Dennis Sellers

<p>During Sunday’s Grammy Awards Apple <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2fipKCrV3I" rel="noopener noreferrer">showed the first teaser</a> for <em>Carpool Karaoke: The Series</em>, the series being spun out of The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. </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>Cindori has introduced VR Desktop, an $19.99 app that lets you use macOS together with Virtual Reality (VR) headsets. It requires macOS 10.11 or later and Oculus Rift DK2.</p>

<p>Well, this ain’t good, and will only <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2017/2/13/i-still-want-an-apple-thunderbolt-display-with-a-built-in-gpu)" rel="noopener noreferrer">add to cries</a> that Apple start making its own external displays for use with Mac laptops: Apple has temporarily stopped sales of LG's UltraFine 5K monitor, due to problems associated with a lack of proper shielding from wireless interference. Apple retail staff were told to keep the product on display yet <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-suspends-sales-of-lg-ultrafine-5k-monitor-2017-2" rel="noopener noreferrer">not sell any units</a> if people asked, according to a <em>Business Insider </em>source. </p>

<p>In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacRumors</a> — KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the “iPhone 8” will adopt a higher-cost stacked logic board design to support longer battery life.</p>

<p>Apple placed number four on the “Most Innovative Companies of 2017” list from <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/">FastCompany</a>. The Cupertino, California-based company placed fourth on the list; that’s up from seventh place in 2016. Apple has made the list for three years running.</p>

<p>A group of Australian banks previously applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for permission to jointly negotiate over access to Apple Pay and the Near Field Communication (NFC)  function on iPhones. Today they announced that they’ve narrowed the application to solely focus on open access to the NFC function.</p>

<p>Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has made a deal with Apple to supply an additional 60 million units of organic light-emitting diode panels, worth about $4.3 billion, for the next-generation iPhone, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20170213000700" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Korea Herald.</a></p>

<p>Apple has joined the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wireless Power Consortium,</a> hinting that the upcoming “iPhone 8” will indeed support wireless charging, at least on some models. The WPC is a group that includes makers of mobile phones, consumer electronics, batteries, semiconductors, components, wireless power technology and infrastructure such as wireless operators, furniture and automotive parts.Apple has joined the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wireless Power Consortium,</a> hinting that the upcoming “iPhone 8” will indeed support wireless charging, at least on some models. The WPC is a group that includes makers of mobile phones, consumer electronics, batteries, semiconductors, components, wireless power technology and infrastructure such as wireless operators, furniture and automotive parts.</p>

<p>BSides -- a two-day, open forum for discussion and debate for security engineers and their affiliates -- has received a public contributing sponsorship from Apple, “underlining the increasing efforts of the company to participate in academic research and publishing related to security, privacy and other research goals,” according to <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/02/13/apple-sponsors-san-francisco-bsides-security-conference" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider</a>.</p>

<p>According to a customer service tweet from Target — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/12/target-apple-pay-support" rel="noopener noreferrer">9to5Mac</a> — thesecond-largest discount store retailer in the U.S. is investigating Apple Pay and is working on getting the technology in its stores. Specifics are unclear, but the tweet said that it would happen “soon.”</p>

<p>Apple is touting LG’s UltraFine 4K and 5K displays as the perfect monitors for usewith the 2016 MacBook Pros. They’re fine (pun intended), but not as elegant as an Apple-made monitor would be. That’s why I still hope for a Thunderbolt Display with an integrated GPU that has been rumored in the past.</p>

<p>According to a new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macotakara.jp/blog/rumor/entry-31892.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> from Macotakara — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/11/apple-5-inch-iphone-wireless-charging/" rel="noopener noreferrer">9to5Mac</a> -- Apple will introduce a new 5-inch iPhone model this year. The report, citing unnamed “reliable sources in Taiwan,” claims that only the all-glass model of the iPhone will support wireless charging this year.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 20170041712) for “evacuation of liquid from acoustic space” that shows the company is working to make iPhones and Apple Watches truly waterproof.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,563,177) for a “context-aware world clock.” It would allow time information for various locations to be automatically generated for display on a portable electronic device such as an iPhone or Apple Watch. </p>