Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">FaceTime on macOS and iOS may eventually be able to “hide” your background during a call. Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,992,450) for “systems and methods for background concealment in a video conferencing session.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">As noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/new-app-store-guidelines-prohibit-remote-mirroring-apps-from-eroding-in-app-purchases" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a><em>,</em> Apple introduced developers to App Store Connect at this week’s Worldwide Developer Conference. It’s a rebranding and revamping of iTunes Connect.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are some random observations and questions following yesterday’s Apple Worldwide Developer keynote:</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Today at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple delivered a Health Records API [application programming interface] for developers and researchers to create an ecosystem of apps that use health record data to better manage medications, nutrition plans, diagnosed diseases and more.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Alongside macOS Mojave, today at its Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, Apple previewed an all-new Mac App Store featuring a new look and rich editorial content deigned to make it easier to find “great” Mac apps, according to Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Today at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple introduced ARKit 2, an update of the platform that allows developers to integrate shared experiences, persistent AR experiences tied to a specific location, object detection and image tracking to make AR apps even more dynamic. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At today’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, Apple previewed macOS Mojave, the latest version of the its desktop operating system. It will arrive for end users this fall.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple announced iOS 12, the latest version of its mobile operating system. It runs on iPhones and iPads dating back to 2013 and will be available for end users this fall. But -- darn it! -- there's no mouse support for the iPad Pro (not that I'd really expected it, but I can hope, can't I?)</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In a note to clients — as noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/well-known-apple-analyst-re-appears-predicts-lower-2018-iphone-pricing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a><em> </em>— TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo thinks Apple will lower pricing across the iPhone line with its 2018 models.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to <a href="http://www.idc.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IDC</a>, Apple Watch shipments grew 13.5% over the previous year as the launch of a cellular connected Watch entered additional markets. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Another day, another lawsuit. A third lawsuit has been filed against Apple for alleged flaws in the butterfly keyboards of recent Mac laptops. It was filed June 2 was filed on behalf of “Diego Binatena individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated,” reports <a href="http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2018/06/a-third-class-action-has-been-filed-against-apple-in-california-over-macbook-pro-keyboard-problems.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Patently Appl</em></a><em>e</em>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to a <a href="https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180604PD202.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>DigiTimes</em> report</a>, Apple plans to tighten its grip on the supply chains of new MacBook models through direct pricing negotiations with third-party suppliers of non-key parts such as screws, metallic parts and plastics parts needed for the production of key components by contracted suppliers.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook is under the gun again after <em>The New York Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/03/technology/facebook-device-partners-users-friends-data.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">revealed</a> data sharing deals with 60 companies (including Apple) that gave over users' education history, relationship status, work, religion and political leaning.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,448,683) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for a “network media device,” which hints at an Apple NAS device/home server, something I’ve long wanted. The device would pull multimedia data from one or more sources (e.g., a multimedia website or a multimedia server computer) at a first time, stores it to long-term storage within the device and transmits the stored multimedia data to one or more designated multimedia playback devices at a second time.</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>