Indholdsfortegnelse for #421 i AppleMagazine

BRICK-AND-MORTAR CINEMA ISN’T DEAD JUST YET When you are in the mood to watch a great film, how do you watch it? Do you schedule a visit to the local theater, or do you simply load up the Netflix app on your iPhone or iPad? Chances are that you would be happy to do either, depending on where your mood takes you. Right now, the traditional, theater-based model of film consumption is locking horns with the more modern, streaming-based approach pioneered by Netflix, but it remains unclear exactly how this battle will unfold. Netflix itself has given traditional theaters a lot to think about on quite a few occasions over the years. This includes as recently as this year, when the streamer was locked in negotiations with major theater chains…

With Apple lifting the lid on the new MacBook Pro with a stunning 16-inch Retina Display and an 80% performance boost over previous generations, we take a closer look and explore the firm’s ongoing push into empowering its professional user base with cutting-edge hardware. THE WORLD’S BEST PROFESSIONAL NOTEBOOK First introduced back in 2006 by Steve Jobs , the MacBook Pro has become one of the world’s most iconic notebook brands, the compute power behind some of the biggest projects in history. From editing blockbuster movies and TV shows to writing chart topping books and mastering number-one singles, the MacBook Pro has been with its power users every step of the way, offering cutting-edge performance in a compact and portable device. With the all-new MacBook Pro, described by Apple as…

The nation’s road-safety regulator is under fire again for what critics call lax oversight of tests involving autonomous vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration doesn’t give enough direction to companies developing automatous cars, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. Senators quizzed NHTSA’s acting administrator on why the agency hasn’t set standards for automatic braking and steering systems that are becoming more common, and why the agency hasn’t confronted Tesla about widely shared hacks that let drivers take their hands off the steering wheel. NHTSA’s acting administrator, James Owens, told lawmakers that his agency is assessing autonomous vehicle technology and researching how people interact with it. He said, however, that the agency fears it could stifle innovation if it goes too far in regulating technology that…

The kombucha and beer on tap flow freely. The milk-and-cookie happy hours, yoga sessions and waffle Mondays continue as usual. WeWork’s stock market fiasco has yet to reverberate much for its more than 600,000 tenants, spread across a global empire of gracefully designed co-working offices. But beneath the work-and-play cheer, there’s unease as WeWork embarks on a painful restructuring that will include thousands of layoffs as early as this week. WeWork is slashing the lavish spending that fueled the office-sharing company’s breakneck growth and contributed to unsustainable losses that ultimately turned off Wall Street investors, forcing it to shelve its initial public offering. Shannon Wilkinson, CEO of a small online reputation management firm, says her clients rave about the vibe at her WeWork in midtown Manhattan, where visitors walk into…

Cops might do well to position their speed traps near movie theaters wherever the new film “Ford v Ferrari” is playing. They might fund their whole year’s budget busting speeders peeling out of the parking lots. This infectious and engrossing story of the 1966 showdown on a French racetrack between car giants Ford and Ferrari is a high-octane ride that will make you instinctively stomp on a ghostly gas pedal from your movie seat. But you don’t need to be a motorhead to enjoy Matt Damon and Christian Bale as a pair of rebels risking it all for purity and glory. Yes, director James Mangold takes you down onto the raceway, with cameras low to the ground and care to show the crack of gear shifts and feet on pedals.…

Google’s head of philanthropy says the company is having “a lot of conversations” internally amid worries about the tech giant’s bottomless appetite for consumer data and how it uses its algorithms. Vice President Jacqueline Fuller wouldn’t comment on specific data privacy controversies dogging Google lately, but says she shares other concerns many have about Big Tech. Cyberbullying. Hate speech amplified online. The impact of artificial intelligence on everything, from jobs to warfare. “As a consumer myself, as part of the general public, as a mother, it’s very important to understand ... what am I seeing, what are my children seeing,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press in Paris, where she announced new grant winners for projects aimed at teaching digital skills to poor, immigrant, rural or elderly…

People tend to spend a lot of time planning their holiday travel but not a lot preparing for their return home. But returning to a mess — minor bummers like an empty fridge or stinking garbage can, or major problems like frozen pipes — can make it difficult to savor the good times you had while away. Some simple pre-departure tasks are crucial to a happy homecoming. These include: tidying up, putting your mail on hold, stocking up on frozen or non-perishable food (or scheduling a grocery delivery for when you get home), unplugging appliances, turning off the water supply, putting fresh sheets on the beds and giving a spare key to a friend. “It’s awful to come home to a cold and messy home,’’ says Amy Panos, home editor…

Britain’s Conservative Party was accused of trying to deceive voters by changing the name of its press office Twitter account to “factcheckUK” during a televised election debate, raising concerns that political parties’ online trickery is undermining democracy. Rebranding its account to resemble a neutral fact-checker, complete with a big check mark, the party posted tweets supporting Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his debate with opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. It later reverted to the name “CCHQ Press” and restored the party logo to its profile. Organizations that combat political misinformation cried foul. “It was misleading and it was inappropriate,”Will Moy, chief executive of the London-based fact-checking website Full Fact, told The Associated Press. “It’s not what we can see a serious political party doing.’’ Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended…

Google’s new game-streaming service Stadia demonstrates the possibilities of gaming from the cloud, but experts say it’s hindered by a lack of compelling video games and a convoluted pricing scheme. Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHS Markit, called Tuesday’s launch more of a public beta test than an actual debut. He said the real test will come next year, when Stadia begins to compete with new video game consoles due out from Sony and Microsoft. “It is not at the moment a challenger to console companies or PC gaming,” he said. “At this stage it is really about getting the product into market and into hands of consumers.” Google can learn from that and fine-tune the service as it grows and competition intensifies, he said. Much like movies…

Twitter’s new ban on political ads will cover appeals for votes, solicitations for campaign contributions and any political content. But the company quickly acknowledged that it expects to make mistakes as individuals and groups look for loopholes. Twitter is defining political content to include any ad that references a candidate, political party, government official, ballot measure, or legislative or judicial outcome. The ban also applies to all ads — even non-political ones — from candidates, political parties and elected or appointed government officials. However, Twitter is allowing ads related to social causes such as climate change, gun control and abortion. People and groups running such ads won’t be able to target those ads down to a user’s ZIP code or use political categories such as “conservative” or “liberal.” Rather, targeting…

Amazon says it has considered adding facial recognition technology to its Ring doorbell cameras. The company is telling Congress that facial recognition is a “contemplated, but unreleased feature” of its home security cameras. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in September raising privacy and civil liberty concerns about Ring’s video-sharing partnerships with hundreds of police departments around the country. The Massachusetts Democrat also expressed alarm that Ring may be pursuing face-scanning technology that could flag certain people as suspicious. Markey released Amazon’s latest response Tuesday. Amazon’s initial response to Markey said Ring doesn’t currently offer facial recognition. But in a follow-up, Amazon said it frequently innovates based on customer demand and facial recognition is an increasingly common feature in cameras made by competitors such as Google.…

Good Boys After 12-year-old Max (Jacob Tremblay) and his friends Thor (Brady Noon) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) accidentally destroy Max’s father’s drone, the three boys embark on a school-skipping adventure in a desperate attempt to replace the drone before Max’s father returns home. FIVE FACTS: 1. This film marks the directorial debut of Gene Stupnitsky, who also co-wrote the script. 2. The movie’s producers, however, include the prolific Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg due to the involvement of their independent film company Point Grey Pictures. 3. Although he co-directed the film with Stupnisky, Lee Eisenberg is not credited to this effect, despite being credited as co-writing it. 4. The movie’s world premiere took place at South by Southwest on March 11, 2019. 5. On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics’ consensus…

Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt thought long and hard about whether to do a reboot of “Mad About You,” the NBC sitcom staple of the ’90s set solidly inside the Buchman family bubble. “We had 20 years of lunches where we said, ‘Absolutely never, ever.’ It was the worst idea,” recalled Hunt, who played Jamie Buchman to Reiser’s Paul. Reiser added during a recent interview: “It was a joke.” Time hop to Wednesday and the debut of the “Mad About You” redux on Spectrum Originals, a limited series available exclusively to the telecommunications conglomerate’s on-demand subscribers. The series ended in 1999 after seven seasons with a two-part finale that did some time hopping of its own. Janeane Garofalo played Jamie and Paul Buchman’s only child, Mabel, who was seen all…

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEATRICK AND MORTY, SEASON 4 (UNCENSORED) OPEN YOUR EYESTHE WALKING DEAD, SEASON 10 HARD CANDYKEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS, SEASON 17 SMASHTONBELOW DECK, SEASON 7 THE FLOAT GOES ONTHE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA, SEASON 12 EDGE OF TOMORTY: RICK DIE RICKPEATRICK AND MORTY, SEASON 4 (UNCENSORED) ACCOUNTABILITYMADAM SECRETARY, SEASON 6 MY SHOTGREY’S ANATOMY, SEASON 16 CLEAN CUTTHE ROOKIE, SEASON 2 WHAT AM I WORTH TO YOU? 90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS, SEASON 3…

The worsening wildfires, floods and hurricanes of climate change threaten at least 60% of U.S. Superfund sites, and efforts to strengthen the hazardous waste sites are stalling in some vulnerable regions as the Trump administration plays down the threat, a congressional watchdog agency says. The Environmental Protection Agency responded to Monday’s report of the Government Accountability Office by rejecting many of its findings. That includes dismissing GAO investigators’ recommendation that the agency and Administrator Andrew Wheeler explicitly state that the EPA’s mission includes dealing with climate change and its increased risk of disasters breaching Superfund sites. Assistant EPA administrator Peter Wright largely avoided the words “climate change” in his formal response to the GAO and in a statement. “The EPA strongly believes the Superfund program’s existing processes and resources adequately…

Abu Dhabi’s flagship carrier, Etihad Airways, said it is launching one of the world’s most fuel-efficient long-haul airplanes, part of a growing industry effort to reduce the environmental and financial costs of flying. Etihad’s “Greenliner” is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that will depart on its first route from Abu Dhabi to Brussels in January 2020. Etihad’s CEO Tony Douglas described the aircraft as a flying laboratory for testing that could benefit the entire industry. With fuel costs eating up around a quarter of airline spending, Douglas said the goal of the Greenliner is to be 20% more fuel efficient than other aircraft in Etihad’s fleet. “This is not just a box-ticking exercise,” he told reporters at the unveiling of the initiative at the Dubai Airshow alongside executives from Boeing. The…

The Supreme Court said it will referee a high-profile copyright dispute between technology giants Oracle and Google. Oracle says it wants nearly $9 billion from Google. The case stems from Google’s development of its hugely popular Android operating system by using Oracle’s Java programming language. A federal appeals court found that Google unfairly used Java without paying for it, the second appellate ruling in Oracle’s favor. A trial court has yet to assess damages. The justices agreed to review the appeals court ruling, and arguments are expected early next year. The first Android phone went on sale in 2008 and Google says more than 2 billion mobile devices now use Android. The dispute stretches back to 2010, when Oracle filed suit over Google’s use of 11,500 lines of Java code.…

Ford is unveiling its first all-electric SUV, marking the start of an avalanche of battery-powered vehicles coming from mainstream and luxury automakers during the next two years that industry analysts say will boost electric vehicle sales. The “Mustang Mach E,” which will go 230 miles to more 300 miles per charge depending on how it’s equipped, was unveiled last weekend ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show press days. There are 18 now for sale in the US, and IHS Markit expects that to grow to 80 in 2022, including pickup trucks and SUVs that are in the heart of the American market. Yet last year, pure electric vehicles made up only 1.5% of new vehicle sales worldwide, and the consulting firm LMC Automotive predicts that will rise to 2.2%…

T-Mobile said its colorful CEO John Legere is stepping down next year, even as the wireless company’s long-running effort to merge with rival Sprint remains unfinished. Its current president and chief operating officer, Mike Sievert, will become CEO in May after Legere’s contract ends. T-Mobile is trying to combine with Sprint in a $26.5 billion deal. Federal regulators have approved the deal, but attorneys general of 15 states and the District of Columbia aim to block it, saying it will raise prices for consumers. A trial is to start in December. Legere will remain with the Bellevue, Washington-company as a board member. Sievert has worked at T-Mobile since 2012 and has been a board member for nearly two years. The company said that the move is part of its succession…

Courage (Deluxe Edition) Céline Dion The death in 2016 of her longtime husband and manager, René Angélil, has left one of the world’s bestselling artists in conflicted mood on her 12th English-language studio album, as she attempts to look forward at a time when she is more naturally inclined to look back. FIVE FACTS: 1. Dion was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada on March 30, 1968. 2. Her international popularity saw a big breakthrough when, in 1988, she won that year’s Eurovision Song Contest as the Switzerland entry. 3. Dion’s first English-language album, Unison, was not released until 1990. 4. Courage is the artist’s first English album since 2013’s Loved Me Back to Life. 5. Her collaborators on the new album include David Guetta, Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes. 106…

Disney says its new Disney Plus streaming service doesn’t have a security breach, but some users have been shut out after hackers tried to break into their accounts. The news site ZDNet found stolen account usernames and passwords selling for $3 on underground hacking forums. Disney’s streaming service costs $7 a month or $70 a year. Disney Plus comes as Disney and other traditional media companies seek to siphon the subscription revenue now going to Netflix and other streaming giants. Disney is hoping to attract millions of subscribers with its mix of Marvel and Star Wars movies and shows, classic animated films and new series. Helped by promotions, including a free year for some Verizon customers, the new service attracted 10 million subscribers the day it launched last week. The…

The Trump administration has extended for 90 more days a limited reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei. The U.S. government blacklisted the Chinese tech company in May, deeming it a national security risk. That means U.S. firms aren’t allowed to sell technology to Huawei without government approval. The limited reprieve renewed Monday applies to technology sales and transfers necessary for existing networks and services to continue to operate. It was not unexpected and represents the second such extension. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the extension will allow wireless companies to keep offering service in remote parts of the U.S. Larger U.S. wireless companies do not use equipment from Huawei, while smaller, rural carriers do. Despite sanctions, numerous loopholes have been exploited. U.S. companies, for example, continue to supply Huawei…

Online services Yahoo Japan and Line Corp. have announced they are merging. Z Holdings Corp., which owns SoftBank Corp. that operates Yahoo Japan, and Naver Corp. of South Korea, which owns a majority stake in Line, said they are aiming for a final agreement by next month. The combination in a joint venture through a tender offer will form an online giant with retail services, advertising and other mobile services such as messaging. The combined sales would be the largest among Japanese online business operators, surpassing Rakuten Inc., according to Kyodo News service. The companies said combining forces will allow them to stay competitive in a drastically changing market, including expansions into robotics and other new areas. The integration will be carried out equally, according to the companies, but the…