Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Last November, Apple and Amazon <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/devices/alexa-play-bebe-rexha-on-apple-music" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced </a>that Apple Music was coming to Amazon’s Echo devices. Now support for the streaming music service has come to Amazon’s Fire TV, according to <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2019/03/13/apple-music-launches-on-amazon-fire-tv-coming-to-echo-for-uk-users-soon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has scooped up Laserlike, a small Silicon Valley-based machine learning startup, reports <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-acquires-machine-learning-startup-in-boost-for-ai-group?" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>The Information</em></a>. Terms of the acquisition haven’t been disclosed, but the deal was almost certainly done with an eye toward improving Siri.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In a <a href="https://twitter.com/coiiiiiiiin/status/1105859133377396736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105859133377396736&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.macrumors.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter account</a>, CoinX says Apple plans will not only release a 10.2-inch seventh-generation iPad, but a brand new 10.5-inch (non-Pro) iPad. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In 2019, 105.2 million people in the U.S. will use an iPhone, giving Apple a 45.2% share of the US smartphone market. That share will grow 0.1% each year through 2021, according to <a href="http://www.emarketer.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eMarketer.</a></p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple says it’s increased its commitment to coding and education in Southeast Asia with the expansion of its App Development with Swift curriculum at partner schools in Singapore and the opening of Indonesia’s second Apple Developer Academy in Surabaya, offering aspiring developers the skills they need to thrive in today's app economy.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Smartphone shipments to China in February fell to their lowest in six years, as consumers continued to put off handset purchases amid a slowing economy, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government-affiliated research institute.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">A California federal judge on Tuesday nixed a whistleblower’s suit accusing Apple of bringing two trainers from India into the country using B-1 visas instead of the more expensive and necessary H1-B visas, ruling there's "no exhaustive list or case law of all permissible activities" under the B-1, reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1138231/apple-beats-back-whistleblower-suit-over-b-1-visas?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Law360</em>.</a></p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/apple-races-to-get-studios-signed-up-for-new-streaming-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em> </a>says that Apple is still hustling to sing up TV and movie studios for its upcoming video streaming service.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Spotify has filed an anti-competition complaint about Apple with the European Commission, claiming the Cupertino, California-based company limited innovation and constraining user choice by refusing to allow Spotify and other firms access to technology and information via the App Store.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 10,230,722) for “trusted status transfer between associated devices.” It involves secure methods for transferring data between your various Apple gadgets.</p>

<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;">More than 250 scientists have signed a<a href="https://www.emfscientist.org/index.php/emf-scientist-appeal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline"> petition</span></a> urging the United Nations and World Health Organization to develop stronger guidelines regarding the potential cancer risk and other health effects caused by non-ionizing electromagnetic fields, or EMFs. They say that devices such as Apple’s AirPods may cause cancer, reports <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/wireless-headphones-cancer-link-warning" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>TheBlaze</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In a note to clients — as noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/03/12/apple-seen-hitting-10-billion-annually-from-100-million-video-subscribers-by-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em> </a> — Webush analyst Daniel Ives predicts that Apple’s upcoming video streaming service has a good chance to reach 100 million subscribers somewhere between 2022 and 2024. That would bring in $7 billion to $10 billion in annual revenue.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has applied for a patent (number 10,231,044) for a “portable listening device system” that hints at future AirPods with mini-displays and buttons. We’re not talking big displays, obviously, but ones that can indicate battery life, for example. Any buttons on future AirPods would allow you to do things such as easily terminate phone calls.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Do you spend a good deal of time in front of your computer screen or mobile devices? I do. And it’s taken a slight toll on my eyes. As a result, I have a pair of prescription reading glasses.</p>