Dennis Sellers

<p>There are several iOS apps that turn iPhones and iPads into document scanners, so why doesn't someone build a stand for iDevices that would allow them to replace dedicated scanners?</p>

<p>Let's be honest: the speakers that come with Apple laptops are tinny. Of course, so are the speakers in most laptops from any company. If you want to upgrade your audio a bit with some portable speakers, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.paloaltoaudio.com/shop-page/musik/musik-copy/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Palo Alto Audio Design's $59.95 Musik</a> is one solution.</p>

<p>Apple CEO Tim Cook <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160630006346/en/NIKE-Phil-Knight-Complete-Planned-Chairman-Succession" rel="noopener noreferrer">has been named Nike’s lead independent director</a>. He’s been a Nike director since 2005, is chair of the Board’s Compensation Committee and serves as a member of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.sling.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sling TV</a> — available on the fourth generation Apple TV — has unveiled new single-stream and multi-stream services, “Sling Orange” and “Sling Blue.” Sling Orange now includes BBC America and is still priced at $20 per month. Sling Blue now features NBC, USA, Bravo, NBC Sports Network, Syfy, BBC America and costs $25 per month for new customers. </p>

<p>If Apple really is ditching the 3.5mm jack in the next generation iPhone (and I think it is) and relying solely on Lightning and wireless headphones, perhaps they should kick things up a notch and release their own (earbud) versions of the Vi.</p>

<p>The folks at the streaming music service, Spotify, say Apple is making it harder for the streaming music company to compete by blocking a new version of its iPhone app, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.recode.net/2016/6/30/12067578/spotify-apple-app-store-rejection" rel="noopener noreferrer">re/code</a>. A letter sent this week by Spotify attorney Horacio Gutierrez to Bruce Sewell, Apple’s general counsel, said Apple is “causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers” by rejecting an update to Spotify’s iOS app.</p>

<p>Apple will be receiving the Robert S. Bray Award from the <a href="http://www.acb.org/">American Council of the Blind (ACB)</a> the company's continued innovations in accessibility. The award is given to a company or person who has improved communication technology or devices or which has expanded access to such devices for all blind people.</p>

<p>Another day, another lawsuit. China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), a government agency supervising content production in the country, is suing the Apple for infringing the exclusive online broadcast right of a film it made, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2016/06/30/apple-sued-again-this-time-by-a-china-media-regulator/#55329d6c1540">reports Forbes</a>.</p>

<p>Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product, so here are today’s patent highlights: </p>

<p>Mail Drop is Apple’s solution to the problem of running into file size limits (usually between 10MB and 40MB) when trying to send attachments in various email clients. It basically detects when you’ve attached a large file in an email, and ask if you’d like to use the service instead of sending it through the email server. </p>

<p>Apple wants us to live in a world without optical drives, but for some people that's not feasible. If you fall into this category, check out <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mcetech.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">MCE Technologies</a>' Fovea line of portable, slot-loading optical drives designed for the Macs lacking optical drives.</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>The upcoming “iPhone 7” will, according to rumors, drop the traditional 3.5mm jack and support only Lightning-based headphones and wireless headsets. Now Cirrus Logic has released its MFi Headset Development Kit, a reference platform that is designed to help original equipment manufacturers quickly develop new Lightning-based digital headsets. </p>

<p>Samsung will see its shipments of AMOLED panels to increase from 239 million units this year to 2019 thanks, in part, to upcoming iPhones, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.digitimes.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">DigiTimes</a>. </p>

<p>Business and engineering/IT students in the world's 12 largest economies have chosen their favorite employers — and Apple’s near the top of the list. More than 267,000 millennials in Universum's Talent Survey have ranked the companies they find most desirable for employment.</p>