Steve Sande

<p>One of the places you can now buy an Apple Watch is at selected Best Buy stores. The retailer originally had plans to sell the Watch at only 300 locations before the 2015 holiday season, but Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly says that <a target="_blank" href="http://fortune.com/2015/08/25/best-buy-apple/" rel="noopener noreferrer">things are going so well</a> that the company will now sell it at all 1,050 US retail locations by the end of September. That's contrary to many analyst reports that point to the Apple Watch selling slowly... although Apple doesn't release exact sales figures for the device.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; text-align:justify">Last week, Parallels introduced Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac, the latest version of its virtual computing platform. And today, like clockwork, VMware has released <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/features.html">VMware Fusion 8</a>, its newest iteration in the VMware Fusion line.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; text-align:justify">There are a lot of iPhone cases that offer the opportunity to carry your iPhone as well as your cash and credit cards; I think I’ve personally reviewed well over a hundred of them! But most of these wallets have one problem in common. If you suffer from Fat Wallet Syndrome like I do, they aren’t a solution that is going to allow you to get rid of carrying a “real” wallet. DODOcase has recently introduced the <a href="http://www.dodocase.com/products/lorna-iphone-wallet-case">Lorna iPhone Wallet Case</a> ($64.95 for iPhone 6, $74.95 for iPhone 6 Plus), so I decided it was time to see if I could finally put my wallet away.</p>

<p>A precipitous drop in the Chinese Shanghai Index resulted in markets around the world opening well below Friday's closing prices. Shares in Apple opened below $100 at $94.87 before bounding back into safer territory. About one hour after the opening of the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ this morning, AAPL was hovering around the $104 mark.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; text-align:justify">The weekend. Just the time to go out and see some baseball, and if you're really lucky, a doubleheader. Two games for the price of... well, usually two, but you get to spend more time in the ballpark eating hotdogs and Cracker Jack. Today I have a doubleheader review for you, featuring two new products from <a href="http://just-mobile.com">JustMobile</a>: The <a href="http://usa.just-mobile.com/timestand-352.html#.VdjHejSJThs">TimeStand</a> (US$39.95) and <a href="http://usa.just-mobile.com/jm-topgum-331.html#.VdjFITSJThs">TopGum</a> ($79.95). </p>

<p>Some of the most colorful protective cases for the iPhone come from Speck, and with the new <a href="http://www.speckproducts.com/apple/iphone-cases/iphone-6-cases/candyshell-inked-luxury-edition-iphone-6-cases/IP6-CS-INKED-LX.html">CandyShell Inked Luxury line</a> (US$49.95, available exclusively at Best Buy), the company has gone all out to beautify and protect your iPhone 6.</p>

<p>A new 30-second ad from Apple is touting Apple Pay, what it can be used for, and the fact that Apple Pay is now accepted at over 1 million locations. </p>

<p>Today I'll be taking a look at Pad & Quill's new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.padandquill.com/featured-products/the-leather-backpack.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leather Backpack</a> ($295.00), a gorgeous handmade leather and waxed canvas backpack from the Minneapolis-based accessory manufacturer. And I'll let you in on a little secret: this backpack is only the second product I've reviewed to warrant the "Apple World Today Top Pick" label. You'll find out why as I review this well-designed piece of handiwork.</p>

<p>Apple is reportedly <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/apple-said-to-plan-dubai-stores-after-winning-exemptions" rel="noopener noreferrer">revving up plans to build not one, but <em>two</em> Apple Stores in the United Arab Emirates</a> after it received a government exemption to an ownership law that required at least 51% local ownership of any facility built outside of so-called "free zones". </p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/square-cash-send-money-for/id711923939?mt=8" rel="noopener noreferrer">Square Cash</a> is already a simple and secure app that turns sending money to friends a matter of making a few taps. Now the app has gained an Apple Watch companion, so you can make and receive money transfers from your Watch. </p>

<p>Odd spellings of product names are the bane of the tech reviewer, but fortunately some of the weirdest product names are given to some of the most useful accessories. Tylt has been creating some great charging accessories for iPhone and iPad, and continues the trend with the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tylt.com/cables-and-connectors/flyp-duo-reversible-usb" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flyp-Duo Reversible USB Charge and Sync Cable</a> (US$24.99) and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tylt.com/car-products/y-charge-quik-car-charger" rel="noopener noreferrer">Y-Charge [Quik] Dual Car Charger</a> ($39.99). I'll struggle through the attempts of autocorrect to change these spellings into English for your benefit.</p>

<p>The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ihomeaudio.com/iSP5WC/" rel="noopener noreferrer">iHome iSP5 Smart Plug</a> (US$39.99) represents a first for Apple World Today; the first HomeKit-compatible hardware we've had the pleasure to review. Up to this time, all the smart plugs and intelligent light bulbs reviewed here or at The Unofficial Apple Weblog did <em>not</em> include HomeKit capabilities. In this review I'll talk about what that means for those who'd like to automate their homes, and why the iSP5 is a welcome move to the future.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; text-align:justify">Last month, AWT reviewed the <a href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2015/7/23/photofast-max-puts-fast-ios-data-transfer-and-backup-in-a-small-package?rq=photofast">PhotoFast MAX</a>, a small USB/Lightning adapter with flash RAM built into it. MAX works with a PhotoFast app to enable fast and easy transfers of data between Mac or PC and iOS devices. Now the company is nearing the end of an <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/memoriescable-backs-up-ios-devices-as-you-charge#/story">Indiegogo campaign to fund manufacturing of a similar product called the MemoriesCable</a>. I was able to get my hands on a pre-production version of the MemoriesCable for testing, and here are my thoughts on the new product.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://iCloud.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">iCloud.com</a> is the web-based portal for many of the apps built into OS X and iOS. A new feature provides a way for iCloud users to recover deleted files, contacts, calendars and reminders from iCloud on the web, making the service even more useful.</p>

<p>In a <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2015/7/7/apple-stores-to-carry-accessories-with-co-designed-packaging" rel="noopener noreferrer">short post back at the beginning of July,</a> we mentioned a rumor that Apple would soon require third-party accessory manufacturers to use standardized minimal packaging in order to create a more uniform look for items in Apple Stores. Well, now the company appears to be making the Apple-like packaging mandatory, at least for some third-party products. </p>