Four years after IBM and Maersk first unveiled TradeLens, the companies have announced they will be withdrawing TradeLens offerings and will discontinue the blockchain-based supply chain platform.
The platform will go offline by the end of the first quarter in 2023. Apparently the platform did not attract enough users to be commercially viable.
“The need for full global industry collaboration has not been achieved,” said Rotem Hershko, head of business platforms at A.P. Moller – Maersk, in a statement posted on Maersk’s website. “TradeLens has not reached the level of commercial viability necessary to continue work and meet the financial expectations as an independent business.”
Launched in 2018 and jointly developed by IBM and GTD Solution, a division of Maersk, TradeLens aimed to digitize and simplify global supply chains via a electronic shipping ledger that records details of cargo shipments as they leave their origin, arrive in ports, are shipped overseas and eventually received.
Where the shipping industry’s traditional style of information sharing relied on outdated electronic data interchange (EDI) systems, email, fax, or courier, TradeLens allowed all involved parties in the supply chain to view tracking information such as shipment arrival times and documents such as customs releases, commercial invoices and bills of lading in near real time via its permissioned blockchain ledger.
During its short lifespan, the project built up a network of over 300 members including ocean carriers, terminals, inland depots, customs authorities and intermodal providers.
Despite the closure of the platform, the statement on Maersk’s website claims the company will “continue its efforts to digitise the supply chain,” increasing industry innovation to reduce trade friction and promote more global trade.
“We will leverage the work of TradeLens as a steppingstone to further push our digitisation agenda and look forward to harnessing the energy and ability of our technology talent in new ways,” Hershko said.
Well, I’ll be: We’re currently on the cusp of 20-frickin’-23, somehow. And yet, moving info from your phone to your computer still creates a confoundingly complex conundrum for most of us mere mortals.
To be fair, we’ve come a long way in the 14 years since Android’s arrival on this humble ol’ earth of ours. But when you want to transport some text from your Android device to your Windows or Mac computer — or, Goog forbid, beam a non-photo file from your phone to a computer whose operating system doesn’t rhyme with SchlomeOS — goodness gracious, it sure ain’t easy.
“But wait, Mr. Android Yammering Man!” you might be thinking. “I could’ve sworn I’d read that Google had some sort of fancy-schmancy Nearby Share system that was supposed to fix this once and for all!”
You’re absolutely right, you observant little orangutan. As of now, though, Google’s Nearby Share system works only between multiple Android devices in the same area or between Android devices and Chromebooks that are in close proximity.
That means you’re completely out of luck if you’re using Android with any other computing platform — like lots of productivity-minded mammals do — or if you want to send info from your Android device to a computer that isn’t right in front of you. And while a Windows version of Nearby Share is supposedly in the works, we’ve been hearing about it for nearly a year now. And we’ve yet to see any sign of its arrival.
Not to fear, though — for where there’s a will, there’s a way. And with a few easy-to-manage tricks up your virtual sleeve, you can make virtually any manner of Android-to-computer sharing happen this very second, with virtually no work.
Allow me to enlighten you.
Android sharing trick No. 1: The web page teleport
We’ll start with the simplest sort of sharing of all but one that comes up an awful lot, at least in my day-to-day experience — the basic beaming of a web page from your phone to computer (or vice-versa).
I don’t know about you, but I constantly find myself needing to pull up a page I’d been viewing on my phone on my Windows desktop, at work — or, on the flip side, wanting to send a page from my computer to my phone for on-the-go digestion.
This one’s as easy as can be to address, once you know where to look. And you’ve got a couple o’ commendable options.
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First, remember: You can always see a list of tabs open on other devices by looking in Chrome’s History section on your phone or on your computer. So long as you’re signed into the same Google account in both places, you’ll be able to find and pull up any page you left open elsewhere right then and there — which is incredibly useful when you realize you need to get to something from another device after that device is no longer in front of you:
On the desktop front, just hit Ctrl-H and then click the “Tabs from other devices” option in the left-of-screen sidebar to get there.
On your phone, tap Chrome’s three-dot menu icon and select “Recent tabs” to pull up the same place.
Beyond that, if you’re still looking at the device where the page resides, you can tap into an even more proactive system for pushing the page onto any other device and making it pop up there for especially easy access:
On your computer, click the little icon with a curved arrow at the right of the address bar — or right-click on the title of the actual tab itself — and select “Send to your devices.” You’ll then be presented with a list of other devices (Android devices or even other computers) where you’re actively signed in.
On Android, tap the three-dot menu icon within Chrome, then select “Share” and look for the “Send to your devices” option in the panel that pops up.
JR
Chrome’s “Send to your devices” feature makes it incredibly easy to send a web page to any other device where you’re signed in.
Good to know, right? And we’re just getting started…
Android sharing trick No. 2: The text transplant
Next up: What about when you’ve got some text you want to move from one device to another? Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could simply copy something on your computer and then paste it on your Android device a second later — or select and copy text on your phone and then paste it into an app on your desktop?
Weirdly enough, Google actually had an effective way to do that under development in Chrome for ages. But the system never officially launched, and the out-of-sight settings for enabling it evaporated at some point along the way.
A couple of exceptional third-party tools are ready to fill the void, though. And once you set ’em up once, you’ll never have to think about ’em again.
If you’re using Windows on the computer front and you don’t mind ditching Gboard on Android, the simplest path is to rely on Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard for automatic Android-to-Windows clipboard syncing. You’ve gotta go out of your way to dig it up and set it up initially, but it’ll work brilliantly for you from that point forward without any more active effort.
If you aren’t using Windows or would rather not use SwiftKey, a spectacularly useful app called Clipt can play the same role. It’s an experimental creation by the company behind OnePlus phones, and it works impressively well. The only catch is that it adds one extra step into the process, as the Android-to-desktop part of the clipboard syncing process doesn’t happen automatically; instead, it’s up to you to tap a button in your device’s Quick Settings area every time you want to send some copied text over to your computer.
JR
All you’ve gotta do to get text from your Android clipboard to your computer is copy it and then tap Clipt’s Quick Settings button.
It’s easy to do, though, and it’s a powerful new efficiency-enhancer you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.
Android sharing trick No. 3: The file phaser
Last but not least is the prickly subject of files — PDFs, APKs, or any other sorts of alphabet-soup attachments you want to effortlessly move from one device to another.
Once again, Google’s Nearby Share system is spectacular for handling that type of task, but it’s available only if you’re using some combination of Android devices and Chromebooks and only when those devices are in the same location. Once you bring Windows, Mac, or any other platforms into the mix — or you think about devices that aren’t in the same physical spot — you’re out of luck.
Or so it’d seem.
My friend, allow me to introduce you to ShareDrop. It’s a browser-based, open-source tool that makes it laughably easy to beam files between any two devices, no matter what type of product they may be or what operating system they’re running. And while Clipt can handle file sharing for you, too, ShareDrop will let you send files between any two devices — including those whose names start with overly pretentious lowercase letters — without the need for any sort of setup or app installations.
If the devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, the process couldn’t be simpler:
Just open the ShareDrop site in the browser on both of the involved devices.
Each device will be assigned a random and unique name and avatar.
You can then click on any avatar to send a file to the associated device — or just drag and drop a file directly onto it, on the desktop front, for an even faster way to get a transfer going.
Once the other device accepts the transfer, the file will be sent. That’s it!
JR
ShareDrop eliminates all the usual barriers to wireless file transfers between an Android phone and any other device.
If you need to send something between two devices on different networks or even in different locations, you can hit the plus icon in the site’s upper-right corner to create a special link for establishing such a connection.
Either way, anything you transfer is sent securely over an encrypted peer-to-peer connection — meaning ShareDrop itself is never privy to anything you’re sending, and the data is never stored on any remote server.
And since the whole thing is open source, you can even poke through the code yourself to confirm it’s working exactly as expected.
ShareDrop is free to use, though its developer does accept donations to help cover the cost of keeping the service up and running.
And there ya have it: three top-notch tricks for smarter sharing on Android. Keep these tactics in mind and at reach, and you’ll never struggle with sending stuff from one device to another again.
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Thanks to the Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Apple faces renewed criticism over its App Store fees and whether its insistence on content moderation somehow suppresses free speech. Neither is quite true.
App Store fees: A negotiation in progress
Let’s begin with App Store fees. At present, some developers must pay Apple 30% of from sales of their software or from subscription income. Not all developers do so — in the second year, subscription fees drop to 15% of the take, while developers shifting under a million dollars in value also pay just 15%. (Developers who do not charge for their apps pay no fee at all.)
In exchange, the developers get access to the world’s most secure app store, best-in-the-industry developer tools and the least-fragmented mobile platform. Side note: developers are required to use Apple’s own payment processing systems.
Now, there is a good argument to be made that the fee itself is no longer appropriate. While 30% has become pretty much an industry standard, it has been some time since the costs were weighed against the economies of scale.
At the same time, it seems perfectly appropriate that Apple should be entitled to make a viable business out of App Store provision. That means the argument surrounding fees will inevitably (as I keep saying) become a decision concerning how much they should be, not whether they should exist at all.
It’s a fee, not a tax
Regulators everywhere are scrutinizing these fees and I think it likely some compromise will be reached — but referring to them as an “Apple tax” is inappropriate. It’s no more a tax than any retailer’s markup in any store anywhere, including car dealerships or tunnel boring projects.
But when a company that proposes to charge users for the right to share their own content in such a way as it might get seen begins to argue that Apple’s fee is a tax on free speech, it’s hard not to see a massive moral conflict.
How can speech be free if it costs $8 each month? And when a company evicts most of its staff with very little warning, what is that cost for? Interest fees? Severance payments? Legal fees to justify breaking employment laws?
…Which brings us to content moderation
Everyone who has ever visited a website has encountered GDPR. It’s a European set of legal requirements for the digital age. They extend to websites, platform vendors such as Apple or Google, and content companies including Twitter.
While there are lots of requirements within GDPR, one restriction is the need to police against some forms of discussion, such as encouragement of hate crimes, CSAM content, and more. With this in mind, is not at all reassuring that one of the world’s biggest social media companies has reduced its team handling CSAM content to just one person.
Billion-dollar companies usually have teams to maintain GDPR compliance, though at Twitter most have now been sacked or resigned.
That reduction in content moderation is already impacting advertisers on that platform, who find their brand messaging being placed beside deeply offensive posts — some from the CEO. The risk to advertisers is clear. In addition, the company does not seem to be compliant with FTC regulation, as some reporters claim.
Beyond Europe and the US, there are other nations with strict requirements for moderation, some of which are even more demanding.
Any platform distributing a poorly moderated app runs the risk of falling into a legal minefield. It’s just prudent business practice to avoid questionable environments. For Apple, it must ensure the software it distributes meet those needs, also. We know it will evict an app that does not maintain such moderation. It has done so before.
No one is obliged to take (or click) an ad
Apple, a company which I see as more sincere than most with its focus on business values in an increasingly murky world, will not spend ad money on a platform that distributes questionable content.
That’s noteworthy, given Apple perhaps contributes at least 4% of Twitter’s revenue.
Remember those little animations around your WWDC or Take Note keynote Tweets? Apple paid for those. It paid a lot.
I see it this way: If Steve Jobs were placing Apple’s acclaimed “Crazy Ones” ad, he wouldn’t place it on a site that failed in its responsibility for content moderation. An ad campaign featuring Albert Einstein, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Muhammed Ali would sit very badly on a platform where hate speech is seen as acceptable.
These risks — of litigation, brand damage and more, means many advertisers (not just Apple) have quit spending on Twitter’s platform. Doing so isn’t an argument against free speech; it’s an argument in favor of brand protection and collective responsibility.
So, what’s happening?
Apple is in a predicament. It feels like it quietly tried to convince one of its larger profile developers to constrain itself better within the many different laws and regulations around content moderation. The reaction was a tirade of criticism, which cannot hide the fact that free speech also requires personal responsibility and a supportive environment in which conversations can take place. Someone is going to have to think different, or face significant consequences.
Please follow me on Twitter or Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
When Apple publishes a major OS update, a small number of users may find their device management solution stops working. In most cases, it’s not really a problem at all, just a licensing condition that needs to be resolved.
Make a diary date for T&Cs and other settings
Apple frequently requests its customers approve new terms and conditions (T&Cs) when major OS updates roll out. You probably needed to accept new T&Cs when you upgraded to iOS 16 or macOS Ventura.
The problem for managed device fleets is that if these aren’t approved, certain features may stop functioning. Fortunately, you can easily get your systems working again in Apple Business Manager.
If you open Apple Business Manager with admin access, you’ll find a setting that lets you accept any newly published T&Cs there. This isn’t such an arduous requirement ,as you won’t be expected to tap away to approve permissions for every device — you must just accept each set of new terms once to approve them across all your managed Apple devices. Another benefit is that your users will not be asked to approve the request themselves on their own device; you will already have approved the new T&Cs from the console.
If you don’t approve, things can go wrong
The problem is that until those T&Cs are approved, you may find your fleet unresponsive, newly purchased app licenses unavailable, or newly added devices invisible in Apple Business Manager. If you’re having any of these problems, it’s worth opening Apple Business Manager in admin mode and ensure you’re up to date with T&C approval. Your admins should have been notified of the change, so it’s not a problem most people will have, though you might still encounter it at times, as new staff enter Mac admin roles, for example.
Once you’ve approved the T&Cs, you should find your MDM system begins to work normally once again, though it may take a little time for the change to proliferate across the system.
There are other permissions Apple admins may need to remember to update each year. Device enrollment, Apple Push Notification (APN) service certificate, and Apps and Books tokens all need attention. In most cases, your MDM system should tell you when such a refresh is required. But even the best systems have failures (often when alerts come as key staffers leave or take new positions); you can rectify the problem by either renewing your APN certificate from the same Apple ID you used to create it in the first place, or by following the instructions in Apple’s MDM server configuration or Apps and Books “server token” guides.
In the latter case, you should find the setting you need to adjust in Preferences>Payments & Billing>My Server Tokens.
The method in the madness
The need to refresh permissions and approve T&Cs may seem a little cumbersome, but there is an opportunity locked inside the process: each time you approve things, you also get a chance to review how permissions are assigned. That’s not a huge issue in terms of device management, as you probably keep tabs on who devices are assigned to, but can provide a little benefit in terms of software licensing, as you may identify licenses you no longer need to assign.
The primary lesson is the same as it usually is — when things go wrong, don’t panic — just check that all your settings are up to date. Device management is just like security, after all, nine times out of 10 the biggest problems revolve around human error. I’s the problems you can’t resolve easily that require you to maintain the skill base you need to keep your systems rolling when something more significant goes awry.
Additional improvements in macOS Ventura
Please follow me on Twitter or Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
The ever growing numbers of Mac users have always been able to set apps to launch when they log in to their computers, but this has changed in macOS Ventura. Login items are now managed in a different place, and Apple has also made it possible for Mac admins to manage them using MDM software.
Where are my login items?
Traditionally on a Mac, login items were managed in the Users & Groups section of System Preferences. This changes with Ventura — not only have System Preferences become System Settings, but they have been quietly shifted to a new section found in the General category.
Login items are usually applications you’ve asked your Mac to launch automatically at login, but also include other processes such as launch agents or launch daemons that are required for certain applications to work consistently.
If you’re an IT manager running Macs, then you’ll already know that the MDM service you use will have installed launch agents to run on enrolled Macs. These are also found in Login Items.
What changes in macOS Ventura?
The two biggest changes to this approach are as follows:
Migrating the setting from Users & Groups to General
Making more items that launch at login more visible
The latter means that software components, installer packages, and other items individual applications need that must be launched on startup are now visible.
When installed, users will receive a notification to warn them the installation has taken place and these items can also be disabled in Login Items. This is a big change, as until now such items were frequently invisible to the end user.
[Also read: Apple’s DeskView and Continuity Camera come to Webex]
The Login Items section has also been changed. It now offers two broad categories: Open at Login and Allow in the Background.
The former will be home for any application (such as your browser) you want your Mac to open automatically when you log in.
The latter will include any background items, such as MDM software.
Users can check and uncheck a box beside these background processes to prevent them working automatically if they wish. They cannot, however, disable MDM system agents; only admins can do that from within the console of their chosen system.
What about admins?
Mac admins can now manage login and background items on their Mac fleets remotely via their choice of MDM software. That means they can insist on some items running on every Mac or disable items that don’t meet security policy requirements.
Apple has also introduced a new SMAppService API, which MDM systems use to manage these items, which is explained here. This is essential as admins attempt to secure Macs in use beyond the standard security perimeter. Apple maintains its mission to make Macs more secure than before.
Are there other changes?
These are not the only changes Apple made in System Settings (Ventura) in comparison to System Preferences (previous iterations of macOS). Not only have these been redesigned to echo Settings on iPads and iPhones, but they feature new sections for:
Game Controllers
Game Center
Lock Screen (which has moved out of Security & Privacy)
Desktop & Dock (previously in Desktop & Screen Saver and Dock & Menu Bar)
Screen Saver (once available in Desktop & Screen Saver)
Wallpaper (also once available in Desktop & Screen Saver)
If you can’t find a specific control because it has been moved, you can use the improved search facility to track it down.
Additional improvements in macOS Ventura
Please follow me on Twitter or Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Apple faces yet more regulation as the UK’s competition watchdog launches an investigation into how Apple and Google dominate the market for mobile services.
Control the internet by controlling the browsers
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said it will now investigate both companies for their dominance around browsers, app stores, and cloud gaming.
For insight into that dominance, the CMA points out that 97% of all UK mobile web browsing makes use of either Apple or Google’s browser engine.
The regulator published an initial report in June.
Now it has decided to proceed to a full investigation as browser vendors, web developers, and cloud gaming service providers have complained that the status quo limits innovation and raises costs. As we know, both Apple and Google argue the controls they put in place are designed to protect users.
There are two primary cores to the complaints: the impact of browser control on web developers and that of App Store control on cloud games distribution.
The problem with browsers
Web developers argue that Apple’s restrictions, combined with suggested underinvestment in its browser technology, lead to added costs and frustration as they must deal with bugs and glitches when building web pages. They contend that they have no choice but to create bespoke mobile apps when a website might be sufficient.
“Apple’s restrictions in particular are holding back potentially disruptive innovation that could transform the way that consumers access and experience content online,” the CMA claims.
The CMA also states that weak competition in the browser market is in part down to the fact that Safari and Chrome are preinstalled on mobile devices. It also says Apple’s demand that all iOS browsers make use of WebKit, the engine that drives Safari, limits market development and innovation.
Criticisms around cloud gaming
When it comes to cloud gaming services, the CMA is critical that Apple does not permit them to be listed on the App Store.
Under the company’s guidelines, apps that offer access to collections of games aren’t permitted. Those games must be individually submitted and then approved by Apple.
The regulator will be looking at what access cloud gaming services have to app stores on mobile devices. To me, this seems a little odd, given that these games can usually be accessed via browsers.
What the regulator said
“We want to make sure that UK consumers get the best new mobile data services and that UK developers can invest in innovative new apps,” Sarah Cardell, CMA interim chief executive said.
“Many UK businesses and web developers tell us they feel that they are being held back by restrictions set by Apple and Google. When the new Digital Markets regime is in place, it’s likely to address these sorts of issues. In the meantime, we are using our existing powers to tackle problems where we can.
“We plan to investigate whether the concerns we have heard are justified and, if so, identify steps to improve competition and innovation in these sectors.”
The investigation will now begin.
What happens now
The CMA must finish its investigation within 18 months.
If it decides either Apple or Google has an adverse effect on competition, it has the power to impose remedies on the businesses, or to suggest legislation it thinks may be required.
For example, Apple may be required to support browser engines other than WebKit or to provide a choice of browsers during device setup to “overcome the distortive effects of pre-installation.”
Apple may also be required to remove its App Store restrictions on cloud gaming services.
Apple’s legal challenges grow
The decision to launch the investigation adds to the regulatory pressure Apple is now experiencing. Most recently, the EU revealed plans to force the company to support third-party app stores and to make various changes to its operating systems and more. Apple will likely be forced into compliance, just as feels it has been driven to move to USB-C in future hardware products.
The company is also facing investigations into its messenger apps, controversy around its advertising business and app tracking transparency, and faces additional challenges, including:
What should the balance be?
Other than coughing up a lot of cash for legal representation throughout these processes, for Apple the challenge will be to figure out how to protect its user experience against the steady erosion of its control.
At what point will lawmakers regulate platform innovation out of existence to give cloud games services a chance to make a buck? What balance will be set between the secure OS provision and user safety and the opportunity to build a business on those platforms? And when will regulators move beyond lip service in order to legislate against the surveillance-as-a-service industry on any platform?
Please follow me on Twitter or Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Google’s ChromeOS is one of the world’s most misunderstood computing platforms. Chromebooks are foundationally different from traditional PCs, after all — and consequently, there are a lot of misconceptions about how they work and what they can and can’t do.
Since people are always asking me whether a Chromebook might be right for their needs, I thought I’d put together a quick guide to help any such wonderers figure it out. Whether it’s you or someone you know who’s curious, the following four questions should help shed some light on what the platform’s all about and for whom it makes sense.
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ChromeOS question No. 1: Do you spend most of your time using the web and web-centric services?
Think carefully here, as the answer might surprise you: What do you do most often on a computer?
If the majority of your time is spent in a web browser — whether it’s reading news stories, surfing social media, or using web-centric productivity services like Gmail and Google Docs — then ChromeOS would probably meet your needs just fine. In fact, there’s a good chance it’d actually make things easier than what you’re used to with a traditional PC setup (more on why in a minute).
Now, it’s important to note that just because something is “web-centric” doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be online in order for it to work. One of the most common lingering misconceptions about Chromebooks is that they’re completely useless without an active internet connection. In reality, tons of modern web apps work both online and off, including things like Gmail and Google Docs as well as calculators, calendars, news readers, and even streaming services. (You can browse through the “Offline” section of Google’s Chrome Web Store for lots of examples.)
And that’s just looking at web apps. These days, you can add into that mix the sizable selection of Android, Linux, and in some cases even Windows apps that also run on ChromeOS devices and are designed to work equally well online or off. We’ll talk more about those next.
All in all, the truth is that for most people, using a Chromebook offline isn’t terribly different from using a traditional PC offline. You aren’t gonna be able to pull up a live version of a web page or download new messages, obviously, but aside from things that inherently require an active connection, there isn’t a heck of a lot you’d want to do that wouldn’t be possible.
ChromeOS question No. 2: Do you have specific local programs that you absolutely need, or could most of the things you do on a computer be accomplished with web-centric equivalents — along with Android and/or Linux apps to fill in any gaps?
Take a moment to think about what programs you use that are locally installed on your PC — things like word processors, email apps, image and video editing software, resource-intensive games, or specialty software related to your work.
Now think about how many of those programs could be replaced with web-centric equivalents — and for any that absolutely couldn’t, think about whether an Android app or Linux app could reasonably fill in the gap and serve as a suitable alternative.
If you use Outlook for email, for instance, would you be okay with using Outlook.com or Gmail instead — or with using either the Outlook Android app or a local Linux program like Evolution? If you rely on Microsoft Word on your PC, would the web-based Microsoft 365 setup or Google Docs do the trick just as well — or could you get by with either the Word Android app (which requires an active subscription for full editing functionality on a laptop-sized device) or something along the lines of the Linux-based LibreOffice? If you use Adobe Photoshop for image editing, would a web-centric suite like Pixlr be powerful enough for your needs — or would a standalone editor like Linux’s GIMP program get the job done?
JR Raphael/IDG
The hilariously named GIMP program is a surprisingly capable Photoshop alternative that can run on most Chromebooks.
If the answers are “yes” or even “maybe,” then ChromeOS could quite conceivably work for you. If, however, you have specific local software that you absolutely need and that has no suitable web, Android, or Linux equivalent, moving into a Chromebook might be a stretch (with a couple more caveats — keep reading!).
While the OS has plenty of viable options for common everyday computing tasks, you aren’t gonna find any truly desktop-caliber multimedia editors designed for the web, nor will you find web-centric versions of many specialty business programs that were created with Windows in mind. The availability of Android and Linux apps can address some of those voids — and the significance of the platform even offering such options can’t be overstated — but those additions won’t cover every specific local software requirement (especially when it comes to custom corporate programs).
Now, one asterisk here worth considering: Google offers a simple tool called Chrome Remote Desktop that lets you tap into a traditional desktop computer from a Chromebook and then work on that system remotely. With that tool, you can effectively use local Windows or Mac software via the Chromebook, provided you have a computer that’s on and available for the remote session. It isn’t entirely ideal as a long-term solution for frequent software use, but depending on your situation and how often you need the traditional desktop program in question, it might be enough to bridge the gap.
JR Raphael/IDG
Chrome Remote Desktop makes it possible to see and work on any other compatible computer right from a ChromeOS device.
And there’s one more exception-creating option to keep in mind…
ChromeOS question No. 3: Would your workplace provide Windows access for your business Chromebook?
If you’re using a Chromebook for productivity purposes and as part of a corporate setup, it’s entirely possible that your company could sign up for a special program that makes Windows apps — yes, Windows apps — natively available in the ChromeOS environment.
Google made that border-blurring feat possible as part of a partnership with a company called Parallels, and it’s been available for any organization to embrace since mid-2020.
Wildest of all? It actually works — pretty much exactly as you’d expect. With that extra element in the mix, the question of whether ChromeOS could work for you becomes even easier to answer, because there really is no compromise involved. Quite literally anything you could run on a Windows system will be accessible on your Chromebook, along with the full range of Android apps from the Google Play Store and the simpler, more secure, and less migraine-inducing ChromeOS framework.
JR
Parallels brings full Windows functionality into the ChromeOS interface — if your company offers it as an option.
The caveat is that Windows-on-ChromeOS option is really only available on the enterprise level, and it isn’t exactly inexpensive, either.
But if you’re in a corporate environment where it’s present, it’s certainly something to add onto your list of ChromeOS considerations.
ChromeOS question No. 4: Try living only in the Chrome browser on your PC for a week, without opening any local programs. How does it feel?
This is the real test. And let’s be clear: In order for this to work, you’ll probably have to make some adjustments to your routine — switching to web-centric apps like Docs for word processing if you haven’t already, uploading any pertinent files to an online storage service like Dropbox or Drive, and so forth. Spend a few minutes browsing through the Chrome Web Store to find the tools you need, then give it an honest go.
What about Android and Linux apps? Well, those are a bit trickier to emulate in a traditional PC environment. If you really want to get ambitious, you could install Bluestacks — a free PC- and Mac-compatible program that lets you run Android apps within a more traditional desktop operating system. It isn’t perfect and is far less native-feeling than what you’ll get with ChromeOS — it basically just puts an emulated Android tablet into a window on your screen and then lets you install and open apps inside that environment — but for these test-run purposes, it should be good enough to give you a basic idea of what sorts of things you will and won’t be able to do.
(And yes, you could also try some out Android apps via Microsoft’s new Windows Subsystem setup — but that setup is even more limited, as it works only with Amazon’s Appstore instead of the Google Play Store and so is a pretty poor representation of what the full Android app experience would really be like.)
Getting Linux apps up and running on a Windows or Mac system is more complicated yet, so unless you’re somewhat tech-savvy and comfortable with command-line-level tinkering, I’d suggest simply just looking through my list of the best productivity-oriented Linux apps for ChromeOS and considering which (if any) of the items there might be relevant for your purposes. Many of those programs — including my word processor and image editing recommendations — are available for Mac and Windows, too, so you can install ’em directly onto your current computer to check ’em out and see what they’re like to use.
If you can ignore your traditional desktop programs for a week and get everything you need accomplished in your browser without much trouble — with Android, Linux, and potentially even access to Windows apps fleshing things out as needed — then good news: ChromeOS will definitely work for you. If it’s a struggle, you may want to think twice about going the Chromebook route.
A caveat about this ChromeOS test
Now, keep in mind this is merely a simulation — a test of the basic tools and limitations of the ChromeOS environment. But while the overall function in the simulation may be similar to what you’ll find on a Chromebook, using only (or mostly) a browser on a PC is not the same experience you’ll get on an actual Chromebook. That’s another one of those pesky ChromeOS myths.
To quote a devastatingly handsome writer I know (a fella who’s apparently now been writing about this subject for well over a decade — geez, what a geezer!):
Startup speed aside, the ChromeOS systems make a lot of things about traditional computing environments feel outdated: the cumbersome setup and installation procedures; the annoying and time-consuming OS upgrades; the need to manually update applications over time; the need to use antivirus software (and the accompanying likelihood and potential consequences of infection); the reliance on complicated drivers; and the inevitable bogged-down, slowed-down effect that always seems to happen to PCs after you’ve had ’em for a few months.
Plain and simple, for folks sold on the cloud-centric concept, ChromeOS can take much of the hassle out of computing — because as a result of the platform’s very nature, you don’t have to deal with the types of annoyances mentioned above.
By utilizing Google’s universal syncing system, ChromeOS also allows any Chromebook to look and act like your own personal machine within seconds of your signing in. All of your data, settings, extensions, and applications are instantly and continuously synced across all systems, so you’re never tied down to any one device and resetting is almost shockingly easy. Even with the addition of Android and Linux apps, those core tenets remain true (with the exception of the fact that Linux apps and their associated data don’t automatically sync and transfer between devices yet — but you can get around that with a teensy bit of proactive clicking).
With all of those advantages, a Chromebook can be a refreshing alternative to the traditional PC environment — if it makes sense for your needs. And it certainly won’t make sense for everyone.
Answer the four questions above, and you’ll know if it does for you.
Want even more Googley knowledge? Treat yourself to my weekly newsletter for three things to know and three things to try every Friday.
Jamf officially completed its acquisition of Zecops this week. Why is this important and what might it mean to enterprise mobile security? Potentially, a lot.
Security beyond the perimiter
To get an answer to the question, think about how security has evolved. as the proliferation of mobile devices has made traditional security protections even less effective than they used to be.
Mobile devices now account for 59% of global website traffic. But almost half (45%) of companies surveyed in the most recent Verizon Mobile Security Index say they have suffered a compromise involving a mobile device in the past 12 months.
Company firewalls only protect those inside the wall, and retrospective malware checkers by nature don’t detect an attack until it’s taken place.
Traditional security models have now been replaced by the concept of endpoint security, in which security is applied on a device, user, location, and even application basis. It’s this evolving understanding of security that contributes to today’s security industry buzzwords, things like zero trust, multi-factor authentication, and password-free security — all are components of the new approach.
But can devices protect themselves?
Another tactic is the continued attempt to evolve security protection on the device itself, kind of like the Secure Enclave on Apple’s products. But it involves even more: developing systems that are smart enough to recognize whether they have been attacked.
But being able to deliver that kind of machine intelligence self-awareness requires access to a little information first, in the form of telemetry data.
Jamf already has a security solution for Macs that shows this direction of travel, called Jamf Protect. It can detect threats, monitor compliance, and automatically respond to some security incidents. When it was introduced in 2019, it showed a future for security protection. The ZecOps deal means the company now has technology it might be able to use to provide similar protection to iPhones and iPads, too.
Delivering that level of security is complex and requires access to telemetry, which is the kind of information Zecops is very good at grabbing. That explains why its security solutions are already used by governments, enterprises, and high-net-worth individuals to accelerate mobile security investigations. The solution is very good at taking data and identifying attacks and compromises at a deep scale.
The idea is that if a breach has taken place, the software will spot it, which is invaluable to the protection of corporate data. However, the goal must be that eventually the device itself will recognize and protect itself against any visibly recognize attack, making systems even more secure.
“ZecOps is the only available tool that provides the capability to extract, deliver, and analyze mobile device logs for signs of compromise or malicious activity,” said one “Department of State, a G7 government” customer, according to the company.
How it works
The tool works by capturing and analyzing logs from both iOS and Android devices at the operating system layer. It explores this telemetric data to identify suspicious events and has been designed to catch hidden zero- and one-click attacks. It will identify whether a device is attacked, how and when that attack took place, what impact it has, and then help inform effective incident response.
It’s a threat hunter for iPhones.
It’s important also to consider the kind of threats this solution may be able to fend off. This isn’t just a virus checker. It is smart and capable enough to identify some of the state-sponsored threats Apple built Lockdown Mode to protect devices against. The acquisition essentially gives Jamf a technology sufficiently robust to protect against espionage.
And at a deeply paranoid time in our global history, this level of protection is the degree of security every iPhone user requires.
Please follow me on Mastodon, Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Mosyle is ramping up its wares with new security protections for iPhones and iPad adding more fuel to the Apple-in-the-enterprise fire.
Hardening and compliance options for iPhones and iPads
The company is unveiling its first endpoint security solution for IT admins overseeing fleets of mobile Apple devices. The idea is that the product, Mosyle Hardening and Compliance, ensures that employee devices are protected, compliant, and following the latest cybersecurity benchmarks.
“Over the past few years, Mosyle has extended its reach beyond Apple device management and fused innovative endpoint security solutions into our platform,” said Alcyr Araujo, founder and CEO at Mosyle.
Apple’s growth continues to drive expansion
Apple’s expanding place in the enterprise market is generating renewed interest among hackers in undermining the company’s security models in the chase for money. Just last week, Apple identified and put protection in place against the ninth zero-day vulnerability used against iPhones this year.
Araujo thinks enterprise adopted of Apple adoption is growing fast. He recently explained: “Enterprise customers continue to expand their Apple fleets in ways that makes us believe we’re only now in the initial days of a migration era.”
There are numerous trends driving Apple’s growth. These include the consumerization of IT, the move toward employee choice, Apple’s reputation for security, product reliability and overall lower running costs. Interestingly, Apple recently disclosed that more than half of the Macs it sold in the last quarter went to people new to the platform, further suggesting the depth of Apple’s renaissance.
Mosyle cites its own 2022 research to support this, pointing out that 81% of employees rely on an iPhone at work, and 65% utilize an iPad device for business. The solution is part of the Moysle Fuse package, which the company introduced in May following its $196 million Series B funding round.
“Larger companies, after listening to employees’ preferences and learning about the sophisticated enterprise tools offered by Apple and specialized Apple endpoint software providers, are starting to refresh PCs with Macs, which should continue for the coming years. Ultimately, Macs will become the leader in enterprise,” Araujo said.
Protecting the endpoints
One thing the remote-work transition really has shown is the need to protect endpoints, that once outside of traditional perimeter security protections the iPhones, iPads, and Macs people use to get work done at home are vulnerable. At one point during the pandemic, it was shown that home Wi-Fi passwords are not properly secured, which hopefully has changed.
Just like the industry, Apple is moving to address this; tools such as Passkeys and new Apple APIs such as Declarative Device Management and Managed Device Attestation should all be seen as evidence it understands the need to make endpoints less vulnerable.
What Mosyle Hardening and Compliance does
Security functionalities in Mosyle Hardening and Compliance include:
Fully automated device security configuration that uses pre-made security controls based on leading security benchmarks.
Around-the-clock monitoring of all iOS and iPadOS devices against each enabled security control, identifying devices that are not compliant and enforcing necessary remediations.
Streamlining and automating security audit and certification tasks, including provision of logs for controlled devices.
Security, particularly endpoint security, seems set to remain a very big differentiator between device management solutions for Apple. Already the industry seems split between three primary approaches:
Cross-platform solutions that may not prioritize the Apple experience above other platforms.
Pure, more-traditional MDM options in which security is provided through third-party solutions and partnerships.
Evolving suites of integrated management tools combining sophisticated device management with endpoint protection.
Such is the vibrancy of this space that it’s predictable that we’ll see more innovation and more acquisitions take place as Apple becomes the dominant platform for the new workplace.
Please follow me on Mastodon, Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Hey. You. Yes, you there — the one with your overly moist eyeballs pointed at the screen. What if I were to tell you that that the browser you rely on for all of your web-based exploring on Android had oodles of extra features — top-secret settings that’d add awesome powers into your mobile browsing adventures and make wiggling your way around this wacky ol’ web of ours meaningfully better?
Well, provided you’re using Google’s Chrome browser for Android, that’s as true as true can be. And best of all, it doesn’t take much to uncover all of Chrome’s carefully concealed treasures — if you know where to look.
The six settings on this page will make your Android-based web browsing more powerful, more efficient, and generally just more pleasant. They’re all just sitting there waiting to be found, too — so really, why not take advantage of what they have to offer?
Before we spelunk any further, though, one quick word of warning: All of these settings are part of Chrome’s flags system, which is a home for under-development options that are still actively being worked on and aren’t technically intended for mainstream use. The flags system is meant for expert users and other similarly informed (and/or insane) folk who want to get an early look at advanced items. It also evolves pretty regularly, so it’s entirely possible some of the settings mentioned here may look different from what I’ve described or even be gone entirely at some point in the not-so-distant future.
What’s more, the flags system has loads of advanced options within it, some of which could potentially cause websites to look weird, Chrome itself to become unstable, or even your ears to start spewing a delightfully minty steam. (Hey, you never know.) So in other words: Proceed with caution, follow my instructions carefully, and don’t mess with anything else you encounter in this area of the browser unless you actually understand it and genuinely know what you’re doing.
[Psst: Love shortcuts? My Android Shortcut Supercourse will teach you tons of time-saving tricks for your phone. Sign up now for free!]
Got all that? Good. Now, let’s give your browser some spiffy new superpowers, shall we?
Chrome Android setting No. 1: Smarter screenshots
I don’t know about you, but I share an awful lot of screenshots with my fellow phone-staring land mammals. And often, there’ll be some manner of info on the screen I want to highlight — a specific area on a web page, an interface element, a pinky-nail-sized photo of my fibula, or whatever the case may be.
Android’s own native screenshot editor makes it easy to scribble on any screenshot you capture and add in a crudely drawn line or circle — but “crudely drawn” is the key term there. You’re quite literally just scribbling with your finger on the screen, and you can very much tell in the way it ends up looking.
But, get this: You can now create a tidy and professional-looking box, circle, or arrow on top of any screenshot you capture from right within Chrome, without ever interrupting your workflow. And all you’ve gotta do is flip a single switch to make it possible.
Here’s the trick:
Type chrome:flags into your Chrome Android app’s address bar.
Type screenshots into the search box on the screen that comes up.
Tap the line labeled “Screenshots for Android V2” and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”
Tap the blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.
After your browser restarts itself, open up a web page — any ol’ web page. Tap the three-dot menu icon in Chrome’s upper-right corner, select “Share,” and then select “Screenshot” in the little panel that pops up.
And hey — how ’bout that? There at the bottom of that tool is an innocuous-looking new addition called “Shape.”
JR
Tap that, and you can then draw any clean-looking box, circle, or arrow anywhere on the screenshot, in any color you want:
JR
Not too shabby, eh?
Chrome Android setting No. 2: Less limiting screenshots
Speaking of screenshots, have you ever tried to capture a screenshot of something you’re viewing in Chrome’s Incognito mode on your phone?
If not, allow me to spoil the surprise for you: It doesn’t work. You just get a blank, black image without anything visible on it — which is lovely in its simplicity, I suppose, but not all that useful when it comes to trying to share important info.
Well, get this: Deep within Chrome’s dankest bowels lies a simple switch that removes that screenshot-prohibiting policy for the browser’s Incognito mode and lets you capture anything you want to capture, in any mode you’re using.
So say, for instance, you’re using Chrome’s Incognito mode to look at something without being signed in. Or maybe you’re relying on it to check on a certain search without having the term get connected to your Google browsing history. Or maybe you’re using it for, erm, certain other undisclosed purposes.
Whatever the case, there are bound to be moments when you want to snap a screenshot of something in that sort of state. And now, you can.
Here’s all there is to it:
Once again, type chrome:flags into your browser’s address bar.
Type incognito into the search box on the screen that comes up.
Find the line labeled “Incognito Screenshot” and change its setting from “Default” to “Enabled.”
Tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.
And that’s it: You can now capture screenshots of Incognito windows whenever your privacy-browsing heart desires.
Just remember: If you snap something accidentally at an (ahem) inadvertent moment, it’s up to you to go find and delete it.
Chrome Android setting No. 3: Smarter saving
If you’re anything like me and tend to keep somewhere between 20 and 20,000 tabs open in your Chrome Android browser at any given moment — all Very Important Articles you intend to read at some point, obviously — this next hidden Chrome feature is just for you.
It’s a smarter system for saving stuff directly in your Android browser without all the clutter and then making sure you actually remember to revisit it later.
And this one requires two different pieces of the puzzle to be activated:
Start by typing chrome:flags into your browser’s address bar (feeling familiar yet?).
Next, type read later into the search box.
Find the line labeled “Reading list” and change its setting to “Enabled (with app menu item).”
And then find the line labeled “Read later reminder notification” and change its setting to “Enabled.”
Finally, tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.
When Chrome reloads, try opening up any article on any website you like. Tap the three-dot menu icon in Chrome’s upper-right corner, and you should see a newly added “Add to reading list” option midway down the menu.
JR
Select that, and the page will be beamed over into a special area of your browser’s bookmarks reserved explicitly for stuff you want to read later — and you’ll get a reminder after a week that you, like, really need to read it.
If you ever want to access your reading list on your own, just tap Chrome’s three-dot menu icon again and select “Bookmarks.” You should then see “Reading list” as an option and be able to find everything you’ve saved within it.
And as an extra-useful bonus, all those articles are automatically made available for offline reading, too, in case you ever want to catch up whilst on an airplane or in an undisclosed underground bunker.
Chrome Android setting No. 4: Better bookmarks
While we’re thinking about those Chrome Android bookmarks, let’s take a sec to self-apply a major interface upgrade in that area — shall we?
The truth is that it’s a pretty overdue improvement. Chrome’s bookmarks area on Android hasn’t gotten much love in a good long while, and it’s looked rather blah (to use the technical term) as a result. But fear not, for Google hasn’t forgotten about it entirely.
You can fast-track your Android phone into Chrome’s new-and-improved bookmarks setup by making this quick ‘n’ easy tweak:
Type chrome:flags into the browser’s address bar.
Type bookmarks into the search box on the screen that comes up.
Tap the line labeled “Bookmarks refresh” and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled (enabled w/ visuals).”
Tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.
After your browser restarts, tap the three-dot menu icon in its upper-right corner and again tap “Bookmarks” in that main Chrome menu. You’ll be greeted with a freshened-up Android bookmark view that doesn’t look like it was last touched in the prehistoric ages — and, as an added perk, you’ll also notice a new and less ambiguous option for adding a site into your bookmarks within that main Chrome menu.
Chrome Android setting No. 5: A smarter Dark Theme
Android’s Dark Theme is a nice way to make your virtual world a little easier on your eyes, especially in the evening hours or anytime you’re in a dim setting (like, for instance, an undisclosed underground bunker).
But oddly enough, using the system-wide Dark Theme toggle doesn’t actually affect the web. Most sites still show up bright as day and in a harsh contrast to the mellow dim vibes the rest of Android gives you in that context.
Well, here’s the fix:
Type — yup, you guessed it! — chrome:flags into your browser’s address bar.
Now type dark into the search box on the screen that comes up.
Find the line that says “Darken websites checkbox in themes setting” and change its setting to “Enabled.”
Smack that splendid Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen. (Don’t worry. It likes it.)
Now pull up any ol’ website you want, and you’ll see the site magically transformed into a dark theme for your viewing pleasure.
JR
And remember this: If you ever want to disable that transformation, you can mosey your way into the Chrome Android app’s settings and select “Theme” to find a switch that’ll let you toggle it on or off as needed.
Chrome Android setting No. 6: Richer reactions
Last but not least is a slightly silly but still potentially useful Chrome Android option. And it goes hand in hand with the first two tricks we went over at the start of this saga.
Are you ready? This final hurrah of ours is an expanded system for browser-based screenshots — one that makes it delightfully easy to add an expressive reaction into any image you capture for extra effect.
See?
JR
Want to give it a whirl? Here’s how:
One last time, type chrome:flags into that eager and waiting address bar of yours.
Type reactions into the search box at the top of the screen.
Find the line labeled “Lightweight Reactions (Android)” and change its setting to “Enabled.”
Last but not least — let’s all say it together now! — tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.
When Chrome comes back up, just gallop over to any ol’ website you like, select the “Share” option in the main Chrome menu, and look for the newly present “Add emotion” possibility.
Pound that puppy, then pick the emotion you require (and note that you can scroll horizontally on the list of options to uncover even more symbols) — then use your fingers to move and resize it and even duplicate it, if you’re really feeling merry.
JR
All that’s left is to hit the checkmark icon in the lower-right corner of your screen and then send your creation as a lively animation to whatever colleague you choose to bless with your expressiveness.
For everyone else in your workplace, simultaneously: You’re welcome — and I’m sorry.
Ready for even more advanced Android knowledge? Sign up for my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks!
You’d think keeping tabs on your contacts would be about the simplest and most straightforward task imaginable in our modern connected world — wouldn’t you?
I sure would. But as I’ve learned over the years, that perfectly understandable instinct couldn’t be more inaccurate.
Effectively wrangling your contacts on Android and keeping ’em manageable, organized, and optimized for efficiency really is a fine art. And in a way, it’s no wonder: Most of us have reached a point where our phones’ contacts are a sprawling goulash of earthlings from all different eras of our lives — clients, colleagues, college buddies, and, of course, your cousin Carl from Poughkeepsie.
Making matters even more complex is the fact that what constitutes “Android” is a wildly different experience from one device to the next. And most Android phone-makers don’t exactly make it easy for you to make the most of your messy contacts stew.
The good news, though, is that it doesn’t have to be so difficult. Today, we’ll start from square one and get your contacts in tip-top shape, no matter what type of Android phone you’re using or how many unruly old bosses’ email addresses you’ve got stored away.
By the time we’re done, your Android phone contacts will be as orderly as can be — and you’ll be equipped with all sorts of practical knowledge for harnessing their typically untapped potential.
Part I: Android contacts streamlining
First and foremost, we need to make sure we’re all on the same page — ’cause as we just mentioned a moment ago, the Android contacts situation is anything but standardized across the platform.
Specifically, if you’re using a Samsung phone, we need to get you off of Samsung’s subpar and proprietary contacts service and into Google’s better, smarter, and more platform-agnostic alternative.
Samsung’s main goal with its products, y’see, is to keep you within its own universe. The company wants you to continue using Samsung stuff and buying Samsung stuff, and it makes that more of a priority than giving you an optimal experience.
The company’s Contacts app is the perfect example: The app offers no noteworthy advantages over Google’s standard Android Contacts service, and it’s available only on Samsung-made Android devices. It’s less fully featured and pleasant to use than Google’s version, too, and it makes it much more difficult to access your contact info from a computer or any other type of device.
So why does Samsung insist on making that the default contacts service on its phones instead of sticking with Google’s readily available offering? Simple: because it locks you into Samsung’s self-serving ecosystem.
Let’s break you free, shall we?
Open up the Contacts app on your phone (the one probably represented by a glaringly bright orange icon).
Tap the three-line menu icon in its upper-left corner, then tap “Manage contacts” followed by “Sync contacts.”
Make sure your main Google account is present and has its toggle active on the screen that comes up next. If you don’t see it, tap the “Add account” option to add it into the mix.
JR Raphael/IDG
Both your Samsung account and your Google account need to be added and set to sync in the Samsung Contacts app.
Got it? Good. Now, go download the Google Contacts app from the Play Store. Open it up and approve the permissions it needs to operate. Then make a point to start using it instead of Samsung’s silliness (which, by the by, Samsung won’t let you uninstall) from here on out.
If you have a non-Google-made phone from someone other than Samsung, check to see if your contacts app is the actual Google Contacts app or not. If it isn’t — and if your device-maker gave you some other random alternative in its place — poke around in the app and try to find a similar set of options for syncing everything over to your Google account. If that isn’t possible, find the option to export your contacts from that app and then look for the import option within the Google Contacts Android app to get to the same spot.
Part II: Android contacts accounts and labels
Now that we’re all looking at the same place and dealing with the same best-available Android contacts management option, let’s take a few minutes to get the lay of the land, shall we?
When you first open the Google Contacts app on Android, you’ll see all of the contacts from whatever Google account is set to be the primary account on that phone. But take note: If you tap or swipe the profile picture in the app’s upper-right corner, you can switch to seeing contacts associated with any other Google accounts on the device — and if you tap the three-line menu icon in the app’s upper-left corner, you can shift into a merged view of all contacts from every account you’ve got connected.
JR Raphael/IDG
The Google Contacts app makes it easy to see contacts from individual accounts or all of your connected accounts together.
You’ll also see a list of any labels you’ve created for your contacts in that area. Labels in Google Contacts work exactly like labels in Gmail: You can create as many as you like, and you can apply any number of labels onto any given contact. They’re less like folders, in other words, and more like stickers — or, y’know, labels — in that there’s no limit to how many any particular contact can have.
So why would you want to bother with labels, you might be wondering? Well, I’ll tell ya: They’re a splendid way to break that mess of mammals in your life down into specific, meaningful groups instead of always viewing ’em in one gigantic lump.
Maybe, for instance, you’d have a label called “Work” that includes everyone from your current company. And maybe you’d have a separate label called “Team” that’s even more narrow and shows only the people you directly work with. Maybe you’d have another label for clients, another for specific subsets of clients, and another for all the people in your life named Josh.
Once you do that initial organization, you’ll have an easy way to limit your view to only the individuals you need at any given moment — and you’ll gain a couple of other easily overlooked advantages, too, as we’ll explore further in a moment.
First, to apply a label onto a contact once you’ve created it:
Press and hold the name of the person from the main contact list.
If you want to add other people to the same label at the same time, tap their names next.
Once you’ve got all the names you need highlighted, tap the three-dot icon in the app’s upper-right corner and select “Add to label” followed by whatever label you want.
JR Raphael/IDG
You can add multiple contacts into a label at once by using the Contacts app’s multiselect capability.
Capisce? Capisce. Now, let’s move on to some even more advanced Android contacts goodness.
Part III: Advanced Android contacts enhancements
When you first tap a person’s name within the Google Contacts app on Android, you’ll see a screen with their profile appear.
JR Raphael/IDG
Anyone you store in your contacts on Android will have a custom profile that puts all your notes and info about them in a single place.
Tap the pencil-shaped editing icon in the upper-right corner of that area, and take note of some important possibilities:
In addition to all the basic info you’d expect, you can tap a plain-text “More fields” link at the very bottom of the profile editing interface to reveal a whole host of other potentially useful options — including fields for phonetic pronunciation of the person’s name as well as any nicknames, their company name, department name, work title, and even a series of people related to that person that you might need to remember (spouse, assistant, manager, or the person who referred them to you, just to name a few available options).
After tapping that “More fields” option, you’ll see a new option at the bottom of the screen to add your own custom field. That’s a handy way to store any additional manner of info about a person that might be helpful to find later — anything from their shirt size to favorite restaurant or anything else that might come up in your future interactions.
If you tap the circular icon at the very top of the profile editing interface, you can upload a photo to represent the contact in question. That photo will then show up all throughout different Google services on any device where you’re signed in — in Gmail, the Google Messages app, even Docs and Drive when you share or collaborate. (If someone has a Google account, you may already see a photo for them in that area. But you can still override their own photo with one of your choosing, if you’d like.)
One more advanced Android contacts option worth mentioning: When you open any person’s profile in the Contacts app on your phone, you’ll see a hollow star in the upper-right corner of the screen. You can tap that to fill the star in and mark that person as a favorite.
Doing so will have some significant effects:
That person will always appear at the top of your contacts list.
They’ll also typically show up in a special, more prominent area of your Phone app for extra-easy access (and if they don’t, try downloading the Google-made Phone app and using it in place of whatever alternative your phone’s maker preinstalled in its place).
And they’ll be granted special privileges to reach you even when your phone is in Do Not Disturb mode, with the specifics depending on your preferences in that area of your system settings.
Part IV: Android contacts optimization
One of the best features of the Google Contacts service is how easy it makes it to clean up and optimize your contacts collection.
From the Contacts app on your phone, tap “Fix & Manage” at the bottom of the screen — then:
Tap the “Merge & Fix” button.
Look to see what suggestions the app gives you, then tap ’em one by one and follow the steps within.
JR Raphael/IDG
The Google Contacts app offers intelligent suggestions for quickly cleaning up your contacts.
Google Contacts will identify any instances where it looks like you’ve got two separate contact entries for the same person and then offer to quickly combine them for you. It’ll also let you know when it’s found more up-to-date contact info for anyone in your list. And it’ll offer to add in entries for anyone you email often but haven’t yet added.
Easy peasy, right?
And last but not least, for the virtual icing on your Android contacts cake…
Part V: Android contacts actions
Once you’ve gotten your contacts created, organized, and cleaned up properly, the Google Contacts app on Android has several advanced actions that are all too easy to miss.
You can use the Contacts app as an efficient way to start a new group email or text message thread with any selection of people you want. Just make sure the people are all in the same label, then tap the three-line menu icon in the app’s upper-left corner and select the label. Next, tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of the label screen and look for the “Send email” or “Send message” option.
The Contacts app can also serve as an all-in-one hub for initiating communication with anyone in your collection. Open someone’s profile, and you’ll see one-tap icons for calling them, texting them, emailing them, or starting a Google Meet video call with them — all without ever having to poke around in any other apps.
If you want even easier access to certain high-profile people, check out the Google Contacts widget options: Long-press on any open area of your home screen, select the option to add a widget, and then look for the Contacts section. There, you should see an icon to add a new overall contact shortcut (which will zap you directly to a person’s full profile) as well as an icon to add a one-tap command for calling or texting any particular person. You can add as many of those as you want onto your home screen and even drag ’em on top of each other once they’re there to create convenient folders.
JR Raphael/IDG
The Google Contacts app’s widgets are a wonderful way to keep one-tap shortcuts for calling or messaging important people close by.
Speaking of calling convenience, if there’s a certain contact who calls you a little too often — an overly eager recruiter or maybe that blasted cousin of yours (come on, Carl!) — the Google Contacts app has an easy way to automatically route all of their calls directly to your voicemail. Just open the person’s profile within the app, then tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner and look for the “Route to voicemail” option.
That same menu also holds a speedy shortcut for setting a custom ringtone for any contact so it’s especially easy to identify them (or hide in the nearest underground bunker) whenever they call.
Last but not least, the real beauty of the Google Contacts setup on Android: It works equally well no matter what type of device you’re using.
On any phone you move into in the future, you can simply install the Google Contacts app, if it isn’t already in place, and all your stuff will instantly be there, synced, and available to you — no restoring required. And if you ever want to poke around or update your contacts from a computer, all you’ve gotta do is pull up the Google Contacts website in any browser where you’re signed in.
So the Android contacts situation isn’t exactly straightforward, as you’ve seen. But once you get it under control, it absolutely can be easy and effective — and, with a teensy bit of advance planning, an important piece of your mobile productivity puzzle.
It’s time to audit your code, as it appears that some no/low code features used in iOS or Android apps may not be as secure as you thought. That’s the big take away from a report explaining that disguised Russian software is being used in apps from the US Army, CDC, the UK Labour party, and other entities.
When Washington becomes Siberia
What’s at issue is that code developed by a company called Pushwoosh has been deployed within thousands of apps from thousands of entities. These include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which claims it was led to believe Pushwoosh was based in Washington when the developer is, in fact, based in Siberia, Reuters explains. A visit to the Pushwoosh Twitter feed shows the company claiming to be based in Washington, DC.
The company provides code and data processing support that can be used within apps to profile what smartphone app users do online and send personalized notifications. CleverTap, Braze, One Signal, and Firebase offer similar services. Now, to be fair, Reuters has no evidence the data collected by the company has been abused. But the fact the firm is based in Russia is problematic, as information is subject to local data law, which could pose a security risk.
It may not, of course, but it’s unlikely any developer involved in handling data that could be viewed as sensitive will want to take that risk.
What’s the background?
While there are lots of reasons to be suspicious of Russia at this time, I’m certain every nation has its own third-party component developers that may or may not put user security first. The challenge is finding out which do, and which don’t.
The reason code such as this from Pushwoosh gets used in applications is simple: it’s about money and development time. Mobile application development can get expensive, so to reduce development costs some apps will use off-the-shelf code from third parties for some tasks. Doing so reduces costs, and, given we’re moving quite swiftly toward no code/low code development environments, we’re going to see more of this kind of modelling-brick approach to app development.
That’s fine, as modular code can deliver huge benefits to apps, developers, and enterprises, but it does highlight a problem any enterprise using third-party code must examine.
Who owns your code?
To what extent is the code secure? What data is gathered using the code, where does that information go, and what power does the end user (or enterprise whose name is on the app) possess to protect, delete, or manage that data?
There are other challenges: When using such code, is it updated regularly? Does the code itself remain secure? What depth of rigor is applied when testing the software? Does the code embed any undisclosed script tracking code? What encryption is used and where is data stored?
The problem is that in the event the answer to any of these questions is “don’t know” or “none,” then the data is at risk. This underlines the need for robust security assessments around the use of any modular component code.
Data compliance teams must test this stuff rigorously — “bare minimum” tests aren’t enough.
I’d also argue that an approach in which any data that is gathered is anonymized makes a lot of sense. That way, should any information leak, the chance of abuse is minimized. (The danger of personalized technologies that lack robust information protection in the middle of the exchange is that this data, once collected, becomes a security risk.)
Surely the implications of Cambridge Analytica illustrate why obfuscation is a necessity in a connected age?
Apple certainly seems to understand this risk. Pushwoosh is used in around 8,000 iOS and Android apps. It is important to note that the developer says the data it gathers is not stored in Russia, but this may not protect it from being exfiltrated, experts cited by Reuters explain.
In a sense, it doesn’t matter much, as security is based on pre-empting risk, rather than waiting for danger to happen. Given the vast numbers of enterprises that go bust after being hacked, it’s better to be safe than sorry in security policy.
That’s why every enterprise whose dev teams rely on off-the-shelf code should ensure the third-party code is compatible with company security policy. Because it’s your code, with your company name on it, and any abuse of that data because of insufficient compliance testing will be your problem.
Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe. Also, now on Mastodon.
Supply chain challenges and cautious consumer purchasing patterns are affecting most businesses, but the transition to Apple in the enterprise is continuing That movement was confirmed by Jamf during its most recent fiscal call.
Mac, Mac and away
Jamf CEO Dean Hager cited IDC data that showed Mac device shipments declined in Q2, remaining pretty much flat year on year, but observed that for the four preceding quarters IDC pegged Mac shipments as increasing 30% year over year.
Macs accounted for 13% of all PCs sold, “the highest Mac share on record,” he said. His company continues to believe the Mac will become the dominant enterprise endpoint by 2030.
These bullish statements reflect the reality that Jamf, by its very nature, is a company that should be seen as a barometer for Apple proliferation across the enterprise. Hager confirmed continued growth.
The company now supports more than 69,000 customers and its services are being used to manage and secure more than 29 million devices. It is notable that Jamf revenue grew 30% year on year to $124.6 million, for $93.4 million gross profit. This is the 10th consecutive quarter in which the company has exceeded expectations, which speaks volumes for Apple’s growing enterprise business.
The company anticipates 24%+ revenue growth in the current quarter.
Why is this happening?
Hager stressed that the consumerization of IT and the power and affordability of M1 Macs, combined with moves toward mobility, have driven sales of the platform.
But he also warned that increasing market share has also generated additional Apple specific security threats. This prompted Jamf to purchase and provide a growing range of robust security products, including the pending acquisition of ZecOps. The company has seen demand for its security products increase 50% in terms of ARR growth. Jamf recently announced plans to invest in tech and security companies that support Apple’s ecosystem.
I’ve also heard that another consequence to the increasing demand for Apple products is that it’s becoming harder to secure Apple native professionals across multiple industries.
Practically, Apple’s decision to offer up free training to IT support professionals reflects the need to fill this emerging gap. As more enterprises seek experienced Apple users in various roles, demand for those skills is growing greater than supply.
Speaking during the call, Hager confirmed his company has experienced challenges in recruiting and retaining talent, “in order to achieve a fully staffed and ramped sales team to meet the market demand for Apple first management and security solutions.”
Best-of-breed support
The need to provide white-glove enterprise support for Apple products is also driving change in enterprise tech. As the number of deployed Macs increases, users expect parity of service levels, rather than being pushed to the back of the queue by Windows-focused IT teams. While that journey isn’t over yet (I know of at least one huge London employer in which the tech team still sees Macs as “toys”), it is only a matter of time before parity becomes apparent.
That’s what I think based on Hager’s observation: “As we discussed last quarter, the majority of cross platform software providers that were considered leaders in the enterprise mobility management market just five years ago have been consolidated into other organisations.”
Suitable for mass deployment
The future for enterprise Apple support needs to be zero-day service. That’s what was provided by Jamf client SAP, which has 36,000 Macs and 90,000 iPhones deployed across the company.
Jamf was in position to support macOS Ventura from day one, which mean that within a week of the new OS’s release, 37% of SAP’s Mac users had moved to the new operating system.
This large-scale deployment may show that Mac users, even in the enterprise, want the latest systems rather than be consigned to antiquated operating systems of kit. (A recent story concerning the deployment of almost half a million iPads across Taiwan also reflect the resilience of the ecosystem and the capacity for mass deployment.)
Scoping out, the signals suggest that while other markets may slow a little, Apple is still in position to gain ground on the strength of its growing place in enterprise tech.
Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe. (And yes, a Mastodon link is coming.)
Apple has announced it will invest $450 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to develop the infrastructure that allows off-grid backpackers to call for help when outside mobile coverage.
Is that all there is?
Apple’s iPhone 14 is the company’s first-ever satellite phone. Or to be more accurate, it’s a step toward becoming one. You can’t make calls on it, but you will soon be able to use the satellite connection to send messages to emergency services from across the US and Canada. This could be a life saver.
Apple has said it will offer Emergency SOS over satellite as a free service for the next two years; today’s release confirms it will launch this month.
In a statement, Apple said it is spending $450 million to help put in place the critical infrastructure its Emergency SOS via satellite for iPhone 14 devices requires. That means at least some of this cash is being spent to improve and expand the infrastructure of its satellite partner, Globalstar.
Today’s release specifically cites investments across Globalstar’s existing US ground stations in Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Apple also said more than 300 Globalstar employees now support the new service.
The idea that the company is investing millions in a service for off-grid backpackers seems a little far-fetched, so it’s clear that Apple and Globalstar have bigger plans around satellite connectivity and Apple products. They must. Under terms of the deal between the two companies, Apple has agreed to pay 95% of the capital costs associated with the service, and Globalstar intends to launch many more satellites by the end of 2025.
What has Apple got?
Apple announced its work with Globalstar during the iPhone 14 launch event in September. I spent some time looking through the various regulatory documents concerning that deal. At the time, Apple promised the service would launch in the US and Canada in November, probably in the next major iOS point upgrade. The filings seem to reveal the following:
Apple has secured 85% of Globalstar’s network capacity under the deal.
Apple spent tens of millions of dollars to support the launch of a Globalstar satellite in June.
While Apple seems to suggest the service will expand, it specifically states it will not be made available in China, Hong Kong, or Macao.
Apple began discussion with the satellite firm in 2019, when they reached a Key Terms Agreement in the filings I saw.
The deal seems to suggest new ground stations will be put in place globally.
Globalstar has also ordered next-generation satellites for launch by the end of 2025.
The arrangement was put together by Tony Blevins, Apple’s now former vice president of procurement.
The final frontier
“We expect our terrestrial authority will allow future partners to develop high-density dedicated networks using the TD-LTE and 5G protocols for private networks as well as the densification of cellular networks,” said Globalstar.
It will be some time before satellite can support mass market communications. Right now, the tech is only really suitable for relatively low bandwidth, low demand tasks — if everyone on Earth had a satellite phone, these systems would collapse. That’s why Apple’s Emergency SOS interface consists of a small number of pre-created messages that can be sent to request aid.
All the same, it is worth noting that the n53 standard Apple now supports in iPhones was originally championed by Globalstar. This may well have relevance for the future establishment of high-bandwidth applications of the tech.
That said, I don’t see much consensus that satellite is ready to replace cellular service yet, though the continued convergence of voice and data makes it more possible, and I imagine we’ll see satellite communication protocols play an important part in 6G specifications in a few years.
What comes next?
“With Apple’s infrastructure investment, we’ve grown our teams in California and elsewhere to construct, expand, and upgrade our ground stations, and we look forward to the next chapter in Globalstar’s lifesaving technology,” said Jay Monroe, Globalstar’s executive chairman.
Beyond emergency messaging, I can see the Apple/Globalstar deal having relevance for IoT deployments. The satellite company already supports connected infrastructure deployed by Nokia in the Port of Seattle and it’s not especially hard to see how Apple is already experimenting with ideas around mesh networks and positioning — FindMy, AirTags and UWB are all about those things.
It’s not especially difficult to see all those spaces converging, and they will need to do so, particularly as Apple explores other ways to create winning solutions based around connected product design. The company has been explicit about that combination, pointing out in its latest release that iPhone users who are outside of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage will be able to launch the Find My app to share their location via satellite using the new service.
That same tech could support a global Apple TV service as well as also providing robust location and emergency service tracking for connected devices of some kind.
Apple’s statement today suggests work on the product offer will now intensify as the company puts in place the foundational technologies to support whatever satellite-supported solutions it has in mind to introduce, probably in or around 2025.
Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund
Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund was created in 2017. Since then it has paid $450 million to Corning for iPhone glass, $390 million to Finisar for FaceID components, $100 million to XPO Logistics and $10 million to Copan Diagnostics for COVID-19 test kit parts.
Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Friends, emailers, internet persons: Lend me your ears — ’cause my goodness, have I got one heck of an incredible Gmail treasure to share with ye today.
It’s an entire system of advanced add-ons that I’m pretty sure has been largely forgotten. I know I’d forgotten all about it until just the other day, when I was poking around in my inbox (as one does) and suddenly found myself making a hilariously cartoony slack-jawed expression whilst guffawing with glee.
And lemme tell ya: If you’re anywhere near as obsessed with efficiency as I am, you’re about to be doing some slack-jawed guffawing of your own.
Let me quickly set the stage before we dive in: These add-ons are part of an official Google Workspace Marketplace platform that I’m pretty sure precisely four people have visited in the past six months. It’s home to a series of tools you can add directly into different Workspace apps and then use without ever having to open anything else or interrupt your workflow.
With Gmail, that means you can bring pieces of other productivity essentials directly into your inbox and tap into their most useful features right then and there.
[Psst: Love shortcuts? My Android Shortcut Supercourse will teach you tons of time-saving tricks for your phone. Sign up now for free!]
And best of all? Unlike what you’d typically expect with an add-on, these beauties work every bit as well in the Gmail Android app as they do on the desktop website.
Let me show you my favorites.
Gmail Android add-on No. 1: The Trello quick-add
I don’t know about you, but Trello is an absolutely indispensable part of my productivity setup. I use it for organizing ideas, calendars, burritos, all sorts of good stuff.
And with the Trello Gmail add-on, I can now send any email I’m lookin’ at directly into any Trello board with a couple quick taps on my phone.
All I do is look for the Trello icon that now shows up at the bottom of every email I open in the Gmail Android app and peck at it with my poky person-pointer — and by golly, wouldya look at that?
JR
Right then and there, inside my inbox, appears a simple pop-up panel that connects to my Trello setup and lets me send whatever email I’m viewing into any board I want.
All you’ve gotta do is install the add-on yourself and then follow the steps to authorize it the first time you open it in Gmail.
The same applies to all the other Gmail add-ons we’re about to go over, by the way — and all of these tools are owned and operated by the company connected to the service (so Trello, in other words, in this case). They typically have access only to the emails in which you actively open ’em, so as long as you trust the associated service, there isn’t much to fret about in terms of privacy.
Gmail Android add-on No. 2: A simpler Slack sender
Next up, the next time you want to send something from Gmail to Slack, skip the usual copy-and-pasting parade and instead tap a handy Slack icon from that same spot in your inbox — at the bottom of any email you open in your trusty Gmail Android app.
JR
With the Slack Gmail add-on installed, you’ll see a step-saving panel that’ll empower you to post the email right into any channel or DM that’s available.
Not bad, right?!
Gmail Android add-on No. 3: A smarter signing setup
Signing stuff sucks — no doubt about that. But since it’s still an unavoidable reality of our modern work world, you might as well make it as palatable as possible.
And the PandaDoc Gmail add-on does exactly that: When you click its icon while viewing any email with a PDF attachment, it’ll make it as easy as can be for you to sign the file without going through all the usual hassles.
You’ll just confirm who’s signing, right there within Gmail, then tap a button to have the document beamed into PandaDoc and prepared for your signature.
JR
The same sort of setup applies with the DocuSign Gmail add-on or the Dropbox Sign (formerly HelloSign) Gmail add-on, too, if you prefer either of those services.
Gmail Android add-on No. 4: Your on-demand thesaurus
If you haven’t heard of Power Thesaurus, you’re missing out. The site is a spectacular resource for finding off-the-beaten-path synonyms and helping yourself think up whatever word is escaping eluding you thou.
And while the regular Power Thesaurus Android app is well worth your while to explore, the Power Thesaurus Gmail add-on brings all that power same right into your Gmail inbox. That way, you can get a definition or a sprawling list of synonyms for anything you need without ever leaving the email you’re composing.
JR
Quite a propitious discovery for anyone who loves (or maybe even loathes) language.
Gmail Android add-on No. 5: Your personal inbox task link
This final Gmail add-on is an interesting one — because it actually gives you a productivity-boosting power even Google’s own apps don’t allow.
And it’s a choose-your-own-adventure sort of setup, too:
With either the Todoist Gmail add-on or the AnyDo Gmail add-on, you can send entire emails into any task list you’ve got goin’ with a quick tap of the appropriate icon at the bottom of any email in the Gmail Android app.
JR
Here’s the weird thing: Both Google Keep and Google Tasks are present automatically as native add-ons within the Gmail desktop website. But you can’t get to either of ’em like this in the Gmail Android app. Go figure.
If you don’t mind leaning on Todoist or AnyDo for your tasks, though — and they’re a couple o’ excellent services for leaning! — you can extend that power into your Android email domain and save yourself plenty of steps and seconds.
Not too shabby for a system most everyone, quite possibly including Google itself, seems to have forgotten.
Get even more advanced shortcut knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of time-saving tricks!
New research from Gartner shows that IT spending in EMEA is set to see a 3.7%, year- over-year increase in 2023, rising to $1.3 trillion.
While companies are often hesitant to sign new contracts or commit to long-term spending initiatives during turbulent times, enterprise IT budgets are not central to this hesitancy, and as a result, businesses in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) are set to increase their IT budgets in 2023, said Gartner analyst and vice president John Lovelock.
In research released Wednesday at the company’s IT Symposium 2022 in Barcelona, Gartner found that increased spending on cloud software is largely fuelling the spending growth, with EMEA CIOs using cloud-first technologies to drive new initiatives, such as packaged business capabilities (PBCs) and data grids, while maintaining current on-premises environments.
Public cloud services spending in EMEA, meanwhile, is forecast to grow from $111 billion in 2022 to $131 billion in 2023, an increase of 18.2% year over year, Gartner said. Cloud software spending will represent 34% of total enterprise software spending in EMEA.
IT service spend is set to see the second biggest growth rate, rising by 6.6%, as CIOs continue to the lose the battle for talent and are stuck having to employ more IT managed services to plug the gaps, sometimes at great cost.
The research also found that among the most mature markets in Western Europe, UK IT spending is projected to achieve the highest growth rate in 2022, increasing by 8% in British pounds.
Consumer spending is not recession proof
While the outlook seems largely positive for enterprises, the narrative is starkly different when it came to tracking consumer IT spending.
Speaking ahead of the Gartner symposium, Lovelock noted that a country’s GDP (gross domestic product)—the value of goods and services produced during a given period—can be measured in two ways. There is “real GDP,” the inflation-adjusted GDP of a country, and “nominal GDP,” or GDP without any effect of inflation.
Lovelock said that in some European countries, nominal GDP is actually up, meaning enterprises are actually earning more money overall than last year. However, consumer purchasing power is determined by real GDP, most of which has been completely eroded by inflation, causing a shift in spending away from luxuries such as new technology and devices.
Consequently, Gartner found that in 2022, consumer spending on personal devices is projected to decline by 13%, the highest double-digit decline since 2009, when it fell by 11.3%. Furthermore, this trend is expected to carry over into 2023, with consumer spending on personal devices predicted to decline 2.6%.
“Although [personal devices] might be a need, we’ve just gone through two years of refresh,” Lovelock explained. “Refreshing our PCs for remote work, education and entertaining ourselves while we were locked in our apartments for six months at a time.”
As a result, he said the majority of consumers already own devices that are deemed “good enough,” meaning there’s no new must-have functionality on the market that would drive people to run out and replace a device early.
While spending on cloud and IT services will offset the slump in demand for personal devices, the overal EMEA IT spending growth of 3.7% next year will be a bit below the forecast for the rise in overall global IT spending, which Gartner has predicted will be an increase of 5.1% next year.
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