Dennis Sellers

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,678,623) for a “user interface for media playback” that hints at a new look and UI for a future version of tvOS on the Apple TV. It could also involve playing music and videos on macOS and iOS devices.</p>

<p>Apple CEO Tim Cook <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/cook-says-apple-is-focusing-on-making-an-autonomous-car-system?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social" rel="noopener noreferrer">confirms</a> to <em>Bloomberg</em> that the company is developing self-driving car technology, which he calls a “core” technology. The comments mark the first time Cook has discussed the long-rumored “Apple Car” project publicly, though he was vague about any manufacturing plans.</p>

<p>Flipbuilder's <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flipbuilder.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flip PDF Professional for Mac</a> makes it easy to create page flip catalogs from PDFs. You can create catalogs, brochures and other marketing collaterals from PDF files. </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>On Friday my new 27-inch iMac arrived (I’ll have a full review coming soon). It came stock with only 8GB of memory. However, I wanted more, but didn’t want to pay Apple $200 for 16GB of RAM or $600 for 32GB.</p>

<p>WaterField Designs has extended its Magic Keyboard Slip Case line with a custom-fitted size for Apple's new Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. </p>

<p>Foxconn CEO Terry Gou <a target="_blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-toshiba-accounting-foxconn-exclusive-idUSKBN1930ZS?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtechnologyNews+%28Reuters+Technology+News%29" rel="noopener noreferrer">confirms</a> last week’s news that Apple that will join its bid for Toshiba Corp's semiconductor business. He says saying that Apple’s board and CEO Tim Cook have signed off on the deal, though he didn’t specify financial details.</p>

<p>Apple may show little love to the external SuperDrive -- an external optical drive that allows you to install software, play, and burn both CDs and DVDs -- since the company wants you to go completely with digital media, but Waterfield Designs brings the love with the $25 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sfbags.com/products/apple-superdrive-sleeve" rel="noopener noreferrer">SuperDrive Sleeve</a>.</p>

<p>In the webpage touting the upcoming iMac Pro, Apple says it has “all new speakers” and adds: </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="http://www.bitsighttech.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">BitSight</a>, which specializes in security ratings, has released a new report titled, "A Growing Risk Ignored: Critical Updates," analyzing more than 35,000 companies from industries across the globe over the last year, to better understand the usage of outdated computer operating systems and Internet browsers, the time to it took to update operating systems once a new release was made available, and how these practices correlate to data breaches. </p>

<p>This should be great news for the Mac (and perhaps the Pad Pro) after this week’s WWDC announcements): the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.DanielResearchGroup.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daniel Research Group</a>, a market research firm specializing in forecasting technology markets, predicts that the personal computer market (in which the firm includes tablets) will grow 2.3% annually over the next five years.</p>

<p>Apple wants its iPhone to work better with hearing aids. The company has been granted a patent (number 9,672,804) for a “hearing aid compatible audio device with acoustic noise cancellation.”</p>

<p>Yesterday, the gang at iFixIt (they tear down tech gadgets and look at their innards so you don't have to) disassembled one of the new 21.5-inch iMacs and found (to everyone's surprise) that the memory was upgradeable. It’ the first time Apple has included removable RAM in a 21.5-inch iMac since 2013. </p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 20170163589) for “sharing of activity metadata via messaging systems” that hints at increased functionality of the Messages app on iOS and macOS devices. However, it also adds the potential for ads appearing in the utility.</p>