Innehållsförteckning för #425 från AppleMagazine

The nation’s largest public bus system rolled out its first all-electric articulated bus under a plan to convert New York City’s transit agency to a zero-emissions fleet by 2040. The new vehicle was deployed on one of Manhattan’s busiest crosstown routes, the 14th Street busway. By March, the route will have 15 electric-articulated buses, which are 60-foot-long vehicles connected in the middle with a joint. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to spend $1.1 billion to modify depots for electric operations and purchase about 500 electric buses for all five boroughs under its 2020-2024 Capital Plan. The transit agency currently operates 10 electric standard buses that are leased under a three-year pilot program launched in 2018 to test the technology. The vehicles are quieter than conventional buses in addition to having…

The boards of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot on Wednesday signed a binding merger deal creating the world’s fourth-largest automaker with the scale to confront the challenges of stricter emissions regulations and the transition to new driving technologies. The companies said in a joint statement the new group will be led by PSA’s cost-cutting CEO Carlos Tavares, with Fiat Chrysler’s chairman John Elkann as head of the board of the merged group. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will stay on, though it was unclear in what capacity. No name for the new company has been decided, executives said, but both Tavares and Manley insisted it was not a “touchy subject.” The deal, which was first unveiled in October, was billed as a 50-50 merger, but PSA has one extra…

Officials announced that no data was held for ransom and that a recovery operation is getting underway after a cyberattack a day earlier triggered a shutdown of city government computers in New Orleans. Chief Information Officer Kim LaGrue, speaking at a news conference with Mayor LaToya Cantrell and others, said the city hadn’t heard from any hackers or received any demands. NOLA.com reported that LaGrue described the cyberattack as “minimal” and that officials expect to move quickly to bring computers fully back online. The exact nature and extent of the attack were unclear, NOLA.com reported. It added that the mayor said about 4,000 computers will need to be scrubbed as a precaution and that 400 servers were affected. Crucial public safety services continued running normally over the week as they…

Fine Line Harry Styles This is just the second studio album released by British singer-songwriter Harry Styles as a solo artist, following his exit from the boy band One Direction. The album, he has claimed, is “all about having sex and feeling sad” – and critics have welcomed the new release warmly. FIVE FACTS: 1. Styles was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England on February 1, 1994. 2. As a member of One Direction, Styles achieved four number-one studio albums on the Billboard 200 chart, plus four top-five singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 3. His debut solo single, “Sign of the Times”, reached number four on the latter chart in 2017. 4. Styles has admitted to using psychedelic drugs while recording the new album. 5. Three singles from Fine…

The bipartisan budget deal announced in Congress protects access to health care under the Affordable Care Act but it also ditches one of that law’s main cost controls. The deal would repeal a cost-control measure in “Obamacare” known as the Cadillac Tax, an unpopular levy on benefit-rich health insurance plans scheduled to take effect in 2022. That means Congress is upsetting the balance between expanding access and controlling costs that former President Barack Obama tried to strike in his signature law, said Kathleen Sebelius, who served as his health secretary. “President Obama thought it was very important to have additional access paid for,” said Sebelius. “This just takes a big step backwards.” The deal was reached in late stage negotiations between congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as part…

Britain’s competition watchdog said this week it launched a formal inquiry into Google’s takeover of cloud data analytics company Looker Data Sciences, as it intensifies scrutiny of technology deals. The Competition and Markets Authority said it had notified the two companies that it was opening an initial inquiry and would decide on Feb. 13 whether to escalate it to a more in-depth investigation. The authority said this month it was looking into whether the $2.6 billion acquisition would result in less competition in the U.K. market. Google said in a statement that “the acquisition of Looker has received regulatory approval in the U.S. and Austria and we continue to make progress with regulators in the U.K.” The U.S. tech giant said in June it was buying Looker, which helps customers…

Amazon is banning its third-party merchants from using FedEx’s ground service to deliver to Prime members, suggesting that it thinks the service is too slow to get packages to their destinations in time for Christmas. The temporary ban will block those companies from using FedEx Ground service, although they can still use pricier FedEx Express shipping for Prime shipments. More than half of the items sold on Amazon.com come from third-party sellers, who post their goods for sale on Amazon’s online marketplace. News of the ban was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. FedEx Corp. said in a statement that the decision affects “a very small number of shippers” and said it “limits the options for those small businesses on some of the highest demand shipping days in history,…

California’s new earthquake early warning cellphone app issued its first public alert when a modest tremor occurred this week in a rural area of the state, a newspaper reported. MyShake app project manager Jennifer Strauss said more than 40 people received the warning when a 4.3 magnitude quake struck Tuesday morning in mountains between the central coast and the San Joaquin Valley, the Los Angeles Times said. The MyShake app was developed by the University of California, Berkeley, and released in October. It is designed to quickly take data from seismic sensors and send warnings to potentially affected areas if a quake of magnitude 4.5 or greater occurs and if the projected shaking at a particular location is at a certain level of intensity. It sent the warning Tuesday because…

Federal regulators are setting up a new three-digit number to reach a suicide prevention hotline in order to make it easier to seek help and reduce the stigma associated with mental health. Once it’s implemented, people will just need to dial 988 to seek help, similar to calling 911 for emergencies or 311 for city services. Currently, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-TALK (8255). Callers are routed to one of 163 crisis centers, where counselors answered 2.2 million calls last year. “The three-digit number is really going to be a breakthrough in terms of reaching people in a crisis,” said Dwight Holton, CEO of Lines for Life, a suicide prevention nonprofit. “No one is embarrassed to call 911 for a fire or an emergency. No one…

Boeing said that it will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet starting in January as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air. The Chicago-based company said production would halt at its plant with 12,000 employees in Renton, Washington, near Seattle. But it said it didn’t expect to lay off any workers “at this time.” The move amounts to an acknowledgement that it will take much longer than Boeing expected to win approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other global regulators to fly the planes again. The Max is Boeing’s most important jet, but it has been grounded since March after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed total of 346 people. The FAA told the company last week…

The creators of the latest “Jumanji” sequel have begun from an age-old premise — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And they’ve taken note of other successful franchises to adopt what must surely be a new Hollywood motto — just add more. So “Jumanji: The Next Level” brings together the same director, writers and actors who made the 2017 reboot so fun and then layers in more stars — Danny Glover, Danny DeVito and Awkwafina — plus more locations and special effects. The result is a largely successful, if more unbalanced ride. It’s also oddly wistful and melancholic. The new film starts off like the first, with four mismatched young people gathering together. In the 2017 “Breakfast Club”-like setup, the four high schoolers — a jock, a self-conscious dweeb,…

European space officials on Tuesday postponed the launch of a three-year mission to study planets in other solar systems shortly before it was due to blast off. The European Space Agency announced that the launch from Kourou, French Guiana, of the Characterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) mission would be delayed by at least a day. It had been scheduled for 0854 GMT (3:54 a.m. EST). ESA Director of Science Guenther Hasinger tweeted that “a software error in the Fregat upper stage” of the Soyuz rocket was responsible for the postponement. “With this complex mission, we will not take any risks,” he added, advising people to “keep fingers crossed for (a launch) tomorrow” at the same time. Europe’s Arianespace, which has been operating Russian Soyuz rockets from Kourou since 2011, said during…

Finland is offering a techy Christmas gift to all European Union citizens — a free-of-charge online course in artificial intelligence in their own language. The tech-savvy Nordic nation, led by the 34-year-old Prime Minister Sanna Marin, is marking the end of its rotating presidency of the EU at the end of the year with a highly ambitious goal. Instead of handing out the usual ties and scarves to EU officials and journalists, the Finnish government has opted to give practical understanding of AI to 1% of EU citizens, or about 5 million people, through a basic online course by the end of 2021. It is teaming up with the University of Helsinki, Finland’s largest and oldest academic institution, and the Finland-based tech consultancy Reaktor. Teemu Roos, a University of Helsinki…

Gov. Tony Evers’ top aide warned Foxconn Technology Group last month that a scaled-down factory in Wisconsin won’t qualify for tax credits unless the Taiwanese electronics giant renegotiates with the state, letters Evers’ administration released. The letters, which were first reported about by The Verge, underscore a deepening schism between Evers and the world’s largest electronics provider. Foxconn counts Apple, Google and Amazon among its customers. Foxconn originally proposed building a massive flat-screen plant in Mount Pleasant that would eventually employ 13,000 people. Enamored with the thought of a monumental economic boost going into the 2018 elections, then-Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators approved an unprecedented $3 billion state incentives package in 2017 for the factory. Democrats complained at the time that Walker and the GOP were giving away too…

There are lots of bargains online during the holidays, but also plenty of ways to get scammed, even at established outlets like Amazon. How can you be sure you’re reading a legitimate review, not one coming from a company employee? How can you flag sponsored placements and other ads — and protect your credit card once you buy? Although there’s no magical solution, try some of these practices to be a savvier online shopper. REVIEWING THE REVIEWS Online reviews at major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart and listing services such as Yelp look like a good place to get first-hand information from people who’ve tried a product or merchant. But investigations by The Washington Post and BuzzFeed have described networks of fake reviewers paid to inflate ratings for lesser-known…

A fifth former Google worker has filed a complaint with federal regulators accusing the company of improperly firing employees for labor organizing activity. Kathryn Spiers, a security engineer, said Google fired her after she created a pop-up notification for employees to inform them of their labor rights. In late November,Google fired four other workers for what the company said were violations of its data security policy. Those workers say they don’t believe they violated company policies and that Google was really firing them because they were all involved in various organizing activities at the company. Google disputes that. Google is known for having one of the most outspoken workforces in tech. Employees have pushed back on issues ranging from the company’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations to its contracts with…

Judy In winter 1968, iconic singer and actress Judy Garland (Renée Zellweger) arrives in London, where she is set to perform a run of sold-out concerts at the capital’s Talk of the Town. However, her career soon starts to decline as she is engulfed by health issues. FIVE FACTS: 1. The story is set during the last year of Garland’s life, when she took her stage career to Britain. 2. The film is loosely adapted from Peter Quilter’s musical drama End of the Rainbow, which has visited the Sydney, West End and Broadway stages. 3. Zellweger was born in 1969, the year of Garland’s death. 4. Liza Minnelli, a daughter of Garland, indicated before the movie’s release that she personally did “not approve nor sanction (this movie project) in any…

Critics say we’re in an era called Peak TV, with hundreds of original scripted streaming, cable, and broadcast series competing for eyeballs. But even in a peak era some peak characters emerge. These are some of the fictional folk that we’ll look back respectfully when we think of the 2010s. DON DRAPER Only a month after “The Sopranos” ended, AMC took a chance by debuting a ’60s period piece set in a New York ad agency filled with guys who took three-martini lunches and had trysts with secretaries. It was “Mad Men” and its anti-hero was the manly, forever mysterious Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm. The show was an indictment of the soul-crushing nature of commercialization set in the Eisenhower years, before the counterculture and the sexual revolution. Soon…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in last week’s general election provided little comfort to Britain’s once world-beating financial services industry, which has been battered by Brexit for more than three years. While Johnson’s triumph buoyed optimism that he would end the country’s long-running political stalemate, it virtually guarantees the U.K. will leave the European Union on Jan. 31 and starts the clock on efforts to negotiate a trade deal with the bloc by the end of 2020. As prime minister prepares to outline his government’s priorities Thursday in a speech to lawmakers, the financial industry is seeking assurances that service businesses like theirs won’t lose the unfettered access to European markets that has underpinned growth for more than four decades. “Services are the lifeblood of the U.K. economy and…