Dennis Sellers

<p><a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm">Glassdoor</a>, the world's most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace, has announced the winners of its ninth annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Best Places to Work in 2017 across North America and parts of Europe. Apple places 36 on the list.</p>

<p>The latest smartphone OS sales data from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kantarworldpanel.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kantar Worldpanel ComTech</a> shows that iOS achieved year-on-year growth across most regions except Germany and Urban China. </p>

<p>Apple Music officially has more than 20 million paying subscribers less than 18 months after the streaming service launched on June 30 last year, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-surpasses-20m-paying-subscribers-17-months-launch/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Music Business Worldwide</a>.</p>

<p>Speaking at the Code Conference today in San Francisco, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey said that 35% of U.S. merchants now accept Apple Pay, <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13864376/35-percent-apple-pay-us-merchants">reports</a> <em>The Verge</em>.</p>

<p>Owners of the new MacBook Pros need a way to protect the (very) expensive laptops. <a href="http://www.prweb.net/Redirect.aspx?id=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZiYWdzLmNvbS8=">WaterField Designs</a> has, yet again, delivered a solution in its US$159 Syde Case.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.olloclip.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">olloclip’s new Core lens set</a> features new optics and a new design that allows it to work over screen protectors and allows you to change out the lenses. This kicks the company’s already impressive line-up of photography accessories for the Apple smartphone to a new level.</p>

<p>Reinvented Software has announced <a target="_blank" href="http://reinventedsoftware.com/together/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Together 3.7 for Mac</a>. The app is for collecting, organizing and searching all kinds of files. </p>

<p>The most popular camera used by Flickr users this year is …. the iPhone. In its <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2016/12/06/smartphones-dominate-flickr-in-2016-apple-leads/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Year in Review report</a>, the image hosting and video hosting website and web services suite said that smartphones accounted for 48% of the photos uploaded to Flickr, up from 39% last year. </p>

<p>Apple has added new providers to its Single Sign-on feature in tvOS 10.1 and iOS 10.2: CenturyLink Prism, Hawaiian Telecom, MetroCast, and GTA (available in Guam). Strangely, GVTC Communication has been removed from the list.</p>

<p>This is a bit of a ding on the “green image” Apple is proud of: the California Environmental Protection Agency says the tech giant has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle claims it improperly dealt with e-waste at facilities in Cupertino and Sunnyvale, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-waste-violations-idUSKBN13V2HS" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>.</p>

<p>The AWT News Update is on hiatus while my compadre, Steve, takes a road trip. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, <em>Apple Daily Report</em>.</p>

<p>In a bid to become the “Netflix of Mac software,” <a href="http://setapp.com/">Setapp</a> is a new subscription service that makes a growing suite of more than 45 macOS applications available to users for a flat monthly fee. </p>

<p>Kanex has announced the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kanex.com/gopowerplus" rel="noopener noreferrer">GoPower Plus</a>, a portable power solution featuring built-in micro USB with a Lightning adapter for use with both Apple and Android devices. </p>

<p>There’s a joke that 99% of all statistics are made up. Today, you have to wonder. First, the IDC research group <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2016/12/5/idc-apple-watch-sales-drop-71-year-over-year" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that Apple Watch sales dipped 71% year-over-year from 3.9 million units in the this quarter of 2015 to 1.1 million units in the third quarter of 2016.</p>

<p>Here we go again: as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-iphone-idUSKBN13V1XL?il=0" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>, the Supreme Court has sided with Samsung in its never-ending patent fight with Apple, throwing out an appeals court ruling that said the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs.</p>