Dennis Sellers

<p class="">Apple has filed for a patent (number 10,586,372) for “online modeling for real-time facial animation” involving its Animoji and Memoji features, as well as other applications.</p>

<p class="">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>

<p class="">VirnetX says it's received payment of $454,033,859.87, representing the previously announced judgment with interest in the “VirnetX Inc. v. Apple case.”</p>

<p class=""><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/roundguard/id1484566760" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roundguard</a> for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV is the latest game for Apple Arcade, Apple’s game streaming service.</p>

<p class="">It's been expected due to the coronavirus outbreak, but now it’s official. Apple says it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June in a new online format “packed with content for consumers, press and developers alike.” The exact date hasn't been announced.</p>

<p class="">The worldwide market for wearable devices grew 82.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019 (4Q19), reaching a new high of 118.9 million devices shipped according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) <a href="https://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=962" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker</a>.</p>

<p class="">Apple has confirmed that all 42 of its stores in mainland China will have re-opened today (local time), says <a href="https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/1238231719884382208" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg's Mark Gurman</a>. They were all closed in early February due to the coronavirus outbreak.</p>

<p class="">In June 2005, user interface experts at one of the world's top design houses said Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") was the beginning of the end for the Mac Finder and that the era of organizing files in nested folders was over, reported <em>Wired</em> (the article is no longer online).</p>

<p class="">Future Apple Watches may change their look and functions even more than they do presently depending on their orientation. Apple has been granted a patent (number 20200081536) for “gravity-induced position offset tracking for dynamic management of haptic module mechanical offset.”</p>

<p class="">Patrick Gates — an Apple senior director of engineering who led development of iCloud, FaceTime, and iMessage during nearly 14 years at the the tech giant — left Apple to join a stealth startup founded by two other former Apple employees, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri. Now the founders have <a href="https://hu.ma.ne/news/20200612.html">announced</a> that another Apple engineer has come aboard: Rubén Caballero (pictured) has joined as technical advisor.</p>

<p class="">France’s competition watchdog will fine Apple next week over anti-competitive behavior in its distribution and sales network, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-competition-france/french-watchdog-to-fine-apple-over-anti-competitive-behaviour-sources-say-idUSKBN20Z33R" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> reports, quoting two unnamed “sources close to the matter.”</p>

<p class="">Apple has secured new deals for songs from major record labels including Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music for the Apple Music streaming service, reports the<em> </em><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2b57fc8c-ef3b-40f5-83a5-2373ff203bfb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Financial Times</a> (a subscription is required to read the entire article).</p>

<p class="">Apple TV+’s drama series The Morning Show will be going on a two-week hiatus due to fear over the coronavirus outbreak, reports <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/03/apple-the-morning-show-hiatus-coronavirus-1202881192/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deadline</a>. The series was preparing to film season two.</p>

<p class="">Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200082638) for an augmented virtual display (VR) for an automobile that would implement methods that address problems with vehicles in motion that may result in motion sickness for passengers.</p>

<p class="">A California federal judge appears open to tossing Apple investors' putative class claims alleging the tech giant misrepresented its sales in China and intentionally hid wrongdoing relating to its sluggish iPhones, saying that despite the length of the 190-page complaint, "it's still somewhat amorphous,” reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1252329/apple-might-beat-investors-amorphous-iphone-sales-suit?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Law360 </a>(a subscription is required to read the entire article).</p>