Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has fallen one place in the <a href="https://9to5mac.com/guides/fortune-500/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fortune 500</a> rankings, based on company revenues, dropping from third place to fourth. Still, the tech giant remains the most valuable and profitable company on the list with $850 billion in market cap and $48 billion in profits.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Following closing arguments Friday, the five women and three men of a California federal jury filed out of a San Jose courthouse for a weekend break with a billion-dollar question hanging in the air. A decision is expected today, according to <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1045106/fate-of-apple-s-1b-ip-fight-with-samsung-in-jury-s-hands?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Law360</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20180133573) for an “integrated media jukebox and physiologic data handling application.” Though it sounds like it involves music (and it does, pertaining to workout playlists), it also involves methods for tracking exercise performance with interaction between an Apple Watch and a Mac or iPad.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to a <a href="https://www.loveios.net/2018/05/rumor-homepod-price-199-beats-brand.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new rumor</a>, Apple is working with MediaTek, a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company, to introduce a $199 HomePod (the current model is $349). However, per the rumor, it won’t be called a HomePod, but will use the Beats brand. (Apple bought Beats Electronics almost four years ago for $3 billion.)</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.addigy.com">Addigy</a>, a provider of cloud-based macOS/iOS management software, has highlighted five key GDPR processes and guidance for achieving Apple device compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) going into effect on May 25.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has taken new action against app developers in order to comply with new cybersecurity laws in China. According to <a href="https://www.slashgear.com/apple-pulls-callkit-apps-from-chinese-app-store-following-new-law-20531312/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>SlashGear</em></a>, the tech giant has started warning iOS developers that any apps using Apple’s CallKit will be pulled from the Chinese App Store unless they remove the framework’s integration. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Synology has launched the $799.99 <a href="https://www.synology.com/products/DS1618+" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DiskStation DS1618+</a>, a 6six-bay NAS designed for file serving, application hosting, data backup, and real-time collaboration.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.StarTech.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">StarTech</a> has announced two new Thunderbolt 3 Mini Docking Stations that allow users to connect two DisplayPort or HDMI monitors with 4K resolution without the need for additional adapters. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20180137864) for “multi-microphone speech recognition systems and related techniques.” The goal seems to be to improve the accuracy of Siri, it’s personal digital assistant.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Today, I'm going to talk about our #1 requested topic right now: the top Mac games of 2018 so far.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When you use Family Sharing in iOS 11, it's easy to share your location with family members in Find My Friends or the Messages app. You can even help family members locate their missing devices in Find My iPhone.</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;">The U.S. government can’t help in Apple’s court fight against the European Union’s order to pay Ireland a record 13 billion euros (about $15.3 billion) in unpaid taxes.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Steve is out of pocket this week, so the AWT News Update is on a brief hiatus. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, <em>Apple Daily Report</em>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to the latest quarterly research from <a href="http://www.strategyanalytics.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Strategy Analytics</a>, global smart speaker shipments reached 9.2 million units in the first quarter (Q1) of 2018. The research group says Apple shipped about 600,000 HomePods to garner 6% of the market.</p>