Tangible Tech

Happy Tax Day in the USA! We hope you got your taxes early this year and didn't wait until today to file, because the IRS electronic filing system had issues earlier today... Our stories today include that, and:

• If you filed your federal taxes earlier in the year, you can celebrate tonight by watching AWT TV, live at 6:30 PM PT / 9:30 PM ET on the AWT Facebook page. 
• Otterbox has release three new cases in honor of the upcoming Star Wars film "Solo: A Star Wars Story". Hint: The Millennium Falcon case is really nice...
• More evidence that the iPhone X has been a success - the model alone accounted for 35% of the profits for the entire cellular handset industry in the two months it was was available in 2017

Welcome to another week in the weather-wacky month of April. Today we talk about a new feature that may be on the way to watchOS, how quickly a law enforcement tool called GrayKey can crack iOS passcodes, and ponder Apple's next exercise challenge:

• watchOS 5 may come with support for third-party watch faces...or not
• Grayshift's GrayKey box can break your four-digit passcode in about 6 minutes, 30 seconds...so if you're a criminal it might help to give your iPhone a long, complex alphanumeric passcode
• There's an Earth Day exercise challenge coming up

On today's Friday the 13th edition of the Apple World Today News Update podcast, we use our crystal ball to look at a possible feature for macOS 10.14, report on the FBI being questioned by lawmakers about why they hassled Apple, and have photos of an unreleased gold iPhone X:

• In a little less than two months, macOS 10.14 will be unveiled. We speculate on whether the popular Workflow app for iOS will be released in a version for macOS
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to know why the FBI took Apple to court regarding the unlocking of an iPhone used by a killer in the 2015 San Bernardino shootings...when it didn't need to
• The FCC (of all places) releases photos of a gold iPhone X, something that was never released

Welcome back - the podcast skipped a day yesterday, as Steve was taking advantage of warm Spring weather and enjoying some downtime with his wife. We have three short news items for your listening pleasure on today's Apple World Today News Update podcast:

• iMovie for iOS got an update today, adding iPhone X screen support and adopting Apple's Metal graphics processing framework, among other improvements
• The HomePod isn't selling well; Bloomberg feels that it's the lack of Siri smarts and the price tag that are hurting the smart speaker, not the speaker's great sound
• Today's the day Apple started warning Mac users about the impending incompatibility of 32-bit apps

The AWT News Update podcast will be "off the air" tomorrow, but we'll be back on Thursday. Today's stories:

• Instagram adds new features to its iOS apps that add a depth of field focusing capability and an @mention sticker
• Vimeo hits the Mac App Store with a native client that adds functionality to Final Cut Pro for easier publishing of video to the service
• Facebook attempts to "save Face" with a new Data Abuse Bounty program that awards those with first-hand info about Facebook apps abusing Facebook policies or selling user data

Three stories headline our short, fast and fun podcast today:

• Microsoft Office for iOS gains the ability to open Office documents that are stored in Files
• PayPal is becoming a bank...without going through the usual hassles associated with becoming a bank
• Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has signed off of Facebook, citing the social network's policy of making money off of user's personal information as his reason

Just a note - we'll be taking a "sick day" tomorrow to go to a MLB game, so there will not be an Apple World Today News Update podcast tomorrow (April 6). Today we have a few stories about some of Apple's future directions:

• Apple's Pro Workflow Team could be one of the most important and useful groups for the near future, working on fine-tuning Mac hardware and software for the creative pro market
• We take a look at MicroLED technology, where it's most likely to be used first at Apple, what companies Apple is partnering with, and talk about a product about two years out that could benefit from this display tech

Apple Music keeps getting more popular, Scanbot turns 7, and macOS 10.13.4 breaks some apps and accessories:

• Apple Music now has 40 million paid subscribers, showing solid growth and a lot of potential
• iOS paper scanning and storage app Scanbot has been great in the past, with the release of Scanbot 7 today it gets even better
• Oops. macOS 10.13.4 may have added eGPU support, but it also broke screen extender apps like Duet Display and Air Display, as well as USB DisplayLink monitors and docks

Today's Apple World Today News Update podcast has substantially more content than yesterday's "short edition". Stories today include a look at some of Intel's new Core processors that could be used in a 2018 MacBook Pro update, scheduling of the Q2 2018 earnings call, and some concern from the Wall Street Journal about a "nagging badge" for Apple Pay:

• The Intel Core i9-8950HK could be a powerhouse for a 15-inch MacBook Pro BTO option, but it doesn't support LPDDR4 RAM...
• It's hard to believe, but we're already in Apple's third fiscal quarter of 2018. We'll find out how they did in Q2 on May 1st.
• The WSJ seems to be concerned about a red badge that hounds users unmercifully about Apple Pay if they don't choose to "Setup later in Wallet"

We have a rather short Apple World Today News Update podcast for you on this Slow News Monday™. 

• Bloomberg's "educated rumor" that Apple might be moving to its own Mac CPUs in 2020 caused Intel's share price to take a sharp drop today
• Want a smartphone that lasts longer than just about any other? Get an iPhone 8 Plus