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BOTTOM LINE

THE ULTIMATE INSTANT POT GUID E: WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL FOR YOU?

SIMPLIFY YOUR TECH SHOPPING WITH INSIGHT FROM OUR EXPERTS

BEST E-READERS

THAT’S WHERE WE COME IN

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BY JENNIFER BLAIR

Whether you’re a seasoned reader with a taste for the classics or a younger reader first discovering the magic of words on a page, here’s everything you need to know to pick out the perfect e-reader for yourself.

BEST OF THE BEST

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

Amazon

Amazon

Kindle Oasis E-Reader

Boox

Kindle Paperwhite

Tops its competitors for its impressive technology, large storage space, and lightweight design. Hands down the best e-reader available on today’s

Amazon

Note E-Reader

Amazon’s update to their mid-range Kindle makes it a must-have for anyone needing a casual e-reader.

It’s waterproof,

Barnes & Noble

Kindle

The Note E-reader is a novel approach to making a hybrid e-reader/tablet: it’s got an e-ink

NOOK GlowLight Plus

Amazon’s entry level Kindle e-reader is perfect for casual readers or

Though basic, it has some nice features and a reasonable price

PROS

first-timers. It offers a and you can add a that makes it worth considering, display, it runs Android mobile OS, hese days, you can’t market. good compromise between price, wireless LTE plan if needed. especially if you want an alternative and has a giant 10” screen. visit many recipe features, and flexibility. to Kindle models. sites without reading about Instant Combines amazing 300ppi high It’s available with either 8GB or It can run Android apps from the resolution display, sleek design, Pots. These handy It’s affordable. It can last for weeks 32GB of storage. The 300ppi Has GlowLight technology that Google Play story (in black and effortless page turn features, and appliances have on a single batter charge, and has screen is gorgeous, and the battery adjusts to day and night reading. white). The 10.3” screen is big and adjustable built-in light to create a been around for full access to all of Amazon’s Kindle lasts for weeks.

Clear resolution and no-glare beautiful and can handle dualtruly top-notch reading experience. quite some time, services, including thousands of screen make reading easy. Midbut they’ve gotten so much buzz lately touch operations like pinch-andIt also holds a charge for days and e-books. The 6” glare-free screen range price. zoom. Best of all, you can write on it because their multifunctionality makes stores thousands of books. makes it easy to read almost like a piece of paper. them a great deal and a major conveanywhere. nience for working people who want It’s a costly model, but considering to It’s missing the automatic lighteat well.

It’s expensive. It only lasts a few the quality and features you get, The resolution is only 167ppi. It sensing found on more expensive The Instant Pot is best known as a Files are somewhat confusing days on a single battery charge, it’s more like an investment that’s doesn’t have dedicated buttons for models. It comes with ads on the lock pressure cooker, but depending on to transfer. It’s easy to interrupt which is great for a tablet, but not worth the price. the turning pages, and it’s WiFi only, so screen, and you have to pay a small model you choose, you can also get reading by accidentally bumping great for an e-reader. a slow you can’t use it with a mobile data fee to Amazon to remove them. cooker, rice cooker, steamer, and more the sensitive home button. in LTE plan. one compact appliance.

Interested in Instant Pots but feeling overwhelmed by the options? Here’sCONSIDER THESE FUNCTIONS WHEN a SELECTING AN E-READER rundown of the top models to help If you’re not sure where to start, ask strain. Users more focused on having you yourself the following questions. Your a E-READER FEATURES choose the right one for your kitchen. standalone reading device that they You will help point marquee feature, it’s a really big deal. answers can All e-readers have the same base never know who on your list will want you toward the read for hours on end without their With automatic light sensors, e-reader eyes functionality: they display e-books one — and it can’t hurt to be fully right e-reader for you. getting tired typically opt for a proper on aware Do of you want an screens can adapt to the optimal brighte-ink displays. Beyond that, there e-reader or a tabwhat’s availe-reader. are ness based on the current conditions let? E-readers and tablets are different Tribune Content Agency some key differentiators that help able to you. at Which screen size is right for you? the any time. Most e-readers include devices, but they have some overlapping best and brightest stand out. Here manThe screen size you pick is probably are ual settings for brightness but having functionality. Many users prefer tablets the the features we love. most important decision you’ll make them automated is a lot more useful. over e-readers because they include Waterproof enclosures: Having during the purchase process. E-reader LTE connectivity: Most e-readreading functionality along with apps a waterproof e-reader is more about screens range between six and 11 inches, ers nowadays have built-in WiFi, that let you do a ton of other things. peace of mind than it is convenience. but But so there’s a lot of variety, although sometimes, WiFi isn’t enough. If while tablets are more versatile and most If you like to read near the pool, or you only e-readers feature seven-inch screens. if want to be able to download content slightly more expensive, their screens If you’re gearing up for a beach vacayou’re accustomed to paperback books, onto your e-reader when you’re away expose your eyes to a lot of light, which tion, you may want to get a waterproof a six- or seven-inch screen may be The Instant Pot is a cleverly named from WiFi, you’ll need one with LTE can get uncomfortable while reading pere-reader. culinary tool that can perform an impressive fect. If you’re more into hardcovers, functionality, so you can pair it with and can cause long-term issues with variety of cooking tasks.

Whether you want to make yogurt, you Auto-adjusting light sensors: While eye may want to look at the larger models. cook rice, sauté vegetables, or slow your mobile wireless provider and this might not sound like much of cook a roast, this handy device add can do it all. In a home where space a it to your data plan. is a concern, this may quickly

SPRING 2020

SELF-DRIVING

BEST INSTANT POTS

CONS UNIQUE FEATURES

CARS BEST TV ANTENNAS

The instructions in the owner’s manual are somewhat confusing, so some users have to watch YouTube videos to figure out how to operate the pot.

It offers a 24-hour delay start timer, so you can be sure your meal is ready exactly when you want it.

Faster than the original Duo, it’s ideal for anyone who

This model offers a greater level of customization for a more precise multifunctional cooking experience.

A WiFi-enabled model that’s perfect for anyone who loves smart home devices and appliances.

Duo Evo Plus 6 Qt

needs to get dinner on the table in a hurry.

Ultra 6 Qt 10-in-1

Smart WiFi 6 Qt

The Duo Nova 7-in-1 This model offers The Ultra 10-in-1 offers The Smart WiFi can can hold 6 quarts, 10 one-touch smart all the functions of the perform eight of making it ideal for programs, including DUO Plus, as well as the most common families of three to five. pressure cooking, slow an additional sterilizer Instant Pot functions Not only can you use it cooking, rice/grain, function. It also boasts — pressure cooking, for pressure cooking, sous vide, steaming, the Ultra program, slow cooking, rice/ but it also works as yogurt making, which allows you to porridge cooking, a slow cooker, rice sautéing, warming, customize for both yogurt making, cake/ cooker, steamer, sauté and baking. With a pressure and nonegg making, sauté/ pan, yogurt maker, and 6-quart capacity, pressure recipes. It searing, warmer. For even more steaming and it’s large enough to features a larger LCD warming — but you can convenient cooking, feed your family and display and central control it from your it offers 14 smart guests. Its extradial controls to make smartphone. You can programs that allow large, bright LCD choosing a program or schedule, adjust, and you to prepare soups, display is extremely making adjustments as monitor the progress stews, chili, beans and easy to read, and easy as possible. The of your cooking poultry dishes with the the dial control LCD display also has programs push of a button. The even when makes operation a cooking indicator you’re not right beside user-friendly touchstraightforward. that lets you track your Instant Pot. The button controls and The Duo Evo Plus the progress of each app also offers access easy-to-read icons uses QuickCool program. The steam to hundreds of premake operation as technology and a release reset button programmed recipes easy as possible, too.

QuickCool tray to safely releases steam to take the guesswork It also provides both release pressure once the pressure out low- and high-pressure of meal prep. The nearly 50% faster than cooking function is Smart WiFi also boasts settings to give you other models. completed. more than 11 built-in more control. safety features.

The Duo Nova’s cord is just 35 inches long.

The steam valve is flimsy and directs the steam straight up, which can be a problem if the pot is placed under cabinets.

It cooks up to 70% faster than other pressure cookers on the high-pressure setting.

It isn’t WiFi- or Alexaenabled, so it doesn’t boast all of the most advanced Instant Pot features.

Its inner pot has a flat bottom and can be placed on your stove for sauteing.

The easy-grip handles make it easy to move the inner pot.

Instant Pot

DUO Plus 8 Qt 9-in-1 This Instant Pot replaces nine appliances in your kitchen and prepares enough food for a large family.

Instant Pot

You’re not able to create your own recipes for the Instant Pot to follow with the app, which frustrates some users.

It doesn’t always get hot enough during the yogurt-making feature, so some users find they need to boil the milk a second time to reach the right temperature.

It offers an altitude adjustment feature that takes the guesswork out of converting recipes for different altitudes.

It’s Alexa-enabled, so you can use voice control to operate it via your Alexa device.

The exterior is made of fingerprint-resistant stainless steel to allow for easy cleanup.

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

Max 60, 6 Qt

Ideal for those who like to make canned goods at home because the higher pressure allows for canning.

Like other Instant In addition to the Pots, the Duo Plus typical range of Instant 9-in-1 offers pressure Pot functions, the Max cooking, slow cooking, also boasts a sous rice/porridge cooking, vide function, which yogurt making, allows you to create steaming, sautéing/ restaurant-quality searing and warming meals at home. During functions, but it also pressure cooking, the boasts a cake/egg Max can sustain high making function and levels of pressure, a sterilizing feature. which means your food It has 15 smart cooks more quickly. If programs, including you’re nervous about soup/broth, meat/ pressure cooking, the stew, bean/chili and device also offers 13 porridge, which safety mechanisms, you can activate including a pressure with the press of a indicator, overheat button. The interior protection, position cooking surface is sensors for lid and float made of food-grade valve, and closed lid stainless steel that’s detection. Operation dishwasher-safe . The is also incredibly Duo Plus’s large LCD user-friendly thanks to screen is easy to read. the large LCD touch screen.

The dial control can have a flimsy feel.

Some users don’t like that you have to hold down the steam release button to expel the steam.

BEST OF THE BEST

Mohu

4K-Ready HDTV Leaf TV Antenna

Clearly the best choice for gadget enthusiasts. It offers clear reception at a price that isn’t our of line for the quality.

Ultra-thin, sleek design and vivid amplifier capabilities, CleanPeak technology that filters out interfering signals for clear channel reception up to a 50-mile range.

Though somewhat costly, users can expect high performance for the price.

A first step to advanced driver assistance is here, as are regulations 1byone

HDTV Shiny Antenna

The best value for users who want long-distance channel reception without spending a lot of money.

Provides amplified reception and a 50-mile channel range at a value price. The easy setup and streamlined design is comparable to costlier models.

The suction mounting does not work well on all surfaces. May not work as well is placed far from a window.

RCA

Compact Outdoor Yagi HDTV Antenna

A great choice for the outdoors, this antenna can also be mounted in the attic and provides good channel reception with or without line of sight.

Pr-assembled for simple installation. Fold-out UHF reflector locks easily. Range of 70 miles.

Supports up to 1080i HDTV. Durable construction.

An amplifier may be required to reach the manufacturer’s stated range. Use caution when installing.

RCA

Winegard

Offers good reception, but may not be the best model for users who want a paper-thin design.

An amplified model that reaches up to 50 miles, especially when placed close to windows.

Digital Indoor TV Antenna

Flatewave Digital Indoor HD TV Antenna

A trusted brand with a reputation for quality. Durable design produces clear reception in almost any room. Amplifier can be used to access more channels.

It’s bulky compared to other models. The six-foot cable is not long enough for some users.

It doesn’t offer complete control over KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN CHOOSING A TV ANTENNA the steam release PREFERRED CHANNELS will be able to cover will depend on after pressure cooking The first step is to figure out which the trying to reach. Some outdoor antennas type of antenna it is. like other models do, channels are available in your area. can reach nearly 200 miles. This is You the which can lead to acan do this by going to a website like way to go if you’re trying to reach chanTV INDOOR VS. OUTDOOR mess.

Fool and entering your address. It will nels that are far away.

Indoor antennas connect to your TV show you all the channels that are availand should be placed somewhere where able in your area and how strong the CHANNEL FREQUENCY sigthey can get a clear signal. These models nal is for each. Write down the channels Over-the-air channels are broadcast are compact and easy to install, but It offers NutriBoost you are interested in and their distance beon three frequency types. Very High cause they must travel through walls technology, whichaway from Freand you. It’s also wise to make a quency-Low (VHF-Low) channels because uses a boiling motion are they’re often low to the ground, note of the channel’s azimuth and channels 2 through 6. Channels 7 to its real their signal doesn’t travel as far. The during the pressure 13 channel number. best are broadcast on VHF-High, and chanindoor TV antennas usually max out cooking program to at nels 14 to 51 are broadcast on Ultra around 50 miles. help add nutrition RANGE High to Frequency (UHF). Not all TV antennas Outdoor antennas, on the other hand, your recipes.

Once you have your list of channels, cover all these ranges, so it’s important are more complicated to install, but check how far away the furthest channel they to be aware of which ones you need also tend to be more powerful. This for is that you’re interested in. You should is the channels you want. because they are usually installed higher choose a TV antenna that covers at Remember to focus on the real chanleast up and there are fewer obstructions this distance. The distance your antenna benel number. This may be different tween the antenna and the signals from it is the number of the channel on your TV.

BOTTOM LINE

This is a time-saving appliance that helps you feed your family a variety of meals while freeing up space.

Instant Pot

Streamlined design. Clear Circuit technology provides vivid picture quality.

PROS

Instant Pot

Extra-long 18-ft. cable may be too much for some users and can be

awkward if the extra length is not needed.

CONS

The Lux can replace your pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté pan, steamer, and food warmer with a single appliance that features user-friendly button controls. It also offers a variety of built-in smart programs, including meat/stew, soup/broth, egg and porridge. The egg program allows you to prepare soft-, medium-, or hard-boiled eggs in a matter of minutes. Its automatic “keep warm” function maintains the temperature of dishes so your food is always warm when you’re ready to eat. You can choose from three temperature options in the sauté setting, too, so you can sear, simmer and thicken recipes.

We tend to think of TV antennas as antiquated technology, but cord cutters have begun to remodel their image. Now, they represent an easy way to access free TV without paying for a bunch of channels that you don’t need.

Instant Pot

BOTTOM LINE

A solid starter model that’s affordable and ideal for those who are looking to invest in their first Instant Pot.

Instant Pot

Duo Nova 6 Qt 7-in-1

PROS

Instant Pot

Lux 6 Qt 6-in-1

CONS

PROS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM

become your favorite appliance.

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This information is available through TV Fool and other signal analysis websites.

PAGE 19 DIRECTIONAL VS. OMNIDIRECTIONAL TV antennas may be omnidirectional or directional. That is, they may work equally well in all directions, or they may be focused in a single direction.

If the towers you’re trying to reach are all pretty close to you, it shouldn’t matter which kind of antenna you choose.

But if you’re trying to reach a tower that is far away, a directional antenna pointed toward the tower will give you the best chance of picking up the signal. Use the azimuth data you collected to figure out where the towers are that you’re trying to reach.

FACING

FACTS K Facial recognition could take over, one ‘convenience’ at a time

BY ALFRED NG

onami Gaming, a slot machine maker, wants to weave facial recognition into its one-armed bandits.

During a visit to its Las Vegas headquarters to hear more about its plans, I quickly discovered what the world would be like if DOORBELL facial recognition is DATA: everywhere.

RING APP “Hello, Alfred,” said SHARES a measured, robotic PERSONAL voice, startling me.

DATA It came from a kiosk SEE PAGE 4 called “Biometrics Welcome Console” positioned right next to the door of the conference room where my meeting was held. The kiosk knew who I was because Konami had set up a profile for me, using a public photo from my CNET bio without telling me. The facial recognition tagged me before I’d even said hello to the Konami team members in the room.

I looked at the screen showing the photo the kiosk took of me when I walked in. The camera had caught just my eyes and nose. Still, the facial recognition software calculated it detected me with 60.5% accuracy.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

INSIDE

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT 5G The latest generation of wireless technology is rolling out. PAGE 6

SOFTWARE VS. HARDWARE: WHEN TO REPLACE ‘Right-to-repair’ extends from iPhones to tractors. PAGE 10

CONS

CONS

INSIDE

BestReviews is the site to turn to when you’re about to buy something.

From heated blankets to trampolines to cordless drills, we compare the top products in thousands of categories to give you the most reliable purchasing advice.

Our goal is to make it easy for you to pick the best product and be confident in your decision.

SIMPLIFY YOUR TECH SHOPPING WITH INSIGHT FROM OUR EXPERTS

PROS

WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO

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BEST REVIEWS

EXTENDING THE SHELF LIFE OF FOOD Company aims to keep perishables fresh for consumers. PAGE 23

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“WE’RE LIVING IN A WILD WEST WHEN IT COMES TO PRIVACY PROTECTIONS. MOST DEPLOYMENTS OF FACIAL RECOGNITION AREN’T EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS, BUT THEY’RE EMPOWERING THE COMPANIES THAT LIE BEHIND THOSE DEVICES.” Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union

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Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo, report says

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BY EDWARD MOYER

hat if a stranger could snap your picture on the sidewalk then use an app to quickly discover your name, address and other details?

A startup called Clearview AI has made that possible, and its app is currently being used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies in the U.S., including the FBI, says a report in The New York Times.

The app, says the Times, works by comparing a photo to a database of more than 3 billion pictures that Clearview says it’s scraped off Facebook, Venmo, YouTube and other sites. It then serves up matches, along with links to the sites where those database photos originally appeared.

A name might easily be unearthed, and from there other info could be dug up online.

The size of the Clearview database dwarfs others in use by law enforcement. The FBI’s own database, which taps passport and driver’s license photos, is one of the largest, with over 641 million images of U.S. citizens.

The Clearview app isn’t currently available to the public, but the Times says police officers and Clearview investors think it will be in the future.

Law enforcement officers say they’ve used the app to solve crimes from shoplifting to child sexual exploitation to murder. But privacy advocates warn that the app could return false matches to police and that it could also be used by stalkers and others.

They’ve also warned that facial recognition technologies in general could be used to conduct mass surveillance.

Regulation of facial recognition technology is currently up in the air in the U.S. A few cities, including San Francisco, have banned its use, but there aren’t yet any federal laws.

Recently, the House Oversight Committee held its third hearing on facial recognition, as lawmakers look to address the tech’s use in public spaces by both private companies and government agencies. “We’re going to have to really grapple with what are the parameters of protecting privacy and controlling the use of this technology,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, said at the hearing.

In November, two senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would limit how agencies like the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could use the tech.

“Facial recognition technology can be a powerful tool for law enforcement officials,” one of the senators, Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, said in a statement at the time.

“But its very power also makes it ripe for abuse.”

Clearview AI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FBI didn’t immediately have a comment.

CNET.com‌

CREATE EXPLORE CONNECT

TheDigitalUser.com PUBLISHER John M. Humenik, Vice President/News and CCO, Lee Enterprises EDITOR Terry Lipshetz, Senior Manager of Custom Conent, Lee Enterprises DESIGNER April Burford, Lee Design Center Content featured in this section was gathered from resources associated with the Tribune Content Agency, including Inc., Quartz, New Scientist and The Atlantic Online.

ALFRED NG PHOTOS, CNET VIA TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

At Konami’s headquarters in Las Vegas, its facial recognition powered cameras tracked me around the room.

“Any picture you use online can be used to identify you already,” Sina Miri, Konami’s vice president of innovation and strategic research and design, told me. Konami had also set up profiles of my colleagues at the visit, again without telling them.

Throughout the interview, Konami’s facial recognition cameras followed us. They captured our images so many times that the kiosk kept greeting us long after the meeting started. Eventually, a Konami staffer resorted to covering her face with paper to keep the machine quiet while we stood out of its view.

The exchange, which Konami saw as a positive demonstration of its capabilities but which I viewed as an invasion of privacy, illustrates the fine line that facial recognition needs to walk. Technology companies can’t wait to incorporate the feature, which can be as benign as Face ID on your iPhone, into more gadgets and systems. But consumer advocates worry it’ll have a chilling effect on our private lives.

Meanwhile, facial recognition’s spread marches on. Over the last decade, anything you can think of — toothbrushes, televisions, cars, refrigerators and even beds — has been connected to the internet. Within the next 10 years, facial recognition companies hope to do the same with their technology. CES 2020, where many of these companies showed their wares, was a glimpse into what the future of surveillance could look like. The annual tech conference was a prime spot to help make the biometric service mainstream.

Just as connecting a television to the internet was a fairly new concept in 2011, a world filled with facial recognition is essentially uncharted territory now. That might change fast. By 2019, analysts found that you couldn’t buy a new TV without an internet connection.

Facial recognition companies want that sort of acceptance for their technology.

That means inserting FR, as the technology is called in shorthand, into every part of your life. You’ll experience it at the shopping mall, at school and in your own home.

“Once it’s used in other industries, it’ll be in places everywhere,” said Tom Soukup, Konami’s senior vice president and chief systems products officer.

“There’s going to be widespread customer acceptance within the next two, three years.”

But facial recognition is used by police departments and government agencies for investigations, often without legal guidelines that protect citizens when it’s used. Lawmakers have raised concerns about, for example, the effect on free speech if police could use facial recognition to pinpoint and track protesters in a crowd.

“This is a tech that threatens to supercharge our cameras and turn them into surveillance devices like never before,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union.

FORWARD FACING

When everything became connected online in the last decade, the convenience came with some strings attached. For televisions, it meant that companies could start tracking people’s viewing habits and selling that data to advertisers.

“We’re living in a wild west when it comes to privacy protections,” the ACLU’s Stanley said. “Most deployments of facial recognition aren’t empowering individuals, but they’re empowering the companies that lie behind those devices.”

HOW CONVENIENT?

Konami set up a facial recognition profile for me using my CNET profile picture without telling me.

With facial recognition, it could happen on a broader scale. You can’t change your face the way you can change an advertising ID associated with your device.

At CES, facial recognition appeared to be on the verge of wedging itself into spots it had never been before. The trade show itself implemented facial recognition for badge pickups for the first time, while LG showed off a door that could scan your face to unlock. A storage box for marijuana using facial recognition won a CES innovation award.

Konami Gaming recently showed off its plans for implementing facial recognition in slot machines, explaining that gamblers could use their faces for loyalty and rewards programs from a casino.

Konami’s Miri envisions a future in which facial recognition could enable pervasive, real-world online tracking for targeted advertising via Google and Facebook.

“Once we face ID you, what we do is build a profile,” Miri said. “If we know your favorite drink is rum and coke, we can put an advertisement of a specific brand of rum where you are, for example.”

Throughout the interview, Soukup referred to our faces as “QR codes,” reducing one of our most intimate, personal features to a machine-scannable jumble.

Soukup said Konami doesn’t have privacy officers who work on facial recognition development at its headquarters.

Instead, the company has compliance officers, whose job is to make sure its technology meets the minimum standards of privacy laws like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which includes provisions covering biometric information.

In the US, almost no regulations on facial recognition exist, outside of Illinois’s biometrics law. Everything that Konami did — taking my image without my permission to build a profile and then constantly tracking me in its office even though I never opted in — is completely legal.

Konami’s executives said that facial recognition would speed up the process for gamblers looking to get loyalty rewards points. Under the current system, it takes about a minute and a half. With the biometric, Miri says, it would take 30 seconds.

You’d be exchanging a potential lifetime of facial tracking to save a minute.

PopID, a facial recognition company based in California, is behind facial recognition for businesses like Deli Time and Stoner’s Pizza Joint. It’s also got its technology on the campuses of schools like Stanford University and University of Southern California.

The company provided a similar comparison, saying it takes about 90 seconds to order food through facial recognition, compared to 3 minutes without it.

Yale Goldberg, PopID’s vice president of strategy and business development, says the company’s facial recognition is in more than 100 locations that ring up more than 1,500 transactions per week.

He says facial recognition will spread, pointing out the success it’s had at PopID’s parent company, Cali Burger.

“We have significantly more loyal top customers than we did before we had these kiosks. It’s because they know they can get this great experience every time,” Goldberg said. “They don’t need to add their onions and light ketchup and everything else. We know that for them. We make their lives easier.”

Facial recognition companies believe this technology will be everywhere in the next five years, arguing that the convenience will win over the public.

But with unease building over technology companies’ invasion of privacy, more people are becoming aware of the strings attached to that convenience, the ACLU’s Stanley said.

“We’ve seen a growing backlash against facial recognition in the country and growing understanding of the technology’s consequences,” Stanley said.

“We need to be very, very wary about exchanging convenience for a world that we don’t recognize anymore.”

Before leaving Konami’s office, I asked the company’s staff to delete the profile it had made of me, along with any other biometric data that its cameras collected during my visit.

The staff deleted my profile but said they’d need to contact Konami’s biometric supplier to get rid of the data they collected on me. I wasn’t able to stay to see that happen.

After the story published, Konami apologized for building a facial recognition profile of us without our permission, and said that the company should have provided notice.

“We did not mean to offend the team or make light of important values,” a Konami spokeswoman said. “We will ensure that the data associated with this recent visit is purged from our internal system and that of our biometric technology CNET.com‌ partner.”

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PRIVACY

Controlling THE VIRTUAL

Future

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai says it’s ‘no question’ artificial intelligence needs regulation

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BY REX CRUM

ith several California cities moving to stop the use of facial recognition technology, the chief executive of a tech giant has come out in favor of stricter, and more widespread regulation of such types of artificial intelligence technologies.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said there is “no question” that AI needs more regulation in order to prevent the potential negative effects of the use of technologies that include facial recognition Pichai and so-called “deepfake” videos. Pichai made his views public in an opinion piece he wrote for the Financial Times in January. Pichai said that as the head of Google parent company Alphabet, it is his “privilege to help to shape new technologies that we hope will be life-changing for people everywhere,” and that

“GOOD REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS WILL CONSIDER SAFETY, EXPLAINABILITY, FAIRNESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO ENSURE WE DEVELOP THE RIGHT TOOLS IN THE RIGHT WAYS.” Sundar Pichai, Alphabet CEO he believes AI is “promising.”

However, Pichai stressed that there is a dark side to AI that calls for some form of greater oversight over the technology.

“Artificial intelligence needs to be regulated,” Pichai said. “It is too important not to. The only question is how to approach it.”

Artificial intelligence is often defined as computer systems that have been developed to perform functions normally done by humans. Among the areas that AI has been touted as being used for are visual perception, speech recognition and language translation.

Last year, several California

cities, including Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and Alameda, banned the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement officers on the grounds that it could violate individuals’ civil liberties.

“It doesn’t work,” Alameda Vice Mayor John Knox White said in December after the city passed its ban on facial recognition technology.

“The technology is not even close to being ready for discussion.”

Pichai noted that while as CEO of Google, in 2018 the company published its own set of principles to serve as a guide for what he called “the ethical development and use” of AI. However, Pichai

added that “principles that remain on paper are meaningless” and that there is a role for governments to play in setting stronger guidelines for the use of AI as its use become more public. Pichai said the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation rules on the use of personal data can serve as a guideline for further governmental involvement in AI supervision.

“Good regulatory frameworks will consider safety, explainability, fairness and accountability to ensure we develop the right tools in the right ways,” Pichai said.

The rise of AI has been controversial, as such technology has been used to create deepfake videos, or videos that have been altered to make a person appear as if they are saying something they didn’t actually say. Earlier in January, Facebook said it would ban most deepfake videos from its platforms in the wake of several videos being posted that involved politicians such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, as well as Facebook CEO Mark ZuckThe Mercury News erberg.

A NEW BATTLEGROUND IN THE WEB BROWSER WARS: PRIVACY

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BY AUSTIN CARR

oogle announced a massive shift in January in how it handles cookies, those pesky digital trackers that chase us around the internet and serve up targeted ads that are both creepy yet eerily precise reflections of our wants. The search giant, which just helped parent Alphabet surpass a $1 trillion valuation, said it will eventually stop supporting third-party cookies in its ubiquitous Chrome browser.

The move won’t end the Big Brother era of Big Tech, but Google is framing the decision as a significant step away from unbridled data mining. In a blog post, Google references privacy about a dozen times, an awkward pitch for a company that built a juggernaut of a business by tapping into cookies from its billions of users. Can Google, after

pioneering and protecting an apparent invasion of privacy, sell its browser to consumers as a privacy-first service?

Google is going to try. That’s because the other browser makers are embracing privacy as a competitive advantage.

Apple added cookie restrictions to Safari several years ago. Microsoft has been building a raft of tracking-prevention mechanisms into its Edge browser.

And Mozilla has made paid privacy tools a core selling point of its Firefox service, though they’ve failed to catch on so far.

When Google first introduced Chrome in 2008, it essentially marketed the new browser as an online operating system, one that would treat popular web services — email, messaging, video streaming — as full-blown applications, rather than clunky web pages. Chrome was a fast, refreshing alternative to Firefox and Internet Explorer. In the de-

cade since, it has soared in popularity: Chrome today boasts 63% worldwide market share, according to StatCounter.

Chrome also became a huge source of data, facilitating an ecosystem of Google services that kept feeding its advertising engine with more user information. The browser’s search box defaulted, of course, to Google, while users could log into the platform via Gmail to seamlessly access its products such Drive, Docs, Maps and YouTube, enabling the company to fill up ever-more jars of cookies. The dominance of the browser raised privacy concerns.

One test last year found a whopping 11,189 requests for cookies in a week of surfing on Chrome. But only recently has Google started comprehensively rethinking its privacy policies, partly due to regulatory pressure and changing consumer sentiments around data collection.

“Users are demanding greater privacy — including transparency, choice and control over how their data is used — and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands,” Justin Schuh, director of Chrome engineering, wrote in the blog post.

Google deserves a measure of credit for adopting consumer protections that could undermine its relationship with marketers and publishers, and also raise further antitrust scrutiny.

Still, such policies stop far short of ridding Google of ad-tracking altogether: They may simply end up increasing the value of so-called first-party cookies, which websites collect directly from their users, rather than through intermediaries. One company well-positioned to keep gobbling those up from its many devoted Bloomberg News users? Google.

THE DIGITAL USER

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SPRING 2020

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

SECURITY

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SECURITY

Neighbors are using smart cameras to track strangers’ cars — and yours

O

BY SAM DEAN

HACKING

HOME

Your smart-home devices could be easy to hack. Here’s how to protect yourself.

S

BY MARCIA HEROUX POUNDS

o you recently got a new smart-home device. It could be Amazon’s Echo, often called “Alexa,” or Google Home using “Siri,” which provide music, news updates and other information features; iRobot Roomba to clean your floors; the Ring doorbell, or a smart TV for voice-command video.

Maybe you’re thrilled or maybe you’re a bit wary, given recent reports of cyberhacking of some devices. Internet-oriented devices can make life simpler, through voice-activated commands and remote operation, but they also can allow access to cyberhackers looking to steal your personal information.

“Everything is hackable. If you can access it, others can access it,” said Yair Levy, director of the Center for E-learning Security Research at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. “Any new device you add, you add another (security) hole.”

Still, billions of smart-home devices have been sold.

“Some people are saying, ‘I don’t care,’ ” said Levy, who teaches his students about the hacking dangers of smart-home devices.

But if you’re still sold on the convenience of using an Alexa or a Roomba, here are some expert recommendations for setting up and operating the device:

READ THE MANUAL

Don’t skip over the instruction manual for your smart-home device, which has important information

that could affect you down the road.

“You’re so excited to play with the new device that you go ‘yes,’ ‘yes,’ ‘yes’ while setting up the device,” observed Tim Rader, director of product development for security company ADT. The Boca Raton-based company developed the Alexa Guard app to integrate its security product with smart-home devices.

“Don’t be in too much of a rush,” he said, saying that there may be options that could have an impact on privacy and security.

CHANGE THE DEVICE’S PASSWORD

Many smart-home devices come with a manufacturer’s password to set them up. Don’t use the device with this password because it’s easily found online. Create a unique

password for the device, and not one you’ve used for another account.

Reza Azarderakhsh, associate professor of computer science at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, said that while changing the password for your device is always a good idea, it shouldn’t give you a false sense of security. “It doesn’t make you secure against a serious cyberattack,” he said.

So step it up by changing your password every 90 days, another expert says.

Rader recommends consumers find a “scheme” that will help them remember a password, such as the words from a song you like. Then mix the words with lower and upper case letters, numbers that are not repetitive, and special characters, such as an ampersand, asterisk or dollar sign.

DOORBELL DATA your device looks like.”

It doesn’t take much to fingerprint a device, said Eric Goldman, a Santa Clara University School of Law professor who co-directs the school’s High Tech Law Institute.

“For example, if you can see all the apps on a person’s device, that alone might be unique to everyone else in the universe,” Goldman said.

“We have all probably configured our apps differently.”

Bringing together some of the data Ring provides could show, hypothetically, that you opened a game, or that you joined a Wi-Fi hotspot in your home, Budington said.

The more information collected, the better a company can put together a picture of what you’re doing in your digital life.

“Like many companies, Ring uses third-party service providers to evaluate the use of our mobile app, which helps us improve features, optimize the customer experience, and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing,” a Ring spokesperson said in a statement. “Ring AR

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Ring’s privacy policy notes that the company uses third-party analytics services and participates in “ad networks” that enable it to target messaging by collecting information “through automated means, including through the use of cookies, web server logs, web beacons and other similar technologies.”

But only one of the third-party companies the EFF identified, Mixpanel, is named in Ring’s list of third-party analytics services.

AppsFlyer, a mobile marketing analytics company, collects information on user actions within the Ring app and on calibration settings and sensors installed on the device.

“Just having the information on what sensors your phone has is quite indepth,” the EFF’s Budington said. “It’s concerning because of the level of detail and insight into your device’s characteristics. A tracking company can stitch together and create a fingerprint of your device — a cohesive whole about what

M

ing, the Amazon.comowned maker of high-tech doorbells and home security cameras, markets itself as protection from the world outside users’ homes. But its app collects data from users’ phones and shares that information with multiple third-party trackers, a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation recently revealed.

The information includes users’ full names, email addresses, IP addresses, mobile network carriers and data about sensors installed in the phone, according to the civil liberties group, whose work focuses on privacy and other digital rights.

The EFF said it parsed web traffic on Ring’s app for Android devices and found that the company distributes customer data mainly to four analytics and marketing firms: Facebook, Branch, AppsFlyer and Mixpanel. Google-owned Crashlytics also receives data from Ring, according to the report.

“Customers should really look hard and see, ‘Is this something that I trust?

This surveillance device that can be used to surveil my neighbors is actually surveilling me now,’ ” said William Budington, a security engineer and technologist at the EFF. Ring said in a statement that it allows third parties to use the data only for “appropriate purposes.”

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BY SUHAUNA HUSSAIN

ensures that service providers’ use of the data provided is contractually limited to appropriate purposes such as performing these services on our behalf and not for other purposes.”

Ring said it uses MixPanel to target messaging within the app when it launches new features. Generally the company may collect and disclose personal information — such as when users interact with the app or their Ring devices — to third-party services in order to track the performance of various features, the company said.

Budington noted that Ring may not necessarily be in violation of its own privacy policy. But he said Ring’s privacy policy is too broad and vague and it’s concerning that even the company’s list of third-party services is not accurate.

Goldman said it’s unclear why Branch or Facebook would need information from Ring to help with analytics or targeting ads.

Branch spokesperson Alex Austin said the company provides a service that fixes mobile links that take users to the correct page. “To perform this service for Ring and many others, we must process some data from within the app but take extreme care when handling it,” Austin said in an email. Per the company’s user data policy, Branch collects device data like advertising identifiers, IP address, and cookies but does not collect or store information such as names, emails or

USE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

Better yet, more smart-home devices are adding two-factor authentication, which means you’re providing another piece of information beyond a password. Often it’s a randomly generated code.

After some reports of login information being exposed on the Ring doorbell device Ring, more than 3,000 users were urged by Ring to change their passwords and use two-factor authentication. That followed reports of both police and hackers gaining access to Ring video footage. Some lawsuits have been filed against Ring and Amazon, now Ring’s owner.

Rader said ADT’s doorbell video product also uses two-factor authentication. But consumers must choose that option when setting up the product. “Pay attention and go the extra step,” he said.

Consumers should know that ADT has no access to a customer’s doorbell video, Rader said. Police could only have access with a subpoena, he added.

Azarderakhsh said while two-factor authentication is better that just a password, consumers have to keep using the two factors to be effective.

He said a preferable way to thwart hacking is to disconnect your smarthome devices from your internet network when not in use.

Rader said concerned consumers might consider unplugging their device at night, or when on vacation.

MANAGE LISTENING

Much has been written about the Alexa device’s recording capabilities.

Is Alexa listening to you? Yes, because that’s how the device works.

But Alexa’s recordings and information requests can be deleted, Rader said.

Here are Amazon’s instructions: go to “Manage Your Alexa Data”on the app. Then to “automatically delete recordings,” where you can select “off.” Then choose a time period to keep your voice recordings and select “confirm.”

CHECK OTHER DEVICES

Rader operates his Roomba through ADT’s app, which he says provides a “higher-level” of security, but he said the robotic vacuum doesn’t have to be connected to the internet to operate.

To turn off the Wi-Fi on Roomba, do a “reset” by depressing all three buttons on the vacuum cleaner — clean, spot clean and home — at once and holding them down until you hear a tone, according to owner iRobot.

A smart TV can connect to the internet, which allows streaming services such as Netflix.

But smart TVs may have microphones that allow users to change the channel by voice and turn up the volume, and some have built-in cameras used for facial recognition to suggest programming, according to a recent FBI public service announcement.

“As we bring more and more technology into our homes, we need to be aware of its capabilities, its limitations, and some basic questions people should ask relative to its presence in their lives,” said Beth Ann Steele, a public information Sun Sentinel officer for the FBI.

Ring app shares your personal data with Facebook and others, report finds physical addresses.

Other companies named in EFF’s report did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new California Consumer Privacy Act, which the state will start enforcing in July, could help regulate this type of activity by Ring, Goldman said. Depending on how the state attorney general’s office interprets the law, it could force the company to disclose more about the third parties that piggyback off its data.

Amazon acquired Ringin 2018, and the doorbell camera company has faced considerable scrutiny and criticism in recent months for privacy issues around its agreements with law enforcement agencies and around hacks and breaches that compromised Ring owners’ video feeds.

Recently, a hacker accessed a Ring camera in an 8-year-old girl’s room in Mississippi and used it to harass her.

A couple in Texas woke up to a hacker saying via their Ring camera that they would “get terminated” unless they paid a 50-bitcoin ransom. Ring has previously said that these incidents are in “no way related to a breach or compromise of Ring’s security” and noted that malicious actors can obtain account credentials from external, non-Ring services.

A recent Motherboard report detailed some lax security practices by Ring, such as allowing multiple logins from various locations and IP addresses without informing the owners, making it easy for

hackers to turn the company’s cameras against its customers.

Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) harshly criticized the company in November for making deals with law enforcement agencies that could expose customers and their neighbors to “invasive or even discriminatory information-gathering practices” by police. Amazon’s top hardware executive has said that he’s proud of the program and that partnerships with police departments are good for neighborhoods.

In mid-December, the log-in credentials of more than 3,600 Ring account holders were reportedly breached. The company says those breaches were not a result of flaws in its own system. The incidents and others have fueled lawsuits, including a class-action suit filed in December in federal court in Los Angeles.

At least one Amazon worker has said the company should shut down Ring entirely, arguing that the privacy concerns are “not compatible with a free society.”

“The privacy issues are not fixable with regulation and there is no balance that can be struck,” software development engineer Max Eliaser wrote. “Ring should be shut down immediately and not brought back.” His comment was part of a slew of employee criticism of Amazon, published in defiance of company rules restricting when workers can Los Angeles Times speak out.

tracking their movements without their consent,” said David Maass, n a quiet road south senior investigative researcher with of Ventura Boulevard, two cameras on a pole the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a watch over the road, digital civil liberties nonprofit. facing opposite direcThe leap from traditional security tions. camera systems to those powered A block away, another brace of by machine vision, like automatic cameras sit sentry. Together, they license plate readers, is as vast as the constantly film the two points of endifference between an analog library try to a closed loop of public streets in and the modern internet. Before, a Sherman Oaks, California. human would have to pore over hours Nearby, on a dual-screen setup in of footage from multiple cameras to the basement of his hillside home, try to piece together a car’s movement Robert Shontell pulls up hundreds of through a neighborhood, let alone snippets of footage captured by the an entire city. Now, the software can cameras earlier that day. Each shows instantly spit out a list of all sightings, a car, time-stamped and tagged with effectively creating a shot-by-shot the make, model, paint color and limap of a car’s whereabouts. cense plate.

And while the technology is more He searches for a silver Honda accurate than its machine vision spotted between the hours of 1 and cousin, facial recognition software, 2 p.m. After some scrolling, a shot of false positives remain a risk. my car — and me — pops up.

Last year in Contra Costa County, “The most surprising thing is just a license plate reader spotted a car on how many cars drive through the the freeway listed as stolen in a state neighborhood each day,” Shontell database. Police pulled the car over, says. And every one ends up filmed by approached with guns drawn, handthe motion-activated cameras, then cuffed the driver and his passenger, tagged and entered in the database by and forced them to kneel on the pavethe machine vision software powering ment at gunpoint, believing them to the system. be dangerous. But the stolen car daResidents of the neighborhood tabase was out of date — the car was had pooled their money to rent these a rental and had been reported stolen, cameras, and the software behind then recovered, earlier in the year. them, from Flock Safety — an AtlanOutcry over incidents like this ta-based company that has found prompted state legislators in 2015 clients for its automatic license plate to pass a law regulating how public readers in safety-conscious commuagencies can use automatic license nities, homeowners’ associations and plate readers, but recent pushback local police departments across 30 from privacy advocates, backed by states. research indicating that law enforceThe company’s pitch: With its ment may not be following the law, cameras, residents can track every prompted the state auditor to launch vehicle that passes through their a probe into the technology’s use last neighborhood. If a burglar strikes, June. they can check and see which cars Flock’s extension of the same techwere spotted in the area around the nology into the private sphere raises time of the crime, and pass that footanother set of concerns: Private citiage on to police. zens are unlikely To allay privacy to receive the concerns, only same training, the residents or be subject to have access to the same overthe footage, and sight, as public it automatically employees. A deletes after 30 neighborhood days. administrator Costs vary decould easily pending on the search local client, but Flock Flock records to generally charges track a spouse’s $2,000 per whereabouts. camera per year And while the for the service, onus is curand reports that rently on Flock more than 400 clients to send communities are their footage to using its product. police to assist It’s backed by sein an investirious Silicon Valgation, there’s ley investment: little stopping Robert Shontell The company police, once they was a member know cameras of prominent start-up accelerator are in place, from requesting footage Y Combinator’s summer class of from Flock users to track anyone who 2017 and has since raised nearly $20 passes through the area — a practice million in funding from tech heavythat’s already common with Ring weights including Matrix Partners video. and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

“Our customers are the ones who “Our cameras are helping solve own all the footage. We don’t access two crimes every single day right it, we don’t share it with third parties, now,” said Josh Thomas, Flock’s head we don’t sell it. They can share that of marketing. The company said it with their local law enforcement in couldn’t share details of every case the event of the crime if they choose,” but did note that the technology was Flock’s Thomas said. integral to a recent arrest of a ring of “It would be a breach of contract if 24 sexual predators in north Georthey were to use it for other nefarious gia, and local media outlets report a purposes,” he added. “We would end steady drumbeat of burglaries and our contract and take it back,” though car thefts that Flock helped to solve. he noted that with no access to a cli“If we can reach further scale and put ent’s account, the company has no out more detective-like cameras on way to monitor the systems for abuse. every street corner, we can solve more Shontell said that he and his neighcrime.” bors started looking into the company Flock’s push to put a camera on after a series of break-ins on their every corner comes at a time when street, having heard about it from smart cameras and social media are friends who live in a nearby hillside combining to create a newly paraneighborhood, and decided to install noid model of neighborhood life. The the cameras earlier last summer. As message boards on Nextdoor, a social a career film and TV editor, he volservice that requires users to verify unteered to be one of the technical their addresses to ensure that only administrators for the system. true locals are allowed to post, are rife During the setup process, users with reports of suspicious noises, cars can add a list of residents’ plates, to and people. avoid mistaking a neighbor for an Footage from Ring, a video doorbell interloper. Those with a direct line to company, often ends up on Nextdoor the system administrators can also or shared on its in-house social netrequest that footage of their cars not work, Neighbors. Recent reporting be logged in the system. Shontell said from Motherboard has revealed that that the neighborhood group went local police have signed secret agreedoor to door to let every household ments to hawk Ring systems to their know they were installing the camlocal communities, and BuzzFeed eras, but there’s no legal requirement found that the company is testing out that they do so. facial recognition technology with its The street has been crime-free so clients in Ukraine. far, but Shontell said his neighbors — License plate reader technology, many of whom have private cameras which has been used by the Los Anor Ring systems for their own homes — geles Police Department and agencies feel safer with a belt-and-suspenders across the state for years, has raised approach to neighborhood security. concerns among privacy advocates, “We can tell who’s coming and goand the state of California is invesing 24/7. Some people might have tigating the legality of its use in law an issue with that,” Shontell said. enforcement.

“I tend to think personally that what “License plate readers have been you might give up in terms of privacy recognized by the Legislature and lots is overshadowed by what you gain: of police departments — and certainly possibly having some real evidence civil liberty groups — as technology to give the Los Angeles Times that can violate people’s privacy by police.”

“I TEND TO THINK PERSONALLY THAT WHAT YOU MIGHT GIVE UP IN TERMS OF PRIVACY IS OVERSHADOWED

BY WHAT YOU GAIN: POSSIBLY HAVING SOME REAL EVIDENCE TO GIVE THE POLICE.”

THE DIGITAL USER

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SPRING 2020

MOBILE

THE RACE

FOR 5G

AND WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

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BY MIKE FREEMAN

ince cellular service first popped up for consumers four decades ago, it’s been all about phones — from brick phones to flip phones to smartphones to today’s 4G LTE handsets that stream music and video, deliver pinpoint directions and hail a ride from Uber.

Now fifth-generation 5G wireless technology is rolling out in the U.S. and elsewhere globally. These muchhyped networks are still about phones, especially in early deployments when the emphasis is on faster speeds for high-definition video streaming and instant access to workplace apps via the Internet cloud.

But as 5G matures, it’s about connecting a lot more than just smartphones. The technology has been designed to create a fabric for fast, reliable and secure connectivity to things ranging from driver assisted cars to health-care devices to smart cities infrastructure.

“There is probably no technology right now that is more talked about in terms of what impact it will have on the future than 5G because all the things we want to do are dependent on connectivity, and right now it is the fastest, most reliable connectivity being built,” said Daniel Newman, principal analyst at industry consulting firm Futurum Research.

Out of the gate, 5G is expected to deliver peak speeds up to five times faster than today’s 4G LTE. Over the long haul, 5G aims to deliver speeds 20 times faster.

5G also promises to eventually deliver a 10-fold improvement in transmission lag times, enabling cellular to power things sensitive to delays such as virtual-reality headsets, immersive mobile gaming and industrial robots.

5G has its skeptics. They doubt whether 5G delivers enough improvement over 4G LTE to become a musthave service for consumers, at least in the early years.

“As I sit here in my office on my mobile phone with 4G, I get 175 megabits per second with 20 milliseconds latency, so if you deliver me a gigabit per second with 10 milliseconds latency, am I going to notice the difference? Probably not,” said Richard Windsor, publisher of Radio Free Mobile and a longtime wireless industry analyst. “Which means why would I pay for it?”

But mobile operators are pushing ahead with 5G rollouts anyway. If they don’t, they risk losing subscribers to rivals who do deploy 5G. “It’s not emphatically clear how operators monetize the technology,” Newman said. “But what is clear is

operators have no choice but to participate because consumers are going to demand it. They are going to expect the newest signal at the same price.

THE PROMISE OF 5G

With 5G, connected power grids could tap cloud computing to create artificial intelligence algorithms so when a tree falls on a line, the grid automatically adjusts to minimize outages and heal itself.

5G connected cars could sync to stoplights and other infrastructure to improve traffic flow, while vehicles automatically track the movements of other cars and pedestrians nearby to help avoid accidents.

Factories could leverage 5G to more easily reconfigure equipment to produce different products — boosting efficiency and lowering costs. Connected assembly line robots could instantly reposition an off-center part.

Massive cranes at ports could adjust on the fly to the weight of cargo being loaded on ships.

5G could power remote health care and assisted surgeries where a doctor overlays a virtual diagram of the procedure on a patient to make smaller, more precise incisions, which are believed to speed recovery. A remote surgeon could participate via a 4K video feed in the operating room to extend expertise.

5G could deliver last-mile, gigabit Internet to homes wirelessly, challenging cable Internet providers. Verizon already has rolled out this service in a handful of cities. Called fixed wireless broadband, it couples an outdoor millimeter wave antenna with an indoor Wi-Fi router to deliver highspeed Internet without having to dig fiber-optic lines to the home.

Logistics, fleet management, education, video security with facial recognition, medical imaging, enterprise storage as a service and even retail are some of the industries that could mine the speed, bandwidth, reliability and low latency of 5G to disrupt the status quo.

“It is pretty exciting times to create something that is almost a platform for innovation where other players come in and tap into it,” said Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, a director at industry research firm Strategy Analytics. “You can have people turn that into hype. But at the same time, it is building something that is a bit future proof and very useful as an open building block to create connected societies.”

For consumers, the lure of 5G in initial rollouts is video. Streaming

4K movies could become as seamless as streaming music is today on 4G. At a sporting event or concert, everyone with a smartphone could become a live broadcaster.

With 5G’s efficiency gains and additional capacity from high-frequency airwaves, wireless operators are expected to continue to offer unlimited data plans, though pricing is unclear.

The low lag times of 5G — or latency — also could spark mobile gaming that’s on par with console gaming, and new services that don’t exist today could emerge from the bells and whistles that come with 5G. “I think we are going to see some killer applications that take advantage of this low latency with 5G,” said Will Townsend, senior analyst with industry research firm Moor Insights & Strategy. “We couldn’t get to the ride sharing disruption of the taxi industry until we had 4G. Look at how that changed our lives. We are going to see the same thing happen with 5G.”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

In some ways, 5G is similar to 4G. It uses the same Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) air interface encoding system to cram as many data packets as possible onto each megahertz of airwave spectrum.

One thing that’s new, however, is 5G has been tailored to take advantage of millimeter wave spectrum — high-frequency bands above 24 gigahertz that have never been used for cellular communications.

Millimeter wave frequencies serve up vast swaths of uncrowded airwaves to deliver uber-fast speeds and massive data capacity. With millimeter wave, cellular operators aren’t just adding a few extra lanes to the existing cellular data highway. They’re opening up big new freeways.

But millimeter wave bands have drawbacks. Signals don’t travel very far. They don’t penetrate buildings and can be blocked by foliage and even rain. They require complex beam forming, beam tracking and beam switching technologies to work.

San Diego-based Qualcomm and others believe they have cracked the code for getting millimeter waves to function for smartphones, particularly in dense cities.

In San Francisco, for example, Qualcomm says 70% of mobile outdoor data traffic could be handled by millimeter wave without installing any additional cell towers.

Off-loading that traffic improves performance on the rest of the network, including on

non-millimeter wave, mid-band frequencies earmarked for 5G — those between 1 gigahertz and 6 gigahertz.

These mid-band frequencies, which already are used for wireless, penetrate buildings and travel farther than millimeter wave. But they don’t deliver the speeds or wide open capacity available with millimeter wave.

5G also lowers the cost for network operators of delivering mobile bandwidth, said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm.

“It is a network structure that allows operators to see a step-function decline in the cost per bit,” he said.

“When you look at the consumption of data, the gigabits per month continues to climb. We are already at an inflection point where it is uneconomical to do (unlimited plans) with 4G.” Qualcomm estimates that with 5G, network operators can achieve a 30fold reduction in their cost per gigabit by 2025.

Finally, 5G delivers flexibility, reliability and consistency. The network can be sliced to carve out dedicated lanes for specific services — such as a guaranteed Internet connection for mission critical applications or 5 milliseconds latency for mobile gaming.

UP AND RUNNING

About 20 operators worldwide are expected to light up 5G networks this year or next, although coverage won’t be everywhere at first.

Smartphone and mobile hotspot makers are lining up to support 5G. Samsung, LG, Motorola and others already have devices on the market.

Qualcomm has signed deals to supply 5G chips to 150 devices, which is double the backlog of just three months before.

In the U.S., Verizon has 5G up and running in parts of Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver and Providence, R.I., with another 30 cities in the pipeline.

Verizon expects three-quarters of the phones that launch on its network next year will be 5G. AT&T had 5G wave in parts of 21 cities as of September, and the company is on track for nationwide 5G coverage in mid-2020. The Sprint/T-Mobile merger is expected to accelerate the combined company’s 5G rollouts.

Some operators, such as Verizon and AT&T, have launched 5G on millimeter wave. Others globally are only supporting mid-band 5G frequencies for now.

“If you look at where we are today with 5G relative to the early days of 4G, it is light years ahead,” said Townsend of Moor Insights. “The deployments are on a much more aggressive schedule.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

7

MOBILE

REPORT: YOUR PHONE IS NOT MAKING YOU SICK FDA report continues to see no link between cellphones and cancer

BY SCOTT MORITZ AND MICHELLE FAY CORTEZ

A

Clean Eating Yelp launches new hygiene alerts to flag restaurants in Chicago and LA with the worst health inspection results

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BY ALEXIA ELEJALDE-RUIZ

elp has started flagging restaurants with the worst health inspection violations, a feature it hopes will motivate businesses to clean up their acts if they want to keep operating.

The review site, which lists about 10,000 Chicago restaurants and bars, rolled out its health alerts feature in January in Chicago and Los Angeles, following a pilot in its hometown of San Francisco.

Users of the site will now see a pop-up message alerting them to a bad health score as they scroll down a restaurant’s review page. While Yelp already displays restaurants’ health scores on their individual pages — a number calculated from health inspection data pulled from public local government sources — the alerts go a step further in drawing attention to violators.

“It’s a way to do more to warn consumers and nudge businesses to do better,” said Vince Sollitto, senior vice president of communications and public affairs at Yelp.

Only restaurants with the lowest 1% of health scores in the city over the past six months — about 30 Chicago restaurants — will be flagged with an alert, which includes details on the date of the inspection and the kinds of violations found. Common violations include not having adequate handwashing sinks and improper date marking, according to Yelp. The scores are updated daily as new inspection results are posted.

In San Francisco, the alerts feature seemed to dissuade people from patronizing offending restaurants, according to a paper from Harvard Business School that examined how different methods of disclosing hygiene information affects

YELP VIA TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Yelp’s new health alerts feature was rolled out in Chicago and Los Angeles following a pilot in its hometown of San Francisco. consumer behavior. When Yelp added health scores to restaurants’ review pages in 2013, those with low scores saw a 13% decrease in “purchase intentions” — taking steps like looking for directions or calling the restaurant. Once the pop-alerts were added in 2015, affected restaurants saw purchase intentions drop an additional 7%, and the number of reviews for those restaurants declined 11%.

Restaurants flagged with an alert were more likely than their peers to not be flagged again six months later, the study found, suggesting they may have improved their hygiene standards so as not to lose customers. The study also found restaurants with low health scores were more likely to close than their peers,

though the relationship wasn’t statistically significant.

While restaurants’ hygiene information lives on most municipal Web sites, Sollitto said the alerts help make it more accessible and understandable for consumers at the moment they are making dining decisions.

Yelp says it was inspired to introduce health scores in 2013 after learning about a study that found hospitalizations related to foodborne illness fell 13% in Los Angeles after the city required restaurants to post their inspection grades in the window. Foodborne illness sickens about 48 million people in the U.S. annually, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Yelp works with some local governments to compile health scores, including in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

But for Chicago and many other cities, it uses third party health information aggregator HDScores, which scrapes local government Web sites for inspection data and calculates a weighted score.

The Chicago Department of Public Health said it is aware of Yelp’s health score but declined to comment without knowing more about how it is determined. City health inspectors make unannounced visits to restaurants annually, though those with limited sameday food handling get inspected once every two years and establishments serving only prepackaged foods get inspected only when there is a complaint, according to a department spokeswoman. The most serious violations can result in fines, license suspension or closure.

Yelp rolled its health scores out nationally in 2018 and plans for a broader launch of its pop-up alerts once they have been tested in Chicago and L.A., Chicago Tribune Sollitto said.

fter reviewing 11 years of published, scientific studies, the Food and Drug Administration remains convinced there’s no obvious health risk posed by exposure to radio waves from mobile phones, according to a new report.

“The available epidemiological and cancer incidence data continues to support the agency’s determination that there are no quantifiable adverse health effects in humans caused by exposures at or under the current cellphone exposure limits,” according to the report.

The finding coincides with the global expansion of next generation, or 5G, networks, which has reawakened decades-old fears that radio-frequency radiation poses a health threat. The report, an update of a similar finding in 2018, says there’s no conclusive evidence, “no consistent pattern” that supports concerns about tumors or cancer.

The report stops short of a 100% conclusion. In fact, the FDA continues to urge researchers to conduct live studies on animals and humans, as well as shift some of the focus from the general population to subsets of people who may be predisposed to tumor risk.

One study, published in 2018 by the U.S. National Toxicology Program, showed rats exposed to very high levels of electromagnetic radiation developed tumors. But the FDA report found flaws with that research, and said those findings were both inconclusive and not applicable to humans.

The fears of mobile phone radiation have created a backlash against network expansion in places like Wohlen, Switzerland, where the village banned new wireless antennas. The tensions have risen because proposed 5G networks require more cell sites than 4G networks and sites need to be closer to users, for example on light posts and sides of buildings.

Major U.S. carriers — Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp.

— are just now building and activating their 5G networks.

Local opposition in parts of the U.S. like Mill Valley, California, continues, and it has been running up against federal efforts to streamline the 5G build-out. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has made 5G a national priority, saying it’s illegal for local governments to block new wireless infraBloomberg News structure.

Axing Lightning for iPhone would mean e-waste, Apple says

F

BY CORINNE REICHERT

orcing Apple to change iPhones from Lightning to USB-C connectors would cause “an unprecedented volume of electronic waste,” the company said recently.

The remark follows a European Commission call in January for a common charger for all mobile phones, an effort to reduce waste and make life easier for consumers. Apple argues, however, that this would create even more waste, because its Lightning accessories would become obsolete.

“More than 1 billion Apple devices have shipped using a Lightning connector in addition to an entire ecosystem of accessory and device manufacturers who use Lightning,” Apple said. Any Eu-

ropean laws insisting on USB-C would therefore negatively affect “hundreds of millions of active devices and accessories used by our European customers and even more Apple customers worldwide.”

Conforming to a single connector would also stifle innovation, Apple argues.

Micro-USB was first declared the standard in 2010, with Apple complying by supplying adaptors for its proprietary ports. With the current shift to USB-C charging, Apple now uses USB-C connectors in its MacBook and iPad Pro devices, but the iPhone continues to rely on Lightning.

Apple previously made its own accessories obsolete when it switched from its 30-pin connector to CNET.com Lightning in 2012.

Apple’s iPhones still use Lightning ports.

ANGELA LANG, CNET VIA TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

THE DIGITAL USER

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UPS TRACKS BEEF SHIPMENT FROM FARM TO TABLE

‌U

BY KELLY YAMANOUCHI

The network server is seen at the Mont Belvieu City Hall on Oct. 25, 2019 in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Major internet service providers don’t see enough potential return on investment to make their service available in rural areas. The town of Mont Belvieu decided to spend millions of dollars to build and maintain a municipal internet network, MBLink. MBLink provides affordable broadband internet for all of its residents who want it. break ground on a new neighborhood, city code requires them to place conduits where the city can put fiber.

Customers get a monthly bill from the city. Internet is listed along with water, sewer and trash.

A GROWING COMMUNITY

SHABAN ATHUMAN PHOTOS, DALLAS MORNING NEWS VIA TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE‌

Southern Showdown

O’Neil Young, broadband installation technician, carries a ladder as he works on installing broadband internet for a new costumer on Oct. 25, 2019 in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Fed up with slow and spotty internet, a small Texas town built its own high-speed network

‌B

BY MELISSA REPKO

ecky McManus signed up for internet at her home, and it worked until spring, when leaves bloomed on the trees and blocked her signal.

Across town, Richard LeJeune moved into a new subdivision. His family’s only internet option was a local company with speeds so slow his wife had trouble running her online handmade jewelry store and his daughter sometimes couldn’t do her homework.

For years, residents of this fast-growing town on the outer ring of Houston complained to local leaders about slow and spotty internet. They put satellite dishes on their rooftops.

They endured intermittent service and frequent outages.

“I believe squirrels run on a wheel for my internet,” one half-joked on a city survey.

The problem facing Mont Belvieu is one familiar to many towns and rural areas in Texas and around the country. Major internet service providers don’t see a strong enough business case to expand their footprint, upgrade internet speeds or offer any internet service at all.

So Mont Belvieu took matters into its own hands: It decided to build and operate its own high-speed internet service.

The town of 7,500 joined a growing number of cities pouring millions of dollars into municipal broadband networks after feeling overlooked by big, publicly traded companies.

From Oregon to Tennessee, residents of cities plagued by slow speeds, high prices and few options waited to attract the attention and investment of major internet service providers.

But as they watched the digital economy speed up and used the faster internet at their friends’ and families’ homes, they took action to ensure they wouldn’t be left behind.

In Texas, where free enterprise is a prized tenet, the government of Mont Belvieu stepped in where big-name companies wouldn’t.

Starting in June 2018, every household in Mont Belvieu could sign up for the city’s homegrown internet service, MB Link. It costs $75 a month for speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

Comcast charged $75 a month and

Dwight Thomas, Broadband Network Engineer, creates a diagram of the MBLink network on Oct. 25, 2019, in Mont Belvieu, Texas. free WiFi at the high school football stadium.

City Manager Nathan Watkins saw the football stadium — packed with residents on Fridays in the fall — as a prime marketing opportunity.

“We were even nice enough to put it on the visitors’ side,” he said with a laugh.

SPREADING ACROSS THE LAND

Demi Trammell 16, shows Emalee Maze 15, both of Baytown, Texas, a photo on her phone during a football game at Barbers Hill High School on Oct. 25, 2019 in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Verizon FiOS — now Frontier Communications — $60 a month for 75 megabits per second, according to a 2016 study by the city. If residents wanted faster speeds closer to what MB Link ultimately delivered, they were paying up to $280 a month.

MB Link sold internet to nearly a third of households before even flipping the switch.

About half of the town’s households are now signed up — and MB Link recently began selling the service to local businesses. About 30 businesses, including the chamber of commerce, have subscribed.

This past fall, the city began offering

City-built broadband networks now serve more than 100 communities across the U.S., according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that advocates for grass-roots solutions to community problems such as supporting locally-owned businesses or expanding neighborhood-led recycling.

About 400 additional cities have some kind of broadband network or one underway, according to the nonprofit.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, is one of municipal broadband’s best-known success stories. Since the region’s municipal electric utility began offering internet in 2009, it’s grown to more than 106,000 subscribers and bested other internet providers — including dominant national players — in ratings

by Consumer Reports.

Christopher Mitchell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s community broadband network initiative, said cities began building broadband networks in the 1990s when they had no internet. Now, he said, they’re motivated because they feel stuck with internet that’s inferior or overpriced.

“Ten years ago, you might be able to say hopefully over time, you will see more expansion and more competition,” he said. “But over time, very few people expect to see more competition with these companies.”

The long-term investment can be a tough sell. For example, Mitchell said, local politicians may be hesitant, if they must run for re-election before the network breaks even or shows signs of traction.

Some municipal networks have flopped where cities struggled to market the service to customers and defaulted on their loans. Others have run into political challenges as state lawmakers tightened rules around the networks or prevented them from expanding beyond city boundaries.

Success can be hard to measure, Mitchell said. Sometimes, it’s a network attracting thousands of customers.

Other times, he said, it entices providers to enter the market, invest in upgrades and cut prices.

“The simple fact is without good government policy to create competition, I do not think it will emerge,” he said.

“We have done 20 years of thinking that reducing barriers would be enough to increase competition, but at this point we need local governments to step up to create the competition.”

In Texas, two cities — Greenville and Mont Belvieu — have citywide broadband networks. Greenville, a city of 28,000 about 50 miles northeast of Dallas, built a cable and internet network in 2001 by adding the services to its existing municipal electricity utility.

It decided to take on the project after its then-mayor wrote to the phone and cable company and discovered her city wasn’t on its road map.

Mont Belvieu’s undertaking is even more extensive and offers a road map for other Texas towns wanting to do the same. Without an electric utility of its own, Mont Belvieu created a high-speed network by running fiber-optic lines to every subscriber’s home.

It also created a paper trail. At the request of the Texas attorney general’s office, the city sought a legal opinion about whether it could issue municipal bonds to finance its entry into the internet business. It used case law to draw parallels between electricity and internet.

A Chambers County judge approved the use of municipal bonds, ushering in the potential for similar projects.

In Mont Belvieu, internet is treated as another utility. When developers

council member who’s served for about 11 years. “We’ve never had that — ever.”

It cost about $9 million to build the MB Link infrastructure, said Dwight Thomas, director of Mont Belvieu’s broadband and information technology services. He estimates maintenance and staffing will cost roughly $1 million annually.

The city projects it will break even and start making money from MB Link in 2025. But that timetable may change, depending on how the network grows.

Thomas said he’d like to expand MB Link to all of western Chambers County.

Nearly all who have signed up for MB Link are still customers. It has a 1.5% churn rate — and all but 0.3 of that comes from subscribers who move outside city limits, Thomas said.

The city service has come with a personal touch.

City officials heard about a young boy who wished for high-speed internet for his birthday. They sent the crew to his neighborhood to get the project done in time.

For MB Link’s first anniversary, the city smoked briskets and threw a party in the park. And along with internet service, all customers get a high-quality router that can last for hours on battery power, if the electricity goes out.

Mont Belvieu has many ingredients that make it an appealing place for businesses. It’s about 30 miles east of Houston. It has a well-ranked school district, high home values and a population that’s expected to quadruple to 30,000 by 2035. Its economy is powered by petrochemical plants that store and process natural gas and an Exxon Mobil plant that produces raw plastic.

But the city has rural roots. On Friday nights in the fall, the city shuts down and the high school football stadium fills up with fans to cheer on the Barbers Hill Eagles.

Next to the high school, the school district has donkeys, goats, sheep and cows where students participate in Future Farmers of America.

The city’s slogan is inspired by its biggest industry: “Mont Belvieu: Where Energy Fuels Families.”

The city is one of the fastest-growing in the Houston area. Its population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010, and it nearly doubled again in the next eight years. In 2010, it had a popBELIEF IN A VISION ulation of 3,835. By 2018, that grew to Mont Belvieu turned its former senior about 7,500. center into MB Link’s headquarters.

Even with its fast growth and home Inside, a room of humming servers values topping $300,000, the city makes up a data center that supports the couldn’t persuade major internet pronetwork. A team of customer support viders to invest further. When city representatives answers calls and helps officials reached out to Frontier and residents troubleshoot internet connecComcast, both said Mont Belvieu had tions or set up smart devices, such as a too few rooftops.

Nest thermostat or an Apple TV. Frontier’s vice president of corporate It recruited Thomas to run it all. Each communications and external affairs, weekday, the former IT and telecom Javier Mendoza, said in a statement consultant makes a more than hourlong that the company “is proud of the sercommute from his home in Tomball. vice we provide Mont Belvieu” and said The new job came with a pay cut, but customers in the town can get up to 1 Thomas said he believed in the city’s gig of speed. vision.

But those speeds, city officials noted, He started the role in early 2018 and didn’t come until after MB Link. quickly became MB Link’s evangelist.

“The reality is that higher speeds of He shook hands, knocked on doors and internet are much more difficult and had coffee with residents. Some told costly to provide in less densely popuhim the government shouldn’t get into lated areas,” Mendoza said. “Frontier’s the internet business or said they didn’t capital expenditures are reviewed on need faster speeds. Others were skepa project by project tical the city could basis to ensure that pull off the ambitious those limited dollars idea. are being spent where One of MB Link’s the greatest opporbiggest challenges tunity for a return on was building around the investment.” the town’s many Comcast didn’t miles of pipelines. respond to questions Mont Belvieu inabout Mont Belvieu, stalled all of its fibut said the company ber-optic network “has strong partnerunderground because ships with the comit’s close to the hurmunities we serve in ricane-prone Gulf Houston.”

Coast.

“We know people The city’s comhave choices when munications diRichard LeJeune it comes to internet rector, Brian Ligon, providers, and we blanketed the town continue to focus on with marketing innovations to improve our communimaterials. He handed out travel coffee ties and our customers’ lives,” the commugs and computer cleaning cloths pany statement said. and dropped off handwritten notes.

Nearly 70% of Mont Belvieu residents Mont Belvieu’s plan got the attention and 80% of businesses surveyed said of internet service providers, too. their internet provider was not fulfilling A few months into the job, an emtheir needs, according to a 2016 survey ployee from one of the internet service by consulting firm Magellan Advisors. providers showed up at Thomas’ office And the vast majority — about 90% — to tell him the city was putting money of residents said internet should be coninto a losing proposition. Thomas desidered an essential service like water clined to identify the company. and electricity.

“I wish I could talk to him now,” he As a hometown provider, the consaid. sultants said Mont Belvieu could better Thomas has met with other Texas citdeliver the service customers wanted. ies who watched what Mont Belvieu did The city could offer lower prices since and now feel more emboldened to do it would aim to break even rather than the same. “No one wanted to run up and turn a profit. And local technicians punch the giant,” he said. could quickly respond to service calls.

Richard LeJeune, who couldn’t get Potential upsides to a faster and more a major provider at his home before reliable internet network? More jobs MB Link, is a satisfied customer. He and better productivity. Higher home canceled satellite TV and switched to values. Business friendliness. And a streaming. He said he no longer has to better quality of life for residents. wait when he downloads a video. All By building municipal broadband, city three family members can simultaneofficials could “level the playing field for ously stream different shows. their residents and businesses, allowing The only time he had a problem with their communities to compete in the MB Link, he said, a technician immedidigital economy,” consultants said. ately came to his house.

At a meeting in early 2017, City Coun“I tell them, ‘Y’all enhanced my qualcil unanimously approved issuing debt ity of life,’ ” he said. “ ‘You truly changed for the project. the way we view internet.’ ” “When we voted for it, we had a cheer The Dallas Morning News‌ from the audience,” said Arnold Peters, a

“I TELL THEM, ‘Y’ALL ENHANCED MY QUALITY OF LIFE. YOU TRULY CHANGED THE WAY WE VIEW INTERNET.’ ”

PS demonstrated blockchain-verified tracking of a shipment of Black Angus beef from Kansas to the table of a Japanese steakhouse late last year.

The shipping firm said consumers want to know more about the food they consume, but there is no known global standard for tracing and verification.

UPS is partnering with agricultural technology firm HerdX Inc. for blockAt Ruby Jack’s chain-traced steakhouse in Tokyo , international diners were given menus beef shipwith QR codes they ments. A could scan for tracking blockchain is information on the a network for journey of the beef. transactions entered into digital “ledger,” which

cannot be altered without approval of those in the network.

At a dinner at Ruby Jack’s steakhouse in Tokyo on Nov. 8, diners were given menus with QR codes they could scan for tracking information on the journey of the beef being served, according to UPS. The Creekstone Farms beef was transported in temperature-monitored air freight containers from Kansas to the steakhouse, for the event attended by officials from U.S. and Japanese embassies.

UPS said all future international shipments of HerdX products will have similar verification with live updates and data points throughout the journey, which it called “a step forward in quality assurance and traceablity in the beef industry.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution‌

Google

The Bank of Google Google explores entry into consumer checking account market

I

BY REX CRUM

s the Bank of Google close to becoming a reality?

The internet giant, which has cemented its position in the markets for operating systems with Android, mobile phones with its Pixel smartphone, and is looking to become a force in healthcare and wearables following it’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit, now wants to get into the financial services industry by offering consumers checking accounts.

Yes. That’s right. Checking accounts. Not credit cards. Not a new form of digital payment or cryptocurrency. Checking accounts.

“We’re exploring how we can partner with banks and credit unions in the U.S. to offer smart checking accounts,” said a Google spokesperson said in a statement provided to this news organization in November. “Our lead partners today are Citi (Citigroup) and Stanford Federal Credit Union, and we look forward to sharing more details in the coming months.”

Google said it intends to launch the checking account project in 2020, and accounts will be able to be accessed through the Google Pay digital wallet.

But, unlike Apple, which has its name all over its new Apple Card digital credit card, and Facebook, which this week launched Facebook Pay, a method to pay for items digitally across various Facebook platforms, Google is taking a different approach to its foray into financial services.

Google is reportedly going to let Citigroup, and any future financial institutions, put their names on the checking service, and those banks will handle all of the financial and regulatory compliance that is necessary to set up and run the accounts. With all of that, there comes the question of just what does Google get from getting into the checking game.

In the view of some analysts that follow Google, it’s all about getting access to consumer information, making better connections between advertisers and consumers, and keeping consumer purchases within the Google environment online.

“Having a good feedback loop, where you can keep track of buyers,

how they respond to the ads on your site, and drive them to make purchases that your advertisers want has never been easy,” said Laura Martin, an internet industry analyst with Needham & Co. “The whole point is to prove to advertisers that when they buy ads, and those ads show up in Google searches, that customers are responding and paying for those things directly from those ads.”

Google’s use of checking accounts to do a better job of keeping consumers within its own online ecosystem would follow the trend of the likes of Apple, which has partnered with Goldman Sachs on its Apple Card digital credit card. Apple has stressed the security it uses with Apple Card to protect individuals’ data, and gives customers cash back from their purchases on a daily basis as an incentive to sign up for the card.

“This is Google following the leads of other tech players and betting on banking and financials to further build its customer moat,” said Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities. “The goal is to get further entrenched in the consumer lifecycle, with financials and banking being a natural next step for Google. Banking represents the next frontier and Google is diving into the deep end of this pool with this initiative as it chases other tech stalwarts down this path.”

Google could also gain an even greater treasure trove of customer data, such as information on how much someone earns, as well as details on buying habits and preferences. With state and federal regulators raising more concerns about how big tech companies have handled the security of their users’ personal data, Google will likely see at least some scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators as it builds out its checking program, and if it uses the initiative to expand into other financial services products.

“Checking is the first step, and I think a new credit card could be likely next year,” Ives said. “They have to walk a tightrope with data, and so do other tech giants, and this will be a focus around Washington, D.C.” San Jose Mercury News‌

THE DIGITAL USER

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THE FIXING

GAME

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BY ADAM BELZ

he software in Peter Ripka’s $120,000 tractor gave him an error code and cut the engine to 50% capacity, and Ripka couldn’t figure out why. He was locked out.

The farmer near Ogilvie, Minnesota, called the dealership to send someone with a computer to identify the problem. Three days and two service calls later, a simple matter of water in the diesel exhaust fluid tank was solved. None of the delay would have been necessary if Ripka had access to the diagnostic software.

“You should be able to bring your own computer out there with a cable and plug it in just like they do, and pull it up,” Ripka said. “But you can’t.”

Farmers’ simmering frustration over their inability to repair their own equipment is now front and center in a contentious debate that spreads well beyond the farm. The battle is over who really controls a tractor, car, phone, refrigerator or camera, and whether customers have the freedom to repair the machines they own when they break, as they see fit.

New cars send owners to the dealership with a cryptic message when all they need is an oil change.

An owner of an iPhone who tries to change the battery without Apple software gets a warning that sends them to the Apple Store. Nikon, starting in April, will only allow its cameras to be fixed at two specific locations in the U.S. Even Hasbro, the toymaker, has designed a Nerf dart blaster with sensors that prevent it from shooting cheaper aftermarket darts.

On one side of the debate is the “right-to-repair” movement.

On the other side are manufacturers such as John Deere and Apple. Elizabeth Warren, who campaigned for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have weighed in, calling for federal “right-to-repair” legislation, with Warren’s pitch specifically aimed at farmers.

But so far the manufacturers are winning. Twenty-three states, including Minnesota, considered socalled “right-to-repair” legislation in 2019. None of those states passed such a law.

NEW DYNAMIC

Tightly controlled integrated technology is everywhere in modern life,

‘Right-to-repair’ fight extends from iPhones to tractors and a prominent example is Apple products.

Steve Jobs unveiled a Macintosh personal computer in the early 1980s that required special tools to open, and included no external ports for programmers. The iPod, introduced in 2001, only played music purchased through Apple iTunes. Today, Apple meticulously regulates who can repair an iPhone, though it has started to certify more independent repair shops in the past 12 months.

“The popularity of Apple, and their commitment to that idea, is certainly a factor, but there’s always been pressure from companies to tie in further purchases,” said Nathan Proctor, director of the “right-to-repair” campaign for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

For decades up to the 1980s, Proctor said, the manufacturer-consumer relationship was governed by a doctrine that manufacturers had to “recoup their investment at the point of sale.” New technology has upended that.

“The addition of software has created an opportunity for manufacturers to change the rules of the game, and they have done so,” Proctor said.

Automakers tried to keep their diagnostic tools from independent mechanics, but relented in 2014 when trade groups representing global auto companies signed a memorandum of understanding giving independent shops access to the diagnostics authorized dealers use.

That agreement was based on a Massachusetts law passed in 2012.

Still, the tools are pricey. They cost independent mechanics upward of $2,500 each, and the annual subscription fees run from $2,500 to $5,000 per manufacturer, said Wayne Watson, owner of Auto Works Diagnostic and Repair in Woodbury, Minnesota.

“If you’re a small independent shop working on all makes and models, it can add up quickly,” Watson said. “It’s not unusual for a shop to spend $50,000 a year on scan tools and subscriptions and updates.”

Aftermarket diagnostic tools can scan multiple makes and models, but they’re not as good as the tools used by dealers.

“The manufacturers are working

very hard to get their cars back in the dealership,” Watson said.

GETTING TO THE SOURCE CODE

The bill introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives last year would require manufacturers to “make available, on fair and reasonable terms, documentation, parts, and tools, inclusive of any updates to information or embedded software, to any independent repair provider or to the owner.”

The bill stalled in committee in 2019, but could be revived this spring. The Minnesota Farmers Union supports the legislation. The Minnesota Corn Growers Association and Minnesota Farm Bureau have not taken a position.

However, members of the Nebraska Farm Bureau — where farmers are generally farther from dealerships than they are in Minnesota — in December approved a change in policy that echoes the language in the Minnesota bill, and the American Farm Bureau Federation is expected to address the issue at a meeting later this month.

Equipment manufacturers and dealers say there is no need for legislation, since they agree farmers have the right to repair their equipment, and plan to make diagnostic tools, manuals and parts available to farmers by 2021, as outlined in a statement of principles published in 2018. That statement is modeled on the 2014 auto repair agreement, and explains that farmers, like independent auto mechanics, will have to pay extra for diagnostic tools and subscription fees.

Matthew Larsgaard, the Fargo-based president of the Pioneer Equipment Dealers Association who testified against the legislation in Minnesota last spring, said that’s only fair. He also objects to language in the Minnesota bill that appears to require manufacturers to sell replacement parts, diagnostics and other tools to farmers and independent mechanics at wholesale cost.

“Do you want the right to repair or do you want free stuff?”

Larsgaard said. “Because you have the right to repair. We’re providing you with the tools and information you need to perform repairs. What’s the real objective here?”

The real objective of some “right-

to-repair” proponents, said Larsgaard, is to get to the source code that operates modern tractors, forcing manufacturers to turn over their intellectual property.

“We believe that is what this legislation would compel manufacturers to do,” said Stephanie See, the director of state government relations for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which represents John Deere, Case IH, New Holland and Caterpillar, among others. She said some equipment manufacturers already provide farmers diagnostic tools.

Mike Peterson, a corn, soybean and hog farmer east of Northfield, Minnesota, said all tractors should be self-diagnosing. “This should be a moot point,” he said.

But they’re not, and paying for the “guaranteed continual cost” of a diagnostic subscription won’t make sense for a lot of farmers, Peterson said.

“A subscription fee? Your tractor may only break down every so often,” he said.

The reality, Peterson said, is that manufacturers have built in what they hope is exclusive repair rights for their authorized dealers.

He guesses dealers fear mega-farms will hire in-house mechanics and abandon them. He’s sympathetic to that concern and wants local dealers to thrive.

“They’re our allies out here, but we can’t stand any more corporate monopolies eating into our bottom line,” Peterson said.

One person who’s tracking the debate is Gov. Tim Walz, former cochair of the Congressional Motorcycle Caucus and fixer of sliding van doors and car radios in his personal life.

“I do tend to try to repair my own stuff,” Walz said. “I had an old GMC vehicle. When I replaced the battery it took the code out of the radio, and the dealerships didn’t want to give it to me.”

After some Googling he found the code and got the radio back, but the problem is a small example of what consumers are up against.

“I get some of the manufacturers’ concerns,” Walz said. “We don’t want unsafe vehicles on roads. We don’t want people bailey-rigging wires together on their breaks.”

But he’s sympathetic to farmers whose livelihood depends on their ability to fix their equipment, he said, and with the proliferation of electronics in everyday life “there’s a discussion to be had,” Walz said.

“I trust that we could maybe figure something out on the language.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

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‘Tech capitalism at its finest’: JPMorgan picks AI over humans to write ads

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BY JOSEPH N. DISTEFANO

INSIDE YOUTUBE’S

YEAR OF RESPONSIBILITY

Y

BY MARK BERGEN AND LUCAS SHAW

ouTube spent 2019 answering critics with some of the most drastic changes in its 15-year history. With each step, it gave those activists, regulators and lawmakers more reasons to attack its free-wheeling, user-generated business model.

Susan Wojcicki, YouTube’s chief executive officer, announced her goals in April. “My top priority,” she wrote, “is responsibility.” Her company spent the year trying to traverse an almost impossible tightrope: nurture a growing community of demanding creators, while pledging to police troubling videos and protect millions of underage users who officially shouldn’t even be watching. The efforts pleased almost no one and highlighted an existential quandary. Every time YouTube tries to fix something, the company, an arm of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, risks losing the neutrality that it needs to thrive.

“They know that every time they are successful catching problematic content or removing it, this just raises expectations,” said Mike Godwin, a senior fellow at think tank R Street Institute and a trustee of the Internet Society. “It’s a never-ending cycle of increasing demands for these dominant platforms to operate fairly.”

As 2020 begins, the largest online video service is being dragged deeper into political fights over privacy, copyright and content moderation. In response, YouTube is trying to preserve the sanctity of its status as an online platform with little liability for what happens on its site. Instead, that burden is increasingly falling on the shoulders of regulators, video creators and other partners.

Nowhere is that more evident than YouTube’s approach to kids.

A landmark privacy settlement this year with the Federal Trade Commission is forcing YouTube to split its massive site in two. Every clip, starting in January, must be designated as “made for kids” or not. The overhaul puts billions of ad dollars at stake and has sparked panic among creators, who also now face new legal risk. The company isn’t offering creators legal advice or ways to salvage their businesses. It isn’t even defining what a “made for kids” video is on YouTube — and has argued to the government that it shouldn’t have to.

“Creators will make those decisions themselves,” Wojcicki said last week. “Creators know their content best.”

YouTube privately considered taking more control. Earlier in

2019, it assembled a team of more than 40 employees to brace for the FTC decision. The team was code-named Crosswalk — as in a way to guide kids across YouTube’s chaotic streets. Among its proposals was a radical one, at least by the standards of Silicon Valley: YouTube would screen every video aimed at kids under the age of 8 in its YouTube Kids app, ensuring that no untoward content crept into the feed of millions of tots around the world.

A press release was even drafted in which Wojcicki said professional moderators would check each clip, according to people familiar with the plans. Yet at the last minute, the CEO and her top deputies ditched the plan, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

The rationale was clear to some at YouTube, one person involved in the project recalled. Hand-picking videos, even for kids, made YouTube look too much like a media company, not a neutral platform.

A YouTube spokeswoman denied the idea was turned down because it put the company in charge of programming, but she declined to comment further on the decision. In a recent interview, Wojcicki made it clear that her content-moderation push only goes so far, telling CBS News that even being liable for video recommendations would destroy the essence of the service.

“If we were held liable for every single piece of content that we recommended, we would have to review it,” she said. “That would mean there would be a much smaller set of information that people would be finding. Much, much smaller.”

YouTube’s balancing act between media publisher or handsoff internet bulletin board has sparked intense debate internally.

For some business partners and employees, last year’s decisions leaves them with the impression that the company is unable to take a serious stand.

“What is the mission of this company? People don’t even know,” said Claire Stapleton, a former YouTube marketing manager who left this year after clashing with Google over employee protests. “YouTube is so ill-equipped to manage these massive challenges.”

The YouTube spokeswoman said the company has made significant investments to better protect its online community. Over the last 18 months, the results of this effort include an 80% reduction in views of videos that violate its policies.

YouTube also increased viewership on videos from “authoritative news publishers” by 60%, according to the spokeswoman. “While there will always be healthy debate around this work, we’ll continue to

make the hard decisions needed to better protect the openness of the YouTube platform and the community that depends on it,” she added in a statement.

While criticism comes from all sides, YouTube’s challenge is practically insurmountable: More than 500 hours of footage are uploaded every minute. And the company’s software is still unable to gain a thorough understanding of the content before people start watching. “You are trying to keep free speech going and, at the same time, you’re trying to make sure crud doesn’t get in, and trying to make sure that people who watch aren’t getting affected. It’s a really, really, really hard problem,” said Diya Jolly, a former YouTube executive who left in 2017. “Susan is doing an awesome job.”

Wojcicki’s task is set to become even more difficult. The European Parliament has approved rules that make YouTube liable the moment anyone uploads a video that violates a copyright. That could force YouTube to take down content from popular creators, while hiking its legal bills and hurting ad sales.

For now, though, YouTube’s biggest challenge is kids’ privacy. In September, the FTC fined Google for illegally tracking children for its ads business, forcing significant changes to YouTube’s operations.

On Nov. 13, YouTube sent an email to tens of thousands of creators about the coming “made for kids” designation. If marked as “made for kids,” videos will lose lucrative personalized ads and other valuable features, including user comments. If clips aren’t labeled this way, and the government decides the footage is indeed reaching children, creators can be fined thousands of dollars.

“We know this won’t be easy for some creators, and that this required change is going to take some getting used to,” the company wrote in the email. YouTube has also advised many of them to “lawyer up,” according to partners.

A recent regulatory filing went further, with Google estimating the changes will mean YouTube creators “who make mostly child-directed content will likely lose a majority of their revenue.”

In contrast, YouTube itself emerged relatively unscathed.

Google paid a $170 million fine, a tiny sliver of its profit. The FTC settlement on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, focused on YouTube, not other parts of Google. The internet giant worked hard to limit any broader impact on the rest of its businesses, according to one former executive. Best of all for YouTube, it doesn’t need to screen clips before they go up, nor is it liable for any infringing videos.

With assistance from Ben Brody.

Bloomberg News

PMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank, says New York-based Persado’s “artificial intelligence message machine” wrote ads that generated two to five times the response it got from traditional human copywriters.

So, it has rewarded Persado with a fiveyear deal “to generate the highest-performing marketing creative” content using artificial intelligence, or AI. According to the bank, an AI-generated, pilot Chase promotion titled “LIMITED TIME OFFER: We’ll reward you with $5 Cash Back when you go paperless” generated nearly double the “unique clicks” compared with JPMorgan Chase copywriters’ original “Go paperless and earn $5 Cash Back.”

A Persado promotion that claimed “It’s true — You can unlock cash from the equity in your home” with a quick “Click To Apply” button attracted 47 applications a week; humans’ “Access cash from the equity in your home” with a “Take a look” button raised just 25 a week.

And the AI system’s “REGARDING YOUR CARD: 5% Cash Back Is Waiting For You” generated nearly five times the “unique clicks” of human-made “HURRY, IT ENDS DECEMBER 31 Earn 5% Cash Back At Department Stores, Wholesale Clubs,” etc.

“Persado’s technology is incredibly promising. It rewrote copy and headlines that a marketer, using subjective judgment and their experience, likely wouldn’t have. And they worked,” JPMorgan chief marketing officer Kristin Lemkau said in a statement. “We think this is just the beginning.”

The Persado “message machine” builds copy from a database of more than one million words and phrases. The company has been working with Chase to improve and test marketing messages for its credit card and home loan businesses since 2016. Other clients include the computer-maker Dell, the online travel firm Expedia, Humana insurance, and the retailer Williams Sonoma.

Persado chief executive and cofounder Alex Vratskides praised Lemkau’s marketing organization as “true visionaries.” He said his company’s goal is to “disrupt choice of words by utilizing AI, machine learning and data” to harness the full power of words” and better reach customers.

The company claims more than 250 corporate and marketing-firm clients.

The platform “created language that resonates more with our customers,” said Abeer Bhatia, New York-based head of marketing growth and innovation at Chase Card Services (and a Franklin and Marshall alumnus), which employs a large proportion of the 10,000 JPMorgan employees in Delaware.

Will this wipe out Madison Avenue-style creative businesses? There’s still room for human decision-making, says Erich Timmerman, executive director for media relations at JPMorgan’s tech-oriented office in San Francisco: “The goal is to get to copy that resonates. Edits and review have always been integral to the process.”

“Big props to JPMorgan Chase for being forward-thinking,” said David Neff, president of his self-titled Philadelphia full-service ad agency. AI “can be useful and extremely beneficial in the right scenarios.”

But, he added, “there is something to be said about working collaboratively with living individuals to brainstorm and come up with marketing verbiage that works and tailors to the client’s specific needs and wants while helping their target audience. It’s been working for hundreds of years now and I believe it will always.”

“AI is not necessarily a competitor trying to outperform the human mind, but possibly an extension” of human capabilities, offered Gabriel Fairman, a Lafayette, California-based marketer and one of many creatives who rushed to react to the bank’s AI turn.

Don’t blame the software, but “post-industrial tech capitalism at its finest,” if “a smarter and cheaper machine alternative” ends up putting some humans out of business, he conThe Philadelphia Inquirer cluded.

“PERSADO’S TECHNOLOGY IS INCREDIBLY PROMISING. IT REWROTE COPY AND HEADLINES THAT A MARKETER, USING SUBJECTIVE JUDGMENT AND THEIR EXPERIENCE, LIKELY WOULDN’T HAVE. AND THEY WORKED.” Kristin Lemkau, JPMorgan chief marketing officer

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VIDEO

Why Netflix isn’t worried about the

Streaming Wars

A

BY WENDY LEE

t a downtown coffee shop in 1997, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings wondered: Could you mail a DVD and have it arrive unbroken?

To test the idea, the friends dropped off a disc at the post office across the street and mailed it to Reed’s home nearby. To their surprise, the disc arrived undamaged, an experiment that soon led to the birth of a scrappy start-up now known as Netflix.

Netflix, a name that combines the internet and movies, was once such an improbable idea that Randolph’s wife thought, “that will never work,” inspiring the title of his recently released book.

The company not only worked, it worked beyond their wildest dreams. It would eventually revolutionize TV, herald the era of binge-watching and upend Hollywood’s long-established order.

Netflix poured vast sums into original TV series and films and became the undisputed king of streaming, with more than 151 million subscribers in nearly 200 countries.

Now the company faces an existential challenge from a new crop of rivals who are determined to beat it at its own game.

Apple and Disney launched their streaming platforms in 2019, with WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal in 2020.

Investors have grown skittish about the looming competition. While revenue rose 26% to $4.9 billion the second quarter of 2019 compared with a year ago, net income dropped 30% to $270.65 million during the same period, according to a filing.

Netflix’s domestic business is slowing at a time when legacy media companies are determined to seize control of lucrative shows that have helped fuel

Netflix’s success and lure subscribers to their own services.

“Netflix is in a much more difficult situation than it’s ever been,” said Brahm Eiley, president of the Convergence Research Group, a Victoria, B.C., firm that tracks the streaming industry. “It’s a lot more competitive. It’s choppy waters.”

Though few think Netflix will relinquish its dominance, its market share is expected to decline sharply in the U.S. In 2018, Netflix took in 47% of subscription revenues for streaming platforms in the U.S., according to the Convergence Research Group. In 2022, Netflix’s market share will decline to 34%, Convergence said.

To be sure, Netflix has faced challenges before, first with the transition from mail-order-delivery to streaming in 2007, and later its successful foray into original programming with such hits as “Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards.”

“We have to continue to do what we’ve been doing, which is make the best content and deliver it seamlessly,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in an interview from the company’s Los Angeles offices. Speaking of all the coming rivals, he said: “I think the bigger you are, the more distractions you have to your core business, the more likely you can’t move as quickly as we’ve been able to through our history. The new set of competitors is actually just the old set of competitors.”

One of the biggest hurdles facing Netflix is that it’s going to lose some of its most popular programs starting this year, analysts say. Netflix originals took up just roughly 30% of the time adult subscribers spend on Netflix, according to Nielsen data from October 2018. Analysts will be closely watching to see how consumers react when they realize shows and movies they were used to seeing on Netflix are no longer part of its library.

Sarandos said Netflix originals are more popular than licensed shows when examined per season and that Netflix will continue its diverse programming strategy, which includes unscripted feel-good programs like “Queer Eye,” sitcoms such as “The Ranch” and acclaimed miniseries such as “Unbelievable.”

“Basically our goal is we’re trying to make your favorite show,” Sarandos said.

“For some people, it’s that high pedigree, Emmy-winning, well-reviewed show and other people just want to relax and watch something.”

But as studios reclaim shows for their own services, Netflix will have to spend even more money on original programs like “Ozark” and “Stranger Things” to fill the gap — and keep subscribers coming.

Netflix’s spending on content is projected to climb to $35 billion in 2025, up from an estimated $16 billion this year, according to Pivotal Research Group. The additional spending on new and licensed programming could add to the company’s debt load.

The company reported long-term debt of $12.6 billion in the second quarter, up 51% from the same period a year ago. Its overall streaming content obligations — which includes amounts related to the acquisition and licensing of streaming content — totaled about $19 billion as of Dec. 31, 2018, according to a regulatory filing.

In the past, Netflix has been able to raise subscription prices to offset its rising investments in programming, but that option will be tougher because rivals will offer their streaming services at lower prices. Apple TV+ started at $4.99 a month ($4 cheaper than Netflix’s basic plan). Disney+ offered a basic plan for $6.99 a month and a bundle package with ESPN+ and Hulu for $12.99 a month. Netflix’s standard plan is $12.99 a month.

“There has been pressure on Netflix

and its financial model for years,” Eiley said. “New players in the market only increase that pressure.”

Sarandos said that the company’s spending on content is sustainable given its revenue growth and that Netflix will remain competitive by offering something for everyone.

“The test is, ‘are you getting enough value for the money?’” Sarandos said.

“That’s a question that consumers have to answer.”

Netflix also has an advantage in the bidding war because video streaming is its core business, unlike rivals such as Apple and Amazon. Some of Netflix’s competitors could back down if shows become too expensive, said Jeff Wlodarczak, a principal and senior analyst at Pivotal Research Group.

“There are few companies in the world that are going to be able to spend at these levels long term,” Wlodarczak said.

Known for the creative freedom it offers, Netflix continues to lure big-name talent, signing lucrative production deals with writers including Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, as well as D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, the showrunners behind HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones.”

The streaming giant also has landed projects with critically acclaimed filmmakers such as Alfonso Cuarón, (whose film “Roma” won three Academy Awards), Guillermo del Toro and Martin Scorsese, whose much-anticipated gangster film “The Irishman” debuted in November.

“For less than the cost of the movie ticket, you get a month of Netflix,” Sarandos said. “At the end of the day filmmakers want their films to be seen, their work to be out there in the culture and that happens on Netflix better than anywhere in Los Angeles Times the world.”

REMEMBER DVDS? TWO STUDIOS HAVE A PLAN TO PRESERVE THE NEAR-DEAD FORMAT

T

BY RYAN FAUGHNDER

he market for DVD and Blu-ray discs has been on life support for years, as streaming has become the technology of choice for home video customers.

In the last decade, the U.S. market for physical discs has gone from a more than $10-billion business in the U.S. to roughly a third of that in terms of consumer spending, according to data from Digital Entertainment Group.

But studios aren’t ready to give up on the format just yet. Two of the major studios, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., have proposed an unusual plan to stay in the business of selling shiny physical discs.

The studios announced in January a proposal to team up on a joint venture that, if approved by regulators, will handle North American distribution for

DVDs, Blu-rays and 4K UHD discs for new releases, library titles and television shows. The idea is to combine resources to continue selling discs while saving money.

The joint venture is expected to operate for up to 10 years, according to a news release.

Details are sparse and the venture won’t launch until the beginning of 2021. The studios did not say how many people would work for it, or what the new entity would be called, but the move is expected to coincide with an unspecified number of job cuts in their existing home video divisions.

Industry veteran Eddie Cunning-

ham, president of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, will oversee the new venture.

The idea is a direct response to the collapsing DVD market. Physical disc sales plummeted 18% in 2019 alone, generating $3.3 billion in revenue in the U.S., according to DEG’s latest report. Meanwhile, consumer spending on subscription streaming services surged 24% to nearly $16 billion.

Yet physical discs remain important to some consumers, including fans of classic cinema. Not

all titles are easily available for streaming. Also, though the category is shrinking, it remains an important source of revenue for the industry.

The planned joint venture “presents a significant opportunity to continue to work with our retail partners to ensure the format’s strength and sustainability for years to come,” said Universal Chief Distribution Officer Peter Levinsohn in a statement.

Additionally, Warner Bros. and Universal plan to save costs by splitting up international DVD releases by country.

Los Angeles-based Universal will take on distribution of Warner Bros. discs in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan, while Burbank-based Warner Bros. will handle Universal’s sales in Britain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and LuxLos Angeles Times embourg.

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SPRING 2020

13

BEST REVIEWS

SIMPLIFY YOUR TECH SHOPPING WITH INSIGHT FROM OUR EXPERTS

WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO BestReviews is the site to turn to when you’re about to buy something. From heated blankets to trampolines to cordless drills, we compare the top products in thousands of categories to give you the most reliable purchasing advice. Our goal is to make it easy for you to pick the best product and be confident in your decision.

WHY TRUST BEST REVIEWS?

BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We make money only if you purchase a product through our links, and we never accept free products from manufacturers.

HOW WE DO IT

THAT’S WHERE WE COME IN

When you’re getting ready to buy a product, you have options. There may be hundreds of products to choose from, dozens of them with user reviews that make them sound great. It can be confusing and time-consuming to cut through the data to find the best product for you.

Our reviewers and subject-matter experts evaluate the dozens (or hundreds) of available products in each category, and from them, select the shortlist of the most promising and best-selling products.

When we decide you, the consumer, would benefit from additional product insight, we buy these products, just like you would, and subject them to independent evaluation and tests.

THE ULTIMATE INSTANT POT GUIDE: WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL FOR YOU?

‌T

BY JENNIFER BLAIR

hese days, you can’t visit many recipe sites without reading about Instant Pots. These handy appliances have been around for quite some time, but they’ve gotten so much buzz lately because their multifunctionality makes them a great deal and a major convenience for working people who want to eat well.

The Instant Pot is best known as a pressure cooker, but depending on the model you choose, you can also get a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, and more in one compact appliance.

Interested in Instant Pots but feeling overwhelmed by the options? Here’s a rundown of the top models to help you choose the right one for your kitchen. You never know who on your list will want one — and it can’t hurt to be fully aware of what’s availTribune Content Agency able to you.

BEST INSTANT POTS

UNIQUE FEATURES

CONS

PROS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM

The Instant Pot is a cleverly named culinary tool that can perform an impressive variety of cooking tasks.

Whether you want to make yogurt, cook rice, sauté vegetables, or slow cook a roast, this handy device can do it all. In a home where space is a concern, this may quickly become your favorite appliance.

Instant Pot

Lux 6 Qt 6-in-1

Instant Pot

Duo Nova 6 Qt 7-in-1

Instant Pot

Duo Evo Plus 6 Qt

Instant Pot

Ultra 6 Qt 10-in-1

Instant Pot

Instant Pot

Instant Pot

This Instant Pot replaces nine appliances in your kitchen and prepares enough food for a large family.

Ideal for those who like to make canned goods at home because the higher pressure allows for canning.

Smart WiFi 6 Qt

DUO Plus 8 Qt 9-in-1

Max 60, 6 Qt

A solid starter model that’s affordable and ideal for those who are looking to invest in their first Instant Pot.

This is a time-saving appliance that helps you feed your family a variety of meals while freeing up space.

Faster than the original Duo, it’s ideal for anyone who needs to get dinner on the table in a hurry.

This model offers a greater level of customization for a more precise multifunctional cooking experience.

A WiFi-enabled model that’s perfect for anyone who loves smart home devices and appliances.

The Lux can replace your pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté pan, steamer, and food warmer with a single appliance that features user-friendly button controls. It also offers a variety of built-in smart programs, including meat/stew, soup/broth, egg and porridge. The egg program allows you to prepare soft-, medium-, or hard-boiled eggs in a matter of minutes. Its automatic “keep warm” function maintains the temperature of dishes so your food is always warm when you’re ready to eat. You can choose from three temperature options in the sauté setting, too, so you can sear, simmer and thicken recipes.

The Duo Nova 7-in-1 can hold 6 quarts, making it ideal for families of three to five.

Not only can you use it for pressure cooking, but it also works as a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sauté pan, yogurt maker, and warmer. For even more convenient cooking, it offers 14 smart programs that allow you to prepare soups, stews, chili, beans and poultry dishes with the push of a button. The user-friendly touchbutton controls and easy-to-read icons make operation as easy as possible, too.

It also provides both low- and high-pressure settings to give you more control.

This model offers 10 one-touch smart programs, including pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice/grain, sous vide, steaming, yogurt making, sautéing, warming, and baking. With a 6-quart capacity, it’s large enough to feed your family and guests. Its extralarge, bright LCD display is extremely easy to read, and the dial control makes operation straightforward.

The Duo Evo Plus uses QuickCool technology and a QuickCool tray to release pressure nearly 50% faster than other models.

The Ultra 10-in-1 offers all the functions of the DUO Plus, as well as an additional sterilizer function. It also boasts the Ultra program, which allows you to customize for both pressure and nonpressure recipes. It features a larger LCD display and central dial controls to make choosing a program or making adjustments as easy as possible. The LCD display also has a cooking indicator that lets you track the progress of each program. The steam release reset button safely releases steam once the pressure cooking function is completed.

The Smart WiFi can perform eight of the most common Instant Pot functions — pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice/ porridge cooking, yogurt making, cake/ egg making, sauté/ searing, steaming and warming — but you can control it from your smartphone. You can schedule, adjust, and monitor the progress of your cooking programs even when you’re not right beside your Instant Pot. The app also offers access to hundreds of preprogrammed recipes to take the guesswork out of meal prep. The Smart WiFi also boasts more than 11 built-in safety features.

Like other Instant Pots, the Duo Plus 9-in-1 offers pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice/porridge cooking, yogurt making, steaming, sautéing/ searing and warming functions, but it also boasts a cake/egg making function and a sterilizing feature.

It has 15 smart programs, including soup/broth, meat/ stew, bean/chili and porridge, which you can activate with the press of a button. The interior cooking surface is made of food-grade stainless steel that’s dishwasher-safe . The Duo Plus’s large LCD screen is easy to read.

In addition to the typical range of Instant Pot functions, the Max also boasts a sous vide function, which allows you to create restaurant-quality meals at home. During pressure cooking, the Max can sustain high levels of pressure, which means your food cooks more quickly. If you’re nervous about pressure cooking, the device also offers 13 safety mechanisms, including a pressure indicator, overheat protection, position sensors for lid and float valve, and closed lid detection. Operation is also incredibly user-friendly thanks to the large LCD touch screen.

The instructions in the owner’s manual are somewhat confusing, so some users have to watch YouTube videos to figure out how to operate the pot.

The Duo Nova’s cord is just 35 inches long.

The steam valve is flimsy and directs the steam straight up, which can be a problem if the pot is placed under cabinets.

It isn’t WiFi- or Alexaenabled, so it doesn’t boast all of the most advanced Instant Pot features.

The dial control can have a flimsy feel.

Some users don’t like that you have to hold down the steam release button to expel the steam.

You’re not able to create your own recipes for the Instant Pot to follow with the app, which frustrates some users.

It doesn’t always get hot enough during the yogurt-making feature, so some users find they need to boil the milk a second time to reach the right temperature.

It doesn’t offer complete control over the steam release after pressure cooking like other models do, which can lead to a mess.

It offers a 24-hour delay start timer, so you can be sure your meal is ready exactly when you want it.

It cooks up to 70% faster than other pressure cookers on the high-pressure setting.

Its inner pot has a flat bottom and can be placed on your stove for sauteing.

The easy-grip handles make it easy to move the inner pot.

It offers an altitude adjustment feature that takes the guesswork out of converting recipes for different altitudes.

It’s Alexa-enabled, so you can use voice control to operate it via your Alexa device.

The exterior is made of fingerprint-resistant stainless steel to allow for easy cleanup.

It offers NutriBoost technology, which uses a boiling motion during the pressure cooking program to help add nutrition to your recipes.

THE DIGITAL USER

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SPRING 2020

BEST REVIEWS

BEST E-READERS Whether you’re a seasoned reader with a taste for the classics or a younger reader first discovering the magic of words on a page, here’s everything you need to know to pick out the perfect e-reader for yourself.

Amazon

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Note E-Reader

Kindle

BOTTOM LINE

Amazon

Tops its competitors for its impressive technology, large storage space, and lightweight design. Hands down the best e-reader available on today’s market.

Amazon’s update to their mid-range Kindle makes it a must-have for anyone needing a casual e-reader.

It’s waterproof, and you can add a wireless LTE plan if needed.

The Note E-reader is a novel approach to making a hybrid e-reader/tablet: it’s got an e-ink display, it runs Android mobile OS, and has a giant 10” screen.

Amazon’s entry level Kindle e-reader is perfect for casual readers or first-timers. It offers a good compromise between price, features, and flexibility.

Though basic, it has some nice features and a reasonable price that makes it worth considering, especially if you want an alternative to Kindle models.

PROS

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

Combines amazing 300ppi high resolution display, sleek design, effortless page turn features, and adjustable built-in light to create a truly top-notch reading experience.

It also holds a charge for days and stores thousands of books.

It’s available with either 8GB or 32GB of storage. The 300ppi screen is gorgeous, and the battery lasts for weeks.

It can run Android apps from the Google Play story (in black and white). The 10.3” screen is big and beautiful and can handle dualtouch operations like pinch-andzoom. Best of all, you can write on it like a piece of paper.

It’s affordable. It can last for weeks on a single batter charge, and has full access to all of Amazon’s Kindle services, including thousands of e-books. The 6” glare-free screen makes it easy to read almost anywhere.

Has GlowLight technology that adjusts to day and night reading.

Clear resolution and no-glare screen make reading easy. Midrange price.

CONS

BEST OF THE BEST

It’s a costly model, but considering the quality and features you get, it’s more like an investment that’s worth the price.

It’s missing the automatic lightsensing found on more expensive models. It comes with ads on the lock screen, and you have to pay a small fee to Amazon to remove them.

It’s expensive. It only lasts a few days on a single battery charge, which is great for a tablet, but not great for an e-reader.

The resolution is only 167ppi. It doesn’t have dedicated buttons for turning pages, and it’s WiFi only, so you can’t use it with a mobile data LTE plan.

Files are somewhat confusing to transfer. It’s easy to interrupt reading by accidentally bumping the sensitive home button.

Kindle Oasis E-Reader

Kindle Paperwhite

Boox

CONSIDER THESE FUNCTIONS WHEN SELECTING AN E-READER If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself the following questions. Your answers will help point you toward the right e-reader for you.

Do you want an e-reader or a tablet? E-readers and tablets are different devices, but they have some overlapping functionality. Many users prefer tablets over e-readers because they include reading functionality along with apps that let you do a ton of other things. But while tablets are more versatile and only slightly more expensive, their screens expose your eyes to a lot of light, which can get uncomfortable while reading and can cause long-term issues with eye

E-READER FEATURES All e-readers have the same base functionality: they display e-books on e-ink displays. Beyond that, there are some key differentiators that help the best and brightest stand out. Here are the features we love.

Waterproof enclosures: Having a waterproof e-reader is more about peace of mind than it is convenience.

If you like to read near the pool, or if you’re gearing up for a beach vacation, you may want to get a waterproof e-reader.

Auto-adjusting light sensors: While this might not sound like much of a

strain. Users more focused on having a standalone reading device that they can read for hours on end without their eyes getting tired typically opt for a proper e-reader.

Which screen size is right for you?

The screen size you pick is probably the most important decision you’ll make during the purchase process. E-reader screens range between six and 11 inches, so there’s a lot of variety, although most e-readers feature seven-inch screens. If you’re accustomed to paperback books, a six- or seven-inch screen may be perfect. If you’re more into hardcovers, you may want to look at the larger models.

NOOK GlowLight Plus

marquee feature, it’s a really big deal.

With automatic light sensors, e-reader screens can adapt to the optimal brightness based on the current conditions at any time. Most e-readers include manual settings for brightness but having them automated is a lot more useful.

LTE connectivity: Most e-readers nowadays have built-in WiFi, but sometimes, WiFi isn’t enough. If you want to be able to download content onto your e-reader when you’re away from WiFi, you’ll need one with LTE functionality, so you can pair it with your mobile wireless provider and add it to your data plan.

BEST TV ANTENNAS We tend to think of TV antennas as antiquated technology, but cord cutters have begun to remodel their image. Now, they represent an easy way to access free TV without paying for a bunch of channels that you don’t need.

BEST OF THE BEST

Mohu

CONS

PROS

BOTTOM LINE

4K-Ready HDTV Leaf TV Antenna

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

1byone

HDTV Shiny Antenna

RCA

RCA

Winegard

Compact Outdoor Yagi HDTV Antenna

Digital Indoor TV Antenna

Flatewave Digital Indoor HD TV Antenna

Clearly the best choice for gadget enthusiasts. It offers clear reception at a price that isn’t our of line for the quality.

The best value for users who want long-distance channel reception without spending a lot of money.

A great choice for the outdoors, this antenna can also be mounted in the attic and provides good channel reception with or without line of sight.

Offers good reception, but may not be the best model for users who want a paper-thin design.

An amplified model that reaches up to 50 miles, especially when placed close to windows.

Ultra-thin, sleek design and vivid amplifier capabilities, CleanPeak technology that filters out interfering signals for clear channel reception up to a 50-mile range.

Provides amplified reception and a 50-mile channel range at a value price. The easy setup and streamlined design is comparable to costlier models.

Pr-assembled for simple installation. Fold-out UHF reflector locks easily. Range of 70 miles.

Supports up to 1080i HDTV. Durable construction.

A trusted brand with a reputation for quality. Durable design produces clear reception in almost any room. Amplifier can be used to access more channels.

Streamlined design. Clear Circuit technology provides vivid picture quality.

Though somewhat costly, users can expect high performance for the price.

The suction mounting does not work well on all surfaces. May not work as well is placed far from a window.

An amplifier may be required to reach the manufacturer’s stated range. Use caution when installing.

It’s bulky compared to other models. The six-foot cable is not long enough for some users.

Extra-long 18-ft. cable may be too much for some users and can be awkward if the extra length is not needed.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN CHOOSING A TV ANTENNA PREFERRED CHANNELS The first step is to figure out which channels are available in your area. You can do this by going to a website like TV Fool and entering your address. It will show you all the channels that are available in your area and how strong the signal is for each. Write down the channels you are interested in and their distance away from you. It’s also wise to make a note of the channel’s azimuth and its real channel number.

RANGE Once you have your list of channels, check how far away the furthest channel is that you’re interested in. You should choose a TV antenna that covers at least this distance. The distance your antenna

will be able to cover will depend on the type of antenna it is.

INDOOR VS. OUTDOOR Indoor antennas connect to your TV and should be placed somewhere where they can get a clear signal. These models are compact and easy to install, but because they must travel through walls and because they’re often low to the ground, their signal doesn’t travel as far. The best indoor TV antennas usually max out at around 50 miles.

Outdoor antennas, on the other hand, are more complicated to install, but they also tend to be more powerful. This is because they are usually installed higher up and there are fewer obstructions between the antenna and the signals it is

trying to reach. Some outdoor antennas can reach nearly 200 miles. This is the way to go if you’re trying to reach channels that are far away.

CHANNEL FREQUENCY Over-the-air channels are broadcast on three frequency types. Very High Frequency-Low (VHF-Low) channels are channels 2 through 6. Channels 7 to 13 are broadcast on VHF-High, and channels 14 to 51 are broadcast on Ultra High Frequency (UHF). Not all TV antennas cover all these ranges, so it’s important to be aware of which ones you need for the channels you want.

Remember to focus on the real channel number. This may be different from the number of the channel on your TV.

This information is available through TV Fool and other signal analysis websites.

DIRECTIONAL VS. OMNIDIRECTIONAL TV antennas may be omnidirectional or directional. That is, they may work equally well in all directions, or they may be focused in a single direction. If the towers you’re trying to reach are all pretty close to you, it shouldn’t matter which kind of antenna you choose. But if you’re trying to reach a tower that is far away, a directional antenna pointed toward the tower will give you the best chance of picking up the signal. Use the azimuth data you collected to figure out where the towers are that you’re trying to reach.

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

15

BEST REVIEWS

BEST WIRELESS EARBUDS Of course, as with any new technological milestone, there are pros and cons related to the next big thing – truly wireless earbuds definitely solve tangle problems, but they rely on batteries, so owning a pair means keeping yet another device charged.

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

BEST OF THE BEST

Apple

TOZO

CONS

PROS

BOTTOM LINE

AirPods

T10 Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless Earbuds

Soundmoov

316T Mini Wireless Earbuds

Treblab

Samsung

X2 Bluetooth Earbuds

Galaxy Buds

Apple has another exceptional product on their hands that integrates well with the iPhone.

Truly wireless headphones featuring a microphone to take calls, a long batter life, and portable charging case — all for a good price.

Great sound, comfortable and completely cordless. Take these earbuds where you go with a portable charging case.

These buds provide an excellent battery life with a great range for bluetooth. Ergonomic design is easy to use.

Despite some quirks, these earbuds have user-friendly features and nice sound quality. A good choice for those who use Android.

Apple builds on the simplicity and fidelity of their standard EarPods with this product. Built-in support for Siri means playing practically any song is just a matter of asking.

Three modes can be utilized, including stereo mode and single channel mode. We love the portable charging box, which can hold a 15-hour charge when on the go. Three different sized buds included to fit your ears.

Approximately three hours playback time and four hours talk time from a single charge. Portable charging case is capable of three sets of charges offering three hours per charge. These earbuds offer exceptional value for the money.

Notable for their water-resistant and sweat-proof design. Siri compatible.

Offer approximately 4.5 hours playback time from one charge.

Impressive Bluetooth range of around 30’. Touch buttons are easy to use.

Good bass and crystal highs.

These wireless earbuds pair easily with Samsung devices, and offer decent battery life as well as comfortable fit for most wearers.

Case is also a wireless charging dock. Easy to set up. Notable sound with impressive bass.

The housing of the AirPods is an inflexible plastic, so if the “one-sizefits-all” size doesn’t fit you, you’re out of luck. They’re also among the most expensive.

Some users report right bud cutting out intermittently if device is stored away.

Some buyers found the buds difficult to sync.

May be too large for some ears.

Buds occasionally lose connectivity, especially when your phone is in your pocket. Touch controls are somewhat quirky, and mic is difficult to adjust.

DIFFERENT MODELS OFFER UNIQUE FEATURES TO CONSIDER WIRELESS EARBUDS VS. TRULY WIRELESS EARBUDS As you’re checking out various models, you’re likely to find truly wireless earbuds mixed along with traditional wireless earbuds. The differences between the two go beyond the wire.

Wireless earbuds consist of two earpieces connected together by a thin wire intended to drape across the back of your neck. Because these earbuds are wired, they use less power, so you’ll find better battery life on these models. The connecting wire can get frustrating at times, particularly if you have long hair or you don’t like dealing with wires all the time.

Truly wireless earbuds are two separate earbuds that wirelessly (truly!) connect to both an audio source (like your smartphone) and each other. Truly wireless earbuds are more convenient and easier to use than traditional wireless models but often don’t hold a charge longer than a few hours.

FAVORITE FEATURES OF TRULY WIRELESS EARBUDS All truly wireless earbuds are incredibly convenient, but there are a few additional features that set the best models apart from the rest. Here are our favorite bonus features.

Digital assistant support Some truly wireless earbuds offer onetouch access to Google Home or Sir, and while that may seem a little gimmicky, there’s something magical and convenient about using your headphones to interact with a digital assistant.

plan if the batteries die.

Charging cases All truly wireless earbuds have built-in batteries so they can hold a charge on their own, but many include a handy carrying case that doubles as a charger pack. Buying truly wireless earbuds that come with a charging case means you’ll always have a backup

Local storage Some truly wireless earbuds include a moderate amount of storage for music, usually between 2GB and 8GB, which is perfect for loading and playing your personal MP3s. With a local music player, you can listen to your music collection without the distractions of a phone.

Noise cancellation Noise cancellation is a pricey feature on any set of headphones, so it’s usually only found on the most expensive truly wireless earbuds.

BEST ROBOTIC VACUUMS Robotic vacuums have automated a common household chore and can clean your home whether you’re present or not. Models vary in their efficiency and hazard detection and may be better suited to different environments.

BEST OF THE BEST

Roborock

Shark

ECOVACS

S6 Robotic Vacuum and Mop Cleaner

ION Robot 750

DEEBOT 500 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

A feature-packed robotic vacuum that makes life easier for owners.

A best pick thanks to how powerful it is.

Don’t let a few quirks stop you if you are looking for an affordable option with some nice features — it has a lot of offer for a low price.

Despite a few concerns, this model is worth considering if you like the idea of a robotic vacuum that doubles as a mop. The suction power it offers is also likely to impress.

A moderately priced solution for hard floors that is also suitable as a pet vacuum.

After hours of testing, we determined the DEEBOT 500 was as effective as the expensive models — for a fraction of the cost.

Can handle multiple types of flooring material, seamlessly navigating from one type to another. Extremely easy to use and maintain due to tangle-free extractors. Has the most smart features out of any in its class.

Surprisingly quiet operation and powerful suction for an affordable price. User-friendly features include a slim design and spacious dust bin. Can run up to 100 minutes before needing to be recharged Effective for pet hair.

Differs from others on our list for being a vacuum and a mop. Earns praise for delivering excellent suction, and transitioning from carpet to hard flooring with ease.

Has smart capabilities and is compatible with a user-friendly app.

From a trusted brand known for having first-rate customer service.

Easy to set up and sync with your phone or Alexa device. Has no problem cleaning up behind pets.

Sends a message when it’s about to run out of battery.

Keeps home with low-pile rugs/ carpets clean. Runs quietly — quieter than some of the more expensive models — while maintaining solid suction. Effective at picking up after pets. Can sense where stairs are and navigates accordingly.

Needs a clear line of sight to locate home base/charger. Some problems navigating shag, deep pile and clutter.

Not good at avoiding obstacles.

Tends to get stuck frequently. Not ideal for thick or deep pile carpet.

Error codes that indicate brush clogs often occur, even when no blockages are present.

Occasionally gets stuck. Some mapping issues noted.

Does not map out rooms or remember obstacles. Gets stuck often.

Needs to be emptied more than once during jobs if you have pets — but that’s an issue with most robot vacuums.

BOTTOM LINE

RoboVac 11 PowerBoost

PROS

Eufy

Roomba 980

CONS

iRobot

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

REVIEW YOUR NEEDS BEFORE PURCHASING A ROBOTIC VACUUM WHY BUY A ROBOTIC VACUUM CLEANER? Consider buying a robotic vacuum cleaner if any of the following apply.

You’re a busy person who would like to delegate the task of cleaning your floors to someone (or something) else.

You enjoy living in an environment with spotless floors.

You find you can’t keep up with the ever-accumulating pet hair or other debris in your home.

You want to minimize the amount of time you spend cleaning your home.

You’re interested in high-tech gadgets and would get great enjoyment from a robotic vacuum cleaner.

You’re looking for ways to simplify your life.

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN SHOPPING FOR A ROBOTIC VACUUM CLEANER Is the robotic vacuum cleaner able to navigate the rooms of my home?

Some robotic vacuum cleaners use mapping technology to navigate the various rooms in your home. Not all robotic vacuums can intelligently do this, however. If you have a house with multiple complicated room layouts, you may want to consider a device with more advanced artificial intelligence.

Can the robotic vacuum cleaner self-correct if I’m not home?

Decide whether you want to run your robotic vacuum cleaner when you’re not home. Consumers who want their

robotic vacuum cleaner to work while they’re away must take care to buy one that can work independently throughout the vacuuming process.

What is the robotic vacuum cleaners level of hazard avoidance?

A robotic vacuum cleaner’s level of hazard avoidance is an important consideration. Some vacuums are equipped with features that prevent them from plunging down a stairwell. Many robotic vacuums also come with “virtual walls” which allow you to block off certain areas of your home.

What type of battery life does the robotic vacuum cleaner have?

Robotic vacuums are equipped with

rechargeable batteries, but the lifespan of said batteries varies from one product to another. A longer battery life is required for larger homes, so it’s important to take stock of the square footage you want cleaned.

What type of flooring and debris are you dealing with?

Some robotic vacuums are better able to handle different types of dirt and debris. Thick carpets require a more powerful motor, as do large amounts of pet hair. If you’re a pet owner, you’ll want to ensure you choose a model that can handle the fur they shed. Choosing a device with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter will ensure that allergens are kept to a minimum in your home.

THE DIGITAL USER

16

SPRING 2020

GAMING

HOW TO BE A

PRO GAMER

H

A glimpse down the esports talent pipeline

BY JAMES B. CUTCHIN

igh school team.

College program.

Development league. Pro draft.

It’s a system familiar to sports fans. But if you want to make your living in esports, the path isn’t

nearly so defined.

Aspiring professional gamers are left to hustle and self-promote their way onto any platform they can find — and hope the right person happens to be looking. Success in the industry can hinge as much on gamers’ social media following as their skills.

As esports grow more established, some see benefits for gamers and the industry in establishing a more structured talent pipeline.

Thousand Oaks, California, native Blaze Elmore is one of the first gamers through it.

Elmore has played games since he was little, and became obsessed with the mobile game “Clash Royale” when it was released in 2016. He was soon haranguing his mother to drive him to tournaments in Los Angeles.

“At first I told him, ‘No, absolutely not. I’ve got work and you’ve got school,’” his mother, Tammy Elmore, said. “But he was just so persistent. I finally gave in.”

Elmore won his seventh live competition in April 2018 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and took home a flat-screen TV and $200. The tournament, hosted by Super League Gaming — a Santa Monica, California, start-up that organizes community-focused contests — kicked off Elmore’s rise to the esports big leagues.

The teen spent the next year winning match after match at Super League’s club league tournaments. A scout for Dignitas — an international esports organization owned by the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team — took notice and, at a Super League event in March 2019, recruited him.

Founded in 2014, Super League Gaming got its start hosting amateur multiplayer events for the hit game “Minecraft” in local movie theaters.

It has spread to hundreds of U.S. cities. The company now organizes 16 city-based club teams for “Minecraft,” “Clash Royale” and esports titan

“League of Legends.”

“It’s something akin to the European football club model,” said Super League Chief Executive Ann Hand. “In some ways we are about creating that recreational club space underneath the pros.”

Much of the attention paid to the burgeoning esports industry focuses on the highest professional levels. Last year’s “League of Legends” world tournament garnered more viewers than the Super Bowl. The prize pool at this year’s global championship for “Dota 2,” another massively popular esports title, doled out a prize pool of more than $34 million. But there’s an untapped market lower in the rungs of the competitive gaming scene, Hand says.

This market is where Super League is planting its flag.

Most of the company’s revenue comes from brand partnerships and event sponsorships with firms such as Red Bull. It intends to increase its emphasis on selling ads on online videos it produces.

In August, Super League announced the creation of a proprietary digital content network that includes original content on Twitch — a gaming video platform acquired by Amazon for nearly $1 billion in 2014 — as well as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It offers an esports variety show, gaming news and commentary, and livestreams of Super League’s club team matches.

This year, Super League became the first esports business to go public, raising $25 million in its February IPO. The company lost more than $21 million in the first six months of this year on revenue of about $470,000.

Hand says that the environments created by her company’s amateur events help players build skills such as teamwork and the ability to perform under pressure — vital skills for the pro ranks.

Elmore’s matches with Super League’s Los Angeles Shockwaves club team let him hone and showcase his abilities as both a gamer and a crowd-pleasing, tournament-ready esports personality.

This drew the attention of the Dignitas scout.

“I’d read about Blaze before, that he was one of the winningest of all time,” said Heather Garozzo, vice president of marketing at Dignitas. “Seeing him in

person, from a marketing perspective he was just fantastic — good on camera, humble, well-spoken, and his mom was there cheering for him.”

Dignitas offered Elmore a spot on its professional “Clash Royale” team.

Garozzo, herself a former esports pro, said that the local competitions where she discovered Elmore broke with her team’s typical recruitment process. “Usually we’re listening to what the conversation is like on Twitter or Reddit,” said Garozzo, “or looking to what our players themselves are saying.”

The typical recruitment approach described by Garozzo shows how the esports talent pipeline has historically taken shape. Teams rely on a combination of online rankings, small third-party tournaments, social media chatter and word of mouth to identify promising new recruits.

Elmore supplemented his time at Super League tournaments with hours spent boosting his profile online.

“It was definitely hard,” he said. “The Super League events were really big, but I was also tweeting and streaming (on Twitch). That got me a lot of supporters.”

A few esports titles, most notably Blizzard Entertainment’s “Overwatch” and Riot Games’ “League of Legends,” have built their own talent pipelines.

Blizzard has a Path to Pro program designed to funnel aspiring competitive “Overwatch” players into professional teams.

The track begins with an open division, which allows anyone who has achieved a sufficient in-game level to compete for the chance to take part in the annual Overwatch Contenders tournament series. Although winners are not guaranteed pro team appointments, talent scouts from many of the world’s top “Overwatch” teams attend to identify and recruit promising players.

Riot Games employs a similarly regimented system to ensure a supply of fresh talent for its esports powerhouse, “League of Legends.” Its North American League Championship Series is based on a franchise model, with 10 teams. Any franchised team is also required to run an “Academy” team, which serves as a training ground and farm team for up-and-coming players.

Meanwhile, high school and college esports scenes are being built and supported by a plethora of tournament organizers, consultants and school faculty.

SUPER LEAGUE GAMING VIA TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Blaze Elmore strikes a victory pose at a ‘Clash Royale’ tournament hosted by Super League Gaming in 2018.

Santa Monica start-up PlayVS, for example, partnered with the National Federation of State High School Associations — the regulatory body for high school sports — last year to develop esports teams at American high schools. At the college level, the National Association of Collegiate Esports — a nonprofit group that regulates and promotes the college scenes for some esports titles — is one of several organizations that consult with school staff on best practices for esports programs and intercollegiate tournaments.

The focus of most of these groups is recreational, but some players also use the scholastic leagues as an opportunity to hone their skills and gain attention in hopes of going pro.

The line between amateur and pro is clear for Elmore.

In August, he moved into Dignitas’ Playa Vista gaming house, living and training with his teammates and manager. Now in his final year of high school, Elmore divides his time between school, family and practice for his new career.

Andrew Barton, Dignitas’ general manager, said that Elmore has quickly adjusted. “He’s balancing his time with schoolwork and as a professional very well,” Barton said. “It’s very impressive.”

Barton attributes some of Elmore’s success to the things he learned going through the pipeline.

“Super League definitely prepared him very well,” Los Angeles Times he said.

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

17

GAMING

Eyes on the prize How video game companies are building tools for China’s surveillance state

I

BY JAMES B. CUTCHIN

n October 2018, software developers at Riot Games in Santa Monica fielded an unusual request. Like other video game makers, Riot’s success depends on its ability to make games that are compulsively playable, like its global hit “League of Legends.” But Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that owns Riot, needed a way to force some of its most enthusiastic customers to play less.

While it has owned a controlling stake in Riot since 2011, Tencent has generally been hands-off when it comes to the company’s products.

But facing increasing pressure from Chinese state media and regulators over its role in a supposed epidemic of video game addiction, Tencent needed a way to track how much time individual gamers in China spent playing “League of Legends” — and kick out minors who exceeded two hours per day. If Riot engineers didn’t supply an “anti-addiction system” for “League of Legends,” they might lose access to the Chinese market altogether.

Within weeks, an update brought these features to the Chinese version of “League of Legends.”

Over the last year, one game company after another has quietly acceded to Chinese government demands to limit the amount of time young people spend on their games.

Chinese players of American hits such as “League of Legends,” “Fortnite” and “World of Warcraft” are having their playtime tracked according to their national ID number.

Those under 18 face heavy in-game penalties or outright expulsions if they play too long.

Although it’s Chinese policy driving the restrictions, data privacy advocates say that for Americans to participate in the creation of these tools represents the crossing of a concerning new threshold. They view the moves as part of a problematic trend of Western technology firms redesigning their services to create China-friendly versions aligned with the country’s tighter social controls.

“For American companies, it really comes down to deciding whether or not you are willing to participate in this type of surveillance,” said Matt Erickson, executive director of the Digital Privacy Alliance. “If they do choose to take part, it makes these companies not unwitting but full-blown accomplices in the Chinese police state.”

Access to the world’s second-largest market is a powerful incentive, but for some companies, supporting Chinese censorship and social control efforts is not a matter of choice. As Chinese giants buy up American tech companies, from West Hollywood-based gay dating

app Grindr to Motorola’s mobile phone business, regulators are raising questions about companies’ autonomy and ability to push back on requests that might violate their ethical principles.

Internal documents from Riot Games obtained by The Times offer a rare glimpse into how the Chinese government exercises influence over companies beyond its borders.

Tencent is the world’s largest game publisher and owns large or controlling stakes in a range of industry-leading developers including “Clash of Clans” maker Supercell and “Fortnite” developer Epic Games. Its self-developed title, “Honor of Kings,” was the world’s highest-grossing mobile game of 2018. The game’s success made it a lightning rod for growing Chinese government concerns of gaming addiction among Chinese youth, prompting Tencent to build its first ID-tracking playtime restriction system and pledge to incorporate similar systems on all of its games in 2019.

A digital presentation circulated via email among developers at Riot’s Santa Monica headquarters called for an “AAS (anti-addiction system) upgrade” for “League of Legends” in China. The presentation, authored in China, framed the request alongside accounts of growing Chinese government criticism of the gaming industry, official media attacks on Tencent, and a stark reminder that “League of Legends” “cannot (be) free from regulation.”

The request specified the need for features tagging teenage players in accordance with “future AAS regulation.” It also asked for the ability to kick certain players from the game at specified times and restrict timebased in-game rewards. The presentation’s author included mock-ups of “anti-addiction warning” popups on “League of Legends,” with messages telling players they had reached their daily gaming limits or were forbidden to play between particular hours (9 p.m. to 8 a.m.).

It did not take developers long to produce the requested features. In a December 2018 post on Chinese social media site QQ, Riot China announced an update to “League of Legends” including most of the changes.

When asked about the U.S.-based staff’s level of involvement with the development of the ID-tracking and playtime restriction systems, Riot Games said in a statement, “Our lead engineers, based in California, are aware of every feature that we create for ‘League of Legends.’ We develop market-specific features collaboratively, with representatives from our engineering teams around the world.”

Tencent referred questions to an outside PR agency, which declined to provide responses.

While such systems are becoming standard in China, Jay Stanley, a policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, said they constitute a granular privacy invasion that runs counter to American norms.

“American companies are part of American society and should be institutions that we can trust, abiding

by American values,” Stanley said.

“If these companies are running overseas and participating in authoritarian regimes, then it’s a real problem.”

Stanley acknowledged that it would be difficult for businesses like Riot to refuse to implement these systems at the cost of being locked out of the $36.5-billion Chinese gaming market, but said that failing to do so would help normalize invasive surveillance internationally.

“This is going to put a lot of businesses in a bind, but we as a country need to defend American values,” Stanley said.

U.S. tech giants such as Google and Facebook have faced similar difficult choices about whether to create censored versions of their platforms in order to gain access to China. Google left the country in 2010 amid disputes over censored search results and a major hacking incident. A 2018 revelation that the company had secretly begun work on a censor-compliant Chinese search engine, code-named Project Dragonfly, sparked an outcry from Google employees and U.S. politicians. (A Google official told Congress last summer that it has terminated the project.) Facebook has reportedly given up on entering China after years of courting Beijing failed to win the company a reprieve from a 2009 ban. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers have begun to call for an end to American investor money being channeled toward development of Chinese surveillance systems used in the repression of religious and ethnic minorities.

The anti-addiction regulations referenced in the Riot documents appear to refer to a Chinese Ministry of Education statement released in 2018. In it, the ministry said it would take steps to control the number of online games available, explore age-based restrictions and limit the amount of time adolescents spend gaming. No specifics or timeline were given, but many major game publishers in China rolled out their own solutions in anticipation of government action.

Tencent started requiring mandatory age and ID authentication on its top-grossing mobile game “Honor of Kings” in 2018, making players provide their Chinese national ID information for verification against police databases. The company said the checks will be applied to all of its games in 2019 and had been conducting trials of additional verifica-

tion methods including mandatory facial recognition checks.

The Shenzhen-based firm, which also owns China’s largest social media platform, WeChat, is under intense pressure to address Chinese government concerns around the negative effects of gaming. Tencent’s market value fell by a record-breaking $271 billion in 2018 partly because of a complete freeze on new game approvals from March through December of 2018.

Lisa Cosmas Hanson, founder of Asia-focused gaming market intelligence firm Niko Partners, said that the freeze on game approvals and the resulting backlog have hurt many game companies in China, forcing some smaller operations to shut down. Although approvals have resumed, the process has become more difficult, she said.

“Publishers in China have told me things like that it used to be a 20page application and now it’s 300,” Hanson said.

Looming over all this is China’s planned rollout of a social credit system, which will assign citizens a score incorporating both standard financial metrics, such as debt repayment, and more personal information such as shopping habits and online behavior. Once a nationwide system debuts in 2020, a citizen with a low score could reportedly face penalties such as losing the right to buy plane and high-speed rail tickets, take out loans or purchase property. Excessive time spent playing video games is one specific behavior that could lower your score with Sesame Credit — one of the system’s main private pilot programs. This applies not only to minors but gamers of all ages.

While there have as yet been no indications of ID-linked tracking systems being used for anything beyond limiting minors’ gaming time, some people remain concerned about the potential for future misuse, particularly because Tencent has already conducted its own short-lived pilot of a social credit system in 2018.

“There is no right to privacy in China,” said Erickson, of the Digital Privacy Alliance. “Any information collected to make sure kids aren’t playing too many video games will definitely be used by the government and the police for whatever purpose they see fit.”

Jack Poulson, founder of the advocacy group Tech Inquiry, says American tech workers — lacking visibility into executive-level decisions and other divisions of their sprawling conglomerates — aren’t always aware when they are participating in projects that might go against their values.

“There’s no real protection in place to ensure that employees have an understanding of what they are helping build,” Los Angeles Times he said.

THE DIGITAL USER

18

SPRING 2020

Chicago Cleveland IN 32 MINUTES? TRANSPORTATION

TO

A hyperloop system could make that possible. But first, the technology has to work.

A

BY MARY WISNIEWSKI

hyperloop, a hightech, high-speed transportation system, could take you from Chicago to Cleveland in 32 minutes, or less time than it takes to watch two “Hot in Cleveland” episodes on your phone.

That kind of speed — 10 times faster than a car, more than twice as fast as a plane — could bring an explosion of economic growth, according to a new study.

Building a hyperloop system to carry passengers between Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh could lead to more than 900,000 jobs and $47.6 billion in increased income, according to the recently-released Great Lakes Hyperloop Feasibility Study by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, which coordinates regional transportation spending.

“I think it would be a great opportunity for transforming transportation and the way we live and work and play,” said Grace Gallucci, executive director of the Cleveland-based agency. The agency shared the cost of the $1.3 million study with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, or HyperloopTT, a California company interested in developing the route.

The technology is still in development, so the timeline for when the system could be built is still a mystery. It’s hard to get too hyped over something still being tested.

“A service this fast would be exciting, but the obstacles still seem enormous,” said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University transportation expert.

The obstacles include technical challenges, the problem of acquiring rightof-way, and legal and regulatory issues, Schwieterman said.

A hyperloop consists of a passenger pod traveling through a metal tube maintained at a partial vacuum. Magnets cause the pod to move and levitate over the track once it picks up enough speed, explained Dirk Ahlborn, CEO and founder of HyperloopTT. Removing air from the tube eliminates wind resistance and friction, allowing the pods to reach speeds as high as 700 mph while using little energy.

Gallucci said that by using solar panels, the system could actually create more power than it uses, and feed it back into the grid.

By removing the air inside the tube, a low-pressure environment is created, similar to what an airplane encounters at high altitudes. “You can go faster with much less energy if you don’t have a lot of resistance,” Ahlborn said.

HyperloopTT is just one of the com-

panies working on the technology — others are Virgin Hyperloop One and entrepreneur Elon Musk’s The Boring Company. Musk proposed building something like a hyperloop between downtown and O’Hare International Airport, but without using a vacuum. Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t support the project, and it appears to be dead.

Other hyperloop routes are being considered around the nation and the world, including in Missouri, Colorado, India and the United Arab Emirates.

HyperloopTT is testing the technology in a 320-meter tube in Toulouse, France. It has a passenger capsule that’s 9 feet in diameter and similar to the body of a regional jet airplane, Ahlborn said.

HyperloopTT plans to test the pods, with people inside, in the first half of next year. Ahlborn plans to be among the first riders, along with Henriette Ardouin, a 101-year-old French woman who remembers how her father doubted airplanes could fly, and who appears in a Hyperloop promotional film.

Ahlborn is confident that the system — which uses existing technology developed by the aerospace industry — will be safe. The biggest challenge is getting the right regulations in place to allow imple-

mentation, he said.

“You can’t build anything unless you have the green light from the government,” said Ahlborn, whose company is working on insurance issues and safety guidelines.

The Ohio study was conducted by Transportation Economics & Management Systems, also known as TEMS, a transportation industry research firm.

The Illinois Department of Transportation and the Indiana Toll Road were among the agencies that collaborated on the project.

The study looked at three possible routes between Chicago and Cleveland, and two routes between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Gallucci said the Cleveland-Chicago route is the best in the country for a hyperloop pilot, since it’s less than 400 miles, the land is mostly flat and there is already a lot of car and plane traffic between the two cities. Both cities have plenty to offer each other, including large research hospitals, symphonies, art museums and universities, said Gallucci, a former Regional Transportation Authority official.

“There’s an opportunity for someone who lives in one city to go to work in another,” Gallucci said.

There’s also a right-of-way available

along the Interstate 80/90 Tollway, which would eliminate much of the need for land acquisition, Gallucci said. The proposed Chicago routes range from 315 miles to 337 miles, depending on alignment, and would run mostly along I-80/I-90, the study said. The trips would range in time from about 32 to 47 minutes, at speeds of 439 to 593 mph.

The project would not require operating subsidies, and could be financed entirely by a private company, the study found.

The study imagines a possible build-out period between 2023 and 2028, from initial site work to heavy construction to testing.

A hyperloop system also offers environmental benefits, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 143 million tons over the next 25 years, the study said.

Ahlborn said it is easier for people to choose to be “green” if they have a green alternative that costs the same or less than the polluting one.

A flight to Cleveland can cost between $150 and $500, depending on the day and the airline, and take an hour and twenty minutes, not counting time spent at the airport. A car trip would take five to six hours, and cost around $57, including the cost of gas and tolls, according to the tollguru.com web site. Amtrak would take six hours and cost $60 to $92, depending on the day.

“It’s great when you find alternatives that are actually better, and use green alternatives to do better business,” Ahlborn said.

The current study does not address where the stations would be, land acquisition or the cost of fares, though Gallucci said the goal is to make them affordable. She said stations, which could be downtown or at airports, would link to public transit.

Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, said he wishes transportation officials were looking at high-speed trains between Cleveland and Chicago, instead of an unproven technology.

“We know the trains work,” Harnish said. Countries that already have highspeed trains, which run at sustained speeds of 150 mph or more, include England, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and China.

Gallucci said her agency would consider high-speed rail between Cleveland and Chicago if approached by a private sector company. But no such company has come forward, while HyperloopTT has.

“We view Hyperloop as essentially the next generation of that high-speed concept,” Gallucci Chicago Tribune said.

ADAPTIVE CRUISE-CONTROL AND OTHER DRIVER-ASSISTANCE SYSTEMS MAY INCREASE DISTRACTED DRIVING

D

BY MICHELLE BARUCHMAN

rivers familiar with using adaptive cruise-control and other driver-assistance systems are more likely to drive while distracted, a new study says.

The study found that drivers who own cars with the assistance technology are nearly twice as likely to engage in distracting behavior — such as texting, fidgeting with the radio or not keeping their eyes on the road — when the systems are turned on than when they are turned off.

But the opposite was true with drivers new to the technology. They were less likely to engage in distracted driving when the systems were activated than when they were not.

The study was conducted in col-

laboration between the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Researchers analyzed behavior from two different groups of participants.

The first group, 30 participants from the Washington, D.C., area, used their personal cars, while the second group, 120 participants from the same area, were issued cars.

In both groups, the vehicles were equipped with adaptive cruise-control and lane-keeping assist systems. The cruise-control system automatically speeds or slows a car to keep pace with traffic, while the lane-keeping system prevents the vehicle from drifting into another lane.

Video cameras and sensors installed in the cars recorded drivers’ behaviors and eye movements.

The distracting behaviors recorded ranged from texting, holding a cellphone, adjusting the radio or smoking a cigarette to looking at a pedestrian, talking to a passenger or not keeping eyes on the road.

Drivers using their personal vehicles who had more experience using the automated systems engaged in these distracting behaviors more often than drivers in the other group, who were less familiar with the technology.

That’s because drivers using the issued cars were still learning the systems and less likely to trust the technology, the researchers theorized.

In addition, the drivers who were issued cars received detailed training about the systems. The authors note that the training could account for why participants in some cases were less

likely to drive distracted.

The drivers who used their personal cars were not given additional training.

Recent research has suggested that automotive dealers may not adequately educate buyers on the use of driver-assistance features, the study said.

“Users of automotive technology only receive a minimal set of written and verbal instructions prior to use on public roadways in live traffic,” the researchers wrote.

Driver-assistance systems can improve safety, but drivers may overestimate the technology’s ability to prevent crashes, the study said.

“Drivers need to be aware of potential pitfalls that exist even after they have learned when and how to use the systems,” the auThe Seattle Times‌ thors cautioned.

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

19

TRANSPORTATION

Feds tweak driverless-car guidelines

D

BY RUSS MITCHELL

TAKING A Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Ride platform is first step toward self-driving cars

A

BY MIKE FREEMAN

fter years of supplying Bluetooth and cellular connectivity to automakers, Qualcomm is pivoting toward safety with its new Snapdragon Ride platform, which aims to bring advanced driver assistance features such as automated parking, lane monitoring and highway auto-pilot to vehicles as soon as 2023.

Eventually, the company believes its new Snapdragon Ride platform can serve as a foundation for full-fledged self-driving cars.

Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Ride at CES, the massive consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. Its foray into safety/ autonomy systems pits it against several large rivals, including Google-parent Alphabet-Waymo and Intel-Mobileye.

In addition, Telsa and other automakers have their own in-house initiatives. Ford bought artificial intelligence start-up Argo for $1 billion to bolster its autonomous driving work. GM acquired Sidecar’s assets, invested in Lyft and bought autonomous technology startup Cruise Automation.

Still, self-driving cars are likely years away from showing up on roadways in significant numbers.

In the meantime, Qualcomm is betting that the Snapdragon Ride platform can reduce the complexity of current driver assistance and autonomous driving technology with a comprehensive software suite, power-efficient hardware, computer vision and other techniques to power such things as automatic braking and traffic sign recognition.

Snapdragon Ride includes processor and accelerator chips, artificial intelligence and sensor fusion technologies, as well as what the company called a pioneering “software stack. It is designed to be power efficient, which is important as electric vehicles become more widespread.

The computing hardware itself is relatively small — about

“AUTONOMOUS DRIVING, OF COURSE, IS JUST GOING TO BE TRANSFORMATIVE TO THE AUTO INDUSTRY.” Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm senior vice president for automotive product management the size of a hardback book. The system is air cooled, so no fans or liquid-based cooling systems are needed to prevent the chips from overheating in the vehicle.

“Autonomous driving, of course, is just going to be transformative to the auto industry,” said Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm’s senior vice president for automotive product management. “It is going to bring the right technologies — machine learning, sensors and really advanced capabilities — to the next generation of cars and I think we have a fantastic starting point.”

The company expects Snapdragon Ride hardware and software will be available to automakers and their suppliers for testing in the first half of this year.

The company hopes that vehicles with advanced driver assistance features powered by Snapdragon Ride will be in production in 2023.

Qualcomm has long sought to diversify its business beyond smartphones. Last year, it booked about $600 million in revenue from supplying wireless and computer technologies to automakers.

But it has $7 billion in pending auto orders in the pipeline — up from $5.5 billion a year earlier. To date, 19 automakers have selected the company’s infotainment technologies for vehicles.

While no automakers have ordered Snapdragon Ride, the company expects that its experience supplying connectivity, vehicle diagnostics and infotainment technologies to auto companies will help it gain a foothold with its advanced driver assistance/ self-driving vehicle platform.

“I know our customers who have been working with us in previous areas are going to be very excited to see what we have to offer” with Snapdragon Ride, said Duggal.

GM on Monday pledged to work with Qualcomm on ad-

vanced driver-assistance technologies. The two companies have done business together for years, with Qualcomm supplying wireless connectivity for GM’s OnStar service.

“As we enter into a new era of innovation built on higher performance, low power (computing) and artificial intelligence, we are very pleased to be expanding our decade-long partnership with GM into digital cockpit and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems,”Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s president, said in a statement.

Two years ago, Qualcomm received regulatory permission to test self-driving vehicles in San Diego County, with experimental runs occurring near its Sorrento Mesa headquarters and on local highways. In October, a portion of Highway 905 was shut down briefly so the company could try out three self-driving vehicles.

On top of Snapdragon Ride, Qualcomm also introduced a secure Cloud-to-Car Service, which allows automakers to update software, future-proof the vehicle, gather maintenance data and possibly offer new services personalized for the driver.

The company also updated a fledgling peer-to-peer technology called Cellular-Vehicle-Everything, or C-V2X. It enables cars to communicate directly with other nearby C-V2X enabled vehicles, stoplights and other smart cities infrastructure at distances beyond line of sight.

The technology is not widely deployed. But Qualcomm said that more than 10 auto industry suppliers, a dozen smart cities infrastructure providers and 11 other auto/smart cities module outfits are ready to roll out C-V2X technology.

The San Diego Union-Tribune‌

riverless cars and trucks will be hitting the highways in increasing numbers over the next few years. The U.S. Department of Transportation doesn’t want to get in the way.

That’s the message in a new set of guidelines the DOT recently released.

The intent is to spur further development while, the department said, emphasizing safety.

“Safety is always No. 1 at the U.S. Department of Transportation,” said DOT Secretary Elaine Chao, in a short speech at CES in Las Vegas, the big consumer electronics show, where the new guidelines were announced. But “remaining technology neutral” is a DOT commitment and “protecting American innovation and creativity” is another top priority.

Chao also noted the DOT has proposed rules requiring “remote IDs” for drones weighing more than half a pound. That would allow the FAA, law enforcement and federal security agencies to identify drones flying in their jurisdiction, she said.

Federal driverless vehicle guidelines have been issued on a roughly annual basis since 2016, with a strong emphasis on “voluntary guidance.” The federal government sets safety standards and the states are in charge of licensing.

Some safety advocates say regulators haven’t caught up with the technology.

But rather than push new regulations, the DOT has been issuing suggestions and encouraging cooperation on a uniform approach to driverless development among federal, state and local government officials and industry.

The biggest change in the new set of guidelines, called Automated Vehicles 4.0, is a streamlined system of federal oversight. Without offering specifics, Chao said the new guidelines “unified AV efforts across 38 federal departments, independent agencies, commissions and executive offices of the president.”

Driverless car technology is developing more slowly than Silicon Valley companies were predicting several years ago.

Deployment plans have been delayed, including GM Cruise’s original intent to have robotaxis operating commercially on the streets of San Francisco by now.

But development inches forward.

Waymo, the driverless car offshoot of Google, is already operating a commercial robotaxi service in the Phoenix area and is offering driverless rides to employees and guests on public roads in Silicon Valley. Waymo wants to offer a small-scale robotaxi service there, but so far, the state’s Public Utilities Commission, which regulates ride hailing services, won’t allow it to charge for rides.

Companies such as Beep and Voyage are experimenting with driverless shuttles in retirement communities in Florida. Ford is testing a robotaxi service in Miami. Waymo, TuSimple, and Starsky Robotics are operating driverless trucks on public highways in Arizona and Florida.

One reason for development has slowed: the March 2018 tragedy in Arizona where a woman walking a bicycle across a highway was struck and killed by a driverless Uber car when the safety backup driver at the wheel did not react in time.

Although crashes and deaths are inevitable whether humans or robots are driving motor vehicles, most manufacturers say they’re striving to be as responsible about deployment as possible. A driverless-vehicle industry and consumer coalition called PAVE was formed last year to educate the public and policymakers on driverless technology and to address safety concerns.

Some driverless technology advocates claim that current systems already are safer than humans, but statistics don’t yet exist to prove it. About 40,000 people were killed because of roadway crashes in 2018, with 95% of those caused by human error, according to the DOT. But the sharing and publicizing of data will remain a hot-button policy issue.

“Protecting intellectual property” of the tech companies is key to innovation, Chao said. But how to separate proprietary data from safety data, and whether to enforce corporate disclosure of safety data, has drawn little public discussion.

The new DOT guidelines focus on development of driverless cars, not cars equipped with technology that allows some robotic capabilities but still require a human driver’s attention. Such “Level 2” automation is already commonplace, with driver-assist options such as adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection and lane-keeping offered by all auto manufacturers. Some Level 2 systems, such as Tesla’s Autopilot and Cadillac’s SuperCruise, allow automatic lane changing.

Safety groups and politicians have expressed concern that Tesla is confusing drivers and potential customers by referring to some of its optional Level 2 technologies as “Full Self Driving” with videos of Chief Executive Elon Musk on the highway in a Tesla with his hands in the air.

Los Angeles Times‌

THE DIGITAL USER

20

SPRING 2020

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

MEDICAL

21

MEDICAL

VISION PROBLEMS Special software can help the blind access the internet, but not every website supports it.

A wave of lawsuits is pushing to change that.

J

BY ABDEL JIMENEZ

Is AI a help or

HYPE? Artificial intelligence has come to medicine. Are patients being put at risk?

H

BY LIZ SZABO

ealth products powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, are streaming into our lives, from virtual doctor apps to wearable sensors and drug-

store chatbots.

IBM boasted that its AI could “outthink cancer.” Others say computer systems that read X-rays will make radiologists obsolete.

“There’s nothing that I’ve seen in my 30-plus years studying medicine that could be as impactful and transformative” as AI, said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and executive vice president of Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. AI can help doctors interpret MRIs of the heart, CT scans of the head and photographs of the back of the eye, and could potentially take over many mundane medical chores, freeing doctors to spend more time talking to patients, Topol said.

Even the Food and Drug Administration — which has approved more than 40 AI products in the past five years — says “the potential of digital health is nothing short of revolutionary.”

Yet many health industry experts fear AI-based products won’t be able to match the hype. Many doctors and consumer advocates fear that the tech industry, which lives by the mantra “fail fast and fix it later,” is putting patients at risk — and that regulators aren’t doing enough to keep consumers safe.

Early experiments in AI provide a

reason for caution, said Mildred Cho, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Systems developed in one hospital often flop when deployed in a different facility, Cho said. Software used in the care of millions of Americans has been shown to discriminate against minorities. And AI systems sometimes learn to make predictions based on factors that have less to do with disease than the brand of MRI machine used, the time a blood test is taken or whether a patient was visited by a chaplain.

In one case, AI software incorrectly concluded that people with pneumonia were less likely to die if they had asthma — an error that could have led doctors to deprive asthma patients of the extra care they need.

“It’s only a matter of time before something like this leads to a serious health problem,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic.

Medical AI, which pulled in $1.6 billion in venture capital funding in the third quarter alone, is “nearly at the peak of inflated expectations,” concluded a July report from the research company Gartner. “As the reality gets tested, there will likely be a rough slide into the trough of disillusionment.”

That reality check could come in the form of disappointing results when AI products are ushered into the real world. Even Topol, the author of “Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again,” acknowledges that many AI products are little more than hot air.

“It’s a mixed bag,” he said.

Experts such as Dr. Bob Kocher, a partner at the venture capital firm

Venrock, are blunter. “Most AI products have little evidence to support them,” Kocher said. Some risks won’t become apparent until an AI system has been used by large numbers of patients. “We’re going to keep discovering a whole bunch of risks and unintended consequences of using AI on medical data,” Kocher said.

None of the AI products sold in the U.S. have been tested in randomized clinical trials, the strongest source of medical evidence, Topol said. The first and only randomized trial of an AI system — which found that colonoscopy with computer-aided diagnosis found more small polyps than standard colonoscopy — was published in October.

Few tech startups publish their research in peer-reviewed journals, which allow other scientists to scrutinize their work, according to a January article in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Such “stealth research” — described only in press releases or promotional events — often overstates a company’s accomplishments.

And although software developers may boast about the accuracy of their AI devices, experts note that AI models are mostly tested on computers, not in hospitals or other medical facilities. Using unproven software “may make patients into unwitting guinea pigs,” said Dr. Ron Li, medical informatics director for AI clinical integration at Stanford Health Care.

AI systems that learn to recognize patterns in data are often described as “black boxes” because even their developers don’t know how they have reached their conclusions. Given that AI is so new — and many of its risks

unknown — the field needs careful oversight, said Pilar Ossorio, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Yet the majority of AI devices don’t require FDA approval.

“None of the companies that I have invested in are covered by the FDA regulations,” Kocher said.

Legislation passed by Congress in 2016 — and championed by the tech industry — exempts many types of medical software from federal review, including certain fitness apps, electronic health records and tools that help doctors make medical decisions.

There’s been little research on whether the 320,000 medical apps now in use actually improve health, according to a report on AI published Dec. 17 by the National Academy of Medicine.

“Almost none of the (AI) stuff marketed to patients really works,” said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, professor of medical ethics and health policy in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The FDA has long focused its attention on devices that pose the greatest threat to patients. And consumer advocates acknowledge that some devices — such as ones that help people count their daily steps — need less scrutiny than ones that diagnose or treat disease.

Some software developers don’t bother to apply for FDA clearance or authorization, even when legally required, according to a 2018 study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Industry analysts say that AI developers have little interest in conducting expensive and time-consuming trials. “It’s

not the main concern of these firms to submit themselves to rigorous evaluation that would be published in a peer-reviewed journal,” said Joachim Roski, a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton, a technology consulting firm, and co-author of the National Academy’s report. “That’s not how the U.S. economy works.”

But Oren Etzioni, chief executive officer at the Allen Institute for AI in Seattle, said AI developers have a financial incentive to make sure their medical products are safe.

“If failing fast means a whole bunch of people will die, I don’t think we want to fail fast,” Etzioni said. “Nobody is going to be happy, including investors, if people die or are severely hurt.”

FDA RELAXING STANDARDS

The FDA has come under fire for allowing the sale of dangerous medical devices, which have been linked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to 80,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries over the past decade.

Many of these devices were cleared for use through a controversial process called the 510(k) pathway, which allows companies to market “moderate-risk” products with no clinical testing as long as they’re deemed similar to existing devices. In 2011, a committee of the National Academy of Medicine concluded the 510(k) process is so fundamentally flawed that the FDA should throw it out and start over.

Instead, the FDA is using the process to greenlight AI devices.

Of the 14 AI products authorized by the FDA in 2017 and 2018, 11 were cleared through the 510(k) process, according to a November article in JAMA. None of these appear to have had new clinical testing, the study said. The FDA cleared an AI device designed to help diagnose liver and lung cancer in 2018 based on its similarity to imaging software approved 20 years earlier. That software had itself been cleared because it was deemed “substantially equivalent” to products marketed before 1976.

AI products cleared by the FDA today are largely “locked,” so that their calculations and results will not change after they enter the market, said Bakul Patel, director for digital health at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The FDA has not yet authorized “unlocked” AI devices, whose results could vary in ways that developers cannot predict.

To deal with the flood of AI products, the FDA is testing a radically different approach to digital device regulation, focusing on evaluating companies, not products.

The FDA’s pilot “pre-certifica-

tion” program is designed to “reduce the time and cost of market entry for software developers,” imposing the “least burdensome” system possible. FDA officials say they want to keep pace with AI software developers, who update their products much more frequently than makers of traditional devices, such as X-ray machines.

Scott Gottlieb said in 2017 while he was FDA commissioner that government regulators need to make sure its approach to innovative products “is efficient and that it fosters, not impedes, innovation.”

Under the plan, the FDA would pre-certify companies that “demonstrate a culture of quality and organizational excellence,” which would allow them to provide less upfront data about devices.

Pre-certified companies could then release devices with a “streamlined” review — or no FDA review at all. Once products are on the market, companies will be responsible for monitoring their own products’ safety and reporting back to the FDA. Nine companies have been selected for the pilot: Apple, FitBit, Samsung, Johnson & Johnson, Pear Therapeutics, Phosphorus, Roche, Tidepool and Verily Life Sciences.

High-risk products, such as software used in pacemakers, will still get a comprehensive FDA evaluation. “We definitely don’t want patients to be hurt,” said Patel, who noted that devices cleared through pre-certification can be recalled if needed. “There are a lot of guardrails still in place.”

But research shows that even lowand moderate-risk devices have been recalled due to serious risks to patients, said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research. “People could be harmed because something wasn’t required to be proven accurate or safe before it is widely used.”

Johnson & Johnson, for example, has recalled hip implants and surgical mesh.

In a series of letters to the FDA, the American Medical Association and others have questioned the wisdom of allowing companies to monitor their own performance and product safety.

“The honor system is not a regulatory regime,” said Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, who chairs the physician group’s board of trustees.

In an October letter to the FDA, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) and Patty Murray (D-Washington) questioned the agency’s ability to ensure company safety reports are “accurate, timely and based on all available information.”

Kaiser Health News

ose Martinez has been thwarted when buying concert tickets online. He changed banks after finding his financial institution’s mobile app wouldn’t work for him. Sometimes, when he can’t finalize a purchase on an e-commerce site, he simply takes his business elsewhere.

Martinez, 37, is legally blind. The Chicago resident uses screen-reading software on his computer that converts text into descriptive speech, a technology that has made it possible for him to live independently.

“I live alone … I want to make my life as practical as possible,” Martinez said.

But not every website is compatible with the software Martinez and visually impaired consumers across the country use. There is no federal law requiring businesses to design websites that work with the tools blind and deaf consumers use to navigate the internet. Nor are there any federal guidelines on how to create one. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires companies to make accommodations for individuals with disabilities, but it was signed in 1990 when the internet was nascent, and it does not address websites.

As the internet has become an increasingly integral part of daily life, with everything from shopping and dating services to job applications moving online, there is a growing push to get companies to make their sites usable by all. But businesses and trade groups say that’s a costly, complex ask, and because of the lack of federal standards, it’s unclear how best to make the technological changes.

As a result, the number of lawsuits filed over companies’ websites is growing. In 2019, more than 2,200 cases have been filed in federal courts compared with 814 cases in 2017, according to UseableNet, a New York firm that helps businesses make their websites and mobile phone apps more suitable.

As the populace grows older and more Americans encounter age-related vision problems, the issue will become even more pressing, experts say.

“People access the world now through smart devices,” said Samantha Evans, certification manager at the International Association of Accessibility Professionals.

Efforts seek to give consumers “an equitable experience online,” she said.

NO SET STANDARDS

Because the federal government has not imposed website accessibility standards, the issue has largely been left to the courts, and legal watchers say a suit filed against Domino’s Pizza may have opened the floodgates.

In October the U.S. Supreme Court denied Domino’s Pizza’s petition asking it to review a lower court ruling in a suit brought by a blind California man. The lawsuit alleges Domino’s violated the ADA by not having a website and mobile app that worked with screen-reading software. The denial left in place a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that allowed the blind man’s lawsuit to move forward.

In its request to the Supreme Court, Domino’s warned, “Left undisturbed, the Ninth Circuit’s decision would turn the flood of litigation into a tsunami.”

According to UseableNet, an average of 40 cases challenging website accessibility were filed each week after the Domino’s case, compared with about 30 case filings a week just before the Domino’s decision.

Demand letters — formal notices in which consumers ask companies to rectify the problem — are also on the rise, said UseableNet’s Chief Innovation Officer Jason Taylor.

Tim McIntyre, executive vice president of communication for Domino’s, said in an email the company has developed other features to help disabled customers, like voice-activated ordering devices and a hotline that customers with screen-readers can use to report difficulties with the site.

McIntyre also pointed to the lack of federal guidelines. “We also remain steadfast in our belief in the need for federal standards for everyone to follow in making their websites and mobile apps accessible,” he wrote.

In 2010, the Justice Department said it was starting to develop guidelines that would govern website design, but the rules were never released.

Most companies and web developers use an unofficial set of recommendations known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Evans, of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, said those unofficial rules serve as a placeholder until federal standards are developed.

THE PROBLEM

Websites that can’t accommodate screen-readers trip up the visually impaired in a number of ways. One issue is the graphic icons that are used to prompt action or convey information.

For example, when someone is ordering pizza online, an image of pizza may direct users to the purchasing web page, but that image might not have descriptive text coding behind it that can be converted into speech.

Also, website captcha programs, which require users to verify their identity by typing in a series of letters and numbers, are incompatible with screen-readers.

Sheri Byrne-Haber, head of accessibility for VMware, a Palo Alto, California-based software company, says magnification problems are one of her peeves. Some images become blurry when she enlarges them.

“It’s hard to zoom in and read the text.

When I do, it all comes up pixelated,” said Byrne-Haber, 54, a San Francisco-area resident.

Byrne-Haber has glaucoma, an eye condition that causes vision loss, and she often needs to magnify text in order to read it. If she struggles with a website, she often moves on.

“I just go somewhere else. Sometimes if I have the energy to complain, I will bring it up to their accessibility department, but sometimes I won’t,” she said.

NO EASY FIX

Some business and trade groups argue that organizations’ websites shouldn’t be a form of public accommodation.

Fixing a website is not easy, and the costs can vary depending on how complex a company’s site is, said Stephanie Martz, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Retail Federation, which filed a friend of the court brief supporting Domino’s.

“The problem with the law is that there is no set of legal standards. It’s difficult to avoid liability even when they have gone through the compliance effort to make their websites work with screen-readers,” Martz said.

“Everyone is getting hit. It runs the gamut from the little winery in New York to the Fortune 500 company,” said Minh Vu, an attorney at Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago who has been keeping count of website accessibility suits.

“Those (smaller) businesses don’t have the resources or the sophistication to make their websites accessible,” Vu said. Some hire third-party website developers and have little control over the relationship, Chicago Tribune she said.

THE DIGITAL USER

22

SPRING 2020

MEDICAL

AVOID

TEXT NECK Cellphones lead to thousands of head and neck injuries each year, study finds

T

BY TOM AVRIL

he warnings against driving while using a cellphone have been around nearly as long as the devices themselves.

But since phones morphed into “smart” handheld computers a decade ago, the driver’s seat is not the only place they have led to injury.

Hey, you! Walking down the sidewalk, texting your buddy, liking that Instagram dog photo, watching a “Star Wars” trailer.

Researchers at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School have crunched the numbers, and it seems you need to watch where you’re going.

Data from a national sample of emergency room visits suggest that thousands of head and neck injuries result each year from cellphone use, and a substantial portion of them occur while walking, the researchers reported in a recent study.

The rate of such injuries has climbed sharply since the introduction of smartphones a decade ago, the authors wrote in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

USING EMERGENCY ROOM DATA GATHERED FROM 100 HOSPITALS BY THE U.S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION, THE AUTHORS IDENTIFIED 2,501 PATIENTS WHO SUFFERED HEAD OR NECK INJURIES AS A RESULT OF CELLPHONE USE BETWEEN JANUARY 1998 AND DECEMBER 2017.

“That’s when our phones became not-phones,” said senior author Boris Paskhover, an assistant professor at the medical school.

“We don’t use our phones to make calls anymore.”

Using emergency room data gathered from 100 hospitals by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the authors identified 2,501 patients who suffered head or neck injuries as a result of cellphone use between January 1998 and December 2017.

Extrapolating from that sample, the researchers estimated that at least 76,000 such injuries had occurred nationwide during the 20-year period — with more than 9,000 cases a year in 2016 and 2017, the most recent years available.

The exact proportion of injuries suffered by pedestrians vs. motorists was unclear, as the details provided to emergency room personnel were sometimes incomplete. A patient involved in a car accident

may conceal the fact that he was using a cellphone in order to minimize liability, said Paskhover, division chief of facial plastics and reconstructive surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.

Others may omit details of cellphone use out of embarrassment or, in the event of grave injury, because they are incapacitated, he said.

“The numbers here are super underreported,” Paskhover said.

The analysis also did not include visits to urgent care centers or other health care providers.

In 31,000 of the estimated 76,000 cases, the accident occurred at home, suggesting a car was not involved. An estimated 13,000 cases occurred on a roadway. Other reported sites included industrial properties and farms, but no location was recorded in one-third of cases.

Lacerations and contusions were

the most common complaints, though sprains, fractures and concussions also made the list.

For 94% of the injuries, the patient was treated in the emergency room, or released without any treatment.

In addition to accidents for which phone use was associated with the injury, typically because the user was distracted, the authors also identified cases in which the phone caused a direct injury, such as by hitting the person’s face.

Nearly 40% of all injuries were suffered by patients ages 13 to 29, the most of any age group.

That squares with a 2013 University of Maryland study, which looked at phone-related injuries in all body parts, not just the head and neck. Authors of that research found that 54% of injuries occurred in cellphone users who were 40 or younger.

The risk of walking without watching for obstacles may seem obvious. “We’re not paying attention to our surroundings, and then we get injured,” Paskhover said.

But given the magnetic appeal of these ubiquitous devices, he and his Rutgers colleagues said some sort of education campaign is warranted.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Electric scooter injuries surge as more riders mangle their legs and skulls, study shows

H

BY MICHAEL FINCH II AND TONY BIZJAK

ospitals nationwide are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of electric scooter injuries, particularly in the last three years as companies and cities push for alternative forms of transportation, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.

It’s one of the first pieces of evidence that could frustrate attempts to decongest highly trafficked urban areas with e-scooters. Cities across the country are betting on a transportation future that’s environmentally cleaner than it is today.

The study raises the question of whether it will also be safer.

Researchers at UC San Francisco used data that tracks injuries at a sample of hospitals across the country, focusing on cases involving scooters during a five-year period ending in 2018. They found that the rate of injuries jumped from 6 to 19 cases for every 100,000 people — a three-fold increase.

The largest share of the injuries — about one-third in 2018 — were to the head or the legs.

But researchers said the concern is greater for potential head trauma that can be more severe and more difficult to recover from.

People under the age of 34 accounted for the largest shares of hospital admissions, including children under 18. And urban hospitals saw nearly six times more scooter injuries than rural facilities.

Dr. Benjamin Breyer, the lead author

of the study and a urologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, said the study, which was published as a “research letter,” originated from seeing injuries related to scooter usage at the hospital after shared bikes and then scooters were introduced in San Francisco.

“When we looked at bicycles about 16% of the time someone presented to the emergency room it was a head injury but it was close to 1 in three for the scooter,” Breyer said. “A lot of that has to do with people

not wearing helmets when they ride scooters. The position you’re in standing upright, you’re probably not (able) to brace for a fall.”

The study builds on a similar work that examined e-scooter injuries in Los Angeles and was published a year ago. Breyer, the UCSF researcher, said a solution to avoiding injury is simple: require helmets. Former Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that exempted adults from wearing helmets while riding e-scooters in 2018.

Breyer compared the e-scooters to skiing a little more than a decade ago when most people opted to go without a helmet.

After a couple of high-profile accidents, he said attitudes changed.

“If you go out skiing, today on the slopes everybody is wearing a helmet,” Breyer said. “If the public is aware and there is a culture of wearing helmets, people will The Sacramento Bee do it.”

THE DIGITAL USER

SPRING 2020

I

23

ENVIRONMENT

FRESH TECHNOLOGY Tired of brown bananas and squishy avocados?

BY ALEXIA ELEJALDE-RUIZ

magine bananas that never go bad. To Aidan Mouat, CEO of Chicago-based Hazel Technologies, it’s not so far-fetched.

His company makes a product that extends the shelf life of all sorts of produce — avocados, cherries, pears, broccoli — by slowing the chemical process that causes decay. Some of the world’s largest growers are using it to send their produce longer distances or reduce how much retailers throw away, and Mouat says a consumer version could be next.

“I envision, in the next 18 months or so, literally selling a banana box to consumers,” Mouat said from Hazel’s growing office space at University Technology Park, a startup innovation hub on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus.

“You keep it on your counter, put a (Hazel) sachet in there once a month, and you have bananas that last forever.”

Hazel Technologies is part of a new wave of innovation seeking to slow spoilage of produce and other perishables, which experts say is a key weapon in the battle against massive food waste in the U.S. As much as 40% of food produced annually in the U.S., and nearly half of produce, goes uneaten, according to government estimates. While the waste happens throughout the supply chain, the vast majority of the $218 billion worth of uneaten food annually gets tossed at home or at grocery stores and restaurants, according to ReFED, a Berkeley, California-based nonprofit that seeks solutions to reduce food waste.

The average American family throws away 25% of groceries purchased, costing a family of four an estimated $1,600 annually, ReFED said. U.S. supermarkets lose $15 billion annually in unsold fruits and vegetables, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, uneaten food is the No. 1 component of landfills and squanders the water and energy used to grow and transport it.

Routing unused food to charities can help keep it out of the garbage, but solutions to prevent waste at the source, such as by extending its shelf life, “have some of the greatest economic value per ton and net environmental benefit,” said Alexandra Coari, director of capital and innovation at ReFED. Spoilage prevention packaging has the potential to divert 72,000 tons of waste and 330,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, plus save 44 billion gallons of water a year, she said.

Technology that extends shelf life has been around for a long time, but there has recently been a “huge uptick” in innovations that expand the options, helping to drive the $185 million in venture capital invested in combating food waste last year, Coari said.

Hazel, founded in 2015

“WE CAN EXTEND THE SHELF LIFE OF PRACTICALLY ANY PERISHABLE BY TARGETING THE SPECIFIC MECHANISM THAT CAUSES IT TO GO BAD AND INTEGRATING IT WITH THE PACKAGING THAT ALREADY EXISTS TODAY.” Aidan Mouat, CEO of Chicago-based Hazel Technologies by a group of Northwestern University graduate students, has raised $18 million so far, including nearly $1 million in grants from the USDA. It has 100 clients in 12 countries in North and South America.

The company makes small sachets, the size of a salt or pepper packet included with a takeout order, that can be thrown into a box of produce to shut down the food’s response to ethylene, a chemical naturally emitted by many fruits and vegetables that triggers the loss of firmness, texture and color. The sachets continuously emit a small amount of an ethylene inhibitor, changing the atmosphere in the storage box but not the food itself.

While ethylene management technology isn’t new, Hazel’s sachets are gaining fans because they are easy to use, whether in okra fields in Honduras or avocado packing houses in the U.S., Mouat said.

The company will soon bring to market anti-microbial liners for packages of berries, to ward off the white fuzz.

“We can extend the shelf life of practically any perishable by targeting the specific mechanism that causes it to go bad and integrating it with the packaging that already exists today,” said Mouat, who graduated from Northwestern with a doctorate in chemistry in 2016.

How much Hazel can extend the shelf life depends on the type of food. For example, tests show an unripened pear gets an extra seven to 10 days after being treated with a Hazel sachet, plus an extra three to four days once ripe, Mouat said. Testing on packaged chicken, beef, fish and pork suggests the sell-by date could be pushed back by four to six days, he said.

Mission Produce, the largest grower, packer and shipper of Hass avocados in the world, found that ripe avocados, which normally would have to be sold in two to five days once in stores, lasted seven to 10 days when treated with Hazel’s product, said Patrick Cortes, senior director of business development at California-based Mission.

Once they’d achieved maximum ripeness, some treated avocados kept at room temperature were still good when they were sliced two weeks later, he said.

Mission, which has developed a branded product with Hazel called AvoLast, has completed one retail

trial and is about to launch two more, as well as a food service trial, Cortes said.

So far he prefers it to other shelf life extension treatments the company has tested because it is easy to use.

Mission is investing in the technology to help retain the freshness of avocados that travel long cross-ocean journeys and help U.S. retailers save money by throwing fewer avocados away, Cortes said. On average U.S. retailers waste 5% of avocados, which also has an environmental impact, he said.

“We took a retailer we sell to and said, if we can reduce their shrink (wasted produce) by 2% it would be the equivalent of powering 26 homes for a year,” Cortes said. “It just makes perfect sense to do the right thing.”

It also makes business sense, and investors are starting to take notice, said Coari at ReFED. California-based Apeel Sciences, which has created an all-natural coating that gives produce a spoilage-resistant skin, last year landed a $70 million funding round that included Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent venture capital firm that has backed some of the biggest tech companies.

Apeel installed its coating equipment along Kroger’s avocado supply chain and this year rolled out longer-lasting avocados at hundreds of Kroger stores. It is also starting retail tests on asparagus, which are the produce industry’s biggest carbon emitters because their shelf life is so short they have to travel by air.

Other movers in the industry include Massachusetts-based Cambridge Crops, which makes an edible protective coating from natural silk proteins and recently got $4 million in seed funding from MIT’s venture fund; and U.K.-based It’s Fresh, a maker of ethylene filters that last year sold a 15% stake in the company to AgroFresh, a longtime maker of freshness products, for $10 million.

Yet adoption by the industry has a long way to go. Suppliers pay for the technology but the benefit is felt downstream at retail, complicating the business model, Coari said.

It is unclear if shoppers will be willing to pay more for longer-lasting produce or will respond to branding of products long considered commodities, she said. It’s also unclear how much more it might cost them. Prices vary so much because of weather or other production issues that consumers may barely notice, Hazel’s Mouat said. Apeel, in its pilot with Kroger, found no price increase was necessary because sales increased

and waste declined.

In addition, it can be complicated and expensive to introduce shelf life extension technologies into the supply chain if it involves installing equipment or training seasonal workers.

That’s where Hazel has a leg up. Growers and suppliers that have tried numerous alternatives say they have been attracted to the flexibility and user-friendliness of Hazel’s technology.

“It has to be simple to use or may not be worth doing,” said David Ortega, director of packing operations at Orchard View Cherries in Oregon.

Orchard View conducted a small trial with Hazel two years ago and this year has more than doubled its use, primarily for cherries embarking on ocean trips to Asia that can take up to 23 days.

It found cherries treated at the end of the packaging process were firmer than untreated cherries after 20 days, and had fewer indentations and greener stems.

“It was definitely noticeable. The fruit looked fresher, more appetizing,” Ortega said. “It allows us to feel more confident in where we can ship our product.”

That could mean exploring new markets, such as India and Africa, which is a 35-day transit.

At WP Produce in Miami, the largest grower and importer of tropical green skin avocados in the Western Hemisphere, Vice President Chris Gonzalez hopes using Hazel will allow it to increase market share in the U.S. Tropical avocados, currently less than 1% of the U.S. avocado market, have a shorter shelf life than the much more common Hass avocado, though they last longer once they are cut open because they don’t oxidize as fast, he said.

Treating tropical avocados with Hazel adds an additional four to five days of shelf life, and “that’s going to help us out shipping to Malaysia, to California, to the West Coast,” said Gonzalez, whose company grows avocados on 500 acres in the Dominican Republic.

Mouat declined to disclose Hazel’s revenues, but said sales have grown threefold over the past year. The company, which is not yet profitable, started 2019 with 14 people and will more than double to 30 employees by the end of the year.

Four of the five original founders — who were graduate students in engineering, law and chemistry when they met at an interdisciplinary course at Northwestern’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation — occupy Hazel’s C-suite.

The company has grand ambitions.

India grows more mangos than anywhere in the world but exports only 10%, leaving many to go to waste, Mouat said.

Using Hazel’s sachets to extend shelf life in countries that lack stable supply chain infrastructure could allow them to sell their fruit to new markets without investments in pricey equipment, he said.

Mouat also hopes to create a consumer-focused sachet that people can throw into the veggie crisper in the fridge, or the aforementioned Chicago Tribune banana box.

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