AppleMagazine #580

Apple Music wants to help you and your friends sing along to your favorite songs with a new feature it’s rolling out just as people gather for end-of-year parties. Apple Music Sing gives the user the ability to adjust a song’s vocals and an enhanced beat-by-beat lyric display, which both draw on the platform’s massive song library. The result is what Apple hopes will be an effortless invitation to karaoke. “The level of engagement around our lyrics features is pretty phenomenal and we’re going to extend on that and make it not just easy for fans to read along to lyrics, but also to sing along with their lyrics,” Rachel Newman, global head of editorial at Apple Music, told. Display lyrics have been enhanced, going from line-by-line previously to syllable-to-syllable now, including breaking…

The unabashedly liberal city of San Francisco became the unlikely proponent of weaponized police robots last week after supervisors approved limited use of the remote-controlled devices, addressing head-on an evolving technology that has become more widely available even if it is rarely deployed to confront suspects. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to permit police to use robots armed with explosives in extreme situations where lives are at stake and no other alternative is available. The authorization comes as police departments across the U.S. face increasing scrutiny for the use of militarized equipment and force amid a years-long reckoning on criminal justice. The vote was prompted by a new California law requiring police to inventory military-grade equipment such as flashbang grenades, assault rifles and armored vehicles, and seek approval from…

A New Hampshire man accused of running an unlicensed bitcoin exchange business catered to romance and imposter scammers who conned their victims into wiring him money that he shared as virtual currency with the criminals after taking his cut, a prosecutor alleged during opening statements in his trial Tuesday. But Ian Freeman, who also is accused of money laundering, conspiracy, and four counts of tax evasion, actually warned people of scams and he helped businesses in the community, his lawyer said in the federal trial in Concord. Some of what the prosecution is saying is “absolute nonsense,” defense attorney Mark Sisti said. Freeman has pleaded not guilty. Freeman, of Keene, was arrested last year, accused of running the unlicensed business and avoiding taxes from 2016 to 2019, said Georgiana MacDonald, assistant U.S. attorney.…

President Joe Biden on Tuesday visited the site for a new computer chip plant in Arizona, using it as a chance to emphasize how his policies are fostering job growth in what could be a challenge to the incoming Republican House majority. Biden has staked his legacy in large part on major investments in technology and infrastructure that were approved by Congress along bipartisan lines. The Democratic president maintains that the factory jobs fostered by $52 billion in semiconductor investments and another $200 billion for scientific research will help to revive the U.S. middle class. “What I’m most excited about is people are starting to feel a sense of optimism as they see the impact of the achievements in their own lives,” Biden said Tuesday. “It’s going to accelerate in the months…

For the diving community, the Oceanic+ app for the Apple Watch Ultra is the equivalent to the launch of the first iPhone or Apple Watch, offering an Apple-powered dive computer on the wrist, with robust planning, a comprehensive post-dive experience, and much more. INTRODUCING OCEANIC+ When Apple launched its new rugged Apple Watch Ultra earlier in the year, one of its biggest selling points was integration with the Oceanic+ app, designed to turn the wearable into an easy-to-use dive computer and change how drivers monitored their performance forever. After a couple of months of testing, the app has arrived, developed by Huish Outdoors in collaboration with Apple, and it allows scuba divers to take their Apple Watch Ultra up to 40 meters below the surface, with the all-new depth gauge and water…

Microsoft agreed this week to make the hit video game Call of Duty available on Nintendo for 10 years should its $69 billion purchase of game maker Activision Blizzard go through — an apparent attempt to fend off objections from rival Sony. The blockbuster merger is facing close scrutiny from regulators in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. Microsoft, maker of the Xbox game console, faces resistance from Sony, which makes the competing PlayStation console and has raised concerns with antitrust watchdogs about losing access to what it calls a “must-have” game title. Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, tweeted that Microsoft “entered into a 10-year commitment” to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo. Microsoft President Brad Smith tweeted his thanks to Nintendo, which makes the Switch game console, saying the same offer was…