Innehållsförteckning för #244 från AppleMagazine

It’s a proposal that would unite two companies on shaky financial ground as they plow into relatively new markets. One makes electric cars, the other installs solar panels. There are few obvious synergies. Perhaps even more puzzling are the motives of Elon Musk, a polarizing billionaire who is the chairman and largest shareholder of both companies. The overlap created a glaring conflict of interest that’s fueling concerns about whether Musk is milking Tesla’s higher market value and better brand recognition to bail out SolarCity - a company run by his cousin, Lyndon Rive. The second-guessing probably wouldn’t be as widespread if not for the murky logic underlying the deal and Musk’s history of drawing upon Tesla and another of his companies, rocket ship maker Space X, to bolster SolarCity. Musk,…

Before moviegoers return to Pandora, they’ll be able visit the exotic alien world from “Avatar” on their smartphones. Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox have enlisted game studio Kabam to develop an “Avatar” mobile game for release ahead of the next four film sequels. “The idea is to extend the world beyond the big screen and create an experience that will be true to what James Cameron did in making the most technologically advanced film of its time,” said Kabam COO Kent Wakeford. “That’s what we want to do with this game.” The multiplayer strategy game is set for release in 2018 before the second “Avatar” film hits theaters. Wakeford said Kabam plans to update the game as “Avatar” sequels unfurl every other year through 2023. Kabam previously released mobile…

Some Facebook users looking for something to do in real life can now get suggestions from the social network. The company says a team is putting together lists of things to do in 10 U.S. cities with the goal of helping users stay in the know about what’s happening where they live. The events will include several categories, like family, educational, community and entertainment. For now, the lists are only available on iOS in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.…

Tarzan may be among America’s classic fictional characters, but he’s not beyond reproach. Like so many well-worn tales, Edgar Rice Burroughs’Tarzan was borne of a vastly different time more than 100 years ago, when narratives rooted in colonialism, white saviors and African stereotypes were the norm. Throughout the decades, Tarzan also became a staple of Hollywood - there have been 52 authorized films and seven television series that have told the tales of the King of the Jungle. For a bygone era, he’s the model romantic adventurer. Today, he’s a blemish on the history of literature and film. “The Legend of Tarzan ,” out Friday, is the first big-budget studio attempt to take on the character in the modern CGI world. Not only does the Warner Bros. film show feats…

Hello, My Name is Doris This interesting take on the classic coming of age film follows a woman who sets out to get the attention of a younger co-worker in her office, after being inspired by a self-help seminar. FIVE FACTS: 1. . Won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival 2015. 2. Sally Field has also starred in Forrest Gump, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Amazing Spider-Man. 3. Max Greenfield has previously starred in everything from Gilmore Girls, to The O.C., to American Horror Story. 4. was shot in 3 weeks in LA and 3 days in NYC for exterior photography. 5. Max Greenfield and Natasha Lyonne previously shared screen space in the hit sitcom ‘New Girl.’ Demolition After losing his wife in a car crash, an investment banker…

“The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years” (Thomas Dunne Books), by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman have compiled hundreds of interviews to create “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years.” The saga of a failed TV show growing in popularity after it was canceled in 1969 is the stuff of fairy tales. Conventions featuring the stars of the show were followed by movies, other TV shows, novels and fan-made films. The authors of this oral history have interviewed people directly involved with the franchise, including the actors, producers, writers and even famous fans of the series. The result is a compelling and fascinating time line.…

Like many autistic children, Julian Brown has trouble reading emotions in people’s faces, one of the biggest challenges for people with the neurological disorder. Now the 10-year-old San Jose boy is getting help from “autism glass” - an experimental device that records and analyzes faces in real time and alerts him to the emotions they’re expressing. The facial recognition software was developed at Stanford University and runs on Google Glass, a computerized headset with a front-facing camera and a tiny display just above the right eye. Julian is one of about 100 autistic children participating in a Stanford study to see if “autism glass” therapy can improve their ability to interpret facial expressions. “There’s not a machine that can read your mind, but this helps with the emotions, you know,…

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Using smartphone sensors to peek over its drivers’ shoulders, Uber is promising to keep a closer eye on their behavior - while discouraging speeding or slamming on the brakes. The global ride-hailing company on Wednesday announced an extensive test of new software that aims to increase safety by analyzing data from individual drivers and sending them daily reports about things like sudden acceleration, braking and whether they’re holding their phones when they drive. Trucking companies and fleet operators collect similar information, while some auto insurers offer a discount to motorists who install a data-collection device in their cars. Uber, which is requiring drivers in several cities to participate, is eager to show that it’s making safety a priority at a time when some jurisdictions are mulling whether to impose stricter…

Silicon Valley’s biggest businesses could face tougher regulations following Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, and some might have to leave London to attract the best employees. Many U.S. tech companies now count on Europe for a quarter or more of their business. Beyond facing a financial downturn as the pound’s value erodes, these companies might find Europe a more challenging environment in which to do business. It could take a year or two before the picture becomes clear. For now, what’s certain is the U.K.’s exit will be complex and unprecedented, with repercussions crossing the Atlantic and reaching all the way to the U.S. West Coast. Meanwhile, U.K. tech companies might have to leave the country to follow their customers and funding sources. Here are some ways…

How to distribute lifesaving supplies quickly and safely after a natural disaster has long been a puzzle for responders. Now, drones might be the lifesaver. That idea was put to the test this week in New Jersey as a drone delivery service conducted test flights to help determine whether drones can be used to carry human medical samples to and from areas that cannot be accessed or communicated with during major storms, earthquakes or other disasters. Experts say drones are becoming a more valuable tool in many humanitarian operations, where the unmanned aircraft can be quickly launched and used to collect data and images and help locate people who might be injured or trapped. But Timothy Amukele, an assistant professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine…

From a 3-D pen that lets kids safely doodle with melted plastic to an electrically charged glass that makes beer taste bubblier, there was no shortage of fun and quirky gadgets at this year’s CE Week. The annual, three-day gadget show in New York is meant as a showcase for products coming out for the holidays, though many items are still in development or seeking investments through group-fundraising sites such as Indiegogo. Here are five notable gadgets at the show, which ends Thursday. PEN FOR “DRAWING” 3-D SCULPTURES There’s now a kid-safe version of the 3Doodler 3-D printing pen, which melts sticks of colored plastic into goo that shoots out of the pen tip to create 3-D sculptures. With both versions, the plastic hardens quickly, so you can draw into…

The Mountain Will Fall DJ Shadow The sixth studio album from one of America’s longest-standing DJs and music producers is a must-buy for any fans of electronic or dance music. FIVE FACTS: 1. DJ Shadow is the owner of an exceptionally large personal record collection, which clocks in at over 60,000 records. 2. His debut album Entroducing is in the Guinness World Records book for being the “First Completely Sampled Album”. 3. DJ Shadow produced the score for Dark Days- a documentary movie by Marc Singer which follows a group of people living in an abandoned section of the New York City underground railway system. 4. Entroducing and second album The Private Press are certified gold in the UK. 5. Has also collaborated with artists including Run the Jewels, Mos…

China on Sunday recovered an experimental probe launched aboard a new generation rocket, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program that envisions a mission to Mars by the end of the decade. Space program authorities said the spaceship’s landing on the vast Inner Mongolian steppe keeps China on schedule to place its second space station into orbit later this year. The launch of the spaceship aboard the newly developed Long March 7 rocket on Saturday was hailed as a breakthrough in the use of safer, more environmentally friendly fuels. The launch also marked the first use of the massive new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan. Since launching its first manned mission in 2003, China has sent up an experimental space station, the…

The cod isn’t just a fish to David Goethel. It’s his identity, his ticket to middle-class life, his link to a historic industry. “I paid for my education, my wife’s education, my house, my kids’ education; my slice of America was paid for on cod,” said Goethel, a 30-year veteran of these waters that once teemed with New England’s signature fish. But on this chilly, windy Saturday in April, after 12 hours out in the Gulf of Maine, he has caught exactly two cod, and he feels far removed from the 1990s, when he could catch 2,000 pounds in a day. His boat, the Ellen Diane, a 44-foot fishing trawler named for his wife, is the only vessel pulling into the Yankee Fishermen’s Co-op i n Seabrook. Fifteen years ago,…

Google is trying to make it easier for you to manage the vast pool of information that it collects about your online activities across phones, computers and other devices. Among other things, a new privacy tool will enable the more than 1 billion people who use Google’s search engine and other services to block certain ads from appearing on every device that they log into, instead of having to make a special request on each individual machine. Some users of Google’s search engine, Gmail and Chrome browser will start receiving notices about the new option beginning Tuesday, but it will take several more weeks before it’s available to everyone. Google also is introducing a “My Activity” feature that will enable users to delete records of their online search requests and…

A small library in New Hampshire sits at the forefront of global efforts to promote privacy and fight government surveillance - to the consternation of law enforcement. The Kilton Public Library in Lebanon, a city of 13,000, last year became the nation’s first library to use Tor, software that masks the location and identity of internet users, in a pilot project initiated by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Library Freedom Project. Users the world over can - and do - have their searches randomly routed through the library. Computers that have Tor loaded on them bounce internet searches through a random pathway, or series of relays, of other computers equipped with Tor. This network of virtual tunnels masks the location and internet protocol address of the person doing the search. In a…

Since its humble beginnings, Apple has always worked to reinvent the wheel when it comes to its product range, and most of the time its efforts are well received. However, amid rumors that the firm is planning to ditch the iPhone’s headphone jack, more than 300,000 people have rallied together against the move, claiming that the need for a headphone jack is still there. Apple is obviously ready to untangle us from those pesky cables and take us into the future, but are we ready for the wireless world? THE BEGGING OF WIRELESS Since the release of AirPort back in 1999, which brought wireless networking to the home, Apple has been scissor happy when it comes to cutting away the wires from our favorite products. Back in 2004, the iMac G5 came packaged…

Scientists have deployed a buoy 22 miles off the coast of New York’s Fire Island to monitor several species of great whales in “near real-time.”The high-tech acoustic device will eavesdrop on the songs of the whales to better understand and safeguard their movements near two busy shipping lanes entering New York Harbor. “We know they’re there, but we know very little about them,” said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, director of Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giants Program. His New York-based organization has teamed with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts on the research project. Scientists last week deployed the buoy, which is four feet in diameter with a mast standing six feet above the sea surface south of Long Island. The buoy is connected by “stretch hoses” to a weighted frame…

“Finding Dory” topped the weekend North American box office for the second straight week, drowning the underperforming “Independence Day: Resurgence.” According to final studio figures Monday, “Finding Dory” took in nearly $73 million over the weekend, bringing its two-week domestic haul to $286.3 million. That easily outdid the debut of “Resurgence.” The Will Smith-less sequel to the 1996 blockbuster opened poorly with $41 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.“Finding Dory,” Disney, $72,959,954, 4,305 locations, $16,948 average, $286,277,856, 2 weeks. 2.“Independence Day: Resurgence,” 20th Century Fox, $41,039,944, 4,068 locations, $10,088 average, $41,039,944, 1 week. 3.“Central Intelligence,” Warner…

Atlas rockets are flying again, successfully launching a communications satellite for the Navy. The unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into a brilliantly clear sky Friday morning. It was the first Atlas flight by rocket maker United Launch Alliance since March, when a fuel-valve problem popped up on a space station delivery for NASA. The first stage of that rocket shut down six seconds too soon, but the second stage took control and put the Cygnus cargo ship in the proper orbit. United Launch Alliance grounded its Atlas fleet until it could fix the problem. Everything worked right Friday, according to the company, and the satellite reached its targeted orbit. The launch was the fifth in a series of advanced Navy communication satellites for use by the U.S. military worldwide. Less…

Amazon is expanding its lineup of Dash buttons, its “Jetsons”-style devices that let you reorder a particular product with a single touch. The online retailer says the buttons offer “quick and easy” convenience - but they won’t necessarily help you save money. Amazon first introduced the buttons , which bear product logos and attach to household surfaces, around April Fool’s Day in 2015. On Tuesday, it added 50 more brands to Dash, including Campbell’s Soup, Nerf and V8 vegetable juice, bringing the total number of Dash buttons to 150. Dash buttons are undeniably simple to use. You set them up with a smartphone via Wi-Fi, and can configure them to send order alerts to your phone in case you need to cancel. You’ll need an Amazon Prime membership ($99 annually)…

A look inside Alco Electronics Ltd.’s factory in China shows what it takes to succeed as a maker of gadgets for the rest of the world - human precision in tiny tasks and increasingly automated manufacturing, but also flexible thinking and perks to keep the best employees. Chinese workers in blue coats and caps worked on a production line making tablets during The Associated Press’ recent visit to the 2.5 million-square-foot plant. Their tasks can be tedious, such as soldering a connecter onto a circuit board. Machines do things like inspect incoming circuit boards and tighten screws on tablets - automation that lowers costs and improves quality. A droning noise signals where tablets are undergoing testing for all functions for eight hours before they’re packaged. That’s critical to help reduce…