INTERNET OF THINGS: INNOVATIONS HAPPENING IN EVERY SPACE
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‘HOLY GRAIL’ DIGITAL EFFECTS REWINDING THE CLOCK FOR ACTORS
US, CHINA DEAL AIMS TO SIMMER LONGRUNNING TRADE TENSIONS
64 ROBOTS OUT OF WORK AS AUTOMATED BUSINESSES CLOSE IN BAY AREA
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MICROSOFT ENDS FREE WINDOWS 7 SECURITY UPDATES 20 NSA FINDS MAJOR SECURITY FLAW IN WINDOWS 10, FREE FIX ISSUED 24 AMAZON LETS THIRD-PARTY SELLERS USE FEDEX GROUND AGAIN 30 WANT TO SELL ON AMAZON? BUSINESSES MUST WEIGH PROS, CONS 34 MIT WARNS FOREIGN STUDENTS OF POSSIBLE VISITS FROM ICE 58 PRIVACY, ONCE HIDDEN TOPIC, GETS ATTENTION AT CES TECH SHOW 74 STARTUPS SEE A MARKET IN RENTING COUCHES BY THE MONTH 86 PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS JOINING AMAZON’S SPY SERIES ‘CITADEL’ 110 HOLLYWOOD-BACKED QUIBI THINKS YOU’LL PAY FOR ITS VIDEO BITES 114 CITIGROUP PROFITS RISE 15%, HELPED BY TRADING LIKE JPMORGAN 122 US FIRM OFFERS FREE CYBERSECURITY HELP TO FEDERAL CAMPAIGNS 126 GENE-EDITING TOOL’S PIONEERS WIN ISRAEL’S WOLF PRIZE 130 BUNDESLIGA, AMAZON WANT TO PREDICT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT 144 TO STOP SIGN STEALING, MLB COULD FIGHT TECH WITH MORE TECH 150 DATING APPS LEAK PERSONAL DATA, NORWEGIAN GROUP SAYS 158 US, UK OFFICIALS MEET AS PM JOHNSON’S HUAWEI DECISION NEARS 164
iTUNES REVIEW 94 TOP 10 SONGS 134 TOP 10 ALBUMS 136 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 138 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 140 TOP 10 BOOKS 142
This combination of photos shows actor Joe Pesci, left, during the filming of “The Irishman� and the younger version of Pesci created by Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic. Helman and his team spent two years looking through old movies and cataloging the targeted ages that Pesci would appear in the film.
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‘HOLY GRAIL’ DIGITAL EFFECTS REWINDING THE CLOCK FOR ACTORS
With Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” expected to battle “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood” and “1917” for the best picture Oscar in February, all eyes are on the special effects team that made the sprawling crime epic possible. “The Irishman” unfolds over decades, with the 76-year-old Robert De Niro and his co-stars playing their characters from their 30s into retirement age, a feat that’s made the film one of 2019’s most acclaimed movies. It’s all possible through new digital de-aging techniques that in the past year in cinemas have shaved decades from Samuel L. Jackson’s face and turned back the clock to the 1990s for Will Smith. When Monday’s Academy Award 9
nominations are announced, “Captain Marvel” and “Gemini Man” could see their names called along with “The Irishman” in the visual effects category. Each film has arrived at its reverse aging trick through a different technique, leading some to call 2019 a monumental year for de-aging in film. To many, “The Irishman” stands out from the field, thanks to its complete avoidance of “tracking markers” — dots painted onto actors faces which allow computers to mathematically replicate facial movements and manipulate them as the director sees fit. The youthful transitions of “The Irishman” are the work of Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic, who’s an Oscar nominee for his work on “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” and “War of the Worlds.” “He’s not going to wear a helmet with little cameras in there,” says Helman. “He’s going to want to be in the moment with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino on set, with no markers on him. So, if you’re going to capture the performance, how are you going to do that?” Enter the “three-headed monster,” a unique camera rig that has a director camera in the center and two “witness” cameras on either side shooting infrared footage. That allowed Helman to eliminate shadows created by on-set lighting. The shadows could potentially interfere with the geometric facial shapes constructed by deaging software. “You’re not interrupting the director’s thread of thinking,” explains Helman. “You’re not changing the light on set, but the computer can see in a different spectrum.” 10
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Will Smith, left, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead on the set of “Gemini Man.” To create the character of Junior — a younger clone of Will Smith’s assassin Henry Brogan — Smith wore a head rig with two cameras capturing his facial expressions via tracking markers.
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While the team at Industrial Light and Magic was working on “The Irishman,” another group of technical wizards were experimenting with de-aging at Weta Digital (part of director Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop in New Zealand), creating an entirely digital, 23-year-old version of Smith for the action movie “Gemini Man.” “Since I started visual FX 25 years ago it’s been the Holy Grail,” says Bill Westenhofer, one of the film’s VFX supervisors. “You have that many years of expertise of looking at a human face and knowing what’s wrong. So, to try and get all the different things together and get it to pull off right, that’s been the challenge.” To create the character of Junior — a younger clone of Smith’s assassin Henry Brogan — the superstar wore the traditional gray tracksuit, complimented by a head rig with two cameras capturing his facial expressions via tracking markers. “We decided (on) a ground up approach to build everything from scratch — from the skull all the way to the skin pores, all the way to the animation and the final kind of oil in the eyes was really the best approach we could take,” says Stu Adcock, head of facial motion at Weta. Before filming commenced on both “Gemini Man” and “The Irishman,” the teams at ILM and Weta drew up test footage to show the films’ directors that what they were suggesting was possible. For “Gemini Man” it was a clip from the 1995 movie “Bad Boys” into which they inserted two shots of their new, digital Will Smith and asked Ang Lee to spot the “fake.” 12
This image released by Disney-Marvel shows Samuel L. Jackson as a younger Nick Fury in a scene from “Captain Marvel. New digital de-aging techniques have shaved decades from Jackson’s face.
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This combination of photos shows actor Robert De Niro, left, during the filming of “The Irishman� and the younger version of De Niro created by Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic. Helman and his team spent two years looking through old movies and cataloging the targeted ages that De Niro would appear in the film.
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For “The Irishman,” De Niro also returned to the 1990s, performing the Pink Cadillac scene from “Goodfellas” before being de-aged in postproduction — convincing an initially skeptical Scorsese that he could bring the long-gestating project to life. Helman and his team then spent two years looking through old movies and cataloging the targeted ages that De Niro, Pacino and Pesci would appear in “The Irishman.” They created a program — similar to that used to create online “deepfake” videos where one actor’s face is swapped for another’s — which would check their work on the movie was heading in the right direction, with the system “spewing out” hundreds of images for cross-referencing. Creating Junior required Smith to spend time in a photogrammetry booth where multiple cameras captured his likeness as numerous lights fired in different sequences, giving a base scan of the actor and analyzing the structure of his face from a skin pore level. Ironically, considering Scorsese’s vocal criticism of Marvel movies as “not cinema,” a similar system was used to de-age Jackson in “Captain Marvel.” A young Nick Fury was created by comparing footage from old Jackson movies with the work the actor did on set — again, using tracking markers. “I looked at that face as, you know, maybe ‘The Negotiator’ face,” says Jackson, referring to his 1998 movie of the same name, “Fortunately for them and for me, I had enough stuff from that period in my life that they could use a bunch of different facial expressions and films to put that face together that made sense to people who knew me from that time.” 15
Darren Hendler, director of the Digital Human Group at Digital Domain and the man responsible for turning Josh Brolin into “Avengers” supervillain Thanos, was impressed by Jackson’s appearance in the movie. “That’s more of a 2D-image based approach where they’re taking the actor’s performance and then they’re painting and tracking certain frames. They’re still using some of the actor’s performance directly, but they’re modifying it. It was very believable. It may not have been exactly what the young Samuel Jackson looked like, but it definitely looked de-aged.” “The de-aging of Samuel L. Jackson is absolutely fantastic,” agrees Weta’s Guy Williams, adding, “different approaches suit different requirements. It’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of situation.” That’s a sentiment echoed by Helman, who believes that 2019 was a watershed year for VFX. “It’s not by chance that we have several movies that have motion capture performance, facial performance, in three or four different ways. That shows that we’re all thinking about digital humans. “I mean, we all stand on each other’s shoulders,” Helman says. “I can’t wait for somebody to pick this up and do something else with it, you know?”
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Will Smith as Junior in a scene from “Gemini Man.” To create the character of Junior — a younger clone of Will Smith’s assassin Henry Brogan — Smith wore the traditional grey tracksuit, complimented by a head rig with two cameras capturing his facial expressions via tracking markers.
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MICROSOFT ENDS FREE WINDOWS 7 SECURITY UPDATES
If you’re still using Microsoft’s Windows 7, your computer might soon be at risk. Microsoft stop providing free security updates for the system, meaning computers using it will be more vulnerable to malware and hacking. Users who want to protect their computers need to upgrade to Windows 10. They may also need to buy new computers because older machines might not be compatible with Windows 10. Tech companies typically phase out older systems after a number of years and focus efforts on updating current versions of software. Windows 7 came out in 2009. Windows 8, which came out in 2012, will have free support end in 2023. 21
Windows 10 starts at $139 for a basic, “Home” version. Microsoft charges $200 for a “Pro” version meant for businesses and individuals who need its advance features. Windows 10 comes with regular free updates for security and additional features. Although Windows 10 isn’t likely to be phased out anytime soon, older versions will require those updates to keep working. Microsoft is also ending support for Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 operating systems. Those who run Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Enterprise can buy extended protection for up to three years. But it might be worthwhile to just to buy new PCs or get Windows 10. Microsoft will also be ending support on Oct. 13 for Office 2010 a package that includes word processing and spreadsheet software. Owners need to explore newer versions of Office, including a subscription offering called Office 365.
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NSA FINDS MAJOR SECURITY FLAW IN WINDOWS 10, FREE FIX ISSUED
The National Security Agency has discovered a major security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system that could let hackers intercept seemingly secure communications. But rather than exploit the flaw for its own intelligence needs, the NSA tipped off Microsoft so that it can fix the system for everyone. Microsoft released a free software patch to fix the flaw and credited the intelligence agency for discovering it. The company said it has not seen any evidence that hackers have used the technique. Amit Yoran, CEO of security firm Tenable, said it is “exceptionally rare if not unprecedented” for the U.S. government to share its discovery of such a critical vulnerability with a company. Yoran, who was a founding director of the Department of Homeland Security’s computer emergency readiness team, urged all organizations to prioritize patching their systems quickly. 24
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An advisory sent by the NSA said “the consequences of not patching the vulnerability are severe and widespread.” “The user would have no way of knowing the file was malicious, because the digital signature would appear to be from a trusted provider,” the company said. If successfully exploited, attackers would have been able to conduct “man-in-the-middle attacks” and decrypt confidential information they intercept on user connections, the company said. “The biggest risk is to secure communications,” said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence for security firm CrowdStrike. Some computers will get the fix automatically, if they have the automatic update option turned on. Others can get it manually by going to Windows Update in the computer’s settings. Microsoft typically releases security and other updates once a month and waited until Tuesday to disclose the flaw and the NSA’s involvement. Microsoft and the NSA both declined to say when the agency privately notified the company. The agency shared the vulnerability with Microsoft “quickly and responsibly,” Neal Ziring, technical director of the NSA’s cybersecurity directorate, said in a blog post. Priscilla Moriuchi, who retired from the NSA in 2017 after running its East Asia and Pacific operations, said this is a good example of the “constructive role” that the NSA can play in improving global information security. Moriuchi, now an analyst at the U.S. cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, said it’s likely a reflection of changes made in 2017 to how the U.S. determines 27
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whether to disclose a major vulnerability or exploit it for intelligence purposes. The revamping of what’s known as the “Vulnerability Equities Process” put more emphasis on disclosing vulnerabilities whenever possible to protect core internet systems and the U.S. economy and general public. Those changes happened after a mysterious group calling itself the “Shadow Brokers” released a trove of high-level hacking tools stolen from the NSA, forcing companies including Microsoft to repair their systems. The U.S. believes that North Korea and Russia were able to capitalize on those stolen hacking tools to unleash devastating global cyberattacks.
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AMAZON LETS THIRD-PARTY SELLERS USE FEDEX GROUND AGAIN
Amazon said it will allow its third-party sellers to start using FedEx’s ground service again after banning them from using it for about a month during the busy holiday shopping season because FedEx purportedly wasn’t delivering on time. Amazon said FedEx is now getting orders delivered on time and sent a letter to sellers telling them they can start using the carrier. FedEx said reinstating its ground service for Amazon sellers is “good news for our mutual customers.” The relationship between Amazon and FedEx has strained recently as the online shopping giant builds its own rival delivery fleet, relying less on UPS, the post office and other carriers. Last month, Amazon.com Inc. said it delivered most of its own packages in the U.S. itself. FedEx severed ties with Amazon last year, saying it wouldn’t make ground or air deliveries for the 30
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online shopping giant. But third-party sellers were still able to use FedEx. More than half of the items sold on Amazon come from third-party sellers, who post their goods for sale on Amazon’s online marketplace. FedEx said the average transit time for ground packages during its peak holiday season was 2.42 days; 18% of the packages were delivered early. Amazon Prime members, who pay a $119 annual fee, are supposed to get packages designated as Prime in two days or less.
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WANT TO SELL ON AMAZON? BUSINESSES MUST WEIGH PROS, CONS While many small manufacturers and retailers believe Amazon is the place to be, Lyris Autran is forgoing the opportunity. Autran wants to keep the prices on her leashes, bowls and other products for dogs competitive. It costs money to sell on Amazon.com — a 15% fee on each sale and additional charges for shipping — and that would force her to raise prices. So she sells solely on her website, Dylan & Rainey. “Our margins are smaller, which makes selling on Amazon cost prohibitive,” says Autran, whose company is based in Gastonia, North Carolina. She also includes dog treats and hand-written notes in her shipments, a personal touch not available on packages Amazon handles. Small business owners selling online must weigh the pros and cons of listing their products on Amazon. For many, there’s no question — the company provides small businesses instant access to hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide. Companies without shipping departments can turn over packing and mailing to Amazon. And selling on Amazon can help a 35
company place high in Google and other online search results. But the costs can be hard for small companies to absorb. Another downside for some business owners is they don’t have direct access with customers who buy through Amazon. The research firm eMarketer estimates Amazon’s share of the online U.S. retail market at nearly 38%, a statistic that influenced Paul Cunningham’s decision to become an Amazon seller. “It’s sort of necessary to have a presence there for legitimacy,” says Cunningham, owner of Leather Head Sports, a Glen Rock, New Jerseybased manufacturer of custom-made baseballs, footballs and other balls. “It is where people first look when they want to shop.” But Cunningham has learned that listing a product doesn’t automatically generate strong sales — he needs to advertise on Amazon to help his products be more visible. While many companies want Amazon to help them get established, older businesses want to increase sales. Lisa Levin, who sells soap, shampoo and other products found in hotel bathrooms, began selling them on Amazon a year ago because her company, Pharmacopia, didn’t have facilities to ship directly to consumers. “We felt it would be the fastest way to get our products out,” says Levin, whose company is based in Mill Valley, California. Levin sees another plus. She’s able to determine from Amazon’s data collection and analysis that her customers come to Amazon specifically for her products. She also is pleased with the rating system that helps drive more sales.
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But Amazon isn’t always the best way for businesses to reach customers, particularly if they sell very specific merchandise. They may find a greater number of customers on online marketplaces that focus on just one retail category — for example, Reverb for guitars and other musical instruments and accessories, or Newegg for electronics and components. Similarly, Etsy attracts buyers looking for crafts, vintage items, clothing and home furnishings. Lucy Kelly sells handmade jewelry on Etsy and Amazon under the label Bel Monili and her own website. Kelly, who lives in Pittsburgh, says Etsy and Amazon are well-established marketplaces that consumers trust, a benefit to a seller. But she finds that Amazon, which places a premium on fast delivery, may not be the best place for some of her work. “Many Amazon buyers do not understand the nature of handmade businesses and longer turnaround times on handmade items,” she says. Amazon may not be the right sales channel for many small businesses, says Will Haire, CEO of BellaVix, a consulting firm that helps companies develop online selling strategies. First, Amazon may not accept the products being sold. And if they’re very low priced items, a small business isn’t likely to make much money. “Your margins should be 50% to 100% compared to your price,” Haire says. Companies should be prepared to advertise on Amazon to help themselves stand out, he says. Companies must also be ready to comply with the rules on any marketplace, not just Amazon. For example, not contacting customers to advertise or market a seller’s merchandise. That
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can be frustrating for sellers who want to follow up on a sale in hopes of getting repeat business. When business owners make sales on their own website, they have buyers’ email addresses — not so with online marketplaces that want their cut of a transaction. It’s a trade-off. Erica Swallow gets customers who search on Amazon for her Entrepreneur Kids book series but, “we have no idea who our customers/readers are, because they are Amazon’s customers.”
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The hope for many owners is that consumers shopping on Amazon will do a broader online search and find sellers’ own websites. Selling books on Amazon makes Swallow’s merchandise easier to find elsewhere. “These listings push us higher in Google search result rankings and introduce us to new customers,” says Swallow, who’s located in Springfield, Massachusetts. While many owners understandably want sales from their own website, where they’re not paying fees, they’re not losing sales to Amazon, Haire says. Many shoppers, especially younger ones, prefer sites like Amazon. “They’re less like to go to somebody’s website and more likely to go to the marketplace,” he says. Artist Marian Nixon of Chicago finds its easier for her prints, clothes and sketch books to be seen on Amazon rather than on her own website. But selling online presents challenges that can be hard, even impossible to overcome. She gets good reviews for her designs, but she’s had bad reviews when something has gone wrong with shipping, which is out of her control. “Customers don’t care who packaged your product — they blame you if it arrives damaged or late,” says Nixon. Nixon finds that counterfeiters are quick to find designs and sell them as their own creations — a problem throughout the retail business, and not just with luxury brands. She’s had designs stolen on Amazon and Etsy. On one occasion, she listed T-shirts that had a unique design. “The next day, a copy was up — with almost the same font,” she says. 43
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IoT is changing the way we live. Virtually every aspect of our lives has been digitized; from turning on our lights before we arrive home to prescribing medication without a doctor. As we look to automate and make our lives more agile, computerized and efficient, where do we go next? Let’s delve deeper into the evolution of IoT, and its next-generation developments...
ENHANCED COMMUNICATIONS Perhaps one of the most exciting developments in the world of IoT is data, with 5G coming in to offer instant communications for data packages of any size, with just 0.004 latency. As countries begin to roll out their 5G technology to consumers, governments, and businesses, we can expect to see incredible new innovations changing the way we communicate and work. Current 4G offers data speeds of around 20 Mbps, whilst 5G speeds will be 500 to 1500 Mbps, offering consumers and businesses more efficiency and opportunity. With data streams now unlimited and always-on, everything can be done wirelessly, benefiting not only businesses in the technology sector, but in engineering, healthcare, recruitment, and retail. By 2021, experts predict there will be around one billion 5G customers in Asia and North America alone. Combining the power of 5G technology with the internet of things will allow us to enter into a new Big Data age, where every decision is based on fact and exact measurement rather than estimations. In airports, we’ll see check-in desks open based on demand; in hospitals, unprecedented access to data from smartwatches and health wearables will create 46
Image: Hyundai
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more advanced medicines and treatments; and in sales, up-to-the-minute feedback will provide retailers with the data they need to pitch the right products to the right consumers. In time, data-backed tools will increase sales, reduce waste, and even fight climate change, allowing for microgrids to be introduced when non-renewable energy options aren’t available. In transport, smart traffic management tools can reduce congestion, with the UK government saying IoT could save them $1 billion a year and offer a fifteen percent reduction in carbon emissions. And in the business world, IoT can be used to make offices more energy-efficient, with AT&T and Microsoft already embracing the technology to reduce energy consumption and develop ecoinfrastructure through Azure. That is, of course, without mentioning SpaceX StarLink. Back in 2015, founder Elon Musk announced plans for the Starlink concept, launching more than 4,000 broadband satellites into the Earth’s low orbit, offering low-cost internet access to consumers around the world. The first sixty satellites were successfully launched in January 2020 with a live stream on SpaceX.com; by the mid2020s, 12,000 satellites will orbit. The project will not only lower costs and compete with big players, but it will connect the world in more ways than ever before, sparking innovations in developing and rural locations. The economic impacts of cheaper broadband and high-speed connectivity are great. The McKinsey Institute suggests that IoT devices will have a major impact on the world economy, and that by the end of this year, 49
there will be more internet-connected devices than human beings, changing our routines as we automate more of our everyday tasks, representing major business opportunities for switched-on firms.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD With so much data available today, analyzing it for meaningful insights is critical. Our new IoT devices aren’t only designed to help us they’re there to extract data and improve the decision-making processes for businesses. Artificial intelligence and big data will no doubt be at the top of every corporation’s agenda in 2020, improving efficiency and enabling more competitive strategizing. Bill Gates was last year quoted as saying: “If you invent a breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence, so machines can learn, that is worth 10 Microsofts,” and it seems that concept is becoming more of a reality than we thought possible. It’s also worth talking about the impact of IoT on blockchain, where individuals and companies can make instant transactions on a network without the need of any middlemen. This secure technology is already being used by financial and governmental institutions and in the 2020s, IoT will demystify some of the value associated with blockchain and make it easier for us to take IoT to the next level. With so many concerned over the privacy implications of letting Google and Amazon listen in to every aspect of our lives, monitoring calls and credit card transactions, blockchain could have a bigger impact on data transfers than first predicted. 50
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The Chinese government has already announced support for blockchain technology and the country is planning to launch a digital currency in the cities of Shenzhen and Suzhou with four state-owned commercial banks. If the United States and other developed economies want to grab their own slice of the pie, huge IoT investments will be necessary. Retail is a key sector for IoT growth, too. Today, voice accounts for 1% of e-commerce sales, with consumers still preferring to log onto their iPads than ask Amazon to buy something for them. But with the right innovation, IoT will make retail supply chain management more efficient, simplifying the online shopping experience, making it easy to complete transactions and offer personalized in-store experiences that will allow brands to stand out competitively. Predictive maintenance will also come to the fore, with technology helping businesses and homeowners know about damages, leaks, and upcoming repair work needed on their homes and properties, preventing disasters and cutting costs. These sensor-like IoT devices will be added to homes, factories, automobiles, and airplanes, creating a safer world for all. That’s without mentioning the meteoric growth of smart cities. Not only will IoT and data lead to more sustainable development, but it will reduce traffic congestion, improve security, and reduce pollution and disease through uber-intelligent waste management and distribution.
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NEXT-LEVEL PROCESSING Back in 1957, 13 people were required to hold a computer. In 2020, a person can hold more than 13 computers on their own - not only balancing MacBooks on top of each other but through the smartphones in their pocket and the smartwatches on their wrist. But what’s next for processing remains to be seen, but with so many computers, many of which with huge idle capacity, finding ways to make better use of them will become more important. In the 2020s, we’ll see ‘ambient computing’ become the norm, with consumers relying on wearables and voice-UI connected devices rather than screens, smartphones, and TVs. We have already seen developments in connected glasses from the likes of Google and Apple, with the Cupertino firm’s own augmented reality wearable glasses expected in the next year. But what will ambient computing look and sound like? The idea is to put technology in its place, anticipating the needs of consumers and proactively addressing them. Just as Apple is doing with Siri Suggestions, for example, computers will soon be able to adapt to changing conditions, making suggestions and offering shortcuts that change the way we live. When we run low on toilet tissue, our smart devices will reorder without asking; when our blood pressure rises, we’ll be booked in for a digital consultation with a doctor, or have our blood taken using a smart home health device, with results delivered immediately. These concepts aren’t pie-in-the-sky; they’re in development.
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Right now, consumers spend most of their time gazing at devices and absorbing information, with the average American spending three and a half hours on their phones every day. That’s without mentioning the time we spend watching TV, working at a PC, gazing at our smartwatches or playing video games. In the coming decade, ambient computing will make our technology pay closer attention to our needs, helping us make good decisions and spend less time as slaves glued to our screens.
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One of the biggest challenges that lies ahead is in trust. In the 2010s, we saw huge scandals in the IoT market, with Amazon, Google, and Apple all having to come out and apologize for the way they hold onto customer data and analyze the way we interact with voice speakers. In the years that follow, companies must be able to show that they’re serious about security, baking in features that prevent data compromises and misuse. Security and transparency will be the key to success for brands big and small, but it’s up to consumers and businesses to decide whether to embrace developments if they want to enter into the Information Age‌
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MIT WARNS FOREIGN STUDENTS OF POSSIBLE VISITS FROM ICE
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is warning international students that federal immigration officials may visit their work sites to verify that their employment is directly related to their studies. School officials sent a memo to faculty saying the Department of Homeland Security has been making site visits to employers of foreign students in science, technology, engineering and math fields. The school is notifying students separately and telling them what to expect from the visits. MIT spokeswoman Kimberly Allen said the memo was not prompted by any visit to the institute. Immigration officials announced last year they would begin workplace visits for some students participating in the federal Optional Practical Training program. The program allows those with student visas to take temporary jobs related to their academic studies. Students in STEM fields can get their visas extended by two years, while others can get one-year extensions. 59
MIT joins other universities cautioning students about the possibility of the visits. Schools including the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University issued similar notices last August. A Homeland Security website says the visits are meant to “reduce the potential for abuses” of the visa extension. It says employers will be given notice of visits 48 hours in advance unless the visit is tied to a complaint or other evidence of noncompliance. The visits are carried out by the department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit and are meant to verify that students are engaged in relevant “work-based learning experiences” and that employers have the resources necessary to supervise them, according to the department’s website. An ICE spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment. The Trump administration has placed foreign researchers under sharper scrutiny as it tries to curb intellectual property theft by China and other governments. The Justice Department has asked universities to watch out for suspicious behavior, saying college campuses are increasingly being targeted in efforts to steal technology and research. In December, a Chinese medical student was arrested at Boston’s Logan Airport after authorities said he tried to smuggle cancer research material out of the country. Zaosong Zheng, 29, had earned a visa sponsored by Harvard University. The FBI said he may have been acting on behalf of the Chinese government. Image: Dominick Reuter
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In 2018, Chinese national Weiqiang Zhang was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to steal proprietary rice seeds developed in the U.S. and giving them to visitors from China. He previously received a doctorate at Louisiana State University. The Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on research theft have raised tensions on some college campuses, which often rely on foreign talent and encourage international exchange. Last June, MIT President L. Rafael Reif warned that the fight against espionage threatened to create a “toxic atmosphere of unfounded suspicion and fear.” He said some Chinese students and researchers on campus reported feeling “unfairly scrutinized, stigmatized and on edge” because of their Chinese ethnicity. The American Council on Education, which represents dozens of university presidents, has encouraged schools to work with the FBI to prevent theft. In a letter to its members last year, the group said the FBI was “eager to develop a collaborative relationship with higher education that protects national and economic security without impinging on academic freedom or institutional autonomy.” The Optional Practical Training program has attracted growing numbers of students in recent years, with many students choosing to get professional experience before they start their studies or after they graduate. The most recent data from ICE show that in 2017, more than 328,000 international students were authorized to work through the program, including nearly 90,000 approved to work in STEM fields. 62
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US, CHINA DEAL AIMS TO SIMMER LONG-RUNNING TRADE TENSIONS
President Donald Trump signed a trade agreement Wednesday with China that is expected to boost exports from U.S. farmers and manufacturers and is aimed at lowering tensions in a long-running dispute between the economic powers. Trump said during a White House ceremony that the deal is “righting the wrongs of the past.” He promoted the signing as a way of delivering economic justice for American workers and said, “We mark a sea change in international trade” with the signing. 65
The agreement is being described as “phase one” of a larger negotiation focusing on tensions in the U.S.-China trade relationship. Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in a letter to Trump that the first phase is “good for China, the U.S. and for the whole world.” The letter was read by Beijing’s chief negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He. But this agreement would do little to force China to make the major economic changes such as reducing unfair subsidies for its own companies that the Trump administration sought when it started the trade war by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports in July 2018. The White House ceremony gave Trump a chance to cite progress on a top economic priority on the same day that the House prepared to vote to send articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial. He told Republican lawmakers attending the ceremont that he understood if they had to leave early for votes. “They have a hoax going on over there. Let’s take care of it,” Trump said. The agreement is intended to ease some U.S. economic sanctions on China while Beijing would step up purchases of American farm products and other goods. Trump cited beef, pork, poulty, seafood, rice and dairy products as examples. The deal would lower tensions in a trade dispute that has slowed global growth, hurt American manufacturers and weighed on the Chinese economy. Trump said easing trade tensions was critical. “Keeping these two giant and powerful nations together in harmony is so important for the world,” Trump said. “The world is watching today.” Image: J. Scott Applewhite
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White the deal stops short of many changes the president has sought from China, it leaves in place tariffs on about $360 billion in Chinese imports, leverage the administration hopes will generate future concessions. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said work on follow-up negotiations will hinge on how China fulfills the commitments it made in the initial phase. “We have to make sure this is implemented properly,” Lighthizer said. “This is the first agreement like this of its kind and we have to make sure that it works.” His Chinese counterpart said “the world is now at a critical historical crossroads” facing choices of how to promote country-to-country cooperation. “Cooperation is the only right choice,” said Liu. Larry Kudlow, Trump’s chief economic adviser, said the agreement vindicated the president’s strategy of using tariffs in trade negotiations, though not in every instance. “I think with China he was exactly right,” Kudlow said. ”I think the tough tariffs hurt their economy and made them much more amenable to a good deal.” Most analysts say any meaningful resolution of the main U.S. allegation — that Beijing uses predatory tactics in its drive to supplant America’s technological supremacy — could require years of contentious talks. Skeptics say a satisfactory resolution may be next to impossible given China’s ambitions to become the global leader in such advanced technologies as driverless cars and artificial intelligence.
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This first phase “hardly addresses in any substantive way the fundamental sources of trade and economic tensions between the two sides, which will continue to fester,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist and and former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China division. The thornier issues are expected to be taken up in future rounds of negotiations. But few observers expect much progress before the U.S. presidential election in November. “Phase 2 -- I wouldn’t wait by the phone,’’ said John Veroneau, who was a U.S. trade official when George W. Bush was president and is now co-chair of the international trade practice at the law firm Covington & Burling. “That is probably a 2021 issue.’’ The U.S. has dropped plans to impose tariffs on an additional $160 billion in Chinese imports, and it cut in half, to 7.5%, existing tariffs on $110 billion of good from China. Beijing agreed to significantly increase its purchases of U.S. products. According to the Trump administration, China is to buy $40 billion a year in U.S. farm products — an ambitious goal for a country that has never imported more than $26 billion a year in U.S. agricultural products. Derek Scissors, China specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, said the trade war has already delivered a benefit for Trump, even if it hasn’t forced Beijing to make major changes to its economic policy: Trump’s tariffs have reduced Chinese exports to the United States and narrowed America’s trade deficit with China. 70
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The president has long lambasted the U.S. trade gap with Beijing as a sign of economic weakness, though many economists disagree. A wide trade deficit can actually reflect economic strength because it means that a nation’s consumers feel prosperous and confident enough to spend freely — on imported goods as well as on home-grown goods. So far this year, the U.S. deficit with China in the trade of goods has declined by 16%, or $62 billion, to $321 billion compared with a year earlier. The deficit will narrow further if Beijing lives up to its pledges to buy dramatically more American imports. Trump’s tariff increase have proved to be a headwind for China’s economy, which was already slowing, though the damage has been less than some expected. Chinese global exports eked out a 0.5% increase in 2019 despite a plunge in sales to the United States, according to Chinese customs data. 72
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PRIVACY, ONCE HIDDEN TOPIC, GETS ATTENTION AT CES TECH SHOW
Once a hidden and under-the-radar topic, privacy got more attention at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas last week. Startups now volunteer information about how they’re securing your data and protecting your privacy when you use their heart rate monitor or cuddly robot. Roybi, an alien-looking robot that teaches kids languages and other skills, has a camera with facial recognition that can remember children and guess whether the kid was excited or sad after a lesson. Roybi says it uses that information to make changes to its lessons. But the $199 robot also comes with a sticker, so parents can block the camera if they want. 75
“We want to make sure we give people choices,” said CEO and founder Elnaz Sarraf, who said parents questioned the lens. “When it comes to children, people are more sensitive.” Caregiver Smart Solutions, which makes products for caregivers to track the elderly remotely, decided to do away with cameras, declaring them too intrusive. The company opted instead for small sensors that monitor when doors are opened and closed. After two years of tech companies facing the reckoning of rising privacy concerns, the message seems to be setting in: The way you use customers’ information can no longer be ignored. Last Friday was the final day of the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas, a forum for companies to unveil their products and services for the coming year. Among other highlights this week:
A SCREEN THAT’S ALL ABOUT YOU Airport screens are a jumble of flight numbers, times and gates. Delta wants to change that. The airline will soon start testing an airport screen that will show personalized flight information only to you. The twist: nearly 100 people will be able to look at the same screen simultanously and see just their own information. No special glasses needed, just the naked eye. It’s a technology that could change the way people get from airport security to their planes. 76
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The hope is that similar screens will fill the halls of airports, pointing people to where they need to walk or where they can stop to get a bite to eat. Delta is teaming with startup Misapplied Sciences for the technology. Misapplied CEO Albert Ng said normal TVs send the same colored light in all directions. His company’s screens control which colors are emitted to different people. Cameras above figure out where each person is standing and send the right combination of lights in that direction. Delta will test the screen later this year at Detroit’s airport. The company said the screens won’t be used for targeted advertising. Frank Gillett, a technology analyst at Forrester, said the technology may be too expensive right now to expand to every airport. But he said Delta’s plans to make the airport experience easier for travelers could hook more customers to the airline.
HUMANOID CHATBOT Meet your new artificial friend, called Neon. For weeks leading up to CES, Samsung has teased Neon as the next big thing in artificial intelligence. What is being shown is essentially a humanoid chatbot with AI. Neon is an independent company backed by Samsung’s advanced research lab. Ask the Neon a question, and it will respond. It won’t know all the answers, the way the Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa is supposed to. In 78
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that sense, it’s intended to be more like a human — with some knowledge and an ability to learn. The vision is a future where Neons are so human-like that humans start interacting with them just like any other person. Neon CEO Pranav Mistry says that it will let humans have real human connections with the machines, instead of just yelling orders like “stop” and “open.” But that’s some time a way. Neon is still in an early stage of development.
OOOPS Things don’t always go as planned. Samsung’s new Sero TV can pivot between horizontal and vertical orientations, but just getting it to work onstage was a challenge at the company’s CES event earlier in the week. Product training manager Scott Cohen was unable to connect his smartphone to the TV set and eventually chose to carry on the stage demonstration regardless. “Since we cannot get it to work, I will explain all the things we can do,” he said. “We’re not sure if the Wi-Fi in here with everyone on is doing it. Samsung later blamed unreliable WiFi that prevented the smartphone from connecting. The Sero — which means “vertical” in Korean — is intended to let viewers watch social media, YouTube and personal videos in their true orientation, without black bars at the side. When viewing vertical video, for instance, the TV physically rotates to that position. 81
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ROBOTS OUT OF WORK AS AUTOMATED BUSINESSES CLOSE IN BAY AREA
It has been a bad week for robots in the San Francisco Bay Area. A Silicon Valley company that used robots to make its pizzas closed this week, and three coffee shops in downtown San Francisco that used robots as baristas also shuttered. Zume Pizza said it is cutting 172 jobs in Mountain View and eliminating another 80 jobs at its facility in San Francisco. Zume Chief Executive Alex Garden made the announcement in an email to employees, the Mercury News in San Jose reported. 83
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The Mountain View startup, which first began delivering pizzas in 2016, said it intends to focus on its food packaging and delivery systems. Garden said former employees will be able to apply for the 100 new positions Zume expects to have in its packaging business. In San Francisco, Cafe X closed three of its coffee shops in the financial district. The startup’s founder, Henry Hu, said the downtown cafes helped develop the newest machine being used at shops at San Francisco International Airport and Mineta San Jose International Airport, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. When Cafe X launched in 2017, its robotic baristas joined robots that made smoothies and hamburgers or mixed and dispensed salads and quinoa bowls. Cafe X will continue to have competition in the automated coffee market. Briggo Coffee Haus has a robotic barista that can make 100 drinks per hour at San Francisco airport’s Terminal 3, the Chronicle reported. Robotics have boomed in warehouses to speed up productivity and bring down costs and increasingly have moved into industries like food service. In the Bay Area, the popularity of robots stems in part from the region’s infatuation with technology, food and automation.
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STARTUPS SEE A MARKET IN RENTING COUCHES BY THE MONTH
Zachariah Mohammed’s living room is filled with stuff he doesn’t own. He pays $200 a month for the sofa, side table, bar cart, dining table and four chairs in his living room. It’s worth it, the 27-year-old New Yorker says. If he needs to move, which he’s done twice in the last 12 months, he won’t need to lug a sofa across the city or worry if it will fit in a new place. The furniture-rental startup, Feather, will swap out items for something else. “We don’t want to be stuck with a giant couch,” says Mohammed, a social media manager at a software company, who lives with his partner and their dog, Remy. 87
Feather, Fernish and other companies aim to rent furniture to millennials who don’t want to commit to big purchases or move heavy furniture and are willing to pay for the convenience. It’s part of a wave of rental culture that includes Rent the Runway, focused on women’s designer clothing, and even Netflix and Spotify, which let you stream from a huge catalog rather than buy individual TV show episodes, movies or songs. “They’re moving a lot. They’re changing jobs a lot,” says Thomas Robertson, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, describing the types of people who would use the services. “Why would you want to be saddled with furniture?” The furniture-rental companies target high-income city dwellers who want a $1,100 orange love seat ($46 a month) or $980 leather bench ($41 a month) — but only temporarily. The furniture itself is a step up from Ikea. “I’m 32 years old and have lived in 25 different places, five different countries, 12 different cities,” says Chan Park, who co-founded online furniture rental company Oliver Space last year. He constantly bought and discarded cheap furniture. Then he moved to a furnished rental apartment in Singapore. “It was probably the first time my adult life that I felt like I was truly at home,” Park says. These startups are in just a handful of coastal cities, with few users, but seek to grow. They offer furniture from Crate & Barrel, West Elm and smaller brands.
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Others are renting out home goods, too. Rent the Runway recently added West Elm pillows and quilts. Ikea is testing a rental service in several countries outside the U.S., including Switzerland and Belgium. Renting may make sense for a generation that sees “life as transient,” says Hana Ben-Shabat, the founder of Gen Z Planet, a research and advisory firm that focuses on the generation born between the late 1990s and 2016. Young people today get married and buy homes later than they used to, and young people move more than older people do. Still, millennials are moving less than previous generations did at their age, and Americans overall are moving less. Moving her furniture from New York to Los Angeles would have cost Clarissa Wright $3,000. Instead, she gave away most of what she owned, traveled in Europe for two months and then rented a couch, bed, mattress, bar stools and other furniture in her new place, for $255 a month. Feather delivered and assembled everything in one day. Wright, a 28-year-old marketing consulting for fashion and beauty brands, says she can switch out the furniture, add more stuff, move to a new apartment or city. But right now, she doesn’t know what the future holds. “I don’t think too far ahead,” she says. That comes at a price. Critics have called the furniture-rental business exploitative in the past. Stores like Rent-A-Center target low-income shoppers who can’t afford to buy a fridge or couch outright and charge higher prices overall than competitors. 90
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Some of the new batch of furniture renters charge for membership, and there are fees for late payments or for furniture that is badly damaged. Customers can keep furniture if their monthly payments add up to full price. Prices are the same at West Elm and Crate & Barrel, but you could buy more cheaply directly from the store if there’s a sale. “If people think this is the best way to buy a couch, they are wrong,” says Margot Saunders, the senior counsel at the National Consumer Law Center. “They should recognize that they are paying for the convenience of renting.”
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by Tim Miller Genre: Action & Adventure Released: 2019 Price: $19.99 Terminator: Dark Fate - Official Trailer (2019) Paramount Pictures
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Terminator: Dark Fate Judgment Day might have been averted, but the fight isn’t over for Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). In 2020, a new machine from the future, Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), is set to eliminate Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) – unless Connor, augmented soldier Grace (Mackenzie Davis) and the ageing T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) can stop it.
FIVE FACTS: 1. This is the first Terminator film over which franchise creator James Cameron has had creative control since Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. 2. However, this time around, Cameron is a producer rather than director, with that role now taken by Deadpool director Tim Miller. 3. The plot of Dark Fate retcons the stories of the franchise’s previous three films as well as the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. 4. Dark Fate ultimately proved a boxoffice bomb and looks set to lose over $120 million overall. 5. Sources close to production company Skydance Media have told The Hollywood Reporter that there are currently no plans to make another Terminator film.
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Interview Arnold Schwarzenegger & Linda Hamilton TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
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Harriet Araminta “Minty” Ross, who later adopts the name Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo), grows up a slave in 1840s Maryland, but later escapes to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, her former owner Gideon Brodess (Joe Alwyn), co-owner of a slave-owning farm, pursues her.
FIVE FACTS: 1. This is a biopic of the real-life slaveturned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman. 2. In 2015, Viola Davis was linked with the role of Harriet Tubman in a biopic, but the project never came to fruition. 3. Development started over in May 2016, before Erivo was cast in the lead role the following February. 4. Other cast members in the film include Janelle Monáe, who plays Marie Buchanon, a board-house proprietor who befriends Tubman.
by Kasi Lemmons Genre: Drama Released: 2019 Price: $19.99
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5. Reviews of the film have been generally positive, describing it as sincere if formulaic.
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HARRIET | Official Trailer | Now Playing
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Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom Jr. talk “Harriet�
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Lose You To Love Me (Official Music Video)
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Rare Selena Gomez “I just needed to let my old self go,” the 27-year-old Gomez recently told Apple Music, following her tumultuous half-decade since the release of her second solo studio album, Revival. The euphoric follow-up, Rare, reflects the artist’s recovery from health and romantic setbacks.
FIVE FACTS: Genre: Pop Released: Jan 10, 2020 13 Songs Price: $9.99
2k Ratings
1. Gomez’s personal struggles in the late 2010s included a one-off relationship with Justin Bieber and suffering a broken artery, which was quickly replaced, when receiving a kidney transplant. 2. “I purged multiple different things, but it was specifically who I was then,” Gomez also told Apple Music, referring to her entry into a treatment center. 3. Rare is Gomez’s third studio album as a solo artist, although she has also released a trio of studio albums as part of the pop-rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene. 4. The first single from Rare, “Lose You to Love Me”, was released on October 23, 2019. 5. The music video for the song was entirely filmed on an iPhone 11 Pro.
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Look At Her Now (Official Music Video)
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Time Served Moneybagg Yo Despite the title of this, his third studio album in as many years, the Memphis MC hasn’t spent the last few years incarcerated, but instead cementing his place as one of the go-to rap voices of his generation. Many other famous faces from hip-hop join him on this collection.
FIVE FACTS: 1. Moneybagg Yo’s real name is Demario DeWayne White, Jr. 2. Moneybagg has fathered seven children by four different women. 3. Although he is currently dating Ariana Fletcher, his previous lover was rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who features alongside him on the new album’s lead single, “All Dat”. 4. The second single, “U Played”, also has a romantic connection, as it focuses on ungrateful ex-lovers. 5. Reviewing the album for Ratings Game Music, critic QD brands the new album’s hooks, features, lyrics and production “lazy”.
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Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap Released: Jan 10, 2020 15 Songs Price: $9.99
61 Ratings Moneybagg Yo, Megan Thee Stallion All Dat (Official Music Video)
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U Played feat. Lil Baby (Official Music Video)
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PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS JOINING AMAZON’S SPY SERIES ‘CITADEL’
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Priyanka Chopra Jonas will star opposite Richard Madden in the U.S. edition of “Citadel,” a drama series to be produced in conjunction with programs from several other countries. “The idea is to create a truly global, actionpacked spy series,” Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke said. “It’s a totally innovative, multifaceted international approach to storytelling, and we can’t wait to tell you more as it comes together.” Local-language productions are being done in Italy and India, with another announced in Mexico. Amazon called the U.S. version the “mothership” of the project, with production set to begin this summer. Film star Chopra Jonas was in the ABC TV series “Quantico.” Madden starred in the awardwinning BBC and Netflix series “Bodyguard.” The other “Citadel” productions will “enhance the experience of engaging with the show,” Salke said. Further details and release dates were not announced. Also announced by the streaming service during its presentation at a TV critics meeting: — Meagan Good is among the stars of an upcoming Amazon comedy from “Girls Trip” creator Tracy Oliver. The untitled, half-hour series revolves around four African American college friends in pursuit of their dreams, the streaming service said.
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Good (“Star,”“Think Like a Man”) plays the “stylish, sunny” Camille, who teaches an anthropology course on sex and love at Columbia University. Also starring are Grace Byers (“Empire”), Jerrie Johnson (“Good Trouble”) and Shoniqua Shandai (“I Am the Night”). Byers plays trust-fund baby and fashion designer Quinn; Shandai portrays aspiring singer Angie and Johnson plays Tye, described as “an alpha fierce, queer successful app developer.” The series reunites Oliver with “Girls Trip” director Malcolm D. Lee, who will direct the first two episodes. Pharrell Williams is joining the show’s executive producers, which include Oliver and Amy Poehler, — Amazon is touting the cast of a new “The Lord of the Rings” series as multi-generational actors “from around the globe,” including BritishIranian actress Nazanin Boniadi and Australian actor-musician Tom Budge. But the streaming service declined to say which characters — or the races — they or other cast members announced will be playing. Other details of the production also are being kept under wraps but “everything is moving forward,” Salke said. The series will “explore new storylines” preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” Amazon said. Other actors in the series based on Tolkien’s works include Joseph Mawle, who played Benjen Stark on “Game of Thrones,” Morfydd Clark (“His Dark Materials”) and Ismael Cruz Cordova (“Ray Donovan,” Mary Queen of Scots”).
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HOLLYWOODBACKED QUIBI THINKS YOU’LL PAY FOR ITS VIDEO BITES
A startup heavily backed by Hollywood is wagering that you’re ready to set aside YouTube and TikTok to watch star-studded short videos on your phone — for a price. The company behind this billion-dollar bet is Quibi (KWIH-bee), which is preparing to offer movies, shows and other short form video designed for viewing in short bursts on mobile devices. It’s an enormous gamble, especially considering that several earlier efforts in mobile entertainment — most notably Verizon’s ill-fated Go90 service — fell flat. 114
Image: Steve Marcus
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Founded by former Disney studios chief and DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and helmed by former Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, Quibi is heavy on big ideas and Hollywood muscle. It has backing from all the major movie studios and entertainment companies, $1 billion invested in original programming and star power in the form of creators and producers from Steven Spielberg to Chrissy Teigen. Quibi plans to launch on April 6. It will charge $5 a month for an ad-supported service, and $8 a month for an ad-free version. Company executives argued at CES that Quibi will offer the first entertainment platform designed exclusively for the phone. In an interview at CES, Katzenberg said it represents the first time “professional storytellers” have tackled the problem of delivering a high-quality viewing experience on mobile. But the big question is whether a subscription service like Quibi can attract mobile viewers — particularly younger ones — already immersed in an ocean of free-to-watch short video on YouTube and other social-media services. It will also go up against roughly a half-dozen
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other paid streaming platforms from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu to Disney Plus and upcoming services from WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal. During the keynote Quibi previewed shows including “Don’t Look Deeper,” a sci-fi show starring Don Cheadle and Emily Mortimer, and ”#Freerayshawn” a crime thriller starring Laurence Fishburne as a cop and executive produced by “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua. Shows and movies, as well as other material like news and weather, are designed to be watched in “quick bites” of 10 minutes or less. “‘Paid premium short form’ (video) has never been in the same sentence. It has never really been proven,” said Seth Shapiro, managing partner at Pacific Strategy Partners. “That’s the challenge.” Among other things, he noted, it’s already possible for people to watch those other services in the same quick bites Quibi plans. Quibi executives at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas showed off technology designed to make video viewing on the phone easier. For instance, it will let you watch full-screen video whether you hold the phone upright or sideways.
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Filmmakers deliver two edits to the company, one vertical, one horizontal, and Quibi stiches them together with one audio track. Some creators have incorporated that feature into their productions, as in one show in which horizontal viewing delivers a traditional picture — but turning the phone upright displays a view from the main character’s phone camera. Advertisers, at least, are on board. Quibi said it has sold out its $150 million first-year advertising slots to blue-chip companies including Procter & Gamble, Anheuser Busch, General Mills, Google, T-Mobile and Walmart. Ads will appear before shows and aren’t skippable. 119
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Jeff Wlodarczak, principal analyst at Pivotal Research Group, says he understands why advertisers are flocking to the product. Millennials can be hard to reach, he said, and when a brand places ads on YouTube or Snapchat, they never quite know what kind of video they might end up next to. Quibi offers a safe place for advertisers by delivering a known quantity “as opposed to people doing something stupid on YouTube,” he said. That advertising model will stick around, Whitman said. Quibi guarantees that all creators own their own intellectual property, and can repackage it and take it wherever else they want after seven years. It brought creators in, but it also means that Quibi needs both subscriber dollars and advertising revenue to stay afloat. The company just closed on another $400 million equity funding round from investors, Whitman said, and has a plan to be profitable “soon.” Others ha ve tried short for m content, mostly in ad-supported form. Facebook Watch features original shows with episodes as short as 12 or 13 minutes, but none have garnered much buzz or mainstream attention so far. Verizon pulled the plug on Go90 in 2018, roughly three years after it launched; several concurrent efforts have also shut down. Meanwhile, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have all been experimenting with shortform offerings, many of them in comedy. Quibi is “either brilliant or tone deaf,” said Tim Hanlon, CEO of Vertere Group. “I just don’t know what the answer is and I don’t think anybody does.”
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CITIGROUP PROFITS RISE 15%, HELPED BY TRADING LIKE JPMORGAN
Citigroup’s fourth-quarter profits rose by 15%, as the banking conglomerate benefited from a boost in trading similar to competitor JPMorgan Chase. The New York-based bank said that it earned a profit of $4.98 billion, or $2.15 per share, compared with a profit of $4.3 billion, or $1.65 per share, in the same period a year earlier. The results topped analysts’ expectations for a profit of $1.81 a share, according to FactSet. Like JPMorgan Chase, which also reported its results this week, Citi saw a boost in profits from its trading operations. Bond trading revenues rose 49% from a year earlier, when a steep downfall in the markets in the fourth quarter took its toll on all banks’ trading desks. 123
In Citi’s consumer group, profits rose 12% from a year earlier, helped by the bank’s large credit card division where more consumers borrowed and spent during the holiday season. The bank’s return on common equity, a measurement on how well a bank performs with the assets it holds, was 10.6% in the quarter. Banks the size of Citi typically aim to have that figure above 10%. For the full year, Citi had a profit of $19.4 billion, up from $18.05 billion in 2018. Revenue at the bank was $74.29 billion compared with $72.85 billion a year before. 124
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US FIRM OFFERS FREE CYBERSECURITY HELP TO FEDERAL CAMPAIGNS
A major U.S. web infrastructure and security company will provide free support to federal election campaigns to help thwart any repeats of the 2016 effort by Russian agents to steal and leak sensitive campaign emails and documents. San Francisco-based Cloudflare said Wednesday it will be providing to eligible campaigns free access to several of its security services, including enhanced protection of firewalls, which defend systems and networks from unauthorized access. Other services include protection and mitigation of any denial-ofservice attacks, which can paralyze a network by overwhelming it with data. 127
The effort is being offered in conjunction with Defending Digital Campaigns, a nonprofit group that last year received approval from the Federal Elections Commission to provide free or discounted cybersecurity services to federal candidate committees and national party committees. To qualify, a U.S. House candidate’s campaign must have received at least $50,000 in contributions, with the minimum of $100,000 in contributions for U.S. Senate candidates. In addition, any House or Senate campaign that has qualified for the general election also will be eligible. “This is our way of providing best practices and no-brainer solutions to not only large campaigns, but also smaller, but equally important campaigns that may have limited resources,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said in a statement. The company said it’s already providing services to eight 2020 presidential candidates. For context, it said it defends an average of 400,000 attacks daily on U.S. election campaigns, which includes the presidential campaigns and at least 23 U.S. Senate campaigns. Since 2017, Cloudflare also has offered free security services to more than 150 state and local election websites.
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GENE-EDITING TOOL’S PIONEERS WIN ISRAEL’S WOLF PRIZE
Two global pioneers of modern gene-editing technology were awarded Israel’s prestigious Wolf Prize in medicine. The Wolf Foundation said it was recognizing Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for their work in developing the gene-editing tool CRISPR. Their research has the potential to “revolutionize medicine by paving the way to finding new forms of treatment for currently incurable diseases,” the foundation said. 131
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Gene editing is a way to permanently change DNA to attack the root causes of a gene-based disease. It can serve a wide variety of other uses too — from attacking malaria in mosquitoes to breeding hardier crops. CRISPR is a tool that seeks out a precise piece of DNA inside living cells and slices it, allowing scientists to turn genes on or off, repair or replace them. It’s long been used in the lab and is in early-stage testing for treating cancer and other diseases. Doudna is also being recognized for her contribution to the ethical discourse surrounding this technology’s use, the foundation said. The Wolf Prize is considered one of the forerunners to a Nobel Prize. About three dozen Wolf laureates have gone on to win a Nobel. Each year the Wolf Foundation honors artists and scientists in five fields “for achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples” with the $100,000 prize. Its categories include agriculture, architecture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, music, painting, physics, and sculpture. Other winners this year included Yacov Eliashberg and Simon Donaldson for mathematics; Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Allan Macdonald and Rafi Bistritzer for physics; Cindy Sherman in art and Caroline Dean in agriculture. Previous recipients of the award include Steven Hawking, Marc Chagall and Paul McCartney. This year’s winners will be presented the prizes on June 11 in Jerusalem. 133
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CONVERSATIONS IN THE DARK John Legend
DANCE MONKEY Tones and I
LIFE IS GOOD (FEAT. DRAKE) FuTure
THE BOX roddy rIcch
MEMORIES Maroon 5
YOU SHOULD BE SAD haLsey
CIRCLES PosT MaLone
DON’T START NOW dua LIPa
YUMMY JusTIn BIeBer
GOOD AS HELL LIzzo
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RARE seLena goMez
FROZEN 2 (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) VarIous arTIsTs
THE SPIRIT OF RADIO: GREATEST HITS (1974-1987) rush
PURPOSE - THE 2ND ALBUM REPACKAGE Taeyeon
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? BILLIe eILIsh
LOOK UP CHILD Lauren daIgLe
MOVING PICTURES (REMASTERED) rush
RE-DUNN ronnIe dunn
HOLLYWOOD’S BLEEDING PosT MaLone
TIME SERVED MoneyBagg yo
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RARE seLena goMez
YOU SHOULD BE SAD haLsey
21 YEARS ToByMac
LIFE IS GOOD (FEAT. DRAKE) FuTure
LOSE YOU TO LOVE ME seLena goMez
SUBDIVISIONS rush
LOSE YOU TO LOVE ME (ALTERNATIVE VIDEO) seLena goMez
DON’T START NOW dua LIPa
OLD TOWN ROAD (FEAT. BILLY RAY CYRUS) LIL nas X
SEÑORITA shawn Mendes & caMILa caBeLo
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2402 The BacheLor, season 24
PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION BeLow deck, season 7
SNAKE BYE The reaL housewIVes oF aTLanTa, season 12
SMOKE SIGNALS schITT’s creek, season 6 (uncensored)
2401 The BacheLor, season 24
ORPHAN 55 docTor who, season 12
CHOOSE ME 90 day FIancé, season 7
GROUNDED ManIFesT, season 2
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD VanderPuMP ruLes, season 8
EPISODE 1 sandITon, season 1
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THE FIGHT FOR FOREVER Meghan March
LOST JaMes PaTTerson & JaMes o. Born
FORSAKEN (VAMPIRE AWAKENINGS, BOOK 10) Brenda k. daVIes
THE WILD ONE nIck PeTrIe
DROP SHOT harLan coBen
LEADERSHIP STRATEGY AND TACTICS Jocko wILLInk
HUNTER KILLER Brad TayLor
THE LAST WISH andrzeJ saPkowskI
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING deLIa owens
SWEEP WITH ME ILona andrews
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BUNDESLIGA, AMAZON WANT TO PREDICT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Statistics on sports broadcasts give context to what happened. The German Bundesliga and Amazon want to provide a data-based guess on what will occur next. The league announced a deal to make Amazon its official technology provider, a collaboration that will provide statistics for the Bundesliga’s television broadcasts and digital products. The new product will launch when the season resumes after the league’s winter break. Klaus Bürg, Amazon Web Services’ general manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, said in an interview he envisions “machine learning and artificial intelligence being applied to historical data” that will lead to a “very high probability of being right in what’s being predicted.” European soccer telecasts have been less immersed in the kind of data often used on U.S. telecasts of the NFL and Major League Baseball, rarely mentioning distances and speed of shots. 145
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MLB’s Statcast system provides information such as distance of home runs and hits, distance and speed of fielder runs and spin rates of pitches, just to mention a few. Andreas Heyden, executive vice president of digital innovation at the Deutsche Fussball Liga, said this deal goes beyond the current statistics provided by Sportradar and Opta. “To give them more information on the game and deliver a better, higher quality and faster speed, which is massively important and a deeper depth of data is something that at the end will also leverage the value of the rights,” he said. Data will be customized to each fans’ preference, according to Heyden, in a manner so “if I am fan of Club A and I hate Club B or I don’t like Club B, I only get news about Club B if they lose and not if they win.” “In the future, the consumption of sports generally and football, or soccer as it would be in the U.S., is going to be about any fan being able to have a different fan experience,” said Robert Klein, the CEO of Bundesliga International. “To be able to manage the wealth of information that we have and then drive it into meaningful products through the pipes, through to TV, through to the websites or through to mobile, we need a partner with the experience of an AWS, their ability of course in cloud service in terms of delivery, but also the innovation and understanding of artificial intelligence and machine learning.” Klein said the data is owned by the Bundesliga and its clubs, and it does not necessarily have to be shared with players.
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The international organization of players’ unions said it “strongly advocates” for “clear rules” on the use of such data. “These rules should cover the collection and storage of private player health data, the commercialization of player data, and the use of player data in contract negotiations,” FIFPRO said in a statement. “At the same time, we are in active discussions with FIFA to draw up industrywide standards to help make sure player data is handled securely and fairly, and in such a way as not to prejudice the lives and careers of players. 149
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TO STOP SIGN STEALING, MLB COULD FIGHT TECH WITH MORE TECH
If Major League Baseball really wants to stop its teams from electronically stealing signs, it might consider fighting technology with more technology. In a sport that’s increasingly driven by analytics and advancements, the majority of signs between players and coaches are still transmitted by low-tech hand signals that have been used for decades. Those hand signals are easily captured by the loads of video equipment around MLB stadiums that are used for television, replays and all kinds of stat tracking. All that technology can be — and obviously has been — used for cheating. The Houston Astros were hit with stiff punishment on Monday after an MLB investigation found the team used electronics to steal signs during the franchise’s run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. 151
Manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for a season and then fired by Astros owner Jim Crane. Boston manager Alex Cora was fired on Tuesday for his involvement with the Astros’ scheme and a separate ongoing investigation that involves the Red Sox. Considering those developments, it might be wise to save players and coaches from themselves. A partial model is already in place: The NCAA’s Southeastern Conference has used electronic communication between coaches and catchers during league games for the past two seasons, which allows the coach to talk strategy with the catcher through an earpiece. It’s much like the NFL, where an offensive coach tells plays to a quarterback. No hand signals needed. “I don’t know why everyone isn’t doing it — it’s fantastic,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “It allows the coach to speak directly to the catcher and speeds up the game.” In the SEC’s system, the catcher still has to relay signs to the pitcher the old-fashioned way with hand signals, but Mainieri said there’s no reason why pitchers couldn’t eventually be included in the conversation. It’s more common for coaches to call pitches in college, while catchers usually handle those responsibilities in the big leagues. MLB expects to show players some prototypes of pitcher-catcher communication devices at spring training camps this year, but there are no plans to put any of them in place. 152
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It would be unrealistic for a big league catcher to talk with the pitcher with a batter standing right next to him. Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said there could be ways to work around that problem, suggesting that a clicker or some other device could be employed. Former MLB catcher Buck Martinez, who played 17 seasons, said the technology is available and today’s generation of players would adapt to earpieces quickly if that’s the route the sport wanted to take. “I think most of these younger generation kids have earpieces in their ears most of the time anyway,” Martinez said laughing, referencing the ubiquitous AirPods. “It’s just normal. It would just be listening to baseball instead of music.” Under MLB’s current setup, the sport has tried to draw a distinct line about what’s allowed and what’s not when it comes to sign stealing. It’s a legal and time-honored part of baseball as long as it is done with the naked eye. Using technology is prohibited. There’s a wide variety of opinion about how much technological cheating is actually happening and how effective it can be. Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said in November that he didn’t think it was a widespread problem. “I think MLB has done a really good job of cleaning up all of that stuff. It’s been a topic for a few years,” Hazen said shortly after the news broke that the Astros were being investigated by MLB. “There’s a lot of restrictions in place, there’s a lot of guidance in the clubhouse, oversight, in a good way.”
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But the temptation is everywhere. There are ways to capture just about every movement on a baseball field. Teams measure everything from the launch angle of the baseball off a bat to the spin rate of a pitcher’s breaking ball. Video is used to break down the minutiae of a pitcher’s motion or a batter’s swing in an effort to find any detail that could improve performance. Computers are even being employed to call balls and strikes at lower levels of the sport and could be coming to the big leagues in the near future. Yet signs from catcher to pitcher are often fairly easy to decipher, especially with the help of video. Former big league pitcher Jay Powell, who played 11 seasons and was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series with the Marlins, said there would be plenty of logistics to sort out. Infielders might need earpieces, too, since they’re often positioned according to the type and location of a pitch. Still, it’s certainly possible. “It might actually speed up the game,” Powell said. “If they ever went that route it would have to be similar how an offensive coordinator communicates with a quarterback — it’s live for 10 seconds or five seconds and then it’s cut off.” Martinez agreed that something similar might work. He said MLB could also limit access to replay rooms and make sure in-game video wasn’t available to players and coaches until after the game. The answers might not be simple, but the longtime catcher said they need to be found. Baseball should be decided between the players in the game, not by who has the best technology. “You’ve got to keep it on the field,” Martinez said. “There’s no question.” 156
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DATING APPS LEAK PERSONAL DATA, NORWEGIAN GROUP SAYS
Dating apps including Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder leak personal information to advertising tech companies in possible violation of European data privacy laws, a Norwegian consumer group said in a report this week. The Norwegian Consumer Council said it found “serious privacy infringements� in its analysis of how shadowy online ad companies track and profile smartphone users. The council, a government-funded nonprofit group, commissioned cybersecurity company Mnemonic to study 10 Android mobile apps. It found that the apps sent user data to at least 135 different third party services involved in advertising or behavioral profiling. 159
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“The situation is completely out of control,” the council said, urging European regulators to enforce the continent’s strict General Data Privacy Regulation, or GDPR. It said the majority of the apps did not present users with legallycompliant consent mechanisms. The council took action against some of the companies it examined, filing formal complaints with Norway’s data protection authority against Grindr, Twitter-owned mobile app advertising platform MoPub and four ad tech companies. Grindr sent data including users’ GPS location, age and gender to the other companies, the council said. Twitter said it disabled Grindr’s MoPub account and is investigating the issue “to understand the sufficiency of Grindr’s consent mechanism.” 161
Period tracker app MyDays and virtual makeup app Perfect 365 were also among the apps sharing personal data with ad services, the report said. IAC, owner of Tinder and OkCupid, said the company shares information with third parties only when it is “deemed necessary to operate its platform” with third party apps. The company said it considers the practice in line with all European and U.S. regulations. The U.S. doesn’t have federal regulation like the GDPR, although some states, notably California, have enacted their own laws. Nine civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of California, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Congress and state attorneys general of California, Texas and Oregon asking them to investigate the apps named in the report. “Congress should use the findings of the report as a road map for a new law that ensures that such flagrant violations of privacy found in the EU are not acceptable in the U.S.,” the groups said in a statement. The FTC confirmed it received the letter but declined to comment further. The creators of the MyDays, Perfect 365 and Grindr apps did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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US, UK OFFICIALS MEET AS PM JOHNSON’S HUAWEI DECISION NEARS
Image: Mark Schiefelbein
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British and American officials are meeting as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government prepares to decide on whether there’s a future for Chinese equipment maker Huawei in the country’s next-generation telecom networks, his spokesman said. U.S. officials responsible for national security and telecommunications were meeting their counterparts in Britain, James Slack told reporters. “The security and resilience of the U.K.’s telecoms network is of paramount importance,” Slack told reporters. “We have strict controls for how Huawei equipment is currently deployed in the U.K. The government is undertaking a comprehensive review to ensure the security and resilience of 5G and fiber in the U.K.” Slack said the government is “continuing to look at the security of the 5G network” and will inform Parliament once a decision is made. The U.S. government has been lobbying European allies for the past year to exclude Huawei from new ultra-fast 5G mobile networks, over worries that China’s communist rulers could compel the company to help with cyberespionage. The U.S. has warned that it would have to reconsider intelligence sharing with any countries that use Huawei gear. The company has repeatedly denied the allegations. U.K. security minister Brandon Lewis told the BBC this week the government would make a decision on Huawei “relatively soon.”
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