Dennis Sellers

<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>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/22/craig-federighi-apfs-support-fusion-drives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> in an email exchange with a <em>MacRumors</em> reader that APFS for Mac Fusion drives is coming “very soon.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has launched 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. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is facing a second class action lawsuit over its “flawed” butterfly keyboards on some Mac laptops. Filed in the Northern District Court of California, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/379938991/Second-MacBook-Keyboard-Class-Action-Complaint" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the complaint</a> echoes many of the claims made in a <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2018/5/12/apple-sued-over-mac-laptop-butterfly-keyboard-failures?rq=butterfly" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first class action lawsuit</a> filed earlier this month.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When Apple released <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2018/3/29/apple-launches-macos-high-sierra-10134-with-business-chat-egpu-support-more?rq=eGPU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">macOS High Sierra 10.13.4</a>, it added support for external graphics processors (eGPUs). One such unit is Sonnet Technologies’ <a href="http://www.sonnettech.com/product/egfx-breakaway-box.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eGFX Breakaway Box</a> with a 350W power supply, a great choice for a no-frills Thunderbolt 3 to PCI Express (PCIe) expansion chassis.</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;">“Once Upon a Time” creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have been named executive producers for Apple’s upcoming reboot <em>Amazing Stories, </em>reports <a href="http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/apple-amazing-stories-adam-horowitz-edward-kitsis-showrunners-once-upon-a-time-1202818557/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a>. They come on board following the departure of original showrunner Bryan Fuller and executive producer Hart Hanson in February.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Starbucks will remain the most popular proximity mobile payment app, staying ahead of Apple Pay and other competitors, according to <a href="http://www.emarketer.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eMarketer’s</a> latest forecast on U.S. proximity mobile payments.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Belkin is taking pre-orders for its <a href="http://www.belkin.com/us/p/AV10172bt06-WHT/?irgwc=1&clickid=wiaRkzW1ARc2R-VwcWWW8yVoUkjUJHQN1TjLWc0&utm_campaign=Belkin%20Store%20Home%20Page&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=impactradius&utm_content=TEXT_LINK_225196" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3.5mm Audio Cable with Lightning Connector</a>,  which allows iPhone users to connect directly to the car stereo or home speakers with a single cable. </p>