Dennis Sellers

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-02/apple-to-loosen-reins-on-outside-messaging-phone-apps-via-siri" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a>'s Mark Gurman that it will ease some restrictions on developers of third-party apps wishing to use Siri, the company’s “personal digital assistant,” following a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-01/iphone-ios-users-can-t-change-default-apps-safari-mail-music" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg News story</a> about the rise of in-house software that gets prized default status on iPhones and iPads.  </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">An appeals court in London on Wednesday revived a multibillion-pound privacy suit brought by an activist accusing Google of tracking iPhone users, ruling that he can seek damages from the technology giant on the behalf of 4.4 million consumers in Britain, reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1205167" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Law360 </a>(a subscription is required to read the entire article).</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Vena has released two new cases for the 2019 iPhones. There’s nothing groundbreaking about them, but both are solid cases with reasonable price tags.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">With the introduction of iPadOS, Apple has finally allowed you to use external storage with an iPad. There’s support for external storage volumes, including USB drives, SD cards, and SMB file servers, all of which appear as volumes inside Apple’s also updated Files app.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Winston Duke (<em>Black Panther, Us</em>) has been tapped as the lead in Swagger, Apple’s new basketball-themed drama series from NBA superstar Kevin Durant and his Thirty Five Ventures, reports <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/10/winston-duke-cast-star-swagger-apple-kevin-durant-drama-series-imagine-cbs-studios-1202748810/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Deadline</em></a>.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In celebration of The Big Draw Festival, you can participate in <a href="https://www.apple.com/today/collection/the-big-draw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">free art sessions</a> Oct.1–31 at every Apple retail tore and get hands-on with an iPad in drawing activities.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.ubtrobot.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UBTECH Robotics</a> has announced its holiday lineup of two new robot building kits for kids: JIMU Robot Mythical Series: FireBot Kit and JIMU Robot Competitive Series: ChampBot Kit. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Here’s an interesting feature that could come to Apple Arcade, Apple’s streaming game service. The tech giant has been granted a patent (number 10,427,050) for a “personal items network” that would store personal data about a user and apply it to video games.</p><p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"></p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">According to the latest market share survey from <a href="http://netmarkeshare.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetMarketShare,</a> the market share for both Apple’s macOS and iOS was up last month.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.hellonomad.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NOMAD</a> has released new, handsome leather cases for the latest iPhone and all are compatible with Qi wireless charging. At least one of their reasonably priced cases will suit everyone — unless he’s looking for a “flavor” rather than rustic brown or black. I’ve had a chance to experiment with the Active Rugged Case and the Rugged Folio.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">You’ll be able to “code your galaxy” with Kano’s <em>Star Wars</em> The Force Coding Kit, which will be released on Friday for $79.99. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Motif has released its <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/motif-photos/id1466595615" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iOS ap</a>p to offer photo book services on iPhone and iPad devices.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple won’t be exempted from tariffs on five Chinese-made components for the upcoming modular Mac Pro, even after <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2019/9/23/upcoming-modular-mac-pro-will-be-made-in-texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the company announced</a> it was keeping some assembly operations in the U.S., reports <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/apple-denied-relief-on-china-made-parts-after-staying-in-texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a>.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.macrumors.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em></a> reports that Apple News+, Apple’s digital newspaper/magazine subscription service, is now available in the UK and Australia.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has updated Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to take advantage of iOS 13.x and iPadOS. They’re free upgrades at the Apple App Store.</p>