Steve Sande

<p>Of all of the crazy and sometimes impressively cool rumors I've heard lately, none has made me happier than one that was floating around this morning. The rumor says that Apple will put its own <a target="_blank" href="http://www.apple.com/ios/homekit/" rel="noopener noreferrer">HomeKit</a> app into iOS 10, which is expected to be announced next month at WWDC 2016.</p>

<p>Watching videos on YouTube, Vimeo and other video services is a blast, but what do you do when you want to have one of your favorite videos available on your Mac or favorite mobile device forever? <a href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/moviesherlock-pro-mac-youtube-downloader?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=moviesherlock-pro-mac-youtube-downloader_050916">MovieSherlock Pro Video Downloader</a> is an OS X app that makes it simple to download video from just about online video source, and we've got it for you at 62% off the usual $40 price tag. That's just $15 at the Apple World Today's Deal Shop.  </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>It's another slow news Friday, so why not liven things up with a fresh, heapin' helpin' of rumors, courtesy of DigiTimes. We still have five or six months to go until we'll see the rumored iPhone 7, but DigiTimes isn't going to wait for that -- they're jumping ahead to the 2017 iPhone 7s model, which they say will be outfitted with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20160505PD210.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">an "A11" chip to be manufactured by TSMC</a>.</p>

<p>Have we got a deal for you! Or more accurately, we have <em>two</em> deals for you today. Fuse Chicken makes the funky, flexible and fun Bobine charging docks for iPhone and Apple Watch, and today we're bringing you two of those docks -- the <a target="_blank" href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/bobine-blackout-flexible-iphone-charging-dock-auto?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=bobine-blackout-flexible-iphone-charging-dock-auto_050616" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bobine Blackout Auto iPhone Charging Dock</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/bobine-blackout-flexible-iphone-charging-dock?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=bobine-blackout-flexible-iphone-charging-dock_050616" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bobine Blackout Flexible iPhone Charging Dock</a> -- at 25 percent off the regular $40 price; that's just $29.99 with free shipping.</p>

<p>Cataracts affect a lot of people -- more than 22 million Americans now, and the number is expected to rise to 30 million by 2020. The condition causes cloudiness in the lens of an eye that can lead to blindness if untreated, and it affects almost 70 percent of people by age 75. Cataract surgery replaces the cloudy lens with a flexible artificial lens. <a target="_blank" href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49663.wss" rel="noopener noreferrer">Today IBM and Bausch + Lomb announced a plan to start pilot testing of an iOS cataract surgery app in late 2016.</a></p>

<p>Here's a product that's designed anyone with a need for an external battery pack and extra storage for their favorite device: The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990477474/kupower-the-most-advanced-powerbank-with-storage/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kuner KuPower</a> currently has 7 days to go on Kickstarter, where it has beat its goal and is on the way to manufacturing. I have been testing a prototype of the unit, so let's see how it works.</p>

<p>Everybody else is talking about some movie with wars in the stars, or something like that, but I think we should talk Star Trek for a minute. Remember the universal translator? When Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Bones and a handful of redshirts headed down to a planet, they could be assured that just about everyone they ran into spoke colloquial American English. Well, part of that was just that you <em>had</em> to do that to make the plot work, but there were a few situations where the plot made it necessary to use a computer to translate. Well, <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-translator/id1018949559?mt=8" rel="noopener noreferrer">Microsoft Translator</a> is getting pretty darned good at letting you do voice conversations with others who don't speak your native tongue.</p>

<p>It's getting to the point that it's hard to find a credit union or bank in the United States that doesn't support Apple Pay. Apple added 66 more institutions to the list today, from American Community Bank of Indiana to Wilson Bank & Trust. <a target="_blank" href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204916" rel="noopener noreferrer">The full list is here</a>, and be assured that if your financial institution isn't on it, Apple is probably working on getting your bank or credit union lined up soon.</p>

<p>While home automation companies have been selling connected door locks for some time now, that hasn't done a whole heck of a lot for <em>other</em> things that you might need to lock up; things like bicycles, tool sheds and boxes, or gates. Australia-based Dog & Bone has just introduced the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dogandbonecases.com/products/lock-smart/lock-smart-keyless-bluetooth-padlock/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LockSmart Keyless Bluetooth Padlock</a> (US$89.95), and it's just the thing for keeping the valuables in your life under lock and virtual key.</p>

<p>Most of my writing is done with one app -- Ulysses -- which comes in both <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ulysses/id623795237?mt=12" rel="noopener noreferrer">OS X</a> (US$44.99) and <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ulysses-for-ipad/id950335311?mt=8" rel="noopener noreferrer">iPad</a> ($19.99) flavors. You'll notice I said "iPad" and not iOS, which is because The Soulmen, developers of the app, haven't yet released a universal version of the great text editor. Today the company announced that they'll be opening a beta program for the universal version of Ulysses, and will be picking 500 users with "various background and experience" to help test the app. </p>

<p>Have children age 6 or older? Want them to learn coding so they can support you in your old age? You can give them a push in the right direction by having them attend a <a target="_blank" href="https://code.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">Code.org</a> "Hour of Code" programming workshop for kids on December 10 at your local Apple Store.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JM6EBHG/appwortod01-20/" rel="noopener noreferrer">QardioArm</a> (US$99, affilate link) is a portable and colorful wireless blood pressure monitor that works with a <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qardio-heart-health-weight/id855275752?mt=8" rel="noopener noreferrer">free iOS app</a> (and a new Apple Watch app!) to take and track your blood pressure. The company that created the device -- Qardio -- took anonymized data from thousands of users for the month of November and decided to find out just how stressful the Thanksgiving holiday was.</p>

<p>Like spring follows winter, an X-ray of the latest Apple system-on-chip from Chipworks always seems to follow the teardown of the latest devices by iFixit. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/27/inside-the-apple-inc-a9x-chip.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chipworks shared its latest X-ray with The Motley Fool</a>, and found that the A9X features a dual-core CPU and a 12 GPU clusters.</p>

<p>Now here's a reason for me to consider a new fourth-generation Apple TV. Amazon Instant Video is coming to tvOS in a few weeks, according to engineer Dan Bostonweeks, who tweeted yesterday about sending feedback to Amazon via the Amazon Instant Video iOS app and getting a response about Apple TV support:</p>