Indholdsfortegnelse for #231 i AppleMagazine

A drone has successfully delivered a package to a residential location in a small Nevada town in what its maker and the governor of the state said Friday was the first fully autonomous urban drone delivery in the U.S. Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeney said the six-rotor drone flew about a half-mile along a preprogrammed delivery route on March 10 and lowered the package outside a vacant residence in an uninhabited area of Hawthorne, southeast of Reno. The route was established using GPS. A pilot and visual observers were on standby during the flight but weren’t needed, Sweeney said. He said the package included bottled water, food and a first-aid kit. “Conducting the first drone delivery in an urban setting is a major achievement, taking us closer to the day that…

She might not get top billing in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” or even very much screen time, but Wonder Woman still manages to steal the show from her caped counterparts in the superhero spectacle. It’s not a moment too soon either. Despite the popular 1970s television series starring Lynda Carter, this is the first time the lasso-wielding crusader has been in major live-action film. And it’s all a setup for her own stand-alone feature coming in 2017 from director Patty Jenkins. Tasked with playing the Amazonian warrior is 30-year-old Gal Gadot - a model who stumbled into acting when an agent spotted her photo and asked her to audition for a Bond girl role. She didn’t get it, but it did eventually lead to a role in the…

IMPRESSIVE SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE iPHONE SE AND 9.7-INCH iPAD PRO We are used to hearing big, big announcements about big, big products at Apple’s keynotes - but did the latest, March 21 event at Infinity Loop comply with this trend? For some, the unveiling of a new four-inch iPhone and 9.7-inch version of the iPad Pro - not to mention some new bands for the Apple Watch - wasn’t quite ‘big’ enough. However, when you look closer at the specifications of these new products, it’s clear that they are still worth getting excited about for many Apple fans. THE iPHONE SE - NOT JUST A SMALLER 6S It may not have been the most giddily exciting product launch that we have seen from the Cupertino giant in recent years. However,…

The FBI said Monday it successfully used a mysterious technique without Apple Inc.’s help to hack into the iPhone used by a gunman in a mass shooting in California, effectively ending a pitched court battle between the Obama administration and one of the world’s leading technology companies. The government asked a federal judge to vacate a disputed order forcing Apple to help the FBI break into the iPhone, saying it was no longer necessary. The court filing in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California provided no details about how the FBI did it or who showed it how. Apple did not immediately comment on the development. The brief court notice left important questions unanswered: Who showed the FBI how to break into iPhones? How did the government…

Final box-office figures took a little wind out of the sails of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Warner Bros. on Monday revised down the film’s weekend gross by $4 million, lowering it from the Sunday estimate of $170.1 million to $166.1 million. Such corrections are common, though the difference for “Batman v Superman” was slightly more than normal and had an effect on the film’s place in the record books. The movie’s Easter weekend debut now drops a notch on the biggest North America openings ever list to seventh, sliding in behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.”That film’s $169.2 million opening also retakes its place as Warner Bros.’ top debut. It’s nevertheless a massive launch for “Batman v Superman,” which set a record for biggest pre-summer…

The first consumer-ready Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset was delivered to a real person over the weekend, and reviewers got their first taste. The initial feedback: It’s a beautiful, wonderful device that immerses you, yet it still has a ways to go. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey hand-delivered the first Rift to software developer Ross Martin in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, kicking off a new era in virtual reality by putting the most powerful VR device yet into a consumer’s hands. Martin, who had never tried VR before, spent a few hours on the Rift Monday morning. He watched a short movie, played a game and explored a virtual environment that included an up-close encounter with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. “I couldn’t stop saying, ‘Wow,’” Martin, a 33-year-old Web developer, said in an…

Pandora, which is facing increasing competition from Apple Music, Spotify and other music streaming services, said CEO Brian McAndrews has left the company and has been replaced with co-founder Tim Westergren. Shares of Pandora fell sharply after the news was announced Monday morning. The company did not say why McAndrews left. He has been Pandora CEO for less than three years. A Pandora spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Westergren co-founded the Internet radio company 16 years ago and led Pandora as CEO from 2002 to 2004. In February, Pandora reported disappointing earnings results for its fourth quarter as more companies compete for online music listeners. The Oakland, California-based company said listener hours in the quarter rose 3 percent to 5.37 billion hours compared to the…

Wondering how many calories are in that restaurant hamburger? You may not be able to find out until 2017. The Food and Drug Administration said this month that it will delay enforcement of menu labeling rules - again - until next year. Passed as part of the health care overhaul in 2010, the rules will eventually require restaurants and other establishments that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more locations to post the calorie content of food “clearly and conspicuously” on their menus, menu boards and displays. The years of delays have come as supermarkets, convenience stores and other retailers that never wanted to be part of the law have fiercely lobbied against them. The move will leave the final step to a new president, despite the Obama administration’s…

Enjoy, an online concierge service for gadgets, is expanding beyond San Francisco and New York City nearly a year after it was launched. The startup, founded by former J.C. Penney CEO and Apple executive Ron Johnson, will be adding certain neighborhoods of Los Angeles this week and then Chicago in May. The service allows customers to order high-end gadgets ranging from cameras and fitness trackers to drones on the Enjoy website and have them delivered for free by an expert who will show clients how to use the device. Visits last about an hour. “We’re trying to reinvent the way people buy technology products. We’ve learned a lot, and we’ve seen positive momentum,” said Johnson, who oversaw the expansion of Apple stores for 12 years before he took the top…

That buzzing sound overhead may soon signal the arrival of the 21st-century version of a guy in a hardhat and bucket truck. State transportation departments are increasingly studying the use of drones for everything from inspecting bridges to clearing car accidents. Michigan transportation officials are set to begin a two-year study. Minnesota has tested a drone to help conduct safety inspections of bridges. Vermont is using federal grant dollars to study the use of drones to monitor river flooding and figure out how much material is needed to fix roads. And in Massachusetts, a group has also been looking at the pros and cons of drone use, from potential threats to their possible use surveying construction projects. The states are among 33 that have studied or used drones, helped develop…

Jesse Eisenberg didn’t meet Ben Affleck on “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” until they were filming the party scene where Affleck’s Bruce Wayne and Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent interact for the first time - a crucial moment before their superhero alter egos face off. Even then, he didn’t spend much time with either Affleck or Cavill, who he also barely knew. For one, he was too busy talking to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow from Michigan, who makes a cameo in the scene. “I was so in my own world,” he said. Also, in portraying the eccentric, megalomaniac Lex Luthor who tears the two superheroes apart, he actually preferred meeting them in the spirit of the characters. “It is funny working with guys like that. (They’re) so massive and unusually…

Unless you take a lot of selfies or need a bigger phone, Apple’s new 4-inch iPhone SE is a good choice at a good price. You get the same 12-megapixel rear camera that’s in the much larger iPhone 6S, but for $250 less, at about $400. You also get the same speeds and graphics capabilities. Of course, you don’t get everything. The SE isn’t going to be right for everyone, especially power users. Now that Apple has started taking orders, with shipments due in a week, keep these differences in mind: - Most noticeable is the front camera. The SE has an older 1.2-megapixel camera - not the 5 megapixel one in the 6S. But with software improvements, selfies taken with the SE came out better compared with the iPhone…

Point Break (2015) The remake of the 1991 movie sees a young FBI agent infiltrate a group of extreme sports athletes he suspects of carrying out a series of heists across the world. FIVE FACTS: 1. The movie took close to a year to shoot, and was shot in over 10 countries and 4 continents. 2. The filming of the Angel Falls sequence involved a structure that cost upwards of $500k to build. The shoot was likened to a “full-scale military operation”. 3. While shooting footage at the Jaws surf break in Maui, the crew was fortunate enough to catch one of the largest wave breaks of the last decade, being ridden by the world’s top big wave surfers. 4. Teresa Palmer, who plays Samsara Dietz, has a son whom…

“Miles Ahead,” an ambitious, experimental biopic about jazz legend Miles Davis, actually states its mission twice over the course of the movie. Basically: “If you’re going to tell a story, come with some attitude. Don’t make it all corny.” The person saying it is Miles Davis, played by Don Cheadle, who also co-wrote and directed. In the context of the film, he’s speaking to a fictional music writer named Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor), who has conned, charmed and strong-armed his way into Miles’ orbit for a few days in hopes of writing a comeback story that would end the eccentric musician’s half decade of dormancy. While a little on the nose to be repeated, it’s a good line, and an even better goal in the murky and generally unrewarding territory…

“Sonic the Hedgehog,”‘’Space Invaders” and “John Madden Football” are among 15 games named Tuesday as finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame. The winners will be inducted May 5 at The Strong museum in Rochester, where the hall opened last year. The contenders also include: “Elite,”‘’Final Fantasy,”‘’Grand Theft Auto III,”‘’The Legend of Zelda,”‘’Minecraft,”‘’Nurburgring,”‘’The Oregon Trail,”‘’Pokemon Red and Green,”‘’Sid Meier’s Civilization,”‘’The Sims,”‘’Street Fighter II” and “Tomb Raider.” The finalists “span decades, gaming platforms and countries of origin, but what they all have in common is their undeniable impact on the world of gaming and popular culture,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The list was culled from thousands of nominations from more than 100 countries, hall officials said. An international…

The six astronauts at the International Space Station got an early Easter treat this weekend with the arrival of a supply ship full of fresh food and experiments. Instead of the usual bunny, Saturday’s (26) delivery came via a swan - Orbital ATK’s Cygnus capsule, named after the swan constellation. The cargo carrier rocketed away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday night. NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra used the station’s big robot arm to grab the capsule, as the two craft soared 250 miles above the Indian Ocean. “Excellent work, gentlemen,” Mission Control radioed. Four hours later, the capsule was bolted firmly to the complex. It’s the first of three shipments coming up in quick succession. A Russian cargo ship will lift off Thursday, followed by a SpaceX supply run on April…

A large chain of Washington-area hospitals says it’s made “significant progress” toward restoring its computer systems after a cyberattack and it has “no evidence” that patient information was stolen or compromised. The FBI is investigating the malware attack on Medstar Health Inc. that forced the hospital chain to use paper systems and prevented patients from booking appointments. MedStar said in a statement that it hoped to restore the majority of its computer systems Tuesday. The company said its network of 10 hospitals and thousands of affiliated physicians remains open, “with a few unique exceptions.” The company hasn’t said whether Monday’s malware attack on its computer system included a ransom demand. Last month, a California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the Bitcoin currency to regain control of its computer system.…

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” kicks off a string of DC Comics adaptations from Warner Bros. slated to swarm theaters in the next five years and give Marvel a run for its money. Here’s a rundown of the planned releases: - SUICIDE SQUAD (Aug. 5): Antiheroes rule the all-villain lineup in David Ayer’s film. Its stars include Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as the Joker and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. - WONDER WOMAN (June 23, 2017): Gal Gadot stars in the first movie to give Wonder Woman the spotlight. Patty Jenkins (“Monster”) directs the rare female-helmed superhero movie. - JUSTICE LEAGUE PART ONE (Nov. 17, 2017): Zack Snyder returns to direct the DC Comics answer to “The Avengers” in a team-up film that will bring together Batman,…

Even in an era of high-tech crime-fighting, the best line of defense against a Brussels-style attack on airports and subways has four legs and a tail. Dogs, with their exquisitely sensitive noses, have been trained in recent years to pick up the scent of explosives on people moving through crowded concourses, and so far they have proved a better early warning system than anything engineers have come up with. “They outperform both men and machines,” said James Waters, chief of the New York City Police Department’s counterterrorism unit, which just this week graduated its latest squad of dogs capable of following the vapor from explosives such as the terrorist bomb-making material of the moment, TATP. But experts say there are not enough of these “vapor wake” dogs to go around.…

OMG! Did you hear about the artificial intelligence program that Microsoft designed to chat like a teenage girl? It was totally yanked offline in less than a day, after it began spouting racist, sexist and otherwise offensive remarks. Microsoft said it was all the fault of some really mean people, who launched a “coordinated effort” to make the chatbot known as Tay “respond in inappropriate ways.”To which one artificial intelligence expert responded: Duh! Well, he didn’t really say that. But computer scientist Kris Hammond did say, “I can’t believe they didn’t see this coming.” Microsoft said its researchers created Tay as an experiment to learn more about computers and human conversation. On its website, the company said the program was targeted to an audience of 18 to 24-year-olds and was…

Beautiful Lies Birdy The third studio album from British singer-songwriter Birdy is more mature and darker than her previous efforts, but will still appeal to fans both old and new. FIVE FACTS: 1. Birdy’s real name is Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde. Her stage name comes from the nickname her parents gave her as a baby, due to the way she opened her mouth like a bird when fed. 2. She has contributed songs to various blockbuster movies, including The Hunger Games, Brave, and The Fault in Our Stars. 3. Began playing the piano at the age of seven, and began writing her own music at the age of eight. 4. Her first hit was a cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’. Released when she was just 14,…

“American Idol,” which gave the world Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, has one more chance to mint a star before it fades into TV and music history. Whether viewers choose a future chart-topper or trivia question remains to be seen. But executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who helped translate Britain’s “Pop Idol” into the Fox version that debuted in 2002, said the farewell episode will be memorable. “It’s going to be a rather spectacular show,” Lythgoe promised, with all the former winners on hand along with past contestants and “other surprises” in the two-hour finale. “It’s about the American idols, about reminding people of 15 seasons,” he said, as well as giving the final winner his or her share of the spotlight. The contenders for the title are finalists…

Launch control software under development for NASA’s deep-space exploration program is more than a year behind schedule and tens of millions of dollars above projected costs, according to an internal audit released this week. NASA’s own inspector general conducted the audit at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, where the agency hopes to launch its next-generation rocket on a test flight in 2018. The goal is to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, using this supersize Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket and an Orion capsule. The 2018 SLS premiere will include an unmanned Orion; the first Orion with a crew should launch five years later. NASA has agreed to an independent review once software is delivered for the 2018 test flight. In the meantime, officials said they have instituted improvements.…

SoundCloud is entering paid music streaming, hoping to turn its huge community of cover singers, dubstep remixers and wannabe stars into a bigger source of revenue. Since its launch in 2007, the Berlin-based online music service has allowed pretty much any audio to be uploaded to its cloud - from Kanye West outtakes to teenagers singing over canned music. It has slowly introduced tools to earn revenue, introducing paid services for artists in 2008 and ad revenue sharing for invited musicians in 2014. But after signing deals with major labels, including holdout Sony Music this month, SoundCloud is adding a subscription plan for consumers, giving them ad-free listening and a whole range of music from mainstream artists that had shunned the service because it only gave tracks away for free,…