Dennis Sellers

<p>Nearly half of iPhone users have little or no confidence in storing their personal information on iCloud, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://globalmessaging1.prnewswire.com/clickthrough/servlet/clickthrough?msg_id=8438442&adr_order=490&url=aHR0cHM6Ly9jbHV0Y2guY28vY2xvdWQvc3RvcmFnZS9yZXNvdXJjZXMvaWNsb3VkLXN1cnZleS0y%0AMDE3" rel="noopener noreferrer">a survey of 1,001 iPhone users</a> conducted by Clutch, a business-to-business (B2B) ratings and reviews firm. </p>

<p>Apple was granted three patents today that shows it plans to beef up the features of its AirPods wireless earbuds. Patents 20170078781, 20170078780 and 20170078785 are for <strong>“earbuds with biometric sensing.”</strong></p>

<p>Security researchers competing at the annual <a target="_blank" href="https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2017/3/15/welcome-to-pwn2own-2017-the-schedule" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pwn2own</a> conference have discoveredtwo zero-day vulnerabilities in Apple’s Safari. Two teams successfully exploited the bugs they found to achieve root access to macOS, while a third attempt failed, reports <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/16/pwn2own-security-hacking-competition-safari/" rel="noopener noreferrer">9to5Mac</a>.</p>

<p>By most accounts macOS and iOS are safer operating systems than Windows or Android. However, there was a dubious 2015 report from GFI (a company that makes “IT solutions that enable businesses to discover, manage and secure their networks” ) that claims that the Apple operating systems were the “most vulnerable” OS’s.</p>

<p>Noise Industries' $49 <a target="_blank" href="https://fxfactory.com/blog/effects-2/slidepop-final-cut-pro-x/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Slide Pop plug-in</a> offers 20 cool, customizable View-Master style effects and transitions for Apple's Final Cut Pro X. </p>

<p>Two years ago, Apple bought 3,600 acres in Brunswick County, North Carolina. According to The Conservation Fund, the Arlington, Virginia-based group Apple tapped to manage the effort, the project is starting to show returns – both for the Cupertino, California-based company and for the state of North Carolina.</p>

<p>A new study by <a target="_blank" href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pymnts.com%2F&esheet=51526500&newsitemid=20170315006274&lan=en-US&anchor=PYMNTS.com&index=1&md5=cc2236236e25de0346c2760be3ab8153" rel="noopener noreferrer">PYMNTS.com</a> reveals that mobile wallet usage in the U.S.  remains small and shows no signs of increasing soon. However, Apple Pay leads the pack when it comes to number of consumer have at tied it at least once at 22%. That compares to about 15% for Samsung Pay and less than 10% for Android Pay.</p>

<p>In a note to clients — as note by <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/03/15/services-growth-on-track-to-deliver-big-long-term-payout-for-apple-analyst-says" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider</a> — RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani says Apple is on track for its Services business revenue estimates so far.</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>Apple will open a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.apple.com/retail/brickellcitycentre/" rel="noopener noreferrer">new retail store</a> at the new Brickell City Centre shopping mall in Miami this Saturday, March 25, at 10 a.m. (local time). It will be the company’s fourth store in the city. </p>

<p>Some 187,000 apps could be rendered useless with the launch of "iOS 11," according to the app analytics firm<a target="_blank" href="https://sensortower.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Sensor Tower</a> — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/03/15/over-187000-apps-could-become-obsolete-with-apples-64-bit-only-ios-11" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider</a>. That is the update is when Apple plans to kill 32-bit support.</p>

<p>Good news for the Apple Watch: the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.canalys.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Canalys research group</a> predicts that the smartwatch market will grow 18% in 2017, with 28.5 million units being shipped. This will mean the total value of smartwatch shipments in 2017 will reach $10 billion.</p>

<p>Pegatron Corp., one of the two Taiwanese companies that assemble iPhones and iPads, is willing to move that part of its operations to the U.S. if Apple will absorb the additional costs, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201703140031.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer">Focus Taiwan</a>.</p>

<p>The latest mobile operating system sales data from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kantarworldpanel.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kantar Worldpanel ComTech</a> shows that iOS achieved continued growth across most regions tracked, except for Japan, Spain, and Urban China. Android also continued to post market share increases in all regions but the U.S., as “no other ecosystem is challenging the two giants – iOS and Android,” according to the research group.</p>

<p>The second generation of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gamevice.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Gamevice</strong></a> controller has been upgraded with new buttons and thumb sticks, and it’s great for “old school” (think Pac Man) gamers like me. </p>