Dennis Sellers

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Apple is among several tech companies are fighting the European Union's so-called "Cookie Law," lobbying the organization for more refined laws that aim to strike a balance between user privacy and data collected by providers, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/07/06/apple-joins-wide-array-of-tech-companies-in-fight-to-kill-eus-cookie-law" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider.</a></p>

<p>The iPhone dropped to fifth place in Chinese smartphone shipments. The Apple smartphone made up 10.8% of devices sold in May, down from 12% a year earlier, according to Counterpoint— as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-06/apple-drops-to-fifth-in-china-s-mobile-market-as-locals-rise" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a>.</p>

<p>Bitdefender has <a href="https://labs.bitdefender.com/2016/07/new-mac-backdoor-nukes-os-x-systems/">posted a blog</a> about a new piece of Mac malware they are calling “Backdoor.MAC.Elanor.” This is only the only the second piece of true Mac malware spotted so far in 2016, the first being the KeRanger ransomware. </p>

<p>In a note to clients — as reported by <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/07/06/iphone-6s-resale-values-remain-strong-ahead-of-apples-expected-iphone-7-launch" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider</a> — Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says an analysis of the secondary iPhone 6s market has found that the flagship handset sells used for 78% of its new price, outperforming the iPhone 6 at the same period.</p>

<p>Nintendo has “major plans” to focus on smart device development, including possibly designing its own controller for mobile gaming on, among other things, iOS devices, Shinya Takahashi, general manager of entertainment planning and development, told <a target="_blank" href="http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/5/12096816/nintendo-smartphone-mobile-films" rel="noopener noreferrer">Polygon</a>.</p>

<p>You can use Siri, Apple’s “personal digital assistant,” to establish relationships using your iPhone or iPad. It’s easy. Here’s how:</p>

<p>My biggest problem with the $69.99 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jays.se" rel="noopener noreferrer">a-JAYS Four by JAYS of Sweden</a> was getting them out of their hard plastic case. That little sticker that says to remove it so you can press the tab beneath? Well, do as instructed, and you'll save some time. </p>

<p>MakeProg Technologies has introduced Colors + Shapes 1.0. It’s a $0.99 colors and shapes matching game for kids and adults where players must match shapes with colors as they continuously move. You can increase/decrease the speed of scrolling and bouncing; the difficulty of the game gradually increases with each level. You have more than 2000 levels to play and enjoy.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.firstib.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">First Internet Bank</a> has enhanced its mobile app to include smartwatch capabilities. Customers with an Apple Watch can securely access account information through their smartwatch, without logging in.</p>

<p>U.S. consumption of music continued to grow in the first half of 2016, even as sales of most formats declined, according to Border City Media’s state-of-the-industry data service, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.buzzanglemusic.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">BuzzAngle Music</a>. With the pace of audio streaming more than doubling activity tracked over the same period last year, total industry consumption was up by 6.5%.</p>

<p>Apple wants your iOS device — mainly your iPhone — to assist you when emergency calls (such as those to 911) are made. The company has applied for a patent (number 9,386,414) for “location support for emergency calls.”</p>

<p>Applebot, the RSS fetcher for the Apple News service, faces problems when it visits websites that uses encryption certificates from the <a href="https://www.slightfuture.com/security/letsencrypt-experiences">Let’s Encrypt</a> certificate authority, notes <a target="_blank" href="https://www.slightfuture.com/webdev/excessive-applenewsbot-requests" rel="noopener noreferrer">Slight Future</a>.</p>

<p>Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a software update that will add an easy sign-up button to the health information app that comes installed on every iPhone, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/05/the-associated-press-apple-urges-organ-donation-via-new-iphone-software.html)" rel="noopener noreferrer">CNBC</a>.</p>

<p>If you’re like me, you probably have several devices charging at any given time. This requires multiple USB ports and/or chargers, which results in a bit of desktop clutter. Satechi’s $29.99 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.satechi.net/index.php/satechi-60w-6-port-multi-port-usb-desktop-charging-station-524" rel="noopener noreferrer">Multi-Port USB Charging Station</a> helps alleviate this problem. </p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">One of the advantages Microsoft's Word has over Apple's Pages is a good grammar checker. Pages' Proofreader feature just isn't as comprehensive. If you want to add better grammar checking features to Pages, try <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/1ooyQP9" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grammarian Pro2 X </a>($49.95) from Linguisoft. It checks grammar and spelling errors interactively (as-you-type) or batch checking (all-at-once).</p>