Dennis Sellers

<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>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Qualcomm and Apple were at it again on Friday in their ongoing patent battle. The <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1136953/qualcomm-fires-back-at-apple-witness-tampering-claim?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">former claimed</a> an Apple lawyer made an “utterly baseless” accusation of witness tampering against the San Diego-based tech giant and its counsel from Quinn Emanuel.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian — best known for directing <em>Thor: Ragnarok</em> — is developing an adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film, <em>Time Bandits</em> for Apple as a TV series, reports <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/members/2019/03/11/taika-waititi-to-adapt-terry-gilliams-time-bandits-as-a-tv-series-for-apple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>TheWrap</em>.</a></p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/366937/mapping-state-by-state-tech-trends-android-vs-ios" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>PCMag </em></a>surveyed mobile operating system use across the country. Apple's iOS won out in 36 out of 50 states at 54% of respondents overall, with Android coming in at 42%. Two percent chose none.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Security researchers at Adversis, a cybersecurity firm, have found dozens of companies inadvertently leaking sensitive corporate and customer data because staff are sharing public links to files in their <a href="https://www.box.com/for-enterprise" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Box enterprise storage</a> accounts that can be easily discovered, reports <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/11/data-leak-box-accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>TechCrunch</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple is teaming up with Panera Bread— a chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations — for a new Apple Pay promo: use the latter’s mobile payment service in the Panera Break app — available at the Apple App Store — on your first order and see 2% off a future order.</p>