Innehållsförteckning för #161 från AppleMagazine

PLENTY OF REMOTE CONTROL FUN TO BE HAD We’re big fans of toys - especially ones that make the most of the very latest technology. As Christmas looms and your younger (or perhaps not-so-young) friends and relatives compile their wish lists, or even as you consider what you might want to buy for yourself, all manner of newly-launched toys are appearing on the horizon. One of them is the Sphero Ollie - and we’d like to reassure you that it’s more than just another remote controlled toy. You’d be forgiven for thinking that it was, to be fair. On first spying this curious toy, we must admit that we thought it looked rather unassuming. Of course, many astonishing toys are like that these days, but even so, we found it…

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT FROM WATCHKIT We were all excited about Apple’s longawaited wearable, the simply-titled Watch, when it first broke cover in September. We weren’t even given a precise release date, still only knowing that it will become available to buy at some point early next year. What we do know, though, is that the Apple Watch is worth making a fuss about. Now, the device’s developers’ toolkit - WatchKit - has been launched. WatchKit is all that the already well-established iOS developer community needs in order to create apps for the upcoming wearable - that’s right, they can get to work before it even makes an appearance on store shelves. In announcing WatchKit’s launch, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Philip Schiller, said that it was for…

WHY PEOPLE ARE SUGGESTING IT COULD BE THE LAST PLATINUM ALBUM To say that 24-year old country superstar Taylor Swift has been doing well as of late would be something of an understatement. In fact, even within the rarefied territory where the Reading, Pennsylvania native currently resides, she is thriving with her most recent album, 1989. But is her success pointing to a more positive future for a currently besieged music industry, or is it a mere anomaly? Ask most informed observers these days, and they’ll say that things are in a bad way. Our current pop music landscape is one of everdeclining physical sales - that has been known for a while. But much more recently, digital sales have also dropped - by 13 percent in the first six…

iOS #01 - Dumb Ways to Die 2: The Games By Metro Trains Melbourne Pty Ltd Category: Games Requires iOS 6.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #02 - Candy Crush Soda Saga By King.com Limited Category: Games Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #03 - 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. #04 - iTunes U By Apple Category: Education Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone…

5 Years of mau5 deadmau5 Canadian progressive-house icon deadmau5 looks back on his career with the release of 5 Years of mau5, which combines past hits by the EDM producer with “exclusive and new remixes from friends of mau5trap”, the record label he founded in 2007. Contributing artists include Dillon Francis, Michael Woods, Chuckie and more. FIVE FACTS: 1. Deadmau5 is the stage name of Joel Thomas Zimmerman. 2. He was born on January 5, 1981 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. 3. He released his debut full-length album, Get Scraped, in 2005. 4. He has recently been involved in a legal skirmish with Disney over the signature mouse head that he wears while performing, on account of its purported resemblance to Mickey Mouse. 5. Other DJs and producers that he has…

Yahoo will supplant Google’s search engine on Firefox’s Web browser in the U.S., signaling Yahoo’s resolve to regain some of the ground that it has lost in the most lucrative part of the Internet’s ad market. The five-year alliance announced Wednesday will end a decade-old partnership in the U.S. between Google Inc. and the Mozilla Foundation, which oversees the Firefox browser. The tensions between Google and Mozilla had been rising since Google’s introduction of the Chrome browser in 2008 began to undercut Firefox. Google’s current contract with Mozilla expires at the end of this month, opening an opportunity for Yahoo to pounce. Even though Chrome is now more widely used, Firefox still has a loyal audience that makes more than 100 billion worldwide search requests annually. Yahoo is hoping to…

Aereo, an online startup that tried to offer a cheaper alternative to cable TV, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection less than five months after an unfavorable ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The company backed by media mogul Barry Diller allowed people to watch and record broadcast TV online for $8 a month on tablets, phones and other gadgets. Unlike Hulu and other online video services, Aereo offered live streaming of broadcast channels. The Supreme Court ruled this summer that Aereo had been operating like a cable TV company, meaning that unless it paid broadcasters licensing fees, it was in violation of copyright law. Aereo suspended its operations three days later. The company got its start in New York and had expanded to about 10 other metropolitan areas,…

Traveling by plane, train or automobile can be a headache. Mixing in Thanksgiving can make it a throbbing migraine. Technology provides some pain relief in the form of apps to let you know which roads are clogged, what gate your flight leaves from and whether trains are running on time. The American Automobile Association forecasts that the Wednesday through Sunday period will see more than 46 million Americans travel at least 50 miles from home - the most Thanksgiving road warriors since 2007. About nine in 10 are expected to drive - or be driven - with about 3.6 million flying. Here are some ways to make the journey a bit less taxing. PLANES FlightAware tracks not only your flight’s status but also any delays or cancellations, even gate changes.…

iOS #01 - 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. #02 - Five Nights at Freddy’s 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. #03 - Kingdom Rush Origins By Ironhide Game Studio Category: Games / Price: $2.99 Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 - Earn to Die 2 By Warner Bros. Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is…

The cheapest smartphones don’t have all the gizmos of Apple or Samsung models, but I’m impressed by how many features you do get for roughly a third of the price. Processors are slower, yet that’s not so noticeable for basic tasks such as email, Facebook and weather checks. Video and audio are also enjoyable, as long as I’m not expecting the same performance I get on high-end phones. Batteries don’t last quite as long without a recharge but I still got about seven hours of streaming video on Hulu. Do I really need the nine to 12 hours I can get with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy? Because you spend so much time with your phone, there’s a case for having the best. But those come with a price tag…

Even casual viewers of online video will appreciate the ability to watch it on a bigscreen TV. For about $100, you can get a great streaming TV device to do that. Or for about a third of that, you can get a pretty good one. Content selection varies, but all offer such basics as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. After trying out 10 streaming devices, I have three recommendations and an honorable mention: AMAZON FIRE TV STICK A “stick” is a cheaper, lightweight version of a regular streaming device, often with poorer performance. That’s not the case with the $39 Fire TV Stick, which is why I’m recommending it over the $99 Fire TV The processor isn’t as powerful, and there isn’t as much working memory. But in my tests, video…

Against the team of hackers, the poor car stood no chance. Meticulously overwhelming its computer networks, the hackers showed that - given time -they would be able to pop the trunk and start the windshield wipers, cut the brakes or lock them up, and even kill the engine. Their motives were not malicious. These hackers worked on behalf of the U.S. military, which along with the auto industry is scrambling to fortify the cyber defenses of commercially available cars before criminals and even terrorists penetrate them. “You’re stepping into a rolling computer now,” said Chris Valasek, who helped catapult car hacking into the public eye when he and a partner revealed last year they had been able to control a 2010 Toyota Prius and 2010 Ford Escape by plugging into…

Just in time for the holidays, Google is throwing its money, brain power and technology at the humble spoon. Of course these spoons (don’t call them spoogles) are a bit more than your basic utensil: Using hundreds of algorithms, they allow people with essential tremors and Parkinson’s Disease to eat without spilling. The technology senses how a hand is shaking and makes instant adjustments to stay balanced. In clinical trials, the Liftware spoons reduced shaking of the spoon bowl by an average of 76 percent. “We want to help people in their daily lives today and hopefully increase understanding of disease in the long run,” said Google spokesperson Katelin Jabbari. Other adaptive devices have been developed to help people with tremors - rocker knives, weighted utensils, pen grips. But until…

Guardians of the Galaxy In stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan (Lee Pace), a powerful villain whose ambitions threaten the entire universe, the brash adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) certainly makes himself a target. In a bid to fend off Ronan, Quill enters an uneasy truce with four cosmic misfits. Expect plenty of fun 70s pop tunes and an irreverent departure from the usual superhero movie formula. FIVE FACTS: 1. The film is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. 2. It is the 10th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 3. James Gunn directed the film, in addition to writing the screenplay with Nicole Perlman. 4. Other members of the ensemble cast include Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper. 5. Its…

Apple, already the world’s most valuable company, surpassed $700 billion in market capitalization Tuesday as its stock hit another alltime high. The company unveiled the latest version if the iPhone two months ago and sales have been surging. During its last quarter, Apple sold 39.3 million iPhones and said that it expected revenue from the sale of all of its products to come in between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion in the current quarter. Apple shares have risen 48 percent in 2014 and the company announced its first stock split in 9 years. Apple’s title as the world’s most valuable company does come with an asterisk, however. While Apple is the first S & P 500 company to exceed $700 billion in value, Microsoft Corp., if adjustments are made for…