Dennis Sellers

<p>Apple is teaming up with GOAT, Jet, and HotWire to offer, respectively, discounts on sneakers, patio/garden purchases, add hotel bookings.</p>

<p>Are you an owner of multiple Apple Watches (and Apple hopes you are)? The tech giant wants you to be able to switch between them with ease when it comes to syncing with an iPhone (or iPhones). Patent number 20180103140 joins a previous patent (number 20170201612) for “switching between watches or other accessories.”</p>

<p>Worldwide PC (personal computer, not necessarily Windows devices) shipments totaled 61.7 million units in the first quarter of 2018, a 1.4% decline from the first quarter of 2017, according to preliminary results by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gartner.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner, Inc</a>. The PC market experienced a 14th consecutive quarter of decline, dating back to the second quarter of 2012, although Apple’s Mac, once again, bucked the trend, adds the research group.</p>

<p>Another day, another lawsuit. Firstface, a Korean mobile tech solutions firm, is suing Apple for copying a feature for Touch ID to unlock the smartphone screen through bitometric sensor-based user authentication, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20180412000817" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>The Korea Herald</em></a>.</p>

<p>Apple has <a target="_blank" href="https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=04112018a" rel="noopener noreferrer">reminded developers</a> that, beginning June 1, all new app updates submitted to the Mac App Store must support 64-bit. </p>

<p>Considering how early reports claimed the Apple Watch was a bust (now it’s the top product in the smartwatch field), take this one with a grain of salt: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/apple-s-stumbling-homepod-isn-t-the-hot-seller-company-wanted" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a> claims that inventor of Apple’s HomePod is “piling up” as the wireless speaker isn’t the hit the tech giant expected.</p>

<p>Apple urged a California federal judge Wednesday to toss Uniloc patent infringement suit and sanction the non-practicing entity, saying Uniloc pursued the claims knowing Apple's devices don’t use Uniloc’s motion device technology and such "bad cases" should be cut off in their infancy, reports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1032260/apple-says-uniloc-s-bad-patent-suit-warrants-sanctions?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Law360</em></a>.</p>

<p>Hue Dada! is a Mac app from DouWere designed to enhance the user experience in the Finder. You can drag and drop any Finder item onto the Hue Dada icon in the color bar to colorize it, according to its tag. Any tag change will automatically adjust the color of the previously dropped item.</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>The AWT News Update is on a one-day hiatus while my compadre, Steve, takes a break. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, <em>Apple Daily Report</em>.</p>

<p>Some 56% of Americans said they trusted Facebook least with their personal information out of all major tech companies, according to a joint <a target="_blank" href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/survey-methodology/" rel="noopener noreferrer">SurveyMonkey/Recode poll</a>. Respondents were asked to choose among Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Lyft, Microsoft, Netflix, Tesla, Twitter, Snap and Uber. </p>

<p>Apple Music has now surpassed 40 million subscribers and seen Oliver Schusser named head of the streaming music division, reports <a href="http://variety.com/2018/music/news/apple-music-40-million-subscribers-oliver-schusser-1202750066/"><em>Variety</em></a>.</p>

<p>In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em> </a>— KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple’s biggest challenge in innovation recently has been in software, not hardware.</p>

<p>Samsung and a class of consumers who purchased the Samsung Galaxy S4, and who are represented by Prometheus Partners, will mediate their claims before a U.S. Magistrate Judge next week. In an earlier hearing, U.S. District Judge James Donato said from the bench "Samsung rigged the deck, fixed the game; and as a result of that, consumers were misled about the speed of the phone." </p>

<p>Amazon and HP deliver the best customer experience in the computer and tablet industry, according to the <em>2018 Temkin Experience Ratings</em>, an annual customer experience benchmark of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers. Apple was tied for third place, dropping one spot from last year.</p>