Innehållsförteckning för #127 från AppleMagazine

Facebook’s latest multibillion dollar acquisition of virtual reality headset maker Oculus is prompting some people to wonder if CEO Mark Zuckerberg is already living in an alternate reality. Longtime technology analyst Roger Kay wonders whether Zuckerberg “is nuts” for agreeing to pay $2 billion for Oculus less than five weeks after inking a deal to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion. Oculus, which got its start on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, doesn’t have a consumer product on the market, just the promise of bulky virtual reality goggles that have generated huge buzz in the video gaming community. Zuckerberg, for his part, sees longterm implications in the technology, for communication, entertainment and beyond. He was right about mobile, and he’s created the world’s biggest online social network. So, is he looney, or…

Maple syrup production has come a long way from metal buckets hung on trees, but even hightech operations have had to rely on old-fashioned foot patrols to fix a common problem - leaks. The tubes that draw sap from trees straight to sugar houses often get pulled down or bent by falling limbs or chewed by critters, meaning sugar-makers spend hours and sometimes days stomping through snowy woods to find and fix problems - a big time-waster in a sugaring season that lasts just a few weeks. But now sugar-makers are harnessing new technology to keep the precious sap flowing. Meadowbrook Maple Syrup in January installed a monitoring system that is already paying off. Designed to help mid-to-large scale syrup producers keep an electronic eye their sap vacuum lines, the…

THE SOFTWARE THAT IMPROVES EVERY ASPECT OF A FILM Both iOS and OS X give you access to some pretty good movie-making apps, as can be downloaded through the App Store. But which are the best? Is it just a case of having something with which to stop and start recording, or can you make such impeccably well-produced movies that you’d have a hard time convincing someone you’re an amateur? Naturally, when it comes to all things Apple, the answer to that latter question will always be a “yes” - but that also depends on being reasonably well-versed with all of the options out there. From the initial script and acting to the actual film shooting and all-round movie production and post-production, there’s an app there that can boost your…

Is it too easy for high-tech companies to patent inventions that are not really new, but simply take an old idea and blend it with computer wizardry? The Supreme Court wrestled with that question Monday as justices considered making it tougher for the government to issue patents for computer software. The outcome could send tremors through an industry that touches virtually every sector of the economy from gadgets on smart phones to advances in anti-lock brakes. The issue has divided the nation’s technology giants, with companies like Microsoft Corp. and IBM warning that new restrictions could nullify thousands of existing patents that are the product of billions in research and development. On the other side, firms including Google, Facebook and Netflix say the free flow of software patents has become…

Doug Appleton’s grandparents couldn’t travel to his New York City wedding last October, but the tech-savvy Floridians were as present on the Big Day as anyone could be from 1,000-plus miles away. Thanks to FaceTime, the two-way Apple videocalling app, Gerald and Jacqueline Sherman watched by video stream as Appleton, 27, and Lauren Becker, 26, tied the knot. The newlyweds even have a picture of the ceremony that captures the Shermans’ faces on the iPhone that was used to connect them. Next, the Shermans joined in the post-nuptial festivities via Wedding Party, an app that instantly uploads photos taken by guests to a website that posts them in chronological order. That allowed them to watch the celebration unfold in real time. “My grandparents get this stuff, which is great,” says…

Amazon.com Inc unveiled a $99 video streaming device called Fire TV that the e-commerce company promised would be more powerful and easier to use than rival services by Apple Inc, Google Inc and Roku. Amazon is a latecomer to the set-top TV market that is dominated by the Apple TV Amazon customers have a large appetite for film and TV, but many already own similar devices, analysts said. Fire TV, which is available on Amazon.com, can access Netflix, Hulu and other providers of streaming video content. It also provides a more prominent showcase for Amazon Prime Video as well as its growing slate of original television shows and video games from Amazon Studios. “It’s the easiest place to watch Netflix,” Amazon executive Peter Larsen said at an event in New…

REPORTS IN TECHCRUNCH, BLOOMBERG AND WALL STREET JOURNAL Obviously, the iPhone 6 has been the subject of feverish speculation on the online rumor pages. That’s nothing new for a new Apple smartphone - but in recent days, much attention has focused on one aspect in particular of the as-yet unannounced device. What we’re referring to, of course, are suggestions that the iPhone could be sprouting a larger screen - or rather, two -for its latest iteration. You’d be forgiven at this point for feeling a touch overwhelmed by deja vu. Critics have long argued that the Cupertino firm should grant its mobile owners a bit more real estate in the age of the ‘phablet’, and there has long been talk of two different iPhones being launched at once. Last year,…

iOS #01 - 2048 By By Ketchapp Category: Games Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #02 - Boom Beach By Supercell Category: Games Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #03 - Don’t step the white tile By Ayumu Kinoshita Category: Games Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 - Smash Hit By Mediocre AB Category: Games Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #05 - Microsoft Office Mobile By Microsoft Corporation Category: Productivity Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible…

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug We return to Middle-earth for the second of three parts of the film adaptation based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, sixty years prior to the events of TheLord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman, pursues the formidable dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he seeks to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and Evangeline Lilly also star. FIVE FACTS: 1. The first part of The Hobbit trilogy was An Unexpected Journey, and it will conclude with There and Back Again later this year. 2.The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit veteran Peter Jackson once again returns to produce and direct The Desolation of Smaug. 3. The film received three nominations at the 86th…

Tim Cook called it “nonsense.” One tech reporter stated that part of it was “infected with an almost toxic bias.” In the days following the release of former Wall Street Journal reporter Yukari Kane’s Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs, criticism of the book flooded the Internet. Kanewas once privy to many controlled leaks from Apple, and she covered the tail end of the Jobs era. She spent two years on Haunted Empire, conducting over two hundred interviews with Apple executives and associates as well as others outside the company. She looks at the last few years before Jobs’s death, how Tim Cook has handled the company, and the scrutiny and criticism Apple has received. After reading in its description that the book was “hard-hitting yet fair”—and after all the…

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The fiercest rivalry in the world of smartphones is heading back to court this week in the heart of the Silicon Valley, with Apple and Samsung accusing each other, once again, of ripping off designs and features. The trial will mark the latest round in a longrunning series of lawsuits between the two tech giants that underscore a much larger concern about what is allowed to be patented. “There’s a widespread suspicion that lots of the kinds of software patents at issue are written in ways that cover more ground than what Apple or any other tech firm actually invented,” Notre Dame law professor Mark McKenna said. “Overly broad patents allow companies to block competition.” The latest Apple-Samsung case will be tried less than two years after a federal jury…

Microsoft Office fans who’ve spent the last nine months using the software’s suite of apps on their tiny smartphone screens are probably thrilled that they can finally create and update documents on the iPad’s significantly bigger display surface. The new version of Office for Apple’s tablet is not likely to be a big deal for anyone else. While the apps are beautiful, intuitive and include many familiar functions from the popular desktop version of Office, typing and maneuvering the cursor within documents remains awkward and inefficient. Microsoft released Office for the iPad on Thursday; nearly four years after Apple launched the groundbreaking tablet. It includes the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps that will be familiar to both business and everyday people. Up until now, Office users had to make due…

iOS #01- 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. #02 - Heads Up! By Warner Bros. 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. #03 - AfterLight By Simon Filip Category: Photo & Video / 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 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.…

If You Wait (Deluxe Edition) London Grammar British trip-hop trio London Grammar have already come a long way since guitarist Dan Rothman first met vocalist Hannah Reid in a residence hall at the University of Nottingham in 2009. Keyboardist Dominic ‘Dot’ Major joined the line-up a year later, and since then, the three have attracted plenty of acclaim for their ambient, ethereal and melancholy sound. This Deluxe Edition of their debut studio album adds “High Life”, “Maybe” and the US Radio Edit of “Strong” to the track listing. FIVE FACTS: 1. If You Wait has been described by one writer as “perhaps... the first quarter-lifecrisis album.” 2. Hannah Reid’s husky contralto vocals have drawn comparisons with Annie Lennox, Lana Del Ray, Florence Welch and Julee Cruise. 3. Reid has said…

After a slow start, 3-D printing is poised for a huge growth spurt in the next few years. The size of the market, including 3-D printer sales, materials and associated services, reached $2.5 billion worldwide last year, according to market research firm Canalys. That figure is expected to grow to $3.8 billion this year and soar to $16.2 billion globally by 2018. Canalys senior analyst Tim Shepherd said falling prices and advances in technology are making the printers an increasingly feasible option for enterprise and consumer uses. “This is a market with enormous growth potential now that the main barriers to up-take are being addressed,” Shepherd said. “As it matures, there is clear and substantial potential across numerous sectors, such as engineering and architecture, aerospace and defense, and medical (particularly…

Apple, Google and Facebook have made significant progress in adopting renewable energy sources to power their Web services, the environmental group Greenpeace said in a report on Wednesday. But energy-hungry data centers operated by some of the Internet industry’s top companies remain overly reliant on carbon-emitting coal and gas, the report said. Apple Inc, which built an on-site solar panel farm and fuel-cells at its North Carolina data center and has procured renewable energy directly at its other three facilities, earned the highest marks on the “scorecard” of Internet company data centers that Greenpeace issues every two years. Greenpeace rated Apple’s efforts in transparency, renewable energy policy and renewable energy deployment with an A grade in each category, compared with a mix of D and F grades two years ago…