Steve Sande

<p>OWC has been making and selling expansion products for Mac for a long time, so it's not surprising that the company today announced a new expansion chassis for the 2016 MacBook Pro that adds a number of missing features to the laptop. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.owcdigital.com/DEC/" rel="noopener noreferrer">OWC DEC</a> (price and total feature set to be determined) attaches to the bottom of the 2016 MacBook Pro, making the full package just as thick as a 2012 MacBook Pro. What the 2016 MacBook Pro loses in terms of thinness, it gains in functionality.</p>

<p>Here's your laugh of the day. On Product Hunt, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.producthunt.com/posts/airpod-floss-stickers?utm_campaign=148_2017-01-02&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Product+Hunt&utm_term=featured" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jack Dweck posted a product he'd love to see</a> -- fake dental floss stickers for the AirPod charging case to keep would-be thieves from walking away with your expensive headphones. </p>

<p>When macOS Sierra 10.12 was first released, one of the biggest problems reported was for users of Fujitsu's ScanSnap scanners, who had a number of issues with PDFs generated by the scanner application. Those problems were resolved by Apple with macOS 10.12.1, but now Adam Engst at TidBITS is reporting that the <a target="_blank" href="http://tidbits.com/article/16966" rel="noopener noreferrer">issues with PDFs are not limited to just ScanSnap, but just about any application that works with Apple's PDFKit framework</a>.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px"><em>Note: Apple World Today is still in "holiday mode" today, but we'll have occasional updates throughout the day.</em></p><p>As we get into 2017 and will soon celebrate two full years of AWT, we'd like to ask a favor of those of you who read the site each and every day, but don't support Apple World Today through our Team AWT program. The favor? Consider joining Team AWT to provide continuing support of our mission and get some great stuff in return!</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px"><em>Note: Apple World Today is still in "holiday mode" today, but we'll have occasional updates throughout the day.</em></p><p>iOS 10.3 is apparently on the way, at least in a beta version that could be made available to developers as soon as January 10, 2017. At this point, the latest official version of Apple's mobile operating system is 10.2, with 10.2.1 currently in developer and public beta.</p>

<p>Keyboards can be downright gross. I'm looking at mine right now, and even though it's just a little over a year old, some of the key caps (C and D especially) are starting to fade and the entire thing just looks grungy. That's why I was thrilled to see this deal on a pair of <a target="_blank" href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/flapjacks-ii-mac-keyboard-covers?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=flapjacks-ii-mac-keyboard-covers_010217&utm_term=scsf-89912" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flapjacks II Mac Keyboard Covers for only $29.99</a> (that's 24% off the regular $40 price tag!). </p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">This is the seventh post in our annual 12-part series covering the accessibility features we would like to see Apple bring to its products in the coming year.</p><p>This series is being put together by Accessibility Editor Alex Jurgensen, with the help of several contributors.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px"><em>Editor's note: This article was originally scheduled to appear on December 31, but had to be postponed due to technical difficulties. Check later today for the next article in the series.</em></p><p>This is the sixth post in our annual 12-part series covering the accessibility features we would like to see Apple bring to its products in the coming year.</p><p>This series is being put together by Accessibility Editor Alex Jurgensen, with the help of several contributors.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px"><em>Editor's note: This article was originally scheduled to appear on December 30, but had to be postponed due to technical difficulties. Check later today for the next articles in the series.</em></p><p>This is the fifth post in our annual 12-part series covering the accessibility features we would like to see Apple bring to its products in the coming year.</p><p>This series is being put together by Accessibility Editor Alex Jurgensen, with the help of several contributors.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">The first day of 2017 is already half-over, but it's still appropriate to wish all of our readers a very Happy New Year! </p><p>We don't know what 2017 will bring in terms of Apple products or fantastic accessories, but we'd like you to continue taking the journey with us in the new year. We have some changes up our sleeves to make the site better than ever, and several new ideas to make it even more worthwhile for readers to join or remain members of <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/team-awt" rel="noopener noreferrer">Team AWT</a>.</p><p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">We'll be on a "holiday schedule" again tomorrow, then back to full speed on Tuesday, January 3. </p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">This will be the final AWT News Update for 2016; be sure to join us again next Tuesday, January 2, 2017 for the first update of the new year! Today we have a few stories that we're sure you'll find fascinating:</p><ul><li>iPhone 7 production may be cut by 10% soon to avoid a buildup of inventory</li><li>Think those 4K videos of Apple Campus 2 are impressive? Check out the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.skyimd.com/apple-campus-2-high-resolution-aerial-mosaic-zoom/" rel="noopener noreferrer">1.7 gigapixel mosaic created by SkyIMD</a> if you really want to see a high-resolution photo</li><li>The robots are taking over at manufacturing plants run by Apple's primary partner, Foxconn</li></ul>

<p>One tool every Mac user should have in his or her kit of utilities is a good disk recovery program, one that can not only recover inadvertently deleted files, but even locate and restore lost partitions and the like. The Apple World Today team is proud to partner with Cleverfiles, the developers of Disk Drill Pro 3 for Mac, and with StackCommerce to bring you a <a target="_blank" href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/disk-drill-pro-3-for-mac-lifetime-license?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=disk-drill-pro-3-for-mac-lifetime-license_123016&utm_term=scsf-89984" rel="noopener noreferrer">lifetime license for Disk Drill Pro 3 for just $34.99</a>.</p>

<p>This is the fourth post in our annual 12-part series covering the accessibility features we would like to see Apple bring to its products in the coming year.<br><br>This series is being put together by Accessibility Editor Alex Jurgensen, with the help of several contributors.<br><br>For the fourth request of Christmas, we ask Apple to give to us:<br><br></p><p><strong>4. Braille Display and Keyboard Support for the Apple TV</strong></p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Hi, everybody! Today's AWT News Update has been canceled due to a lack of time (I had a dentist appointment that went longer than expected), but we'll have a roundup of stories from the week early tomorrow afternoon.</p><p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">In the meanwhile, considering all of the bad news we've had over the past few days (and all of 2016 for that matter), perhaps "no news is good news". </p>

<p>I test a lot of Bluetooth speakers, and for the most part they communicate with you in the manner of R2D2 -- a bunch of bleeps, bloops, and flashing LEDs. When I powered on the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KST29KQ/appwortod01-20/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inateck BP2109 Portable Bluetooth Speaker</a> ($37.99, Amazon affiliate link) and heard the charming voice of this little portable speaker, I was hooked. Let's take a look!</p>