Dennis Sellers

<p>Catchpoint Systems, a digital performance analytics company, has released its Ecommerce Web Performance Benchmark report for the first quarter of 2016, ranking desktop websites based on their performance (speed or load time).</p>

<p>Divya Nag, health tech lead at Apple placed second on the annual ranking of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fastcompany.com/most-creative-people/2016" rel="noopener noreferrer">100 Most Creative People in Business for 2016</a>, the annual ranking by Fast Company. Nag was named "for moving Apple into the doctor's office.”</p>

<p>A combination of device releases, price reductions, and company rationalizations marked the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16) in the worldwide wearables market. According to data from the International Data Corporation (<a href="http://www.idc.com/">IDC</a>) <a href="http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=962">Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker</a>, total shipment volumes reached 19.7 million units in 1Q16, an increase of 67.2% from the 11.8 million units shipped in 1Q15.</p>

<p>Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway took a new $1 billion position in Apple in the first quarter, according to <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/buffetts-berkshire-takes-1-billion-position-in-apple-1463400389">The Wall Street Journal.</a></p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Siri, Apple’s “personal digital assistant,” is pretty cool, but it does look a little … dated after the preview of Viv this week. Since the team behind Viv is the same team who originated Siri, perhaps history could repeat itself, and Apple could scoop up Viv.</p>

<p>Sometimes you gotta wonder why Apple seems so determined to eliminate ports on all its devices. The fourth-generation Apple TV debuted without an audio output port. Why?</p>

<p>Apple <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/05/14/apple-confirms-itunes-music-deletion-issue-no-idea-whats-causing/">issued a statement Friday</a> acknowledging an issue of Apple Music deleting music from some subscribers’ accounts. The company said it doesn’t know what’s causing the problem, but is investigating the situation.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://stahltechnologies.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stahl Labs AB </a>has introduced Awa, a new AI voice assistant for Mac OS X. It’s designed to help you perform tasks like searching the web, opening apps and creating todos as well as more complex tasks using only your voice. </p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kia.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kia Motors America (KMA)</a> says the 2017 Sportage and 2016 Optima, when equipped with a compatible navigation system or UVO3, will be offered with Apple CarPlay compatibility when the vehicles arrive at Kia retailers during the second quarter.  </p>

<p>Here’s a reason why Apple is almost certainly working on its own video streaming service: The video streaming market is estimated to grow from $30.29 billion in 2016 to $70.05 billion by 2021, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.researchandmarkets.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research and Markets</a>.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://newsok.com/article/5496054" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Oklahoman </a>reports that renovations to Oklahoma City's only Apple Store at Penn Square Mall will top $2.5 million, according to building permits filed Tuesday in Oklahoma City. </p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Didi Chuxing announced on May 13 that Apple has invested $1 billion in the Chinese car hailing company. Didi claims the investment will see Apple involved in both its technology and product strategies, but further details about this have been scarce.</p>

<p>Music streaming is officially going high resolution. The industry’s official logo mark for Hi-Res Music – previously applicable primarily to high-quality digital download services – will soon be available for adoption by music streaming services such as Apple Music as well, according to an announcement today from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its member companies.</p>

<p>Over the years, I’ve collected lots of nifty T-shirts from trade shows I’ve covered — mainly the late, lamented Macworld Expos held in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, and Paris. Over the next few weeks I’ll be “modeling” some of the items in my collection.</p>

<p>Apple has cut the approval time for new submissions to its App Store from more than a week to less than two days, part of a broader push to increase revenue from services including mobile applications, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-12/apple-shortens-app-review-times-in-push-to-boost-service-sales" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a> — citing data from <a href="http://appreviewtimes.com/">AppReviewTimes.com</a>, which analyzes user-submitted data.</p>