Dennis Sellers

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/qe4rbwn" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Lunatik: Flak case</a> for the iPhone gives your Apple smartphone its own flack jacket for protection. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the bad pun.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Xwavesofht’s Guest List Organizer for Mac OS X isn't for everyone. But if you regularly schedule events or have a major shindig coming up (say, a wedding) it's money well spent.</p>

<p>In time for the Apple earnings report coming next week, Argus Insights has released <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/nuycsxb" rel="noopener noreferrer">its analysis</a> of how Apple did with this September's iPhone launch as compared to the launch a year ago. While Apple’s Q3 demand is up year over year, this improvement has fallen greatly since the nearly 150% demand growth that corresponded with the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last year, according to the research group.</p>

<p>Apple had 9.3 percent of Taiwan’s smartphone market in September (as determined by sales volume), reports <em>The Central News Agency</em>, Taiwan’s official news agency.</p>

<p>I've always been a fan of Harmon speakers. They look great, sound good and are a perfect match with Apple's hardware line. Nothing exemplifies this more than Harman Kardon’s $229.95 <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/onf3pvg" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundSticks Wireless</a>, whose predecessors are enshrined at the Museum of Modern Art.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Disruptive technologies like touch sensitive screens and smart glass everywhere will be one of the larger competitive issues for Apple in the not-too-distant future. However, purchasing a smart glass manufacturer -- perhaps even Corning itself-- would give Apple a competitive advantage for an "iOS everywhere" type approach. </p>

<p>Future iPhones — and perhaps iPads — may feature retractable screen protectors to prevent damage to the smartphones. Apple has filed for a patent (number 201500301565) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for “active screen protection for an electronic device.” However, the screen protector would be in the form of movable tabs, not an extra layer on the display.</p>

<p>Apple has reduced the shipping times for most iPhone 6s models in China to as little as one day. That compares to one to two weeks for previous generations of iPhones, reports <em>My Drivers</em>, a Chinese website that covers IT industry news and product launches.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted another patent (number 9,167,138) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that hints that gesture controlled interfaces are at least being considered for future Macs. If the invention every reaches fruition, Apple won't be the first to bring such technology to the Mac. That would be <a target="_blank" href="http://leapmotion.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leap Motion</a>, which makes a controller that senses how you naturally move your hands and replicates the movements on your Mac’s display.</p>

<p>Apple did a fine job in <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/otx5jsx" rel="noopener noreferrer">upgrading its iWork apps</a> — Pages, Numbers and Keynote — for Mac OS X. I was beginning to fear the utilities were suffering from neglect, but, thankfully, I’ve been proven wrong. The Pages upgrade is especially sweet (of course, it is the iWork app I use the most).</p>

<p>At this week’s Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference, Apple CEO Cook <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/oabb99v" rel="noopener noreferrer">discussed a variety of topics</a>, including the next gen Apple TV. He says it will go on sale Monday, Oct. 26, and ship later in the week. It will cost US$149 for a 32GB model and $199 for a 64GB version.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Forget Computers offers a <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/pgghwm6" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robot Cloud Starter Kit</a> for US$99 per year that allows you to “secure and organize allyour Apple devices in the cloud” to “to deliver automated device inventory and online alerts.” This is an interesting idea; however, as I've said many times, I really don't like the idea of keeping all of my personal information — including technology details — in the cloud. </p>

<p>The gang at iFixIt has torn apart the new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.apple.com/imac/" rel="noopener noreferrer">21.5-inch Retina 4K iMac </a>from Apple. You can find the complete <a target="_blank" href="//tinyurl.com/p593w6p" rel="noopener noreferrer">teardown here</a>, but following are some of the highlights:</p>

<p>Eternal Storms Software's ScreenFloat for Mac OS X (10.7 and higher) is a screenshot utility with a twist. It lets you create screenshots that float above all other windows. This means you don't have to resize or move windows around just to keep a screenshot visible.</p>

<p>Photos in Mac OS X El Capitan has gotten some solid improvements. My favorite is — no, wait, I'll save that for tomorrow — but I do like that fact that you can now add and edit location information (something iPhotos, the app Photos replaces, was able to do for a long time).</p>