less buggy, and should be a lot more stable for most users to try out on their main devices. Make sure to back up your device just in case before updating to iOS 15, and follow our guide for how to get iOS 15 beta on your phone.
Apple has also said that the final version will arrive in the fall, which, following past releases, sounds like September will be the most likely time for it to appear.
Of course, while we’re talking about iOS 15 here, iPadOS 15 will almost certainly follow the same trajectory, which was also announced at tonight's keynote.
As Apple's main section on iOS 15 states, the update will work with an iPhone 6S and above. There may be some features unavailable in earlier iPhone models, but these will be detailed soon.
iOS 15 Supported Devices(Image credit: TechRadar)
FaceTime improvements
FaceTime SharePlay(Image credit: Apple)
Apple has brought new features to FaceTime in iOS 15, with a focus on being more comfortable and lifelike.
Spatial audio is coming, which means 3D audio gives the impression that your recipients are in the same room as you.
Voice isolation now focuses on your voice only, and blocks out any other ambient noise. There's also Wide Spectrum, which focuses on you and the environment around you.
There's also Grid View, which shows a group call, alongside Portrait Mode coming to the application. The background is now blurred, and focuses on you.
There's also FaceTime links, which can generate a link to help plan a call, similar to how a Google Meet link works.
SharePlay is also new in iOS 15, where you can share music, watch TV shows and movies, alongside sharing your screen, so you can show a recipient how you use a certain app.
You can also extend SharePlay to an AppleTV, which is helpful especially for a movie. This is also an API, so an app can work with this very soon.
Supported services such as Disney+, Twitch, ESPN, TikTok and more are using SharePlay for iOS 15.
Messages
(Image credit: Apple)
Another massive improvement to iOS 15, group chats now gain collages, as a way to easily display multiple images.
Shared with You in the News app shows what your friends have shared with you, such as links, and they can be easily copied into a Messages chat. It's also available in Safari, Music and more apps.
There's also statuses, which look very similar to WhatsApp and other messaging apps.
You can even mute notifications in group chats if you wish, individually. So if you want to mute for an hour or for a day, now you can.
Notifications
(Image credit: Apple)
After many refinements over the years, notifications are now redesigned for iOS 15. Notification Summary is now here, where these can be scheduled to appear at certain times, or even by Apple's own machine learning algorithms.
This looks to replace Notification Center, with better management for all your notifications on your iPhone.
Do Not Disturb is also part of the improvements here, with it showing for your friends and family if they have it switched on themselves.
Focus is also another feature for Notification Summary, which recommends you on your lock screen to let you know of certain apps, dependant on your calendar and even your location.
Apple are pushing Intelligence as a big part of this, which looks to be their renamed machine learning methods, such as for Siri Suggestions.
Notification improvements in iOS 15(Image credit: Apple)
Safari
Safari sees a redesign in iOS 15(Image credit: Apple)
Apple's web browser has seen a big redesign in iOS 15, with extensions being carried over from macOS, to the iPhone.
The address bar is now at the bottom, with gestures to easily switch between different tabs and go back to a full screen view, alongside a pull to refresh web window, similar to refreshing your mail or even your tweets, now in Safari.
There's also a new home screen, which you can customize to your liking and even choose your own photos.
Many buttons that were accessible are now hidden behind a button, so this user interface may change as we receive new betas in the coming months.
Live Text
(Image credit: Apple)
Craig Federighi also demoed a feature where you can take a photo of text, and it will highlight it, and then copy it into a document, or even translate it. This is a direct competitor to Google Lens and looks to be very convenient if you take many photos or you have a holiday booked.
Photos
(Image credit: Apple)
Photos are now in Spotlight suggestions, so you can look for someone in particular who are in a photo you've recently taken.
There's also improvements to intelligent Photos called Memories, where it creates new slideshows and carousels of photo collections with music, and it even shows the music being played during this.
Apple Wallet
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple Wallet has seen another improvement in iOS 15, with CarKey gaining U1 support, which allows you to unlock your car, or even open your trunk.
There's also the ability to enter your workplace or home with Wallet, and soon, hotels such as Hyatt will be enabling this feature for iOS 15 enabled devices.
Identity cards such as driving licences (in the US) will also be viewable in Apple Wallet, with TSA enabling security checkpoints soon.
Other features
(Image credit: Apple)
As shown in its breakdown of all iOS 15 features, the magnifier is now back when you highlight text, making it much easier to see the letters and words that you want to manipulate.
The weather app is now redesigned, taking advantage of the Dark Sky acquisition from last year, with more detailed and more accurate weather, with high-resolution weather maps to see the state of the weather around you.
There's now notifications for when rain or snow is about to occur in the next hour, and you can even mute certain cities that you've added from within the app, to control the amount of alerts you may get from however many cities you've added.
(Image credit: Apple)
The Maps app is seeing some useful improvements in iOS 15, with new details for commercial districts and buildings. Elevations and a refreshed color scheme has also arrived, with landmarks being particularly highlighted.
Drivers are also gaining a refined look when setting routes from one destination to another, making it even easier to look at highway interchanges and upcoming traffic conditions.
You can now create favorites to your transit routes, so you can make sure of your commute, and even when you're in the subway, Maps will track your progress, and let you know of the next stop.
(Image credit: Apple)
Widgets have seen more improvements this year, with new ones for Find My, Game Center, App Store Today, Sleep, Mail, and more.
While Control Center hasn't seen a redesign this year, there are more easy access points for Focus and much more, alongside a redesigned Siri Remote for Apple TV devices.
Mail improvements in iOS 15(Image credit: Apple)
With Shortcuts now available on macOS Monterey, it also means that any you create or edit can now be synced to your iPhone on iOS 15, so you can carry on the work on your Mac.
Shortcuts on macOS Monterey(Image credit: Apple)
There's plenty of small features that users are already discovering now that the developer beta is here.
Your DualSense or Xbox Controller can now have their rumble features be used when playing a game in iOS 15, so your games can be much easier to control if there's a plethora of controls that are covering your iPhone's touch screen.
When selecting a date and time for when you're setting an alarm, or an event in Calendar, you can now scroll through these times as you could in previous iOS releases. Now, you have the choice of scrolling or typing in the date and time you need to add.
You can now pull to refresh in the redesigned Safari, alongside muting notifications in an app or a Messages thread for either an hour or a day, similar to how you can mute chats in WhatsApp.
With drag and drop now in iOS 15, you can select a photo from Files, and drop it into an email for example, making it much easier to share your files and photos between applications.
Want to see what’s coming in the big operating system updates heading to iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Apple TVs later in the year? The iOS 15 public beta is now live, along with those for iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15.
While developers have been able to preview the big OS updates since just after the WWDC 2021 keynote in June, anyone who wanted in needed to be part of (and pay for) the Developer Beta Program. But the public beta for each is truly free, and takes just a little work to get running on your device. At least for every OS except for the macOS Monterey public beta – sorry, that’s not available yet.
Keep in mind a few things – first, that the betas are just starting to roll out, so access might be limited in each region as they become available to users in more areas. But more importantly, while public betas are usually more stable than developer or internal betas, it’s still somewhat risky to load on your device.
Thus, we recommend creating a backup of your current device before upgrading in case the beta is wonky or bug-ridden. Also remember that the Apple Watch requires a paired iPhone to coordinate updates – so if you want to upgrade to the watchOS 8 public beta, you’ll need to get your iPhone on the iOS 15 public beta first.
Finally, don’t expect all the cool features that were revealed at WWDC just yet. Betas roll out in stages (Apple numbers them), slowly introducing features for early adopters to test. These reach developer betas first, with public betas on more stable builds receiving them later. But the latter will still get to play with new OS features before everyone else.
(Image credit: Apple)
How to download iOS 15 public beta: a representative primer
We’ve got several guides for how to download the developer beta below, which should give you an idea of how to get your OS beta of choice as we update them to reflect the new public beta availability. Make sure your device is compatible with the next OS versions – we have compatibility lists in the guides below.
But for right now, let’s walk through how to download the iOS 15 public beta as an example.
First, you’ll need to get a public beta profile. Using the device you wish to update to iOS 15, open up Safari (sorry, Chrome fans) and head to the Apple Beta Software Program website and click the ‘sign up’ button. You’ll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID to enroll your account, if you haven’t done so before.
Then you’ll be prompted to download the software profile to your device – tap the 'Download profile' button to do so. You’ll need to activate this profile by opening the Settings app, and below your iCloud account info should be a new selection, ‘Profile Download.’ Tap that and tap to install, after which you’ll be asked to restart your device.
Once rebooted, you should be able to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 15 just like you would install a typical software update. Head to Settings > General > Software Update and tap ahead to install. Easy.
Panasonic has unveiled the Toughbook G2 and the new 2-in-1 combines the power and performance of a rugged laptop with the portability and versatility of a rugged tablet.
The device has been designed with usability and security in mind while still providing mobile workforces with access to important legacy systems. It's also more secure as it is a Microsoft Secured-Core PC that runs Windows 10 but will be upgradable to Windows 11.
New additions to the Toughbook G2 include eSIM and 4G connectivity for field workers and the next generation 2-in-1 also features double the RAM and storage of its predecessor. Improved screen brightness makes the Toughbook G2 easier to use in direct sunlight while three customizable buttons on the front frame of its display offer quick access to frequently used applications and settings.
The Toughbook G2 features a 10th Gen Intel Core Processor (Quad Core) with Intel vPro technology and 16GB of RAM though it can be outfitted with a total of 32GB of RAM. The new 2-in-1 will be available in both a Standard and a Quick Release SSD model and the latter is ideal for data sensitive sectors such as emergency services, police forces and defense.
Accessories galore
Just like the Toughbook G1 and Toughbook 20 that came before it, the Toughbook G2 is compatible with a rich ecosystem of dedicated accessories including vehicle docks that can be used with and without a keyboard, hand straps, shoulder straps and cases with sanitizable options. It's also worth noting that the G2 will be backwards-compatible with accessories from both of its predecessors including vehicle docks.
Thanks to the inclusion of a user-exchangeable expansion bay area, customers will be able to add contact smart card and contactless smart card readers to the G2 for additional functionality. The Toughbook G2 can also be equipped with an optional emissive backlit keyboard that adds an extra USB-A and USB-C port. When mobile workers return from the field, the Toughbook G2 can be plugged into an optional laptop docking station from Panasonic that allows the device to output in 4K to two external monitors.
Senior product marketing manager at Panasonic's mobile solutions business, Dirk Weigelt provided further insight on how the new Toughbook G2 outshines its predecessors in a press release, saying:
“Mobile workers loved the TOUGHBOOK G1 and 20 but the G2 will steal their hearts. It truly is the next generation rugged device for mobile workforces. It offers all the benefits of the latest technology, while maintaining important access to legacy systems, all wrapped up in a more flexible, secure and ultimately even more useable device.”
The Toughbook G2 will be available at the end of the July and prices will start at €2,450 / £2,218 + VAT in the EU and UK though US pricing has not yet been released.
A Russian-based VPN service that was popular among cybercriminals has been seized by an international law enforcement operation led by the Dutch National Police with support from Europol and Eurojust.
As reported by BleepingComputer, DoubleVPN was commonly used by cybercriminals due to the fact that it offered a double-encryption service to help them evade detection when conducting their illegal activities online.
However, what they didn't know is that the service was keeping tabs on them in the form of customer logs that were seized along with servers and data from the company.
We've built a list of the best VPN services available
When using DoubleVPN, requests are encrypted and transmitted to one VPN server and then sent to additional VPN servers before finally connecting to the final destination. This allowed cybercriminals to hid both their real locations and originating IP addresses when launching cyberattacks on both businesses and consumers.
(Image credit: Dutch National Police)
Seized by law enforcement
DoubleVPN's website is now offline after it was taken down by law enforcement and in its place, there is now a website seizure notice that explains how the VPN's owners “failed to provide the services they promised”.
While cybercriminals thought they were getting a secure VPN that would help them stay anonymous, in reality the company was collecting personal information on them as well as logs and statistics on their online activity.
Europol provided further details on how DoubleVPN was marketed to cybercriminals and used to compromise networks worldwide in a press release, saying:
“DoubleVPN was heavily advertised on both Russian and English-speaking underground cybercrime forums as a means to mask the location and identities of ransomware operators and phishing fraudsters. The service claimed to provide a high level of anonymity by offering single, double, triple and even quadruple VPN-connections to its clients. DoubleVPN was being used to compromise networks all around the world.”
For businesses across the globe, the march toward going fully digital has quickly become a race, and one largely run and supported by developers, coders, and other IT professionals.
However, many companies are long past the point where demand for these experts has out-stripped the supply of qualified candidates.
This shortage, evident across multiple industry sectors, has led to a wealth of knock-on issues, including overworked IT, tech debt, and an overall slowdown in the growth of innovation. However, with the right tools, your business can thrive under pressure — particularly if one of those tools is low-code.
Low-code: what is it and how can it help my business?
Low-code is hardly a new concept — for almost as long as we have been coding and developing software, there has been a demand to make the process easier and more accessible. This is especially true in the business world, where significant resources are spent trying to do just that. This is where low-code began, primarily as a means of giving almost anyone the tools to build business applications through user-friendly interfaces that require little to no coding.
However, early attempts at low-code solutions were riddled with issues that often created more problems than they had initially solved. Lack of governance led to wasted resources, and the rapid and hands-off development of apps often resulted in security concerns. That’s not to mention the raft of poorly constructed low-code platforms rushed out to take advantage of the initial surge, which instead left businesses with messy, broken apps for already overworked IT teams to fix.
The recent creation of more advanced low-code platforms has many turning to the idea once again. Before the pandemic, Gartner estimated that low-code application platforms would account for 65% of all app development by 2024. With the pandemic accelerating the need for businesses to digitize, Forrester now predicts that figure will be closer to 75% in 2021 alone.
The reasons behind this growth are easy to see when examining the capabilities of modern low-code platforms. Using the ServiceNow’s Creator Workflows suite of low-code products, passionate employees with limited programming knowledge but a wealth of domain expertise and enthusiasm—can be transformed into an army of citizen developers.
Embracing a low-code platform and tools can free up your experienced coders to focus on more complex issues while empowering citizen developers to tackle your existing tech debt. This results in the faster development of more effective apps, created by an end-user who knows exactly what problems they face, and what solutions they need.
An effective low-code platform will also avoid the shortcomings of older, more convoluted options whilst providing long-lasting, efficient solutions. Assuring security and governance is a must, and the ability to deliver apps that end-users won’t just use, but actually appreciate and enjoy, is critical.
Most importantly, the best low-code solutions will encourage closer partnerships between your professional coders and your citizen developers, with cross-enterprise collaboration helping create a smoother, more effective workflow.
ServiceNow low-code
ServiceNow has been providing IT management and digital workflow solutions to businesses around the globe for more than a decade and was named a Leader in the 2020 Gartner MQ for low-code application platforms.
Having worked hand-in-hand with business leaders and IT professionals for so long, the company’s Creator Workflows suite of tools was created to produce powerful apps with little to no coding experience. This includes App Engine, which replaces the sometimes intimidating view of traditional code with a dynamic graphical user interface and range of easy-to-start templates, enabling virtually anyone to build powerful apps with little to no experience coding.
With businesses needing to embrace all the digital tools possible to ensure they stay ahead of the curve, low-code is set to be one of the most important solutions around to keep your company where it belongs.
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Juggling the IT demands of your business can be a daunting task, with a myriad of different wants and needs to be balanced across different departments.
It's a sad truth for many businesses that outdated business processes cost time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. From seemingly simple tasks like resetting an employee’s password to something as time-consuming, yet critically important as invoice processing, clunky, siloed systems can take employees away from the work they were hired to do.
With IT experts often among the most overworked and in-demand employees, transforming tedious manual processes into automated digital workflows is likely to become just another entry on a long list of projects that take a backseat to more time-sensitive, critical tasks.
However, thanks to the rise of powerful new low-code platforms, ordinary employees are taking app development into their own hands.
The rise of citizen developers
Businesses looking for new ways to digitize their workflows are increasingly turning to companies like ServiceNow, whose Now Platform features a wealth of tools to enable low-code app development.
By adopting low-code app development tools, non-IT employees are able to take up the role of citizen developers, creating applications that solve the problems they are closest to. Because these citizen developers have an intimate knowledge of what works, what doesn’t, and what the end result needs to be, these apps are often more effective than those developed in-house in the traditional way.
So whether you’re trying to digitize existing manual workflows or create brand new processes, low-code can be an essential way to save your organisation time and money whilst still ensuring efficiency and quality.
Take, for example, the aeronautics manufacturing company that used ServiceNow’s App Engine to build a low-code application to manage its flight manual publishing processes.
Flight manuals are updated frequently using a process that involves many different stakeholders. While it might not sound critical at first, consider that without an up-to-date manual, an aircraft isn’t allowed to fly. One grounded airplane can translate into significant loss of time and money.
Instead of commissioning a costly bespoke publishing solution, they used low-code to create an application that automatically sends updates to the right editors, engineers, illustrators, and writers. All changes and updates are tracked within the app, making it possible to send updated flight manuals—whether hard copy or electronic—up to 75% faster than before.
The low-code, pro-code partnership
Low-code development is done in partnership with the IT department, creating a win/win situation in which pro-code developers are freed to tackle big hairy process problems while keeping an eye on the low-coders to ensure proper governance. Instead of simply handing wannabe citizen developers a completely blank slate, your IT professionals set the guardrails to avoid security risks, compliance issues, tech debt, and app sprawl. The result is rock-solid security and compliance through frictionless cross-functional collaboration.
This partnership is only possible with a low-code platform that connects the right players and processes.
The Now Platform provides a safe space for citizen developers to build their apps without risk to business resources. Once completed, IT determines how the app is implemented and assures governance and compliance before giving it access to your sensitive data—no need to worry about an update to one app affecting workflows elsewhere.
Don’t get left behind by the competition
Reliable and efficient digital workflows are one of the most important aspects to running a business, second perhaps only to skilled and dedicated employees.
Adopting the use of low-code app development processes hosted on a proven platform is one of the best possible tools you could employ to develop automated, digital workflows—and ensure your business stays ahead of the competition.
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As businesses expand and grow their use of enterprise applications, app sprawl can become an unexpected, but serious drain on company resources.
App sprawl occurs when the rollout of multiple applications outstrips IT’s ability to keep track of its resources and tools, and can lead to money and resources being wasted on software that goes unused or underutilized — and that’s without also considering the potential security risks when “shadow IT” applications are put in place without proper oversight. As your workforce grows and the number of internal processes and services spirals with it, the risk of having too many apps and programs is all too real, and the problem of app sprawl raises its ugly head.
So—how do you satisfy your employees’ demand for new and better workflow applications while maintaining control of your IT assets? The answer begins with a well-constructed citizen developer program.
Creative and compliant
In recent years, the demand for coders, developers, and other IT professionals has outstripped the supply of qualified candidates. In response to this rising demand, low-code platforms that help companies design, build and implement enterprise applications without the need for in-depth technical expertise have exploded.
An effective low-code platform provides a solution capable of allowing even those with little coding experience the chance to build out useful and time-saving apps quickly and easily. And while it might seem like making it possible for employees to build their own apps would increase app sprawl, the opposite is true.
Using a suite of tools like ServiceNow’s Creator Workflows, low-code can help banish app sprawl by providing citizen developers with a well-governed playground upon which to develop applications that will replace the ones that aren’t up to snuff. This is accomplished by developing your low-code program in partnership with IT, who sets up guardrails for what gets developed and then works with their low-coder to be sure the application meets rigorous security and compliance standards.
The end result is that poor- or non-performing apps can be identified and disbanded, allowing low-code apps that are both creative and compliant to take their place. Repeated throughout the enterprise, app sprawl can be tamed in a way that saves money and boosts security.
We live in an app-hungry society—and that appetite will only grow. Now is the time to fight app sprawl, before it becomes a silent but significant drain on your organization's bottom line. With a powerful low-code solution like ServiceNow App Engine powered by the Now Platform, you can strike the perfect balance of coding freedom and compliance, all the while ensuring your apps are safe, effective, and on your IT department’s radar.
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“The 20TB Aegis Fortress L3’s mass storage capabilities enable fast response, restoration, and recovery in the event of a disaster, reducing downtime and minimizing financial and reputational damage," said Jon Fielding, Managing Director EMEA at Apricorn.
"This is critical for businesses looking to build resilience at a time when ransomware attacks, in particular, are becoming an almost daily occurrence."
Solid performer
Apricorn argues that the drive makes more sense in the current climate, which has necessitated the need for encrypted offline backups for public and private enterprises across all sectors.
The new 20 TB variant conforms to the FIPS 140-2 level 3 parameters, which it claims is the highest level of FIPS validation attainable for portable devices. Furthermore, thanks to a new, ultra-fast encryption chipset, the L3 range boasts the fastest, most robust, highest capacity drives in Apricorn’s portfolio.
The drives are enclosed in a tamper resistant enclosure made with 6061 aircraft-grade aluminium alloy and ship with interchangeable type-A and type-C connector cables.
The drives are available in different capacities, from 500GB to the newly launched 20 TB variant. Apricorn told TechRadar Pro the 20 TB variant features 9.5mm Novachips NS379C20T0VC0-U0.
