Innehållsförteckning för #173 från AppleMagazine

Responding to unprecedented data breaches and cyberattacks, President Barack Obama is trying to spark alliances between policymakers who want to regulate the online world and tech innovators who traditionally shun Beltway bureaucracies. In California’s Silicon Valley on Friday Obama was participating in a White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection, joining hundreds of administration officials, tech and other CEOs, law enforcement officials and consumer and privacy advocates. The focus is on encouraging every player to do better at sharing information that can help the private sector prevent and respond to costly and potentially crippling threats to the security of their online networks. Obama was delivering the keynote address at the daylong event, as well as leading a round-table discussion with a group of business leaders. JJ. Thompson, CEO and…

Just as I was warming up to choosing a Microsoft Office 365 subscription over making a one-time software purchase, Microsoft started giving away a lot of subscription benefits for free. The company now offers Word, Excel and others at no cost on most mobile devices. It’s a smart move by Microsoft, but it makes me wonder whether you really need a subscription, which starts at $70 a year. The subscription will appeal to people who use Office apps on traditional Windows or Mac computers or Windows tablets, such as the Surface Pro 3. Those who primarily use iOS and Android mobile devices can probably stick with free apps. What’s right for you comes down to whether you need a PC or can get things done with just your smartphone or…

Drone on, the government says. Just not through the night sky. Or close to an airport. Or out of the operator’s sight. And probably not winging its way with a pizza or package, any time soon. Long-anticipated rules proposed Sunday will open an era in which small (under 55 pounds) commercial unmanned aircraft perform routine tasks - crop monitoring, aerial photography, inspections of bridges and cell towers, and much more. But not right away. Final rules are probably two to three years away. And when they are in place, they may include a separate category with fewer restrictions for very small drones, likely to be defined as less than 4.4 pounds. The Federal Aviation Administration released a variety of proposed requirements for commercial operators to meet, such as passing a…

The Theory of Everything There can be few more inspirational stories than that of the British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking - and we aren’t even referring to his colossal achievements in physics. Instead, this biographical romantic drama centers largely on his devastating motor neuron disease diagnosis at age 21 -followed by achievements that would have once seemed inconceivable. FIVE FACTS: 1. The Theory of Everything is based on Jane Wilde Hawking’s memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. 2. Eddie Redmayne stars as Stephen Hawking, and Felicity Jones as Jane Wilde Hawking 3. Other cast members include Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis and Maxine Peake. 4. Director James Marsh has described the film as “a very unusual love story in a very strange environment, a very…

Working out of a Beijing office full of video game designers from around the world, Chinese-born Pin Wang and his startup Substantial Games should be the face of the innovative, forwardlooking China that the country’s leaders say they want to build. Pin and his team are attracting investors from across China while launching online games full of swords and sorcery that they hope will dazzle global eyeballs. But for several weeks, Pin’s team has struggled with a decidedly down-toearth problem that’s hit countless companies nationwide: They’re unable to access their email, shared documents and other online services blocked by China’s Internet censors. “Something that should take 15 seconds takes three or five minutes, and it screws with the way you flow or you work” Pin said. “We don’t have the…

The museum that houses the National Toy Hall of Fame is establishing a World Video Game Hall of Fame. The Strong museum in Rochester says the video hall announced Tuesday will recognize electronic games of all types: arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile. The toy hall of fame will provide the model for the video version. Anyone will be able to nominate a video game, and an internal advisory committee will choose finalists. An international selection committee of experts will choose inductees from there, based on four criteria: icon-status, longevity, geographical reach and influence. Nominations for the inaugural class are being accepted through the end of March. The Strong has been preserving and collecting video games and artifacts for years through its International Center for the History of Electronic Games.…

Facebook is making it easier to plan for your online afterlife. The world’s biggest online social network said Thursday that it will now let users pick someone who can manage their account after they die. Previously the accounts were “memorialized” after death, or locked so that no one could log in. But Facebook says its users wanted more choice. Beginning in the U.S., Facebook users can pick a “legacy contact” to post on their page after they die, respond to new friend requests and update their profile picture and cover photo. Users can also have their accounts deleted after their death, which was not possible before. If you want someone to manage your account after you die, click on the upside-down triangle on the top right corner of your page,…

NO LONGER ARE YOU STUCK WITH JUST PENCILS AND PAINTS For years and years, if you aspired to be a visual artist, at least in the more traditional sense, your task was clear - you needed to buy some pencils, paints and palettes, set up an easel and get practicing. In today’s digital age, though, things are much more ambiguous. You now don’t need to invest in any artistic tool other than your !Device, making the most of the many creative apps available in the App Store. When you think about it, it shouldn’t be such a big shock that the iPad - in particular - is commanding popularity as a replacement in some quarters for the stretched canvas and easel. After all, digital art is almost old enough to…

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,…

If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late Drake Is it a mixtape? Is it an album? Whatever status you give it, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late is the latest produce from Canadian superstar rapper Drake, its release with zero prior announcement drawing comparisons to the similar stunt that Beyonce pulled with her selftitled LP in 2013. It has proved itself a quick commercial and critical hit, too. FIVE FACTS: 1. Drake is the mononym of Aubrey Drake Graham. 2. He was born in Toronto on October 24, 1986. 3. Kanye West, Jay-Z, Aaliyah and mentor Lil Wayne are among his cited influences. 4. A short film for “Jungle” has been released, directed by Karim Huu Do. 5. The mixtape is set to be followed by the studio album…

Astronomers have their own version of the single person’s dilemma: Do you wait by the phone for a call from that certain someone? Or do you make the call yourself and risk getting shot down? Instead of love, of course, astronomers are looking for alien life, and for decades, they have sat by their telescopes, waiting to hear from E.T. It didn’t happen, and so now some of them want to beam messages out into the void and invite the closest few thousand worlds to chat or even visit. Others scientists, including Stephen Hawking, think that’s crazy, warning that instead of sweet and gentle E.T., we may get something like the planet-conquering aliens from “Independence Day.” The consequences, they say, could be catastrophic. But calling out there ourselves may be…

MASSIVE BUBBLEGUM POP HIT “ALL ABOUT THAT BASS” CAPS REMARKABLE RISE TO STARDOM When it was confirmed in late January that Meghan Trainor had dethroned the previously all-conquering Taylor Swift at the top of Billboard’s Artist 100 - a measure of artist activity across the most influential U.S. charts - there was little surprise. After all, it wasn’t the first time she had even been ranked the country’s top artist in this way. Indeed, it just completed her rise to the top on the basis of what turned out to be one seriously empowering song about body confidence. We are, of course, referring to “All About The Bass”, the monster viral hit that has topped singles charts across the world, including the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, in the process accomplishing…

The next phishing email you get could be from your boss. With high-profile security breaches on the rise, from Sony Pictures to Anthem, companies are on the defensive. And they want to make sure their employees are not a hack waiting to happen. Data show phishing emails are more and more common as entry points for hackers. Unwittingly clicking on a link in a scam email could unleash malware into a network or provide other access to cy berth !eves. So a growing number of companies, including Twitter Inc., are giving their workers a pop quiz, testing security savvy by sending spoof phishing emails to see who bites. “New employees fall for it all the time,” said Josh Aberant, postmaster at Twitter, during a data privacy town hall meeting recently…

IOS #01 - Minecraft - Pocket Edition By Mojang Category: Games / Price: $6.99 Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #02 - Trivia Crack (Ad Free) By Etermax Category: Games / Price: $2.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #03 - Heads Up! By Warner Bros. Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 - Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 By Scott Cawthon Category: Games / Price: $2.99 Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.…

You may know him better as former Saxon Shore and Fleet Foxes member Joshua Tillman, but for I Love You, Honeybear, the folk star adopts the pseudonym of Father John Misty for the second time. He has described the release as a concept album about himself, focusing on his relationship with his wife Emma, as well as other aspects of his personal life. FIVE FACTS: 1. Joshua Tillman was born in Rockville, Maryland on May 3, 1981. 2. He grew up in an Evangelical Christian household, the oldest of four children. 3. Tillman has said that his childhood “wasn’t a good experience” and was “culturally oppressive”. 4. He has said of the Father John Misty moniker: “What I call it is totally arbitrary, but I like the name. You’ve got…

The official sign-up season for President Barack Obama’s health care law may be over, but leading congressional Democrats say millions of Americans facing new tax penalties deserve a second chance. Three senior House members strongly urged the administration Monday to grant a special signup opportunity for uninsured taxpayers who will be facing fines under the law for the first time this year. The three are Michigan’s Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, and Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, and Lloyd Doggett of Texas. All worked to help steer Obama’s law through rancorous congressional debates from 2009-2010. The lawmakers say they are concerned that many of their constituents will find out about the penalties after it’s already too late for them to sign up for…