Dennis Sellers

<p>An effort to block the Andrews government’s deal with Apple to build a store in Melbourne, Australia’s Federation Square has failed in parliament, clearing the way for the controversial retail development, reports <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/greens-fail-to-win-support-for-bid-to-block-apple-s-fed-square-store-20180221-p4z15y.html"><em>The Age</em></a>.</p>

<p>Sonnet Technologies is shipping the new 1TB version of its Fusion  Thunderbolt™ 3 PCIe Flash Drive. A pocket-size solid-state drive (SSD) storage device with a Thunderbolt 3 interface, the drive is equipped with 1TB of NVMe flash storage and leverages the 40Gbps bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 to deliver data transfer speeds up to 2600 MB/second.</p>

<p>Apple has registered a handful of new devices in the Eurasian commission database that hints at new iPads coming soon, reports <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/21/eurasian-filings-hint-at-two-new-ipad-models-coming-soon/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a>. The filings are for tablets running iOS 11. </p>

<p>Australian telecom Telstra has suffered a mass outage that has mass outage has seen customers experiencing widespread issues with Apple’s iMessage/Messages service, reports<em> </em><a target="_blank" href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/messaging-service-down-for-telstra-users/news-story/2c44c7d8f22a9fd53ce23bea800538e2" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>news.com.au</em></a>. But the glitch has reportedly been fixed.</p>

<p>Apple is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt directly from miners for the first time, seeking to procure "several thousand" metric tons of cobalt per year for a period of at least five years, <em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-21/apple-is-said-to-negotiate-buying-cobalt-direct-from-miners" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg reports</a></em>.</p>

<p>Twenty-two more banks have announced <a target="_blank" href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204916" rel="noopener noreferrer">support for Apple Pay,</a> Apple’s mobile payment service.</p>

<p>Yesterday, <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2018/2/20/second-scanning-depth-engine-patent-involves-3d-profiles-and-the-mac" rel="noopener noreferrer">I reported </a>that Apple had filed for a second patent for a “scanning depth engine” that generates 3D profiles. The tech giant has also been granted a patent (number 9,898,651) for “upper body skeleton extraction from depth maps,” which would facilitate gesture controls on a Mac or an Apple TV.</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>Apple has updated three OS beta releases — macOS High Sierra 10.13.4, iOS 11.3, and tvOS 11.3 — for developers. </p>

<p>Chinese website <a target="_blank" href="http://new.qq.com/omn/20180219/20180219A0Q3MX.html" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>QQ</em></a>  — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cultofmac.com/530067/iphone-se-2-rumor-hints-wwdc-release/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Cult of Mac</em></a> — claims Apple will unveil a new iPhone SE at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).</p>

<p>Apple has topped <em>Fast Company</em>’s 2018 World’s Most Innovation Companies list that spans more than 350 enterprises across 36 categories.</p>

<p>Paragon Software has released the free <a href="https://www.paragon-software.com/business/apfs-kit-mac/">APFS Retrofit Kit for macOS</a>, a system driver that enables read-only access to APFS (Apple File System) volumes under macOS 10.12 or earlier versions. </p>

<p>Apple has applied for a second patent (number 9,898,074; the first was number 20170205873) for a “scanning depth engine.” If the invention ever comes to fruition, a Mac could generate a 3D profile of an object by processing an optical image of the object.</p>

<p>Apple is seeking a new U.S. trademark for its iconic multicolor logo, the "rainbow" logo, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/18/02/19/apple-seeks-new-trademark-for-multicolor-logo-unlikely-to-show-up-at-a-store-near-you" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a>.</p>

<p>The Ohio State University has teamed up with Apple to create an app that new students will use this fall. Four Buckeye students traveled to Apple's design lab to learn how to create the software, tentatively dubbed “My OUS,” reports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.10tv.com/article/osu-students-team-apple-create-app-first-year-buckeyes" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>10tv</em></a>.</p>