Innehållsförteckning för #516 från AppleMagazine

In recent years, our iPhones have become much more than just our iPhones: they’re where we work, where we hang out with friends, and where we relax and unwind after a long day. It is no surprise, therefore, to learn that we’re listening to more music and engaging with more content on our devices, too, from the latest series of The Morning Show on Apple TV+ to the long-awaited DONDA album from Kayne West, there’s so much going on that we need to listen to. Add into the mix the rise of audiobooks as well as podcasts, fueled by platforms like Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, and it’s clear why millions are buying AirPods and Beats. And though those headphones offer a great listening experience, whether we’re at home or on the…

The U.N. human rights chief is calling for a moratorium on the use of artificial intelligence technology that poses a serious risk to human rights, including face-scanning systems that track people in public spaces. Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, also said that countries should expressly ban AI applications which don’t comply with international human rights law. Applications that should be prohibited include government“social scoring”systems that judge people based on their behavior and certain AIbased tools that categorize people into clusters such as by ethnicity or gender. AI-based technologies can be a force for good but they can also “have negative, even catastrophic, effects if they are used without sufficient regard to how they affect people’s human rights,” Bachelet said in a statement. Her comments came along…

Cities and urban counties across the U.S. are raising concerns that a recent rule from President Joe Biden’s administration could preclude them from tapping into $350 billion of coronavirus relief aid to expand high-speed internet connections. Biden has set a goal of delivering fast, affordable internet to every American household. The massive American Rescue Plan took a step toward that by including broadband infrastructure among the primary uses for pandemic aid flowing to each city, county and state. But an interim rule published by the U.S. Treasury Department has narrowed the broadband eligibility. It focuses on areas that lack reliable broadband, which connects devices to the internet through a cable or data line, at download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 3…

The general who leads U.S. efforts to thwart foreign-based cyberattacks, and punish those responsible, says he’s mounting a “surge” to fight incursions that have debilitated government agencies and companies responsible for critical infrastructure. In an interview, Gen. Paul Nakasone broadly described “an intense focus” by government specialists to better find and share information about cyberattacks and “impose costs when necessary.”Those costs include publicly linking adversarial countries to high-profile attacks and exposing the means by which those attacks were carried out, he said. “Even six months ago, we probably would have said, ‘Ransomware, that’s criminal activity,’” Nakasone said. “But if it has an impact on a nation, like we’ve seen, then it becomes a national security issue. If it’s a national security issue, then certainly we’re going to surge toward it.”…

Epic Games filed notice that is appealing a federal judge’s decision in a lawsuit alleging that Apple has been running an illegal monopoly that stifles competition. The maker of the popular Fortnite video game said in a court filing this week that it will take the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. In a 185-page decision rendered last week, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to dismantle a lucrative part of the competitive barricade guarding its closely run iPhone app store, but she rejected Epic’s allegations that Apple ran a monopoly. Epic’s notice of appeal said it would appeal the final judgment “and all orders leading to or producing that judgment.” The ruling continues to chip away at the so-called “walled garden” that…

You would have to shuffle a lot of movie ideas to come up with one that pairs a card sharp with the horrors of Abu Ghraib. But writer-director Paul Schrader has for some time known his cards, playing variations of the same hand over and over again. The protagonist of his “The Card Counter” — William Tell (Oscar Isaac) — is the latest in a long line of Schrader’s tortured, self-hating, deeply habitual, solitary men going back to Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.” This repeating figure of Schrader’s — one also seen in his previous film, “First Reformed,” and in another he wrote for Martin Scorsese, “Bringing Out the Dead” — has never seemed like a rerun. It’s more like a spiritual condition that Schrader, raised a Calvinist, can’t rid…

The joy of shouting to your friends over the roar of a crowded bar, the giddiness of seeing the world rushing by below you from the seat of an airplane, the weirdly constricting sensation of wearing pants that aren’t elastic — the summer of 2021 brought back many experiences we had forgone during the past year and a half of the pandemic. But this push to re-create a world that felt something like “normal” may have brought back another familiar feeling: the anxiety of racking up debt. If your summer of “revenge” spending has come for a payback of its own in the form of lingering debt, make a plan for paying it off. Then, think about how to prevent yourself from getting into more debt as you navigate progress…

South Korea’s competition watchdog plans to fine Google at least 207.4 billion won ($177 million) for allegedly blocking smartphone makers like Samsung from using other operating systems, in what would be one of the country’s biggest antitrust penalties ever. Google said it plans to challenge the fine. It has accused South Korean authorities of disregarding how its software policy benefits hardware partners and consumers. The announcement came as South Korea also began enforcing a revised telecommunications law that prohibits app market operators like Google and Apple from requiring smartphone users to pay with their in-app purchasing systems. It is the first nation to adopt such regulations. South Korea has always closely scrutinized how foreign technology companies behave in its market. Much of the focus in recent years has been on…

Teams working on two continents have marked similar milestones in their respective efforts to tap an energy source key to the fight against climate change: They’ve each produced very impressive magnets. Scientists at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in southern France took delivery of the first part of a massive magnet so strong its American manufacturer claims it can lift an aircraft carrier. Almost 60 feet (nearly 20 meters) tall and 14 feet (more than four meters) in diameter when fully assembled, the magnet is a crucial component in the attempt by 35 nations to master nuclear fusion. Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and a private company announced separately this week that they, too, have hit a milestone with the successful test of the world’s strongest high temperature superconducting magnet…

A cryptocurrency company launched by partners of a major Wall Street trading firm said Tuesday that it has snagged the support of billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen, as big names from the traditional financial world continue to embrace the industry surrounding crypto. Cohen, a hedge-fund manager and owner of the New York Mets, has agreed in principle to invest in Radkl, a crypto trading firm, though the deal is not final. The company is being launched by partners of GTS, a firm that trades as much as a billion shares of U.S. stocks on a given day. Radkl, which is pronounced like “radical,” plans to trade across cryptocurrency coins and exchanges, said Ryan Sheftel, the company’s CEO and a partner at GTS. As the crypto industry expands, Radkl plans to…

Three of the nation’s largest food delivery companies are suing New York City over a limit on fees it put in place during the pandemic to protect restaurants devastated by the forced closure of their dining rooms. The city has continued to extend those caps even as vaccinations allow more indoor dining which, according to the companies, cost them millions of dollars over the summer. In the suit filed last week the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats call the fee caps government overreach. The companies say they were “instrumental in keeping restaurants afloat and food industry workers employed” after investing millions of dollars in relief for those businesses. They are filing for an injunction that would prevent the city from…

No Man of God While on death row, serial killer Ted Bundy (Luke Kirby) agrees to reveal details of his crimes – but only to one man, FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood). A strange and complicated relationship develops between the two men in the years running up to Bundy’s execution. FIVE FACTS: 1. Over the years, Bundy has been portrayed by various film actors – including Cary Elwes in 2004’s The Riverman and Zac Efron in 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. 2. Mark Harmon played Bundy in the 1986 television film The Deliberate Stranger, which was released nearly three years before the real-life Bundy’s execution. 3. Wood spoke to the real-life Hagmaier over the phone in preparation for filming No Man of God. 4. However, Wood told…

The timing was perfect. The very moment I sat down to write about “Queenpins,” the inspired-by-actual-events tale of a coupon scheme gone awry, a tantalizing coupon popped up on my screen. It offered 20 percent off, for a popular brand of socks. I didn’t need socks. But 20 percent? Maybe I did need socks? I suddenly recalled what Ken, the hapless “loss prevention officer” played by a terrific Paul Walter Hauser, said in the film about why people use coupons: It’s not usually because they need the stuff. It’s the buzz — the “coupon high” they get when they score a deal. This alone could have made the germ of a movie: the psychology of discount shopping. But like many themes here, it gets muddled into a confusing — though…

The European Union’s top official outlined ambitious plans to help beef up the bloc’s chipmaking capability in the face of intensifying global competition for semiconductors. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the European Chips Act to provide official support for the bloc’s “chip ecosystem” so that the continent can stand on its own when it comes to producing the vital technology. Semiconductors are the tiny microchips that act as the brains for everything from smartphones to cars, and an extended shortage has highlighted the importance of chipmakers, most of which are based in Asia, to global supply chains. Automakers have been among the hardest hit by the shortage, which has slowed or halted production. “While global demand has exploded (for chips), Europe’s share across the entire value chain,…

Your palm could soon be your ticket into a concert. Amazon says it is bringing its palm-recognition technology to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver and it will be available at other venues in the coming months. It’s the first time the technology, called Amazon One, will be used outside some of Amazon’s stores, where shoppers can pay for groceries and snacks by swiping their palms. Starting Tuesday, concertgoers at Red Rocks can sign up to connect their palm to a ticketing account by hovering their hand over a device. They only need to sign up once and then can use their palm to get into other shows and events at the venue. An Amazon account is not needed to use it. Amazon signed a deal with entertainment company AEG…

Apple released a critical software patch to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action. Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said the security issue was exploited to plant spyware on a Saudi activist’s iPhone. They said they had high confidence that the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, Israel’s NSO Group, was behind that attack. The previously unknown vulnerability affected all major Apple devices — iPhones, Macs and Apple Watches, the researchers said. NSO Group responded with a one-sentence statement saying it will continue providing tools for fighting“terror and crime.” It was the first time a so-called“zero-click” exploit — one that doesn’t require users to click on suspect links or open infected files —…

Walmart denied any partnership with the digital currency Litecoin after a fake news release led to a brief flurry of inaccurate reports from national news outlets and social media users. A news release claiming a partnership between Walmart and Litecoin is “not real,” according to Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman. Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin and managing director of the Litecoin Foundation, confirmed the release was fake. The false announcement was temporarily featured on a major press release wire and in outlets including Reuters, CNBC and Yahoo Finance, before being deleted and corrected. It wasn’t immediately clear who created it. Here’s a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: Walmart announced a major partnership with the digital currency Litecoin. THE FACTS: The nation’s largest retailer is not partnering with Litecoin, despite a…

Three former U.S. intelligence and military officials have admitted providing sophisticated computer hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges in an agreement that the Justice Department described as the first of its kind. The defendants — Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke — are accused of working as senior managers at a UAE-based company that conducted hacking operations on behalf of the government. Prosecutors say the men provided hacking and intelligence-gathering systems that were used to break into computers in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The Justice Department alleges that the men committed computer fraud and violated export control laws by providing defense services without the required license. The case also appears to be part…

JOSE J Balvin “I wanted to show myself as a human being,” the Colombian singer J Balvin revealed to Apple Music about why his personal and self-reflective new album took part of his personal name as its title. “I wanted to show the things that Jose has gone through to be where I’m at right now.” FIVE FACTS: 1. “That was really important because that’s what I love to hear,” Balvin said about why the album nonetheless continues to include dance-heavy moments inspired by his reggaetón roots. 2. “JOSE is like my own playlist,” Balvin said – referring to the album’s long list of guest contributors, which includes Ozuna, Zion & Lennox and Dua Lipa. 3. Reggaetón singer Yandel features on the track “Te Acuerdas De Mí”. 4. Meanwhile, Khalid…

Boeing said this week that the airline industry is showing signs of recovering from the pandemic, and it raised its bullish prediction about demand for airline and military planes and other aerospace products and services. The company predicted that the aerospace market will be worth $9 trillion over the next decade. That is up from Boeing’s prediction of $8.5 trillion last year and $8.7 trillion in 2019, before the pandemic torpedoed demand for airline jets. Separately, Boeing reported a small gain in new airliner orders during August, underscoring the fragile nature of the recovery in air travel. The company posted net orders for 23 commercial jets after accounting for 30 cancellations — 28 of them for the 737 Max. As recently as 2018, Boeing booked more than 1,000 orders. That…

A court in Amsterdam ruled this week that Uber drivers fall under the Dutch taxi drivers’ collective labor agreement — meaning they are entitled to the same employment benefits as taxi drivers. Uber said it would appeal the ruling. The Amsterdam civil court said in a statement that three judges ruled that the legal relationship between Uber and its drivers “conforms to all the characteristics of an employment contract.” The Dutch workers’ organization that brought the case called the decision a major victory for Uber drivers. “This verdict shows what we have been saying for years: Uber is an employer and the drivers are employees, so Uber has to abide by the taxi traffic collective labor agreement,” Zakaria Boufangacha, vice-chair of the Federation of Dutch Unions, said in a statement.…