GEEX

Apple was crowned the most valuable brand in the world overtaking 13 year reining Coca-Cola. The iPhone creator topped the global list of valuable brands at $93.3billion.

Google came second in the list compiled by consultancy Interbrand, with Coca-Cola, IBM and Microsoft rounding out the top five.

Coke, which has become an icon of globalisation and consumer society, has been top of the list every year since it was first published in 2000. But Apple’s devotion to innovative design and Google’s almost universal popularity as the world’s number one search engine helped them surpass the 127-year-old drink for the first time.

The top 10 saw mainly brands from the U.S including Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM, GE (6^th), McDonalds which came seventh, and at 9^th place Intel.

The top European brands were Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Louis Vuitton and H&M. The most valuable British brand was HSBC which occupied 32^nd place.

The total value of all the brands in Interbrand’s top 100 came to $1.5trillion, 8.4 per cent higher than last year despite the continuing effects of the global financial crisis and subsequent recession.

I get a lot of customers asking if their Macs and Apple laptops need security software. And they always seemed surprised when I say no. Here’s it explained, why Macs don’t need security software.

Cybercriminal gangs are focused exclusively on Windows because there are more Windows users, yes, but also because Windows is still easier to hack. As a Unix-based operating system OS X is by its very nature sandboxed. It’s like having a series of fire doors – even if malware gains access to your Mac, it is unable to spread to the heart of the machine. Macs are not un-hackable, but they are more difficult to exploit than Windows PCs.

OS X 10.8 takes it even further. It includes a gatekeeper function that by default prevents Mac users from installing anything other than Apple-approved software.

There are exceptions, however. If you are running a business with a fleet of Macs, or a network of both Macs and Windows PCs, I’d suggest getting in some protection. It’s a belt and braces approach that may not be necessary, but if you have a lot to lose it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.

You may also consider using antivirus on your Mac if for some reason you could be targeted individually – if you have access to sensitive or high-value data, for instance.

Fall, or as we know it, Autumn, marks the transition from Summer to Winter. It’s that time of year when the leaves start going a rusty brown, the days start getting shorter and as it gets colder we all start to wish we were bears able to hibernate.

It is also the time of the year that as Apple fans we’ve all been waiting for. Fall is when Apple normally release all their new products. When we were at Apple’s WWDC everything was to be released in the Fall. So now the Fall is coming when are these dates? Autumn officially starts on September 22^nd.

To our luck, Apple’s fall starts on the 10^th of September when they will release the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 5c and a potentially upgraded Apple TV. Also we should be getting the all new flat design on iOS 7 will also be released.

But what about the new Mac Pro? At the WWDC in June this was one of Apple’s major announcements and cinema teaser campaigns in the US have been promising its arrival in the Fall. So we reckon we might actually have to wait until next month and for the fall to arrive properly before we get this new gem and OS X Mavericks.

A question that a lot of customers pose to us is that they really want a Mac but they run software that can only operate on a Windows platform, such as Sage Accounting. Likewise many of our creative clients love their Macs but need to test their websites on Internet Explorer.

A simple solution for both of these problems is to install Parallels Desktop that enables you to run Windows 7 or 8 on your Apple Mac without any issues.  Parallels allow you to switch from Windows or Mac based programmes with ease all without the need for a long winded system reboot.

The system reboot or “Boot Camp” as Apple referred to it was always Apple’s preferred route but recently they have been seen to embrace the Parallels route. As Apple’s customer base moves from just being creative and into the offices of accountants and solicitors the market demand for a solution that allowed people to have a Mac that ran Windows has increased dramatically.

With any of our Macs the addition of Parallels and Windows 7/8 Professional adds just £1.50 + VAT per week to the lease.  Such a cost effective solution allows many of our customers to realise their wish of owning a Mac whilst still operating Windows.

Every ‘fall’ Apple releases their new iPads, and this fall we’ll have two to choose from.  We’re most likely to see an iPad mini with Retina-screen, plus a thinner, smaller iPad 5 – similar to an enlarged iPad mini.

These releases are conjuring quite a dilemma with most people. Many folks have ditched their iPad for the mini, mainly due to convenience. But what if the iPad 5 is small enough to compete with the mini? To add to the dilemma, the prediction of the iPad mini with a Retina-screen – what is the difference other than a couple of cm between the two?!

The iPad mini can be used for everything: reading, writing, email, video, web-browsing, and photo-editing. That’s not to say the iPad mini is good at all these things, it is just good enough. It being tiny and lightweight allows it to be used for longer lengths of time.

The iPad is great watching movies, partly for the bigger screen, and partly because HD video looks amazing on that Retina display. In fact the only time the iPad is preferred over the mini is for looking at photos or watching movies.

When the mini was launched, it was up against the huge, fat iPad 3, a monster that was actually thicker and heavier than its predecessor. However, if the iPad 5 will be lighter and thinner and almost like the mini, then the boundaries blur. No longer is it “big and heavy and Retina” vs. “small and almost weightless but low-res.” The whole choice comes down to screen size.

Which would you chose? Give us a call on 0121 285 0098 or have a look at our range of iPads here…

Rumours are gathering pace that the 2^nd generation iPad Mini will come with Retina Display. These latest rumours do contradict previous reports that suggested the model was only going to receive hardware updates at best.

Providing the iPad Mini with a Retina display would mean that the product mirrored other Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and MacBook Pro. At present the iPad Mini comes with a lower-resolution 132ppi screen. Whilst it is unclear what the resolution display the new Mini might have Apple must surely be conscious of Google’s Nexus 7 tablet that features 323ppi.

The latest rumours also indicate that the size of the iPad Mini will remain the same as the current model, which is 7.9 inches. Although it is likely that rather than the simple black or white back cover options, Apple might offer customers a wide variety of colour options.

As with all good Apple rumours the timeframe for when the new product might hit the shelves is open to some debate. Earliest expectations are for the fourth quarter of this year whilst some push that as far back as April 2014.

Microsoft has entered the Cloud market providing anytime access to its Office applications when connected to the internet. With “Office 365 on Demand” calendars and emails will be available on the go allowing you to share files and manage teams from anywhere. Additionally, files are automatically saved online regardless of where you access them.

Office 365 can be installed on up to 5 different devices and it comes with a standard desktop version that allows you to work off line. The moment you regain internet connection your work is automatically synced.

Although Office 365 is targeted predominately at business users it will be available to home and education users. Payment for home users is relatively simple with a choice of a one of annual payment of £79.99 or monthly instalments of £7.99. For business users it’s a little more complex. Small business between 1 and 10 employees are charged £8.40 per user per month.  For businesses with 10 to 250 employees you will be charged £9.80 per user per month. For those above 250 employees you can obtain the slightly more expensive enterprise licence providing access for 50,000 users.

So is it value for money? Research has shown that businesses, particularly enterprises, can pay as much as 44% more through Office 365 that purchasing Office 2013 Professional Plus. Likewise for the home user a strong case can be made for buying Office Home and Business over Office 365.

The new software has also drawn criticism in that it can only operate on Windows 7 or 8, does not work with OS X and is incompatible with tablets. People also point to the fact the 5 installs is good but all five devices have to belong to a single user. Finally, with the software being web based you need a good internet connection. If you work in an area that doesn’t yet have fibre broadband you could be downloading the software for a long time.

Whilst Office 365 has some strong points you cannot help but feel that Microsoft has followed Abode with their Creative Suite subscription. The monthly revenues are clear benefits for these organisations but do they represent value for money for the end user. The jury is still out.

Many of us never think about where our products come from, ultimately all of the products originate from raw materials from the Earths crust. Therefore mining and processing is important to Apple and can heavily influence their own production sequences.

All of the Apple products originate from raw materials. Whilst most of the electrical systems, such as parts of the circuits or the LEDs contain rare earth metals, such as Neodymium and Yttrium. Mark Smith, the chief executive of Molycorp, an American rare earth mining company, once said “ Your iPhone doesn’t work without rare earths in there”, the same applies for all of Apple’s products, including the MacBook Pro. Todays technology is dependent on the use of rare earth minerals, however at the moment only one country seems to be benefitting from them. The Chinese maintain about a 90% hold on the rare earth market, much of this is due to reluctance to share mining technology or information, due to their market dominance. Chinese mines such as in the area of Bayan Obo, in Inner Mongolia are extracting much of the worlds rare earth minerals today. The Chinese domination of the rare earth mineral market, allows the country to draw production to China, as companies want to reduce distances the bulky raw materials are transported, which would increase prices. However, the American company Molycorp is set to expand production from mines in the US, whilst African nations, such as Malawi could be in the future potential hotspots.

Although Rare Earth minerals are important in Apple products, so are more common raw materials such as Aluminium. The now iconic Aluminium ‘unibody’ of the MacBook Pros are milled from single blocks of Aluminium. The metal is also used on the iMacs and iPhones to some degree. Unlike other metals Aluminium is not produced through the direct mining of Aluminium. The mineral Bauxite, which is the most abundant mineral in the earths crust, is mined in such areas such as Australia. Five of Australia’s mines account for 23% of global production. Once the Bauxite is mined, it has to be Electrolysed, which is called the Hall process. The Electrolysis cell separates the Bauxite mineral into its constituents, one of which is Aluminium, using an Anode, a Cathode and a catalyst. The whole process is extremely electricity intensive; therefore it can prove too costly for some nations to produce. However, the use of Geothermal heat in Iceland has allowed it to become a forerunner in Aluminium productions, due to large quantities of sustainable Geothermal heat energy for electricity production.

The all-important screen of each Apple product was once also just separate raw materials, whether those were non-metals or metals. The Liquid Crystal Display is made from non-metals, such as Silicon Dioxide and Glass, which is produced from heated Quartz, which is also just Silica. However the LCD screen also contains metals such as Indium Tin Oxide, which is one of the most commonly used Transparent Conducting Oxides. Whereas in Light Emitting Diode screens, non- metals such as Silicon Dioxide  are also used again. However it contains other compounds, which has constituents, which are both non-metals and metals.

Every Apple product is a collection of raw materials over a long complex process of production. Every metal and non-metal plays a specific role in which not many realise. Without one raw material the Apple products would be completely different to what they are now. Today’s modern society are going to become more dependent on rarer minerals and larger quantities of metals and non-metals. Apple technology is dependent on what we are able to dig out of the earth and the mining and processing of these minerals and metals can be just as complex as the production of the apple products themselves.

Whilst big businesses can dedicate money and resources to disaster recovery and business continuity it can be easy for smaller businesses to lose sight of this important task. Here are a few quick ways of quickly and easily protecting your business without spending a small fortune.

1. Surge Protect– A surge protector is a device, such as a multi plug adapter, protects your computer equipment from power surges. On our network installations we include an Uninterruptible Power Supply, UPS. These are like a big car battery that includes surge protection and will keep a system going for 10-15 minutes during a power outage which is enough time to safely shut down a system
2. Onsite Backup– Data is quite simply the most important element of your IT infrastructure. With 6% of all PCs and servers suffering an episode of data loss in a given year coupled with the fact that 60% of companies who lose all of their data will shut down within 6 months, it is essential that you have some form of backup in place.For those without a server this can be as simple as giving each member of staff a memory stick to backup the data portion of their hard drive. If you have a server however, you will benefit from automated or semi automated backup solutions. On our networks we provide a number of hard drives that take a full backup every night and are swapped over every day giving you a bigger scope of backups to recover files. It also allows you to take your backups offsite should the worst happen to your building, fire or theft.
3. Cloud backup– whilst we always recommend an onsite backup solution as a minimum the next level up will be Cloud backup. Done via the internet overnight a Cloud backup protects you from issues such as fire and theft at your business.  It also protects you from human error such as forgetting to switch backups.
4. Email Continuity & Anti Virus – Should your email server go down or your office become unavailable it can take 24 hours plus to integrate changes in the event of your disaster plus it will take up to 24 hours to revert back should you need to. By using a third party company to redirect your email you can have the ability to quickly and easily redirect your email to a new computer, IP address etc should you need to.  The added benefit is that companies can offer email backup; usually up to 30 Days; and anti-spam solutions at the same time.

At GEEX we take Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity seriously and as such are happy to advise on your current solutions and make suggestions to help. Feel free to contact us on 0121 285 0098 or email info@localhost.

Since their origin the digital tablet has grown exponentially. The Lightweight, high tech and fashionable features of the tablet make it the perfect device for professional and recreational uses. Their huge growth is thanks to their lightweight and fashionable exteriors and the ease of their use. No longer do you require a CD to install a program, the app has given all tablet users the ability to do what they want and when they want, although it of course has its limits.

Large technology companies, such as Apple, Samsung and many others, dominate the tablet market; they have been able to propel this piece of technology further than what was predicted. Apple dominates this market with a 39.6% share, due to the iconic iPad; 19.5 million of the tablets sold were iPad. However Apple has declined according to the IDC from 58.1% to 39.6%, due to the increase in up and coming competition.

The competition from the tablets is not only with other tablets, but also other mainstream products, such as the PC. The tablet has been growing tremendously, whilst computer sales have been dropping off. Many analysts predict the tablet overshadowing the PC in the future.

Analyst never predicted such a huge growth of tablets in the female market in the UK. Women are more likely to buy and use and tablets that their male counterparts, according to a Yougov report.  Women own 52% of tablets in 2013, which up by 9% in 2012 in the UK.

The growth of tablets does not seem to be slowing either, now a quarter of UK households own a tablet. It is predicted another quarter are wanting to buy one in the future for their household. Over the next decade the tablet will truly become a technological giant among products, which may be compared to the growth of the pc in the 90s or the laptop in the Noughties.

GEEX offer a brilliant range of flexible leasing plans of the Apple iPad with Retina display. For more information on leasing an iPad fom us, click here…

As a GEEX customer, you are able to lease any form of technology or software you wish to through our Flexi Lease programme. Whilst leasing is an increasingly popular way of funding the use of technology, it is important you understand what a lease is and the advantages that you can benefit from.

Leasing is the act, which allows you to use a piece of equipment for a specific period of time for your business. The lease agreement requires you to make regular payments. Payments can be monthly or quarterly, depending on your own personalised contract. If you want the latest versions of any type of business equipment, leasing your equipment instead of making a cash purchase is a smart decision, especially in these tough times, where outright buying products is not always financially feasible. Choosing GEEX as your leasing provider only further enhances your business technologically.

Leasing enables you to manage your finances more effectively and professionally. Giving you a predictable overview of your money expenses, so you know exactly what your monthly lease costs will be. Leasing allows you to use the equipment that your business is in need of, relieving you of that aggravating wait to save up for it. As leasing lets you upgrade your computer hardware, you can find an upgrade that best suits your business, resulting in your company looking more professional and up to date with the competition. Leasing also offers tax benefits, as it is 100% tax efficient.  On top of all this, when you’ve finished with your lease, you can return the equipment and start a new lease, or buy out the lease and the equipment, enabling you to own all of equipment you had previously leased.

Choosing GEEX for your leasing requirements will be a suitable professional decision, which would ultimately benefit your business. If you have any questions about our equation, please feel free to call us on 0121 285 0098 or email us james@GEEX.co.uk.

We were offered a sneak peak at the upcoming black Mac Pro. The new sleek curved design is miles apart from the old silver blocky towers, as well as being tiny!

“Can’t innovate any more, my ass,” said Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple, as he unveiled the new Mac Pro at Apple’s WWDC conference.

Out later this year, it will be able to support multiple streams to 4K HD displays with dual workstation GPUs. A potential seven teraflops of graphical computing power will be achievable with OpenCL.

The new Mac Pro will be at least doubly powerful on every count than its predecessors. Its flash storage will be 10 times faster than any hard drive Apple has installed in its Mac Pros yet, said Schiller. The flash storage will offer 1.26 Gbps for reading and 1 Gpbs for writing. It will run on Intel Xeon chips, with up to 12-core configurations possible.

For more information on the MAC Pro make sure you are on our subscribers list. By subscribing you will get all the information about the Mac Pro first – click here to subscribe

Adobe Creative Suite 6 will be the last licensed product that you will ever have to buy from Adobe, with the introduction to Adobe Creative Cloud you’ll now have to rent your Adobe Apps.

Originally Adobe’s Creative Cloud was to be used as a subscription-based alternative to traditional licensing models. The Creative Cloud was alongside the Creative Suites, offering access to the full Adobe Creative suite 6 software, including services such as Adobe’s Digital publishing Suite and Adobe Touch Apps for mobile devices.

Adobe announced at their Adobe’s MAX, The Creativity Conference keynote in Los Angeles, California, that they would be phasing out the licensing model altogether and launching updated CS6 applications through the all fresh Creative Cloud. This means that instead of purchasing a some-what expensive Creative Suite, you would only have to pay a monthly fee to use Adobe apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

The move from Creative Suites to Creative Cloud will allow Adobe’s engineers the ability to focus on quicker updates and we hope future innovative features. More conveniently for Adobe, their software has probably long been the most pirated, so this is one way for them to kill piracy.

Creative Cloud

Adobe’s Creative Cloud is set to launch this June. Together with Adobe’s library of applications, Creative Cloud gives customers a chance to connect with others, share files, and build their creative portfolios through Behance. Creative Cloud is thought to be Adobes own version of Office 365, where individuals would receive 20 GB of cloud storage (100 GB for teams).

Adobes’ desktop applications will be branded CC, the big highlights being, Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Dreamweaver CC and Premier Pro CC. Photoshop in particular will be receiving some impressive features with the new update. One feature to include an all-new Smart Sharpen tool for bringing out more detail while reducing noise and halo effects and a camera shake reduction for restoring sharpness to blurry photos. With a simple wave of the wand tool anyone will impressively restore clarity to lost photos.

Adobe XD is to launch Projects Mighty and Napoleon, which consist of a Wacom-like pen stylus and digital ruler. The devices will be cleverly interfaced with your CC. The pen will allow artists to copy and paste snippets between Adobe’s suite of touch apps for mobile devices, whilst the digital ruler projects shapes to trace on the screen, acting as a pocket-able replacement for a variety of traditional pen &paper tools.

So how much is this new monthly rental going to cost us? A single application will cost £17.58 per month however for a full version of the most popular applications it will cost £46.88 a month. If you have Creative Suite 6, for the first year you’ll only have to pay £27.34 per month. Students will also benefit from a promotional pricing of only £15.88 a month. Teams, or small businesses will have to pay £65.44 per month per user, or £37.11 per month if they have are previous Creative Suite Owners.

Adobe has decided to position all its resources into CC and halt any further developments of Creative Suite 6, even further, any developments of a Creative Suite 7. It’s the end of an era. From now on, you either rent Adobe’s software or you go with an alternative: buying it or pirating is just no longer going to be an option.

Is it a tablet? Is it a laptop? No it’s a Lenovo Twist! This is the latest in a string of Windows 8-running hybrids trying to bridge the gap between the convenience of a tablet and the capability of a laptop. However this crossbreed has a little (excuse the pun) twist compared to the competition.

Not restricted to a single clamshell action, as the name suggests, the Lenovo Twist allows you to turn, bend, fold and spin the entire screen to offer a number of different positions; the Chinese gymnast of the computing world. The laptop and stand mode is implied for more business-based activities, where as tablet and tent mode are lent to viewing, media consumption and occasional gaming. Work and play has been united in one machine.

Built for function as well as form, the ThinkPad Twist is understated and elegant. Covered in a black, slightly rubbery material there’s nothing garish about its appearance. The water resistant keyboard is highly responsive, feeling effortless to type on with a slightly concave shape to the keys that caress your fingertips with each press. As well as featuring a velvety smooth texture to the Trackpad and iconic red TrackPoint the Twist has a 12.5-inch touch display that sits behind Gorilla Glass. The 1366×768 resolution is superb with colours that are accurate. Full fat 64-bit Windows 8 not only looks good but also delivers a sensitive enough screen to make using it a breeze. Sitting above is a webcam with capabilities of handling a 720p video, more than adequate for a Skype conference call. The Twist also comes with pre-installed dedicated software tools aimed specifically at small businesses, like Lenovo Solutions for Small Businesses and Lenovo Cloud Storage.

This gymnast is made up of strong stuff, the uni-directional hinge can survive hundreds of thousands of rotations with a hard disk equipped with an anti-shock system to protect your data from those errant tumbles. Inside it boasts one of Intel’s third-generation Core architecture processors, the i5-3317U. This is a dual-core processor that can handle up to four threads at the same time so whether you’re managing emails, checking the latest news or working on a project The Twist has it under control. As well as running at a desktop-speed drive of 7,200rpm it packs in a 8GB of RAM into its modest 1.6kg body keeping things running efficiently throughout its 6-hour battery life.

The Lenovo Twist manages to squeeze a lot out of its sturdy design, achieving a strong performance either as a laptop or as a tablet it has been built with a workhorse attitude. From just £8.20 + VAT per week it offers business-class perks such as the morph-design, responsive touch interface and unrivalled typing experience making it a serious gold medal contender for us at GEEX.

Our new website has gone live, we understand how you like to keep up to date with things on the move that is why our new site is mobile and tablet friendly. Keep up to date with our latest opinion and news wherever you want, whenever you want.