Dennis Sellers

<p class="">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200150785) for a “highly portable media device.” If it comes to fruition, it would be a solid state drive for storing songs, TV shows, movies, etc</p>

<p class="">As noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacRumors</a>, the Italian website <a href="https://www.ispazio.net/1969995/data-di-riapertura-apple-store-italia-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iSpazio</a> says Apple plans to re-open 10 of its 17 stores in Italy on May 19, excluding locations in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions.</p>

<p class="">According to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-05-13/fbi-serves-warrant-on-senator-stock-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Los Angeles Times</a> (a subscription is required to read the entire article), the FBI has served Apple with a warrant for obtaining info on the iCloud account of U.S. Senator Richard Burr. He’s being investigated for selling a significant percentage of his stock portfolio in 33 different transactions on February 13, just as his committee was receiving daily COVID-19 briefings and a week before the stock market sharply declined.</p>

<p class="">Apple ranks ninth on <em>Forbes</em>’ 2020 Global 2000 list, which ranks the world’s largest public companies.</p>

<p class="">Cynthia Hogan, Apple's vice president for public policy and government affairs, has resigned from the company, reports <a href="https://www.axios.com/apple-policy-exec-leaving-company-af4f093d-ab00-4582-a5be-dd4a184a02c5.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Axios</a>. She'll leave next month to serve as one of four leaders of a vice presidential selection committee for Joe Biden's presidential campaign.</p>

<p class="">Utah is one of the first states to endorse a contact tracing app to slow the spread of coronavirus and 45,000 people have signed up since it was released in late April. However, the app was built by a social media startup and doesn’t use the Apple-Google Bluetooth contact tracing system, reports <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/utah-contact-tracing-healthy-together-app.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CNBC</a>.</p>

<p class="">The first Futureproof IT summit, an event put on by Alectrona, Abelloni, Technolutionary and the MacAdmins Podcast, was announced early last month. And Apple consultants are looking to give back amid the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>

<p class="">Director/producer Ridley Scott has inked a first-look TV deal with Apple, for whom he once directed its famed "1984" commercial that introduced the company's first Mac, reports <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ridley-scott-inks-apple-tv-deal-1294445" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Hollywood Reporter</a>.</p>

<p class=""><a href="https://www.extremetech.com/computing/310469-intel-may-have-reserved-its-top-end-28w-ice-lake-cpus-exclusively-for-apple" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ExtremeTech says</a> there’s “some evidence” that Intel may have reserved an entire lineup of parts just for Mac laptops. No, it didn't make a custom chip, it's offering “specific combinations of cache, core counts, and frequencies: tailored to Apple’s needs.</p>

<p class="">Apple plans to add audio to its Apple News+ service, according to <a href="https://digiday.com/media/apple-plans-to-add-audio-versions-of-publisher-articles-to-apple-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Digiday</a>. The tech giant has been asking the publishers participating in its year-old premium program for permission to produce audio versions of the stories distributed there, the article adds, quoting unnamed "sources at four different publishers that have heard the pitch.”</p>

<p class="">According to the <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/Apple-urges-ambitious-Chinese-supplier-to-challenge-Foxconn" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nikkei Asian Review</a>, quoting “unnamed sources,” Apple has advised one of its Chinese AirPods assemblers to make a major investment in an iPhone and MacBook metal casing provider, a move the California tech titan hopes will create a formidable alternative to another of its longtime suppliers, Taiwan's Foxconn.</p>

<p class="">Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,648,210) for a “multi-linkage vehicle door hinge.”</p>

<p class="">Another day, another lawsuit. As noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/05/12/lawsuit-alleges-unauthorized-use-of-song-in-apple-tv-series-amazing-stories" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider</a>, Apple and its Apple TV+ production partners are being sued over the claim that they used a copyrighted song in its <em>Amazing Stories</em> before getting proper permissions from the rights holder.</p>

<p class=""><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-12/apple-plans-to-return-more-staff-to-offices-in-break-from-rivals">Bloomberg</a> says Apple plans to start returning more employees to its main offices, such as its “spaceship campus" in Cupertino, California.</p>

<p class="">Writer/director Sofia Coppola is developing a new Apple TV+ show based on Edith Wharton's 1913 novel "Custom of the Country," reports <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sofia-coppola-edith-wharton-custom-of-the-country-apple-series-1234604636/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Variety</a>.</p>