Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The analytics firm of <a href="http://www.flurrymobile.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flurry Insights</a> looked at device activations of the iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max from Friday, Sept. 21, through Thursday, Sept. 27. During their first full week, the new Apple smartphones gained a market share of 0.42% and 0.68%, respectively, for a total of 1.1%.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/10/03/availability-shrinking-for-lg-ultrafine-5k-display-at-apple-stores" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a><em> </em>notes that the online Apple Store is no longer offering in-store pickup for the LG UltraFine 5K Display for a large number of outlets, indicating that the screens may be replaced by a new model, “potentially even the anticipated Apple-produced displays.” Let’s hope it’s the latter, which would make Mac laptop owners like me very happy.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ATEN Technology has </span>launched the $175 <a href="http://email.prnewswire.com/wf/click?upn=8iU-2F6wxjbgM5JrT2LbqGoJiFGyA3ybZX4i9wdT1Qnt-2BgCtjmJigOQQSwDIXCW0N0o69mAWB2h9Pb-2B2IiW0rrEYBtXg3fRsulQlQY6z2AF8odU9X32WdUnyTBH4tlem98m3iYeY7k2RPlg1cT1f8DTIKwm-2FSAiKCMrf0Fk6Q47XZuD8HvpMGwkS5EaLUmmliWbmlOFJRWMibtvIh7AwfsHOiHmHSyHlWh9rvbTKequbM-3D_vr4CQd6f5d5U92w1G2ot038qxj2d-2BHc-2FraM9ysVslbM2GuwFWb6WaJjYDeKtis-2FvqQ1zLV0xEsycTTCyyfzbrwrVgpoKTeYfP-2FOKM7-2BdQV8QjG89gY2jaYA-2Fcwke65LVf4i2MHiBJbfpA8-2BZxPmZu-2FyUELdT1-2BTzkr4urDMvPatHjKfA5Iz88e6JgEL1lDJSDRiPML2nhMsdyUekmrCrHQHjdTV-2BncMco2wiYfQJD-2BeLO3Cv1b-2BZJDBf5R2aQ-2Bo-2Fp-2FISh4mNCNtio5Mddihd6CRaTHok1-2FLp2Jq9-2F28Bww-2FgQF-2Bs3fdOXfZcMO7k-2BY5rJxnfB0ZfcoGdWxeoDTekuJx7BppWJHDd3FzcktYjWNs-3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">USB-C Multiport Dock with Power Pass-Through</span></a> (UH3234). The Mac compatible one-step docking station is designed to boost productivity while allowing laptop users to create a minimalist workstation, according to Rojin Liao, product manager, ATEN Technology. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Razer has announced the $249.99 Razer Sila, a high-performance WiFi router designed for home users requiring Wi-Fi service optimized for high-performance gaming, streaming, and downloading multimedia content. It’s designed to deliver lag-free gaming and smooth, interruption-free streaming over a fast wireless network, meeting the needs of today’s mobile, console, and laptop users, according to Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A California federal judge <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1088426/apple-can-t-escape-iphone-dual-lens-patent-dispute?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has ruled </a>that Corephotonics' complaints “more than simply” alleged that Apple Inc. knew about the Israeli startup’s lens technology patents and infringed them in several iPhone, which means the legal battle will continue.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,088,909) for a “sessionless pointing user interface” that hints at a Mac user interface that utilizes gesture controls in much the same manner its <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2016/8/11/leap-motion-control-is-intriguing-and-fun-but-not-quite-ready-for-prime-time?rq=Leap" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leap Motion’s Leap control device.</a> Other Apple patents for this technology include 9885495, 20180059925, 2017018516, 20170185161, 94176706, and 9,449,758.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sebastiaan de With, the developer behind popular manual photography app Halide, has been putting the iPhone XS camera system through its paces and <a href="https://blog.halide.cam/iphone-xs-why-its-a-whole-new-camera-ddf9780d714c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">denies there’s a “beautygate” </a>problem. “Beautygate” involves complaints about excessive smoothing in photos shot with the iPhone XS front-facing camera, which can make images seem fake or even out of focus.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple Music and the Sony-owned Ministry of Sound label have struck an exclusive playlist deal that will effectively shut out Spotify, a rep for Apple confirmed to <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/ministry-of-sound-exclusive-playlist-apple-music-spotify-1202965811/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a>. News of the deal, which was <a href="https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-and-ministry-of-sound-strike-deal-to-push-mos-playlists-worldwide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">first reported by Music Business Worldwide</span></a>, will see exclusive Ministry of Sound-branded playlists being posted on Apple Music beginning Thursday (Oct. 4).</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">More than 70 new <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/07/apple-celebrates-world-emoji-day/">emoji</a> will be coming soon to the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, including new characters with red hair, gray hair and curly hair, a new emoji for bald people, more emotive smiley faces and additional emoji representing animals, sports and food. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apparently, Apple is still struggling to gain the foothold it wants in India. The iPhone Xs and Xs Max reportedly saw lower sales in the Indian market with several large retailers across the country saying they are for the first time left with little less than half the stock supplied to them after the first weekend sales. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Bit Lasso has debuted Swatch 1.0, a color palette organizer for the Mac. It allows users to organize their palettes by project, client, or however makes sense to their workflow. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Some pundits expect Apple to introduce a (slightly) less expensive model  of the HomePod (the HomePod Mini?), while I’d love to see a higher end, home theater model with Dolby Atmos support (the HomePod Theater?). The tech giant has been granted a patent (number 10,091,583) that shows the company has at least considered the latter.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Students at three universities — Duke University and the Universities of Alabama and Oklahoma — can now use just their iPhone and Apple Watch to get around on and off campus. The Wallet app on these Apple devices adds support for student ID cards, making it more convenient to access everything on campus, says Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Just Mobile’s <a href="https://just-mobile.com/collections/case-screen-protector-for-new-iphones/products/xkin-3d-iphone-xs-max?variant=13815302684714" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xkin 3D Tempered Glass</a> offers a lot of protection for an iPhone Xs Max. However, be warned that it takes patience to install it, and I found the installation instructions to be confusing.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">macOS Mojave introduces a feature called Stacks, which clears cluttered desktops by automatically organizing files into groups based on file types like images, presentations, PDFs and text documents. </p>