Dennis Sellers

<p>In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/02/apple-analyst-barclays-acquisition-media-services-growth/" rel="noopener noreferrer">9to5Mac</a> — Barclays analysts Mark Moskowitz and Daniel Gaide opine that Apple is eyeing a major acquisition of a media company. They say such move could allow Apple to achieve its services growth goals that could otherwise slow alongside iPhone sales.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.globalpaymentsinc.com/en-us" rel="noopener noreferrer">Global Payments</a>, a worldwide provider of payment technology services, is now offering merchants in Taiwan the ability to accept credit and debit card payments via Apple Pay. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with more than 8,500 employees worldwide, the company is a member of the S&P 500 with merchants and partners in 30 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil.</p>

<p>Apple wants to help you eat healthier. The company has been granted a patent (number 9,640,088) for “electronic tag transmissions of custom-order nutritional information.”</p>

<p>There are a plethora of apps that deal with relaxation, mindfulness and such, but <a target="_blank" href="//www.tmsoft.com/white-noise" rel="noopener noreferrer">White Noise</a> by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tmsoft.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">TMSOFT </a>takes the concept to every imaginable requirement that you may have and them some. </p>

<p>You can turn off Back to My Mac whenever you want (<a href="https://steven-sande.squarespace.com/config/">here’s how you set it up</a>). When you do, you'll remove that Mac or AirPort base station from your Back to My Mac network.</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>Customer satisfaction with Apple’s AirPods is extremely high. Ninety-eight percent of owners of the device said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://techpinions.com/apples-airpods-a-consumer-success-with-98-customer-satisfaction/49880" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey</a> by Creative Strategies and Experience that they really, really liked the device.</p>

<p>In a note to clients -- as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/05/01/apples-siri-based-echo-competitor-to-carry-premium-price-feature-high-end-audio-with-1-woofer-7-tweeters" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider </a>— KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says there's a 50/50 chance Apple will announce its Siri-based competitor to Amazon Echo at next month’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which will be held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, June 5-9.</p>

<p>Apple is reportedly <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibtimes.co.in/make-india-wistron-start-apple-iphone-6s-6s-plus-production-bengluru-by-may-end-720662" rel="noopener noreferrer">planning to launch official online</a> store in India later this year. The tech giant will sell locally assembled iPhone SE and mobile accessories on its e-shop from Diwali onwards, <em><a target="_blank" href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/apple-to-make-an-online-store-debut-this-year/articleshow/58451155.cms" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Economics Times</a></em> reports, citing an unnamed Apple India official.</p>

<p>Another day, another lawsuit. Gustafson Nicolai pc, a Los Angeles-based law firm, is suing Apple and ATT for an iPhone 6 that purportedly exploded.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tynker.com&esheet=51550273&newsitemid=20170501005345&lan=en-US&anchor=Tynker&index=1&md5=6206be95e1ca80170ff27b9210dee955" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tynker</a>, a company that’s has introduced more than 50 million kids to computer programming through game-like learning activities and courses, has announced two new courses—Space Cadet and Dragon Spells—to support the Everyone Can Code program from Apple. </p>

<p>According to the latest market share survey from <a target="_blank" href="http://netmarkeshare.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetMarketShare</a>, the market share for both macOS and iOS was down in April.</p>

<p>This isn’t good news for the iBookStore (or any seller of digital books): sales of consumer e-books plunged 18.7% in the U.S. and 17% in the U.K. in 2016 over the first nine months of 2016, according to the Publishers Association — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/media/ebooks-sales-real-books/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNN</em></a>. Sales of physical books and journals went up by 7% over the same period, while children's books surged 16%.</p>

<p>With macOS Sierra’s Back to My Mac, you can connect to your other Macs securely over the Internet. It’s an iCloud feature that lets you set up a network of Macs that you can access remotely. </p>

<p>On our recent vacation, my wife, daughter and I all had multiple electronic gadgets in tow. They needed charging at night, and the $49.99 <a target="_blank" href="https://thechargehub.com/product/chargehub-x5-5-port-usb-universal-charging-station/" rel="noopener noreferrer">ChargeHub X5</a> made this easy without dealing with cord tangle.</p>