Charlotte Henry

Bill English, the man who helped create the computer mouse, passed away age 91, BBC News reported. It came out of an idea created by his colleague, Doug Engelbart.

Bill English became the first person to use a mouse when he built the prototype at Mr Engelbart’s research project at the Stanford Research Institute. The idea was Mr Engelbart’s, which he described as only being “brief notes” – but the creation was down to Bill English. His first version was a wooden block with a single button – and underneath, two rolling wheels at 90-degree angles that would record vertical and sideways movement. “We were working on text editing – the goal was a device that would be able to select characters and words,” Mr English told the Computer History Museum in 1999.

Apple was the only smartphone maker that grew over the last quarter. That’s according to researchers at Canalys, with Cult of Mac break down the data.

“Apple defied expectations in Q2,” said Canalys analyst Vincent Thielke. “Its new iPhone SE was critical in the quarter, accounting for around 28% of its global volume, while iPhone 11 remained a strong best-seller at nearly 40%. iPhone SE will remain crucial to prop up volume this year, amid delays to Apple’s next flagship release. In China, it had blockbuster results, growing 35% to reach 7.7 million units. It is unusual for Apple’s Q2 shipments to increase sequentially. As well as the new iPhone SE, Apple is also demonstrating skills in new user acquisition. It adapted quickly to the pandemic, doubling down on the digital customer experience as stay-at-home measures drive more customers to online channels.” What’s particularly impressive to me about Apple’s success during the quarter is how many potential pain points it needs to navigate.

Apple is set to utilize a new display-maker in the next generation of iPhone – BOE. Wired provides a good insight into the relatively unknown firm.

The company, which was founded in Bejing in 1993 and acquired SK Hynix’s STN-LCD and OLED businesses back in 2001, is ranked second in the world when it comes to flexible OLED shipments, holding a market share of 11 per cent during the first quarter of this year. It, naturally, is still a long way behind market leader Samsung, which owned 81 per cent market share of the OLED market in the same quarter. Still, with a sizable chunk of the OLED market already under its belt, it perhaps won’t come as too much of a surprise – now, at least – that the firm already has some big-name allies. BOE’s display technology is currently being utilised in Huawei’s most popular smartphone models, including the high-end P and Mate series, and it reportedly will manufacturer the palm-stretching screen set to appear on this year’s Huawei Mate 40.

Standalone 5K monitors are currently unavailable via Apple in various countries. 9to5 Mac noticed this and offered some explanations why.

We have verified Apple’s website from different countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Brazil, and in all of these, the LG UltraFine 5K Display is not available. Apple doesn’t clarify whether the unavailability is temporary due to a new model arriving or supply constraints. The same thing happened last year, with LG UltraFine 5K disappearing from Apple Stores in May. Two months later, LG announced a new generation of the monitor — which is the model that was being sold until now. Now with Pro Display XDR, Apple could simply remove the LG monitor from its stores. But since the LG UltraFine 5K Display is still listed in the Apple Online Store, that’s less likely. However, it’s hard to imagine that Apple will continue to work with LG to launch a new monitor.

Spotify Premium users can listen to the same playlist or podcast simultaneously with friends and family, wherever they are. The company announced the next beta of its Group Session tool on Tuesday.

In our latest innovation, we’re taking Group Session one step further with brand-new functionality that allows Spotify Premium users around the world to tune into the same playlist or podcast simultaneously. So no matter the distance—whether six feet apart or a thousand miles away—you and the members of your squad can now each listen to the same content at the same time on your own devices (as well as control playback). Groups of two to five people can use this feature at once by sharing a “join” link via messaging apps or social media with each other.

A rare copy of Fortune magazine signed by Steve Jobs is set to be auctioned. It will go on sale on July 30 with a minimum bid of $11,000, AppleInsider reported.