Dennis Sellers

<p>Apple has filed for a patent (number 9,947,141) for a “method of image processing for an augmented reality application,” which hints at future plans for the company’s ARKit.</p>

<p>If you have both Apple and Samsung smartphones in your household, you’ll find a mophie’s <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mophie.com/shop/charge-stream-pad-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer">Charge Stream Pad+</a> handy. It’s a $59.95 wireless charging pad for Apple and Samsung Qi-enabled phones. </p>

<p>The Stacks feature of the Dock in macOS High Sierra can be a time-saver. The Dock is the bar of icons that sits at the bottom or side of your screen. It provides easy access to many of the apps that come with your Mac.</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 EMEA [Europe, the Middle East, and Africa] mobile phone market saw smartphone volumes fall for a second year in 2017, but Apple gained ground, according to a new report from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.idc.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">IDC</a>.</p>

<p>Apple has removed Private Photos (Calculator%) from the the App Store, notes <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-pulls-private-photos-calculator-from-app-store-2018-4" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Business Insider</em></a>. It’s an app that poses as a calculator and allows users to hide secret photos and videos.</p>

<p>Some of us kept hoping that Apple wasn’t abandoning its AirPort line, but this seems to be the case. As noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/airport-express-removed-from-home-app-in-latest-ios-114-beta" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a>, AirPort Express is no longer showing up in the Home app for users on the latest iOS 11.4 beta, “casting doubt that it will be updated to use as an AirPlay 2 target.”</p>

<p>Apple has released a second public beta of iOS 11.4. Among other things, it includes AirPlay 2 support.</p>

<p>Apple is “significantly” expanding its downtown Seattle engineering center, giving itself enough capacity for potentially close to 500 people across five floors inside one of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/apple-expands-seattle-aims-best-rival-tech-giants-fierce-battle-top-talent/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>GeekWire</em></a> reports.</p>

<p>Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state telecommunications regulator, has asked Apple and Google to remove the Telegram Messenger tool from their app stores, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-telegram-stores/russia-asks-google-and-apple-to-remove-telegram-from-stores-ifax-idUSKBN1HO0ZX" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Reuters</em></a>.</p>

<p>WaterField Designs is bringing back its iconic <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sfbags.com/products/rough-rider-messenger-bag" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rough Rider Leather Messenger.</a> It’s been revamped with a padded laptop compartment, a pass-through to slide over wheeled suitcase handles, and new leather accent colors.</p>

<p>I’m a little dubious this will ever reach fruition, but Apple has filed for a patent (number 9,949,015) that would allow an AirPod case to plug into a wired speaker system — and play music through the speaker via the connection. The invention is dubbed “wireless headset carrying case with wireless transmitter.”</p>

<p>If the iPhone X is a “bomb” as some reports would have you believe, Apple needs more bombs like this. In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbctv18.com/telecom/iphone-x-pocketed-35-of-total-handset-industry-profits-in-q4-2017-37151.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNBC</em></a> — Counterpoint Research says the high-end smartphone captured 35% of the total handset industry profits in the fourth quarter of 2017.</p>

<p>Following Apple’s acquisition of Texture, the company is expected to launch a magazine and news subscription service within a year, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-17/apple-is-said-to-plan-apple-music-like-news-subscription-service" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a>. </p>

<p>If you deal at all with EPUB (electronic publication documents), <a target="_blank" href="http://www.enolsoft.com/epub-viewer-for-mac.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">EPUB Viewer</a> for macOS (10.6 and later) from Enolsoft is a tool worth checking out — IF you need lots of bells and whistles.</p>