Dennis Sellers

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">On July 17th, the world will be celebrating one of the most fantastic days of the year: World Emoji Day. Okay, maybe not the whole world, but the folks at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.appboy.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Appboy</a> certainly will be.</p>

<p>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>In the three months ending May 2016, Samsung accounted for 37% of smartphone sales in the U.S., and Apple’s iPhone accounted for 29%, according to new data from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kantar Worldpanel</a>. However, sales of their respective flagship models reveal a much closer competition, with the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge accounting for 16% of sales and the iPhone 6s/6s Plus at 14.6%, according to the research group. </p>

<p><a href="http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe2616757265057a721c73&ls=fdeb11747c6d027b75157673&m=fefc1271766d04&l=fe8e167276630d7c7c&s=fe23127276650075711379&jb=ffcf14&t=">New consumer research</a> from Parks Associates finds a continued decline in the adoption rate for desktop computers. <a href="http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe2616757265057a721c73&ls=fdeb11747c6d027b75157673&m=fefc1271766d04&l=fe8e167276630d7c7c&s=fe23127276650075711379&jb=ffcf14&t="><em>360 View: CE Adoption & Trends</em></a> reveals that since 2009, nearly one-third of U.S. broadband households have abandoned desktops as a platform. This is why I think Apple will drastically streamline its entire Mac line-up.</p>

<p><em>Cult of Mac</em> reports that Apple is holding an <a href="https://www.planetoftheapps.com/about/">open casting call</a> for its upcoming original TV show, <em>Planet of the Apps</em>, which is about apps and the people who make them.</p>

<p>Charles Moore, in <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/musyfnt" rel="noopener noreferrer">an op-ed piece for <em>Technology Tell</em></a>, once said Apple should consider buying the Bing search engine from Microsoft. Of course, that hasn't happened despite rumors of Apple developing its own search engine.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.supersync.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">SuperSync</a> is an excellent Mac OS X (10.5 and later) tool for many things, including managing iTunes. With it, you can retrieve a song from a laptop, play or download a song from a home computer while at the office, upload a new album from the road, or back-up an entire music library on a new computer or network drive.</p>

<p>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>Another day, another lawsuit. A company called Somaltus is suing Apple in the lawsuit-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for allegedly infringing on a 2010 patent concerning battery technologies, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacRumors</a>.</p>

<p>A new study from recommence site <a href="http://decluttr.com/">Decluttr.com</a> found that some smartphones are depreciating faster than cars, with some losing as much as half of their value after only one year of use.</p>

<p>Apple plans to provide a full repair service in Russia for all iPhone damages as the result of a lawsuit filed by a dissatisfied customer, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/apple-plans-to-build-specialized-repair-center-in-russia-after-lawsuit/574942.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Moscow Times</a>. </p>

<p>Apple ranks highest among manufacturers of smartwatches, and Samsung ranks highest among manufacturers of fitness band devices, according to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jdpower.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">J.D. Power</a> <em>2016 Fitness Band Device Satisfaction Report</em> and J.D. Power <em>2016 Smartwatch Device Satisfaction Report</em>.</p>

<p>Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product, so here are today’s patent highlights: </p>

<p>Yellow Lemon Software's $20 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.scsc.no/products/folderglance/" rel="noopener noreferrer">FolderGlance</a>, a utility for browsing files and folders, is still a solid addition to your Mac's software arsenal after all these years. </p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Apple has donated 7 million yuan (about $1 million) to the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) as the country deals with its worst flood in years, reports <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/07/11/apple-donates-1m-help-china-cope-flood/86954728/">USA Today</a>. It’s the first U.S. company to do so.</p>