Innehållsförteckning för #458 från AppleMagazine

Apple announced a major update to its 27-inch iMac. By far the most powerful and capable iMac ever, it features faster Intel processors up to 10 cores, double the memory capacity, next-generation AMD graphics, superfast SSDs across the line with four times the storage capacity, a new nano-texture glass option for an even more stunning Retina 5K display, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, higher fidelity speakers, and studio-quality mics. For the consumer using their iMac all day, every day, to the aspiring creative looking for inspiration, to the serious pro pushing the limits of their creativity, the new 27-inch iMac delivers the ultimate desktop experience that is now better in every way. “Now more than ever, our customers are relying on the Mac. And many of them need the most…

Now considered the poster child of China’s technology sector, Huawei has defied the odds in recent years amidst growing pressure from political leaders in the US and Europe. But just how did the company climb to the top, and overtake Samsung to become the world’s biggest smartphone brand? Let’s pull back the curtain and reveal the secrets behind its success. NOW THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SMARTPHONE BRAND Despite challenges from the coronavirus pandemic and growing competition from Apple and Xiaomi in China, new data from Canalys confirms that Huawei overtook Samsung as the world’s number one smartphone maker in the world in the second quarter of 2020. During the period of global lockdown, the Chinese technology giant shipped an eye-watering 54.8 million units compared to Samsung’s 54.2 million, with both brands…

After a rocky transition to distance learning last spring, Georgia teacher Aimee Rodriguez Webb is determined to do better this fall. She bought a dry-erase board and a special camera to display worksheets, and she set up her dining room to broadcast school lessons. “I’m getting myself geared up for what I feel will prepare me and allow me to teach remotely with more fidelity now that I know what I want it to look like,” Rodriguez Webb said. She and other teachers from suburban Atlanta’s Cobb County School District recently started three weeks of training as they prepare to launch the school year virtually. With remote learning part of an increasing number of fall reopening plans, districts are facing pressure to improve after many students got left behind this…

B7 Brandy You’ve already heard Chance the Rapper featuring on lead single “Baby Mama”, and now you can hear soul legend Brandy’s new studio album – her seventh overall – in its entirety. As you listen, one thing is likely to become especially clear: Brandy’s voice has aged magnificently. FIVE FACTS: 1. Brandy’s full name is Brandy Rayana Norwood. 2. Brandy’s cousins include rapper Snoop Dogg and WWE wrestler Sasha Banks, while rapper Ray J is a brother. 3. Having sold over 40 million records globally, Brandy is one of the all-time bestselling female music artists. 4. Her distinctive sound, complete with voice-layering and intricate riffs, has led Brandy to be nicknamed “The Vocal Bible”. 5. Brandy has cited the late Whitney Houston as the strongest influence on her music.…

Facebook’s Instagram is launching its answer to the hit short video app TikTok — Instagram Reels. The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in Instagram in a dedicated section called Reels in Explore, or in the Story feature where posts disappear after 24 hours. The Reels option will be available in the Instagram app. Facebook has a long tradition of cloning competitive services. The Instagram “Story” feature, which lets people share photos and videos that expire in 24 hours, is similar to Snapchat. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced tough questioning about the company’s habit of copying rivals before a congressional hearing on July 29. Facebook earlier launched…

Virginia has rolled out a smartphone app to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus, becoming the first U.S. state to use new pandemic technology created by Apple and Google. The free Covidwise app is available in Apple and Android app stores as of Wednesday. State officials, who emphasized that the app doesn’t track user location or collect personal information, announced public campaigns encouraging people to download and use it. “We’re using every possible approach to fight this virus and keep Virginians healthy,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a prepared statement provided to The Associated Press. The technology arrives nearly four months after Apple and Google partnered to create the software for public health agencies trying to contain the spread of the pandemic. Canada…

Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. said that its April-June profit jumped 53% as its video game and other online businesses thrived with people staying home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo-based Sony reported a 233 billion yen ($2.2 billion) profit for the last quarter, up from 152 billion yen the year before. Sony warned that its movies division would likely suffer for two or three years due to delays in film projects and limits to theater seating because of the pandemic. Consumer demand for electronics products has also plunged, including sales of digital cameras, TVs and other gadgets, according to Sony. Some factories in China and Malaysia were temporarily shut down and an inability for some employees to travel also was a hindrance, the company said. Sony’s quarterly…

European Union regulators opened an in-depth investigation into Google’s plan to buy fitness tracking device maker Fitbit. The EU’s executive commission said it was concerned the deal would entrench the U.S. tech giant’s position in the online ad market by “increasing the already vast amount of data” the company uses to personalize ads. “Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition,” said European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who also is the EU’s competition commissioner. Google agreed to buy Fitbit in November for $2.1 billion. Privacy, social justice and consumer groups have called on authorities to block the deal, citing privacy and antitrust concerns. The EU said the deal could expand Google’s “data…

A Florida teen was identified last weekend as the mastermind of a scheme earlier this month that commandeered Twitter accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and technology moguls and scammed people around the globe out of more than $100,000 in Bitcoin. Two other men were also charged in the case. Graham Ivan Clark, 17, was arrested in Tampa, where the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office will prosecute him as an adult. He faces 30 felony charges, according to a news release. Two men accused of benefiting from the hack — Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis, U.K., and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando — were charged separately in California federal court. In one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years, bogus tweets were sent out on July 15 from the…

Apple announced that Phil Schiller will become an Apple Fellow, continuing a storied career that began at Apple in 1987. In this role, which reports to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Schiller will continue to lead the App Store and Apple Events. Greg (Joz) Joswiak, a longtime leader within the Product Marketing organization, will join the executive team as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Phil has helped make Apple the company it is today and his contributions are broad, vast, and run deep. In this new role he will continue to provide the incredible thought partnership, and guidance that have defined his decades at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Joz’s many years of leadership in the Product Marketing organization make him perfectly suited to this new role and will…

Google has started selling a long-delayed budget smartphone boasting the same high-quality camera and several other features available in fancier Pixel models that cost hundreds of dollars more. The Pixel 4a unveiled this week will be available Aug. 20 after months of delay caused by supply problems triggered by the pandemic. It will cost $349, a $50 discount from a cheap Pixel released last year. It’s also a major markdown from other higher-end models in the existing product line-up that start at $799. The next versions of Google’s top-of-the-line Pixel phones will be released sometime this fall, Google said, without revealing their their price. The budget-minded Pixel 4a is coming out four months after Apple released a discount iPhone, the SE, priced at $399. The low price helped spur iPhone…

King Beyoncé’s new film takes you on a journey of Black art, music, history and fashion as the superstar transports you to Africa to tell the story of a young man in search of his crown, matched to epic songs she created while inspired by“The Lion King.” The voyage feels even more special during the current state of the world, as the Black experience has been looked at closely in the wake of the many deaths of Black people, and the Black Lives Matter movement that continues to protest racism and inequality. And for those of us who have been stuck in place for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, the voyage and escapism are welcomed. In “Black Is King,” which debuted last weekend on Disney+, Beyoncé continues to dig…

Amazon.com is one step closer to space. The company received government approval to put more than 3,200 satellites into orbit with the goal of beaming internet service to earth. Amazon said the satellites could provide internet to parts of the world that don’t have it. It could also become a new business for Amazon, selling internet service to people or companies. “We have heard so many stories lately about people who are unable to do their job or complete schoolwork because they don’t have reliable internet at home,” said Amazon executive Dave Limp, in a written statement. Amazon said it will spend $10 billion on the initiative, called Project Kuiper. It’s opening a research facility in Redmond, Washington, where the satellites will be designed and tested. That would be…

THE BLESSING (LIVE FROM ELEVATIONCHURCH [...], NC, 3/1/2020)KARI JOBE, CODY CARNES & ELEVATION WORSHIP WATERMELON SUGARHARRY STYLES DANCETONI BRAXTON ALREADYBEYONCÉ, SHATTA WALE & MAJOR LAZER YOU’LL ALWAYS BE (LIVE AT THECASCADE THEATER IN REDDING, CA/2020)KIM WALKER-SMITH BREATHING ROOM (LIVE AT THECASCADE THEATER IN REDDING, CA/2020)KIM WALKER-SMITH PROTECTOR (LIVE AT THE CASCADETHEATER IN REDDING, CA/2020)KIM WALKER-SMITH WHO YOU ARE TO ME (FEAT. LADY A)[LYRIC VIDEO]CHRIS TOMLIN P****I6IX9INE 2 KIDS TAEMIN…

Federal regulators said they will require several design changes to the Boeing 737 Max to fix safety issues that arose in two deadly crashes and led to the worldwide grounding of the plane. The Federal Aviation Administration proposed software change requirements in the flight-control computers, new alerts to pilots under some conditions, and the rerouting of some wiring on the planes. The proposed changes deal with issues that mostly have been raised before. The public will have 45 days to comment on the FAA’s decision. It is not clear when the FAA will lift its March 2019 order grounding all Max jets, which followed similar orders by regulators in the rest of the world. Boeing officials said last week they hope to win regulatory approval to resume deliveries of completed…

A German company that specializes in laser communication says it is pulling out of uncompleted deals in China after the German government barred it from delivering hardware to the country. Mynaric said that it had requested official clearance of a planned export of products to a Chinese customer, which it didn’t identify. It said it received a notification “that clearly prohibits Mynaric from delivering laser communication hardware to China.” Asked about the company’s announcement, Economy Ministry spokesman Korbinian Wagner had no immediate comment and said the government typically doesn’t confirm, deny or comment on individual cases. Mynaric, which said it hadn’t yet delivered any laser communication hardware to China, said it is ceasing business in China immediately and would start extricating itself from uncompleted transactions. It said it “considers its…

The House Judiciary chairman was closing in on his Perry Mason moment with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Fortified with “hot” internal company documents, Rep. Jerrold Nadler was building his case at a hearing that seemed almost like a trial for Facebook and three other tech giants over alleged anti-competitive tactics. “Thank you, Mr. Zuckerberg, you’re making my point,” Nadler declared. Then to the “jury:” “By Mr. Zuckerberg’s own admission and by the documents we have from the time, Facebook saw Instagram as a threat that could potentially siphon business away from Facebook and so rather than compete with it, Facebook bought it.” And then the closing argument: “This is exactly the type of anti-competitive acquisition that the antitrust laws were designed to prevent. This should never have happened in the…

For Michelle Lynn England, back-to-school shopping always meant heading to Target and the local mall with her two girls and dropping about $500 on each of them for trendy outfits. Not this year. The Charlotte, North Carolina, woman cut her spending on clothing in half for her 10-year-old and 14-year-old and instead spent more on masks and other supplies as a surge in coronavirus cases forced her school district to extend online learning through the fall. “The kids always looked forward to getting something new,” said England, who spent $500 in total this time around. “It didn’t make any sense to buy any extra clothes that won’t be worn.” As the pandemic drags into the new school year, it is wreaking havoc on reopening plans and the back-to-school shopping season,…

The Secret: Dare to Dream Young widow Miranda Wells (Katie Holmes) struggles to bring up three children by herself, despite her hard efforts. However, a powerful storm brings her into contact with a mysterious handyman, Bray Johnson (Josh Lucas), who restores positivity to her family’s spirit. FIVE FACTS: 1. Andy Tennant directs this film and co-wrote the screenplay with Bekah Brunstetter and Rick Parks. 2. The film is based on Rhonda Byrne’s self-help book The Secret, which was published in 2006. 3. Byrne herself served as one of the five producers of this film. 4. Holmes told E! News that she hoped the film would bring positivity in a year characterized by “a lot of shock and uncertainty”. 5. The Secret: Dare to Dream was set for release on April…

REVIEW “Summerland” might look like something you’ve seen before: A scenic story about a schoolchild who must leave London during the war and take up shelter with a reluctant caregiver. But while it is comfortingly familiar in many ways, and a little cliche and overwrought in others, it also has a modern edge and bite to it that keeps it novel enough to sustain interest. That modernity is credit to writer-director Jessica Swale, a British theater director and playwright, who with “Summerland” makes a noteworthy entry into the world of film. With well-drawn characters and a surprising scope, the story feels like it’s been adapted from a novel (a compliment). And along with cinematographer Laurie Rose, “Summerland” captures three eras in a small seaside town with breathtaking beauty. The film…

Google is paying $450 million for a nearly 7% stake in longtime home and business security provider ADT Inc., a deal that will open new opportunities for one of the internet’s most powerful companies to extend the reach of its Nest cameras and voice-activated voice assistant. As part of the partnership announced this week, ADT will use Nest’s internet-connected cameras, as well as another device called the Nest Home Hub that comes with an internet-connected camera, as part of its customers’ security systems. Both the Nest cameras and Home Hub can be operated through voice commands processed by the Google digital assistant that competes against Amazon’s Alexa and Amazon’s Siri in a key area of artificial intelligence. The alliance could serve as a springboard for a home management product line…

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When the electric car revolution arrives, will there be enough places to plug in? There are now 26,000 electric vehicle charging stations open to the public in the U.S., with more than 84,000 plugs. But the country, and the world, will need thousands more if drivers are going to adopt vehicles powered by batteries alone. And because they’re being asked to invest before that demand arrives, automakers and charging companies are struggling to raise the numbers. Currently electric vehicles make up only about 1.3% of total new vehicle sales in the U.S., according to the Edmunds.com auto site. Electrics are much bigger in other countries, accounting for 2.6% of global new vehicle sales last year, the International Energy Agency says. With more than 40 fully electric vehicles on the market…