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Techlife News|#156REVIEW: MACS, MOBILE UNITE WITH YOSEMITE SYSTEMIf you’ve upgraded your iPhone or iPad to iOS 8, the new software update for Mac computers will seem familiar.The Yosemite update to Apple’s OS X system, available as a free download starting Thursday, adds several features to bring the Mac in line with last month’s iOS 8 update for mobile devices. There’s also new functionality to make Macs act more like iPhones.Yosemite still has plenty of touches that make a Mac a Mac. But it continues a trend of breaking down barriers between the various devices as people depend more on smartphones and tablets for their everyday computing.SEAMLESSLet’s say you’re writing a lengthy email on your iPad and would prefer the Mac’s keyboard. You can just click an icon on the lower left corner of the Mac and continue…4 min
Techlife News|#156NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, IN OSCARS’ ‘PERFECT STORM,’ FACES ULTIMATE HOSTING TESTAfter years spent calling for Neil Patrick Harris to host the Oscars, fans of the star got what they asked for Wednesday when Harris was named emcee of the 2015 ceremony..The actor playfully hinted at the announcement in a video distributed on social media — he told an unidentified cellphone caller “I’m in” and then circled the item on a list that read “NPH’s Bucket List,” below such goals as “Saw a Lady in Half” and “Become an Imagineer.”Shortly after, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences issued a statement that Harris would host the Feb. 22 show at the Dolby Theatre. “To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his resources and talent coming together on a global stage,” show producers Craig Zadan…3 min
Techlife News|#156‘DEAR WHITE PEOPLE’ FINDS THE FUNNY IN PAINFUL TRUTHSDoes choosing the Syfy network over ESPN mean you’re too white? If you like Robert Altman’s films more than Tyler Perry’s, are you not black enough?These are the sorts of probing questions peppered throughout “Dear White People,” first-time feature director Justin Simien’s often hysterical look at the otherwise not-so-funny state of race relations in America.Set on the campus of a fictional Ivy League school, a handful of black students must navigate Winchester University’s institutionalized racism and its new, yet equally misguided notions about equality (racism is a thing of the past, according to the school president).It’s in this unwittingly hostile environment, where white students just can’t seem to stop touching black students’ hair, that the coeds must also deal with their own identity crises as minorities and young people.Colandrea (Teyonah…3 min
Techlife News|#156ANTICIPATION FOR FIFTY SHADES ADAPTATION PROMISES IMPRESSIVE BOX OFFICE RETURNSTALK THAT MOVIE COULD BE THE NEXT TWILIGHT The unexpected explosionof Fifty Shades of Grey in 2011 changed our sexual landscape and catapulted the novel and its author, E.L. James, into the public eye. As might be expected, it did not hide from the glare. Quickly becoming a part of the cultural makeup, the novel bewildered critics even while it delighted its readers, and quickly became the fastest selling paperback novel of all time.You probably talked about it, even if you didn’t read it, so it’s hardly surprising that such unprecedented sales and media interest would lead to a Hollywood adaptation – in fact, we’d be stunned if that wasn’t the case. Fans waiting with appropriately baited breath now have only a few months left before they see Jamie Dornan…6 min
Techlife News|#156RECORD iPHONE SALES DRIVE APPLE’S 3Q BEATThe iPhone again proved to be the engine behind Apple’s blockbuster financial performance, driving quarterly results well past expectations.Excitement for the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models sparked sales of 39.3 million iPhones in the last quarter - a record for the months of July through September - and made up for more disappointing sales of the company’s iPad tablets.“Those are Picasso-like numbers,” said FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives, referring to the iPhone, which contributed $23.7 billion in sales, or more than half of the company’s $42.1 billion in quarterly revenue. He said the new iPhone models are “what’s going to put fuel in Apple’s growth engine.” Apple said iPhone sales rose 21 percent over the same period a year earlier. By contrast, iPad revenue fell 14 percent,…3 min
Techlife News|#156FROM KORS TO DVF, FASHION MOURNS DE LA RENTAFun, sunny, romantic. Oscar de la Renta approached fashion and life on those terms, but there was more, so much more, those who loved and admired the designer say.The “more,” Vogue’s Anna Wintour wrote Tuesday on the magazine’s website, was “democratic.”By that, she meant de la Renta possessed the sensibility, the ease, to dine with the rich and famous but happily play dominoes with his staff.The “more,” to others, was his desire to make women feel feminine and pretty, and not just a coterie of first ladies and socialites.Laura Bush favored de la Renta, and so does her daughter, Jenna, who was emotional Tuesday during a “Today” show appearance in describing the close friendship that developed when he created her wedding gown.“It was the first dress he showed me. I…5 min
Techlife News|#156VERIZON REPORTS HIGHER 3Q NET INCOME, REVENUEVerizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday reported higher net income and revenue in its third quarter, helped by strong wireless subscriber growth and demand for its high-speed FiOS Internet services.Verizon, which bought out its wireless division from British cellphone carrier Vodafone Group this year, said it added 1.5 million net retail wireless connections in the quarter - up 44 percent from the same time last year. About 1 million of those were for tablets and devices other than phones. It ended September with 106.2 million wireless connections, including 100.1 million that involved monthly service contracts.Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo said promotion pricing has helped Verizon push customers into plans that should increase sales of phones using the more efficient 4G LTE network. Continued success in 4G adoption in the fourth quarter…1 min
Techlife News|#156MERYL STREEP TO PLAY WANNABE OPERA DIVA IN STEPHEN FREAR’S ‘FLORENCE’Meryl Streep is set to play the aspiring opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins in the upcoming biopic “Florence,” but she’ll want to avoid tuning up much: Jenkins was a famously awful vocalist.Such is the off-key premise for the movie, which will co-star Hugh Grant and be directed by “Philomena” helmer Stephen Frears, the European film company Pathe has confirmed. The film is currently in preproduction.Written by Nicholas Martin, “Florence” is based on the true story of Jenkins, a New York heiress and socialite who obsessively pursued her dreams of opera greatness but was the only person who didn’t realize she had a dreadful voice.Grant is to play her partner and manager, the aristocratic actor St. Clair Bayfield, who was determined to protect Jenkins from the truth. He faced a considerable…1 min
Techlife News|#156COBIE SMULDERS OF ‘HIMYM’ IS EXPECTING BABY NO. 2 WITH TARAN KILLAMCobie Smulders has another little agent on the way: She’s pregnant with her second child.The “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “How I Met Your Mother” star is expecting baby No. 2 with husband Taran Killam of “Saturday Night Live,” her rep confirmed to the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, declining to share how far along Smulders is in her pregnancy.Smulders and Killam, both 32, wed in 2012 and are already parents to daughter Shaelyn Cado, 5.The actress starred in “How I Met Your Mother” as Ted Mosby’s longtime love interest, Robin Scherbatsky, a former Canadian pop star who went by Robin Sparkles and developed a penchant for guns, cigars and scotch. Incidentally, Killam played recurring character Gary Blauman on the CBS comedy, which wrapped its ninth and final season…1 min
Techlife News|#156Macs and iPads debut at Apple's second fall keynoteAPPLE PAY AND OS X YOSEMITE ALSO GIVEN SIGNIFICANT COVERAGEThis fall has been a pretty exciting time to be an Apple fan, hasn't it? The new duo of iPhones - the 6 and the 6 Plus - would have been reason enough to get hyped up, but we've also had iOS 8 make its debut recently, and Apple Pay looks set to make paying for goods with your iDevice as easy as you like.That was before Apple CEO Tim Cook wheeled out that old favorite Steve Jobs saying, "One more thing..." for the Apple Watch - a product that most definitely wasn't just "one more thing", instead promising to popularize the technology wearables market in much the same way as the original iPhone and iPad shook up their respective categories.Now,…12 min
Techlife News|#156IBM TO PAY $1.5B TO SHED ITS COSTLY CHIP DIVISIONIBM will pay $1.5 billion to Globalfoundries in order to shed its costly chip division.IBM Director of Research John E. Kelly III said in an interview Monday that handing over control of the semiconductor operations will allow it to grow faster, while IBM continues to invest in and expand its chip research.IBM will make payments to the chipmaker over three years, but it took a $4.7 billion charge for the third quarter when it reported earnings Monday.The company fell short of Wall Street profit expectations and revenue slid 4 percent, sending shares down 7 percent at the open of trading.IBM’s performance dragged down shares across the semiconductor industry.Privately held Globalfoundries will get IBM’s global commercial semiconductor technology business, including intellectual property and technologies related to IBM Microelectronics. It also gets…2 min
Techlife News|#156REVIEW: APPLE PAY IN ACTIONIf there ever comes a day I can ditch my wallet and use my phone to pay for everything, I’ll look back to my first purchase through Apple Pay: a Big Mac and medium fries for $5.44. That wallet-free day won’t be coming for a while, if ever, but Apple’s new payments system brings us much closer.There were a few unexpected steps setting up Apple Pay on Monday, and the employee at a local McDonald’s looked befuddled as I stood there after waving an iPhone 6 over the wireless reader in front of the cash register. The transaction hadn’t gone through, so she was waiting for me to pay. I thought I had, but I had pressed the phone’s fingerprint ID sensor too hard, getting me out of the transaction…4 min
Techlife News|#156A TWIST ON THE MAN-CHILD ROMP IN ‘LAGGIES’Lynn Shelton is a curious, Pacific Northwest-bred hybrid of high-concept and low production value. She has made a specialty out of deconstructing sitcom-y setups: two pals trying to follow through on a dare to make a gay porno (“Humpday”); a man betwixt two interested sisters, one of them a lesbian, in a remote cabin (“Your Sister’s Sister”). Instead of heightening the broad potential of such stories, she plays them naturally, usually with improvised dialogue and an un-stylized, micro-budget intimacy.She’s something like the movies’ answer to the organic food movement: a farm-fresh producer of comfort food.In “Laggies,” Shelton has brought her light, heartfelt touch to her most familiar, movie-ready plot - a version of the back-to-school comedy rendered not with Rodney Dangerfield antics but the soul-searching of a direction-less 28-year-old Seattleite…3 min
Techlife News|#156GOOGLE’S STREAMING MUSIC SERVICE ADDS MOOD TO MIXGoogle’s music-subscription service will try to anticipate its listeners’ mood swings as it amplifies its competition with Pandora, Spotify and other popular services that play tunes over the Internet.Starting Tuesday, the $10-a-month All Access service will make music suggestions based on educated guesses about each subscriber’s mood and likely activities at certain points in the day or week.For instance, a subscriber who opens the service on a smartphone on a Monday morning might be offered a playlist suited for commuting, going to the gym or getting motivated for work. Opening the app on Monday evening, though, might generate songs appropriate for eating dinner, studying or unwinding.Six different music mixes created for different emotions and activities - with such labels as “Jumping Out of Bed” or “In The Lonely Hour” -…3 min
Techlife News|#156MADONNA MEMORABILIA TAKES CENTER STAGE IN CELEBRITY AUCTIONCostumes, gowns and jewelry worn by Madonna in films such as “Evita” and “A League of Their Own” and in the “Material Girl” music video will be the highlights of a celebrity auction next month in Beverly Hills, Julien’s Auctions said on Tuesday. They are among the more than 140 items from Madonna’s life and career that could fetch a combined total of up to $500,000 in the two-day in-house and online auction beginning Nov. 7.“This is the biggest collection of Madonna items ever to come to auction at one time,” said Martin Nolan, the executive director of the auction house.Many of the items in the auction are from a collection amassed by Marquee Capital, a London-based niche asset management company specializing in alternative investments, and other sources and collectors.Among…2 min
Techlife News|#156AMD CUTTING 7 PERCENT OF WORKFORCEAMD says it will cut 7 percent of its global workforce in an effort to improve its profitability.The Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker has been dealing with weaker revenue and profits for some time and posted third-quarter results Thursday that missed market expectations.The company expects the reductions and related real estate moves will save $85 million in 2015.AMD employed 10,149 people as of the end of its third quarter. It plans to cut the jobs by the end of its fourth quarter. The company will take a $57 million charge, largely for severance, during that final quarter.Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell nearly 5 percent to $2.51 in extended trading following the announcement. As of Thursday’s close, the stock is down by nearly one-third in the year to date.It is the…1 min
Techlife News|#156WILL APPLE PAY BE THE NEXT iREVOLUTION?Apple’s skinnier iPads and flashy big-screen iMac are sleek and stunning. But the tech giant is making a bigger strategic bet with next week’s launch of Apple Pay - the mobile pay service aimed at turning your iPhone into your wallet.The service, which goes live Monday and has hundreds of banks on board, is “hugely important” says Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett. It puts Apple in the middle of a wide range of consumer transactions, underscoring Apple’s value as a brand and giving people a powerful new reason to buy iPhones, iPads and other gadgets.Apple Pay is designed to work on the company’s newest iPhones, which contain a chip that allows payments at a special terminal in retail outlets. It also will be available on the new iPad Air 2…3 min
Techlife News|#156‘FURY’ PUSHES ‘GONE GIRL’ FROM TOP SPOT AT BOX OFFICEThe new World War II film “Fury” starring Brad Pitt battled to the top of the weekend box office, pulling in an estimated $23.5 million in the U.S. and Canada and pushing “Gone Girl” out of the No. 1 spot.Strong reviews and word of mouth propelled “Fury.” As of Sunday, the film had notched an 80% positive rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. It received an A-minus grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore.About 60% of the audience was male, and about 51% was older than 35.“Fury,” which was backed by Sony’s Columbia Pictures with QED International and LStar Capital, cost about $68 million to make.“We’re so proud of this film…. It’s a really good start for us,” said Rory Bruer, distribution president for Sony Pictures. “It’s a film that’s…5 min
Techlife News|#156HBO TO OFFER ITS PROGRAMMING OVER THE INTERNETIn a blow to cable and satellite TV providers, HBO will offer its programs directly to consumers over the Internet — potentially giving millions more Americans another reason to cancel their pay TV service.The premium network — home to “Game of Thrones,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “True Blood” and other shows — is now available only to pay TV customers for a subscription of about $15 a month. Starting next year, HBO will be available a la carte to the 70 million households with basic cable or satellite service, and to the estimated 10 million households with high-speed internet but no pay TV service at all.Because HBO has some of the most sought-after programs on television, its decision is expected to accelerate the dismantling of bundled pay TV channel packages in which…6 min
Techlife News|#156REVIEW: BETTER CAMERAS, LESS GLARE IN iPAD AIR 2If I’ve seen you taking photos with a tablet computer, I’ve probably made fun of you (though maybe not to your face, depending on how big you are). I’m old school: I much prefer looking through the viewfinder of my full-bodied, single-lens reflex camera, even though it has a large LCD screen.But as I tested out Apple’s new iPad Air 2, I see why people like to shoot pictures with a tablet. Images look great on the large screen, and there’s less guesswork about whether or not small details, such as lettering on a sign, will be in focus.And what you see - and get - with the iPad Air 2 is a better camera. The rear one now matches the iPhone’s 8 megapixels, up from 5 megapixels, and incorporates…4 min
Techlife News|#156Music1989 Taylor SwiftCountry pop superstar Taylor Swift may have only been born at the very end of the ‘80s, but the final year of that iconic decade has nonetheless proved a font of inspiration for the fifth studio album by the Reading, Pennsylvania native. It has already produced a number one single in the inspirational “Shake It Off”FIVE FACTS:1. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989.2. “Shake It Off” was the second of Swift’s singles to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.3. Collaborators on the album include Max Martin, Shellback, Diane Warren, Jack Antonoff and Ryan Tedder.4. With 1989, Swift has claimed she set outto make “blatant pop music”.5. Influences on the album include Phil Collins, Madonna and Annie Lennox.Anything Goes Florida Georgia LineAnything…1 min
Techlife News|#156IN ‘MOANA,’ DISNEY SETS SAIL WITH ANOTHER FEMALE PROTAGONISTWalt Disney Animation Studios has officially shoved off on “Moana,” offering a first look at the CG-animated adventure set in the South Pacific and slotting a late-2016 release date for the film.Details of “Moana” are largely being kept under wraps, but one of the notable takeaways from the announcement Monday is that the movie will focus on — and indeed, be named after — a female protagonist.Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (“The Little Mermaid,” “The Princess and the Frog”), “Moana” is to tell the story of a spirited teenage girl and “born navigator” who sets sail in search of a fabled island in the ancient world of Oceania. Along the way, she teams up with a demigod named Maui and encounters mythical creatures and places. “Moana” thus marks…3 min
Techlife News|#156ARETHA FRANKLIN, ANNIE LENNOX AND KIESZA RELEASE NEW ALBUMSARETHA FRANKLIN “ARETHA FRANKLIN SINGS THE GREAT DIVA CLASSICS” (RCA)Is it the singer or the song? Trick question, of course: It’s both, especially in the canon of diva anthems. “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics” — the title is the concept — is first and foremost an exercise in the obvious: a beloved voice applied to proven hits.Clive Davis, Ms. Franklin’s co-producer, has used the same strategy with Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow. Ms. Franklin’s album flaunts her style-hopping, from reggae to big band to the borderline of hip-hop. Most of all, it’s an improviser’s showcase: a group of safely recognizable songs that let Ms. Franklin get as acrobatic as she wants.Some arrangements echo those of the hits, like the sliding strings from Etta James’s “At Last” and the…5 min
