Innholdsfortegnelse for #348 i Techlife News

THE FUTURE OF VIDEO IS STREAMING With more than $285 billion sitting around in cash, Apple could effectively launch a YouTube or Netflix rival overnight. While the Cupertino firm has, in all but name, confirmed their plans for a streaming service of its own, Apple is taking its time by investing in high-quality original content and preparing a worldwide rollout. The result, however, might not be what we first expected. Video streaming is big business. Earlier this year, Netflix overtook its rival Disney for ashort period , while Amazon Prime and Hulu are also growing. In fact, an incredible 59%of all homes in America have a streaming-enabled screen, and with Disney planning its own streaming service and BritBox, HBO Now, CBS All Access and FilmStruck all growing in popularity, the…

The social networking portal Instagram first launched in 2010 as a free app for iOS - and, back then, it was clear where Instagram’s focus was. In a post on its Tumblr blog, Instagram enthused that it “makes mobile photos fast, simple and beautiful”. In the years since then, the site has incorporated an increasing number of new features and picked up hundreds of millions of new users along the way. These efforts have culminated in the unveiling of its new long-form video platform IGTV. HOW INSTAGRAM HAS MUSHROOMED IN POPULARITY In June, Instagram announced that its tally of monthly active users had reached 1 billion. This places the site in a very exclusive one-billion club that includes WeChat with a billion users, WhatsApp with 1.5 billion and Instagram’s parent…

As gigabytes of data flow from field to fingertips, click by click, the technological divide has been closing between teams at the World Cup. While the focus has been on the debut of video assistant referees, less obvious technical advances have been at work in Russia and the coaches have control over this area, at least. No longer are the flashiest gizmos to trace player movements and gather data the preserve of the best-resourced nations. All World Cup finalists have had an array of electronic performance and tracking systems made available to them by FIFA. “We pay great attention to these tools,” Poland coach Adam Nawalka said. “Statistics play an important role for us. We analyze our strength and weaknesses.” The enhanced tech at the teams’ disposal came after football’s…

Lincoln officials are inviting residents to help test out an all-electric, driverless shuttle bus for a test program that could bring more autonomous vehicle services to the city. The public will have a chance to reserve a 15-minute ride on the bus starting Thursday. The shuttle will be conducting trial runs at the Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln until mid-July. The city is collecting feedback on riders’ experience. The bus holds 15 passengers, with 11 seats and four spots for standing, and will travel at speeds between 10 to 17 mph (16 to 27 kph). Lincoln was loaned the self-driving shuttle from vehicle company Navya with a $100,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The charity organization selected Lincoln to compete with other cities for up to $5 million to implement a…

Flush with savings from lower tax bills and profits from a growing economy, big U.S. companies are spending a record amount buying back their own stock. Stock repurchases hit $189.1 billion in the first quarter for the S&P 500, according to preliminary results from S&P Dow Jones Indices. That tops the prior record of $171.9 billion set during the summer of 2007, just before the Great Recession struck. The robust buying of their own shares continues a yearslong trend where companies have returned more and more cash to their investors through buybacks and dividends. S&P 500 companies returned a total of $1 trillion to their shareholders in the 12 months through March, the first time they’ve passed that threshold. Apple, Cisco Systems and other technology giants helped lead the way.…

Bad Witch Nine Inch Nails It may be NIN’s ninth, and shortest, full album but Bad Witch is packed with experimentation that stands as a direct rebuttal to the sameness that Trent Reznor was worried about. It alternates between anxious beats, jarring vocals, and intriguing ambience that’s clearly influences by Reznor’s masterful score compositions for films including The Social Network and Gone Girl. FIVE FACTS: 1. in 1995, the band were almost killed by a power line that fell on the bus they were sleeping in at Woodstock Festival. 2. The band’s logo was inspired by the album cover ‘Remain in Light’ by the Talking Heads. 3. The NIN frontman composed the soundtrack for David Fincher’s 2010 film The Social Network and it won an Oscar for Best Original Score.…

As “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” cruises into its tenth season, Jerry Seinfeld realizes that with great success also comes the potential for lawsuits. He experienced it with the “Seinfeld” television series, his animated turn in “Bee Movie,” and now with his latest show. The lawsuit comes from Christian Charles, who claims he developed the concept, and is therefore the owner of the project. Charles directed the first episode of the series. Seinfeld says he’s not worried, though he’s a little hurt that the lawsuit comes from a friend. Earlier in the week, the comedian sat down with Media to talk his favorite moments from “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” (the new season debuts July 6 on Netflix), whether it’s open season on comedians after politically polarizing incidents involving stars…

Last year’s visitor from another star system — a cigar-shaped object briefly tumbling through our cosmic neck of the woods — has now been identified as a comet. A European-led team makes the case in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Nature. Telescopes first spotted the mysterious red-tinged object last October as it zipped through the inner solar system. Since then, astronomers have flip-flopped between comet and asteroid for our first confirmed interstellar guest. Neither a coma nor tail was spotted, hallmarks of an icy comet. But Italian astronomer Marco Micheli and his team reported that the object’s path and acceleration are best explained not just by gravity, but also gases shedding from a comet. The release of what’s believed to be gaseous carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and water applied only…

Equifax Inc. has reached an agreement with eight states that will require the credit-reporting agency to put stronger security measures in place to prevent future data breaches. About 147.9 million Americans were impacted by Equifax’s 2017 data breach, which was the largest exposure of personal information in history. While Equifax has taken steps to correct the problems that led to incident, state regulators say Wednesday’s consent order addresses deficiencies that have persisted. The states involved were: California, Texas, New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Georgia, Alabama and Maine. The order requires Equifax to take a number of steps to shore up weaknesses in its information technology and data security operations over the next year. Equifax, which is based in Atlanta, said that a “good number” of the action items have been…

President Donald Trump de-escalated a confrontation with China on Wednesday, dropping plans to impose strict limits on Chinese investment in U.S. technology companies and instead urging Congress to strengthen existing laws that apply to all foreign countries. The administration’s more conciliatory stance raised at least the possibility that the two sides could work toward a negotiated end to the punishing tariffs they’re set to impose on each other’s goods beginning July 6. And it fueled a rally in financial markets, which had been reeling on fears of an escalating trade war, before stocks fell later in the day. It was unclear whether the Trump team’s policy shift would lead to a truce between the world’s two biggest economies, which have been edging toward a high-risk confrontation, or whether any formal…

Mandan’s school district has been shifting toward putting iPads into the hands of all students, even kindergartners. Mandan Public Schools will provide iPads this upcoming school year to students in third through fifth grade. Kindergarten through second grade will receive devices the following year, the Bismarck Tribune reported. The district has been moving to integrate iPads in classrooms as part of Ignite 2025, a plan to ensure all students have access to technology. The district purchased about 900 devices for Mandan Middle School students last year and 1,000 devices for high school students the year before. “By providing every single student a device, we’re providing equity to our students,” said Perry Just, district curriculum and alternative education director. School officials said they’ve seen increased student engagement since introducing the iPads.…

Police generally need a warrant to look at records that reveal where cellphone users have been, the Supreme Court ruled last week in a big victory for privacy interests in the digital age. The justices’ 5-4 decision marks a big change in how police may obtain information that phone companies collect from the ubiquitous cellphone towers that allow people to make and receive calls, and transmit data. The information has become an important tool in criminal investigations. Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the court’s four liberals, said cellphone location information “is detailed, encyclopedic and effortlessly compiled.” Roberts wrote that “an individual maintains a legitimate expectation of privacy in the record of his physical movements” as they are captured by cellphone towers. Roberts said the court’s decision is limited to…

Apple CEO Tim Cook intends to continue lambasting U.S. immigration policies and other issues that trouble him to avoid falling into an “appalling silence.” Cook outlined his views on when CEOs should protest government policies during a Monday evening appearance at a business conference hosted by Fortune magazine.. His remarks came a week after he condemned the Trump administration’s since-reversed practice of separating children from parents accused of crossing the U.S. border illegally in an interview with The Irish Times. If he had dodged the politically charged subject, Cook said he would have been cast into “the appalling silence of the good people category and this is something that I never want to be a part of.” Cooks listed education, privacy rights, the environment and human rights as other key…

Kroger Co. is about to test whether it can steer supermarket customers away from crowded grocery aisles with a fleet of diminutive driverless cars designed to lower delivery costs. The test program announced Thursday could make Kroger the first U.S. grocer to make deliveries with robotic cars that won’t have a human riding along to take control in case something goes wrong. Cincinnati-based Kroger is teaming up with Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup founded two years ago by two engineers who worked on self-driving cars at Google. That Google project is now known as Waymo, which plans to introduce a ride-hailing service that is supposed to begin picking up passengers in fully autonomous cars by the end of this year. Like Waymo, Kroger is only saying its self-driving delivery service…

State information technology officials say Minnesota’s beleaguered computer system for vehicle titles and tabs may not be fixed before the agencies responsible for it run out of money. The Pioneer Press reports that the officials have told state lawmakers that work to fix glitches in the system known as MNLARS will halt in February, if not sooner. The team that’s been working on it could also be dismantled. Much of the funding needed to fix the system was included in a bill lawmakers approved in the spring, but it was vetoed by Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton. The earliest funding could come in the winter when a new Legislature and governor convene. Funding approved would then be distributed in July 2019. Technology officials say that in the meantime state workers and…

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” was never expected to approach the record-setting heights of 2015’s “Jurassic World,” but it still took a mighty bite out of the box office with a $148 million debut, according to final ticket sales figures Monday. The opening proved that the 25-year-old “Jurassic Park” franchise remains a massive draw, even when trailed by mediocre reviews. The follow-up to “Jurassic World” (which debuted with $208.8 million three years ago) earned just a 50 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore. After opening with an animated-feature record $182.7 million last week, Pixar’s acclaimed “Incredibles 2” slid to second with $80.3 million. Rarely have two such popular films filled theaters at once. The weekend’s total ticket sales ranked as one Hollywood’s biggest overall…

A jury on Wednesday found that Dr. Dre, music mogul Jimmy Iovine and their headphone company Beats Electronics owe a former partner $25.2 million in royalties. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Wednesday by a narrow 9-3 margin that Beats breached a contract with Steven Lamar and his company Jibe Audio. Dr. Dre and Iovine, the music producer and co-founder of Interscope Records, were not in court for the verdict. Both testified during the three-week trial and sat in the audience for opening statements. The suit said Lamar in 2006 came to Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, with the idea for celebrity-endorsed headphones. Attorneys for Lamar contended he was owed over $130 million for a dozen different models of headphones. The defendants acknowledged that Lamar was…

Voters in Google’s Silicon Valley hometown will decide whether the search engine leader and other tech companies should help pay for the traffic congestion and other headaches resulting from mushrooming workforces. The City Council in Mountain View, California, voted Tuesday to place a measure on the November ballot asking residents to authorize taxing businesses between $9 and $149 per employee, The Mercury News in San Jose, California, reports Wednesday. The move comes weeks after Seattle leaders succumbed to strident opposition from online retailer Amazon and repealed a tax on large companies aimed at alleviating homelessness. If the Mountain View measure passes, the tax could generate about $6 million a year for the city, with $3.3 million coming from Google alone. The bulk of the money would pay for transit projects…

A U.S. judge who held a hearing about climate change that received widespread attention ruled Monday that Congress and the president were best suited to address the contribution of fossil fuels to global warming, throwing out lawsuits that sought to hold big oil companies liable for the Earth’s changing environment. Noting that the world has also benefited significantly from oil and other fossil fuel, Judge William Alsup said questions about how to balance the “worldwide positives of the energy” against its role in global warming “demand the expertise of our environmental agencies, our diplomats, our Executive, and at least the Senate.” “The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case,”he said. Alsup’s ruling came…

Xiaomi, a Chinese cellphone maker that helped pioneer the trend toward ultra-low-priced smartphones, is preparing for what would possibly be the biggest tech initial public offering since e-commerce giant Alibaba’s in 2014. The 8-year-old is a star among Chinese unicorns, a term that refers to startup companies that are valued at more than $1 billion. It has a dedicated Chinese fan base and its media-savvy leader is an Asian celebrity. But it is untested outside the region. Can a Chinese company be cool outside Asia? Can Xiaomi achieve its goal of expanding beyond hardware to be an internet service company? A guide to Xiaomi and its upcoming IPO in Hong Kong: WHERE DID XIAOMI COME FROM? Xiaomi — pronounced “SHEE-YOW’-mee” — was founded in 2010 by CEO Jun Lei and…

Ayrial Miller is clearly annoyed. Her mother is sitting with her on the couch in their Chicago apartment, scrolling through the teen’s contacts on social media. “Who’s this?” asks Jennea Bivens, aka Mom. It’s a friend of a friend, Ayrial says, and they haven’t talked in a while. “Delete it,” her mom says. The 13-year-old’s eyes narrow to a surly squint. “I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!” she shouts. Yes, Bivens is one of “those moms,” she says. The type who walks into her daughter’s bedroom without knocking; the kind who tightly monitors her daughter’s phone. She makes no apology. Nor should she, says a retired cybercrimes detective who spoke to her and other parents in early June at Nathan Hale Elementary School in Chicago. “There is…

A California lawmaker’s decision to alter a net neutrality bill considered one of the nation’s most aggressive efforts to require an equal playing field on the internet has generated intensely personal online attacks aimed at his family as well as criticism from fellow Democrats in Congress. Assemblyman Miguel Santiago leads a committee that this week stripped whole chunks of a net neutrality measure. He stirred a passionate reaction from open internet advocates who think the state that is home to the technology sector and the liberal resistance to President Donald Trump should take a hardline stance on the matter. The decision reverberated far beyond California’s Capitol, drawing rebukes from members of Congress and leading the state Democratic chairman to try to diffuse tension. Santiago quickly drew fire in online memes…

Apple and Samsung have finally settled a seven-year battle over smartphones that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The bitter rivals notified U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh of the truce in a notice filed Wednesday. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed. The resolution comes a month after a jury concluded Samsung owed Apple $539 million for copying some of the iPhone’s innovations in some of Samsung’s competing products. The verdict was reached after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 2016 ruling that determined a portion of earlier damages awarded to Apple needed to be re-examined. Apple had been seeking more than $1 billion in the latest trial while Samsung argued it should only pay $28 million.…

Amazon.com Inc. is buying PillPack, an online pharmacy that offers pre-sorted dose packaging and home delivery. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Amazon said Thursday PillPack offers a combination of deep pharmacy experience and a focus on technology. The company, which has its primary pharmacy in Manchester, New Hampshire, ships to all states except Hawaii. The companies expect to close the deal later this year. In premarket trading, shares of drugstore chains Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid slid.…

I Kill Giants Based on the acclaimed graphic novel, this epic adventure tells the story of teen Barbara Thorson who is the only thing that stands between giants and the destruction of her small town. As she boldly confronts her fears, her guidance counselor leads her to question everything she’s ever believed to be true. FIVE FACTS: 1. This will be Zoe Salanda’s third appearance in a comic book adaptation following The Losers (2010) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). 2. Adapted from Image Comics 2008 graphic novel series under the same name by writer Joe Kelly and artist J.M. Ken Niimura. 3. The train scenes were filmed at the Belgian station of Hombourg. 4. Halle Berry was considered for the role of Mrs. Mollé but she wasn’t considered “bankable”…

There’s an oppressive bleakness to the brutal action-thriller “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.” But with faces like Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro, what are you going to do? Amid the dust cloud of violence that settles over the “Sicario” sequel, nothing stands out like the furrowed brow of Brolin’s grimace or the cold, worn-out stare of del Toro. They look like gunslingers from an Anthony Mann or Sam Peckinpah western, just with heavier ammo and dark sunglasses. With such sunken, world-weary eyes, in the heyday of film noir del Toro and Brolin would have made a killing. They do plenty of that, too, in “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.” Matt Graver (Brolin) and his cartel lawyer turned undercover pal Alejandro Gillick (del Toro) are again called into action in…

A nuclear technology company says it will start developing products in Alabama which include a propulsion system that could send rockets to Mars. News outlets report BWX Technologies Inc. opened an office in Huntsville. BWX vice president for advanced technical programs, Jonathan Certain, says the company has a contract with NASA to create conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal reactor that could power a spaceship to Mars. BWX will develop it at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. BWX CEO Rex Geveden says the company supplies nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. government including parts for submarines and aircraft carriers. Certain says the company hopes to hire between 75 and 150 people in Huntsville in the next four or five years. BWX’s headquarters is in Lynchburg, Virginia.…

When Google first introduced its phone-calling digital concierge Duplex in May, some thought it sounded too human. Others worried that it would secretly record calls with people. The search giant says it has been working to address these concerns. For starters, Google says that the bot will identify itself as an automated assistant upfront and will disclose that it’s recording calls. Human operators will be standing by as backup should a call go off the rails. As for Duplex’s tendency to use speech fillers like “ums” and “ahs,” Google notes that this technique improved the assistant’s ability to book appointments by interacting more naturally with humans on the other end of the line. The search giant provided these and other details in a demonstration for reporters Tuesday ahead of the…

A London court gave ride-hailing firm Uber a shorter than usual license to keep operating in the capital, accepting Tuesday the firm’s claim that it has changed its aggressive corporate tactics and is now a more responsible corporate citizen. But Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot granted an operating license lasting just 15 months, short of the five-year permit Uber had had been seeking. That means the company will remain under scrutiny and serve a probation period of sorts in meeting the terms of regulators at Transport for London. “The rapid and very recent changes undergone by (Uber) lead me to conclude that a shorter period will enable TFL to test out the new arrangements,” the judge wrote in her ruling. London transport officials had revoked Uber’s license in September. They had…