Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Griffin Technology’s <a href="https://griffintechnology.com/us/survivor-rugged-power-bank-battery-10050-mah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Survivor Rugged Power Bank</a>, a phone and tablet backup battery pack, is certainly durable and reliable enough to be called “rugged.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple offers a <a href="https://privacy.apple.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Data and Privacy portal</a> that allows users to download all of their personal data stored on the tech giant's servers. And if you think that any personal info stored by Apple is wrong, you can change it at the portal. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today</em> posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/technology/apple-bmw-mercedes-volkswagen-driverless-cars.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">signed a deal with Volkswagen</a> to make self-driving cars after BMW and Mercedes-Benz reportedly rebuffed the tech giant's requests to hand over control of the data and design of the planned cars, <em>The New York Times</em> reports.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Synology has released <a href="https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.2</a>, a web-based operating system for every Synology NAS. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple shipped 3.8 million Apple Watches in the first quarter of 2018, according to new data from <a href="http://www.canalys.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Canalys</a>. Sales of the smartwatch stabilized after a record quarter for the company and it matched its quarter one 2017 number, adds the research group. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple placed first in the smartphone division of the the <a href="http://marketing.theacsi.org/acton/attachment/5132/f-0060/1/-/-/-/-/ACSI%20Telecommunications%20Report%202018.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ACSI Telecommunications Report 2018</a> with an average score of 85 out of 200 for its iPhones.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple <a href="https://support.apple.com/iphone-out-of-warranty-battery-replacement-credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">is offering</a> a $50 credit to customers who paid for an out-of-warranty battery replacement for iPhone 6 or later devices between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 28, 2017. Eligible battery replacements were completed at an Apple authorized service location — Apple Store, Apple Repair Center, or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Market research firm <a href="http://www.trendforce.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TrendForce</a> reports that the global notebook shipments for the first quarter of 2018 (1Q18) registered 37.27 million units, a quarterly decline of 15.7% and a year-on-year decline of 1.4%, influenced by the traditional off-season. The research group says Apple will boost the shipments in the second half of this year, shipping only 2.89 million units in the first quarter, a year-on-year decline of 15.1%.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple plans to acquire <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2017/12/11/apple-is-buying-the-shazam-music-recognition-appservice?rq=Shazam" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shazam</a>, the popular music recognition app that’s used by more than 100 million people each month to identify music, get song lyrics, and more. But the tech giant wants your iPhone to be able to ID even more data.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Foxconn Technology Group, one of Apple’s largest manufacturing partners, is considering producing small to medium-size displays for Apple, carmakers and others to lower initial costs at its $10 billion factory in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, reports the <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Foxconn-turns-to-smalltomedium-displays-at-Wisconsin-plant">Nikkei Asian Review</a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Former Apple exec Sal Soghoian has announced the first CMD-D: Down-Home Scripting Boot Camp, an expanded three days of scripting education, with hands-on exercises and limited class size.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I still don’t think Apple plans to make an “Apple Car,” but will instead use the <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2017/6/13/tim-cook-apple-is-working-on-self-driving-car-tech?rq=Apple%20Car" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">technologies it's developing</a> to work with other companies to “Apple-ize” their vehicles. That said, making a full-fledged self-driving car is probably very tempting for the tech giant.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Birmingham (Alabama) City Schools students will get the chance to learn to code this summer at one of four, one-week camps teaching Apple's "Everyone Can Code" curriculum, reports the <a href="https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/05/apple_coding_to_be_taught_birm.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Alabama Media Group</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), an Apple chip manufacturer, has started mass production of its next-gen 7nm processors for the Apple iPhones launching later this year, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/apple-partner-tsmc-is-said-to-start-making-chips-for-new-iphones" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg sources</a>.</p>