Innholdsfortegnelse for #321 i Techlife News

APPLE-MADE TV SHOWS AND FILMS MAY ON THE WAY Apple has often declared the fourth-generation Apple TV set-top box “the future of television”, but there have been recent flickers of evidence that Apple’s ambitions in television could extend far beyond this little home hub. These ambitions could encompass the production of original TV shows for the promotion of a video streaming service and indeed, Apple hardware. Could TV, rather than smartwatches or augmented reality, be the place for Apple’s next big revolution? AN “ENTIRE POP CULTURAL EXPERIENCE” IS IN THE WORKS The current version of Apple TV was released in October 2015 and has since received software updates enhancing its onboard operating system tvOS. In December, Apple released a new app, simply called ‘TV’, allowing users to browse content from various…

SpaceX chief Elon Musk’s elaborate plan for a mega-rocket to carry astronauts to Mars may have some down-to-Earth applications. At a conference in Australia last Friday, Musk said if you build a ship capable of going to the moon and Mars, why not use it for high-speed transport here at home. He proposes using his still-in-the-design phase rocket for launching passengers from New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes flat. Los Angeles to New York, or Los Angeles to Honolulu in 25 minutes. London to Dubai in 29 minutes. “Most of what people consider to be long-distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour,”Musk said to applause and cheers at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide. A seat should cost about the same as a full-fare economy…

APPLE IS CELEBRATING INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS If you’ve ever played a game on your iPhone, then you’ll have already witnessed the talent of gaming developers across the world. While many of the world’s most popular games are created by multi-million-dollar gaming companies like King, the Candy Crush creator that’s worth an incredible $6 billion, some of the most famous games have been produced by independent studios. In an aim to show off the talent of these independent studios, Apple has unveiled a new addition to the App Store, a section called Indie Showcase, to encourage its users to buy and play more games from independent companies. Although the new section was launched as a March 9-20 promotion, the Cupertino firm has confirmed on its Twitter channel that it will remain a permanent…

After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs — and, more recently, solar panels — Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: big trucks. The company unveiled its new electric semitractor-trailer last week near its design center in Hawthorne, California. CEO Elon Musk said the semi is capable of traveling 500 miles (804 kilometers) on an electric charge — even with a full 80,000-pound (36,287-kilogram) load — and will cost less than a diesel semi considering fuel savings, lower maintenance and other factors. Musk said customers can put down a $5,000 deposit for the semi now and production will begin in 2019. “We’re confident that this is a product that’s better in every way from a feature standpoint,” Musk told a crowd of Tesla fans…

The price of bitcoin surged through $10,000 this week, adding to its ten-fold jump in value this year and fueling a debate as to whether the virtual currency is gaining mainstream acceptance or is merely a bubble waiting to burst. The cost of buying one bitcoin as measured by the website Coindesk rocketed 10 percent through $10,000 early Wednesday and hit a high of $11,377 — having started the year below $1,000. The vertiginous rise in the price of bitcoin and other virtual currencies this year has divided the financial community on their merits and whether — or when — the value might come crashing back down. The CEO of JPMorgan Chase has called bitcoin a “fraud,” as it is not based on anything other than software code and is…

For many, (the artist formerly known as) Prince was more than just a musical artist. He was an icon, a sex symbol, a rebel, a prodigy, an innovator who brought us an oeuvre that transcended boundaries of musical style, textures, and genres. He was known for his flamboyancy both on and off stage, playing with signifiers of gender and defying racial stereotypes that led the Los Angeles Times to crown him the “first post-everything pop star.” Taking influences from artists and musicians including the likes of Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry and David Bowie, every album that Prince released showed growth in style and musical diversity. Through a constant experimentation with different sounds, Prince went on to be revered as a contemporary artist who brought differences together…

APPLE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY Yet again, Apple continued to push the boundaries of technology throughout 2017 and dominate the market. We saw the introduction of the iPhone X, the most anticipated iPhone since 2007, the Apple Watch series 3, AirPods, Apple Pay Cash and more. To celebrate this ground-breaking year for the tech giant, we are taking a look back on all their biggest achievements this year, before looking ahead to the tech possibilities for Apple in 2018. iPHONE X: THE MOST IMPORTANT iPHONE TO DATE The iPhone X was long rumored before it was officially released, with many speculating it would mark the 10-year anniversary of the first ever iPhone. Apple took a big risk with the latest phone, and it marks the biggest ever jump…

The term ‘digital art’ dates back to the 1960’s, a time in which we encountered Andy Warhol’s Commodore Amiga experiments and Stella McCartney’s trippy selfie videos. It is used to refer to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as an essential part of the creation, and it has transformed activities such as painting, drawing and sculpture as well as bringing to light the new forms of net art, digital installation art and virtual reality. Digital art techniques are used extensively worldwide, by the mainstream media in advertisements and by film-makers to create visual effects and, given the parallels between visual and musical arts, it seems increasingly likely that digital visual art will become accepted much in the same way as electronically produced music has over the past three…

Apple’s WWDC launch keynote this year was undoubtedly its most exciting in years, being packed to the rafters with announcements about both software updates and new hardware. We learned about not only the expected updates to iOS, macOS, and watchOS, but also the Siri-powered HomePod smart speaker and stunningly powerful new iPads. However, you might have overlooked the large extent to which all of these will be driven by the AI advancement known as deep learning. HOW MACHINE LEARNING AND DEEP LEARNING WORK Deep learning is a strand of machine learning, a term that was often bandied about during Apple’s two-and-a-half-hour presentation. Machine learning indicates a pivotal change in approaching artificial intelligence; it posits that, rather than pour data into machines in the effort to teach them everything, we should…

HOW THE iPHONE 8 COULD BUILD UPON AND LEAPFROG THE S8 It’s always exciting when Samsung unveils new flagship phones. The South Korean electronics giant is, after all, considered Apple’s only major rival in the smartphone game. However, with the recently announced Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, Samsung has positioned itself as a likely frontrunner in what could be another paradigm shift in smartphone design and technology - and, so rumor and speculation suggest, Apple should soon be joining that revolution with the iPhone 8. IMPRESSIVE SMARTPHONES, BUT ARE SOME CRACKS SHOWING? For those smartphone users entrenched in the Samsung and Android ecosystems, there is a lot to like about the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The display, in particular, will make a big impression. The display sizes - 5.8-inch…

English is one of the world’s most widely used languages - but code is even more so. That’s the verdict of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who recently told French news outlet Konbini: “If I were a French student and I were 10 years old, I think it would be more important for me to learn coding than English”. He described coding as “a language that you can [use to] express yourself to 7 billion people in the world” - and Apple is doing much to further coding knowledge worldwide. A SWIFT EXPANSION FOR A PROMISING CURRICULUM In 2014, Apple launched the programming language Swift, which is intended to encourage students across a broad age spectrum to pick up coding. Apple is also chasing this goal through further rolling out its Everyone…

Apple’s quantum leap of an iPhone, the iPhone X, has been officially released to retail... though whether you are able to get your own hands on it is a very different matter. In fact, pre-orders sold out within minutes of becoming available on Friday, October 27 - and, while Apple had indicated that there would be supply at its retail stores from November 3, that supply could very easily have gone by the time you read this. Still, the iPhone X has already been tested by many YouTubers. A TANTALISING - IF ALSO ILLICIT - VIDEO You’ve probably already seen quite a few of the iPhone X “hands-on” videos that appeared shortly after the September launch event, at which invited members of the press were able to put the handset…

SATELLITES FOR EXTENDING INTERNET ACCESS If you have been keeping a close eye on all of the recently circulating rumors about what Apple is currently cooking up, you could easily become excited thinking what the company’s development laboratories must look like. Basically, imagine some kind of tech equivalent of the colorful and vibrant world of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory - where augmented reality glasses, self-driving cars, satellites, and possibly even spaceships are being thoroughly tested by excited Apple staffers... Truth be told, the picture that we have just painted is probably more of a best-case scenario than a faithful reflection of what is actually happening behind those closed doors. Maybe the more outlandish of those ideas are, like Willy Wonka’s “square sweets that look round”, just the stuff of fantasy...…

In the wake of Britain’s third major attack in three months, Prime Minister Theresa May called on governments to form international agreements to prevent the spread of extremism online. Here’s a look at extremism on the web, what’s being done to stop it and what could come next. Q. What are technology companies doing to make sure extremist videos and other terrorist content doesn’t spread across the internet? A. Internet companies use technology plus teams of human reviewers to flag and remove posts from people who engage in extremist activity or express support for terrorism. Google, for example, says it employs thousands of people to fight abuse on its platforms. Google’s YouTube service removes any video that has hateful content or incites violence, and its software prevents the video from…