Innehållsförteckning för #245 från AppleMagazine

Apple is being sued by a subsidiary of China’s broadcasting regulator over a propaganda film more than 20 years old, in the latest legal wrangling for the tech giant in China in recent weeks. A Beijing court says the case has been brought by a production center that alleges that Apple has infringed its exclusive online rights to broadcast a film that depicts Chinese fighting against Japanese soldiers in northern China in the early 1930s. The plaintiff is also suing the developer and operator of the Youku HD app available on Apple’s App Store that it says enabled users to watch the film and caused it “huge economic losses,” according to the Beijing Haidian District People’s Court. The court says it has accepted the case brought by Movie Satellite Channel…

Athletes in Rio will compete to be the fastest sprinter and highest jumper at the Olympics this August. But there’s another test underway as well: How well can virtual reality capture sporting events? NBC says it will provide 85 hours of virtual reality programming during the Rio Olympics in August - though only to users of Samsung Galaxy smartphones and the Samsung Gear VR headset. It’s the first time Olympics programming will be available in VR. Virtual reality coverage of sports, essentially 360 video, has been growing since VR headsets such as the Samsung Gear and Oculus Rift became widely available earlier this year. Sports broadcasters are betting that virtual reality will be the next big game-changing way to watch sports. But right now, the audience is limited to those…

Any pet owner who’s imbued their furry or feathered friends with deep thoughts and mysterious intentions will relate to the imagination behind “The Secret Life of Pets .” It may not have the emotional resonance of a Pixar movie, but with its playful premise, endearing performances and outstanding score by Alexandre Desplat, “Pets” is fun, family (and animal)-friendly fare. People’s favorite non-speaking companions are brought to life here by Illumination Entertainment (the studio behind “Despicable Me”) and given voice by an all-star cast that includes Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate and Albert Brooks. Plot-wise, “Pets” follows the path Pixar set with talking toys 20 years ago in “Toy Story”: Two would-be rivals fighting for the love of their owner are forced to unite for a common cause. Little terrier…

The FBI won’t recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state, agency Director James Comey said Tuesday, lifting a major legal threat to her presidential campaign. But Comey called her actions “extremely careless” and faulted the agency she led for a lackadaisical approach to handling classified material. Comey’s decision almost certainly brings the legal part of the issue to a close and removes the threat of criminal charges. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said last week that she would accept the recommendations of the FBI director and of career prosecutors. “No charges are appropriate in this case,” Comey said in making his announcement. But Comey made that statement after he delivered a blistering review of Clinton’s actions, saying the FBI found…

Athletes in Rio will compete to be the fastest sprinter and highest jumper at the Olympics this August. But there’s another test underway as well: How well can virtual reality capture sporting events? NBC says it will provide 85 hours of virtual reality programming during the Rio Olympics in August - though only to users of Samsung Galaxy smartphones and the Samsung Gear VR headset. It’s the first time Olympics programming will be available in VR. Virtual reality coverage of sports, essentially 360 video, has been growing since VR headsets such as the Samsung Gear and Oculus Rift became widely available earlier this year. Sports broadcasters are betting that virtual reality will be the next big game-changing way ato watch sports. But right now, the audience is limited to those…

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that work-related emails on a private account used by the White House’s top science adviser are subject to disclosure under federal open records laws. The three judge panel sided with a conservative think tank that had filed a lawsuit seeking emails from John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The ruling overturns a lower court judge that said Holdren’s office did not have to comply with the Freedom of Information Act request from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the agency’s argument that emails on a private server were outside the government’s control. The court said the agency does not necessarily have to disclose the emails, but must search…

Within 24 hours of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, London-based technology startup Netz saw five investors suspend hundreds of thousands of pounds in promised money. Now the company, which provides data to financial companies on potential customers, can’t hire the candidates it had lined up. And should it eventually get the needed investment, it will face the risk of not being able to tap enough talent as Britain’s departure from the EU could make it more difficult to hire from the bloc’s other 27 countries. “The people we want to hire, are they still interested in coming to London? There is a lot of uncertainty from a regulatory point of view,” said CEO Frank Bertele, a German national. Since the vote, he has accelerated plans to expand into…

A Massachusetts nonprofit is launching a new smartphone application so beachgoers along the East Coast can report their own shark sightings. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy says users of Sharktivity will become “citizen scientists,” providing valuable tracking data for researchers trying to better understand the animals. The Chatham-based organization says the app is free and currently only available for Apple products. It’s being launched as Cape Cod’s waters begin to warm and great white sharks begin to appear in earnest. Greater numbers of the powerful sharks are being spotted each year near the Cape Cod shoreline because of a booming population of seals, one of their favorite delicacies. Shark researchers counted 141 different great whites off Cape Cod last year, up from 80 the previous year.…

When Cornelia Yzer woke to the news that Britain had voted to leave the European Union her initial reaction was disappointed. As an anglophile she was saddened by the thought of Britain leaving the club. Then Berlin’s economy minister reached for the phone and got busy luring companies from Britain to the Germany capital. “The decision (to leave the EU), which I regret, was taken by Britain,”Yzer told The Associated Press. “So there can’t be any surprise that those who see themselves firmly anchored inside the European Union - and that’s the case for Germany and its capital Berlin - now want to make sure that they’re a home for businesses that say ‘we need to be in.’” Yzer (pronounced EE-ser) isn’t the only official on the continent hoping for…

Since its inception in 2015, Apple Music has gone from strength to strength. Despite tough competition from the likes of Spotify, Google and Tidal, Apple has managed to grow to over 13 million paying subscribers in little over a year, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Yet, despite achieving its growth organically, Apple is now preparing a $500 million takeover bid for Jay-Z’s streaming service TIDAL. Launching in Scandinavia as WiMP, Tidal was bought by ‘Crazy in Love’ hitmaker Jay Z for $54 million last March, who offered to put the musicians at the forefront of the streaming service. A public launch featuring the likes of Madonna, Drake, Rihanna, Beyonce and Daft Punk had everybody talking, and music icons each signed a ‘declaration of support’ and offering exclusive music,…

“Captain Fantastic“ is about the fantasy of being able to create a perfect world for your children, and the crushing realization that such control is ultimately impossible. Ben (Viggo Mortensen) pursues this ideal in a particularly extreme way - by removing his family from society altogether and creating his own little utopia in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. We meet the family in the midst of a hunt. They’re all covered in camouflaging mud. The eldest, Bo (George MacKay), slaughters an animal, and Ben tells him that he is a man now. Primitive though the ritual may be, this family is not. Far from it. They are survivalist philosopher kings - highly educated and extremely self-sufficient. Ranging in age from single digits to late teens, the six children, Nai (Charlie Shotwell),…

Green Room A band find themselves trapped in the green room of a neo-nazi bar after witnessing a murder there. FIVE FACTS: 1. Anton Yelchin plays the main role of Pat. Yelchin sadly died in a freak car accident on June 19th 2016 at age 27. 2. The script terrified Patrick Stewart so much that he locked up his house and turned on the home security system – encouraging him to play the role. 3. The stance of the machete wielder in the poster references The Clash’s iconic “London Calling” album cover with bassist Paul Simonon smashing a guitar. 4. Anton Yelchin and Patrick Stewart are both veterans of the Star Trek series. Yelchin plays Pavel Chekov while Stewart played Jean-Luc Picard. 5. Yelchin’s final film appearance to be released…

Soaring over Jupiter’s poles, a NASA spacecraft arrived at the solar system’s largest planet on a mission to peek behind the cloud tops. The final leg of the five-year voyage ended Monday when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft fired its main rocket engine and gracefully slipped into orbit around Jupiter. Mission controllers celebrated when Juno sent back radio signals confirming it reached its destination. “We’re there. We’re in orbit. We conquered Jupiter” Juno chief scientist Scott Bolton said during a post-mission briefing. In the weeks leading up to the encounter, Juno snapped pictures of the giant planet and its four inner moons dancing around it. Scientists were surprised to see Jupiter’s second-largest moon, Callisto, appearing dimmer than expected. The spacecraft’s camera and other instruments were switched off for arrival, so there…

Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a software update that will add an easy sign-up button to the health information app that comes installed on every smartphone the company makes. CEO Tim Cook says he hopes the new software, set for limited release this month, will help ease a critical and longstanding donor shortage. He said the problem hit home when his friend and former boss, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, endured an “excruciating” wait for a liver transplant in 2009. “Watching and seeing him every day, waiting and not knowing - it stuck with me and left an impression that I’ll never forget,” Cook told The Associated Press. Cook was so concerned that he offered to donate part of his own liver,…

The first American death involving a car in self-driving mode presents a dilemma: How aggressively to embrace the potentially lifesaving technology after a fatal crash. The driver’s history of speeding further complicates the question. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the design and performance of the Tesla Model S vehicle’s “Autopilot” system after announcing the death of a driver on Thursday. The system was engaged at the time of the crash, but that is only part of the story. The driver, Joshua D. Brown, a 40-year-old technology company owner from Canton, Ohio, was so enamored of his sedan that he nicknamed it “Tessy” and praised the Autopilot’s safety benefits. Brown published videos on Youtube of himself behind the wheel with the system active. He was killed May 7…

The New York Lottery has created a new instant game allowing players to use mobile phones in conjunction with a traditional scratch game - something lottery officials say is a first in the nation. The game announced Tuesday is called Gold Castle. It contains a bar code that can be scanned by a smartphone to create an image of a castle on the phone screen. Players then touch the castle to reveal prizes. The $5 game is sold at traditional lottery retailers and can be played like a normal instant game. Users wishing to use their smartphones to unlock the new features must download a free Lottery app. Lottery Director Gardner Gurney says that if the game is successful the Lottery may consider other types of the augmented reality games.…

Keith David spent years flying around the globe on covert missions, making life-and-death decisions and overseeing multiple units unleashing airstrikes against insurgents. The former Navy SEAL now realizes it was the perfect training for a career in Silicon Valley. A growing number of U.S. special forces veterans are veering off the traditional path of working for private security firms and law enforcement agencies, and instead are heading into the tech industry. Companies are discovering their abilities to build teams and think outside the box make them a good fit for the innovative businesses. “It’s very adaptable and flexible, especially a startup, so it’s kind of like the Wild West where there are not a lot of rules,” David, 32, said of Silicon Valley, where he has worked at a robotics…

Tarzan didn’t roar and The Big Friendly Giant didn’t stomp. Instead, “Finding Dory” led the box office for the third straight week, taking in $51.4 million over the four-day July 4th weekend according to final studio tallies Tuesday. The weekend’s big-budget debuts, the King of Jungle makeover “The Legend of Tarzan” and Steven Spielberg’s “The BFG” both failed to be major draws. “Tarzan” fared better than some expected, though, grossing $46.6 million. Spielberg’s Roald Dahl adaptation simply flopped with just $22.7 million. Given its low budget, the horror sequel “The Purge: Election Year” was the biggest winner of the new openings, scaring up $36.1 million over the holiday frame. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations,…

A medical implant that slowly dissolves into the body could be the answer to long-standing safety concerns with devices used to treat clogged arteries. But not so fast, say experts. Abbott Laboratories’ newly-approved Absorb stent comes with one important caveat: it hasn’t yet been shown to be safer than older metal implants. The Food and Drug Administration approved the device Tuesday for patients with coronary artery disease, the artery-narrowing condition that causes about 370,000 U.S. deaths each year, according to government figures. The new stent is designed to gradually dissolve over three years. Currently-available stents are permanent, mesh-wire tubes that hold open arteries after a procedure used to clear fatty plaque. Experts describe Abbott’s device as an important step in finding a better approach to treating the leading cause of…

A Northern California man who said Google was “watching him” faces federal charges in three late-night attacks on the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, including accusations of tossing Molotov cocktails and opening fire on a building, authorities say. No one was hurt in the attacks that took place in May and June, though one of the Internet search giant’s self-driving cars was destroyed by fire. Raul Diaz, 30, faces an arson charge in the first attack that began shortly before midnight May 19 at the company’s massive campus in Mountain View, California, according to a federal complaint. An employee called police after seeing a man throw a beer bottle at a Google mapping car and then watching the area burst into flames. The fire bombs landed at the rear of the…

A report by the organizers of the Davos forum says the United States, Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Israel are getting the biggest bang for their buck in economic and digital innovation. The Geneva-based World Economic Forum says in its new Global Information Technology Report released Wednesday that trends suggest individuals, not business or government, are driving the digital revolution and an already large gap in infrastructure between rich and developing countries is widening. WEF competitiveness chief Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz says “government or businesses are not leveraging digital technology sufficiently.” She said developing nations could benefit by providing more affordable access.…