Dennis Sellers

<p>At its annual meeting (held today), two Apple shareholder proposals <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-shareholders/apple-shareholders-defeat-two-proposals-at-annual-meeting-idUSKCN1FX2GA" rel="noopener noreferrer">weren't approved</a>. Also, CEO Tim Cook downplayed a suggestion that the company might issue a special dividend to shareholders with some of the $285 billion in cash that the company is now able to bring back from overseas.</p>

<p>In a competitive study of smart home voice control platforms, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.abiresearch.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">ABI Research</a> finds that Alexa currently leads the market. This is due mostly to the market deployment footprint and scale it enjoys. However, Amazon faces well positioned and strengthening challenges to its dominance, especially in multi-language support, according to the research group.</p>

<p>Karl Traunmueller has released Compositor 1.0, a new Mac app that brings WYSIWYG [what you see is what you get] features to the LaTeX document preparation system widely used in academia for preparation of scientific and technical publications. </p>

<p>Howling Moon Software has announced <a target="_blank" href="http://verdantskies.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Verdant Skies</a>, its latest game title for macOS and Windows. It’s a $19.99 life simulation game in which you can customize artwork, dialogue, items, crafting recipes and more.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted yet another patent (number 9,891,719) involving a gesture-based user interface (you can see a list of the others <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2018/2/6/apple-granted-another-patent-for-a-gesture-based-ui-for-the-mac?rq=gesture" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>). However, this one involves a docking station and, unlike some previous ones, doesn’t seem to involve the Mac. Just iPhones and iPads.</p>

<p>As this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.statista.com/chart/12878/apple-watch-vs-swiss-watches/" rel="noopener noreferrer">chart by Statista shows</a>, Apple <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-outsold-the-entire-swiss-watch-industry-in-2017-2018-2" rel="noopener noreferrer">shipped more watches</a> during the holiday quarter last year than the entire Swiss watch industry exported, marking the first time Apple topped the entire export output of the industry's traditional home.</p>

<p>According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.trendforce.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">TrendForce</a>, the iPhone's annual production volume is expected to increase by 6% because of improved specs of new iPhones and Apple’s expansion in Indian market.</p>

<p>Apple Mail in iOS 11 has some overlooked nifty features. Among them:</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><a target="_blank" href="https://www.trendforce.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">TrendForce </a>reports that the global notebook shipments for 2017 registered 164.7 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, higher than previous expectation of 0.7%. And Apple has overtaken ASUS in global laptop marketshare.</p>

<p>My HomePod arrived around noon on Friday, Feb. 9, and I’ve spent much of the weekend test driving it. Here’s my opinion in a nutshell:</p>

<p>The gang at iFixIt, which tears apart tech gadgets and look at their innards so you don’t have to, have offered a teardown of Apple’s HomePod. They find that the wireless speaker is “the world device ever to open,” but is bulletproof, meant to withstand intense vibration and minimize buzzing components.</p>

<p>Apple, LG, and Valve are making a $10 million investment in eMagin, a small company that makes OLED microdisplays, reports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-lg-invest-10m-in-oled-microdisplay-maker-emagin/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNET</em></a>, which found the info in documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. </p>

<p>Apple is revamping its development program to focus more on key features for its operating systems and push others back to 2019, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-12/how-apple-plans-to-root-out-bugs-revamp-iphone-software" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a>.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 20180039376) for an “input device having a dimensionally configurable input area.” It involves touch interfaces such as those on iOS devices, illuminated keyboards, and perhaps input devices we haven’t seen yet from the tech giant (as shown by the graphic).</p>