Innehållsförteckning för #462 från AppleMagazine

Apple and Google are trying to get more U.S. states to adopt their phone-based approach for tracing and curbing the spread of the coronavirus by building more of the necessary technology directly into phone software. That could make it much easier for people to get it on their phone even if their local public health agency hasn’t built its own compatible app. The tech giants launched the second phase of their “exposure notification” system, designed to automatically alert people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus. Until now, only a handful of U.S. states have built pandemic apps using the tech companies’ framework, which has seen somewhat wider adoption in Europe and other parts of the world. States must choose whether they want to enable the Apple-Google system.…

Samsung’s second attempt at a foldable smartphone will come with a $2,000 price tag and a few elite perks aimed at affluent consumers still able to afford the finer things in life during tough times. The phone, dubbed the Z Fold2, will include a VIP package that will provide access to fancy restaurants and golf clubs to supplement the device’s multipurpose design. When folded up, the device looks like most other phones. But when its interior 7.6-inch screen is opened up along its side hinges, it is quickly transformed into the equivalent of a mini-tablet. “It’s definitely a luxury device,” said Drew Blackard, Samsung’s vice president of mobile product management in the U.S. Samsung provided a glimpse of the Z Fold2 last month while unveiling other new phones that cost…

Walmart may be the world’s largest retailer but it has mostly failed in its efforts to break Amazon’s online dominance. Could TikTok, a fast-growing 3-year-old app filled with goofy videos, be the answer? TikTok’s U.S. business appears up for grabs, with the Trump administration trying to force a sale, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese owner, ByteDance. TikTok denies it is a risk and is suing to stop the administration from a threatened ban. Others have reportedly emerged, but the only confirmed suitors are Walmart, teaming with tech giant Microsoft. The big-box retailer has given only a vague rationale for why it would want TikTok, but it appears to boil down to its vast audience of young people. TikTok’s e-commerce business is small today but it says it has…

The Trump administration announced plans to expand the collection of personal “biometric” information by the agency in charge of immigration enforcement, raising concerns about civil liberties and data protection. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said it would soon issue a formal proposal for a new regulation for expanding “the authorities and methods” for collecting biometrics, which are physical characteristics such as fingerprints used to identify individuals. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a component of DHS, already collects biometric data, including iris scans, from people captured trying to enter the country without legal authority. DHS said in a written statement that the new rule would authorize new techniques, including voice and facial recognition to verify people’s identity. The agency did not release the proposed regulation or provide details.…

Smile Katy Perry Arriving three years after Perry’s somewhat coldly-received electropop studio release Witness, the “I Kissed a Girl” singer’s sixth studio album Smile finds her in a more optimistic mood. The artist’s recent self-help drive shows through in the music’s life-affirming lyrics. FIVE FACTS: 1. Although Perry conceived the album following a breakup with then-boyfriend Orlando Bloom, the two have since reconciled and are now engaged. 2. On August 27, Perry’s partner Orlando Bloom confirmed the birth of their daughter, Daisy . 3. The album’s lead single, released on May 15, 2020, is similarly named “Daisies”. 4. That single’s lyrics reference Perry’s fall from public favor and how she bounced back. 5. “This record is a representation that I overcame [the pain] and got to the other side,” she…

It’s not hard to draw a straight line from Charles Dickens to Armando Iannucci. In each there’s a passion for human frailty and absurdity, and, above all, a richness of people. Nobody filled pages with a vivid cast of characters like Dickens, so who better to take a shot at “David Copperfield” than the man behind the teeming ensembles of “Veep,”“In the Loop” and “The Death of Stalin”? In his third film as director, following his farce of bumbling and bloody Kremlin power struggles, Iannucci has turned to Dickens’ most quintessential and autobiographical novel with the same zeal he previously reserved for political parody. “The Personal History of David Copperfield” is one of the more lively, colorful and whimsical Victorian costume dramas you’re likely to see. It’s a movie flowing…

Telehealth is a bit of American ingenuity that seems to have paid off in the coronavirus pandemic. Medicare temporarily waived restrictions predating the smartphone era and now there’s a push to make telemedicine widely available in the future. Consultations via tablets, laptops and phones linked patients and doctors when society shut down in early spring. Telehealth visits dropped with the reopening, but they’re still far more common than before. Permanently expanding access will involve striking a balance between costs and quality, dealing with privacy concerns and potential fraud, and figuring out how telehealth can reach marginalized patients, including people with mental health problems. “I don’t think it is ever going to replace in-person visits, because sometimes a doctor needs to put hands on a patient,” said Seema Verma, head of…

Elon Musk isn’t content with electric cars, shooting people into orbit, populating Mars and building underground tunnels to solve traffic problems. He also wants to get inside your brain. His startup, Neuralink, wants to one day implant computer chips inside the human brain. The goal is to develop implants that can treat neural disorders — and that may one day be powerful enough to put humanity on a more even footing with possible future superintelligent computers. Not that it’s anywhere close to that yet. In a video demonstration last Friday explicitly aimed at recruiting new employees, Musk showed off a prototype of the device. About the size of a large coin, it’s designed to be implanted in a person’s skull. Ultra-thin wires hanging form the device would go directly into…

pushing on new Apple privacy rules for its mobile devices — and putting app developers in the middle. Apple will soon require apps to ask users for permission to collect data on what devices they are using and to let ads follow them around on the internet. The social network said that those rules could reduce what apps can earn by advertising through Facebook’s audience network. Facebook said it expects “less impact” on its own advertising revenue than on the ad-supported businesses that rely on its audience network to promote their apps. The audience network allows Facebook and Instagram advertisers to place their ads elsewhere on the internet. Apple says the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 14, is designed to protect people’s privacy. It will require apps…

Walmart is launching a new membership service that it hopes can compete with Amazon Prime. Called Walmart+, it will cost $98 a year, or $12.95 a month, and give members same-day delivery on 160,000 items, a fuel discount at certain gas stations and a chance to check out at Walmart stores without having to wait at a register. Walmart has a long way to go to catch up with Amazon Prime. Launched in 2005, Prime has more than 150 million members worldwide who pay $119 a year, or $12.99 a month, for faster shipping and other perks, such as discounts at Amazon’s Whole Foods supermarkets and access to its video streaming site. Walmart’s online sales are growing rapidly, especially during the pandemic, when more people have turned to the company…

A handful of the dozens of experimental COVID-19 vaccines in human testing have reached the last and biggest hurdle — looking for the needed proof that they really work as a U.S. advisory panel suggested this week a way to ration the first limited doses once a vaccine wins approval. AstraZeneca announced its vaccine candidate has entered the final testing stage in the U.S. The Cambridge, England-based company said the study will involve up to 30,000 adults from various racial, ethnic and geographic groups. Two other vaccine candidates began final testing this summer in tens of thousands of people in the U.S. One was created by the National Institutes of Health and manufactured by Moderna Inc., and the other developed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech. “To have just one…

Kobe Bryant. Rep. John Lewis. And now, Chadwick Boseman. So far, 2020 has been marred with bad news and tragedy with the deaths of several popular Black icons including Bryant, Lewis and recently Boseman, who died Friday. All three were viewed as leaders in their respective fields of sports, politics and film — places where people, particularly in the Black community, have often looked for inspiration during a year of racial tension and protests against the police brutality of unarmed Black people. But for many, the loss of another major figure such as Boseman is taking a toll. The actor, who starred in the blockbuster superhero Marvel film “Black Panther,” shockingly died at the age of 43 in his home in Los Angeles after he privately battled colon cancer for…

WHOLE NEW BALLGAMEBELOW DECK MEDITERRANEAN, SEASON 5 LOOK WHO’S SQUAWKINGTHE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF POTOMAC, SEASON 5 COMPROMISING POSITIONS90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?, SEASON 5 THE TRUTH HURTS90 DAY FIANCE: THE OTHER WAY, SEASON 2 NO PARTY LIKE A MOB PARTYTHE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY, SEASON 12 DENISE AND DESISTTHE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS, SEASON 10 THE WORLD IS PURPLEYELLOWSTONE, SEASON 3 MELTDOWN IN MIDDLETOWNDARCEY & STACEY, SEASON 1 DAYBREAKYELLOWSTONE, SEASON 1 OPENING NIGHT RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: VEGAS REVUE…

Daimler AG unveiled the new version of its Mercedes-Benz S-Class luxury sedan, the company’s most important model and one it hopes will generate fat profits to help the Stuttgart-based automaker through the COVID-19 recession and wrenching structural changes to the auto industry. Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius called the long, sleek S-Class “the heart of our brand” during an online event Wednesday in which he touted the car’s highly personalized luxury technology. The company will be relying on profits from its internal combustion-driven luxury vehicles like the S-Class and SUVs to finance investment in new, low-emission technology. Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Duisburg, called the S-Class “very important” for Daimler and its Mercedes-Benz luxury division because it generates 15-20% of operating earnings from only 3% of…

Mask slackers will now have to provide photographic proof they’re wearing a face covering before boarding an Uber. The San Francisco-based company unveiled a new policy Tuesday stipulating that if a driver reports to Uber that a rider wasn’t wearing a mask, the rider will have to provide Uber with a selfie with one strapped on the next time they summon a car on the world’s largest ride-hailing service. The mask verification rule expands upon a similar requirement that Uber imposed on its drivers in May to help reassure passengers worried about being exposed to the novel coronavirus that has upended society. Now, Uber believes it’s time to help make its drivers feel safer, too. The requirement will roll out in the U.S. and Canada later this month before coming…

With the release of iOS 14 just around the corner, advertising giants are quaking in their boots, concerned that the Cupertino company’s upcoming changes will put the breaks on their success. Apple has made it clear: consumers should be in control over their data, and in a few weeks’ time, a real revolution will begin in the world of digital advertising… OVERHAULING PRIVACY ON iOS 14 Though this year’s iOS update may not feature all of the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from Apple, many under-the-hood changes will transform the way we use our phones and tablets. Apple has, in recent years, begun flying the flag for privacy, standing tall and proud in a world where Google dominates the smartphone game. Last year, the firm introduced a number…

Getting an Amazon package delivered from the sky is closer to becoming a reality. The Federal Aviation Administration said this week it had granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones. Amazon said that the approval is an “important step,” but added that it is still testing and flying the drones. It did not say when it expected drones to make deliveries to shoppers. The online shopping giant has been working on drone delivery for years, but it has been slowed by regulatory hurdles. Back in December 2013, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos said in a TV interview that drones would be flying to customer’s homes within five years. Last year, Amazon unveiled self-piloting drones that are fully electric, can carry 5 pounds of goods and are designed to…

Bill & Ted Face The Music The time-travelling duo Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are visited by Kelly (Kristen Schaal), a messenger from the future who warns them that they have just 78 minutes to create a song that will save all life on the planet and in the universe. FIVE FACTS : 1. The previous two films in the Bill & Ted trilogy were 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. 2. In all three films, Winter and Reeves have played the eponymous stars. 3. In Face the Music, William Sadler also reprises his role as the Grim Reaper from Bogus Journey. 4. The late stand-up comedian George Carlin appears again as Rufus – a character he played in the previous…

I went in fresh to “Tenet.” I didn’t have any real sense of the plot, yes, but it’s more that it had been some five months since I was last in a movie theater. That’s a long hiatus — a dark ages for sitting in the dark — for someone, anyone, used to going to the movies more days than not. The last film I had seen in a cinema, back in March, was the Vin Diesel vehicle “Bloodshot,” so you can imagine my eagerness for a new aftertaste. It’s complicated, in a way, to parse the experience. There’s the feeling of being back in a movie theater, and then there’s the sensations particular to “Tenet.” For Christopher Nolan, whose films build their conceptual architecture around the metaphysics of movies…

Zoom’s videoconferencing service is deepening its integral role in life during the pandemic as tens of thousands more businesses and other users pay for subscriptions to get more control over their virtual meetings. The surge in paying customers enabled Zoom to hail another quarter of explosive growth. The company reported that its revenue for the May-July period more than quadrupled from the same time last year to $663.5 million, boosted by a steadily rising number of users converting from the free to paid version of Zoom’s service. Zoom finished its fiscal second quarter with 370,200 customers with at least 10 employees, a gain of about 105,000 customers from the end of April. Just a year ago, Zoom only had 66,300 customers with at least 10 employees paying for subscriptions. All…

The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming less illusory. Japan’s SkyDrive Inc., among the myriads of “flying car” projects around the world, has carried out a successful though modest test flight with one person aboard. In a video shown to reporters, a contraption that looked like a slick motorcycle with propellers lifted several feet (1-2 meters) off the ground, and hovered in a netted area for four minutes. Tomohiro Fukuzawa, who heads the SkyDrive effort, said he hopes “the flying car” can be made into a real-life product by 2023, but he acknowledged that making it safe was critical. “Of the world’s more than 100 flying car projects, only a handful has succeeded with a person on board,” he…