Black Friday Fires in Australia.

Black Friday in Australia.

The Black Friday fires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia, were considered one of the worst natural bushfires (wildfires) in the world, and certainly the single worst in Australian history as a measure of land affected. Almost 20,000 km² (4,942,000 acres, 2,000,000 ha) of land was burnt, 71 people died and several towns were entirely destroyed. Over 1,300 homes and 69 sawmills were burnt and a total of 3,700 buildings were destroyed. It was calculated that three quarters of the State of Victoria was directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. Considered in terms of both loss of property and loss of life, the 1939 fires were one of the worst disasters to have occurred in Australia and certainly the worst bushfire up to that time. Only the subsequent Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983 and the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 have resulted in more deaths. In terms of the total area burnt, the Black Friday fires are the second largest, burning 2 million hectares, with the Black Thursday fires of 1851 having burnt an estimated 5 million hectares.

Please remember this as the phrase Black Friday now seems to reference a sales event here instead, as it does in the United States.

Learn more about Australia’s Black Friday at Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub
Learn more about Australia’s Black Friday at Wikipedia

Black Friday in The United States.

In the United States, Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and Apple runs a One Day Sale. Unfortunately the “Black Friday” sales are gaining popularity in Australia as well so despite the name, Geekworks will match or better Apple one day specials for this day stock allowing.

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Geekworks has moved!

We have now moved to our new store with far better parking available. Our new address from the 15th July 2019 is 412 Old Cleveland Road, Coorparoo 4151 (Corner of Old Cleveland Road and Bennets Road)

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watchOS 4.3.2 Software for Apple Watch

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watchOS 4.3.2 Software for Apple Watch

Apple today released watchOS 4.3.2, a small update to the watchOS 4 operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 4.3.2 is a minor update and follows about a month after 4.3.1.

watchOS 4.3.2 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.

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Apple’s USB Restricted Mode – your iPhone’s latest security feature

Apple’s USB Restricted Mode – your iPhone’s latest security feature

Apple quietly introduced a significant privacy safeguard as part of the new iOS 11.4.1 update that was released on July 9th. USB Restricted Mode prevents USB accessories that plug into the Lightning port from making data connections with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch if your iOS device has been locked for over an hour.

USB Restricted Mode works like this: after an hour of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch sitting without being unlocked, iOS will basically cut off the Lightning port and limit it to charging only. This hour timeout should theoretically stop devices like GrayKey (which plugs into an iPhone and cracks the passcode within a few hours) from working successfully.

If you’re not concerned about someone potentially breaking their way into your iOS device, you can disable the new security measure immediately. Just go to Settings —> Face ID (or Touch ID) & Passcode —> USB Accessories. Toggle this option to on (green) and your accessories will function the exact same way they did before iOS 11.4.1.

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Apple Releases macOS High Sierra 10.13.6

Apple has released macOS High Sierra 10.13.6, the sixth update to the macOS High Sierra operating system available on Apple’s Mac lineup. macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 comes more than a month after the release of macOS High Sierra 10.13.5, which introduced support for Messages in iCloud.

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Mojave is the Last macOS Release to Support 32-Bit Apps

Apple confirmed yesterday during its WWDC keynote that macOS 10.14 Mojave will be the last version of macOS to support legacy 32-bit apps. Apple commenced its plan to begin phasing out 32-bit apps on Macs in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4. When a 32-bit app is opened in High Sierra, users get a warning about its future incompatibility with the macOS operating system.

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Apple USB-C to Lightning Cable

iPhone 8 and iPhone X support fast charging over USB-C

iPhone 8 and iPhone X support fast charging over USB-C

Among the details for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X is the fact that the new devices will support fast charging. Apple claims its new phones can recharge up to 50 percent of their battery life in a 30-minute charge. But there’s a catch: you have to use USB-C.

That’s because Apple is using USB Power Delivery, one of the various USB-C charging specifications, to provide fast charging on the new phones. It’s a feature that is also offered on its newest iPads with both the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and the updated 12.9-inch model supporting the option when they were released earlier this year.

So, to take advantage of fast charging on one of the new iPhones, you’ll need to buy both a Lightning-to-USB-C cable (Apple sells them for $25), and a USB-C Power Delivery-compatible charger. The cheapest Apple option is the 29W brick for the 12-inch MacBook, which costs $50.

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Apple’s new iPhone 8

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Apple’s new iPhone 8

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will be faster than its predecessors, offer a upgraded camera and will have aluminium banding around the edge, with glass on the front and back, the strongest glass ever on a smartphone.

They have been sealed for water and dust resistance, include new displays with True Tone that adapts colour and temperature to ambient light and have new stereo speakers that are 25 per cent louder than iPhone 7.

An Apple-designed graphics processing unit (GPU) makes it 30 per cent faster than the A10 chip.

Photography has also been made easier with an Apple-designed image signal processor, which allows for faster lowlight auto focus, improved pixel processing and noise reduction.

An all new 12-megapixel sensor with 83 per cent more light and an improved portrait mode.

The 8 Plus retains the dual 12MP sensors and will include a dual-camera feature called “Portrait Lighting”, which will allow users to rework the lighting while composing the shot to add a sense of depth.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus can shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second and 1080p 240 frames per second in slow-mo. The iPhone is calibrated for augmented reality photos, apps and games.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have been built for wireless charging and will use the Qi system used by restaurants, shops, cars and airports.

They will come in silver, space grey and gold, and will be available in 64GB and 256GB, with the iPhone 8 starting at $A1079, and the iPhone 8 Plus starting at $A1229.

Both devices will be available for pre-order beginning September 15 and will be in stores beginning September 22.

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Apple iPhone X, say hello to the future

APPLE has unveiled its new iPhone X model (pronounced “10”), which Apple has described as “the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone”. Speaking for the first time at the Steve Jobs Theater overnight in Apple’s new campus in Cupertino, California, Chief executive officer Tim Cook unveiled three new iPhone models, including the premium tenth […]

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WWDC 2017

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote for 2017 featured more than two hours of non-stop announcements and product unveilings, resulting in the most eventful and jam-packed WWDC we’ve seen in years.

Along with new versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS, Apple also used the event to launch a number of products, refreshed iPad Pro models, new iMacs, new MacBooks, new MacBook Pro models, new Apple Watch bands, and updated MacBook Air’s.

Apple also shared details on two upcoming products, the pro-oriented “iMac Pro” and the “HomePod,” the company’s much-rumored Siri-powered speaker that’s designed to compete with products like the Amazon Echo while also offering up amazing sound quality. Both the iMac Pro and the HomePod are launching in December.

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