Dennis Sellers

<p>Apple is moving iCloud accounts registered in mainland China to state-run Chinese servers on Wednesday along with the digital keys needed to unlock them, and this has privacy advocates and human rights groups worried.</p>

<p>An analysis of <a href="https://9to5mac.com/guides/security/">security</a> updates by SecurityLab for different smartphone brands gives the iPhone top billing. When it came to <a href="https://9to5mac.com/guides/android/">Android</a> brands, however, “only two managed halfway decent ratings, with many big brands being rated poorly,” notes <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/28/ios-versus-android-security/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a>. </p>

<p>The Computer History Museum named former Apple executive Dan’l Lewin as its new CEO and president. He was one of Steve Jobs’ top guys back in the early days of Apple, notes <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cultofmac.com/531529/former-apple-exec-tapped-lead-computer-history-museum/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Cult of Mac</em></a>. </p>

<p>Activists are organizing a 24-hour boycott of Apple, Amazon,and FedEx, due to their ties to the NRA, on March 1, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nra-boycott-amazon-apple-and-fedex-2018-2" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Business Insider</em></a>.</p>

<p>Skiers and snowboarders can now use Apple Watch Series 3 to track their activities via new updates to apps available in the App Store. Watch users can now record runs, see vertical descent and other stats, and contribute active calorie measurements directly to the Apple Watch Activity app.</p>

<p>So far Apple has made it more and more difficult to upgrade its various devices. However, a newly granted patent (number 9,904,333) involves Macs — especially Mac laptops — with easily replaced solid state drives (SSDs).</p>

<p>I really like my Apple TV 4K and use it daily. However, when it was sitting on my TV stand, my two-year granddaughter thought it was a toy. Not good. Enter the $29.95 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HJKP2LL/A/innovelis-totalmount-pro-mounting-system-for-apple-tv" rel="noopener noreferrer">TotalMount Pro</a>, which attaches the Apple set-top box to the back of your television.</p>

<p>If your HomePod isn’t responding, you should unplug it from its power source, then plug it in again. If that doesn’t work — and ONLY if that doesn’t work — should you reset it to its factory settings. </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>According to <a href="http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/m-night-shyamalan-apple-series-1202711707/"><em>Variety</em></a>, Apple has given a straight-to-series order for a psychological thriller written by Tony Basgallop, who has written for a variety of TV shows such as <em>24:Legacy</em> and <em>Hotel Babylon</em>, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan (pictured), known for movies like <em>Sixth Sense, Signs, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village, The Visit,</em> and <em>Split.</em></p>

<p>In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/27/iphone-battery-availability-worsens/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a> — Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz says the current wait times for iPhone battery availability have gone up to 3-4.5 weeks after a series of calls to Apple Stores. The longest wait of any Apple Store was found to be 9-10 weeks.</p>

<p>Michael Abbott, Twitter’s former vice president of engineering, has been scooped up by Apple, according to the French site, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.macg.co/aapl/2018/02/apple-aurait-recrute-michael-abbott-lancien-patron-de-webos-101513" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacGeneration</em></a>. </p>

<p>Coming off of the first year-over-year decline in iPhone shipments in 2016, Apple returned to growth in 2017 albeit only 0.2%, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.idc.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">IDC</a>. The tech giant shipped 215.8 million iPhones in 2017 with 64% of those coming from “plus-size” smartphones such as the iPhone X. </p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.joyoshare.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Joyoshare</a> has announced Screen Recorder for Mac, a video capture tool that can record screen videos with audio simultaneously on macOS.</p>

<p>Apple has “internally” announced that it’s launching a pilot program that will permit its retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers to continue offering repair service for 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models released in mid-2011, despite the fact they will be classified as vintage in March, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em></a>.</p>