Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 10,254,840) for a “guidance device for the sensory impaired.” If realized, it could, among other things, allow an iPhone to double as a virtual cane. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Maybe Siri will one day be better at understanding my Southern accent, although the personal digital assistant has gotten much better at the task. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,255,907) for “automatic accent detection using acoustic models.”</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Well, I wanted a 31.5-inch iMac, and one may be arriving later this year, if you can believe a new report from <a href="https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190409PD202.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>DigiTimes</em></a>, following up on yesterday’s note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple’s upcoming Apple Arcade may be arriving at just the right time. The global market for gaming desktops, notebooks, and monitors is expected to grow 8.2% year-over-year in 2019 to 42.1 million devices, according to a new forecast from <a href="https://www.idc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">IDC</span></a>. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has given a straight-to-series order to an eight-episode  drama based on Stephen King’s <em>Lisey’s Story</em>, reports <a href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/julianne-moore-jj-abrams-stephen-king-apple-show-1203183670/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a><em>.</em></p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">According to <a href="https://pc-tablet.com/an-apple-iphone-xe-is-in-the-making-for-q3-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>PC Tablet</em></a>, an India-based tech media outlet, Apple is working on an iPhone SE successor that will be dubbed the “iPhone XE.”</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In a note to clients — as noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/04/08/apples-316-inch-professional-display-may-arrive-soon-17-inch-macbook-pro-in-early-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a> — analyst says the 31.5-inch, 6K pro display from Apple that’s he’s predicted will arrive soon, but the 16.5-inch MacBook Pro he forecast won’t arrive until early next year. Previously, he prognosticated that we’d see the revamped laptop later this year.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The new <a href="http://www.piperjaffray.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Taking Stock With Teens survey by Piper Jaffray</a> finds that 83% of teens own an iPhone whereas 86% of teens expect an iPhone to be their next phone. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Worldwide shipments of devices — personal computers (PCs), tablets and mobile phones — are on pace to reach 2.21 billion units in 2019, exhibiting flat growth year over year, according to <a href="http://www.gartner.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner, Inc</a>. The PC market is expected to continue its downward trend, while the mobile phone market is set to return to growth in 2020.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Now that the AirPower has been canceled, it would be kinda cool if Apple gave us an “iDesk” as envisioned by the folks at Geeky Gadgets and, some years ago, by <em>Mac/Life. </em>It would doubtless be pricey and have a niche audience, but I think there’s a market for such a product. And it’s something I’ve dreamed about over the years.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple wants to get into your head — acoustically, that is. The tech giant has filed for a patent (number 2019014366) for a “system to move sound into and out of a listener’s head using a virtual acoustic system.” It likely involves upcoming tweaks to the company’s AirPods.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">According to recent update to the official Netflix Help Center <a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/49" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">webpage</a>, Airplay is no longer supported for use with Netflix due to “technical limitations.” AirPlay lets you share videos, photos, music, and more from Apple devices to your Apple TV, favorite speakers, and soon, popular smart TVs.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">When macOS 10.15 is previewed at June’s Worldwide Developer Conference, and arrives for end users in the fall, it may see iTunes broken up into separate apps as is currently the case with iOS.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Provision Living conducted a recent study on smartphone screen time. The company, which “provides exceptional services to older adults and their families,” surveyed 1,000 millennials and 1,000 baby boomers to find out exactly how Americans spend hours a day on their devices. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today</em> posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are this week’s picks.</p>