Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/jason-katims-apple-overall-deal-1203109679/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em> </a>reports that Jason Katims — writer, producer, and playwright — is departing his longtime home at Universal TV for a new multi-year overall deal at Apple. The tech giant is expected to debut a streaming service at some point this year.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">iPhone sales may be slow in China, but Chinese customers are driving Apple’s App Store business. In fact, China accounted for nearly 50% of all app downloads in 2018, pushing the global downloads count to reach a record 194 billion, according to research firm <a href="https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/the-state-of-mobile-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">App Annie </a>— as noted by <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/16/app-annie-china-drove-40-of-mobile-app-spending-and-nearly-half-of-all-downloads-in-2018/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>VentureBeat</em> </a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The original Mac evangelist, Guy Kawasaki, will be one of the keynote speakers at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2348469-1&h=4269825753&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftagsummit.com%2F&a=The+Summit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Summit</a>, the largest technology industry showcase in Georgia, returns Feb. 11-12, 2019 to Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is reportedly talking with at least private Medicare plans about getting Apple Watches into the hands of millions of people over the age of 65. It makes a lot of sense for Apple to do that, health experts told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/apple-talking-to-private-medicare-plans-about-subsidizing-apple-watch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNBC</em></a>, since it could prevent expensive doctor or hospital visits.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2348189-1&h=2432765166&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.electran.org%2F&a=Electronic+Transactions+Association" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Electronic Transactions Association</a> (ETA), the the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies, says Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of internet services, will deliver the keynote address at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2348189-1&h=4096720409&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.electran.org%2Fevents%2Fetatransact%2F&a=TRANSACT" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TRANSACT</a> , the world's largest payments technology event.  </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sprint customers can now use Apple Business Chat to message an agent, learn about Sprint plans and more. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 10,182,337) for “intermittent out of service recovery on an accessory device.” The goal is to reduce the amount of power used by items such as the iPhone and improve battery life.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If you dislike the pop-up windows from apps constantly asking you to leave a review in iOS 12, you put an end to it. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/15/verizon-apple-music-unlimited/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a>, Verizon is adding Apple Music to two of its “unlimited” cell phone plans, effectively offering the $9.99 subscription for no additional cost.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In November it was announced that Apple is enlisting Oscar-winning indie studio A24 to produce a slate of films for its growing entertainment division in a “multiyear agreement” that involves multiple films. According to <a href="https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/sofia-coppola-bill-murray-apple-and-a24s-first-co-production-1203108630/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a><em>,</em>, the first film will be <em>On the Rocks</em>, which will re-team director Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray, who worked together on 2003’s <em>Lost in Translation</em>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has rolled out three Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone Xr, Xs, Xs Max. All are available in black or white and cost $129.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Nomad. has released <a href="https://hellonomad.com/collections/natural-products" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new leather accessories</a> featuring natural color leather. One is a a leather strap for the smaller 38/40mm Apple Watch; the other is a new leather AirPods case.  </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The folks behind <a href="http://www.duckduckgo.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DuckDuckGo</a> have announced that map and address-related searches on the Internet search engine that doesn’t track you for mobile and desktop are now powered by <a href="https://developer.apple.com/maps/mapkitjs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Apple's MapKit JS framework</span></a> for both the desktop and mobile versions.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a judgment worth $440 million that was won by intellectual property licensing firm VirnetX (considered by many, including me, to be a patent troll), against Apple in a patent infringement case, reports <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-virnetx-patent/apple-loses-bid-to-undo-440-million-judgment-in-virnetx-patent-case-idUSKCN1P91UF" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Reuters</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to <a href="https://www.axios.com/apple-exec-on-intels-ceo-candidate-list-1547565241-0e48d7d0-8ce2-440e-9f13-a9c5788e0b31.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twsocialshare&utm_campaign=organic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Axios</em></a> Apple exec Johny Srouji is now on Intel’s shortlist for potential CEOs. The company’s search has been ongoing for about six months.</p>