Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><span style="text-decoration:underline">Focal</span> has announced their next generation in-ear headphone, Sphear Wireless, which boasts an aptX compatible Bluetooth module.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Future Mac blacklit keyboards may have adjustable white points, based on a new patent filing (number 20190051267) by Apple. White points are coordinates that serve to define the color "white" in image capture, encoding, or reproduction. Depending on the application, different definitions of white are needed to give acceptable results.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In July 2018, Apple announced the $699 <a href="https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HM8Y2VC/A/blackmagic-egpu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Blackmagic eGPU</a>, an external GPU it developed with Blackmagic Design that’s based around a Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB of video memory. In October the two companies announced the the $1,199  <a href="https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/release/20181031-01" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">Blackmagic eGPU Pro</span></a>, an external graphics processor featuring the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics processor.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/02/behind-the-mac-creator-celebrates-his-literary-icon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">posted an article</a> on its Newsroom web page about how Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins uses his MacBook Pro and other Apple tech in his filmmaking</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has scooped up <a href="https://digitaltiger.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Data Tiger</a>, a UK startup focused on digital marketing, reports <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-14/apple-acquires-u-k-based-digital-marketing-startup-datatiger" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a>. The company — which has perhaps 10 employees — boasts that it has “deep roots in the entertainment business” and employs “award wining designers and digital communications experts.”</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The scuttlebutt this week is that Apple will debut its long-awaited video streaming service on March 25, along with a subscription news service to complement Apple News. Now <a href="https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/apple-video-service-summer-launch-1203140002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em> is reporting</a> that Apple will preview some of its original series on that date, but the streaming service itself won’t launch until late summer or early fall.d</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The <a href="http://www.canalys.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Canalys research group</a> estimates show that European smartphone shipments fell 4% in 2018 to 197 million units. In quarter four of 2018, shipments fell 2% to 57 million, though Chinese vendors gained significantly. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Disney overtook Apple for the first time in MBLM's <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2374952-1&h=4262928106&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmblm.com%2Flab%2Fbrandintimacy-study%2F&a=Brand+Intimacy+2019+Study" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Brand Intimacy 2019 Study</em></a><em>, </em>the largest study of brands based on emotions. The two were followed by Amazon, which came in third. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for yet another patent (number 20190049996) involving an autonomous vehicle. Dubbed “peloton” (a group or pack of vehicles) it involves at least two self-driving vehicles traveling together. As with a previous patent filing (number 10,108,202) it would allow one car to charge another even if both are moving.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple says it will resume selling older iPhone models (the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8) in its stores in Germany after they were banned last year, but only with chips from Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of mobile chips, with whom Apple is involved in a global legal battle.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple is expected to debut a news subscription service on March 25. A <em>Wall Street Journal</em> report said the tech giant plans to keep about half of all revenue generated by publications selling subscription. That sounds like a really big cut, but <a href="https://www.recode.net/2019/2/13/18224013/apple-news-publishers-50-percent-subscription-explained-new-york-times-washington-post-texture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Recode</em></a> says “many” publishers have already signed up.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">After Apple discontinued its AirPort line-up (which was a mistake), one of my favorite replacements was the <a href="https://eero.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eero home Wi-Fi system</a>, which is handsome, easy-to-use, and pricey. In other words, it’s a product Apple could’ve/should’ve made.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">There are no Apple stores yet in India, and iPhone users have been stranded with third-party service providers, who they say don’t live up to the premium brand’s promise in the rest of the world, according to a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/apple-india-service-repair-complaints"><em>BuzzFeed</em> report</a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Okay, pay attention now. This week it has been reported that Apple would debut a subscription news service to complement Apple News and perhaps a magazine subscription service on March 25 with its long-in-the-works video streaming service arriving in late April or early March.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">It’s been previously reported that Apple is targeting April to debut a new streaming product that will include original content free for Apple device owners and a platform to subscribe to other digital media services. However, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/apple-targets-april-launch-for-video-service.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNBC</em> reports </a> that HBO hasn't signed on to the service due to a disagreement over revenue sharing with Apple, while Netflix and Hulu aren't expected to be a part of the "Channels" service.</p>