Dennis Sellers

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Apple is planning to bring its Force Touch technology to Mac keyboards, as evidenced by a new patent filing (number 9178509) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The patent is dubbed “ultra low travel keyboard.” </p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">According to new data from <a target="_blank" href="http://intelligence.slice.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Slice Intelligence</a> and its panel of over three million online shoppers, male buyers 65 and older spent the most on Apple products over the past year than any other group, with an average online spend of $976.  </p>

<p>Apple's share of smartphone shipments in Japan fell 7.2 percentage points YoY to 50 percent in the first halfof 2015 (that’s April to September), or 6.31 million units, according to a report by MM Research Institute (as noted by <a href="http://brightwire.com">BrightWire.com</a>), a global investment newswire.</p>

<p>Apple has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court decision that found the company conspired with five publishers to increase e-book prices, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/ptvqyv" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>. The Cupertino, California-based company wants the high court to review a June ruling that favored the U.S. Department of Justice, and found the company liable for engaging in a conspiracy that violated federal antitrust laws.</p>

<p>The worldwide tablet market recorded lower shipments for the fourth straight quarter with 49.4 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15), according to preliminary data from the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.idc.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">International Data Corporation (IDC) </a>research. That’s down -11.2% year-over-year.</p>

<p>iOS 9 made some changes in the way you switch from one app to another. For example, the App Switcher has new overlapping design. iPads sports three multitasking superpowers: Slide Over, Split Screen, and Picture in Picture (which should be really useful with the upcoming iPad Pro).</p>

<p>A Wisconsin federal court judge has Apple must pay $234.3 million in damages for infringing on a computer processor patent by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).</p>

<p>A new survey by <a href="http://www.juniperrsearch.com">Juniper Research</a> finds that smartphone users, regardless of their mobile preference, consider Apple the “coolest brand” for wearable technology. Apple was followed by Samsung, Google, LG, and Sony.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/qe4rbwn" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Lunatik: Flak case</a> for the iPhone gives your Apple smartphone its own flack jacket for protection. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the bad pun.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Xwavesofht’s Guest List Organizer for Mac OS X isn't for everyone. But if you regularly schedule events or have a major shindig coming up (say, a wedding) it's money well spent.</p>

<p>In time for the Apple earnings report coming next week, Argus Insights has released <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/nuycsxb" rel="noopener noreferrer">its analysis</a> of how Apple did with this September's iPhone launch as compared to the launch a year ago. While Apple’s Q3 demand is up year over year, this improvement has fallen greatly since the nearly 150% demand growth that corresponded with the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last year, according to the research group.</p>

<p>Apple had 9.3 percent of Taiwan’s smartphone market in September (as determined by sales volume), reports <em>The Central News Agency</em>, Taiwan’s official news agency.</p>

<p>I've always been a fan of Harmon speakers. They look great, sound good and are a perfect match with Apple's hardware line. Nothing exemplifies this more than Harman Kardon’s $229.95 <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/onf3pvg" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundSticks Wireless</a>, whose predecessors are enshrined at the Museum of Modern Art.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Disruptive technologies like touch sensitive screens and smart glass everywhere will be one of the larger competitive issues for Apple in the not-too-distant future. However, purchasing a smart glass manufacturer -- perhaps even Corning itself-- would give Apple a competitive advantage for an "iOS everywhere" type approach. </p>

<p>Future iPhones — and perhaps iPads — may feature retractable screen protectors to prevent damage to the smartphones. Apple has filed for a patent (number 201500301565) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for “active screen protection for an electronic device.” However, the screen protector would be in the form of movable tabs, not an extra layer on the display.</p>