Indholdsfortegnelse for #241 i AppleMagazine

Nest Labs CEO Tony Fadell is flying the coop two years after selling the smart-thermostat maker to Google for $3.2 billion. Fadell, best known for helping to invent Apple’s iPod, announced in a Friday blog post he is leaving Nest. His departure comes after reports published earlier this year detailed intensifying friction within Nest and delays in delivering new products designed for Internet-connected homes. Both Fadell and Alphabet, the parent company of Google and Nest, depicted the shake-up as a mutual decision. Fadell, 47, will now serve as an adviser to Alphabet CEO Larry Page. Fadell’s replacement at Nest will be an outsider, Marwan Fawaz, who formerly oversaw the home division of Motorola Mobility while that device maker was owned by Google. In his blog post, Fadell said the discussions…

Just in time for summer, Samsung is unveiling a new fitness tracker that aims to undercut gadgets from market leader Fitbit. Beyond offering all-day step counting and automatic sleep tracking, the $180 Gear Fit2 comes with GPS sensors for more accurate measuring of distance and pacing for runners and cyclists. GPS is typically limited to higher-end devices, such as the Fitbit Surge and the Microsoft Band 2, both of which go for $250. The Fit2 is also cheaper than the new $200 Fitbit Blaze, which doesn’t have GPS. The main drawback: The Fit2 won’t sync with iPhones, as Fitbits do. An Android phone - not necessary Samsung’s - is required for syncing music and workout data. While Samsung is the world’s fifth-largest maker of wearable devices, according to technology market…

With 16GB having served as a base storage level for the iPhone since the launch of the iPhone 3GS way back in 2009, it seems an apt time for Apple to finally bump the minimum on-board storage up to 32GB for the iPhone 7 expected later this year. There’s recently been evidence that Apple will do precisely that, as well as introduce a 256GB option – at least for the iPhone 7 Plus. However, with iCloud providing an increasingly palatable alternative to local storage, should it really be such a big deal anyway? A QUESTION OF CAPACITY: ADVERTISED VS FORMATTED It’s far from obvious at what level Apple will start the local storage of the iPhone 7. Last month, a photo from Chinese microblogging site Weibo showed what were supposedly SanDisk…

The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” sequel “Out of the Shadows” dethroned “X-Men: Apocalypse” at the box office in its opening weekend, but its victory, like its characters, was half-shelled. The $35.3 million that the “Turtles” brought in amounted to nearly half the earnings of the first film’s opening weekend. “X-Men: Apocalypse” fell to second place with $22.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $117 million in two weekends in theaters. The romantic tearjerker “Me Before You” opened in third place with a stronger-than-expected $18.7 million for the film based on the bestselling book, while the music mockumentary “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” managed an eighth-place debut with $4.7 million. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations,…

10 Cloverfield Lane The ‘spiritual successor’ to Cloverfield –one of the most chilling horror movies of the noughties – sees a young fashion designer awaken in an underground bunker after a car accident. Her rescuer Howard insists that the outside world is now uninhabitable due to an extraterrestrial attack – but are his intentions really all that good? FIVE FACTS: 1. The cast members weren’t told the title of the movie during production (preserving the secret as long as possible). 2. Cloverfield (2008) was a found-footage movie, this one was shot as a regular movie. 3. Dan Trachtenberg’s feature directorial debut. 4. Mary Elizabeth Winstead – who stars as Michelle in this movie – has also starred in The Thing(2011), Final Destination 3, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. 5.…

In a move that further undermines Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, the company’s controlling shareholder said Monday it amended Viacom’s bylaws to require unanimous board approval for any full or partial sale of movie studio Paramount Pictures. The action further consolidates control in the hands of ailing media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone. The elder Redstone has said he’s against the Paramount sale. Dauman said in February he was aiming to take on a strategic minority investor in Paramount by the end of June. National Amusements Inc., which controls 80 percent of the voting stock in both Viacom and CBS Corp., announced the change. National Amusements, a theater chain, is controlled by the Redstones. A spokesman for Viacom Inc. called Monday’s action “illegitimate” and “completely at odds with…

Before his death, Muhammad Ali was hospitalized with respiratory problems, his health complicated by advanced Parkinson’s. The boxing great had lived with the degenerative disease for three decades. Here are some questions and answers about the disease: Q: What is Parkinson’s? A: Parkinson’s is a neurologic disease that robs people of control over their movements. It typically starts with tremors, and is characterized by slow movement, a shuffling gait, stiff limbs, balance problems and slurred speech. Q: Who gets it? A: About 1 million Americans are living with Parkinson’s, and an estimated 4 million to 5 million people worldwide, according to the National Parkinson Foundation. It usually appears after age 60, although sometimes it can develop before age 40. Q: What causes it? A: The exact cause isn’t known but…

FAKE IT TIL’ YOU MAKE IT KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS, SEASON 12 A ROY ROGERS IN FRANCONIA THE AMERICANS, SEASON 4 DECEMBER: BERKSHIRES COUNTY THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY, SEASON 8 EPISODE 1 THE NIGHT MANAGER, SEASON 1 SEE PREACHER, SEASON 1 1202 THE BACHELORETTE, SEASON 12 50 SHADES OF GREYSTONE MILLION DOLLAR LISTING: NEW YORK, SEASON 5 DEADLY VELVET, PT. 2 ARCHER, SEASON 7 GIRL MEETS HIGH SCHOOL, PT. 1 GIRL MEETS WORLD, VOL. 5 EPISODE 6 THE NIGHT MANAGER, SEASON 1…

A decade ago, then-Microsoft executive Doug Burgum stood before a cheering crowd at a technology conference in Dallas and introduced his boss, company co-founder Bill Gates, by describing what makes entrepreneurs successful. “Innovators are people who go against the grain” by taking risks and chasing dreams, said Burgum, who’d become a tech star in his own right after selling his North Dakota software company to Microsoft for more than $1 billion. “They’ve got the ability to think in a counterintuitive way.” Now Burgum is pursuing his most unlikely venture yet: becoming governor of North Dakota in his first shot at elected office and against his party’s wishes. It’s not unusual anymore for wealthy business people to try to leap from the boardroom to the governor’s office. Rick Snyder and Bruce…

Sure things in Hollywood are beginning to look like an endangered species. Sequels, for years the industry’s most “can’t miss” assets, are struggling at the box office this year. The downturn, which continued over the weekend with the low turnout for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” calls into question one of the industry’s bedrocks of bankability. Roughly two decades ago, the sequel - once largely seen as a blatant and disrespected cash grab - threw off its stigma. Comic-book serials and long-running franchises stretched the sequel business into a new realm of round-the-clock production and box-office records. That era is nowhere close to ending; the most popular franchises have plans in place to last the next three presidential elections. But the recent sequel slump suggests that Hollywood…

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg briefly found his Twitter account hijacked, as were at least two of his other social media accounts. Zuckerberg’s Facebook account and password were not compromised, the company said in a statement; his account on Facebook-owned Instagram was also unaffected. Facebook Inc. said Monday morning that none of the company’s systems or accounts were accessed and that Zuckerberg’s affected accounts have since been re-secured. A person close to the situation confirmed that Zuckerberg’s LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts also were affected. Officials for both of those social media networks didn’t immediate respond to requests for comment. Screenshots preserved by the technology website Engadget showed someone with access to his largely dormant Twitter account using it to say Zuckerberg was “in the LinkedIn database” and inviting the social media…

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says if things go according to plan people will be on Mars just nine years from now. During an interview Wednesday at the Code Conference in southern California, Musk said that “we should be able to launch people in 2024, with arrival in 2025.” Musk also says he plans to go to space himself in about four to five years, but only into orbit around Earth. Musk also runs Tesla Motors, which has been at the forefront of self-driving car technology. He says he sees Apple as more of a competitor than Google in the autonomous vehicle market, but suggests they may be too late to compete with Tesla. He believes Apple will go into volume production of the cars no sooner than 2020.…

Ash & Ice The Kills The long-awaited fifth studio album from the Anglo-American duo is a bit more synth-based than their previous work, but still has all of the garage-rock swagger of their past four albums. A must for fans of The White Stripes or The Dead Weather. FIVE FACTS: 1. In the early 2010s, guitarist Jamie Hince lost the use of one finger on his left hand following an accident. He had to relearn how to play the guitar without it. 2. Their music has been featured on everything from commercials for fashion house Fendi, to an episode of House, to the soundtrack for NHL 09. 3. Vocalist Alison Mosshart is a member of The Dead Weather, a supergroup consisting of Jack White (The White Stripes), Dean Fertita (Queens…

The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from Google over a class action lawsuit filed by advertisers who claim the internet company displayed their ads on “low quality” web sites. The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said the lawsuit representing hundreds of thousands of advertisers using Google’s AdWords program could go forward. Google argued that a federal appeals court in San Francisco should not have approved the class action because damages must be calculated individually for each company advertiser. The appeals court rejected that argument and approved use of a formula that would calculate harm based on the average advertiser’s experience. Google runs what is by far the world’s largest digital ad network. It generated $67 billion in revenue last year.…

Rangers protecting the lions, elephants and leopards of Rwanda’s Akagera National Park often patrol on foot, and venture only with difficulty into its swamps to keep an eye on rare birds. A Denver teen who visited the park in northeast Rwanda last summer had an idea he thought would make the rangers’ job easier. He and a friend would build a drone to donate to Akagera. Akagera’s rangers “deal with a lot more difficult problems than we do, and with very limited resources,” Max Alger-Meyer said, speaking in a robotics lab at the Denver School of Science and Technology in the northeast neighborhood of Stapleton. Once home from his trip organized by a Denver-based international development nonprofit, Alger-Meyer applied the lessons he had learned in frugality and ingenuity. He and…

The French government has created an emergency alert application intended to send swift warnings to smartphone users in the event of a bombing, shooting or other disaster. The app, developed after last year’s bloody attacks on Paris, is being released Wednesday ahead of the European Championship soccer tournament starting June 10. Available in English and French, the app can be configured to release a smartphone alert if an attack occurs nearby. Officials demonstrating the app showed a smartphone screen turning crimson along with the words “ALERT,” a brief description of what was happening and advice on how to react. Initially configured to alert only armed attacks and bombings, French officials eventually plan to update the app so that it can flag industrial accidents, floods and other emergencies.…

Sophisticated X-ray body scanners that could curb widespread smuggling of scalpels and razors at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail have sat unused for years, shelved by a state law barring such devices that emit low doses of radiation. The city instead is using weaker metal detectors that investigations have shown can allow blades to slip through if they are simply wrapped in duct tape. “It’s absurd,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs a legislative committee overseeing the correction department. “They have these scanners and they paid a lot of money for these scanners and they’re not getting used.” City officials say they purchased the seven airport-style body scanners in 2012 and 2013 for more than $1 million, putting them in operation at the jail complex for about a…

Mark Zuckerberg can be hacked and so can you. The Facebook founder’s rarely used Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts were briefly compromised on Sunday, serving as a reminder that everyone is susceptible to hacking. Safeguards you could take include creating strong passwords and changing them frequently. Yes, all this is a pain, and it’s not your fault that the tech industry couldn’t grapple with the rise in security breaches. But if you do nothing, someone could break into your financial account or use your social media account to spew obnoxious or hateful messages. Think of how many friends you’ll lose. Here are six things you can do to stay safe. PICK A GOOD PASSWORD The more complicated and lengthy a password is, the harder it will be for hackers to…

The creators of“The Sims”are opening up gender customization options for the first time in the long-running history of the popular life simulation video game. “The Sims”publisher Electronic Arts and developer Maxis said a free update available Thursday for“The Sims 4”will remove gender boundaries and allow players to create virtual townsfolk - or Sims, as they’re known - with any type of physique, walk style or voice they choose. “The Sims 4”and earlier installments of the 16-year-old series previously restricted specific clothing, hair styles and other aesthetic options to either male or female characters. EA and Maxis said over 700 pieces of content previously available to only male or female Sims will now be accessible regardless of gender in “The Sims 4”and its various expansion packs. The studio said in a…

If “The Conjuring” was a chilling whisper, the sequel is a deafening shriek. That might not be a bad thing for some, but the shock jumps and cheesy-looking demons in “The Conjuring 2 “ were a definite departure from the first, and not necessarily for the better. The brilliance of director James Wan’s elegant original film was how it used our own horror savvy against us. He’d allow for a long take of a terrified girl peering under her bed and let it stay there long enough to the point where your muscles start to tense. You instinctively brace for the shock that you know is coming ... and then ... nothing. At that point a creepy face or a loud knock on the door wasn’t actually needed. The suspense…

Astronomers thought they had a handle on how the universe ticks, but the cosmos may be toying with them. A team of astronomers has calculated that the universe seems to be expanding faster than what scientists previously figured. If the new research is right, then science’s basic understanding of what’s been happening to the universe in the past 13.8 billion years after the Big Bang could be just a bit off kilter. “This is really an end-to-end test the universe gives us; it’s sort of our final exam,” said Nobel laureate and study lead author Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute . “We get a D-plus probably because things don’t match up.” Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the distance of 2,400 stars to calculate the…

Space station astronauts opened the world’s first inflatable space habitat Monday and floated inside. NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams swung open the door to the newly expanded chamber and was the first to enter. He said it was pristine but cold inside. The room - called the Bigelow Activity Activity Module, or BEAM - arrived at the International Space Station in April, packed in the trunk of a capsule loaded with supplies. It was inflated just over a week ago. Mission Control said the temperature registered 44 degrees, as anticipated, at one end of the 13-foot-long, 10 ½ -foot-wide chamber. There was no trace of condensation, Williams noted. For now, BEAM is empty and dark; Williams and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka wore head lamps to illuminate the crinkled, silver walls. They…

This season, the theater community is celebrating how Broadway has finally become the Great un-White Way. Black actors have taken center stage in “The Color Purple,”‘’The Gin Game,”‘’Eclipsed” and “Shuffle Along.” A Latin cast shines in “On Your Feet!” and Asian-Americans told a bitter story from America’s past in “Allegiance.”The season’s megahit “Hamilton,” of course, has multi-racial leads in its DNA. At Sunday’s Tony Awards, 14 of the 40 nominees for acting in plays and musicals - 35 percent - are actors of color. And more non-whites are nominated on the other side of the stage, including choreographer Savion Glover, director George C. Wolfe and playwright Danai Gurira. But this season’s diversity may be more a coincidence of timing than Broadway stages consistently providing an accurate reflection of America’s melting…