Innehållsförteckning för #227 från AppleMagazine

Apple CEO Tim Cook got a standing ovation Friday at his first stockholder meeting since his company’s epic clash with the FBI unfolded. He defended the company’s unbending stance by saying: “These are the right things to do.” On Thursday (25), the tech giant formally challenged a court order to help the FBI unlock an encrypted iPhone used by a murderous extremist in San Bernardino, California. Federal officials have said they’re only asking for narrow assistance in bypassing some of the phone’s security features. But Apple contends the order would force it to write a software program that would make other iPhones vulnerable to hacking by authorities or criminals in the future. Major tech companies are rallying to Apple’s cause, and now plan a joint “friend of the court” brief…

Can the FBI force a company like Apple to extract data from a customer’s smartphone? In the fight over an iPhone used by an extremist killer in San Bernardino, some legal experts say Congress has never explicitly granted that power. And now a federal judge agrees in a similar case. In a New York drug case that echoes the much higher-profile San Bernardino dispute, U.S. Magistrate James Orenstein has ruled the government doesn’t have authority to make Apple pull information off a suspect’s iPhone. The judge said in his ruling that Congress has already considered, but rejected, extending the government’s authority in this fashion. Orenstein cited the history of a 20-year-old federal law - one that requires phone companies to assist police in conducting court-authorized wiretaps. Congress has resisted attempts…

Solar-powered trackers on wings have recorded California condors soaring to 15,000 feet, while locators attached to humpback whales have revealed 1,000-foot dives to underwater mountains. And GPS collars on Yellowstone grizzly bears are giving new insights into one of the most studied large carnivore populations in the world. Technological advances in recent years have allowed what could be the most inquisitive Earth dweller of them all, humans, to invent ever more ingenious tracking devices to find out what their fellow inhabitants are up to. “It’s a large field that’s developing very fast,” said Alex Zerbini, a research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle.“There are many types of tags being developed for many species of marine animals.” Scientists say the trove of information…

A few moments we’ll be talking about from Sunday’s Oscarcast the day after: - A LITTLE HELP FROM DAD: Host Chris Rock gave his daughters a boost with their Girl Scout Cookie sales by dispatching a team of Los Angeles-area Girl Scouts through the Dolby Theatre selling cookies to the gathered glitterati. An unfair advantage bestowed by a famous father? Sure, but you’d do the same for your kid if you could. And those enterprising girls collected a quick $65,243.00 for a good cause. - A DIFFERENT GROUP OF FILM FANS: It’s useful to recall that every moviegoer doesn’t glom onto - or even pay attention to - the films recognized by the Academy. To demonstrate that simple truth, Rock, in a pre-taped feature, visited a movie house in Compton,…

Meal-kit companies have exploded in the past four years, shipping boxes of raw meat, seafood, fresh vegetables and other ingredients to busy city folk who want to skip the supermarket and still cook at home. Now they want to tempt even more people to give them a try. But the companies face several challenges as they grow. They need to hold onto customers they already have, figure out how to ship uncooked food further outside of cities and continue luring funds from increasingly tightfisted investors. The industry is growing quickly in the U.S., after first gaining popularity in Europe, and competition is heating up as more players join the fray. Because of that, meal kit companies are doing all they can to stand out. Blue Apron started to ship wine…

A self-driving car being tested by Google struck a public bus on a Silicon Valley street, a fender-bender that appears to be the first time one of the tech company’s vehicles caused a crash during testing. Google accepted at least some responsibility for the collision, which occurred on Valentine’s Day when one of the Lexus SUVs it has outfitted with sensors and cameras hit the side of the bus near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. No one was injured, according to an accident report Google wrote and submitted to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. It was posted online Monday. According to the report, Google’s car intended to turn right off a major boulevard when it detected sandbags around a storm drain at the intersection. The right lane…

In its fight with the FBI, Apple insists it’s defending the privacy and safety of all iPhone users by resisting government calls to help unlock an extremist’s iPhone. And now other big tech companies such as Google and Facebook are rallying to Apple’s side. Wait just a minute: Aren’t those the same companies that Apple has previously criticized by lobbing veiled accusations that they exploit your personal information - to sell ads - and effectively endanger your privacy? Some might argue that Apple’s allies are hypocrites when it comes to privacy, much like the fraternity brothers in “Animal House” who declared: “He can’t do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges.” But Silicon Valley’s view of privacy is more nuanced than that. And Americans historically…

Mark Zuckerberg conceded Friday that Facebook didn’t do enough until recently to police hate speech on the social media site in Germany, but said it has made progress and has heard the message “loud and clear.” German authorities, concerned about racist abuse being posted on Facebook and other social networks as the country deals with an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants, have been pressing social media sites for months to crack down. The Facebook CEO talked personally about the issue in September with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and met her chief of staff during a visit to Germany this week. The Merkel meeting “really highlighted how much more we needed to do in this country,” he said at a town hall event in Berlin. “Hate speech has no…

While waiting for the much-discussed future of driverless cars to arrive, European automakers are focusing on tried-and-tested sales winners at this year’s Geneva International Auto Show - rolling out the small SUVs that are increasingly replacing hatchbacks and sedans in people’s driveways. Long after it has ceased to be an innovation, the small SUV category is drawing carmakers like catnip because it’s seen as the best chance to continue to increase sales and keep development costs down. Europe’s car industry finally bounced back strongly in 2015 after the eurozone debt crisis that started in late 2009. Sales rose 9.3 percent to 13.7 million vehicles in the European Union countries in 2015 and have risen now for 29 straight months. Meanwhile, the shadow of Apple and Google hangs over the industry,…

With deft timing and an impactful blend of humor and searing commentary, host Chris Rock took the bull by the horns at the Oscars, attacking the diversity crisis roiling the industry and not letting go all night long. Rock didn’t merely acknowledge the elephant in the room. From his first words to his farewell remarks, he brought it stage front and center, and kept it there. “I counted at least 15 black people in that montage!” he said of the opening film clips. He went on to call the Oscars the “White People’s Choice Awards,” and noted that if they had nominated potential hosts, “I wouldn’t have this job. You’d all be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.” He was referring, of course, to the fact that every acting nominee…

While audiences around the world watch the glamorous Oscars proceedings on TV, a whole different array of memorable starry moments are happening off-camera. Because the Academy Awards bring together so many top talents, the wings of the stage become an impromptu meeting place for stars across genres. Here’s a peek at the backstage celebrity spectacle: WHO HAS A FIVER? Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt watched Chris Rock’s opening monologue on a monitor just off stage right. Theron uttered many enthusiastic “Oh my Gods” while he spoke, and even one “Oh, dang,” before a stage manager handed her the envelope with the winning screenwriter’s name inside. “Should I open it, guys?” she asked of the various workers backstage. “Come on! I’ll do it for a fiver!” “I didn’t fall over!” -…

“Deadpool” easily defeated newcomers at the box office. The R-rated antihero romp starring Ryan Reynolds as the Marvel mercenary earned $31.1 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic haul to $285.2 million. The mythological saga “Gods of Egypt” featuring Gerard Butler as a rebellious deity opened in a distant second place with $14.1 million. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore: 1.“Deadpool,” 20th Century Fox, $31,115,195, 3,856 locations, $8,069 average, $285,254,204, 3 weeks. 2.“Gods of Egypt,” Lionsgate, $14,123,903, 3,117 locations, $4,531 average, $14,123,903, 1 week. 3.“Kung Fu Panda 3,” 20th Century Fox, $8,898,439, 3,296 locations, $2,700 average, $128,353,798,…

Microsoft says it will start shipping a developer version of its augmented reality device, HoloLens, for $3,000 on March 30. That’s around the same time Facebook’s Oculus will begin shipping the consumer version of its Rift virtual-reality headset for $600. HoloLens differs from the Oculus Rift in that it makes the viewer see three-dimensional objects in the real world, rather than blocking out the real and replacing it with a 360-degree fictional universe. The HoloLens operates on Windows 10 and unlike the Rift, requires no tethering to a separate computer. It’ll use a custom-built chip designed on an Intel platform. It’ll let users record high-definition video that recreates a mix of holographs overlaid on the real world that can be shared with people without the device.…

Police in Sao Paulo say they have arrested the vice president of Facebook in Latin America. A Tuesday news release says Argentine Diego Dzoran was arrested on an order from a judge in the northeastern state of Sergipe. Dzoran is accused of ignoring a judicial order in a secret investigation involving organized crime and drug trafficking. A Brazilian judge in December blocked the popular WhatsApp messaging service owned by Facebook because it refused to give user information to police. Brazilians are among the world’s most voracious users of social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Around half of the country’s population uses WhatsApp.…

It was a chaotic, late-night scramble to buy baby food with a screaming toddler in the backseat that gave Robert Ilijason the idea to open Sweden’s first unstaffed convenience store. Home alone with his hungry son, Ilijason had dropped the last baby food jar on the floor, and had to drive 20 minutes from the small town of Viken in southern Sweden to find a supermarket that was open. Now the 39-year-old IT specialist runs a 24-hour shop with no cashier. Customers simply use their cellphones to unlock the door with a swipe of the finger and scan their purchases. All they need to do is to register for the service and download an app. They get charged for their purchases in a monthly invoice. The shop has basics like…

The U.S. Justice Department cannot force Apple to provide the FBI with access to a locked iPhone data in a routine Brooklyn drug case, a magistrate judge ruled last Monday. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein’s written decision gives support to the company’s position in its fight against a California judge’s order that it create specialized software to help the FBI hack into an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino terrorism investigation. Apple’s filing to oppose the order by Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym in California is due by Friday. The San Bernardino County-owned iPhone 5C was used by Syed Farook, who was a health inspector. He and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people during a Dec. 2 attack that was at least partly inspired by the Islamic State group. Apple’s…

PRIVACY MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER AFTER SAN BERNARDINO The recent furore involving the FBI and Apple - with the former asking the latter to build what the Cupertino firm’s CEO Tim Cook described as a “backdoor” to an iPhone in order to reach the information of one of the perpetrators behind the San Bernardino terrorist atrocities - has sparked a whole new national debate around security. Post-Snowden, it seems that few of us are quite as safe from our own government as we once thought we were - so as an iDevice owner, what can you do to better protect you and your family right now? A TRULY FAMILY-FRIENDLY TECH GIANT The good news is that Apple has never exactly been a slouch in this department, and it all starts…

The quiet whirring of the drone’s propellers gives way to the sound of gunshots - pop, pop, pop, pop - in the 14-second video titled “Flying Gun.” The YouTube video of a drone-mounted handgun firing rounds into the Connecticut woods - and a companion video of a flying flamethrower lighting up a spit-roasting Thanksgiving turkey - have reignited efforts by state legislators to make it a crime to weaponize an unmanned aerial vehicle. While the Federal Aviation Administration mulls regulations on drones, a number of states have established their own rules - though most of them focus on drone-mounted cameras as threats to privacy and security. Connecticut would be one of the first to restrict how drone owners can modify their craft into potentially dangerous weapons. “I am a huge…

Academy Awards viewership dipped to its lowest level since 2008 in a year where the movie industry’s ability to reflect the nation’s diversity was a central issue. The Nielsen company said Monday preliminary estimates showed 34.3 million people watched Sunday night’s telecast, where “Spotlight” won best picture. Last year’s show was seen by 37.3 million people. Since 1990, only two Academy Awards telecasts had fewer viewers: in 2008, when “No Country For Old Men” won best picture, and in 2004, when “Chicago” was honored. The peak came when “Titanic” won a boatload of awards in 1998 and 55 million people tuned in. The paucity of minority nominees this year led to calls for a boycott among some black stars, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee. But Nielsen did not…

List of winners at Sunday’s 88th annual Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Best Picture: “Spotlight.” Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant.” Actress: Brie Larson, “Room.” Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies.” Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl.” Directing: Alejandro G. Inarritu, “The Revenant.” Foreign Language Film: “Son of Saul.” Adapted Screenplay: “The Big Short.” Original Screenplay: “Spotlight.” Animated Feature Film: “Inside Out.” Production Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Cinematography: “The Revenant.” Sound Mixing: “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Sound Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Original Score: “The Hateful Eight.” Original Song: “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre.” Costume Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Documentary Feature: “Amy.” Documentary (short subject): “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.” Film Editing: “Mad Max: Fury…

Creed The 7th instalment of the Rocky movie franchise sees the son of infamous boxing trainer Apollo Creed work his way through to becoming a champion fighter himself – with a little help from the franchise’s titular hero. FIVE FACTS: 1. Creed is the first movie in the Rocky series that isn’t written by Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa). 2. This is the longest movie in the Rocky series. 3. Creed also marks the first movie in the franchise in which Rocky Balboa himself doesn’t fight. 4. The movie has been nominated for 47 awards, winning 37 of them. 5. This is the first movie in the Rocky franchise to be distributed by Warner Bros. Forsaken Gunslinger Kiefer Sutherland returns to his hometown and his estranged father, only to find that…

General Electric is promising to boost its earnings by about 15 percent in each of the next three years and dole out $67 billion to shareholders as CEO Jeffrey Immelt tries to create a sleeker, “digital industrial” company. The $67 billion will be paid through a combination of quarterly dividends and repurchases of GE’s stock through 2018. The Fairfield, Connecticut, company returned $33 billion to shareholders last year. Reducing the amount of GE’s outstanding stock will also help the company realize its goal of increasing its adjusted annual earnings from $1.31 per share last year to more than $2 per share in 2018. Immelt made the financial pledge while spelling out his vision for the 138-year-old company in a letter released Monday with GE’s annual report. The wide-ranging letter calls…

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is closing the door on a space mission that has spanned a U.S.-record 340 days. Kelly and his roommate for nearly a year, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, check out of the International Space Station on Tuesday night, U.S. time. By the time their Russian capsule lands in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the pair will have circled the world 5,440 times and experienced 10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets. Their mileage: 144 million miles. Says Kelly, “We did it!” Kelly’s closest U.S. contender trails him by 125 days. Russia continues to rule, however, when it comes to long-duration spaceflight. The world record of 438 days was set by a Russian doctor during the 1990s. Scientists are hoping for more one-year subjects as NASA looks ahead to Mars trips. CHINA…