Dennis Sellers

<p>Recently, I began receiving annoying texts from a "mystery shopping" company asking me to do some work for them. I smelled something fishy, so when they kept texting me, I decided it was time to block their number on my iPhone. You may have a number you'd like to block, as well. If so here's how.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,118,642) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that hints at an Apple NAS device/home server I've long wanted. The patent is for "asset streaming." NAS — or network-attached storage — is a computer data storage server connected to your computer network that provides access to a wide variety of data.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/p36nk5v" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tagtrum’s beaTunes</a> is a useful iTunes tool for Mac OS X and Windows users. And it's gotten even better with the latest version (4.5).</p>

<p>In <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/nkr8jqm" rel="noopener noreferrer">an opinion piece</a> for <em>TechRadar</em>, Matthew Bolton says "Macs don't represent a great deal for someone who wants high-end gaming, but they shouldn't be dismissed because of that. The range of games is already strong, and is only going to grow further - and you can run Windows for the rest." </p>

<p>There was talk that Apple would announce a new education initiative this week. However, the company is instead emphasizing its participation in the US ConnectED program. <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/pnr9log" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared</a> in a pre-recorded segment on Good Morning America today and discussed this with co-anchor Robin Roberts.</p>

<p>Once upon a time it was easy to save a document with a new name in Mac OS X as the "Save As" appeared automatically under the File option in appropriate apps (such as Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and TextEdit). For some reason Apple hid it starting with Mac OS X Lion.</p>

<p>If the iTunes Mini-Player option in iTunes doesn't quite serve your iTunes management, <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cockatoo-for-itunes/id788713417?mt=12" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cockatoo</a> from Intuitive Code might be for you. It lets you easily control the iTunes music player. </p>

<p>Another day, another lawsuit. A Nevada-base company called Verify Smart Corp. is suing Apple for — wait it for it — patent infringement. The company alleges that Apple's 2-step Apple ID verification system/process violates their patent, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/on4rxx3" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patently Apple</a>.</p>

<p>Apple has started an iSight Camera replacement program for the iPhone 6 Plus. The company says<a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/nw3px2s" rel="noopener noreferrer"> it has determined</a> that, in a small percentage of iPhone 6 Plus devices, the iSight camera has a component that may fail causing your photos to look blurry. </p>

<p>2014 was a terrible year for movie attendance, with audience numbers plunging to the lowest they've been in two decades, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/ospwaz8" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Hollywood Reporter</a>. Ironically, this could be good news for Apple.</p>

<p>Hey, men, WaterField Designs' US$119 <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/pmt5x8o" rel="noopener noreferrer">Field Tote</a> is a manly tote that's rugged and handsome and manly and …</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Apple will reportedly debut a new, impressively revamped Apple TV at a <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/pwl3bto" rel="noopener noreferrer">September event</a>, though the company hasn't firmed this. Hopefully the rumor is true because Apple's set-top box needs something to beef up sales. </p>

<p>Intel has <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/pfts8lj" rel="noopener noreferrer">given some details</a> about its upcoming Skylake processors, sharing some info of the processor's architecture. What we don't know is when we'll see it in Macs, though I'm not expecting that to happen this year.</p>

<p>Although Apple's rumored television streaming service — which I call Apple Web TV — has purportedly <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/ob5vk7f" rel="noopener noreferrer">been delayed until next year</a>, the sooner it arrives the better. The number of subscribers to cable and satellite TV providers continues to dwindle.</p>

<p>Apple has set Baidu as its default search engine for Chinese users of Siri, according to <em>Feng.com</em>, a tech blog based in China (and as as noted by <em>BrightWire.com</em>, a global investment newswire).</p>