Innehållsförteckning för #177 från AppleMagazine

A Justice Department proposal that could make it easier to locate and hack into computers that are part of criminal investigations is raising constitutional concerns from privacy groups and Google, who fear the plan could have broad implications. Federal prosecutors say their search warrant proposal is needed at a time when computer users are committing crimes in online anonymity while concealing their locations. But civil libertarians fear the rule change, under consideration by a federal advisory committee, would grant the government expansive new powers to reach into computers across the country. The proposal would change existing rules of criminal procedure that, with limited exceptions, permit judges to approve warrants for property searches only in the districts where they serve. The government says those rules are outdated in an era when…

Get ready to see more red warning signs online as Google adds ammunition to its technological artillery for targeting devious schemes lurking on websites. The latest weapon is aimed at websites riddled with “unwanted software” - a term that Google uses to describe secretly installed programs that can change a browser’s settings without a user’s permission. Those revisions can unleash a siege of aggravating ads or redirect a browser’s users to search engines or other sites that they didn’t intend to visit. Google had already deployed the warning system to alert users of its Chrome browser that they were about to enter a site distributing unwanted software. The Mountain View, California, company just recently began to feed the security information into a broader “safe browsing” application that also works in…

Young adults have a reputation for being connected to one another and disconnected from the news. But a survey has found that mobile devices and social networking are keeping them more engaged with the broader world than previously thought. They want news, they say though they don’t always aggressively seek it out - perhaps simply happening upon it on a friend’s online feed. And they want it daily. The survey of Americans ages 18 to 34, sometimes called the millennial generation, found that two-thirds of respondents said they consume news online regularly, often on a social networking site. Of those, 40 percent do so several times a day, according to the poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute. It’s been a…

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More than half of Americans are worried about the U.S. government’s digital spies prying into their emails, texts, search requests and other online information, but few are trying to thwart the surveillance. That’s according to a new survey from Pew Research Center, released Monday. A main reason for the inertia? Pew researchers found that a majority of those surveyed don’t know about online shields that could help boost privacy or believe it would be too difficult to avoid the government’s espionage. The poll questioned 475 adults from Nov. 26 to Jan. 3 - about a year-and-a-half after confidential documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the U.S. government has been monitoring a broad range of online communications for years as part of its efforts to diffuse…

New research boosts hope that a highly anticipated, experimental class of cholesterol drugs can greatly lower the risk for heart attacks, death and other heart-related problems. The government will decide this summer whether to allow two of these drugs on the market. People taking one of these drugs had half the risk of dying or suffering a heart problem compared to others who were given usual care - typically one of the statin drugs such as Lipitor or Zocor, doctors found. Many people cannot tolerate statins or get enough help from them, so new medicines are badly needed. The results are “really impressive and very encouraging” for the new drugs, said one independent expert, Dr. Judith Hochman of NYU Langone Medical Center. The studies were published online Sunday by the…

A research firm is forecasting a bigger decline in personal computer sales in 2015. International Data Corp. projected Thursday that PC sales would drop 4.9 percent to 293.1 million worldwide. IDC had previously forecast a 3.3-percent drop. PC sales fell 2.2 percent in 2014. IDC said it cut its forecast because the stronger U.S. dollar is making computers more expensive in other countries and it expects Microsoft Corp. to scale back subsidies for some products. Shipments are also being pushed to later in 2015 as consumers wait for new products like Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system, expected later this year. PC sales have been slumping for the past two years as more consumers turn to mobile devices. But there have been recent signs the worst of the decline is…

A live-streaming app called Meerkat, calls to online activism and pedicabs with a “Game of Thrones” Iron throne seat were the top topics of conversation at South by Southwest over the weekend, as 33,000-plus members of the technology, marketing and media industries poured into Austin, Texas. “You never know what’s around the corner at South By Southwest, it could be a small thing or it could be life changing,” said David Rubin, Pinterest’s head of brand, at the social media company’s annual barbecue on Saturday. He said the festival is a good place to schmooze with clients and do some recruiting. “Pinterest is about creativity and the employee base is quirky and interesting, so it’s a good place to meet potential employees,” he said. The five-day festival is not yet…

Adobe, the company behind the ubiquitous PDF format for documents, is touting electronic-signature and mobile capabilities in a new subscription package aimed at helping individuals and businesses manage their documents. Tuesday’s announcement of Acrobat DC and Adobe Document Cloud comes as people have more options for creating their own PDF documents. Besides free or cheap software available from third parties, many browsers including Google’s Chrome now come with that capability built-in. Before, people had to buy Adobe’s Acrobat software for hundreds of dollars. (The company’s Acrobat Reader is free, but can be used only to read PDF documents, not create them.) Adobe, which is based in San Jose, California, said the new tools go beyond the basic features available elsewhere. Its e-signature features will, for instance, let parents easily fill…

Exodus: Gods and Kings Legendary director Sir Ridley Scott turns the story of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt in a less divine, more secular direction that places the emphasis on the awe of nature - as epitomized by the seven Deadly Plagues. A remarkable tale of human hardship and triumph starring Christian Bale as Moses, and Joel Edgerton as the bad pharaoh Ramses. FIVE FACTS: 1. Other cast members include John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn and Sigourney Weaver. 2. The film loosely interprets the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, as led by Moses and related in the Book of Exodus. 3. The music for the film was by Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias. 4. The film was denied release in some parts of the world, including Morocco,…

Facebook is trying to clarify what posts, images and other content it allows on its site and why. In an update to its community standards page, the world’s largest online social network gave users more guidance on why, for example, it might take down a post that featured sexual violence and exploitation, hate speech, criminal activity or bullying. It also explained why it not only bans terrorist and organized crime groups, but it also removes content supporting them. The Menlo Park, California-based company said it isn’t changing how it regulates the content of posts, and that while some of the guidance for users is new, “it is consistent with how we’ve applied our standards in the past.” In a blog post Monday, Facebook said it is a challenge to maintain…

One of the most powerful women in venture capital and a well-respected tech investor says she never saw or experienced gender discrimination at the firm at the center of a $16 million gender bias lawsuit. Mary Meeker is one of the few female senior partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital firms. She testified Monday that Kleiner is the best place to be a woman in the business, the San Jose Mercury News reported. “I have a view - and I’ve developed this over many many years - (that) two women are more powerful than one, three are more powerful than two, four are more powerful than three, if you have the right people in the room,” Meeker said. She then…

BOOK HAS BLESSING OF FORMER COLLEAGUES What kind of man was the late Apple cofounder and CEO, Steve Jobs? Any selfrespecting follower of the Cupertino giant is sure to be intimately familiar with Walter Isaacson’s landmark book Steve Jobs, which was released in 2011 and went on to sell millions of copies. However, if there any criticism of it that has surfaced more often than any other, it is of a lack of sympathy towards the subject - a situation that a new book, Becoming Steve Jobs, aims to remedy. The new bio is at the centre of an ongoing debate about Jobs and what he was truly like, part of its summary stating that it “takes on and breaks down the existing myth and stereotypes about Steve Jobs. The…

On the surface, “Insurgent/1 with its dystopian setting and teenage heroine, might just seem like another by-the-numbers young adult tale. Look a little closer and it’s clear that this second installment isn’t merely capitalizing on a popular genre, but, with its half dozen female leads and supporting characters, actually represents a subtle subversion of what audiences have been taught action films should be. When women lead up action-driven films and franchises, it’s usually one exceptional gal against the world. Here, they’re all over the place, serving as leaders, radicals and rebels, each wildly diverse, complicated, charismatic and flawed in their own unique way. “Insurgent,” out Friday, picks up shortly after the events of the first film, and finds Tris (Shailene Woodley) exposed as a statewanted “divergent,” or someone who doesn’t…

iOS #01 - Facebook Messenger By Facebook, Inc. Category: Social Networking Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. #02 - Facebook By Facebook, Inc. Category: Social Networking Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. #03 - YouTube By Google, Inc. Category: Photo & Video Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 - Instagram By Instagram, Inc. Category: Photo & Video Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone 6,…

To Pimp a Butterfly Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly may only be Kendrick Lamar’s third studio long-player, following his major-label debut, 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, but he already has some serious fame to grapple with on this uncompromising and deeply affecting new album, which sees him working alongside such producers as Dr. Dre, Terrace Martin and Thundercat. FIVE FACTS: 1. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California on June 17, 1987. 2. good kid, m.A.A.d city delivered the Top 40 hits “Swimming Pools (Drank)”, “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” and “Poetic Justice”. 3. Lamar has described his latest album as “honest, fearful and unapologetic”. 4. The album’s title was a play on Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. 5. Lamar has said of that association: “Just…

Conservatives say they are happier, but liberals show more cheer in smiles, word choice and even emoticon use, claims a new scientific study Other researchers found fault with the study which looked at how Democrats and Republicans differ in positive language in speeches entered into the Congressional Record, photos in the congressional directory, tweets by followers of the two different political parties, Linkedln photos associated with advocacy groups, and answers to psychological satisfaction-with-life surveys. The scientists found Democrats in Congress and liberals in general used a statistically significant amount of more positive language and smiled more with their eyes in photographs, while conservatives self-reported more satisfaction with life, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science. “We’re not saying liberals are happier, they behave happier,” said study co-author…

Cablevision is offering the new HBO Now online service to its Internet customers, even though the service could persuade more people to drop their cable TV packages. The company, which has a few million customers in the New York City area, said Monday that Cablevision customers can sign up for HBO Now through Cablevision. That means they can pay for HBO and Internet access together on one Cablevision bill. It also gives people a way to get HBO Now without an Apple device. Last week, Apple and HBO said the service will launch in April in time for the new season of “Game of Thrones” for people who have iPads, iPhones and Apple TVs. HBO said its three-month exclusivity with Apple doesn’t apply to cable companies. Cablevision is the first…