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BYU BLOCKCHAIN SUMMIT SEEKS TO EXPLAIN BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

THE NEXT BIG THING APPLE WANTS TO SURPRISE YOU - PART II

BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘BLACK PANTHER’ SCORES RECORD MONDAY

72 FACEBOOK FORGES AHEAD WITH KIDS APP DESPITE EXPERT CRITICISM

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DAKOTA WESLEYAN ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE, PARTNERSHIP WITH APPLE 08 US DOING LITTLE TO COMBAT RUSSIA MEDDLING IN NEXT ELECTIONS 14 GOOGLE’S DIGITAL ASSISTANT BRANCHES OUT TO NEST CAMERA 24 NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE CONSIDERS BILLS ON BLOCKCHAIN, CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR FIRST TIME 62 STARS, EDUCATORS LEAD EFFORT FOR KIDS TO SEE ‘BLACK PANTHER’ 82 LETITIA WRIGHT STEALS SHOW IN ‘BLACK PANTHER’ BREAKOUT ROLE 90 CRITICS WARY AS GOOGLE’S CHROME BEGINS AN AD CRACKDOWN 96 TEEN WORRIED ABOUT WALKING ALONE CREATES APP FOR SAFETY 124 TRANSFORM BATHROOMS WITH TECHNOLOGY 142 BROADCOM IS ADJUSTING ITS BUYOUT OFFER FOR QUALCOMM 148 EUROPEAN SPACE PROBE PREPARES TO SNIFF MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE 150 VICE PRESIDENT BRINGS ADVISORY GROUP TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER 152 NOACA SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH HYPERLOOP TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES TO EXPLORE... 154 STARS OF THE OLYMPICS ARE CHANGING THE SPONSORSHIP GAME 162 AMAZON TO CREATE ANOTHER 125 TECH JOBS IN PITTSBURGH 180 RUSSIA TROLL FARM EVEN ZANIER THAN INDICTMENT SAYS 182 PYEONGCHANG OLYMPICS SHOWCASES KOREAN SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES 188

TOP 10 APPS 104 iTUNES REVIEW 108 TOP 10 SONGS 170 TOP 10 ALBUMS 172 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 174 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 176 TOP 10 BOOKS 178

DAKOTA WESLEYAN ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE, PARTNERSHIP WITH APPLE

Dakota Wesleyan University has unveiled an initiative and a partnership with international technology company Apple. University President Amy Novak announced last week that all full-time, on-campus students would receive an iPad on the first day of class this fall under the initiative called Digital DWU, the Daily Republic reported. 9

Novak also announced that tuition will not increase next school year, but students will see a technology fee. “Digital DWU is our comprehensive, universitywide digital learning initiative that will be at the forefront of educational innovation,” she said. “It is our commitment to a model of learning that combines innovation and analysis, knowledge while leveraging the power of a digital revolution that changes the way we teach, learn and work.” University officials said the partnership with Apple is the first of its kind in South Dakota, giving students the experience and technological skills necessary to compete in the real world. “Technology is expanding our world in ways we couldn’t have imagined, even a decade ago,” Novak said. “It’s fundamentally changing how we learn, how we work and how we communicate.” Students can expect a person iPad, Apple TV in classrooms across campus, faster bandwidth and an engaging education, according to the president. Morgan Ziegler is a junior in the university’s athletic training program, and is one of several students in a pilot class as part of Digital DWU. Ziegler and her classmates have been creating their own personalized textbook using the iPads they were given last month. “I don’t think DWU’s ever done anything like this and it’ll help a lot with learning styles,” she said. “I’m just excited for the campus. It’s big.” 11

US DOING LITTLE TO COMBAT RUSSIA MEDDLING IN NEXT ELECTIONS

The Russians are going to try it again. Even President Donald Trump’s intelligence chiefs say so. But with congressional primaries just two weeks away, the U.S. has done little to aggressively combat the kinds of Russian election meddling that was recently unmasked in federal court. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s surprise indictment last week in his wide-ranging Russia investigation sounded a fresh alarm to the U.S. government, social media companies and state election officials who are readying for the 2018 midterms. What’s being done — or not — in the wake of Mueller’s revelations: Image: Brendan Hoffman

Image: Alex Brandon

IN CONGRESS Mueller’s indictment charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies in a plot to interfere in the 2016 presidential election through a social media propaganda effort that included online ad purchases using U.S. aliases and politicking on U.S. soil. Congressional committees held hearings on the social media attacks last fall, but legislation to require technology companies to enhance openness for online political ads has stalled amid GOP concerns of overregulation. None of the congressional committees investigating the interference — both the social media efforts and attempted Russian hacking of state election systems — have yet proposed policy changes to prevent it in the future. Senate intelligence committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., has said he wants to issue a report on security findings and legislative recommendations before the primaries begin, but it’s unclear if the panel will do so before Texas’ March 5 voting. Leaders of the House intelligence committee have also said they will issue a report with recommendations on how to prevent foreign interference. But the Republican-led panel has been more focused in recent weeks on whether the FBI conspired against Trump.

THE WHITE HOUSE Similarly, the White House has sent few signals on what should be done to combat the meddling as voters try to make sense of how it might affect them. Trump has said little on the severity of the threat or how it could be overcome, instead often focusing on whether he is a target of Mueller’s investigation or insisting that any meddling would not have changed the results of the election. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump on Tuesday, saying the president “hasn’t said that Russia didn’t meddle, what he’s saying is it didn’t have an impact, and it certainly wasn’t with help from the Trump campaign.” Top Trump officials have been more open and firm in saying Russia interfered and needs to be stopped. But what might be happening behind the scenes is unclear. In a hearing on global threats this month, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said, “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives that its past efforts have been successful and views the 2018 midterm US elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” He said, “We are behind the curve in coming to a policy” to penalize or stop those who interfere. Trump has mixed signals on sanctions approved by Congress on Russian entities in the wake of the interference. He signed the legislation, but his administration has bucked a congressional deadline to impose the sanctions. 18

Image: Kevin Lamarque

THE STATES Efforts to increase election security have been slow amid tensions between the federal government and the states. The Department of Homeland Security offered assistance to state and local election officials after Russian agents targeted election systems in 21 states ahead of the 2016 general election, but records show only 14 states have requested risk assessments and 30 have asked for remote cyber scans of their networks. Some state and local officials have expressed concerns about Homeland Security efforts to increase communication and cooperation with states about election systems. They have complained that it took the federal government nearly a year to inform them whether their states had been targeted by Russian hackers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The way government is structured with locals, states and the federal government, it works against us a little bit in terms of trying to solve this problem quickly,â&#x20AC;? said Noah Praetz, elections director for Cook County, Illinois. He has been working with federal officials to help improve communication channels.

SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES After an initial reluctance to acknowledge foreign interference in their platforms, social media companies have come forward in the past six months to pledge improvements in monitoring election-related advertisements and posts.

Still, it’s unclear if the companies are prepared to resist sophisticated efforts to get around their rules. Companies like Facebook have hired scores of new people to try and combat the meddling but still acknowledge that smart adversaries will try and find a way around whatever measures they put in place. “People say, ‘Why don’t you just check the currency or the IP address?’ And as soon as you do that, literally that afternoon, they will change tactics,” Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer told The Associated Press last week, before the indictment. And while Facebook and Mueller’s indictment focus on the Russian Internet Research Agency, some in Congress have suggested there could be additional “troll farms” working to infiltrate U.S. social media.

THE UNKNOWN Even with best efforts, many acknowledge there is no way to be fully prepared. The Russians or other foreign actors will find new ways to intervene. But more can be done, says the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner of Virginia. He says many of the obstacles to preparedness are “institutional barriers.” Some state election officials are fiercely guarding their independence, while he says some of his congressional colleagues are reluctant to further regulate the electoral process. On social media, the former tech executive says, companies’ efforts to self-police “don’t pass the smell test.” “I think we are more aware of the threat, but by no means fully prepared,” Warner says. 22

Image: Drew Angerer

GOOGLEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DIGITAL ASSISTANT BRANCHES OUT TO NEST CAMERA

Google’s voice-activated assistant is branching out to Nest’s deluxe security camera in an expansion that may amplify the privacy concerns surrounding internet-connected microphones. The virtual assistant is being offered to owners of the Nest Cam IQ in a free update rolling out Wednesday. The move comes just two weeks after Nest moved back under Google’s direct control after spending nearly 2 1/2 years as a separate company owned by the same parent, Alphabet Inc. The $300 Nest Cam will give Google another potentially valuable earhole in its battle with Amazon and Apple to build digital command centers in people’s home. That ambition has already spurred warnings from privacy watchdogs about the potential for internet-connected devices being used as surveillance tools. Google’s assistant already can be used to control Nest’s cameras and internet-connected thermostat through its internet-connected speaker, Home, and smartphones running on its Android software. This will be the first time that people will be able to interact with the digital concierge through a security camera.

The assistant is only supposed to be activated with keywords such as “OK, Google,” although there have been instances when the Home speaker has been caught listening when it was supposed to be turned off. Even if Google’s assistant doesn’t eavesdrop, its presence on an indoor security camera is likely to focus more attention on the handling and protection of the data collected through internet-connected devices. Privacy watchdogs are particularly worried that Google eventually may use some of the information collected from devices inside homes to get a better understanding of a person’s specific interests so it can sell ads for products that the targeted individual might like. Google already has used the data that it collects through its ubiquitous search engine and other free services such as maps and email to build the internet’s most lucrative internet marketing network. Since Google bought it for $3.2 billion, Nest has steadfastly maintained that it doesn’t share its customers’ personal information with Google’s ad network. But a patent application filed by Google in 2016 floated the possibility of using the video recorded by security cameras to deliver ads based on the kinds of furnishings and other merchandise already in people’s homes.

In last week’s issue, we discussed Apple’s potential outlook for the future. With this, we aimed to dispel the beliefs of the handful of cynics out there that consider Apple to be behind the times when it comes to future technologies. By ‘future technologies’, in this instance, we’re talking about the likes of artificial intelligence and machine learning. This week, we’ll delve deeper and consider how, rather than moving forward in one single direction, Apple still has a lot to offer and just how much the company is working to make an impact in a number of key industries.

Image: Sascha Steinbach

HOME INTERACTION AND AUTOMATION Despite being a company that’s known for starting the smartphone revolution, Apple’s devices have still managed to evolve a great deal over the last 15 years or so. While certain home automation enthusiasts have had a critical approach to Apple’s attempts to join the smart home industry, no one can deny that Apple is still a company that’s known for the innovative and creative design of its products. In that case, it’s time to discuss the HomePod; a device created not only to compete against Amazon’s Echo but to reign in a new surge of smart home enthusiasts. Supporting voice control via Siri, the HomePod allows users to control all devices enabled with Apple HomeKit as well as the ability to ask a range of questions, check your calendar, check the weather and much more – just as you can via Siri on your other iOS devices. While this might not be anything out of the ordinary, it was

unfair to expect the HomePod to completely outperform the existing smart speakers on the market in terms of pure AI. Instead, Apple’s selling point tends to be more of a push toward the device’s music capabilities. Both the Amazon Echo and Google Home have powerful speakers, but the unique selling point of the HomePod is that it can play music while being aware of its surroundings. This is done by analyzing the room via directional microphones. Plus, if you’re already an owner of a handful of HomeKit enabled devices, you’re probably going to want to make HomePod your smart speaker of choice. A further interesting development has been the update to HomeKit in iOS 11. New product categories have recently been added to the platform including sprinklers and faucets, resulting in a total of 16 different product types. Ensuring the security of Apple’s smartphone devices, the company has also implemented QR Code and NFC pairing options.

How to get the most from HomePod Apple Support

CAR AND TRANSPORT INTEGRATION Although this was something that Apple remained shy to talk about for years, last year we found out a great deal more about how much progress the company is making on self-driving car technology. What we know is that Apple has created a system that will use onboard cameras to identify objects, even in the trickiest of situations such as raindrops over the lens. It will be able to estimate the position of a pedestrian, even if they are hidden by a parked car, and give cars direction through simultaneous localization and mapping. Of course, it remains uncertain how Apple plans to commercialize this selfdriving technology, but at the moment, the goal stands to produce driverless employee shuttles. Who knows how this will come to fruition considering Apple is a company known for preferring to develop everything in-house. It’s also been announced that in March of this year, the Singapore government will trial Apple Pay for the country’s public transport. This will streamline the transportation ticketing process by building in support for contactless forms of payment and so far more than 100,000 commuters have signed up to the test program. Other major metropolitan cities are also looking to smartphone tap-to-pay solutions, most notably New York’s MTA, which hopes to roll out by mid-2018.

GLOBAL-WIDE TECHNOLOGIES If we delve into Apple Pay a little more, we can begin to explore the possibility of this technology becoming a worldwide exchange, especially as cryptocurrencies are becoming more popular now than ever before. 36

In iOS 11, Apple enabled person-to-person Apple Pay payments through the Messages app on both the iPhone and the Apple Watch, and a major change came with the introduction of the iPhone X which uses Face ID to confirm payments. To keep these transactions secure, Apple uses a method known as ‘tokenization’ to prevent any credit card numbers from being sent through the cloud. Payments are also secured using Touch ID, Face ID or, on the Apple Watch, continual skin contact. In the near future, Apple is hoping to eliminate the need for a physical wallet and replace cash, debit and credit cards with Apple Pay, although figures show that the company is struggling to make good headway with this. It’s estimated that only 13 percent of iPhone users have used Apple Pay to make purchases as of April 2017, but despite such low numbers, it is still something that has been adopted faster than any other payment service. Apple firmly believes that Apple Pay domination will come in time.

Image: Apple Inc.

HEALTH Apple isn’t all about creating devices that make our lives easier, but about making us understand our health a lot more too. Firstly, by consolidating data from your iPhone, Apple Watch and a number of third-party apps, the Health App makes it easier to start learning about your overall health and helps you reach your goals. Apple’s ultimate goal is to turn your iPhone into a one-stop shop for all of your medical info, and the company is doing this by talking with developers, hospitals and other industry experts about bringing clinical data to devices. From there, users could share the information that they choose with helpful third parties such as hospitals and health developers. Although this move represents a deviation in strategy from Apple’s previous efforts into healthcare, if successful, it would be a huge deal and a solution to a problem that the medical community has been grappling with for years. Apple’s HealthKit, for example, has been primarily used to store information such as step counting and sleep quality. With this, although there is a feature called ‘health records’, which includes the option to import documents that summarize care, this is a limited snapshot of information compared to what they’re hoping for. Despite the fact that we’re living in such a digitally advanced age, many people find that their medical information is still not easily shared among healthcare professionals, especially in different hospitals or clinics. This is a problem that’s often referred to as the ‘interoperability crisis’ and health experts 41

have claimed that it can lead to mistakes and missed diagnoses. Where other technology giants such as Google and Microsoft have tried and failed, Apple has hired some of the top developers involved with FHIR, a popular protocol for exchanging electronic health records, to make their goal a reality. Through developments such as ResearchKit and CareKit, doctors around the world are using iPhones to change the way we think about health. These have allowed developers to

build apps that let medical researchers gather meaningful data and allow patients to manage their well-being on a daily basis. Since their introduction, the amount of data collected and the insight gained into certain diseases has been far more groundbreaking than any other traditional research of the past. With such technologies in their pockets, medical experts can stretch their knowledge and skills even further.

Image: Apple Inc.

WHAT WILL 2018 HOLD FOR APPLE? Many have said that the future of Apple does not lie with the iPhone X and we believe that this article has demonstrated this quite clearly. While itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible to say which of these industries Apple will find the most success, we can say that it is a company that continues to remain at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, and throughout 2018 weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sure that rumors will continue to develop.

by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

BYU BLOCKCHAIN SUMMIT SEEKS TO EXPLAIN BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

As comedian Ellen DeGeneres explained last week on her television show: “Everybody is talking about bitcoin, nobody understands it.” Students, business professionals and investors tackled that question as they came together last Friday at Brigham Young University for its firstever Blockchain Summit. The summit, organized by BYU law student Ryan Lewis, pulled in an impressive array of experts working in this very new field. But what is blockchain, how does it relate to bitcoin and how will it affect the layperson? As Chad Bennett, founder and CEO of Heroic Cybersecurity in Provo, explained, the “internet is the information exchange protocol,” and “blockchain is the value exchange protocol.” Just as the internet changed the way society, at a very basic level, exchanges information, blockchain advocates say this new technology will change the way society exchanges assets. Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures and a member of Overstock.com’s board of 47

“Everybody is talking about bitcoin, nobody understands it.” ELLEN DEGENERES

directors, defined assets as: real property — like land or a home, currencies — including cryptocurrencies, or even stocks and bonds. “An asset can be anything that, when I give it to you, you don’t want a copy. You want the actual thing,” Johnson said. Sending someone an email or PDF — those are copies of the actual thing, he added. In that situation, users don’t care if it’s a copy. But a user does not want a “copy” of $100. They want the real thing.

“The blockchain allows for the digital transfer of assets in a way they will flow free and frictionless,” Johnson said. At its very basic and simple core, blockchain is the highly technical and extremely difficult “math games” which have created the platform for a decentralized public record of assets to exist. As Bernard Marr explained in a Forbes article published last week, “blockchain provided the answer to digital trust because it records important information in a public space and doesn’t allow anyone to remove it. It’s transparent, time-stamped and decentralized.” He went further by quoting Sally Davies, an Aeon Magazine and Financial Times technology writer and editor.

“An asset can be anything that, when I give it to you, you don’t want a copy. You want the actual thing.” JONATHAN JOHNSON - PRESIDENT OF MEDICI VENTURES

“Blockchain is to bitcoin, what the internet is to email. A big electronic system, on top of which you can build applications. Currency is just one,” she said. Johnson called bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies the first “killer app” to come out of blockchain technology. In a highly simplified analogy, cryptocurrency is like digital cash. For example, when two people go to lunch, and one person pays the second for their share of the tab, they have different options. One option would be to use their smartphones and Venmo the money from one to another.

That transaction, though, involves multiple users, or “trust brokers.” Venmo verifies the first person has money in a linked bank, verifies the subtraction from that fund, then verifies the transfer of that money to second person’s bank. On each end, the individuals’ banks also record the transaction on their own ledgers. Another option is the first person can open their wallet, pull out some dollar bills and pay the other with cash. No one else is involved in that transfer of money except the two people. Using cryptocurrencies through blockchain technology is very similar to giving someone

Image: Thomas Trutschel

“Blockchain is to bitcoin, what the internet is to email. A big electronic system, on top of which you can build applications. Currency is just one.” SALLY DAVIES - FINANCIAL TIMES EDITOR

digital cash. Again, no centralized banks are involved in the transaction. It is just a transfer of money from one person to the next, in the form of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency. Johnson explained the added benefit to cryptocurrency is, yes, that transaction is made directly like the real-world exchange of cash, but there is a digital record, or ledger of the transaction. It leaves a digital footprint, unlike real-world cash normally. In this way, assets can always be verified. Because blockchain is tied to technology and not to any one government, business or entity, many companies are looking into its use as a way of publicly recording other assets, besides money. These include medical records, supply chain processes, property rights, insurance, contracts and even voting. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency is still very new, and yes, like the initial advent

of the internet, people are still trying to wrap their heads around what it is. Honestly, for the layperson, it may not be the right time to jump into the fray, unless he/she has a solid understanding of the playing field. John Quinn, founder and chief risk officer of Storj, said during Friday’s summit that the cryptocurrency world is very risky right now for the uninitiated, as we’re in the “wild, wild West” phase of this industry. That will change as regulation and more oversight comes, though, say blockchain advocates, of which Quinn is one. Johnson even believes people in many parts of the world may eventually be paid their wages in cryptocurrency. For now, Lewis was just excited to have so many people gathered in BYU’s Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni Center to start the conversation on this new technology.

“The blockchain allows for the digital transfer of assets in a way they will flow free and frictionless.” JONATHAN JOHNSON - PRESIDENT OF MEDICI VENTURES

Image: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE CONSIDERS BILLS ON BLOCKCHAIN, CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR FIRST TIME

The legislative hearing had been peppered with terms like cryptocurrency, blockchain and smart contract. Proponents and opponents had testified about bitcoins and distributed ledgers, tokens and digital wallets. Now the last speaker was wrapping up, and State Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha raised a plaintive question. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So it is possible to understand this?â&#x20AC;? he asked. Nebraska lawmakers, for the first time ever, are confronting bills about an emerging technology that is commonly known as blockchain. The bills also deal with two blockchain uses: virtual currencies, such as bitcoin, and smart contracts. 63

Four measures, introduced by two senators, are being considered by three committees. Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, who offered three bills, said she sees them as a way to nurture a fledgling digital industry with huge potential. “We want to have it in state statute that we embrace this technology,” she said. “We can start a boom here in Nebraska without a tax credit, without tax-increment financing, without a grant.” Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus offered the remaining bill. He said he did so largely to get lawmakers thinking and learning about the technology. “It is a fascinating subject and just maybe an opportunity for the state to be at the leading edge, instead of where we usually are and that’s at the tail’s end,” he said. Blockchain technology, more properly called distributed ledger technology, allows users to securely transfer value or assets without an intermediary such as a bank or credit card company. The technology also can be used to store information that needs to be protected from hackers. Distributed ledger technology uses a decentralized network of computers, which are continually updated and synchronized, to record encrypted transactions. The encrypted records are stored as blocks of data. Each block is connected with the one before and after, such that tampering with one would be immediately evident. Security also comes from users’ ability to view all transactions and from the lack of a central target for hackers. 64

Distributed ledger technology is the foundation underlying bitcoin and other virtual, or crypto, currencies. The currencies can make peer-to-peer business deals possible around the world. The technology also is the foundation of smart contracts, which are digital contracts that are programmed to operate automatically. Nebraskans involved with the new technology make comparisons to the early years of the Internet, predicting that blockchain and its uses will prove equally as revolutionary. It’s “a growth industry that has broad implications for trade, agriculture, technology development, government and more,” said Mike Echternacht, an attorney who works with the tech startup Embermine of Lincoln. Embermine is developing a way for artists and other creative people to collaborate and distribute their work using smart contracts. It’s one of a handful of Nebraska ventures launched in recent years that seek to put the new ideas to work. Industry members and tech geeks are hardly the only ones excited by the prospects. John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, called blockchain technology the “biggest new marketplace idea to come along in a very long time.” Mutual of Omaha and Cargill are among wellestablished businesses that have started exploring blockchain technology. Cargill has used it in a pilot project to track Honeysuckle White brand turkeys from the farm to the store.

But for most lawmakers — and members of the public — the biggest hurdle is wrapping their minds around the unfamiliar concepts.

The Judiciary Committee heard Legislative Bill 695, which Blood plans to make her priority for the session.

A survey of government executives by the Governing Institute and KPMG found that 48 percent reported being “very unfamiliar” with the concept of blockchain.

The measure would give legal recognition to distributed ledger technology and to smart contracts. It also would recognize electronic signatures and records secured through distributed ledger technology.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said she doesn’t know what committee members might do with the two bills that went to that committee “because I don’t think most people understand it.”

The committee also heard Blood’s LB 691, which would set up a regulatory structure for virtual currencies. Blood said she does not want to pursue the bill.

Schumacher proposed a different regulatory structure in LB 987. The bill, which went to the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee, uses language developed by the Uniform Law Commission.

Those involved with the technology split over Blood’s other bills.

It is not expected to get out of committee.

But Kyle Tautenhan, co-founder of BlockEra in Omaha, who goes by Kyle Tut, argued that it is too early in the technology’s evolution to fix definitions in state law.

Blood’s final proposal, LB 694, is slated for a public hearing before the Government, Military and Veteran’s Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The bill would prohibit cities and counties from taxing or regulating distributed ledger technology or its uses. Industry members oppose both regulatory proposals, LB 691 and LB 987, saying they would drive innovators and entrepreneurs out of Nebraska. They point to the exodus of business from New York after its 2015 virtual currency regulations.

Embermine representatives said the proposals would help the new technology flourish by giving it legal recognition.

“Even if we have good intentions right now, we could accidentally box ourselves in,” he said.

BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘BLACK PANTHER’ SCORES RECORD MONDAY

With a massive $40.2 million in ticket sales Monday, “Black Panther” has set another boxoffice record: biggest Monday ever. The Walt Disney Co. again raised its box-office estimates for the Marvel sensation on Tuesday. The film’s updated Monday performan ce — $7 million higher than Disney earlier forecast — narrowly topped the previous record, set by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015 with $40.1 million. The higher Monday figure gives “Black Panther” the second biggest four-day weekend, behind only the $288.1 million of “The Force Awakens.” With $242 million over the Presidents’ Day weekend, “Black Panther” moves ahead of December’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” in the ranks of four-day starts. Ryan Coogler’s film, starring Chadwick Boseman, is the first big-budget tent pole release featuring a nearly all-black cast. The movie’s three-day gross of $201.8 million ranks fifth highest of all time, not accounting for inflation. 73

Internationally, “Black Panther,” which cost $200 million to make, is also outperforming earlier estimates. It has made $184.6 million overseas thus far, giving it a worldwide total of $426.6 million. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

“Black Panther,” Disney, $242,155,680, 4,020 locations, $60,238 average, $242,155,680, 1 Week.

“Peter Rabbit,” Sony, $23,382,931, 3,725 locations, $6,277 average, $54,355,473, 2 Weeks.

“Fifty Shades Freed,” Universal, $19,439,120, 3,768 locations, $5,159 average, $78,630,575, 2 Weeks.

“Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle,” Sony, $10,014,906, 2,800 locations, $3,577 average, $379,693,471, 9 Weeks.

“The 15:17 To Paris,” Warner Bros., $8,923,106, 3,042 locations, $2,933 average, $26,670,823, 2 Weeks. 74

“The Greatest Showman,” 20th Century Fox, $6,527,597, 1,936 locations, $3,372 average, $155,905,953, 9 Weeks.

“Early Man,” Lionsgate, $4,260,148, 2,494 locations, $1,708 average, $4,260,148, 1 Week.

“Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” 20th Century Fox, $3,243,854, 1,892 locations, $1,715 average, $54,723,980, 4 Weeks.

“Winchester,” Lionsgate, $2,619,156, 1,479 locations, $1,771 average, $22,249,335, 3 Weeks.

10.

“The Post,” 20th Century Fox, $2,437,992, 1,050 locations, $2,322 average, $77,047,364, 9 Weeks.

11.

“Samson,” Pure Flix, $2,255,864, 1,249 locations, $1,806 average, $2,255,864, 1 Week.

12.

“The Shape Of Water,” Fox Searchlight, $2,055,052, 957 locations, $2,147 average, $53,633,766, 12 Weeks.

13.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” Fox Searchlight, $1,895,019, 780 locations, $2,430 average, $48,364,525, 15 Weeks.

14.

“Darkest Hour,” Focus Features, $1,153,160, 602 locations, $1,916 average, $53,394,852, 13 Weeks.

15.

“I, Tonya,” Neon Rated, $1,120,319, 502 locations, $2,232 average, $27,224,441, 11 Weeks.

16.

“Den Of Thieves,” STX Entertainment, $1,116,790, 730 locations, $1,530 average, $43,618,720, 5 Weeks.

17.

“12 Strong,” Warner Bros., $1,108,467, 815 locations, $1,360 average, $44,256,673, 5 Weeks.

18.

“Hostiles,” Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, $1,004,135, 767 locations, $1,309 average, $28,480,960, 9 Weeks.

19.

“Coco,” Disney, $908,454, 385 locations, $2,360 average, $207,389,121, 13 Weeks.

20.

“Phantom Thread,” Focus Features, $891,565, 355 locations, $2,511 average, $17,888,189, 8 Weeks.

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

STARS, EDUCATORS LEAD EFFORT FOR KIDS TO SEE ‘BLACK PANTHER’

For years, Zavier Thompson has followed of Marvel superhero movies. But the 16-year-old student in Albuquerque has always wanted to see a popular film with a black superhero and black themes. Thanks to an Albuquerque educator, the aspiring hip-hop and spoken word artist finally got his wish Thursday when he was given tickets to a private screening of “Black Panther.” “It was amazing. The music, the action...everything,” said Thompson, who is black. “It made me proud to see out culture depicted like that.” “Black Panther” is about the mythical and highly advanced African nation of Wakanda, where T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, inherits the throne but is challenged by a Wakandan exile named Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan. It’s the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and based on 50-year-old material created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The movie set a record with its $235 million debut at the top of the U.S. box office over the holiday weekend, becoming a blockbuster but also a cultural phenomenon. It’s why some 83

educators, philanthropists, celebrities, and business owners are pulling together their resources to bring children of color to see it. Elementary school students in Detroit, middle school students in Atlanta and students living Los Angeles public housing all have been surprised in recent days with free tickets and transportation to experience a movie that is captivating black communities nationwide. While black leads in TV and film have grown over the years, there is still a lack of positive minority images coming from Hollywood, which is why many are stressing the importance of having young black kids see the movie. “Something very special is happening here,” said Joycelyn Jackson, director of the Black Student Union for Albuquerque Public Schools, the educator who helped Thompson get into the Albuquerque screening. “Congrats to the entire #blackpanther team! Because of you, young people will finally see superheroes that look like them on the big screen,” said former first lady Michelle Obama in a tweet Monday. “I loved this movie and I know it will inspire people of all backgrounds to dig deep and find the courage to be heroes of their own stories.” The movement began in January after former ESPN “SportsCenter” host Jemele Hill called out prominent Detroiters to help young children in the city get seats to see “Black Panther.” “I wish I had time to do it myself but if there is anyone in Detroit trying to take kids in underserved communities to see ‘Black Panther,’ holla at me,” the Detroit native wrote on Twitter.

In response to Hill’s tweet, two Twitter groups announced plans to send the entire student body at University Prep Academy High School in Detroit to see it. Twitter’s black employee group known as the Blackbirds and Twitter Detroit took on the costs of tickets and transportation. Also, students of the acclaimed Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta were told in a video that went viral they were going to see “Black Panther.” In the footage, the 5th-grade students are shown cheering and dancing upon hearing the news. Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment, the label of Kendrick Lamar,

announced that he would pay for around 1,000 South Central Los Angeles children living in public housing to see the movie (Lamar did the film’s soundtrack). Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer announced plans to host a screening in Mississippi “to ensure all our brown children can see themselves as a superhero.” Over the weekend, Serena Williams surprised girls in the club Black Girls Code with a private screening, which she attended. “Empire” star Jussie Smollett took to Instagram to announce he bought out two screenings in Chicago for elementary students and high school students.

Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs in various cities to see the movie. “Black Panther is more than a movie, it’s a movement,” Wade said on Instagram. In Detroit, a surprise announcement to students was made Friday during an awards presentation in the gym of University Prep Academy High School whose sports teams, consequently, are called “The Panthers.” About 520 students will board buses this week as part of a field trip to a Detroit-area theater, school officials said.

LETITIA WRIGHT STEALS SHOW IN ‘BLACK PANTHER’ BREAKOUT ROLE

Letitia Wright still can’t believe she made the “Black Panther” poster. The 24-year-old actress has an out-of-nowhere star-making turn in the Marvel superhero film as the whip-smart Shuri, teenage sister to T’Challa and top scientist in Wakanda. Vibrant, funny and cool, it’s the kind of performance that has already left audiences wondering who she is and where they’ve seen her before. Tessa Thompson has tweeted her praises, as has Diddy, Common and “Deadpool” actress Brianna Hildebrand. “She’s the scene-stealer of the movie,” said Jamie Broadnax, who created the website Black Girl Nerds. “(Executive Producer) Nate Moore has said she is the smartest person in the Marvel universe. She can take folks like Tony Stark to task.” 91

But Wright is still genuinely surprised that her face on the promotional materials, prominently displayed alongside the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett and Michael B. Jordan. “It’s crazy, I didn’t expect to be on the poster,” Wright said the day after the ‘Black Panther’ premiere in Los Angeles, looking up at herself as Shuri, armed and set for battle. “She’s just ready! Everybody is getting ready and she’s ready.” Born in Guyana and raised in London, Wright has had a few roles on British TV shows, like “Humans” and “Doctor Who” and “Black Mirror,” but has really just begun to make a name for herself in U.S. films, with small roles in “The Commuter” and Steven Spielberg’s upcoming “Ready Player One.” She’ll also reprise the role of Shuri in “Avengers: Infinity War.” She’s said she was inspired to pursue a life on screen after seeing Keke Palmer in “Akeelah and the Bee” and Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” and “Hannah.” But a career in acting didn’t even seem like a possibility for Wright at first. Her mom, while supportive, thought of it as more of a hobby. “I was born in Guyana, South America. An acting career is not really something that’s seen as making a living,” Wright said. “I don’t come from a creative background. I don’t know anyone in my family who is a musician or actor or singer. It’s a lot of teachers, lawyers. Professional stuff like that.” Wright said it was her own drive and determination that made it happen for her, and her ambitions remain high. She wants to be the best and work with the best. 92

Image: Matt Kennedy

“(Saorise Ronan) been playing leading roles for a very long time. That’s something I would love to do — Play leading roles and really hold it on my own in those leading roles,” Wright said. She also wrote down a list of directors who she wants to work with. She’s already checked two off in Spielberg and Ryan Coogler, though she hopes to perhaps work again with Spielberg in a bigger part. Also on her list? Ava DuVernay and Lynne Ramsay. Starring in “Black Panther” has been a “dream come true.” “I hope people take something positive away from it,” she said.

Image: Jaap Arriens

CRITICS WARY AS GOOGLE’S CHROME BEGINS AN AD CRACKDOWN

Last week, Google will begin using its Chrome browser to eradicate ads it deems annoying or otherwise detrimental to users. It just so happens that many of Google’s own most lucrative ads will sail through its new filters. The move, which Google first floated back in June, is ostensibly aimed at making online advertising more tolerable by flagging sites that run annoying ads such as ones that auto-play video with sound. And it’s using a big hammer: Chrome will start blocking all ads — including Google’s own — on offending sites if they don’t reform themselves. There’s some irony here, given that Google’s aim is partly to convince people to turn off their own ad-blocking software. These popular browser add-ons deprive publishers (and Google) of revenue by preventing ads from displaying. Google vice president Rahul Roy-Chowdhury wrote in a blog post that the company aims to keep the web healthy by “filtering out disruptive ad experiences.” But the company’s motives and methods are both under attack. Along with Facebook, Google 97

dominates the online-advertising market; together they accounted for over 63 percent of the $83 billion spent on U.S. digital ads last year, according to eMarketer. Google is also virtually synonymous with online search, and Chrome is the most popular browser on the web, with a roughly 60 percent market share. So to critics, Google’s move looks less like a neighborhood cleanup than an assertion of dominance. Google’s effort focuses on 12 ad formats criticized by a group called the Coalition for Better Ads, whose members include Google, Facebook, News Corp. and the News Media Alliance, which represents 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Among those blackballed formats are pop-ups, large ads that hover above the page and ads that flash with bright background colors. But those standards were intended to be voluntary, said Paul Boyle, senior vice president of public policy for the newspaper alliance that helped create them. Instead, he said, Google is turning the standards into de facto law. Critics also note that the standards conspicuously exempt one of Google’s most significant forms of advertising — so-called pre-roll video ads, which run before videos on Google’s YouTube. Scott Spencer, Google’s director of product management, said via email that the coalition is looking into video ad formats, including preroll ads. Any new standards will be incorporated “when the research is complete,” he said. “Chrome filtering is not favoring our own business, our ads or our platforms, or anyone else’s,” he said.

Accusations of self-dealing have long haunted Google. Last June, European Union regulators hit it with a 2.4 billion euro ($3 billion) fine for unfairly directing search results to its own shopping listings, from which it gets a direct cut of revenue. A similar Federal Trade Commission probe of Google ended in 2013 with a settlement and no fine. More recently, the News Media Alliance has urged Congress to look at how Google pressures media outlets to put stories in its “Accelerated Mobile Pages” format, which also tightly restricts ad formats and provides Google a new source of revenue in exchange for giving publishers favored treatment in search results. Google will phase in the restrictions in coming months; disputes will be handled by the coalition, not Google. Users will see a notification when Chrome blocks ads, and can opt to view them if they want. Website publishers have had months to prepare, yet many are still running afoul of the new standards. According to a recent search of Google’s Ad Experience Report , 1,408 sites had “warning” or “failing” status. Some were targeted to have their ads to be shut down. Sites flagged included niche interest sites like www.playstationlifestyle.net and www.bridalguide.com , as well as established newspapers such as The Hamilton Spectator in Canada and a number of porn sites. Spectator owner TorStar said it has fixed the problem; other sites wouldn’t comment publicly. Atlanta-based Gray Television Inc. also had at least a dozen of its TV station websites flagged. 100

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Gray said it switched to compliant formats and that its sites were cleared. Google said that almost half of warned sites fixed ad problems after being notified. Among these were about 50 websites run by Townsquare Media, the third-largest radio station owner in the U.S. The sites ran so-called “prestitial” ads that take over the screen after someone clicks on a link, according to Jared Willig, Townsquare’s senior vice president of digital. The company subsequently developed a new and less intrusive ad format that solved the problem, Willig said. While he agreed with the push toward fewer distractions, Google’s outsized influence gives him pause. “They wield a lot of power, which is a little scary,” Willig said. “But in this case, they’re using that power to make the internet better.” Others were less sanguine. “Who’s to say what’s a good ad and what’s a bad ad?” asked Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of Rumble Inc., a Toronto-based video platform that considers itself a rival to YouTube. “For some reason, we have an arbitrator that owns a browser and dictates what we can put on our websites.” Overall, Google wields too much influence over publishers, said Sean Blanchfield, the CEO of PageFair, a startup that helps publishers get around ad blockers. “Traffic comes through Google Search, users come through Google Chrome, monetization is from Google ads,” Blanchfield said. “Publishers are beginning to feel like they’re playing in a gig economy operated by Google.”

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#01 – Bitmoji By Bitstrips Category: Utilities / Free Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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by Martin McDonagh Genre: Drama Released: 2017 Price: $14.99

Trailer

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TV Shows

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78 Ratings

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri This multi-award winning film has been praised as one of the year’s best films. It follows the story of a mother who’s daughter was tragically murdered. When they fail to catch the murderer, the defiant woman challenges local authorities in her mission to solve the case of her daughter’s murder.

FIVE FACTS: 1. The movie won 5 BAFTA awards in 2018, including Best Film, Supporting Actor and Leading Actress. 2. When Martin McDonagh wrote the screenplay, he always had Frances McDormand in mind for the lead role. 3. Sam Rockwell, who plays Dixon, a local cop, had to wear padding throughout the movie to appear larger than he is. 4. Locals were welcomed to watch the outdoor scenes, so long as they were not disruptive. Crowds of up to 100 people would form daily and actors would sign autographs on their breaks. 5. The small town in which the movie is filmed is actually called Sylva, and it is located in North Carolina. No town called Ebbing exists in Missouri.

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Signs of the Times

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Justice League Inspired by Supermanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s selfless act and as a result of his restored faith in humanity, the film follows Bruce Wayne and his newfound ally, Diana Prince, as they face an even greater enemy. Batman and Wonder Woman recruit a team to work together against this threat.

FIVE FACTS: 1. Reshoots in London and Los Angeles approximately cost an extra $25 million. 2. The superheroes are never actually called The Justice League at any point during the film! 3. The running time for the film is 119 minutes because Warner Bros demanded a film under 2 hours after receiving considerable backlash for the length of past DC movies. 4. When Wonder Woman first appears in the movie she is standing on top of a statue of a goddess. This is Greek goddess Themis, better known as Lady Justice.

by Zack Snyder Genre: Action & Adventure Released: 2017 Price: $19.99

798 Ratings

5. Originally, Ben Affleck was considered to direct the film.

Rotten Tomatoes

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Trailer

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Justice League - The Team

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“The Joke”

Music 116

By The Way, I Forgive You Brandi Carlile In this delicate masterpiece, Carlile explores her country roots as well as dipping her toes into more pop related tones. In some of the songs, she explores the lives of those written off by society, showing undeniable empathy, as well as exploring the long aftermath of breakups, the fear of being a parent and the fear of losing your parents. Genre: Singer/Songwriter Released: Feb 16, 2018 10 Songs Price: $9.99

203 Ratings

FIVE FACTS: 1. This is Carlile’s sixth album, and it was given 4 stars by Rolling Stone. 2. She shares the writing credits with the Hanseroths, and this is not the first time they have recorded with a symphony. 3. The string arrangements in the album, are created by Paul Buckmaster. Buckmaster also worked with Elton John, Miles David, and David Bowie. 4. Throughout the album she explores a range of themes: the fear of losing your parents, the fear of being a new parent, and “trying to adapt to the kind of collective emotional climate in the county that we live in right now”. In an interview with The Current, she explained the album is “less about sounding smart or cool or current or interested, and more just about baring all.” 5. The second song on the album, The Joke, appeared on Barack Obama’s end-of-2017 playlist!

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Whatever You Do (Live From Studio A)

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Beautiful Death Slaves After seeking new production talent with Erik Ron, their latest album, Beautiful Death, showcases a change in style, and it works. With contemporary production styles and compelling lyrics, this album brings a welcome change and fans couldn’t be happier. Jonny Craig is finally able to shine, and his talent is showcased in a way that it has never been before.

FIVE FACTS: 1. The album was originally set to be released in September 2017, however, it was pushed back as a result of splitting with their label, and Jonny Craig’s recent hospitalization. 2. This is the first album they have released after they went through some difficult times. In March, Alex Lyman announced he was leaving the band, and a month later, the band announced their break up. However, in May, Jonny posted on Facebook explaining the band hadn’t broken up but were experiencing issues. 3. Since they released their debut EP the band has faced allegations that their name is racially insensitive. The band members insist that their aim was to sound aggressive, but not to offend. 4. In February 2011, singer Jonny Craig was accused of being involved in an internet scam. He allegedly claimed to be selling a used MacBook, and after receiving payment from at least 16 individuals, he cut all communication and never sent out the laptops. 5. In the final song on the album, The Pact, the raw lyrics in the monologue focus on Jonny Craig’s past drug abuse. 120

Genre: Hard Rock Released: Feb 16, 2018 10 Songs Price: $7.99

79 Ratings

“The Pact”

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“I’d Rather See Your Star Explode”

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TEEN WORRIED ABOUT WALKING ALONE CREATES APP FOR SAFETY

Medha Gupta sometimes felt uneasy making the 20-minute walk from the corner where the school bus dropped her off to her home in Herndon, Va. — especially during the colder months, when it would get dark early. Her mother had a suggestion: Write an app. Divya Gupta was half-kidding, but Medha, a sophomore at Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, took the challenge seriously. So she went to work. “I knew I had a problem I needed to solve,” said Medha, 16. 125

The result was Safe Travel, an app designed by Medha to help commuters feel more secure when traveling alone. Using their iPhone (the app is compatible only with iOS), a person can program it to send an alert to someone they trust if they fail to arrive at a destination within a certain time. It was the first iOS app that Medha had created. It’s a program language she wasn’t well-versed in, so she didn’t think much would come of the project. But her inaugural effort caught the eyes of judges for the annual Congressional App Challenge, who selected her as the winner for Virginia’s 10th District. “We were elated,” said her father, Manmohan Gupta, who has a computer engineering background. The App Challenge is designed to encourage students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math by experimenting with coding and computer science. It is modeled after the Congressional Art Competition, where student artists compete to have their works displayed at the Capitol. Once exclusive to high school students, the challenge was opened in 2017 to students in grades K-12 across the country. “This contest is about building the domestic pipeline for the jobs of the future,” said Rachel Decoste, executive director of the App Challenge. This year, more than 4,100 students submitted nearly 1,300 apps. One winner is chosen for each congressional district that participates. Medha beat out several other competitors in Virginia’s 10th District, which is represented by Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.). 126

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Image: Jahi Chikwendiu

“We are always delighted to see the innovation and talent that our students demonstrate through the annual Congressional App Challenge,” said Comstock. “It is this kind of skill and innovation which makes this contest so rewarding each year.” The app challenge is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, but is managed by the nonprofit Internet Education Foundation. Winning students are invited to attend a reception on Capitol Hill in April and also received $250 in Amazon Web Service credits. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, also owns The Washington Post.) “It’s really interesting to see the different apps these kids come up with,” said Troy Murphy, public policy manager with the Northern Virginia Technology Council, who served as one of the judges for the competition. He said while the entries were all impressive, he ultimately voted for Medha’s app because it “dealt with an important, pressing problem.” Murphy said he also was impressed by Medha’s technical expertise. Decoste said that students who enter the challenge are encouraged to think creatively and can work individually or in teams. Some have created games, and others, like Medha, have tackled health and transportation issues. An all-girl team from Arizona created Teens for Political Action AZ, which is designed to bridge the gap “between the intimidating political jargon and teens looking to become more involved and aware of the issues affecting themselves, their community, and their country,” the challenge’s website states. 129

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“It’s whatever they come up with,” Decoste said. Medha didn’t have the congressional challenge in mind when she designed her app. Like many other tech-savvy teens, she said she’s always thinking about how she can use technology to solve everyday problems. She’s already familiar with several programming languages, having participated in “hackathons,” where students come together to tackle problems using technology. She said it also helps that she’s a bit “obsessed” with her iPhone. But that obsession comes with an upside: the desire to understand what powers the apps that she finds so addictive. It’s just who she is. “Since I’m so obsessed with my phone, I wanted to learn how each app runs and what goes into creating them,” Medha said. 131

Designing the app meant squeezing it into an already jam-packed schedule of Advanced Placement classes and after-school activities that range from studying Indian classical dance to teaching young students how to code. Some days, she skipped lunch with her friends at school or spent nights curled up in a comfy chair or sofa in her family’s home typing furiously on her laptop. “I thought she was on Facebook,” Divya Gupta told a visitor, laughing. “She was sitting there for hours.” “Mom, I was working,” Medha shot back with only the slightest of eye rolls. Medha said it took her about 40 hours to design, program, test and troubleshoot the app. Her app is not available for download; she’d have to pay a fee to do that. But she doesn’t rule out offering some version of it in Apple’s App Store in the future. As for her next app? Medha’s not certain. She’s temporarily put her app-development ambitions on hold because she’s busy teaching herself artificial intelligence with an eye toward writing an algorithm to help police hate speech on Facebook. Yes, she knows that there are teams of Facebook engineers probably doing the same thing. But she figures it can’t hurt to do her part too. “If we see something wrong with the world, we should do something about it,” she said. “After all, the only one stopping us from doing something is ourselves.”

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FACEBOOK FORGES AHEAD WITH KIDS APP DESPITE EXPERT CRITICISM

Facebook is forging ahead with its messaging app for kids, despite child experts who have pressed the company to shut it down and others who question Facebook’s financial support of some advisers who approved of the app. Messenger Kids lets kids under 13 chat with friends and family. It displays no ads and lets parents approve who their children message. But critics say it serves to lure kids into harmful social media use and to hook young people on Facebook as it tries to compete with Snapchat or its own Instagram app. They say kids shouldn’t be on such apps at all — although they often are. 135

“It is disturbing that Facebook, in the face of widespread concern, is aggressively marketing Messenger Kids to even more children,” the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood said in a statement this week. Messenger Kids launched on iOS to lukewarm reception in December. It arrived on Amazon devices in January and on Android Wednesday. Throughout, Facebook has touted a team of advisers, academics and families who helped shape the app in the year before it launched. But a Wired report this week pointed out that more than half of this safety advisory board had financial ties to the company. Facebook confirmed this and said it hasn’t hidden donations to these individuals and groups — although it hasn’t publicized them, either. Facebook’s donations to groups like the National PTA (the official name for the Parent Teacher Association) typically covered logistics costs or sponsored activities like anti-bullying programs or events such as parent roundtables. One advisory group, the Family Online Safety Institute, has a Facebook executive on its board, along with execs from Disney, Comcast and Google. “We sometimes provide funding to cover programmatic or logistics expenses, to make sure our work together can have the most impact,” Facebook said in a statement, adding that many of the organizations and people who advised on Messenger Kids do not receive financial support of any kind. But for a company under pressure from many sides — Congress, regulators, advocates for online privacy and mental health — even the appearance of impropriety can hurt. 136

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Facebook didn’t invite prominent critics, such as the nonprofit Common Sense Media, to advise it on Messenger Kids until the process was nearly over. Facebook would not comment publicly on why it didn’t include Common Sense earlier in the process. “Because they know we opposed their position,” said James Steyer, the CEO of Common Sense. The group’s stance is that Facebook never should have released a product aimed at kids. “They know very well our positon with Messenger Kids.” A few weeks after Messenger Kids launched, nearly 100 outside experts banded together to urge Facebook to shut down the app , which it has not done. The company says it is “committed to building better products for families, including Messenger Kids. That means listening to parents and experts, including our critics.” One of Facebook’s experts contested the notion that company advisers were in Facebook’s pocket. Lewis Bernstein, now a paid Facebook consultant who worked for Sesame Workshop (the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street”) in various capacities over three decades, said the Wired article “unfairly” accused him and his colleagues for accepting travel expenses to Facebook seminars. But the Wired story did not count Lewis as one of the seven out of 13 advisers who took funding for Messenger Kids, and the magazine did not include travel funding when it counted financial ties. Bernstein was not a Facebook consultant at the time he was advising it on Messenger Kids. 139

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Bernstein, who doesn’t see technology as “inherently dangerous,” suggested that Facebook critics like Common Sense are also tainted by accepting $50 million in donated air time for a campaign warning about the dangers of technology addiction. Among those air-time donors are Comcast and AT&T’s DirecTV. But Common Sense spokeswoman Corbie Kiernan called that figure a “misrepresentation” that got picked up by news outlets. She said Common Sense has public service announcement commitments “from partners such as Comcast and DirectTV” that has been valued at $50 million. The group has used that time in other campaigns in addition to its current “Truth About Tech” effort, which it’s launching with a group of ex-Google and Facebook employees and their newly formed Center for Humane Technology. 141

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TRANSFORM BATHROOMS WITH TECHNOLOGY

Technology is infiltrating every room of the house. Many new home buyers are millennials, and this tech-savvy demographic covets technological innovations. A recent survey by Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate indicates 77 percent of Generation X and Y home buyers want their homes equipped with the tech capabilities they have grown accustomed to. Many of these involve smart innovations, including those that can transform one of the most private rooms in the house â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the bathroom. Automated home theater rooms and Wi-Fienabled home security systems have become the norm, but what tech improvements are available to make the powder room more in touch with todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital lifestyle? According to the home improvement resource The Spruce, bathrooms have the most potential of 143

any rooms to be improved with technology. The following are just some of the bathroom gadgets and gizmos no one should resist before giving a try. Automatic faucets: Infrared sensors have been helping keep public restrooms more hygienic for years. The same technology can be used in home bathrooms to curtail water waste and keep faucets and sinks from becoming infested with germs. In addition, faucets with built-in timers can be programmed to set tasks for brushing teeth or washing your face. Musical shower: Instead of having to blast the volume on the portable speaker you use in the bathroom, a wireless speaker is built into some showerheads. This enables those who like to sing in the shower or listen to podcasts while washing up to enjoy this luxury effortlessly. Smarter weight management: Bathroom scales have gone high-tech as well, with various options enabling users to measure weight, BMI and body fat percentage before sending the data wirelessly to a phone, tablet or computer. This can put you in greater control of fitness goals. High-tech toilets: Borrowing ideas from bidets and trends around the world, modern toilets do not require hands or paper. These toilets have temperature-controlled water, spritzing wands and air dryers to clean and sanitize. Self-cleaning toilets help busy professionals save time and are ideal for those who always want their bowls as clean as possible. And if you desire extra comfort, toilet seat warmers are available, while LED lights can make nighttime restroom visits easier. 144

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Soaking tubs: As fast as stand-alone showers were introduced to the modern bathroom, tubless designs have been replaced with streamlined soaking tubs. Tubs come with different features, including chromatherapy, which employs colored lights to enhance mood. Air baths are controlled electronically and provide different levels of sensation for those who are skipping the hot tub. Round out these innovations with automated lights, chilled medicine cabinets and aromatherapy, and your bathroom will indeed become a technological spa. 146

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BROADCOM IS ADJUSTING ITS BUYOUT OFFER FOR QUALCOMM

Broadcom is adjusting its buyout offer for Qualcomm, a day after that chipmaker raised its bid for NXP Semiconductors to approximately $43.22 billion. Broadcom Ltd. said this week its revised offer includes $57 in cash and $22 in Broadcom shares. Its prior bid included $60 in cash and the rest in stock. Broadcom said that if Qualcomm doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t complete the NXP takeover, it will go back to offering $60 in cash and the rest in Broadcom stock. The proposed dealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s value still tops more than $121 billion in cash and stock. Broadcom said the rest of the terms are unchanged, including an $8 billion termination fee. San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. makes the Snapdragon chips used in smartphones and tablets. A tie-up with Broadcom would be the largest tech deal in history. Image: Angel Navarrete

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EUROPEAN SPACE PROBE PREPARES TO SNIFF MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE

A European space probe has swung into position around Mars in preparation to analyze its atmosphere for possible signs of life. The European Space Agency said Wednesday its Trace Gas Orbiter successfully performed a delicate maneuver known as aerobraking that involved dipping into the red planetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upper atmosphere to slow the probe. The agency says the orbiter will start looking for trace gases such as methane, which can result from biological or geological activity, in April. It will also search for ice that could help future Mars landings. A NASA-made radio on board will also help relay signals from U.S. rovers on the surface back to Earth. Europe plans to land its own rover on Mars in 2021. A European test lander crashed on the surface of Mars in 2016. 151

VICE PRESIDENT BRINGS ADVISORY GROUP TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

Vice President Mike Pence has brought a newly revived advisory group to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center for a rundown on how best to get Americans back to the moon, a half-century after NASA’s Apollo heydays. Pence convened the meeting Wednesday morning inside the building where NASA once prepped pieces of the International Space Station. This is the second meeting of the National Space Council. Pence, its chairman, named a group of candidates to advise the council that includes Buzz Aldrin and other former astronauts and aerospace industry leaders. Wednesday’s meeting focuses on the Trump administration’s plan to return astronauts to the moon and get them to Mars and “worlds beyond.” Pence toured Kennedy last summer just as the space council was being re-established after two decades. 152

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NOACA SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH HYPERLOOP TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES TO EXPLORE CLEVELANDCHICAGO ROUTES

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced it has signed agreements with the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and the Illinois Department of Transportation to study several high-speed routes that would zoom between Cleveland and Chicago in as little as 28 minutes. First envisioned by inventor and business magnate Elon Musk, Hyperloop is a technology that could speed passengers or cargo in specially designed capsules or “pods” through a steel tube maintained at a partial vacuum. 155

NOACA Director Grace Gallucci, speaking by phone from Washington, D.C. said: “It’s really exciting to be collaborating with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and IDOT to make better, faster and more efficient transportation between Chicago and Cleveland a reality.”

KEY VOTE The NOACA board voted in December to authorize Gallucci to identify sources for up to $600,000 to pay for its share of the feasibility analysis. Gallucci said she’s “still working with other local partners to share that cost.” Some $100,000 of NOACA’s contribution to the analysis would be in-kind, she said. Based in Playa Vista, California, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, also known by the initials HTT, is exploring Hyperloop routes in competition with Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One, which recently picked a ChicagoColumbus-Pittsburgh link as one of 10 around the globe that it wants to explore.

COMPETITION Hyperloop One said it would make a “major announcement” about its next steps in creating a route it calls “Midwest Connect,” that would not include Cleveland. An independent engineering firm will conduct the feasibility analysis on the Cleveland-Chicago route for NOACA starting as early as March, Gallucci said. The agency, which plans and coordinates transportation spending in Northeast Ohio, will 156

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soon release a request for proposals to choose the engineering firm, she said. The work could take six to 12 months, and will examine potential routes for a Hyperloop line along with the cost, ridership, and possible station locations, she said. Public rights-of-way along I-80, I-90 and the Amtrak rail line will be explored. “One of the things we want to do is go to Cedar Point,” Gallucci said.

CEDAR POINT IN 7-10 MINUTES She estimated that a Hyperloop trip from Cleveland to the lakeside amusement park in Sandusky, which attracted 3.6 million visitors in 2016, would take 7 to 10 minutes. HTT said it has formed a regional consortium around the Cleveland-Chicago project that includes “a multitude of other prominent organizations.” Additional details will be announced at an event scheduled for Feb. 26 in Cleveland at the Great Lakes Science Center, the company said. “Regulations are the ultimate barrier for Hyperloop implementation, and we are excited to build the first real public-private partnership to bring Hyperloop travel to the US,” Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of HTT, said in the company’s announcement. “With this agreement, we welcome innovative and industry-leading partners in both government and industry to our movement,” the announcement quoted Ahlborn as saying.

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DRAWN TO NEO The company said that it was drawn to Northeast Ohio and the industrial Great Lakes region because of its deep capacities in manufacturing. “We came here because places like Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh have the manufacturing, the raw materials and the talented, hard working people in order to make it happen,” Andrea La Mendola, HTT’s chief global operations officer, said in the announcement. “We can source everything from this area,” he said. “This is a place where you make big things.” Founded in 2013, HTT is a global firm with more than 800 employees in 52 multidisciplinary teams, with 40 corporate and university partners, it said. The firm has offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, UAE; Bratislava, Slovakia; Toulouse, France; and Barcelona, Spain. It has signed agreements in Slovakia, Abu Dhabi, the Czech Republic, France, Indonesia, Korea and the U.S., the announcement said.

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STARS OF THE OLYMPICS ARE CHANGING THE SPONSORSHIP GAME

A gold medal used to be the golden ticket for lucrative endorsements â&#x20AC;&#x201D; think Mary Lou Retton on a Wheaties box. But in the age of social media, athletes are making a name for themselves well ahead of time. Even more so than in Rio in 2016 and Sochi in 2014, Pyeongchang athletes are Olympian at building brands. Before breakout star Chloe Kim won gold in the snowboarding halfpipe event, her infectious personality and heartwarming origin story had already won her sponsorships from Toyota, Samsung, Visa and others. Image: Cameron Spencer

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Of course, winning a gold medal amplifies an athlete’s reach. When Kim started the Olympics, she had 15,000 Twitter followers. She now has more than 285,000. She charmed thousands with tweets about eating ice cream and churros and being “hangry” because she didn’t finish breakfast before her race. Christopher R. Chase, a specialist in high-profile sports marketing at the Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz law firm, estimates the 17-year-old Kim could be worth “in the high hundreds of thousands” or even the low millions of dollars, propelled in part by her achievements off the slope. Medals still matter. Skater Nathan Chen likely hurt his chances for new sponsorships after a pair of disappointing performances, which made him unlikely to medal at an individual event. But Chen can still capitalize in the long run. “He is young and should have more Olympic competitions in the future,” Chase said. “America loves a comeback story.” For athletes these days, medals are icing on the cake, no longer the sole reason for endorsements. And medal winners without a good personality might have trouble finding sponsors. “The more medals, the more coverage, the more salient these people are” for endorsement consideration, said Will Davie, a group strategy director at Droga5, an ad agency that has worked with athletes such as Michael Phelps. “But how smart, how engaging they are in social media and the image they cultivate is starting to become more and more important.” 164

Image: Loic Venance

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Image: Cameron Spencer

On Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, athletes are in charge of their own narratives. They are building their own internet personality and brands â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the way the Kardashians have outside sports, said Jim Andrews, senior vice president of ESP Properties, a sports and entertainment marketing agency. For example, skier Mikaela Shiffrin has parlayed her Olympic success, beginning with her first gold medal in Sochi when she was 18, to a net worth reportedly in the millions. Though she missed the medal stand Friday, she won gold in the giant slalom a day earlier. Her Twitter feed, with more than 120,000 followers, is littered with references to her endorsers, including Barilla, Bose and Oakley.

Before his team won bronze for team ice skating, skater Adam Rippon stayed in the headlines with his social media presence. Olympians from veteran skier Lindsey Vonn to newcomer snowboarder Red Gerard are all careful curators of their online personas. But as much as athletes can use social media to win people over, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a flip side when bad behavior is uncovered. Speedo and other sponsors dropped swimmer Ryan Lochte after he tried to cover up a drunken incident in Rio in 2016. And in 2009, when images of Phelps circulated online showing him apparently smoking marijuana, USA Swimming suspended him from competition, while Kellogg decided not to renew his sponsorship deal.

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Image: Laurent Salino

Still, the current environment has given athletes a much bigger platform to express themselves. While social media was around during prior Olympics, they have a much bigger presence this time around, with everything from Instagram “Stories” to auto-play videos on Twitter parlaying brand messages. The speed in which athletes break out to become stars happens more quickly now. And athletes no longer are limited to a short window after the Olympics to promote sponsorships. They can now do it year-round online and at events for more popular sports like figure skating or snowboarding. That’s important because the Olympics have strict rules about what can be promoted during the games, given that the Olympics have their own sponsors. Peter Carlisle, who oversees the Olympics and Action Sports division at the marketing firm Octagon, said it’s too early to tell exactly how performance on and off the Olympic stage will translate to endorsement dollars, but social media is a big factor. “Any athlete or celebrity that has an influential social media footprint certainly can commercialize that,” he said. “It’s now an essential part of just about every endorsement deal, sponsorship or arrangement any of these athletes have.”

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MEANT TO BE (FEAT. FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE)

BeBe Rexha

PERFECT

ed SheeRan

THE MIDDLE

Zedd, MaRen MoRRiS & GRey

FINESSE (REMIX) [FEAT. CARDI B] - SINGLE

BRuno MaRS

HAVANA (FEAT. YOUNG THUG)

CaMila CaBello

YOU MAKE IT EASY

JaSon aldean

SAY SOMETHING (FEAT. CHRIS STAPLETON)

JuStin tiMBeRlake

FOR YOU (FIFTY SHADES FREED)

liaM Payne & Rita oRa

LET YOU DOWN

THUNDER

iMaGine dRaGonS

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THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)

VaRiouS aRtiStS

MAN OF THE WOODS

JuStin tiMBeRlake

PERCEPTION

EVIDENCE

eleVation ColleCtiVe

÷ (DELUXE)

ed SheeRan

FROM A ROOM: VOLUME 2

ChRiS StaPleton

NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC, VOL. 65

VaRiouS aRtiStS

24K MAGIC

BRuno MaRS

FROM A ROOM: VOLUME 1

ChRiS StaPleton

TRAVELLER

ChRiS StaPleton

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PERFECT SYMPHONY (WITH ANDREA BOCELLI)

ed SheeRan

FINESSE (REMIX) [FEAT. CARDI B]

BRuno MaRS

MIC DROP (STEVE AOKI REMIX)

BtS

HAVANA (FEAT. YOUNG THUG)

CaMila CaBello

PERFECT

ed SheeRan

SAY SOMETHING (FEAT. CHRIS STAPLETON) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

JuStin tiMBeRlake

MARRY ME

thoMaS Rhett

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD

PRinCe

THE MIDDLE

Zedd, GRey & MaRen MoRRiS

YONCÉ

BeyonCé

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A TANGLED WEB

keePinG uP with the kaRdaShianS, SeaSon 14

PEACHES BE TRIPPIN’

the Real houSewiVeS oF atlanta, SeaSon 10

HOUSE BY THE LAKE

the aSSaSSination oF Gianni VeRSaCe: aMeRiCan CRiMe StoRy, SeaSon 2

HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER

GRey’S anatoMy, SeaSon 14

ARMY OF ONE

SCandal, SeaSon 7

THE CAR

thiS iS uS, SeaSon 2

THE B*TCHELOR

RuPaul’S dRaG RaCe all StaRS, SeaSon 3 (unCenSoRed)

BIG BLUE

Blue Planet ii

A RANDOM KILLING

the aSSaSSination oF Gianni VeRSaCe: aMeRiCan CRiMe StoRy, SeaSon 2

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE VOGUE

the aSSaSSination oF Gianni VeRSaCe: aMeRiCan CRiMe StoRy, SeaSon 2

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UNRAVELED

helen haRdt

NIGHT MOVES

Jonathan kelleRMan

THE KREMLINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CANDIDATE

JaSon MatthewS

LAKE + MANNING

JeSSiCa hawkinS

THE LETTER

kathRyn huGheS

THE WIFE BETWEEN US

GReeR hendRiCkS & SaRah Pekkanen

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

a. J. Finn

POISON

John leSCRoaRt

DARKER

e l JaMeS

THE GREAT ALONE

kRiStin hannah

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AMAZON TO CREATE ANOTHER 125 TECH JOBS IN PITTSBURGH

Amazon has announced plans to create another 125 technology jobs in Pittsburgh, more than doubling its current tech workforce in the city. The company said the new jobs will be in fields such as machine translation and speech science, and it has secured an additional 22,000 square feet to expand its existing office. Amazon announced opening of the Pittsburgh facility last year. It’s one of more than a dozen “tech hubs” around the country that invent and build new products and services. The company says the Pittsburgh facility focuses on shopping and entertainment in multiple languages “and played a key role in the launch of Amazon.com in Spanish.” 180

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RUSSIA TROLL FARM EVEN ZANIER THAN INDICTMENT SAYS

A Clinton-Obama tape using body doubles. A Facebook page promoting Texas independence riddled with grammatical mistakes. Islamic State anthems blasting out during the nightshift. The U.S. indictment centered on a Russian troll farm only scratches the surface of the St. Petersburg agency that allegedly produced online content to sway the 2016 presidential election â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and glosses over how unconvincing some of its stunts could be. Many of the more eye-popping accounts of the Internet Research Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities have come from former staff members. One, Alan Baskaev, told the independent Russian television channel Rain last year that the agency made a video that looked like a U.S. soldier shooting a Quran and had even hired two actors in an abortive bid to fake a tape of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. 183

“No one would buy it, clearly,” Baskaev told the broadcaster, laughing. The Associated Press couldn’t confirm Baskaev’s sex tape story, but a video of a purported U.S. soldier in desert camouflage firing an assaultstyle weapon at a Quran was posted to an American gun forum in September 2015. The fakery was screamingly obvious: The soldier’s uniform was misshapen and out of date. His helmet resembled the headwear a cyclist might wear and the English he spoke was so heavily accented it was almost indecipherable. The BBC’s Russian service identified the man in 2016 as a bartender in St. Petersburg, a friend of someone who worked at the troll factory. The Quran video and others like it were ignominious flops. The New York Times Magazine in 2015 identified other fake videos, including footage meant to spark panic about a chemical plant explosion in Louisiana supposedly caused by the Islamic State group. Another showed a phony shooting in Atlanta, Georgia that carried echoes of Michael Brown’s fatal 2014 encounter with police in Ferguson, Missouri. The indictment that charged 13 Russians with meddling in the presidential race makes no mention of them, but the amateurish videos continued through the election. Last year The Daily Beast said it had identified “Williams and Kalvin” — a rap duo purportedly from Atlanta that appeared in YouTube videos — as operatives of the Russian troll operation. Speaking in a thick Nigerian accent, the man who went by Williams slammed Hillary Clinton as a racist and said, “This is time for change.” 184

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“Let our vote go for Trump, because this man is a businessman, he’s not a politician,” he continued. “Any businessman cannot be a racist.” The cringe-inducing quality of such videos and other pieces of the trolls’ work is another aspect of the alleged interference left out of the indictment — and much of the attendant media coverage. The agency did manage to organize rallies in the U.S., but turnout appears to have been microscopic. Even online, the trolls struggled with their command of English. One of the Internet Research Agency’s most popular Facebook pages, the secessionist-minded Heart of Texas, was packed with malapropisms. “Hillary Clinton behind bars is a dream of thousands of Americans and may the god this dream come true,” reads one of the Facebook posts that journalist Casey Michael eventually collected. “Texas is a heaven of Earth, a land give to us by Lord himself!” reads another.

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The nonsensical quality of the work would be no surprise to former troll farm employee Baskaev. He described a slap-dash operation whose internet connections frequently failed and whose fake profiles repeatedly got spiked by Facebook administrators. When the managers had gone home, the 20-somethings working the night shift at the troll farm ran amok, he said, playing Islamic State anthems over the sound system and jokingly saluting each other with the Ukrainian nationalist greeting, “Glory to Ukraine!” The indictment alleges that the troll farm sent operatives to the United States. Baskaev said the same to Rain last year, but added that he doubted any of them accomplished much in the U.S. “They probably just went out boozing and partying,” he said.

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PYEONGCHANG OLYMPICS SHOWCASES KOREAN SELFDRIVING VEHICLES

There’s a competition at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics that has nothing to do with sports, and plenty to do with jousting between automakers and tech companies over autonomously driving vehicles. South Korea’s largest automaker and a local telecom firm haggled for months over who would get to claim the exclusive right to label its vehicle as “autonomous.” In the end, Hyundai Motors rolled out an “autonomous” sedan while KT Corp.’s self-driving bus was christened the “5G Bus.” The self-driving vehicles on display at the Winter Olympics are showcasing South Korea’s prowess in both automotive and telecoms technology. They took to the roads only after a sponsorship battle over whether such vehicles should 189

be considered a form of transportation or a new kind of internet-connected device, like smartphones. Each Olympic corporate sponsor gets exclusive marketing rights in its own industry, so a blurring of boundaries between industries can lead to friction, said Kang Joon-ho, a sports marketing professor at Seoul National University. “It’s not clear whether we should see self-driving cars as vehicles or software, so it’s unclear which sponsorship category they belong to.” In the end, a compromise was worked out. Hyundai Motor Co., the local sponsor for the transport category and the world’s fifthlargest auto group, is seeking to dispel its image as a latecomer in autonomous driving. In Pyeongchang, it also is getting a jump on Japanese rivals that are preparing to deploy selfdriving cars at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with its five autonomous Nexo fuel-cell cars. They are navigating without direct human control within a range of about 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the Olympic stadium in the mountainous town. In a one-time test before the opening ceremony for the games, Hyundai had the Nexos drive 190 kilometers (118 miles) of highways from Seoul to Pyeongchang. The vehicles passed through toll gates and navigated junctions and tunnels without human controls or interruptions. It was the culmination of years of preparation, and development of 3D maps by the government. “South Korea started late but we are at a level where we can pull off autonomous driving even in complicated, difficult situations,” said Kim Jin190

Image: Jean Chung

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hoo, a deputy director at the transport ministry. “We hope the event has helped ease public fears toward self-driving cars and piqued interest since the government aims to see self-driving cars commercialized by 2020.” Kwon Hyoung-Geun, head of Hyundai’s Intelligent Safety Research Team, said the Nexo demonstration focuses on autonomous driving on public roads with steep curves, hills, tunnels, traffic lights, intersections and roundabouts. Hyundai is partnering with U.S.-based selfdriving technology startup Aurora Innovation to develop self-driving vehicles that can operate without human input in most conditions, aiming to begin sales by 2021. Analysts expect Hyundai to launch self-driving taxis or ride-hailing services by then. As the local sponsor for wireless networks, KT, formerly state-owned Korea Telecom, is focusing on self-driving cars becoming the new dataguzzling devices of the future. Self-driving cars consume enormous amounts of data as sensors and chips monitor road conditions and analyze them in real time. KT, along with Intel and Samsung Electronics, has built 5G networks as a trial service in the Olympic towns to handle those mountains of data. Since it has the telecoms, not automotive sponsorship, for appearances’ sake KT agreed not to present its two “5G connected” buses to the media as driving unmanned, even though that’s how they are operating in the seaside town of Gangneung, where Olympic ice hockey and skating matches are underway.

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Image: Jean Chung

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Leading global telecom carriers plan to roll out 5G networks in 2020. Such networks process data about 100 times faster than current fourthgeneration wireless networks, a speed that enables users to download feature-length movies in a matter of a couple of seconds. KT plans to begin 5G services — the bus is one example — across South Korea in 2019. Despite its sponsorship rivalry with Hyundai, it also is providing 5G data networks to the Nexos, whose rear seats are outfitted with 5G entertainment services. The 5G connected buses are like giant moving smartphones, with passenger seat windows made of transparent displays instead of traditional glass that serve as screens for watching movies or displaying fictional landscapes, instead of just the view outside the bus. While some riders might prefer just to gaze at the landscape, Kim Hyung Joon, a senior vice president at KT, says the technology will liberate drivers to relax and watch movies. “That way, cars will become very much similar to mobile devices that are connected all the time and consume data like a smartphone,” Kim said. Unfortunately for international visitors, seats on the connected 5G buses that will be operating through Feb. 22 are all already booked solid. KT also is showing off 5G tablets and ways to experience winter sports through virtual reality and other 5G services at Olympic venues and at booths in Gangneung and Seoul.

To book a ride in a Hyundai Nexo fuel cell car during the Olympics 194

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