Dennis Sellers

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for multiple patents involving “smart” bands for the Apple Watch. The latest (number 20190298265) for “fabric-based items with stretchable bands.”</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I’ve never found a virtual keyboard to be nearly as effective as a physical keyboard. That could change if a new Apple patent filing (number 20190202889) for a “static pattern electrostatic haptic electrodes” comes to fruition. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Just Mobile’s <a href="https://just-mobile.com/collections/case-screen-protector-for-new-iphones/products/xkin-3d-iphone11-pro?variant=29531949170730" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xkin 3D Tempered Glass</a> offers a lot of protection for Apple’s new iPhones. However, it takes patience to install it, and I found the installation instructions to be confusing.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the preservation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, with CEO Tim Cook and Senior Vice President for Retail and People Deirdre O'Brien putting their names on the filing alongside the company for the first time, reports <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/10/02/apple-tim-cook-deirdre-obrien-jointly-file-in-support-of-daca" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider</a>. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has successfully implemented OpenID Connect with Sign in With Apple, according to the OpenID Foundation. Apple addressed some concerns the Foundation found with Sign in with Apple in June. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Strategy Analytics in a newly published report from the Device Technologies (EDT) practice, forecasts that 5G devices, from a sluggish start in 2019 will take off in 2020. The report, <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.strategyanalytics.com%2Faccess-services%2Fdevices%2Fmobile-phones%2Femerging-device-technologies%2Fmarket-data%2Freport-detail%2Fglobal-handset-sales-forecast-by-88-countries-and-19-technologies-to-2024&esheet=52104360&newsitemid=20191002005151&lan=en-US&anchor=Global+Smartphone+Sales+Forecast+by+Technology+for+88+Countries+to+2024&index=2&md5=6e5f6bb90c44f8140b7587b55ae6f1b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Global Smartphone Sales Forecast by Technology for 88 Countries to 2024</a> shows that within five years 5G phones will equal nearly half of all phones sold.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple TV+, Apple’s upcoming streaming service, can’t get here soon enough. <a href="https://www.parksassociates.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Parks Associates</a> research finds that the percentage of households with multiple over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions has increased by 130% since 2014. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-02/apple-to-loosen-reins-on-outside-messaging-phone-apps-via-siri" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a>'s Mark Gurman that it will ease some restrictions on developers of third-party apps wishing to use Siri, the company’s “personal digital assistant,” following a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-01/iphone-ios-users-can-t-change-default-apps-safari-mail-music" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg News story</a> about the rise of in-house software that gets prized default status on iPhones and iPads.  </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">An appeals court in London on Wednesday revived a multibillion-pound privacy suit brought by an activist accusing Google of tracking iPhone users, ruling that he can seek damages from the technology giant on the behalf of 4.4 million consumers in Britain, reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1205167" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Law360 </a>(a subscription is required to read the entire article).</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Vena has released two new cases for the 2019 iPhones. There’s nothing groundbreaking about them, but both are solid cases with reasonable price tags.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">With the introduction of iPadOS, Apple has finally allowed you to use external storage with an iPad. There’s support for external storage volumes, including USB drives, SD cards, and SMB file servers, all of which appear as volumes inside Apple’s also updated Files app.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Winston Duke (<em>Black Panther, Us</em>) has been tapped as the lead in Swagger, Apple’s new basketball-themed drama series from NBA superstar Kevin Durant and his Thirty Five Ventures, reports <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/10/winston-duke-cast-star-swagger-apple-kevin-durant-drama-series-imagine-cbs-studios-1202748810/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Deadline</em></a>.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In celebration of The Big Draw Festival, you can participate in <a href="https://www.apple.com/today/collection/the-big-draw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">free art sessions</a> Oct.1–31 at every Apple retail tore and get hands-on with an iPad in drawing activities.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.ubtrobot.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UBTECH Robotics</a> has announced its holiday lineup of two new robot building kits for kids: JIMU Robot Mythical Series: FireBot Kit and JIMU Robot Competitive Series: ChampBot Kit. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Here’s an interesting feature that could come to Apple Arcade, Apple’s streaming game service. The tech giant has been granted a patent (number 10,427,050) for a “personal items network” that would store personal data about a user and apply it to video games.</p><p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"></p>