Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,986,419) for “social reminders.” It involves techniques for providing reminders based on social interactions between users of devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Kensington’s SmartFit Laptop Risers can help improve user productivity and comfort levels for users of MacBook Pros, 12-inch MacBooks, or MacBook Airs who often use the laptops as “desktops.” </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The last Total War game released on macOS was Total War: Warhammer, an exquisite game with impressive real-time battles and deep turn-based campaigns. So exquisite, it easily earned a spot among the <a href="https://www.macgamerhq.com/guides/best-mac-strategy-games/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Best Strategy games for Mac</a>.</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;">Apple has updated iTunes for macOS and Windows to version 12.7.5. According to the company’s note, the upgrade offers “app and performance improvements.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has released watchOS 4.3.1 for the Apple Watch, and tvOS 11.4 for the Apple TV. </p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Bingeing on Netflix boxsets, sharing stories on Facebook and downloading content from Apple's iTunes have contributed to a record year of brand value growth in the 2018 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking released today by <a href="http://www.wpp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WPP</a> and <a href="http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/top-global-brands" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kantar Millward Brown</a>. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Elgato’s portable LED lamp Eve Flare and the smart water controller Eve Aqua will be available beginning Monday, June 25, with pre-orders starting immediately. They’re HomeKit enabled, wireless, water-resistant, and accessible from an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Siri.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple’s HomePod wireless speaker now delivers an even more immersive listening experience throughout the home with support for HomePod stereo pairs and a new multi-room audio system in iOS 11.4. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted another patent (number 9,983630) for an electronic device with a wraparound display. The most likely candidate for such a device is, of course, the iPhone, but it could also apply, at least in part, to Macs and iPads.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple will launch at least one new iPhone model with a triple-lens rear camera next year, according to Taiwanese website <a href="https://money.udn.com/money/story/5612/3165866" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Economic Daily News</em></a>, citing a research note from Deutsche Securities analyst Jialin Lu. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Pegatron Corp., one of the two Taiwanese companies that assemble iPhones and iPads, is the likely candidate to land orders from Apple to produce an ARM-based MacBook, reports <a href="https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180529PD211.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>DigiTimes</em></a>, quoting unnamed “industry sources.” However, don’t look for such a product anytime soon.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/29/apple-set-to-use-only-oled-screens-for-future-iphones-report.html%0A" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">planning</a> to use OLED screens for all its upcoming iPhone models, according to South Korea's <em>Electronic Times</em>. At the moment, only the iPhone X sports an OLED display; the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have LCD screens.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The last time I went on vacation, I lugged several power adapters in my suitcase for my various Apple devices. If you find yourself in the same situation, you can make your life easier with Oneadaptr’s $74.99 <a href="https://oneadaptr.com/collections/evri/products/evri-80w-usb-c-charging-station-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EVRI 80W USB-C Charging Station</a>. It can provide you with plenty of juice when you’re on the go.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Global sales of smartphones to end users returned to growth in the first quarter of 2018 with a 1.3% increase over the same period in 2017, according to <a href="http://www.gartner.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner, Inc</a>. The delayed sales boost for Apple from last quarter materialized, as the company’ smartphone unit sales returned to growth in the first quarter of 2018, with an increase of 4% year-on-year.</p>