Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Since Steve and I can’t cover everything, at the end of each week day, we’ll offer this wrap-up of news items you should check out. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple’s iPhone Xr is he <a href="https://www.dxomark.com/apple-iphone-xr-camera-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">top-ranked single-camera</a> smartphone according to new tests by DxOMark, an independent benchmark that scientifically assesses image quality of smartphones, lenses and cameras.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has acquired Platoon, a London-based creative services firm founded in 2016 by music industry veteran Denzyl Feigelson and LoveFilm co-founder, Saul Klein, according to <a href="https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-acquires-ar-and-creative-services-company-platoon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Music Business Worldwide</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s an old adage that says, “Cold hands, warm heart.” If that’s true, my heart must be a scorcher because my hands are always chilly when I’m outdoors this time of year. I’m a runner and now that cold weather is here, I wear gloves when I’m putting in my miles. Alas, wearing gloves makes it difficult to track my workouts with my Apple Watch.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Future versions of Apple’s Maps app may not only give you directions, but point out “points of interest” to you, per a patent filing (number 20180349451) by Apple.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple’s Touch Bar comes with a default set of shortcuts, depending on which app you're using. If you don't like the default options, you can add and remove buttons to customize the Touch Bar.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/middleeast/saudi-khashoggi-spyware-israel.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>The New York Times</em></a> reports that a Saudi dissident close to the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has filed a lawsuit charging that the NSO Group, an Israeli software company behind the iPhone spyware tool known as Pegasus, helped the royal court take over his smartphone and spy on his communications with Khashoggi.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is negotiating for the rights to adapt<em> Nevelot (Bastards</em>), a violent Israeli drama starring Richard Gere, reports <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/06/apple-pursuing-violent-israeli-show-nevelot-richard-gere-to-star.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNBC</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft <a href="https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/12/06/microsoft-edge-making-the-web-better-through-more-open-source-collaboration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has announced plans</a> to adopt the Chromium open source project in the development of Microsoft Edge on the desktop “to create better web compatibility for our customers and less fragmentation of the web for all web developers.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Restaurants throughout San Francisco are now offering complimentary holiday gifts via a new augmented reality feature from <a href="http://www.chefsfeed.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ChefsFeed</a>, which provides ways to discover where to eat and drink based on the recommendations of professional chefs.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">watchOS 5.1.2 is coming later today and will introduce the ECG app (for the Apple Watch Series 4). It marks the first direct-to-consumer product that enables customers to take an electrocardiogram right from their wrist, capturing heart rhythm in a moment when they experience symptoms like a rapid or skipped heart beat and helping to provide critical data to physicians.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20180350345) for “systems and methods for name pronunciation.” If realized, it would allow Siri, the company’s personal digital assistant, help us pronounce names that are unfamiliar to us.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has applied for a patent (number 2018034699) for an “augmented reality interface for facilitating identification of arriving vehicle.” It sounds like it could be a boon for Uber and Lyft drivers and passengers.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that Apple is surely considering [sarcasm intended] my suggestion of an “AppleOS” that would replace both the iPad Pro version of iOS and macOS, it needs the perfect device to take advantage of this next gen operating system. And — as I bet you knew — I have just the idea: the Apple Pad.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Ireland: The Supreme Court will sit in Galway next March to hear an appeal over whether An Bord Pleanála breached its legal obligations in how it approved the first phase of Apple’s planned €850 million data centre in Athenry. </p>