Innehållsförteckning för #486 från AppleMagazine

I placed more online orders than I can count in 2020. And I justified all of them. My front porch was filled with boxes containing all sorts of things: furniture (I needed to redecorate), paper towels (I needed to stock up), crafts (I needed activities), board games (more activities) and a treadmill (I needed exercise). But if I’m being honest, I bought a little too much. Take a look around your place. If your quarantine habits were even a tiny bit like mine, you could turn that clutter into money. Here’s how. TOO MUCH STUFF? SELL IT Perhaps you purchased more than you ended up using, like board games or video games. Or maybe you bought new products to replace old items and were left with a drawer of discarded…

Apple is taking a leaf out of Waze’s book with its iOS 14.5 update, bringing a plethora of new features to its Maps software including accident reporting, speed checks, and hazards. They’re the latest changes to the mapping tool, designed to create a more convenient and valuable tool that will change the way people get from A to B - and ultimately ditch rival apps. APPLE’S RIDING THE WAZE When Apple announced it was to transition from Google Maps to its own custom mapping tool back in 2012, consumers were excited. Not only did it mean that Google would have a new rival, but it would allow Apple to introduce new features exclusive to the iOS ecosystem and create a more streamlined and integrated product. What followed, however, fell short,…

Whether people want them or not, automakers are rolling out new electric vehicle models as the industry responds to stricter pollution regulations and calls to reduce emissions to fight climate change. The latest offering comes from General Motors, which unveiled a Chevrolet Bolt compact SUV. It comes with an estimated range per charge of 250 miles (400 kilometers) and a $33,995 starting price tag. The Bolt Electric Utility Vehicle will go on sale early this summer as a 2022 model. Sales will start with a small number of early versions priced at $43,495. It will bring the total number of EVs on sale in the U.S. to at least 23, and Edmunds.com expects that figure to reach 30 this year. About 2.5 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide last year. IHS…

Wonder Woman 1984 In 1984, the immortal Amazon warrior Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) strives for a low profile working as an archaeologist. However, she soon returns to her Wonder Woman guise to fight power-hungry businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and superhuman Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). FIVE FACTS: 1. Pascal’s portrayal of Maxwell Lord was inspired by Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor in the 1978 Superman film, in which Christopher Reeve first played Superman. 2. When introduced in DC Comics in 1987, the character of Maxwell Lord was based on New Zealand actor Sam Neill. 3. Although Wiig was director Patty Jenkins’ first choice for the role of Cheetah, the part was initially offered to Emma Stone, who turned it down. 4. Stuart Milligan plays the President of the United States but is…

It’s often the case that movies based on true stories offer a glimpse of the real-life characters at the end. In “The Mauritanian,” the story of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s 14 years behind bars, that real-life footage is the most engaging part of the film. That’s not entirely the fault of the filmmakers, who do an earnest and thoughtful if less than totally absorbing job of telling Slahi’s story based on the best-selling memoir he wrote in prison, “Guantanamo Diary.” It’s just that nothing can beat this intimate view of the real man, smiling and singing joyfully to Bob Dylan, no less. One wonders how he even managed to stay sane, let alone joyful, after 14 years at Guantanamo without being formally charged or tried. And in…

Leaders of several major U.S. airlines met online with White House officials to press their case against requiring coronavirus tests for passengers on domestic flights, saying it would undermine the already fragile industry. White House press secretary Jen Psaki downplayed speculation that the Biden administration could soon impose a requirement that passengers on domestic flights first pass a COVID-19 test. But she stopped short of taking the idea off the table. “Reports that there is an intention to put in place new requirements such as testing are not accurate,” Psaki said. She described the meeting with CEOs as “brief.” A person familiar with the discussions said the airline CEOs talked with White House coronavirus-response coordinator Jeff Zients, according to the person, who spoke anonymously to discuss a private meeting. The…

The right-wing friendly social network Parler, which was forced offline following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, says it is re-launching. The Twitter alternative has been struggling to return online since Amazon stripped it of web-hosting service on Jan. 11 over its unwillingness to remove posts inciting violence. Google and Apple removed Parler’s app from their online stores for the same reason. Parler said in an emailed statement that it would be led by an interim CEO, Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots movement. It said the service would be brought back online for current users this week with new users being able to sign up next week — and would not be reliant on “Big Tech.” The site’s homepage, however,…

The seemingly unstoppable rise of Bitcoin continued with the cost of a single unit of the digital currency rising above $50,000 for the first time. The price of Bitcoin has risen almost 200% in the last three months and its volatility was on display Tuesday. After rising above $50,600. At that price, with about 18.6 million Bitcoins in circulation, Bitcoin has a market value of nearly $907 billion. Bitcoin is rallying as more companies signal the digital currency could eventually gain widespread acceptance as a means of payment. The vast majority of those who have acquired Bitcoin have treated it as a commodity, like gold, with few places accepting it in exchange for goods or services. Companies have been leery because of Bitcoin’s volatility and its use by parties who…

Struggling luxury car brand Jaguar will be fully electric by 2025, the British company said this week as it outlined a plan to phase out internal combustion engines. Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Motors, hopes the move will help turn around the fortunes of the 86-year-old Jaguar brand, which for many epitomizes class but has struggled in recent years. The switch to an electric future will involve moving car production from JLR’s Castle Bromwich factory east of the central England city of Birmingham to nearby Solihull. Chief Executive Thierry Bollore said the firm is “exploring opportunities to repurpose” the Castle Bromwich plant, leading to speculation it could be used for battery production. Jaguar Land Rover also said that the far more profitable Land Rover brand…

Ford announced a major push into electric vehicles in Europe, vowing to convert its entire passenger car lineup on the continent to electrics by 2030. Ford will spend $1 billion to revamp its factory in Cologne, Germany and make it a base for production of battery powered cars using Volkswagen’s mechanical framework, said Stuart Rowley, president of Ford of Europe, during an online news conference this week. The new electric car is to reach the market in mid-2023, and could be followed by a second one there in the future. The agreement lets Ford take advantage of Volkswagen’s massive investment in electric cars as the industry shifts toward zero-local emissions vehicles. The Volkswagen framework uses standard mechanical underpinnings such as the battery, wheels and axles that can be adjusted to…

Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) Dua Lipa The English singer-songwriter Dua Lipa had previously admitted to having a few songs left over from making her 2020 hit album Future Nostalgia. Nearly a year later, we’ve now got a new and extended version of that album – with The Moonlight Edition adding to its disco-infused beats. FIVE FACTS: 1. “I have a couple of songs that I’ve worked on, and that I kind of put aside for a second wind,” Lipa revealed last February, while preparing for the original Future Nostalgia’s release. 2. According to Lipa, she was very “cutthroat” when selecting the standard version’s songs. 3. The Moonlight Edition’s release was accompanied by its lead single, “We’re Good”. 4. The single’s video depicts Lipa singing at a restaurant on a…

Epic Games said it filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with European Union regulators, opening a new front in its war with the tech giant over app store payments. Epic, which makes the popular video game Fortnite, is locked in a battle with Apple over the app store, which takes a 30% cut from all in-app purchases. When Epic tried last year to bypass the platform with a direct payment system, Apple dropped the Fortnite app from its app store. In return, Epic filed legal challenges in the U.S., Australia and Britain. In its complaint to the European Commission’s competition watchdog, Epic Games alleged that Apple’s restrictions have eliminated competition in app distribution and payment. It accused Apple of blocking competitors and abusing its dominant position, in breach of EU…

Amazon is suing the attorney general of New York in a bid to stop her from suing the company over its coronavirus safety protocols and the firing of one of its outspoken workers. In the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court, Amazon said Attorney General Letitia James overstepped her authority by trying to regulate coronavirus safety protocols at its warehouse in New York’s Staten Island borough. The company said James threatened to sue if Amazon didn’t agree to her list of demands, including rehiring the worker, Christian Smalls, and paying him and another fired worker large sums of money. James said that she will continue to review her legal options. In a statement, she called Amazon’s lawsuit “a sad attempt to distract from the facts and shirk accountability for its…

The frenzy around GameStop’s stock may have quieted down, but the outsized influence small investors had in the saga is likely to stick around. No one expects another supernova like GameStop to happen again, where a band of smaller-pocketed investors helped boost a struggling company’s stock 1,000% in two weeks. But the tools they employed can be used again and again, if those smaller investors stay connected on social media forums and if regulators don’t change the rules to hinder them. These smaller players, called “retail investors” in the industry to differentiate them from hedge funds and other big firms, are using many of the same tactics as the professionals, after all. And if retail investors continue to hold greater sway, the result will likely be sharper swings for some…

Do you know which restaurant cooked the meal you just had delivered? Increasingly, it can be hard to tell. Delivery-only brands — cooked in another brand’s kitchen and often delivered by third parties like Uber Eats — were proliferating even before the pandemic. They’re an inexpensive way for restaurants to try a new concept or fill a need in the community; a burger place might try making tacos under a different name, for example. But over the last year, delivery-only brands have seen explosive growth as the pandemic made delivery a more popular option. Big restaurant chains are now joining the fray, hoping to win new customers as traffic in their dining rooms dwindles. Applebee’s is launching Cosmic Wings, a delivery-only brand that specializes in chicken wings and Cheetos-flavored dipping…

When General Motors boldly announced its goal last month to make only battery-powered vehicles by 2035, it didn’t just mark a break with more than a century of making internal combustion engines. It also clouded the future for 50,000 GM workers whose skills — and jobs — could become obsolete far sooner than they knew. The message was clear: As a greener U.S. economy edges closer into view, GM wants a factory workforce that eventually will build only zero-emissions vehicles. It won’t happen overnight. But the likelihood is growing that legions of autoworkers who trained and worked for decades to build machines that run on petroleum will need to do rather different work in the next decade — or they might not have jobs. If the history-making shift from internal…

Ever since Stanley Kubrick’s unrealized dream biopic, Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French conqueror and rules, has been a very elusive character for directors. The life of Napoleon Bonaparte is an amazing story of revolutionary ideals crushed by the seductiveness of power and his ultimate demise is a story that is one of the best known in history. Kubrick would have been able to make an epic but he never got to it during his lifetime and now, legendary director Sir Ridley Scott has signed a deal with Apple to direct and produce Kitbag, a biopic based on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. The upcoming project was first offered to 20th Century Fox, but the deal never went through and soon, Apple signed a deal with Scott’s team to finance and…

Forces of revolution and oppression collide and entangle in Shaka King’s blistering “Judas and the Black Messiah,” a potent and vividly acted drama about the FBI’s subversion and assassination of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. King’s film, which he wrote with Will Berson, plunges into the dark chapter in American history when J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI used surveillance, infiltration and worse to check the ascent of Black movements both peaceful (as in the case of Martin Luther King Jr., chronicled recently in Sam Pollard’s “MLK/FBI” documentary) and more militant. Hampton, played by Daniel Kaluuya, was just 21 when he was shot and killed in an FBI raid in 1969. The raid was carried out, in part, due to information from Hampton’s own security chief, William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), a…

United Airlines said it will buy up to 200 small electric air taxis to help customers in urban areas get to the airport. The airline said it will help electric-aircraft startup Archer develop an aircraft capable of helicopter-style, vertical takeoffs and landings. Archer hopes to deliver its first aircraft in 2024, if it wins certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. United said once the aircraft are flying, it and partner Mesa Airlines will acquire up to 200 that would be operated by another company. According to an Archer presentation to investors, the orders are worth $1 billion with an option for $500 million more. Privately held Archer, which is based in Palo Alto, California, announced separately that it has agreed to merge with Atlas Crest Investment Corp. and form a…

In the Nevada desert, a cryptocurrency magnate hopes to turn dreams of a futuristic “smart city” into reality. To do that, he’s asking the state to let companies like his form local governments on land they own, which would grant them power over everything from schools to law enforcement. Jeffrey Berns, CEO of Nevada-based Blockchains LLC, envisions a city where people not only purchase goods and services with digital currency but also log their entire online footprint — financial statements, medical records and personal data — on blockchain. Blockchain is a digital ledger known mostly for recording cryptocurrency transactions but also has been adopted by some local governments for everything from documenting marriage licenses to facilitating elections. The company wants to break ground by 2022 in rural Storey County, 12…

Seven West Media has become the largest Australian news media business to strike a deal with Google to pay for journalism in a partnership announced this week before the nation’s Parliament considers draft laws to force digital giants to pay for news. Google and the publicly listed broadcast television, print and online publishing company jointly announced they had agreed on a “long-term partnership” after weekend discussions Australian government ministers had with media executives, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google. Kerry Stokes, chairman of Seven West Media, which owns 21 publications, thanked the government and the Australian competition regulator for their proposed law that the Parliament will consider. “Their outstanding leadership on the implementation of the proposed news media bargaining code…