Innehållsförteckning för #155 från AppleMagazine

Some things get better with time: wine, jeans and this "smart" music player I've been using on and off for a few months. The idea behind the $399 Aether Cone is that over time, it learns your listening habits and weighs such factors as whether it's a lazy Sunday morning. It then plays what it thinks you're in the mood for. I was skeptical because my music tastes vary depending on how I'm feeling at any particular moment. But I've come to enjoy its sometimes-surprising musical tours. I also appreciate its lightweight simplicity. At 2.9 pounds and not much bigger than half a football, the cone-shaped device packs a decent stereo system into something I can easily carry around or pack into my carry-on luggage. THE BASICS The Cone needs…

NEW FAMILY MOVIE WINS RAVE REVIEWS What do you need to know about the latest American comedy film, the rather amplytitled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Well, you might want to know about that title, which is taken directly from the 1972 children's book of the same name by Judith Viorst, on which the film is based. It's also released by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Miguel Arteta and produced by Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Lisa Henson and stars Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner and Ed Oxenbould - and let's make no bones about it, it's the latter who plays the boy at the heart of the story, Alexander Cooper. In short, Alexander has - as the film title suggests - a terrible day, and…

Businesses and governments around the world are increasingly turning to voice biometrics, which sometimes are described as voiceprints, to replace passwords and fight fraud. A look at this fast-growing technology: TALK YOUR WAY PAST SECURITY Canada's TD Bank Group, the National Australia Bank Ltd. and the Bank of New Zealand are among the businesses allowing customers to sign into their accounts or skip call center security questions by supplying a voiceprint. "There's no need for a call center agent to know your name, your mother's maiden name, your inside leg measurement or whatever," said Clive Summerfield, whose Sydney-based Auraya Systems is supplying the technology to the Bank of New Zealand. "The machine can verify that this voice belongs to this account and that's all you need to know." SIGN CONTRACTS…

iOS #01 - 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. #02 - Minecraft - Pocket Edition By Mojang Category: Games / Price: $6.99 Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #03 - Goblin Sword By Eleftherios Christodoulatos Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 - Sleep Cycle alarm clock By Northcube AB Category: Health & Fitness / Price: $0.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for…

Did someone spot you some money for lunch two weeks ago? In France, Twitter users can now publicly repay debts, donate to charity or chip in for a gift with a new payment service backed by the country’s second-largest banking service. Group BPCE, which includes Banque Populaire and Caisses d'Epargne, announced the service - called S-money - on Tuesday. Users tweet a payment request to S-money, which then requires an authentication code before sending the amount - and a tweet to the destination confirming payment for all the world to see. Armand Dos Santos, chief technical officer for S-money said: “We think that this is quite interesting for the Twitter user to be able to communicate the financial transactions that he has made." The service only works between French users.…

Intel Corp gave a current-quarter revenue forecast above expectations and said the supply chain was in good shape ahead of holiday season as demand for personal computers recovered. A global slump in personal computer demand that began with Apple launch of the iPad four years ago has stabilized in recent months, in part due to companies replacing employees' older laptops. Intel said in a statement on Tuesday that demand for its chips was in good shape. "The worldwide PC supply chain appears to be healthy with inventory levels appropriate in anticipation of the fourth quarter retail cycles/' Intel said. The recovering PC industry has helped push Intel's shares 24 percent higher in 2014, making it the top performer in the Dow Jones industrial average. "The telling thing will be next…

First the chefs of a small Italian restaurant got mad at online review site Yelp. Instead of trying to get better reviews, they decided to take a different approach: get terrible ones. The campaign helped Botte Bistro get a rating of one out of five stars, as more than 1,000 reviewers left hundreds of tonguein-cheek reviews panning the Richmond, California, eatery, said chef Michele Massimo, adding that it boosted business. It was the latest protest among businesses who for years have complained that Yelp was extorting them by raising or dropping ratings depending on whether they advertised with the Internet’s most popular review site. Yelp has persistently denied those claims on its website, in court and at every opportunity when the question is put publicly to the company. "It wouldn't…

New York City is preparing to end its ban on cellphones in schools, dooming an industry that sprang up near dozens of schools where teens could park their phones in a van for a dollar a day. Mayor Bill de Blasio - apparently the first mayor to have a child in New York City public schools while in office - promised to end the ban during his campaign and acknowledged last month that his own son brings a phone to Brooklyn Technical High School. He gave no date for ending the ban but said that for parents it’s “very, very important to know how to reach their kids.” The out-of-sight, out-of-mind rule is already the de facto policy at most New York City high schools including Brooklyn Tech, where Dante…

Mark Skwarek is surrounded by infiltrating militants in New York's Central Park. He shoots one, then hearing a noise from behind, spins to take down another. All of a sudden, everything flashes red. He realizes he's been hit. The words "Game Over" appear before his eyes. Skwarek is indeed in Central Park. But he's wearing a new set of Epson Moverio B200 glasses that allow an entire world of virtual characters, objects and structures to overlay and interact with his real environment through so-called "augmented reality." Skwarek has raised over $30,000 on the group fundraising site Kickstarterto launch Semblance Augmented Reality (AR). His company aims to liberate video games from the TV and turn them into physical experiences. He's poised to release Semblance AR's first app for iOS and Android…

Million Dollar Arm Based on the true story of sports agent J.B. Bernstein’s discovery of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel after their victory in a reality show competition, this biographical sports drama is directed by Craig Gillespie and stars Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi and Bill Paxton. It’s a heartwarming tale of commitment, teamwork and family. FIVE FACTS: 1. Hamm stars as Bernstein, alongside Paxton as pitching coach Tom House, Suraj Sharma as Singh and Madhur Mittal as Patel. 2. A. R. Rahman composed the film’s score. 3. The film has grossed $38,307,627 worldwide. 4. There are also cameo appearances in the film for ESPN sports columnists Jayson Stark, Karl Ravech and Steve Levy, as well as retired Major League Baseball players Barry Larkin and Curt Schilling. 5. Million…

U2 lead singer Bono apologized on Wednesday to iTunes users who objected to receiving an automatic download of the Irish rock group's latest album in September in conjunction with the launch of new Apple iPhones. The release of the band's 11-track "Songs of Innocence" free into an estimated 500 million iTunes accounts was a classic case of a publicity stunt backfiring, when thousands of users complained they did not want the album and that it took up precious storage space. "Oops, I'm sorry about that," Bono said in a video interview with the band posted on Facebook, in which U2 responded to questions posed by Facebook users. His apology came in response to Harriet Madeline Jobson who asked: "Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads…

JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon says that more coordination between businesses and government is needed to combat the rising threat of cyberattacks. New York-based JPMorgan said earlier this month that a breach of its computer systems this summer compromised customer information pertaining to roughly 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. Among the customer data stolen were names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. A growing number of financial firms and major retailers have revealed their customer's data has been stolen. Sears said Friday that a data breach at its Kmart stores that started last month may have compromised some customers' credit and debit cards, and Target and Home Depot have also been the victims of cyberattacks. While Dimon said that the coordination between his bank, law enforcement agencies…

On his first visit to Facebook-crazy Indonesia, Mark Zuckerberg met the president-elect, spread the word about his company's global Internet-access initiative and posted a photo of himself at an ancient Buddhist temple. The Facebook CEO arrived Sunday, when he climbed Borobudur temple in Central Java and posted a widely shared photo of himself atop its stupas on his Facebook page. On Monday he met Indonesian President-elect Joko Widodo, who used social media extensively in his campaign. "It was a great conversation," Zuckerberg said. "One of the big priorities that he communicated was growing jobs and growing the economy. I think that growing the Internet and connectivity is one of the best ways we can do that." The 30-year-old billionaire is traveling to help advance the Facebook-led project lnternet.org. "We are…

WHY THE APP STORE IS A KID'S PARADISE There was a time when you wouldn't have even considered sharing your iOS device with your child. After all, it's a big, bad world out there, and your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch was, and remains, a definite portal to that world. Mind you, there's no question that things have changed somewhat on that front in recent years. It's now much more common to see a child clutching their own iPad or iPhone in public with their family, which might bring to mind your own days of pre-teen Gameboy ownership. In response, Apple has responded to expressions of concern from families with appropriate adjustments to the App Store, all designed to ensure that kids are exposed only to genuinely suitable content. Those…

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. #02 - Spider-Man Unlimited By Gameloft Category: Games Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #03 - Yik Yak By Yik Yak, LLC Category: Social Networking Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 - Amazing Thief By Ketchapp Category: Games Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #05 -…

Old Boots, New Dirt Jason Aldean Aldean and his longtime producer Michael Knox are back for the country star’s sixth studio album, with lead single “Burnin’ It Down” having already topped the US Hot Country Songs chart. As announced by Jimmy Fallon on October 7th, “Just Gettin’ Started” will be the second single - and the critical reviews have been pretty good, too. FIVE FACTS: 1. The 37 year old American hails from Macon, Georgia. 2. Twelve of his singles have reached number one on the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. 3. He was born Jason Aldine Williams. 4. The album is released on Aldean’s longtime label, Broken Bow Records. 5. Billboard writer Chuck Dauphin has said that the album “is a mixture of the party songs [Aldean]…

Free lunches, dry cleaning, massages - frozen eggs? Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have long offered cushy perks to attract top talent and keep workers happy logging scores of hours on the job. But beyond day-to-day luxuries, Facebook and Apple will now give up to $20,000 in benefits to help employees pay for infertility treatments, sperm donors and even to freeze their eggs. The move comes amid stiff competition for skilled engineers, and as many of the biggest firms try to diversify their male-dominated ranks to include and appeal to more women. "Anything that gives women more control over the timing of fertility is going to be helpful to professional women/' said Shelley Correll, a sociology professor and director of the dayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. "It potentially…