Innehållsförteckning för #492 från AppleMagazine

Virgin Galactic rolled out its newest spaceship as the company looks to resume test flights in the coming months at its headquarters in the New Mexico desert. Company officials said it will likely be summer before the ship — designed and manufactured in California — undergoes glide flight testing at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. That will coincide with the final round of testing for the current generation of spacecraft, which will be the one that takes British billionaire and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson to the fringes of space later this year. CEO Michael Colglazier said the addition of the new ship marks the beginning of Virgin Galactic having a fleet that will one day be capable of ferrying paying customers and scientific payloads from spaceports around…

Apple’s design language has changed a great deal in recent years, away from the silvers and rounded edges towards a modern, industrial-inspired design, as sported by the iPad Pro and iPhone 12. That design language is set to be elevated this year with the introduction of new iMacs and MacBooks. Yet one thing has remained consistent throughout the transition: consistency. Over the years Apple has shown a keen eye for detail, ensuring the company’s portfolio stands out from the crowd, creating cutting-edge, ‘unmistakably Apple’ products. DESIGN MATTERS Apple has always taken design seriously, cementing the company’s position as one of the most well-known and instantly recognized in the world. Where other technology brands have piggybacked off of current trends - often taking a leaf out of Apple’s book - the…

Trade groups representing big tech companies faced off with independent repair shop owners during a committee hearing in the Nevada Legislature over a proposal that would require manufacturers to give repair shops the ability to fix devices like computers, phones, tablets and printers. Whether government should require companies to provide independent shops — rather than just authorized dealers — access to the parts and schematics needed to fix devices is one front in a larger societal battle over how to regulate the technology industry as their products become more necessary in everyday life. So-called “Right to Repair” bills like the one in Nevada, which are under consideration in 25 statehouses, are loosely based on a Massachusetts ballot initiative that voters approved last year to make car parts and plans available…

Soul Middle-school music teacher Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) gets an exciting chance to perform in the band of legendary jazz musician Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett), only to fall down a manhole and find himself as a soul asked to mentor a relentlessly cynical soul called 22 (Tina Fey). FIVE FACTS: 1. This Pixar film is directed by Pete Docter, who previously directed the acclaimed films Monsters, Inc. (2002), Up (2009) and Inside Out (2015) for the Disney-owned animation studio. 2. Soul was teased in the preceding Pixar film Onward, in which a Dorothea Williams record briefly appears. 3. The tailoring company where Joe’s mother works in the film is based on the real-life Advanced European Tailoring shop located in the Californian city of Berkeley. 4. In an early scene where…

Canadian blockchain technology company Dapper Labs has secured $305 million in private funding — some of it from current and former NBA players, including Michael Jordan — to scale up its virtual NBA trading card site, the company said this week. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Dapper says NBA Top Shot has rung up $500 million in sales and registered more than 800,000 accounts since its public beta testing phase began in October. The virtual cards come in the form of a floating digital cube that includes a video highlight of an NBA player and come with a non-fungible token, backed by blockchain technology, certifying its authenticity and scarcity. A LeBron James dunk highlight sold for $210,000 recently but more common cards can often be had for less than $10. Besides the…

Whew, now here’s some good cosmic news: NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid. The space agency announced this week that new telescope observations have ruled out any chance of Apophis smacking Earth in 2068. That’s the same 1,100-foot (340-meter) space rock that was supposed to come frighteningly close in 2029 and again in 2036. NASA ruled out any chance of a strike during those two close approaches a while ago. But a potential 2068 collision still loomed. First detected in 2004, Apophis is now officially off NASA’s asteroid “risk list.” “A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s…

China announced tax breaks this week to spur growth of its semiconductor industry following U.S. sanctions that alarmed the ruling Communist Party by cutting off access to American processor chips for tech giant Huawei and some other companies. Leaders declared accelerating efforts to transform China into a self-reliant “technology power” to be this year’s top economic priority after the tariff war with Washington highlighted its reliance on U.S. components for smartphones and other industries Beijing wants to develop. Chipmakers can import machinery and raw materials tax-free through 2030, the Finance Ministry and other agencies announced. They did not say how large a subsidy to manufacturers that might represent. Beijing has spent heavily over the past two decades to build up a Chinese chip industry, but its makers of smartphones and…

The second Jennifer Bates walks away from her post at the Amazon warehouse where she works, the clock starts ticking. She has precisely 30 minutes to get to the cafeteria and back for her lunch break. That means traversing a warehouse the size of 14 football fields, which eats up precious time. She avoids bringing food from home because warming it up in the microwave would cost her even more minutes. Instead she opts for $4 cold sandwiches from the vending machine and hurries back to her post. If she makes it, she’s lucky. If she doesn’t, Amazon could cut her pay, or worse, fire her. It’s that kind of pressure that has led some Amazon workers to organize the biggest unionization push at the company since it was founded…

The CEOs of tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google faced a grilling in Congress last week as lawmakers tried to draw them into acknowledging their companies’ roles in fueling the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and rising COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. In a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, lawmakers pounded Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, which owns YouTube; and Twitter chief Jack Dorsey over their content policies, use of consumers’ data and children’s media use. Republicans raised long-running conservative grievances, unproven, that the platforms are biased against conservative viewpoints and censor material based on political or religious viewpoints. There is increasing support in Congress for legislation to rein in Big Tech companies. “The time for self-regulation is over. It’s time we legislate…

More than three years ago, Trump-era regulators killed federal net neutrality regulations designed to prevent AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and other major internet providers from exploiting their dominance to favor certain services or apps over others. In response, seven states and Puerto Rico enacted their own net neutrality policies. The most expansive effort of this sort was in California, which started enforcing its law — with potentially significant consequences for the rest of the U.S. WHAT IS NET NEUTRALITY? In a nutshell, it’s the principle that internet providers should treat all web traffic equally to ensure a free and open network. It’s pretty much how the internet has worked since its creation. Consumer advocates, internet companies like Mozilla and Democrats were concerned that huge broadband providers might wield their clout to…

KG0516 KAROL G Having been buoyed by her international smash hit “Tusa” with Nicki Minaj back in 2019, the Colombian star KAROL G has now followed up with her third studio album, KG0516, which goes even further than its well-received predecessor OCEAN in showing her musical range. FIVE FACTS: 1. “I always say ‘Tusa’ changed my life,” KAROL G told Apple Music, adding: “I will always be grateful to this song and Nicki Minaj.” 2. KAROL G has also expressed her pride that she “can sing in Spanish and still reach a massive audience.” 3. The new album’s closer “LEYENDAS” features reggaeton legend Ivy Queen, who KAROL G has hailed as a trailblazer for other female artists. 4. Last summer, KAROL G revealed she had tested positive for COVID-19 .…

Maybe the Luka Doncic rookie basketball card that recently sold at auction for a record $4.6 million was a bit rich for your blood. Perhaps you’d be interested in a more affordable alternative — say, a virtual card of the Dallas Mavericks forward currently listed for a mere $150,000? Not long ago, there’s no way you’d plunk down even $1.50 for a digital image that could be copied for free. But sports trading cards have gone convincingly digital, complete with rare collector’s items and the adrenaline rush of opening a fresh pack -- minus the stale, shattered plank of powdery bubblegum you might remember from childhood. These digital cards, dubbed “moments,” appear on screen as spinning, floating digital cubes that each feature a video highlight of an NBA player. They…

Automakers BMW and Volvo announced that they support a moratorium on deep seabed mining for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries and other products. The call, which was also backed by Samsung’s EV battery unit and tech giant Google, cites the importance of protecting fragile ocean ecosystems that are already under threat from overfishing, pollution, noise and man-made climate change. While deep seabed mining is still in its infancy, several prospecting firms are seeking rights to extract potentially lucrative deposits from the depths of the ocean, particularly the metallic nodules that build up around hydrothermal vents. “Before any potential deep seabed mining occurs, it needs to be clearly demonstrated that such activities can be managed in a way that ensures the effective protection of the marine environment,” the four companies…

Chinese tech giant Huawei said it eked out higher sales and profit last year but growth plunged after its smartphone unit was hammered by U.S. sanctions imposed in a fight with Beijing over technology and security. China’s first global tech brand reported sales of phones, network gear and other technology rose 3.8% over 2019 to 891.4 billion yuan ($135.8 billion), a decline from the previous year’s 19.1% growth. That was propelled by a 15.4% gain in China, while sales in other markets shrank. Huawei Technologies Ltd. is struggling to keep its global markets after then-President Donald Trump in 2019 cut off access to U.S. processor chips and other technology. Huawei was the top-selling smartphone brand in the second quarter of 2020 but fell out of the global top five after…

New York state Sen. Michael Gianaris was ecstatic when Amazon named Long Island City in 2018 as a front-runner for its new headquarters, a project that would bring 25,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in construction spending to his district in Queens. But his support faded quickly when he learned that state and city leaders had promised one of the world’s richest companies tax breaks worth $3 billion in secretive negotiations. A public backlash led Amazon to cancel the investment altogether, but to Gianaris the episode still illuminated the massive power of tech companies that dominate their industries, overwhelm traditional businesses and use that leverage to expand their reach even further. Consumer activists, small business owners and state lawmakers across the U.S. are increasingly calling for measures to rein in companies…

The U.S. must seriously consider the idea of tinkering with the atmosphere to cool a warming Earth and accelerate research into how and whether humanity should hack the planet, the National Academy of Sciences said. The report by the academy, set up by Abraham Lincoln to provide the government with expert advice, doesn’t recommend carrying out solar geoengineering to bounce heat back to space. At least not yet. But an emergency plan needs to be explored, the report says, because climate change-driven extreme weather has worsened since the last time the academy looked at the highly-charged issue in 2015. That requires coordinated research into whether air-tinkering technology would work, its potentially dangerous side effects, its ethics and the potential for political fall-out. The report looks at three possible ways to…

Back in 1985, famed director and Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg had his science-fiction anthology, Amazing Stories, air on NBC from 1985 to 1987. The show had a total of 45 episodes and was a critical success, earning 12 Primetime Emmy nominations and winning five of them; it also received other accolades, including the Edgar Award. Still, it seemed that the audiences were not impressed with the show and NBC decided to cancel it after two seasons, when the contract expired. Still, Amazing Stories became a cult classic show with a loyal following and that led to the show’s revival in 2020. Amazing Stories derives its name from the magazine of the same name, launched by Hugo Gernsback in 1926. Amazing Stories was the first dedicated science fiction magazine, which…

“Godzilla vs. Kong”begins, fittingly, with the big guy asleep. There is King Kong, colossus of the big screen, slowing waking on a mountainside. He rouses slowly in the morning sun from slumber before showering in a nearby waterfall. It’s, maybe, a little bit the same for the kind of movies King Kong symbolizes and still holds some dominion over: big spectacles of mass destruction made to be seen on equally towering screens. That kind of moviegoing has been been in hibernation for much of the past pandemic year. “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the only creature feature to dare wide release in some time, is a rock ‘em-sock ’em monster-movie revival with all the requisite explosions, inane plot twists and skyscraper smashing to satisfy most lovers of gigantic amphibians. Vive le cinéma!…

A billionaire’s private SpaceX flight filled its two remaining seats this week with a scientist-teacher and a data engineer whose college friend actually won a spot but gave him the prize. The new passengers: Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington. They will join flight sponsor Jared Isaacman and another passenger for three days in orbit this fall. Isaacman also revealed some details about his Inspiration4 mission, as the four gathered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He’s head of Shift4 Payments, a credit card-processing company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is paying for what would be SpaceX’s first private flight while raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Their SpaceX Dragon capsule — currently…

Epic Games submitted a complaint this week about Apple’s alleged “monopolistic practices” to the U.K. competition watchdog, which is investigating the iPhone maker over concerns it has a dominant position in app distribution. The move by the maker of the popular video game Fortnite is the latest salvo in its bitter battle over Apple’s App Store. Epic Games has also filed legal challenges in the United States and Australia, and an antitrust complaint in the European Union against Apple. The game-maker’s complaint accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior and setting strict rules on app distribution and payments in alleged violation of U.K. rules. Apple said it wasn’t surprised by Epic’s U.K. complaint “as we have seen them use the same playbook around the world.” The Competition and Markets Authority confirmed it…

Attorneys for conservation organizations and an electric utility clashed this week before a federal appeals court over the adequacy of environmental reviews of a key portion of a power transmission project in western Maine. An attorney for three conservation groups disputed the thoroughness of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and suggested its review was handled differently from those of other projects. But Central Maine Power said the federal agency properly found there was no significant impact. The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Appalachian Mountain Club are seeking to stop the New England Clean Energy Connect while they pursue a lawsuit seeking a more comprehensive environmental review by the Army Corps of Engineers. The $1 billion project would provide a conduit for up to 1,200…