Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The worldwide market for wearable devices grew 31.4% during the fourth quarter of 2018 (4Q18), reaching a new high of 59.3 million units according to data from the International Data Corporation (<a href="https://www.idc.com/"><span style="text-decoration:underline">IDC</span></a>) <a href="http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=962" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker</span></a>. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">PearlMountain is looking for beta testers for it<a href="https://www.flexclip.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">s new FlexClip app/website</a>, which is designed as a “simple but powerful video maker that helps you create videos for any use in minutes.”</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.sfbags.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WaterField Designs</a> has announced Wallet Month — the culmination of a two-month, 2,000-customer-participant, crowdsourced design project — with the launch of two minimalist wallets.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Let the Apple Car rumors continue to roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,222,529) for lighting systems for automobiles that may be integrated into a window, a skylight, an exterior light such as a headlight, a tail light, or a high center-mounted stop light.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,220,602) for markings on a fabric carrying case for an electronic device. What’s really interesting is the funky Apple logo on the images accompanying the patent.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has ended up in the crosshairs of many different groups, all trying to get them to give up on maintaining customer privacy. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Will this never end? The first U.S. trial in the ongoing Apple-Qualcomm battle started today. This legal brouhaha over alleged patent violations has been ongoing since July 2017.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has bought the patent portfolio of Lighthouse AI, an out-of-business home security camera company, reports<em> </em><a href="https://www.iam-media.com/patents/apple-buys-patent-portfolio-former-ai-home-camera-maker" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>iam-media</em></a> (a subscription is required to read the article). </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The flagship Apple retail store coming to D.C.’s historic Carnegie Library is expected to open in late spring, according to the building’s owner, according to the <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2019/03/04/heres-when-d-c-s-flagship-apple-store-is-expected.html?iana=hpmvp_wash_news_headline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Washington Business Journal</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Consumers are concerned about the privacy and security of their data, yet want a more personalized experience from brands, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 consumers from <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmarterhq.com%2F&esheet=51948302&newsitemid=20190304005148&lan=en-US&anchor=SmarterHQ&index=1&md5=bf78391f1aedf5850aa72648942f9a9f" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SmarterHQ</a>, a multichannel behavioral marketing platform. Their results — which I find surprising — finds Amazon has earned the most trust from today’s consumers by a landslide.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Google's Project Zero team has exposed a <a href="https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1726&q=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">"high severity" flaw in macOS' kernel</span></a>, according to a <a href="https://www.neowin.net/news/google-reveals-high-severity-flaw-in-macos-kernel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Neowin</em> report</a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The <a href="http://www.usb.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">USB Promoter Group</a> has announced the pending release of the USB4 specification, an update to deliver the next generation USB architecture that compliments and builds on the existing USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 architectures. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">According to <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/04/apple-is-hiring-an-analyst-to-explain-siri-complaints-to-executives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>VentureBeat</em>,</a> Apple wants to hire someone to gather public comments and present them — along with recommended fixes — to the company’s execs. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">f you have a newer Mac with Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) it’s nice to have a dock, especially as Apple’s laptops have a dearth of ports. One solution is the <a href="https://plugable.com/products/ud-cam">Plugable UD-CAM docking station</a>, is a small, powerful USB 3.1 Type-C docking station.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 10,217,290) for “registration between actual mobile device position and environmental model” that involves improved augmented reality features on the iPhone.</p>