Indholdsfortegnelse for #395 i AppleMagazine

With Google, Xiaomi, and Huawei all releasing powerful smartphones with mid-spec features for less than $400, we ask whether it’s time for Apple to introduce its own low-cost iPhone. In today’s competitive times where Apple’s smartphone market share is shrinking, appealing to price-conscious consumers yet to jump to iOS could be just what the Cupertino firm needs… APPLE’S SMARTPHONE BATTLE iPhone and Affordable are not two words you’d often string together in the same sentence, but as the smartphone battle heats up and global smartphone shipments are down, Apple needs to do more to appease investors and ensure consumers stay locked-in to the iOS and Apple ecosystems. According to Canalys, smartphone shipments fell 18% year-over-year during the quarter, hitting a five-year low of 36.4 million units, with Apple shipping 14.6…

In 1992, Disney transported audiences to the mythical land of Agrabah, where they met a street rat with a heart of gold, a flying carpet, a headstrong princess and a magical genie with some oddly current pop culture references. With the music and lyrics of Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, “Aladdin” would go on to win the hearts of millions and become the highest-grossing picture of the year. It was an ambitious animation project that paid off and generated decades of fan goodwill, not to mention the two Oscars and a future Broadway musical. Now, following in the lucrative footsteps of “Beauty and the Beast” and others, the studio is taking another shot at “Aladdin,” this time in live-action. The film, from director Guy Ritchie, opens nationwide Friday.…

The giant Amazon warehouse in Chesterfield County is constantly bustling with activity. At about 1.2 million square feet — roughly the size of 28 football fields — the fulfillment center stores, packages and ships what Amazon officials would only describe as “tens of millions” of products. More than 10 miles of conveyor belts weave through the building. “We are shipping hundreds of thousands (of orders) a day,” said Dan Miller, general manager of the Chesterfield fulfillment center. While the speed of shipment varies by product, “we can turn around a package and get it on a truck in under two hours,” he said. The Chesterfield facility has 2,200 employees, a number that can swell by as much as 1,000 seasonal workers during the peak of the holiday shopping season. Amazon…

In Utah, drones are hovering near avalanches to watch roaring snow. In North Carolina, they’re searching for the nests of endangered birds. In Kansas, they could soon be identifying sick cows through heat signatures. Public transportation agencies are using drones in nearly every state, according to a new survey by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The report released Monday finds a sharp increase in their use over the last few years, showing that governments as well as hobbyists have rapidly adopted the technology. In 2016, the nonprofit group found no state transportation agency was using drones every day. Now, 36 states have certified drone pilots on staff. When the survey was done this month, all but one state was using drones in some way. Since then,…

Movies can be blessedly simple. As the first “John Wick” showed, all you really need is a car, a gun, a dead dog and Keanu Reeves. Who needs “kiss kiss” when you’ve got plenty of “bang bang”? Alas, nothing in today’s movie-land stays minor-key. Chad Stahelski’s “John Wick” has quickly spouted into a three-and-counting series, the latest of which is “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.”What was once a taut, minimalist action movie with an appeal predicated on low-expectations and leanness has grown into a franchise with a typically overcooked subtitle and de-rigueur world-building (the film’s press notes reference “the Wickian universe”). “Parabellum” finds Stahelski, Reeves’ former stunt double who has directed all three films, moving further beyond Wick’s hardboiled origins and into a more extravagant action thriller. In its…

A federal judge has ruled that Qualcomm unlawfully squeezed out cellphone chip rivals and charged excessive royalties to manufacturers such as Apple in a decision that undercuts a key part of its business. The decision vindicates the U.S. Federal Trade Commission two years after it filed its antitrust lawsuit against the San Diego chipmaker. It’s a potentially costly setback for Qualcomm, as the decision could slash its ability to extract big royalties from phone makers. Qualcomm said that it would appeal, suggesting the case could still take a few years to resolve. “We strongly disagree with the judge’s conclusions, her interpretation of the facts and her application of the law,” Qualcomm General Counsel Don Rosenberg said in a statement. The outcome seems likely to reduce the licensing fees paid to…

Estonia was crippled by cyberattacks on government networks during a dispute with Russia in 2007. Today the tiny tech-savvy nation is so certain of its cyber defenses that it is the only country in the world to allow internet voting for the entire electorate, in every election, and thousands have already done so in the European Parliament elections. Internet voting — or i-voting —has been available since 2005 in the nation that gave the world Skype, and the percentage of voters using the internet to cast ballots has increased with each election, reaching 44% of voters in national election in March. Linda Lainvoo was one of the first Estonians to vote in the European Parliament election, which she did from a cafe before heading to work. The 32-year-old civil servant…

For four decades, Beijing has cajoled or pressured foreign companies to hand over technology. And its trading partners say if that didn’t work, China stole what it wanted. Communist leaders deflected demands for change until foreign frustration erupted into a showdown with President Donald Trump. He sent shockwaves through their export industries by slapping punitive tariffs of up to 25% on Chinese goods. Europe, Japan and other trading partners object to Trump’s tactics but echo American complaints. They say Beijing’s tactics violate its market-opening commitments under the World Trade Organization. American prosecutors go further. They say the Communist Party is the ringleader of a global industrial spying operation. Chinese leaders have promised stronger patent protections and other legal changes. Foreign experts say that will make little difference if the party…

A self-driving truck company has partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to test autonomous technology on the long-haul route between Phoenix and Dallas. San Diego-based TuSimple is planning for two autonomous trucks to carry mail and parcels on five round trips between the Postal Service distribution centers in the two cities starting this week. TuSimple says a safety engineer and a driver will be on board to monitor the trucks during the two-week pilot program. The trucks use a camera system allowing the vehicles to view about 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) ahead. The company says the Postal Service has contracted TuSimple to examine if the technology could reduce fuel costs, increase safety and improve fleet operation.…

It’s pretty clear after watching the new live-action “Aladdin” that doubts about Will Smith’s casting as the Genie are overblown. It’s the guy behind the camera who should be doubted. And stuffed into a small lamp forever. Guy Ritchie — that lover of gritty gangsters and violent action — was always an odd choice to helm a big Disney romantic musical and proves utterly the wrong guy here. ”Aladdin ,” in his hands, is more like “The Mummy” than “Frozen.” This is an “Aladdin” with a torture scene and pointlessly artful fast-slow-motion action scenes. Going into it, Smith was the question mark. How can you possibly have a real actor play the shape-shifting, manic spirit that Robin Williams so wonderfully voiced in the animated film? Smith struggles at first before…

California sued to block the Trump administration from cancelling nearly $1 billion for the state’s high-speed rail project, escalating the state’s feud with the federal government. The Federal Railroad Administration announced last week it would not give California the money awarded by Congress nearly a decade ago, arguing that the state has not made enough progress on the project. The state must complete construction on a segment of track in the Central Valley agricultural heartland by 2022 to keep the money, and the administration has argued the state cannot meet that deadline and has failed to show adequate progress. That line of track would be the first built on what the state hopes will eventually become a 520-mile (837-kilometer) line. But Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom says the move is retribution…

Apollo 11 Todd Douglas Miller directs this documentary chronicling 1969’s history-making Apollo 11 mission, which saw man set foot on the Moon for the first time. The film comprises only archive footage, including film released to the public for the first time, and does not include narration or interviews that could otherwise distract from the immersive experience. FIVE FACTS: 1. 2019 marks the Apollo 11 landing’s 50th anniversary, which this film is intended to commemorate. 2. The film weaves together footage in various formats, including 35 and 16 mm film and CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage. 3. The documentary saw its theatrical release in the U.S. on March 1, 2019. 4. Museum IMAX theatres received an edited version of this film, cut down from 93 minutes to 45 minutes and titled…

Thirty-nine years later, Jack is still not a dull boy. In a new pristine restoration, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening. It was the second straight year that a Kubrick movie landed on the Croisette, following last year when Christopher Nolan brought what he termed an “unrestored” cut of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This time around, Alfonso Cuaron introduced the film, alongside Kubrick’s daughter, Katharina Kubrick, and Leon Vitali, Kubrick’s longtime assistant. Vitali was himself profiled in the 2017 documentary “Filmworker,” also a Cannes entry. “If anybody hasn’t seen it on the screen before, it’s a different experience completely,”Vitali told the crowd. “Don’t worry, you’ll all come out of here alive.” Cuaron’s presence in Cannes was notable. His film “Roma” was set to…

Researchers have created a way for a smartphone to “hear” a warning sign of ear infections — fluid buildup behind the eardrum. If it pans out, parents might one day check their tots’ ears at home simply using a phone app and “stuff you have around the house — paper, tape and scissors,” said one of the lead researchers, Dr. Sharat Raju of the University of Washington. Ear infections are one of the most common reasons for pediatrician visits. Even if there’s no infection, fluid that builds up in the middle ear still can be painful and sometimes can muffle hearing enough to affect speech development. Diagnosis is difficult. Usually a pediatrician will peek into the child’s ear to see if the eardrum is inflamed, and parents can buy devices…

Over 115 years the auto industry in the east German town of Zwickau has lived through wrenching upheavals including World War II and the collapse of communism. Now the city’s 90,000 people are plunging headlong into another era of change: top employer Volkswagen’s total shift into electric cars at the local plant. The world’s largest carmaker is creating its first all-electric plant and phasing out production of the internal combustion-engine cars built by generations of local workers. The electric transformation raises questions about the long-term prospects of the auto industry, which employs 840,000 people in Germany and millions worldwide, as a source of jobs for communities like Zwickau, which gave the world both the luxury brand Audi and the communist-era Trabant “people’s car.” Fewer workers will likely be needed, with…

Andreina Cordero started the year skipping meals so her three kids could eat. Her husband, a construction worker, was out of a job. And the family’s savings had been devastated by the nation’s hyperinflation, limiting Cordero’s children to a diet of rice, beans, pasta and fried corn patties. But the family got a break from their daily struggle to feed themselves this spring when a social worker enrolled them in a program run by a Silicon Valley startup that is donating cryptocurrency to hundreds of Venezuelan families. Every week from February to April, Cordero received a deposit of EOS tokens through a cellphone app. She then traded the digital money for local currency through online transfers and used the funds to shop in market stalls. “We finally got to eat…

Amazon is investing in British meal delivery company Deliveroo, giving the online shopping behemoth a larger stake in the fast-growing restaurant delivery business. Amazon failed to get its own restaurant delivery business going in the United Kingdom, shutting it down for good late last year. It faced tough competition from Deliveroo, as well as its other rivals in the country such as Just Eat and UberEats. Amazon’s service, called Amazon Restaurants, still operates in several U.S. cities. Deliveroo, whose Kangaroo logo is a common sight on scooters and bicycles around Britain, said that it raised $575 million from a number of investors led by Amazon. The Seattle company will be Deliveroo’s largest investor, but did not disclose how much of a stake Amazon acquired.Amazon.com Inc. declined to comment. With Amazon…

It would be tempting to think that Apple just doesn’t ‘get’ social media. Two previous attempts by the company to build a social networking component around its famed music services – with iTunes Ping and then Apple Music Connect – failed to take off and were ultimately shuttered . In 2016, Apple was rumored to be working on a video-based social network app, but this was apparently re-engineered into the video creation app Clips, which was intended to fuel creativity on existing social networks. It all might initially look like a case of ‘three strikes and you’re out’ when it comes to Apple’s hopes in the social media space. However, in an age where privacy scandals have increasingly wrecked social media, Apple might have inadvertently created the perfect remedy: a…

Ford revealed details of its long-awaited restructuring plan as it prepared for a future of electric and autonomous vehicles by parting ways with 7,000 white-collar workers worldwide, about 10% of its global salaried workforce. The major revamp, which had been under way since last year, will save about $600 million per year by eliminating bureaucracy and increasing the number of workers reporting to each manager. In the U.S. about 2,300 jobs will be cut through buyouts and layoffs, Ford said. About 1,500 have left voluntarily or with buyouts, while another 300 have already been laid off. About 500 workers will be let go starting this week, largely in and around the company’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, just outside Detroit. All will get severance packages. The layoffs are coming across a…

Dedicated Carly Rae Jepsen The Canadian pop princess Carly Rae Jepsen has bounced back from a breakup to write her fourth studio album, Dedicated. The “Call Me Maybe” hit-maker has infused this album with a strongly romantic air that nonetheless turns bittersweet with such songs as “No Drug Like Me” and “Right Words Wrong Time”. FIVE FACTS: 1. Carly Rae Jepsen was born and raised in Mission, a municipality of British Columbia. 2. She reached third position on the fifth season of the talent show Canadian Idol in 2008. 3. Jepsen’s breakthrough hit was the 2012 single “Call Me Maybe”, which was a chart-topper in 15 countries and became one of the bestselling digital singles of all time. 4. Jepsen’s previous studio album, 2015’s Emotion, was strongly inspired by music…

A key federal regulator says he backs T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion takeover of rival wireless carrier Sprint, a crucial step for the deal’s approval. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he supported the deal because the two companies promised to expand mobile internet access in rural areas and roll out 5G , the next generation of mobile networks. While Pai’s backing is important, further steps remain. The full commission of three Republicans and two Democrats must still vote, and the Justice Department must also clear the deal. State attorneys general may also move against the combination. Pai said that the combination will help bring faster mobile broadband to rural Americans. The companies have made promises on building out 5G and expanding rural broadband before, but now they are attaching timelines…

When science teacher Diana Allen set out to teach climate change, a subject she’d never learned in school, she fell into a rabbit’s hole of misinformation: Many resources presented online as educational material were actually junk. “It is a pretty scary topic to take on,” said Allen, a teacher at Sanford Junior High School, in southern Maine. “There are some pretty tricky websites out there. You kind of have to be an expert to be able to see through that like, ‘Oh, no, these guys aren’t telling you the truth.’” There are materials produced by climate change doubters, lesson plans developed by the oil industry, and countless other sites with misleading or outdated information. The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network, funded by federal grants, reviewed more than 30,000 free…

Huawei could quickly lose its grip on the No. 2 ranking in worldwide cellphone sales after Google announced it would comply with U.S. government restrictions meant to punish the Chinese tech powerhouse. The Trump administration’s move, which effectively bars U.S. firms from selling components and software to Huawei, ups the ante in a trade war between Washington and Beijing that partly reflects a struggle for global economic and technological dominance. Google said it would continue to support existing Huawei smartphones but future devices will not have its flagship apps and services, including maps, Gmail and search. Only basic services would be available for future versions of the Android operating system on Huawei’s smartphones. Though the U.S. Commerce Department grants exceptions, the ban announced last week on all purchases of U.S.…