Global Nerdy

Once again, I’m on vacation — with the same lovely lady as last time, even! — and will return with regular postings on Monday, July 8th.

Here’s a little promo that Pete Ashton found in the Yellow Pages. It explains two ways to get their app: via QR code or typing in an URL. Guess which one is simpler:

Click the photo to see the full-size original.

Pete calls it “the most damning piece of anti-QR code copy ever”, and I think he’s got a point. At the very least, you shouldn’t use a QR code when a simple, easy-to-remember URL is available.

Again, I remind you:

It’s funny because it’s true:

Found via Glenn Cameron.

Apple’s been working hard on iOS 7 and its developer tools over the past little while, and the result is a couple of new versions of their beta software:

• iOS 7 Beta 2, which includes bug fixes and iPad support, and
• Xcode 5 Developer Preview 2: the latest edition of the upcoming version of Xcode, Apple’s IDE.

In this article, we’ll show you how to get both.

Getting iOS 7 Beta 2 the Easy Way (if it’s already on your iPhone / iPod Touch)

If you have the first beta on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you can get it the easy way: the built-in Software Update. Fire up Settings, choose General, and then choose Software Update. You should see a screen that looks like this:

Tap the Download and Install button to do just that, and follow the screen prompts.

Getting iOS 7 Beta 2 the Hard Way (if your iPhone / iPod Touch doesn’t have iOS 7 beta on it, or if you’re installing on an iPad)

Getting the Package

Point your browser at the iOS Dev Center. If you’re properly registered in the iOS Developer Program, you should have the options of looking at resources for iOS 6.1 and iOS 7. Naturally, you should select iOS 7 SDK beta, after which the page should look like the screen capture below:

You can click on the Downloads link under the Resources for iOS 7 beta heading, or simply scroll down. Either way, you’ll end up in the same place, where you’ll see this:

Download the one that’s appropriate for your iDevice. I’ve included direct links to the available packages below:

• iPad (4th generation Model A1458)
• iPad (4th generation Model A1459)
• iPad (4th generation Model A1460)
• iPad mini (Model A1432)
• iPad mini (Model A1454)
• iPad mini (Model A1455)
• iPad Wi-Fi (3rd generation)
• iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for ATT)
• iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for Verizon)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi (Rev A)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (GSM)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA)
• iPhone 5 (Model A1428)
• iPhone 5 (Model A1429)
• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4 (GSM Rev A)
• iPhone 4 (GSM)
• iPhone 4 (CDMA)
• iPod touch (5th generation)

Installing the Package

The file that you’re downloading is a disk image. Double-click it to mount the image. You should see one file that looks something like this:

Connect your iDevice via USB to your Mac and start up iTunes. Let the sync complete. Click the iPhone or iPad button near the upper right-hand corner of the iTunes window:

The iTunes window should look something like this:

If you haven’t done so already, back up your iPhone.

And now, the important part of the process. I’m going to spell this out in large text:

While holding down the option or alt key on your keyboard, click the Restore iPhone… button. This allows you to choose a specific file to use when restoring your iPhone or iPod Touch. Choose the .ipsw file contained within the disk image you just mounted.

(That’s how you get iOS 7 on your iPhone or iPod Touch at this early point in the game: you’re restoring it from an image that has iOS 7 on it.)

Once you’ve done that, the uploading and installing process will take about 10 to 15 minutes. Your iPhone or iPod Touch will reboot once or twice during this time.

Getting Xcode 5 Developer Preview 2 and the iOS 7 Beta 2 SDK

If you want to develop for iOS 7 Beta 2, you’ll need the latest version of Xcode 5 and the iOS 7 Beta 2 SDK. Here’s how you get it:

Point your browser at the iOS Dev Center. If you’re properly registered in the iOS Developer Program, you should have the options of looking at resources for iOS 6.1 and iOS 7. Naturally, you should select iOS 7 SDK beta, after which the page should look like the screen capture below:

You can click on the Downloads link under the Resources for iOS 7 beta heading, or simply scroll down. Either way, you’ll end up in the same place, where you’ll see this:

Click the Xcode 5 and iOS 7 SDK beta 2 link to start the download. It’s a .dmg file that’s about 1.7 GB in size, and when double-clicked, mounts a disk image and opens the window shown in the screen capture below:

It’s a straight-forward drag-the-app-to-the-Applications-folder-alias install, and you’re done!

Click the comic to see it at its source, Buni.

Cisco have come up with a term called “Comprehensive BYOD” as well as the eight things it comprises, and the idea’s so good that we’re going to borrow it. We’ve taken their eight points — they called them “foundational capabilities” — improved on them with a little re-ordering, re-wording and a jauntier name because we think that doing so makes them more effective. Here are our 8 Simple Rules for Bringing Your Own Device, or what organizations implementing BYOD need to do:

1. Automatically enforce mobile device policies for usage and corporate resource access
2. Monitor and remotely “wipe” corporate data from managed devices
3. Give users secure access to the corporate network through wired, wifi, remote and mobile means
4. Give users the ability to simultaneously log in on multiple devices, because it’s now a multi-screen world
5. Give users the ability to move between networks seamlessly and securely, because we’re all “on the go” now
6. Provide simple, user-friendly user authentication for various mobile device makes and models
7. Provide corporate collaboration tools that work on all end-user devices
8. Support separate “work” and “personal” personas to keep corporate data separate

Through the strategic and judicious use of mobile device management (MDM), container applications, back office integration, and good practices and policies, you can follow the 8 Simple Rules, give your company’s employees the ability to use the devices they know and love, and get the most out of your BYOD program.

According to Cisco’s survey of 2,415 mobile users in 6 countries (Brazil, China, Germany, India, United Kingdom, and United States), as much as $3,150 per employee can be saved through “Comprehensive BYOD”. Cisco says that under a Comprehensive BYOD plan, employees will spend an average of $965 on their devices, plus another $734 in annual data plans, or a total of $1699 that they no longer have to spend since they’ve offloaded that cost onto their employees.

We beg to differ with Cisco. While there are some cost savings that can come from BYOD, we feel that employers should help employees cover the costs of work-related use of their devices through stipends or some other compensation plan. In our opinion, the really big wins that come from BYOD are employee productivity (up to 81 minutes of time saved every week, for every employee, according to Cisco’s survey) and satisfaction.