Dennis Sellers

<p class="">Apple has launched a <a href="https://authors.apple.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new webpage</a> dubbed “Apple Books for Authors” that “guides you through every step of your journey as an author, from structuring your story to packaging your digital book and selling it on our store.” (That store, of course, is the iBookStore).</p>

<p class=""><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-otherside/id1415190753" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The_Otherside</a> has been added to the line-up of games on Apple Arcade, Apple’s US$4.99/month or $49.99/year streaming game service.</p>

<p class="">Apple has <a href="https://www.apple.com/shop" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">launched a new web page</a> that lets you chat with Apple Specialists, set up financing and credit, order and track products for no-contact delivery, and trade-in an Apple product.</p>

<p class="">In a statement shared with German website <a href="https://www.macerkopf.de/2020/05/08/apple-stores-deutschland-wiedereroeffnung-mai2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Macerkopf</a>, as noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacRumors</a>, Apple will begin reopening its retail stores in Germany on May 11, almost two months after they were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tech giant has 15 physical stores in the country.</p>

<p class="">Microsoft will add trackpad and mouse support to its Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps for iPadOS by the fall, according to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/06/how-apple-reinvented-the-cursor-for-ipad/">TechCrunch</a>.</p>

<p class="">U.S. District Judge William Alsup admonished Apple and Cisco during a telephone hearing Thursday, asserting that the tech giants tried to land inflated attorney fee awards after beating Straight Path IP Group's infringement litigation and saying they used "abusive" tactics and were motivated by "greed, G-R-E-E-D,” reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1271428/alsup-scolds-apple-cisco-for-g-r-e-e-d-in-atty-fee-bid?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Law360</a> (a subscription is required to read the entire article)</p>

<p class=""><em>TidBITS</em>, the longest running email newsletter on the Internet just had its 30th anniversary, and publisher Adam Engst joins host Chuck Joiner on the <a href="http://www.macvoices.com/macvoices-20131-tidbits-30th-anniversary-with-adam-engst-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new episode of MacVoices</a> to celebrate by talking about how web development has become a discipline of its own, and how that affected <em>TidBITs </em>over the years.</p>

<p class="">Apple has filed for a patent (number ) for “user interface camera effects” that hints at even more filters and effects that can be added with the Camera app on an iPhone or iPad.</p>

<p class=""><em>Defending Jacob</em> is believed to be setting Apple TV+ records for viewer engagement, according to <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/05/defending-jacob-success-chris-evans-series-apple-tv-plus-ratings-1202928008/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deadline</a>. The vast majority of viewers who sampled the show during its premiere weekend watched all three available episodes, and nearly all who watched those also completed the fourth episode released May 1, the article adds.</p>

<p class="">Even though Apple owns the Beats brand, which makes a line of headphones, the rumor mill says the company plans to release an Apple-branded headphone any day now. That doesn't make sense to me from a branding viewpoint, but the tech giant has filed for a new patent (number 20200145747) for “detection of headphone rotation.”</p>

<p class="">Reliable leaker Jon Prosser <a href="https://twitter.com/jon_prosser?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1258366598710206464&ref_url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/05/07/apple-tv-with-a12x-ready-to-go-at-any-time-claims-leaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tweets t</a>hat a new Apple TV 4K set-top box is ready to go and could be released at any time.</p>

<p class="">In a note to clients -- as noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacRumors</a> -- analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple's development of mini-LED display based hardware hasn’t been significantly affected by COVID-19, but it may have delayed adoption of the technology in the short-term. He says some products may be pushed from a late 2020 release date to 2021 .</p>

<p class="">According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.strategyanalytics.com%2Faccess-services%2Fdevices%2Fwearables%2Freports&esheet=52216412&newsitemid=20200506006138&lan=en-US&anchor=global+smartwatch+shipments+grew+20+percent+annually&index=1&md5=baae89340ce380824a5bb73c8f613014" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">global smartwatch shipments grew 20% annually</a> to reach 14 million units in the first quarter of 2020. The Apple Watch maintained first position with 55% of global smartwatch marketshare, while Samsung held second place, and Garmin rose to third.</p>

<p class="">The Peabody Awards’ board of jurors has revealed its 60 nominees for the most compelling and empowering stories released in 2019 across TV, radio and digital media. Apple’s <em>Dickinson</em> series on Apple TV+ is among the nominees.</p>

<p class="">Apple says it’s awarding US$10 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to COPAN Diagnostics, which specializes in sample collection kits that play a critical role in COVID-19 testing. The Advanced Manufacturing Fund comes from Apple's U.S. investment pool.</p>