Innehållsförteckning för #169 från AppleMagazine

Apple didn't attend last week's gadget show but its presence was felt. Many companies have designed "smart" home products that integrate with Apple's HomeKit, an emerging technology for controlling lights and appliances through a mobile app. There are other efforts to unify smart-home devices, but many of them rely on individual partnerships. That approach is slower than simply having everyone use a common set of tools - in this case, HomeKit. SO WHAT IS HOMEKIT? Think of HomeKit as a way to unify smart-home products from different manufacturers. Currently, if Acme Co. makes a light switch, you need to download Acme's app to control it remotely. Buy a garage door opener from Widget Inc., and you need to use Widget's app. With HomeKit, companies can integrate their apps into a…

Google will stop selling its Internet-connected eyewear to consumers until the company can develop a more polished and affordable version that's less likely to be viewed as a freakish device. The sales moratorium on the nearly 2-year-old "Explorer" edition of Google Glass goes into effect Jan. 19. The decision announced Thursday coincides with Glass' spin-off from the secretive Google X lab where it was invented. Glass will now operate in a division steered by veteran marketing executive Ivy Ross, whose past experience includes stints at fashion-conscious companies such as Gap Inc. and Calvin Klein. Ross will report to Tony Fadell, who played an instrumental role in the design of Apple's iPod and now runs the smart-appliance maker Nest Labs that Google Inc. bought for $3.2 billion last year. Google will…

Some Twitter accounts of the New York Post and UPI, as well as the news agency's website, were briefly hacked Friday. Tweets with false economic and military news were posted and then deleted. One tweet on United Press International's feed said that the Pope said World War III had begun. Another on the New York Post's business section Twitter feed said that Bank of America's CEO was calling for calm after a Federal Reserve decision. The hack is being investigated, said Jenny Tartikoff, a spokeswoman for the Post. The New York newspaper is owned by News Corp. In a statement posted to its website, UPI, based in Washington, said its Twitter account and website were hacked. Six fake headlines were posted to its Twitter account, and a "breaking news" banner…

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Microsoft will use an event Wednesday to offer a wider glimpse of the next version of Windows. The company is planning to show off new features of its flagship operating system - and possibly an improved Internet browser and more uses for Microsoft's voice-controlled digital assistant, Cortana. Executives will also demonstrate how the new Windows is designed to provide a more consistent experience and a common platform for software apps on different devices, from personal computers to tablets, smartphones and even the company's Xbox gaming console. The company has invited journalists and industry analysts to Wednesday's event at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. CEO Satya Nadella plans to talk about the new system and the company's battle to stay relevant in a world where PC users are increasingly shifting to…

IBM's fourth-quarter net income dropped 11 percent as revenue in most categories continued to decline, and its outlook for the year disappointed investors. Shares fell 2 percent in aftermarket trading. The technology and consulting company has struggled with declining revenue over the last three years, as business customers have moved away from buying big mainframe computers and traditional software that's installed on their own systems. Revenue fell 12 percent in the latest quarter. IBM has been spending heavily to develop new products, such as data analytics and artificial intelligence programs and "cloud" software that IBM delivers to customers over the Internet. But those new businesses have not grown as fast as the company hoped, while revenue has continued to fall in IBM's traditional software, hardware and technology services businesses. On…

A revised settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit alleging Apple and Google conspired with other Silicon Valley companies to block more than 60,000 high-tech employees from getting better job offers. The terms of the new agreement weren't disclosed in a letter filed Tuesday (13) with an appeals court in San Francisco. Donald Falk, a lawyer who filed the letter on behalf of Google Inc., declined to comment Wednesday. The new settlement comes five months after U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected an earlier deal that would have required Apple Inc., Google, Intel Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. to pay $324.5 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging the companies secretly agreed not to recruit each other's workers. Koh concluded the evidence in the case warranted a payment of at…

The largest lithium battery factory in the world is getting a new neighbor at an industrial park east of Reno - the world's biggest data center. Las Vegas-based Switch plans to invest $1 billion in the 3 million square foot "supernap" center. It will be built on 1,000 acres at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, where Tesla Motors currently is building its $5 billion gigafactory to make batteries to power its electric cars. Gov. Brian Sandoval announced the plan in his State of the State address Thursday night along with a $1 billion expansion of Switch data space in Las Vegas. "This will make Nevada the most digitally connected state in the nation," Sandoval said in his speech to lawmakers in the Assembly chambers, where Switch CEO and founder Rob…

Coming off its best quarter yet, Netflix is accelerating its international expansion in hopes its original programming will hook millions more subscribers on the Internet video service. Netflix Inc. added 13 million worldwide subscribers last year, including4.3 million during the final three months, according to figures released Tuesday in the company's fourth-quarter earnings report. It marked Netflix's biggest quarter of subscriber gains ever, eclipsing the 4.07 million added in the final three months of 2013. Earnings also rose to a new quarterly high of $83.4 million, or $1.35 per share, a 72 percent increase from the same time last year. The latest quarter included a one-time gain of $39 million from the resolution of a tax audit. The performance drew rave reviews from investors as Netflix's stock surged $55.35, or…

The Boxtrolls A human boy, "Eggs" (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) is forced into rescue mode when the loveable, trash-collecting creatures that raised him - known as the Boxtrolls - are captured by evil pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley). Assisted by his feisty young friend Winnie (voiced by Ellie Fanning), "Eggs" sets off on a truly remarkable adventure. FIVE FACTS: 1. The film is based on Alan Snow's novel, Here Be Monsters! 2. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. 3. It is based in the fictional town of Cheesebridge. 4. Other voice cast members include Toni | Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost and Richard Ayoade. 5. The movie grossed $108,117,143 worldwide. Dear White People Centering on a group of African American students…

For the third time in a decade, the globe sizzled to the hottest year on record, federal scientists announced Friday. Both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA calculated that in 2014 the world had its hottest year in 135 years of record-keeping. Earlier, the Japanese weather agency and an independent group out of University of California Berkeley also measured 2014 as the hottest on record. NOAA said 2014 averaged 58.24 degrees Fahrenheit (14.58 degrees Celsius), 1.24 degrees (0.69 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average. But NASA, which calculates temperatures slightly differently, put 2014's average temperature at 58.42 degrees Fahrenheit (14.68 degrees Celsius) which is 1.22 degrees (0.68 degrees Celsius) above the average of the years 1951¬1980. Earth broke NOAA records set in 2010 and 2005. The last time…

ADAPTATION OF CHERYL STRAYED MEMOIR IS A BIG HIT One can barely deny the momentous impact of author Cheryl Strayed's memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail since its release in 2012. Sure, it topped the New York Times Best Seller list as well as being the first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0, but the tale of Strayed's 1,100 mile hike from the Mojave Desert to the border with Washington State also charmed and inspired endless numbers of readers - and may have now even revived Reese Witherspoon's Oscar prospects. That's because, even before the book's publication, movie rights for it had been optioned by the actor's Pacific Standard film company, with Witherspoon slated to portray Strayed. Add celebrated novelist Nick Hornby as a writer…

CES 2015 SERVES UP PLENTY OF EXCITING DEVICES If you're the kind of person who, when you hear the word 'drone', immediately pictures some arcane military operation taking place in a war-torn part of the Middle East, you're already behind the times. That's because the recent International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES 2015, had a host of new drones on display, demonstrating just what is possible with the technology today. It turns out that the possibilities for drones are rich, and should certainly give loyal users of iOS devices something to get excited about. Indeed, there are drones on the market right now for iGadget users, such as the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, which is capable of capturing HD photos and videos and can be easily piloted via your iDevice, whether…

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American Beauty / American Psycho Fall Out Boy Following up 2013's stunning comeback effort Save Rock and Roll might have seemed, in theory, a tall order for the Chicago alternative rockers, but the wealth of positive reviews suggests that they passed that test with flying colors with American Beauty/American Psycho. Its release was preceded by the Platinum pop top 20 lead single, "Centuries". FIVE FACTS: 1. Fall Out Boy was formed in Wilmette, Illinois in 2001. 2. The band members include vocalist/ guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley. 3. The group's debut studio album was Take This to Your Grave in 2003. 4. The band reached superstar status with its second studio album, From Under the Cork Tree in 2005. 5. Asked what…

As another storm flung snow at Chicago, Alexandra Clark wondered how she'd get to work. Like an increasing number of snowbound city dwellers, she had a ready tool at hand: an app that tracks hundreds of city snowplows in close to real time. But something seemed out of whack. "Plow tracker said my street was plowed an hour ago - Pull the other leg," the 31-year-old video producer tweeted at the mayor's office, including a photo of her snowed-in street. Across the country, local leaders have made plow-tracking data public in free mobile apps, turning citizens into snow watchdogs and giving them a place to look for answers instead of clogging phone lines at city call centers to fume. Chicago and New York introduced apps in early 2012, and Seattle…