Dennis Sellers

<p>Ravpower makes — as you might guess from the company’s name— charging and battery products. It’s released two that will be of interest to Mac users, especially those of us who own 12-inch MacBooks.</p>

<p>Apple is making a slight branding change to its retail business, dropping the "Store" when referring to its Apple Store locations, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com/2016/08/18/apple-drops-store-branding/" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacRumors</a>. Apple has already made the change online, and all of its store pages now refer to stores by names like "Apple Union Square" or "Apple Green Hills.”</p>

<p>In July the Canalys research group forecast that 7.5 million smart watches with cellular connectivity — including a second generation Apple Watch — will ship in 2016, rising to 53.6 million in 2020. However, Apple “has hit roadblocks in making major changes that would connect its Watch to cellular networks and make it less dependent on the iPhone,” reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-18/apple-said-to-hit-roadblocks-in-cutting-watch-ties-to-iphone" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a>, quoting unnamed “people with knowledge of the matter.”</p>

<p>MiTagg has released the NuDock Power Lamp Stand (<a href="http://www.mitagg.com/products/nudock-power-station-lamp">http://www.mitagg.com/products/nudock-power-station-lamp</a>), a $299.99 iPhone and Apple Watch Power Dock with Smart LED Lamp — and an optional NuKi Portable Battery. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.redbooth.com/">Redbooth</a>, an all-in-one project management and collaboration platform, has launched its new Apple TV app that’s designed to leverage the power of the platform to encourage group discussion, collaboration and planning around the screens in our offices and homes from lesson planning and backlog prioritization meetings to trip planning and a wedding countdown. </p>

<p>Apple Pay users in the U.K. now have access to two more banks, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank. You can a complete list of supporting financial institutions by <a target="_blank" href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204916" rel="noopener noreferrer">clicking here</a>.</p>

<p>Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 344 million units in the second quarter of 2016, a 4.3% increase over the same period in 2015, according to Gartner, Inc. However, the second quarter was Apple’s third consecutive one of slowing iPhone demand. That should pick up with the introduction of the “iPhone 7,” according to the Sellers Research Firm (that’s me).</p>

<p>It’s a scale. It’s a device charger. It’s both in one. “It” is the <a target="_blank" href="http://oaxis.com/airscale/" rel="noopener noreferrer">AirScale</a> from Oasix, a combination luggage scale and USB power bank that will appeal to road warriors. It can weigh luggage up to 88 pounds and can re-charge an iPhone or iPad.</p>

<p>Ravpower’s <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ravpower.com/apple-lighting-cable-3ft.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">USB-C Quick Charge Cable</a> helps eliminate cable fray for 12-inch MacBook owners. And I suspect it will be handy for those who buy the next gen MacBook Pros that I expect to roll out no later than October. </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>Electric car company<a target="_blank" href="https://electrek.co/2016/08/16/david-erhart-tesla-apple-reliability/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Tesla has hired</a> David Erhart, Apple’s (former) director of Reliability Engineering, to lead its own liability team. His new title? Senior director of Reliability and Test at Tesla.</p>

<p>At the company’s IDF Developer Conference in San Francisco, Intel pushed for mobile devices to ditch analog audio and embrace digital headsets using USB-C. Yep. USB-C, not Lightning.</p>

<p>Let me say upfront that, in all my years of reviewing products, there have been few from WaterField Designs that haven’t impressed me. That hasn’t changed with the <a href="http://www.sfbags.com/products/bolt-briefcase#product-tabs1">WaterField Designs Bolt Briefcase</a>.</p>

<p>The TiVo Roamio (love the name) OTA 1TB is a great gadget to watchlive, recorded, on-demand and over-the-top television. Perhaps Apple should be "inspired" by some of its features and include them in an high end version of its Apple TV set-top box. </p>

<p>Apple has added 37 new banks and credit unions to the the list of financial institutions supporting Apple Pay. You can find the list here (<a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204916">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204916</a>).</p>