Whatever...

When France meets technology

By Olivia Ronsain

Today is iPhone5 launch day in France, and guess what: part of the Apple Store staff has gone on strike!

Despite its 13 French stores, a turnover of €205 million – a 55% increase on last year - “Apple Retail France”, has made a loss of €10 million.  This loss is due to massive investments in Apple’s business development in France, and as a result, workers get no bonus. Furthermore, no sales based incentives exist, which is extremely bizarre for this profession.

Finally, some of the standard perks in France, such as financial bonuses, salary increases (the Apple store salary of €1300/month is really low for Paris), flexible working hours and the “thirteenth month bonus”, which corresponds to a month of salary and is usually offered at the end of the year, are non-negotiable.  Apple only agreed to provide lunch tickets as the only benefit.

And there you go!

Although French people are not the most spectacular geeks – with technology trends often lagging behind other countries - Apple is a highly sought-after brand here in France, and the Apple Store concept has been warmly welcomed.  Firstly, the Apple Store located in the prestigious Louvre Museum centre is open 7 days a week (almost unheard of here), with the “genius” people usually able to answer your questions and carry out minor repairs on your devices.  Moreover, you can try out all the products in-store, which is so far the only outlet offering this service.

Unfortunately, despite all the excitement for Apple products and employees’ pride in working for one of the trendiest companies around, we’re not even close to making a change in the French mentality.  If French law doesn’t force employers to adapt, employees’ strikes will – and what better time for Apple employees to make their plea heard than during the company’s biggest launch of the year?

Whether you like it or not, you can’t ignore the power of the strike.  That’s the beauty of France.

The Internet 'a Decade Later'

It's fair to say that the internet continues to grow at an incredible rate.  Internet traffic is projected to approach 1 zettabyte per year in 2015 — that’s equivalent to all the digital data in existence in 2010 (more amazing stats like this over on the Google stats page here.)  

This very neat (and very massive) infographic from Best Education Sites will take you on a journey to the past, where web pages didn't even have pictures, let alone mobile versions, social media widgets and videos... click below for the full graphic.

 

Apple fans rejoice: the iPhone 5 has landed

By Charlotte Martin

This week saw another highly anticipated launch from Apple – this time the iPhone 5, which will go on sale next week – and will be no doubt be marked by thousands of hardcore fans in sleeping bags, queuing around the block of every Apple store in the world!

While Apple’s latest offering boasts faster web usage, along with iOS6, the new operating system, its USP will really be its status as the first 4G iPhone.  Indeed, Apple has confirmed that its latest offering will be run on the Everything Everywhere (EE) network – formed by T-Mobile and Orange – the first provider of 4G coverage in Britain. With EE expected to roll out 4G coverage to 16 UK cities by the end of the year, the iPhone 5 looks to be the start of a new era in wireless connectivity – a fact responsible for much of the excitement around this new release.

In terms of style, Apple hasn’t strayed far from the design of its previous models.  The latest addition to the ever popular iPhone family has a taller, bigger screen – allowing space for an extra row of apps on the home screen – and is a thinner and lighter handset than its predecessors.  While the iPhone 5’s appearance is more of a change from the last model, when compared with the virtually identical 4 and 4S models, it did prompt criticism on Twitter, with many expressing disappointment that Apple has again chosen to play it safe.  Additionally, perhaps the major sticking point for many Apple fans will be the new smaller ‘Lightning’ connector, which will make all previous iPhone accessories and chargers obsolete.

The old adage that ‘you can’t please 100% of people 100% of the time’ is certainly true, but the fairly mixed response to this launch perhaps suggests that some of us are becoming a little bored with ‘samey’ releases from Apple.  On the other hand, the 4S also came with its fair share of criticism, with Siri bearing the brunt of much frustration from consumers – myself included...  Yet regardless, it still went on to become the best selling iPhone, with more 4S handsets having been sold than all previous models combined.  No doubt, despite the mixed reception of the iPhone5 so far, the company’s famously loyal fan base will ensure that the iPhone 5 goes down in history as yet another Apple success story.

Spirit in motion: the tech behind the stars

By Hannah Townsend 

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Olympic park to watch the Paralympic athletics.

Although the park lived up to all my expectations, it wasn’t the spectacular stadium, the buzzing atmosphere or the ridiculously upbeat volunteers that impressed me the most – it was the athletes themselves. And beyond that, the technology that enabled them to achieve things you wouldn’t think possible.

Growing up, a friend of mine had only one arm, so I’ve seen the clunky, uncomfortable prosthetics that are available. Yet here the athletes were sporting sleek, hi-tech attachments that are so advanced that they have enabled disabled athletes to compete at a similar level to the able-bodied.  Oscar Pistorius, who broke a world record during my visit to the stadium, is a prime example, becoming the first double amputee to qualify for an Olympic semi-final.

Other technology that can’t be ignored is the F1 inspired wheelchairs designed by BMW for the GB wheelchair basketball team, or the Ghost glove that trains Paralympic swimmers by offering vibrating feedback on form and posture. This Paralympics has really shown how far medical technology has come.

As such, technology has essentially dominated this Paralympics. You only need to see the headlines detailing the French complaints about GB’s ‘wheel wizardry’ during the cycling or Pistorius’ attack on Alan Oliveira following his defeat in the 200m final to see how contentious this topic is becoming.

The fact is, technology and medical science is always going to keep advancing and, when Rio comes around in four years time, I’ve no doubt that the Paralympic athletes will be able to jump that little bit higher, run that little bit faster and last that little bit longer.  What shouldn’t be overlooked in all this is the talent, perseverance and courage of those taking part – at the end of the day it’s these people that win the medals, not their blades.