AppleMagazine #172

Democratic senators on Friday called on federal regulators to investigate Verizon Wireless, the country's biggest mobile provider, for secretly inserting unique tracking codes into the Web traffic of its some 100 million customers. Data privacy experts have accused Verizon of violating consumers' privacy by using "supercookies," an identifying string of letters and numbers attached to each site visited on a person's mobile device. "This whole supercookie business raises the specter of corporations being able to peek into the habits of Americans without their knowledge or consent," said Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, in a statement. Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Debra Lewis said the company "takes our customers' privacy seriously" and that it planned to respond to Nelson's letter to the Federal Communications Commission…

Utah state officials have seen what they describe as a sharp uptick in attempts to hack into state computers in the last two years, and they think it related to the NSA data center south of Salt Lake City. The increase began in early 2013 as international attention focused on the NSA's $1.7 billion warehouse to store massive amounts of information gathered secretly from phone calls and emails. "In the cyber world, that's a big deal," Utah Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires told a state legislative committee this week. While most of the attempts are likely innocuous, cyber experts say it is possible low-level hackers, "hactivists" unhappy with the NSA's tactics, and some foreign criminal groups might erroneously think the state systems are linked to the NSA. "Maybe these hackers…

SNUBS INCLUDE JENNIFER ANISTON AND DAVID OYELOWO The Academy Awards always have given us a lot to talk about, and the situation was no different on the January 15 release of the nominees for the 87th ceremony. On February 22, at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will toast the successes of the latest award winners across some 24 categories. However, there has also been controversy about this year's list of nominees being the 'whitest' this century. As always, in the run-up to this year's nominations being announced, there was much media speculation about who would - and wouldn't - make the cut. The critics raving over certain films and actors is no guarantee that the almost 6,000 voting members of the Academy -…

WHAT WAS BEING SAID PRIOR TO THE NOMINATIONS Riley added, in an article setting out her "final predictions" for this year's Oscar nominations: "It's also hard to ignore personal biases. There are certain films I might not like, but have to acknowledge that the majority of the industry does." She noted as "a pleasant surprise" that both Nightcrawler and Whiplash were doing well in precursor races, also expressing her "respect" for Selma and hoping that it would make the final list of nominations, despite widespread suggestions that it wouldn't, on account of its failure to register with guilds. Riley suggested Mr. Turner and Unbroken as other potential shock contenders. Riley's tips for the final list of nominations included, in the category of Best Director, Wes Anderson for Grand Budapest Hotel,…

Automakers are cramming cars with wireless technology, but they have failed to adequately protect those features against the real possibility that hackers could take control of vehicles or steal personal data, a member of the U.S. Senate is asserting. Basing his argument on information provided by manufacturer, Sen. Edward Markey has concluded that "many in the automotive industry really don't understand what the implications are of moving to this new computer-based era" of the automobile. The Massachusetts Democrat has asked automakers a series of questions about the technologies - and any safeguards against hackers - that may or may not have been built into the latest models of their vehicles. He also asked what protections have been provided to ensure that information computers gather and often transmit wirelessly isn't used…

Dish Network's online television package, Sling TV, has made a formal debut Monday with additions to its previously announced lineup. The $20-a-month package now comes with AMC, joining a lineup of 11 other channels that include ESPN, CNN and the Disney Channel. That means subscribers will be able to watch "Mad Men," "The Walking Dead" and the "Breaking Bad" spinoff "Better Call Saul." Sling TV also announced a $5-a-month add-on package for sports fans. It adds the SEC Network, Universal Sports and secondary ESPN channels such as ESPN Bases Loaded and ESPN Goal Line. The main package comes with ESPN and ESPN2 along with access to an on-demand WatchESPN app. Before Monday's launch, Sling TV was available on an invitation basis.…