Dennis Sellers

<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>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple and Goldman Sachs Group plan to start issuing this spring a joint credit card paired with new iPhone features that will help users manage their money, according to <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>. Ted Rossman, an industry analyst at <a href="http://creditcards.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">CreditCards.com</span></a>, thinks it will be “interesting, but not groundbreaking.”</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple and Goldman Sachs Group plan to start issuing this spring a joint credit card paired with new iPhone features that will help users manage their money, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-goldman-sachs-team-up-on-credit-card-paired-with-iphone-11550750400" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>The Wall Street Journal</em>.</a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple is almost certainly moving its Mac line to custom ARM-based chips in the coming years. Or make that year — as in 2020.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The "Apple Car" won’t be a car at all, but rather an electric van, according to German site <a href="http://www.manager-magazin.de/digitales/it/apple-car-apple-will-autoprojekt-mit-elektrokleinbus-retten-a-1254005.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Manager Magazin</em></a>, as noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em></a>. The article says:</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent for a “TV side bar user interface” (number 20190058921) that may offer a peak at what the interface of its upcoming video streaming service will look like. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">A new report from YouTube channel <em>Tailosive Tech — </em>as noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/02/21/apples-modular-mac-pro-design-may-mean-units-that-connect-like-lego-bricks" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider </em></a><em> — </em>claims that the Mac Pro refresh will rely on a custom data connector, and mission-specific modules (think Legos) that can be stacked to provide what users need, though it may not ship to customers until 2020.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">One of the most common battery-powered devices are our cell phones. With more than 300 million mobile phones in use throughout the U.S.alone, that's a lot of battery power according to <a href="https://www.devicepitstop.com/store-locator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Device Pitstop</a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Global sales of smartphones to end users stalled in the fourth quarter of 2018, totaling 408.4 million units — growth of just 0.1% over the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the <a href="http://www.gartner.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner, Inc. research group</a>. Apple recorded its worst quarterly decline (11.8%) since the first quarter of 2016.</p>