Dennis Sellers

<p>Apple has sent a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) acknowledging that it is working on self-driving cars. The letter requests that NHTSA facilitate testing of self-driving development vehicles on public roads, as well as provide standards for data sharing and privacy. </p>

<p>Matsuoka was hired to lead teams involved with the company’s HealthKit tracking software, the CareKit tool for managing patient medical care, the ResearchKit framework for conducting medical studies via Apple devices, and related machine learning algorithms. Matsuoka reported to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.</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>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.163.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetEase Cloud Music</a>, which makes the most popular online music app in China, has launched Mac 1.5, a new edition of its app, which can be downloaded and used by a wide range of Chinese Mac users. </p>

<p>OWC has introduced the new OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini, an “ultra-portable” dual-drive RAID solution. It boasts speeds up to 738MB/s, capacities up to 4TB, and user-configurable options for RAID 0, RAID 1, spanning, and independent drive modes.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/lm9amn9" rel="noopener noreferrer">Network Inventory Advisor</a> is a network inventory solution that was around for Windows systems for some time before coming to the Mac. But it is now available for macOS —  and it's free for up to 10 Macs that you wish to scan. </p>

<p>Just Mobile says its $49.95 <a target="_blank" href="http://usa.just-mobile.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=AluCharge" rel="noopener noreferrer">AluCharge</a> is the world's slimmest USB charger. I’ll take their word for it because at just 0.72 inches thick, it’s is barely taller than an USB port. Still, it can charge up to four devices simultaneously (however, you’ll have to provide your own Lightning cables).</p>

<p>Apple’s Luca Maestri is the second highest paid chief financial officer n Silicon Valley, according to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/12/01/top-10-highest-paid-cfos-in-silicon-valley.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Silicon Valley Business Journal</a>. His total annual compensation is US$25.34 million with a base salary of $1 million. Annual compensation includes options, bonuses and other pay.</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>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.sugarcodedapps.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sugar Coded Apps</a> has launched an iMessage Sticker Pack Christmas Promotion. The company now has 30 iMessage Sticker Packs and beginning on Dec. 1, they’ll be offering one selection for free in the App Store every day until Dec. 24.</p>

<p>This could be good news for the iPad: worldwide tablet shipments are expected to decline by 12% in 2016, rounding out the year at 182.3 million shipments, according to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (<a href="http://www.idc.com/">IDC</a>) <a href="http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=81">Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker</a>. The research group expects the market to rebound in 2018 though growth will remain in the low single digits as detachable tablets slowly gain traction.</p>

<p>Two patent filings at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office show that Apple is at least considering future Apple Watches with round displays. Patents number 20160351107 and 20160351098 are both for an “electronic device having a display with curved edges.” The goal: “provide improved displays such as circular displays or other displays with curved edges.”</p>

<p>Apple plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve its Maps app, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-01/apple-said-to-fly-drones-to-improve-maps-data-and-catch-google" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a>, quoting unnamed “people familiar with the matter.”</p>