Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">A <a href="https://itunespartner.apple.com/en/apps/news/100002429" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">post</span></a> on Apple’s App Store Connect notes that app developers are getting the ability to offer discounts to existing and lapsed subscribers. App Store Connect, formerly known as iTunes Connect, is a suite of web-based tools for managing content sold on iTunes, the iBooks Store, and the various app stores.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Fourteen members of Congress wrote to Apple and Google's CEOs on Thursday demanding they remove Absher (pictured), an app which allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control where women travel, reports <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/absher-14-members-of-congress-demand-apple-google-remove-saudi-app-2019-2?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Business Insider</em>.</a></p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Although global smartphone demand declined 3% in 2018 to 1.44 billion, sales remain strong and reached $522 billion with “premium” models such as most of Apple’s iPhones driving revenue, according to <a href="http://www.gfk.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GfK</a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Wirecard, which specializes in digital financial technology, now offers customers of <a href="https://www.twisto.cz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twisto</a>, a Czech mobile payment provider, Apple Pay as a means of payment. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple can't escape parts of a patent suit brought by Evolved Wireless because heavily redacted copies of a licensing agreement made it impossible to determine at the current stage whether Evolved was bound by a covenant not to sue the smartphone giant over LTE technology, a Delaware federal judge ruled Thursday, reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1131717/apple-must-face-lte-patent-suit-from-evolved-wireless?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology&read_more=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Law360</em></a><em></em>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In a speech at Elon University on Feb. 22, Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said he realized some folks thought Apple products were priced too high, but that wasn’t the case, reports <a href="https://www.thetimesnews.com/news/20190224/apples-coo-gives-rare-speech-at-elon-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>The Times News</em></a>..</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20190058952) for “spatial headphone transparency” that shows the company is looking for ways to make the audio even better on its AirPods and Beats headphones.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Recently, I learned a valuable tip from<a href="https://order.readersdigest.com/pubs/RD/RDA/RDA-INT-1703-Subscribe-OP_SEM-Google_pp.jsp?cds_page_id=213185&cds_mag_code=RDA&id=1550760366318&lsid=90520845513019911&vid=2&atrkid=V3ADW5FDE06F5_18464402830_kwd-32353750__189974957938_g_c___1t1&cds_response_key=EVCGDU110&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyLKRu4jN4AIVLR-tBh1brwzqEAAYASAAEgI9SvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> <em>Reader’s Digest</em></a> on how to remember more of what you read.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Future Apple Watches could sport watchbands that automatically adjust their tightness. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,206,623 ) for a “band tightness sensor of a wearable device.”</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>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">TSMC is expected to secure the first 5nm chip (likely the “A14”) orders from Apple for the 2020 iPhones. The expressed previously optimism about its performance in 2020 and 2021, when 5G and other emerging technologies mature, according to <a href="https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190222PD207.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>DigiTimes</em></a><em>.</em></p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple plans to close both of its retail stores within the Eastern District of Texas — Apple Willow Bend in Plano and Apple Stonebriar in Frisco — in an effort to protect itself from “patent trolls,” according to five sources familiar with the matter.  according to <a href="https://www.macrumors.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em></a>, quoting five unnamed sources.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has asked the whole Federal Circuit to rehear a panel decision upholding a $439 million Eastern District of Texas jury verdict that the tech giant infringed VirnetX's network security patents, arguing it flouts a damages precedent, reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1131692/apple-urges-full-fed-circ-to-undo-439m-patent-loss?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology&read_more=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Law360</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">A new Apple support <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">document</a> covering eGPU usage with macOS external graphics card usage notes, at last, compatibility with AMD's Radeon RX 560 — via Sonnet's Radeon RX 560 eGFX Breakaway Puck. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20190056832) for an “input/output device with a dynamically adjustable appearance and function” that hints at possible future versions of the Touch Bar on certain Mac laptops.</p>