Innehållsförteckning för #481 från AppleMagazine

CES, the annual gadget show that showcases the buzziest and brightest tech, looks different this year — less Vegas glitz, more internet efficiency. With no physical conference in Las Vegas due to the pandemic, 1,800 companies are instead taking to streaming video to show off new products and technology to 150,000 attendees across the globe. Trends to watch reflect the tumultuous year that preceded it. These include COVID-related robots and gadgets, products that make it easier to work from home, more uses for 5G technology, AI infused in everything, and TVs that can bend or even become transparent. COVID TECH Technology to battle the coronavirus was big on the virtual show floor this year. Several companies are showcasing disinfecting robots. LG is introducing an autonomous UV-C light robot designed to…

Europe’s push into electric cars is gathering speed — despite the pandemic. Automaker Volkswagen tripled sales of battery-only cars in 2020 as its new electric compact ID.3 came on the market ahead of tough new European Union limits on auto emissions. And Germany, long a laggard in adopting electric vehicles, saw more people buy electrics in December than opted for previously dominant diesel vehicles. Those are early signs of what will likely be an upcoming year of increasing market share for electric cars as EU regulations drive their adoption, despite the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has caused the overall car market to shrink. Volkswagen said its namesake brand sold 134,000 battery-powered cars last year, up from 45,000 in 2019. Including hybrids, which combine an internal combustion engine…

Chinese automaker Geely says it will form an electric car venture with tech giant Baidu, adding to a flurry of corporate tie-ups in the industry to share soaring technology development costs. Geely Holding Group, which also has separate electric car brands, said the venture with Baidu.com Inc. would focus on intelligent and connected vehicles. It gave no details of investment or when products might be released. Global and Chinese automakers have launched partnerships to share the multibillion-dollar costs of developing electric vehicles for China under government pressure to meet sales quotas. China is the world’s biggest market for the technology, accounting for about half of global sales. The ruling Communist Party spent billions of dollars on subsidies in an attempt to take an early lead in the industry. It is…

Amongst the new announcements include investment in the Propel Center, a global innovation and learning hub for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as well as an Apple Developer Academy designed to support coding and technology education for those living in Detroit, and a venture capital fund for black and brown entrepreneurs in the United States. The company says that the new announcements will “expand opportunities for communities of color across the country and to help build the next generation of diverse leaders.” Speaking of the announcements, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said: “We are all accountable to the urgent work of building a more just, more equitable world — and these new projects send a clear signal of Apple’s enduring commitment. We’re launching REJI’s latest initiatives with partners across a…

The latest cinematic rendering of “ Pinocchio, ” from Italian director Matteo Garrone, is informed not by the friendly 1940 Walt Disney retelling, but the original source material. Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio” is a much darker affair than the song-filled animated version and Garrone’s film is also a more intense experience, even if he too has softened some of Collodi’s edges. The result may not be suitable for all children, but it is a strange, visionary and enchanting old-world fairy tale that any fan of Guillermo del Toro’s films or Wolfgang Petersen’s “The NeverEnding Story” should give a chance. It’s unfortunate though understandable that the Italian film has been dubbed into English for its North American theatrical release, making it slightly annoying for adults but ultimately…

Target’s strong sales streak extended through a pandemic-shrouded holiday season after a hard push online and an increased effort to provide alternatives to customers who are trying to minimize risk. The retailer reported this week that online sales surged 102% between November and December. Sales at its stores opened for a least a year rose 4.2%. Customer traffic rose 4.3%, and the average amount of sales per customer rose 12.3% as they consolidated trips to different stores during the pandemic. And changes made during the pandemic once unthinkable have worked so well that they may become the new norm. For example, Target closed all of its stores on Thanksgiving, traditionally the starting gun for the holiday season, rolling out discounts and specials early and over a broader period to control…

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New Zealand’s central bank said last Sunday that one of its data systems has been breached by an unidentified hacker who potentially accessed commercially and personally sensitive information. A third party file sharing service used by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to share and store sensitive information had been illegally accessed, the Wellington-based bank said in a statement. Governor Adrian Orr said the breach has been contained. The bank’s core functions “remain sound and operational,” he said. “We are working closely with domestic and international cybersecurity experts and other relevant authorities as part of our investigation and response to this malicious attack,” Orr said. “The nature and extent of information that has been potentially accessed is still being determined, but it may include some commercially and personally sensitive information,”…

Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a key interior component of its upcoming electric luxury sedan: a large, curved screen that sweeps across almost the entire width of the car in the place of a conventional dashboard. The company’s CEO says its not just a selling point for customers but also points to a potential source of new digital revenue. The MBUX Hyperscreen option available on the EQS sedan coming later this year uses artificial intelligence to learn what functions drivers use most, such as navigation and hands-free phone calls, then keeps those functions prominently on display so drivers don’t have to hunt. Ola Kallenius, CEO of parent company Daimler AG, said in a recorded video presented online that the system is intended to be highly intuitive. “It only shows what is…

Wherever you are in the world, it’s hard to deny that 2020 was a challenging year - not least the automotive sector. With car sales plummeting amidst stay-at-home orders, consumers had a chance to reflect on their environmental impact, and as a result, electric vehicles are now more desirable than ever. 2021 looks set to be the biggest year yet, with huge launches from some of the industry’s biggest players, helping to create a greener planet for us all. CHANGING CONSUMER ATTITUDES Though there has been a seismic shift in electric car adoption rates over the past decade, the coronavirus lockdowns drastically changed the way we work, travel, and play. Work from home restrictions meant that our cars were less useful than ever before, with 12% saying they’d give up…

The digital currency Bitcoin rocketed to a record high last week above $40,000 a coin. This comes after the currency languished for two years, plummeting from the previous high of $19,000 reached back in December 2018, when Bitcoin was subject to another round of media hype and investor interest. Mike Venuto is co-portfolio manager for the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF, a $391 million fund that focuses on companies that trade and develop uses for Bitcoin and other digital currencies, as well as the technology behind the currency, known as the blockchain. He spoke to press about Bitcoin’s recent rise and what’s different this time for the currency: Q: Tell us a little bit about the fund. A: We’re an actively managed fund, because things in blockchain and this space…

Tenet A secret agent known as the Protagonist (John David Washington) joins a shadowy organization called Tenet, which tasks him with preventing a renegade Russian oligarch, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), from using his precognition abilities to start World War III. FIVE FACTS: 1. In an interview with Total Film last year, Tenet director Christopher Nolan said that “there are images and things in the film that I’ve been thinking about for at least 20 years”. 2. However, he added that “I’ve been working on the specifics of Tenet, in its current form, I’d say, for about six years.” 3. As the film’s score was about 80% complete when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States in spring 2020, the remaining work was recorded by individual musicians in their homes. 4.…

Roku is buying the content library of Quibi, the short-lived streaming service, to bulk up its own free ad-supported channel. Quibi, short for quick bites, raised $1.75 billion from investors including major Hollywood players like Disney, NBCUniversal and Viacom. It produced shows that were released in 10- to 12-minute increments or less, believing that there was strong demand from people stuck doing anything from waiting in lines to commuting. But it stepped into a market already saturated with short videos from YouTube, TikTok and other platforms, and that content is essentially generated free of cost. Quibi also launched in April 2020, when a global pandemic scrambled the routines of millions, including commutes to work. It shut down last month. Roku created its business solely as a hub for other streaming…

Layoffs spiked in November compared with the previous month and the number of job openings slipped, signaling that the job market has stalled as the resurgent coronavirus has brought about another wave shutdowns of restaurants and bars and hobbled consumer spending. While the layoffs were concentrated among restaurants, bars and hotels, the slowdown in job postings was widespread across most industries, showing a reluctance by businesses to hire more people amid a pandemic fueled recession. The number of open jobs at the end of November slipped 1.6% to 6.5 million, the Labor Department said its first drop since August. Layoffs, however, soared 17.6% to 1.9 million, driven mostly by job cuts at restaurants, bars and hotels, which more than doubled. The economy is likely to grow at a healthier pace…

A watchdog agency for the U.S. Census Bureau says that proper information-technology security safeguards weren’t in place leading up to the start of the 2020 census last year, but the statistical agency disputes some of the findings and says no data was compromised. There were a significant number of IT risks that remained open before the start of the head count of every U.S. resident that determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal funding each year, according to the report issued last week by the Office of Inspector General. The Census Bureau was able to remedy some of the security deficiencies after they were pointed out by the Office of Inspector General, and others were…

At least 50 countries committed to protecting 30% of the planet, including land and sea, over the next decade to halt species extinction and address climate change issues, during a global summit Monday aimed at protecting the world’s biodiversity. About 30 leaders, government officials and heads of international organizations participated in the One Planet Summit, which was being held by videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic. Top U.S. officials were notably absent, as were the leaders of Russia, India and Brazil. French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which was launched in 2019 by Costa Rica, France and Britain to set a target of protecting at least 30% of the planet by 2030, has now been joined by 50 countries. “With smart policies…

The market for battery-powered delivery vehicles and equipment has so much potential that General Motors is forming a new business unit to serve it, a move that lifted the automaker’s stock to a multiyear high. The first product for the new venture called BrightDrop will be an electric-powered wheeled pallet that will take goods from the warehouse to trucks and from trucks to destinations. Then GM will roll out a clean electric delivery van. The pallet, named EP1, will go on sale early this year, with the EV600 van on the roads late in the year with 500 going to FedEx, the company’s first customer. BrightDrop also will offer software and operational support for delivery businesses such as location services, battery status and remote unlocking. But GM doesn’t intend to…

An upstart electric vehicle maker said that it now has more than 100,000 orders for its new pickup truck. Lordstown Motors Corp plans to begin production of the Endurance All-Electric Pickup Truck in September at a former General Motors assembly plant near Youngstown. The company took over the plant after GM in 2019 ended its more than 50 years of car manufacturing at the plant. The automaker employed 4,500 workers there just a few years ago. Lordstown Motors acquired the plant with the help of a $40 million loan from GM. The startup said it will hire hundreds of people to build to the first line of Endurance trucks, but its longterm plan is to add thousands of jobs. The factory’s fate came into the political spotlight after President Donald…

A month after federal regulators ordered it to disclose how its practices affect children and teenagers, TikTok is tightening its privacy practices for the under-18 crowd. Starting on Wednesday, the default privacy setting for accounts with users aged 13 to 15 will be private. That means only someone the user approves as a follower can view their videos, which was not the case previously. But teens can still change this setting to public if they want. Older teenagers won’t see this default setting change. For users aged 16 or 17, the default setting to let people download the videos they created will now be “off,” rather than “on.” TikTok is also blocking users’ ability to download videos created by those 15 or younger. This age group will also see direct…

Dangerous: The Double Album Morgan Wallen The Tennessee-born country music singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen made a big impression with his debut album If I Know Me back in 2018. With the follow-up, Wallen shows off even more of his vocal chops and infectious melodies, as evidenced by the album’s hit singles. FIVE FACTS: 1. The new album includes the successful singles “More Than My Hometown” and “7 Summers”, both of which were released in 2020. 2. Wallen had released, for “7 Summers”, a short film in which the then-upcoming album’s release date was revealed. 3. In May, police arrested Wallen for public intoxication and disorderly conduct after security staff kicked him out of rapper Kid Rock’s bar in downtown Nashville. 4. Wallen subsequently took to Twitter to apologize for his behavior…

Drivers for app-based ride-hailing and delivery services filed a lawsuit to overturn a California ballot initiative that makes them independent contractors instead of employees eligible for benefits and job protections. The lawsuit filed with the California Supreme Court said Proposition 22 is unconstitutional because it limits the power of the Legislature to grant workers the right to organize and excludes drivers from being eligible for workers’ compensation. The measure, which was passed in November with 58% support, was the most expensive in state history with Uber, Lyft and other services pouring $200 million in support of it. Labor unions, who joined drivers in the lawsuit, spent about $20 million to challenge it. “Prop. 22 doesn’t just fail our state rideshare drivers, it fails the basic test of following our state…

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Britain’s competition watchdog said it launched an investigation into Google’s plan to overhaul its ad data system over worries it could leave even less room for rivals in the online ad industry. The Competition and Markets Authority said it opened a formal investigation into Google’s proposals to remove so-called third-party cookies from its popular Chrome browser and Chromium browser engine. Cookies are small pieces of text kept on devices to keep track of user information such as the login name. They’re used to help businesses more effectively target advertising and fund free online content such as newspapers, but they can also be used to track users across the internet. Google has proposed replacing third-party cookies with its own tools, as part of a “privacy sandbox” set to be rolled out…