Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has received an “A+” from Mind the Store, a coalition that focuses on tracking toxic chemicals in consumer products. That’s up from the tech giant’s grade of “A” in 2017.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is enlisting Oscar-winning indie studio A24 to produce a slate of films for its growing entertainment division, according to <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/apple-a24-films-1203029800/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a>. It’s a “multiyear agreement” and involves multiple films. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The latest update (version 10.4.4) to Final Cut Pro X, Apple’s professional video editing software for macOS, introduces workflow extensions that enable professional video editors to use third-party apps and services directly within the editing interface. It’s available now at the Mac App Store,</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is the most popular brand of wearable devices, according to <a href="https://clutch.co/it-services/resources/wearables-connect-internet-of-things-technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new research from Clutch</a>, a B2B [business-to-business] ratings and reviews firm. The Apple Watch (41%) is the wearable device that the most people own, ahead of FitBit (35%) and Samsung (21%) devices.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple jumps into the number one spot as the Most Valuable US brand, with a brand worth of $316 billion on the strength of devices combined with services , according to the latest BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable US Brands ranking, announced by <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.wpp.com&d=DwMF-g&c=zdK58V2JKULZdB8nuBRpog&r=Q0WgIBe5Xw87AlCGKS9GxKqB4y5BrIiF4f9CjO56gS9IasEIJcVJqYC0VAfRIGga&m=bQLOfQEcB-_MYmDBhiZV952NqCyC3Vw3eKuHfqmv7H4&s=U8B4QRCQH6HN0drAgZWO_vK32M6Ca7fO9enH_yEnX7o&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WPP</a> and <a href="http://www.millwardbrown.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kantar Millward Brown</a>. The tech giant placed second in last year’s rankings.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is “aggressively hiring” engineers in Qualcomm’s home base of San Diego, seeking designers to develop wireless components and processors that would further weaken the chipmaker’s chances of again supplying chips for the iPhone maker’s future devices, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-15/apple-recruiting-chip-engineers-to-work-in-qualcomm-s-backyard" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple wants your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to be able to get back to Wi-Fi quickly if they have cellular/Wi-Fi connectivity. The company has filed for a patent (number 20180332506) for “fast return to Wi-Fi.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple wants Siri to be able to work when you don’t have an online connection. The company has filed for a patent (number 20180330731) for an “offline personal assistant” for an offline mode that wouldn’t require on a backend server to assist with Siri’s functions.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Heading into the competitive holiday shopping season, Walmart is poised to capture an even larger portion of this year’s online retail sales. According to <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eMarkete</a>r’s latest retail forecast, Walmart will overtake Apple to become the third largest retailer in terms of e-commerce sales this year in the U.S. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is teaming up with Ray-Ban, the Ialian brand of sunglasses and eyeglasses, for a new Apple Pay promo: use the company’s mobile payment service and get $45 off your next purchase when you spend $180 or more at Ray-Ban.com.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The <a href="http://www.adl.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ADL</a> says Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the first recipient of ADL’s Courage Against Hate award for his work as a “champion of unity, diversity, and social progress.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For the third annual Stop Slavery Award, Apple, Unilever and Thai Union are among the biggest global brands shortlisted from a number of high-profile companies representing a range of industries from fashion to financial services to fossil fuels. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has announced its latest retail location, Apple Champs-Élysées, paying tribute to Paris’s rich history and creativity and housed in a Haussmann-era apartment building. With its opening, Apple will  have 506 retail stores in 26 countries and an online store available in 39 countries.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">ROLI has released a new edition of the Songmaker Kit that features an “extraordinarily deep” integration with GarageBand for macOS</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.mykwilt.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Kwilt</span></a> has launched the Kwilt2 ($79) and Kwilt3 ($149), two platform-agnostic devices that turn any USB memory key or external drive into a private cloud at home where consumers can offload photos and videos from their smartphones, cameras and other devices and access their content anytime, anywhere.</p>