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SUMMARY

MISSING THE MOMENT: VIRTUAL REALITY’S BREAKOUT STILL ELUSIVE YOU’RE INVITED: A NEW LANDSCAPE WITH A CUTTING-EDGE APP SAFETY RATINGS YANKED AFTER TESLA PULLS RADAR FROM 2 MODELS A BATTLE OF 2 EMMAS — WITH KILLER FASHION AS WEAPON

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HUAWEI ROLLS OUT ITS OWN OPERATING SYSTEM TO SMARTPHONES 20 ZOOM’S BOOM CONTINUES IN 1Q, RAISING POST-PANDEMIC HOPES 30 CAN VIRTUAL REALITY HELP SENIORS? STUDY HOPES TO FIND OUT 38 AUTOMOTIVE CHIP MAKER SAYS IT’S NEARLY RECOVERED FROM BLAZE 70 CHINA TO SEND 3 MALE ASTRONAUTS TO ITS SPACE STATION IN JUNE 86 HARVARD RESEARCHERS RECOMMEND CENSUS NOT USE PRIVACY TOOL 94 EU GIVES TIKTOK A MONTH TO RESPOND TO CONSUMER COMPLAINTS 102 ‘PLAN B’ IS THIS SUMMER’S FIRST-CHOICE TEEN COMEDY 132 NEWER METHODS MAY BOOST GENE THERAPY’S USE FOR MORE DISEASES 140 SHOPPERS GO BACK TO STORES, BUT RETAILERS FACE CHALLENGES 152 IN VISIONS OF POST-PANDEMIC LIFE, ROARING ’20S BECKON AGAIN 160 GOV’T USE OF CHINESE DRONES IN LIMBO AS CONGRESS WEIGHS BAN 180 IN POST-PANDEMIC EUROPE, MIGRANTS WILL FACE DIGITAL FORTRESS 190 JAPAN’S VACCINE PUSH AHEAD OF OLYMPICS LOOKS TO BE TOO LATE 200 CHINESE CARGO SPACECRAFT DOCKS WITH ORBITAL STATION 210

MOVIES & TV SHOWS 106 MUSIC 114 TOP 10 SONGS 170 TOP 10 ALBUMS 172 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 174 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 176 TOP 10 BOOKS 178

MISSING THE MOMENT: VIRTUAL REALITY’S BREAKOUT STILL ELUSIVE

Virtual reality — computer generated 3D environments that can range from startlingly realistic to abstract wonderlands — has been on the cusp of wide acceptance for years without ever really taking off. The pandemic should have been VR’s big moment, offering an escape for millions of locked-in households. Special headsets and gloves let people interact with a 360-degree, three-dimensional environment, seemingly a good fit for people stuck indoors. But consumers preferred simpler and more accessible tech like Zoom, Nintendo’s Switch and streaming services like Netflix. 09

MISSING THE MOMENT: VIRTUAL REALITY’S BREAKOUT STILL ELUSIVE

It’s the latest disappointment in an industry famous for stop-start progress. Patrick Susmilch, 33, an administrative assistant in Los Angeles, figured it was time for a VR headset after the lockdown began. He has a PlayStation and a Nintendo Switch and was spending about an hour and a half a day gaming when he couldn’t do outdoor hobbies like rock climbing at the beginning of the pandemic. He had tried an Oculus when it was still a Kickstarter project in 2013, and thought it would be ready for prime time in 2020. “I was stuck at home here in L.A.,” he said. “I thought now must be the time.” Industry observers have thought the same thing for years. Facebook was so wowed by early demonstrations of the Oculus Rift back in 2012 that it bought the company for $2 billion. Rivals like the HTC Vive and Samsung’s Gear launched in 2015. The Oculus Rift finally went on sale in 2016. But consumers have balked at the hardware’s expense: a headset costs several hundred dollars, the same price as video game consoles that support hundreds of games. Early VR headsets also lacked a game or service that would make them seem indispensable, like web browsers for consumer PCs or the mobile Internet for iPhones. Headsets’ hefty weight, slow software, and tendency to sometimes cause nausea also kept VR from taking off. “It’s not easy to try to do a work out while you have a 4-pound weight attached to your head,” said Susmilch. “And it doesn’t feel good to sweat directly into a $400 dollar piece of electronics you purchased.” 10

Facebook discontinued the Rift last month. Its latest devices have had more success. It launched the $300 Oculus Quest 2 in October, a cheaper and more sophisticated version of its original $400 wireless Oculus Quest. Facebook doesn’t release sales figures, but it says Quest 2 sales have been better than expected, and has already outsold all of its predecessors combined since its launch. The standalone headset doesn’t need to be tethered to a computer or gaming console, and is designed for gaming with dual hand controllers. In a call with analysts in April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Quest 2, while still mainly used for games, is increasingly used for activities like fitness and virtual workplaces. “I believe that augmented and virtual reality are going to enable a deeper sense of presence and social connection than any existing platform, and they’re going to be an important part of how we’ll interact with computers in the future,” Zuckerberg said. “So we’re going to keep investing heavily in building out the best experiences here, and this accounts for a major part of our overall R&D budget growth.” “Quest 2 serves as a necessary step towards VR maturity,” said Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen. “It’s also an expected step in the sense that consumers and the market have been conditioned by smartphone trends to see very regular technology upgrades.” Hardware updates are good, Nguyen said, but creating more content and ways to create content, and improving the gadgets’ usability, is needed for the tech to fully mature, he said.

Part of the original Quest’s success was the firstperson shooter VR game “Half-Life: Alyx” which sold about 680,000 copies in its first month, according to Nielsen’s SuperData. That’s a hit for VR games, but still niche compared with games like Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which sold 13.41 million copies worldwide in its first six weeks. Creating content for VR is “a heavy lift,” Nguyen said. “A lot of companies out there are creating platforms you can build stuff on. But the talent and content pipeline isn’t there yet.” Susmilch scoured online retail sites until he found an Oculus Quest he could pick up at a local Best Buy. He enjoyed it, but said the novelty wore off after only a few days. Firstperson shooter “Superhot VR” was fun, but he beat it after a couple of hours. He was hoping games like “Beat Saber,” a rhythm game that encourages movement, and boxing game “Box VR” would help him exercise, but found the headset unwieldy.

On the workplace side of VR, the absence of networking capabilities has also put a damper on things. Zoom was ready to go when the pandemic hit, and people could use hardware they already had to connect. While some small VR firms like Spatial offer VR meeting software, most people who suddenly found themselves working from home didn’t have a headset, and employers weren’t likely to spend money shipping them out. George Jijiashvili, principal analyst at research firm Omdia, said the Quest 2 is a big turning point for VR. It’s lower price point and wireless connectivity are two big draws. Omdia estimates 2.3 million Quest 2s were sold globally in the last quarter of 2020. That’s roughly half what it took Sony four years to sell with its PlayStation VR headsets. Still, “mass adoption of VR headsets remains well over a decade away,” Jijiashvili said, due to the lack of hit games or a “killer app” and the friction it takes to set up and use the headsets. He estimates people spent $1 billion on VR content in 2020 — a drop in the ocean compared to the $168 billion total consumer spending on video games in 2020. Susmilch ended up returning his Oculus. “I used the money to buy hiking gear and have just been spending the weekends hiking around the Angeles National Forest,” he said. The Quest 2 might address some of his comfort issues, he said, but he doesn’t plan on buying it. “Ultimately there just isn’t much to do in VR right now. Maybe when the Quest 3 comes out,” he said.

HUAWEI ROLLS OUT ITS OWN OPERATING SYSTEM TO SMARTPHONES

Huawei launched its own HarmonyOS mobile operating system on its handsets on Wednesday as it adapts to having lost access to Google mobile services two years ago after the U.S. put the Chinese telecommunications company on a trade blacklist. The Shenzhen-based company announced that about 100 Huawei smartphone models will use its proprietary HarmonyOS system, and that the operating system will also be available on certain tablets and smart screens in the fourth quarter of the year. 21

The launch of the operating system comes as the company is still cut off from American technologies including Google’s services and some computer chips to power its devices after the U.S. put it on an “entity list,” saying Huawei might aid China’s espionage efforts, an accusation the company vehemently denies. Huawei’s inclusion on the list restricts American companies from doing business with the Chinese telecommunications equipment and smartphone maker. The blacklist has been a critical blow for Huawei, which has relied on essential technologies from the U.S. “The user experience of HarmonyOS has surpassed the experience of the Android era. We solved issues such as the slowing down and lagging of devices over time in the Android era,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer unit, in an online product launch event Wednesday. “Our HarmonyOS has stronger functionality and endurance, and it will be the greatest operating system in this internet of things era,” he said. Once the world’s largest smartphone maker, Huawei fell out of the top five globally last year, nudged aside by South Korea’s Samsung, according to data from market research firm Canalys. Other Chinese smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo have since overtaken Huawei in terms of global sales. Huawei currently ranks seventh globally and third in China following a 50% drop in smartphone shipments in the first quarter of this year compared to last year. Last November, Huawei also sold its budget Honor smartphone brand as it sought to cushion the impact of the U.S. sanctions. 22

ZOOM’S BOOM CONTINUES IN 1Q, RAISING POSTPANDEMIC HOPES

Zoom is still booming, raising prospects that the video-conferencing service will be able to sustain its momentum, even as the easing pandemic lessens the need for virtual meetings. Some signs for optimism emerged in the company’s latest quarterly earnings report released this week. That fueled a 3% gain in Zoom’s recently slumping stock to $338 after the numbers came out. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan sought to reassure Wall Street that the San Jose, California, company will still play a key role in an evolving environment that is expected to give workers more flexibility to split their time between the home and office. Image: Albert Gea

Google is blocked in China, so Huawei users in China are unlikely to be affected. But the lack of access to Google services makes Huawei a less attractive choice for overseas users, who are used to watching videos on YouTube or using the Gmail email app, analysts say. Attempts to popularize Huawei’s new HarmonyOS may be an uphill task. Challenges to dominant operating systems have usually fallen flat, such as Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system and Samsung’s Tizen operating system, which is unpopular in the smartphone world but is used in smartwatches. “It’ll be interesting to see what the Harmony OS user interface looks like and whether there really are some features that give it a leg up with some users, but I’m not holding my breath,” said Bryan Ma, vice president of client devices at market research firm IDC. “It still comes back to all the discussion that’s been happening over the past couple years which is, if there’s no Google services, that’s a big problem,” he said. However, Huawei’s move to a mobile operating system that can run on smartphones could give it a new business model of distributing it to other smartphone vendors in China that might be eager to earn revenue by listing their apps on Huawei’s mobile services. “HarmonyOS might be quite appealing to vendors who don’t have the resources to build their own OS,” said Nicole Peng, vice president of mobility at Canalys.

ZOOM’S BOOM CONTINUES IN 1Q, RAISING POSTPANDEMIC HOPES

“Zoom is here to help each customer calibrate their future working model in their own way,” Yuan told analysts during a meeting hosted on the company’s service. “Many companies are redesigning the workplace to enhance the hybrid work experience.” Zoom’s revenue and profit continued to grow at dizzying rates that surpassed analysts’ projections. But other indicators depicted a company that may face more headwinds with the lifting of stay-at-home restrictions that have propelled the video-conferencing service’s popularity during the past 15 months. In one key measure, Zoom ended its FebruaryApril quarter with 497,000 customers that employed at least 10 workers and subscribed to the premium version of its service. That was a gain of 29,900 customers in that category from the November-January quarter, Zoom’s smallest increase during a three-month period since before the pandemic started. By comparison, Zoom added more than 183,000 customers with 10 or more employees during the same period last year when the pandemic clampdowns were still in an early stage. Those larger subscribers will be pivotal to Zoom’s ongoing success because they typically commit to longer-term contracts than employers with just a few workers who tend to prefer month-to-month commitments. In a show of confidence, Zoom management projected revenue above analysts’ estimates for both the current May-July quarter and its entire fiscal year, according to FactSet Research.

Image: Victor J. Blue

For its full year ending next January, Zoom now foresees annual revenue of nearly $4 billion. That would be a roughly 50% increase from last year, which saw revenue quadruple from the previous year. The uncertainty surrounding Zoom’s prospects in a post-pandemic economy already has caused its stock price to plunge by more than 40% from its peak of nearly $589 reached last October. Zoom’s current market value of nearly $100 billion is still more than triple what it was before the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020. What’s more, Zoom is making far more money than it did before the pandemic. Zoom Video Communications Inc. earned $227 million, or 74 cents per share, during its most recent quarter, up from a profit of $27 million at the same time last year. Revenue for the period nearly tripled from the same time last year to $956.2 million.

“Regardless of my age, I was right in the middle of it,” she said. Root, a retired insurance salesman, was blunt: “It blows my mind.” Chris Brickler, CEO of MyndVR, the Dallas company that provided the equipment, said volunteers will be screened to assure they are mentally suitable for using virtual reality and each attendant has an abort button if the person becomes overwhelmed by the experience. John Knox’s residents include people and couples who live alone, in assisted living and with fulltime nursing. “As we age, we feel there is a disconnect sometimes that can happen when there is a lack of mobility,” Brickler said. “We can’t travel as much as we want, we can’t connect with nature as much as we want, can’t have connections with animals. All sorts of connections get lost and our four walls start shrinking in. What we have tried to do is create a platform where we can bring the world back.” Monica McAfee, John Knox’s chief marketing and innovation officer, said the community’s administrators believe VR helps residents — it’s been used on a limited basis there for three years — but Stanford’s study “will provide the empirical data.” For example, she said, they want to know if VR can help residents with dementia who suffer from “sundowning” — severe mood downswings that begin at dusk. “Is this a way to redirect them to enjoy something?” she said. Northern Ohio University associate philosophy professor Erica Neely, who studies the ethics 42

Image: Lynne Sladky

of technology, said it’s important that Stanford is getting fully informed consent, screening participants and making sure they aren’t using VR alone, especially at first. She is not involved in the study. “We definitely don’t want anyone to get stuck in the experience if they become distressed and can’t figure out how to turn it off,” she said. “The fact that there is a companion/caretaker who can go with (the participant) is utter genius. ... The idea of ‘Well, we don’t necessarily have people with diminished capacities wandering around by themselves through physical space — maybe we can do the same for virtual space’ was a really good one.”

Image: Lynne Sladky

designers and app developers to introduce a new concept of light, intelligent, innovative reading, in partnership with our partners at PublishChannel. Together, we have engineered a new concept of light, intelligent, innovative reading, with a user interface that just works. Inspired by ten years of AppleMagazine and built using the latest iOS design guidelines, icons, and elements, we’ve built a new platform that’s as natural, simple, and intuitive as possible; the idea is to open our app for the first time and feel like you’ve been using it for years. Elegantly designed and highly interactive, the new AppleMagazine app will keep you updated on Apple and its cultural influence, all in one place, and only one tap away. Whether you’re enjoying your first cup of coffee on a Sunday morning, or you’re on a business trip traveling on a Boeing 737 with colleagues, AppleMagazine will be there in your palms, instantly accessible on your iPhone, iPad, and of course via AppleMagazine.com. Our exclusive design offers a state-of-the-art user interface, highly interactive with engaging active links to web content, video platforms, native apps, podcasts, and everything online.

ELEVATING THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE EXPERIENCE The new AppleMagazine app really comes into its own when considering design. Whether you’re reading the latest issue or backdated content, your screen will apply a background from the cover, slightly mimicking the interface to match the issue’s mood to better immerse you into the cover story. What’s more, the magazine reader has been designed from 53

For almost ten years, AppleMagazine has kept you abreast of the latest in the technology world. Today marks a new chapter. Introducing the AppleMagazine app for iOS, transforming the landscape, and offering exciting new ways to stay updated on the latest consumer-tech news. Elegantly designed and highly interactive, it’s now available on the Apple App Store.

INTRODUCING THE APPLEMAGAZINE APP The chances are that AppleMagazine is not new to you - after all, you’re reading our 501th edition right now! For close to a decade, we’ve been at the cutting-edge of technology and entertainment journalism, keeping millions of readers up-to-date on the latest goings-on, not only from Apple, but other technology brands, as well as covering major industry stories like the Huawei ban, global chip shortage, and of course, the impact COVID-19 has had on the way we live and work. Although our magazine has been available from a number of popular, well-respected newsstands since our inception, we realized that it was time to offer a more personalized and controlled experience for modern, on-the-go consumers. And that’s how the all-new AppleMagazine app, available exclusively on iOS and iPadOS, was born. Our weekly publication is jam-packed with news, stories, reviews, and content covering the latest in the world of Apple - nothing will change there. But what does change is where and how you access AppleMagazine; for the first time, our dedicated app will be your first port of call. For more than a year, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes with a team of 50

the ground up, providing two different ways to read the magazine, in both portrait and landscape modes, ideal for iPads and iPhones. The regular reader provides a fluid experience so you can read the latest issue from cover to cover, whilst Mosaic Mode has been evolved from just a thumbnail, allowing you to Zoom through the content, access multiple pages at the same time, and drag and drop content - even those not sequential - to create a personalized reading experience. Whether you’re comparing developments from issue to issue or you’re highlighting content that’s relevant to your business, the AppleMagazine app makes it easier than ever. It’s designed exclusively for your iPhone and iPad, taking advantage of the powerful ecosystems Apple has built to maximize usability and readability on every device. One area where the AppleMagazine app further elevates the experience is offering direct access to our website, where you’ll find up-to-theminute news and information on all things Apple and technology. Whether we’re covering a Worldwide Developers Conference, sharing a review of a new Apple TV+ show, or reporting on a breaking news story, our app serves as a hub, complementing the weekly magazine experience with daily news, entertainment articles, and more. Combined, they provide a new experience and form the ultimate location for technology fans and professionals. You need look no further for the latest information. Plus, for the first time, the AppleMagazine app allows us to offer our entire back catalog of content in one place - all available under a single subscription. Inspired by old comic book 54

AppleMagazine By Mindfield Digital Category: Magazines & Newspapers Compatibility: iPhone: Requires iOS 13.0 or later. iPad: Requires iPadOS 13.0 or later. iPod touch: Requires iOS 13.0 or later. Mac: Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip.

collections, you’ll experience the very first issue of AppleMagazine (where you’ll see a Yoda listening to an iPod mini) right through to Issue 501 and beyond. Readers will have access to ten years of Apple’s history, reliving the most important chapters of consumer tech and the social media era. Consider how far we have evolved over the past decade - the rise of the iPhone, the introduction of the Apple Watch, and the growing dominance social networks have over our lives - and imagine the hours of fun you can enjoy reminiscing about each development and launch. This experience is only possible by subscribing to the new app. Speaking of the new user-focused app, Michael Danglen, designer at AppleMagazine, said: “At AppleMagazine, we care a great deal about the visual, and creating a magazine that not only offers something different but something that looks great. With our new iOS app, we’ve managed to achieve both, elevating the magazine experience without compromising on aesthetics. The result is a product that looks amazing, is fun to read, and helps you get closer to the story, wherever and however you’re accessing our content.”

PUTTING YOUR PRIVACY FIRST At AppleMagazine, we care strongly about user privacy and security and closely follow Apple’s ethos and values for the same. As part of our allnew application, we’re supporting Sign In With Apple as standard, allowing users to sign up for an app account without handing over their personal information. What’s more, subscriptions are possible via the App Store - you don’t need to enter your card details or manually input 59

endless information so you can access your favorite content. Instead, subscriptions are managed and controlled by Apple, giving you peace of mind and ensuring personal data stays out of harm’s way. Our development team is fully committed to offering a safe, privacy-focused environment, and as such, your activity won’t be tracked across the web, and you’ll enjoy an ad-free experience when browsing the AppleMagazine. com companion website inside of the app. What’s more, we’re committed to supporting Apple’s future privacy-focused endeavors, far beyond the latest App Tracking Transparency features released as part of iOS 14.5. In fact, we are so dedicated to Apple’s privacy focus that we support Sign In With Apple exclusively; users cannot sign up or sign in without an Apple ID, and cannot use Google or Facebook’s alternatives, both widely considered to be less secure and sell user data to third parties.

A NEW ERA FOR DIGITAL MAGAZINES In today’s era, where more consumers get news from social media than television networks, monetizing and sustaining a digital magazine has become increasingly challenging. Only a small percentage of the famous titles we knew ten years ago have survived this day, and those who have remained have seen their readerships shrink to unsustainable levels. It’s also worth noting that, for publishers such as AppleMagazine, digital newsstands that were once considered lifelines have instead grown their authority and control and cannibalize sales, with more than 60% of all revenues generated going back into these distributors. 60

AUTOMOTIVE CHIP MAKER SAYS IT’S NEARLY RECOVERED FROM BLAZE

A fire-damaged Japanese factory that supplies many of the auto industry’s computer chips is producing about 88% of what it was making before the March blaze, its owner says. Renesas Electronics Corp. said this week that replacements for fire-damaged equipment arrived on May 27, and should be running in mid-June. That would allow the company to return to full production. The March 19 Renesas fire and a worldwide shortage of computer chips have wreaked havoc on auto industry production schedules, forcing companies to cut production and allocate scarce chips to higher-margin models. 70

real challenge” while Henry Tobias Jones of the Start It Up Magazine on Medium writes that: “59% of links shared aren’t read before they’re shared, which means most of the articles being passed around could actually just be headlines and subheadings with a picture.” At AppleMagazine, we’re confident that there’s still a real appetite for quality, long-form content, and journalism, and through our dedicated app, we’re making it easier to access than ever. Speaking of the new app, Ivan Castilho, founder, and CEO of AppleMagazine said: “After ten years, we’ve finally crafted an experience that we want to offer to our readers, a channel to provide the best of visual art, content, and interactive entertainment. An app designed to be seamless, immersive, interactive, invisible

The production cuts have crimped the supply of new vehicles just as demand recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, causing shortages and raising new vehicle prices. Used vehicle prices have hit record levels. Ford, for instance, said it the shortage would halve its production from normal levels in the second quarter. Nearly all automakers have been affected but Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Honda, Stellantis, Tesla and Volkswagen have been hit. While near-normal production at the Renesas Naka plant is good news for the auto business, it won’t solve the industry’s shortage by itself, said Phil Amsrud, senior principal analyst with IHS Markit who tracks automotive semiconductors. Renesas is the third-largest maker of automotive chips by revenue, and the largest supplier of microcontroller units, which are widely used on automobiles, Amsrud said. But it contracts for a majority of auto chip production from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is still working to increase output, Amsrud said. “Naka by itself is not going to be able to fill the entire hole that we have in the supply chain,” he said. It will take until the third quarter for the auto industry to see the improved output from TSMC and other chip foundries, but it won’t be enough to fill a backlog, he said. Even from October through December, the auto industry still won’t have enough chips, he said. “We should start seeing an improvement, but we won’t be able to ship everything we didn’t fill earlier,” Amsrud said. There are as many as 80 different computers in more sophisticated models that control everything from touch screens to transmissions to partially automated driver safety features. 72

SAFETY RATINGS YANKED AFTER TESLA PULLS RADAR FROM 2 MODELS

Two key groups that offer automobile safety ratings are yanking their top endorsements from some Tesla vehicles because the company has stopped using radar on its safety systems. Consumer Reports pulled its “Top Pick” status for Tesla’s Model 3 and Y vehicles built after April 27, while the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety plans to remove the vehicles’“Top Safety Pick Plus” designation. The U.S. government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is no longer giving the Models 3 and Y check marks on its website for 79

AUTOMOTIVE CHIP MAKER SAYS IT’S NEARLY RECOVERED FROM BLAZE

But critics have said that even with radar, Tesla doesn’t have the right sensors for self-driving vehicles. It doesn’t have laser sensors called lidar, which can see through darkness and bad weather, they say. Most other companies testing autonomous vehicles use lidar. Tesla’s Autopilot system has had trouble spotting fixed objects and tractor-trailers turning in front of its vehicles. At least three people have been killed while driving on Autopilot when their cars crashed beneath trailers or into a highway barrier. In addition, Teslas on Autopilot have struck police cars and firetrucks parked on freeways with their flashing lights on. NHTSA, the government safety agency, has investigated 29 incidents involving Teslas, but so far the agency has not taken action on Autopilot. The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that NHTSA and Tesla limit Autopilot to roads where it can operate safely, and that Tesla install a better system to make sure drivers are paying attention. Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, California, says on its website that some vehicles may be delivered with some safety features temporarily “limited or inactive.” Those include “Autosteer,” which keeps cars in their lanes. It will be limited to 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour) and a longer distance from traffic in front of the vehicle. Musk also has been criticized by Consumer Reports and others for calling his systems “Autopilot,” which implies that a car can drive itself, and “Full Self-Driving,” which the company says cannot drive on its own. 83

Automakers closed factories for about two months at the start of the pandemic last year to help stop it from spreading. But they came back faster than expected, and by then, chip makers had switched production to booming consumer electronics. Then the Renesas fire hit. The shortage is forcing the auto industry to rethink its supply chains and perhaps scrap some just-in-time parts deliveries.

A three-man crew of astronauts will blast off in June for a three-month mission on China’s new space station, according to a space official who was the country’s first astronaut in orbit. The plans for the station’s first crew were confirmed to state television by Yang Liwei, the manned space program’s deputy chief designer, as an automated spacecraft was launched with fuel and supplies for the Tianhe station.

SAFETY RATINGS YANKED AFTER TESLA PULLS RADAR FROM 2 MODELS

having forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and emergency brake support. That prompted the ratings groups’ actions. Both require electronic safety systems for the top safety designations. Consumer Reports says that removing radar and relying on cameras means the safety features may not be there when needed. A message was left seeking comment from Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department. “If a driver thinks their vehicle has a safety feature and it doesn’t, that fundamentally changes the safety profile of the vehicle,” David Friedman, Consumer Reports’ vice president of advocacy, said in a statement. “It might not be there when they think it would save their lives.” IIHS confirmed that it pulled the Top Safety Pick Plus designation, but said it remains for vehicles built with radar. The institute said it plans to test Tesla’s new system. Tesla says on its website that it’s making a transition to a new system called “Tesla Vision” that uses cameras, on Model 3s and Ys to be delivered starting in May. The new system will use cameras and Tesla’s neural network computer processing for safety systems, as well as Tesla’s “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” partially automated driver-assist systems. Tesla also has short-range sonar sensors. CEO Elon Musk has said that the eightcamera vision system works better than the best human drivers, and is a step toward the company’s self-driving ambitions. 80

CHINA TO SEND 3 MALE ASTRONAUTS TO ITS SPACE STATION IN JUNE

The Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, is the third and largest space station launched by China’s increasingly ambitious space program. Its core module was launched into orbit April 29. The Shenzhou 12 capsule carrying the crew will be launched from the Jiuquan base in China’s northwest next month, Yang said in comments broadcast by China Central Television. They will practice spacewalks and conduct repairs and maintenance as well as scientific operations.

Yang, who orbited Earth in 2003, gave no details of the astronauts’ identities or a flight date and said the crew will come from the program’s two earliest groups of astronauts. Asked whether women would be in the crew, Yang said, “on Shenzhou 12 we don’t have them, but missions after that all will have them.” The Tianzhou-2 spacecraft that docked with Tianhe carried 6.8 tons of cargo including space suits, food and equipment for the astronauts and fuel for the station, according to the space program. The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two more modules for the 70-ton station, supplies and the crew. Beijing doesn’t participate in the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. objections. Washington is wary of the Chinese program’s secrecy and its military connections. China has sent 11 astronauts, including two women, into space beginning with Yang’s flight in October 2003. The first female astronaut was Liu Yang in 2012. All of China’s astronauts to date have been pilots from the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army. Astronauts on the Tianhe will practice making spacewalks with two people outside the hull at one time, according to Yang. China’s first spacewalk was made in 2008 by Zhai Zhigang outside the Shenzhou 7 capsule. Also this month, the Chinese space program landed a probe, the Tianwen-1, on Mars carrying a rover, the Zhurong. 90

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HARVARD RESEARCHERS RECOMMEND CENSUS NOT USE PRIVACY TOOL

A group of Harvard researchers has come out against the U.S. Census Bureau’s use of a controversial method to protect privacy with the numbers used for redrawing congressional and legislative districts, saying it doesn’t produce data good enough for redistricting. The Harvard researchers said in a paper released last week that using the new privacy method will make it impossible for states to comply with the requirement that districts have equal populations, a principle also known as “One Person, One Vote.” The technique also doesn’t universally protect the privacy of people who participated in the 2020 census, they said. 95

The privacy method adds “noise,” or intentional errors, to the data to obscure the identity of any given participant in the 2020 census while still providing statistically valid information. Rather than use this technique, known as “differential privacy,” the researchers said the Census Bureau should rely on a privacy method used in the 2010 census, when data in some households were swapped with other households. “Over the past half century, the Supreme Court has firmly established the principle of One Person, One Vote, requiring states to minimize the population difference across districts based on the Census data,” they wrote. Differential privacy makes it “impossible to follow this basic principle.” The technique “negatively impacts the redistricting process and voting rights of minority groups without providing clear benefits,” the researchers said. The Harvard researchers made the recommendation as the Census Bureau puts the final touches on how it will use differential privacy. Simultaneously, a panel of federal judges in Alabama is deliberating whether the method can be used on the redistricting data expected to be released in mid-August. Alabama’s legal challenge argues differential privacy will produce inaccurate data, and the judges could rule any day. The Census Bureau says more privacy protections are needed as technological innovations magnify the threat of people being identified through their census answers, which are confidential by law. Computing power is now so vast that it can easily crunch third-party data sets that combine personal information from credit ratings and social media companies, 97

purchasing records, voting patterns and public documents, among other things. “With today’s powerful computers and cloudready software, bad actors can easily find and download data from multiple databases. They can use sophisticated computer programs to match information between those databases and identify the people behind the statistics we publish. And they can do it at lightning speed,” two Census Bureau officials, John Abowd and Victoria Velkoff, wrote in a blog post several weeks ago. The Harvard team — including political scientists, statisticians and a data scientist — simulated drawing a large number of realistic maps of political districts in different states. They used data from the 2010 census, applied the most recent Census Bureau version of the privacy technique, and followed rules that the political districts needed to have equal population and be compact and contiguous. According to the researchers, differential privacy made it more difficult to draw districts of equal population, particularly for smaller districts such as state legislative seats. It undercounted racially mixed areas, as well as politically mixed areas where both Democrats and Republicans lived, while overestimating racially and politically segregated areas, making it more unpredictable whether a minority voter would be included in a district where more than half of registered voters are either Black or Hispanic. That would either hamper or artificially inflate the voting power of minority groups, the researchers said. The technique “tends to introduce more error for minority groups than for White voters, 98

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and even more error for voters who are in a minority group” at the neighborhood level, the researchers said. If the Census Bureau ends up using the technique, statisticians should favor accuracy over privacy when attempting to balance the two principles, the researchers said. A team of Princeton researchers this week took issue with the conclusions by the Harvard researchers, saying they should be viewed with skepticism until the work has been peer reviewed. The Princeton researchers, Sam Wang and Ari Goldbloom-Helzner, said in a rebuttal paper that their analysis showed no practical consequence in the differences between the raw 2010 data and the ones where differential privacy was applied. The census data are not only used for redrawing congressional and legislative districts but they’re also utilized for determining how many congressional seats each state gets, as well as the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year.

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EU GIVES TIKTOK A MONTH TO RESPOND TO CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

The European Commission said it has given the Chinese-owned video app TikTok one month to answer complaints from a European consumer group over its commercial practices. The EU’s executive arm said it has started discussions involving the social media platform and the national consumer authorities following an alert launched earlier this year by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) about alleged breaches of consumers’ rights. The Commission said some contractual terms in TikTok’s policies could be considered misleading and confusing for consumers, adding that 103

concerns relating to issues including hidden marketing and advertising strategies targeting children were raised. TikTok is hugely popular with teenagers and young adults who use it to post and watch short-form videos. In February, the BEUC filed a complaint with the European Commission and the network of consumer protection authorities against TikTok. It argued that several terms in TikTok’s ‘Terms of Service’ are unfair and said the platform failed to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and potentially harmful content. “The current pandemic has further accelerated digitalization,” said Didier Reynders, the Commissioner for Justice. “This has brought new opportunities but it has also created new risks, in particular for vulnerable consumers. In the European Union, it is prohibited to target children and minors with disguised advertising such as banners in videos. The dialogue we are launching today should support TikTok in complying with EU rules to protect consumers.” TikTok said it complies with local laws and regulations governing ads for young people. The company has “taken a number of steps to protect our younger users, including making all under-16 accounts private-by-default, and disabling their access to direct messaging,” TikTok’s director of public policy for Europe, Caroline Greer, said in a statement. “Further, users under 18 cannot buy, send or receive virtual gifts, and we have strict policies prohibiting advertising directly appealing to those under the age of digital consent.”

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North Hollywood After graduating from high school, Michael (Ryder McLaughlin) aspires to become a professional skateboarder, but experiences pushback from his father Oliver (Vince Vaughn), who wants Michael to either go to college or follow his lead by joining the construction industry.

FIVE FACTS: 1. North Hollywood was directed, coproduced and written by Mikey Alfred, who owns the skateboard and clothing brand Illegal Civilization. by Mikey Alfred Genre: Comedy Released: 2021

2. Alfred grew up in the area of North Hollywood in Los Angeles, and started skateboarding at the age of 10.

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3. Alfred was a co-producer on the 2018 film Mid90s. 4. A number of professional skaters, including Andrew Reynolds and Louie Lopez, cameo in North Hollywood. 5. In March 2021, it was announced that North Hollywood would premiere as a drivein screening at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California later that month.

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The Water Man A boy called Gunner (Lonnie Chavis) embarks on a quest – in which he is later joined by a mysterious girl, Jo (Amiah Miller) – to find a mystical being called the Water Man, who is said to have magic powers that could theoretically heal Gunner’s sick mother Mary (Rosario Dawson).

FIVE FACTS: 1. David Oyelowo directs and co-produces this film while also playing Gunner’s father, Amos Boone. 2. Oyelowo originally planned only to produce and act in the film, but was ultimately persuaded by its scriptwriter Emma Needell to make his feature directorial debut on it as well. 3. According to Oyelowo, he approached fellow actor-directors Angelina Jolie, Mel Gibson, Joel Edgerton and Nate Parker for advice. 4. A screening of The Water Man was scheduled for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. 5. RLJE Films obtained US distribution rights to The Water Man in February 2021.

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by David Oyelowo Genre: Action & Adventure Released: 2021 Price: $14.99

THE WATER MAN Official Trailer

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good Moroles swaggers through the film as a creature all her own. She’ll even convince you that Christian trap music can rock. “Plan B,” a Hulu release, isn’t rated by the Motion Picture Association of America but contains language and sexual material that would suggest an R rating. Running time: 108 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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life’s a beach easy life As its title indicates, British alternative R&B band easy life’s debut album is a tribute to the coastal life. Nonetheless, the album has more than a few shades of darkness, even if it ends on an optimistic note with “music to walk home to”, a collaboration with producer Fraser T. Smith.

FIVE FACTS: 1. Vocalist Murray Matravers and his sax- and bass-playing classmate Sam Hewitt formed easy life in 2017. 2. “Being from Leicester, we’re really, really far from the beach,” Matravers revealed to Apple Music. 3. He continued that the album was about “dreaming big and trying to get out of your head. It was about the idea that surely life can be better than this.” 4. Matravers wrote the album’s lead single “daydream” during lockdown. 5. Matravers says the track is “about missing people”, emphasizing that “I spun it romantically, but it spans across friendships and family.”

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Genre: Alternative Released: May 28, 2021 12 Songs Price: $9.99 easy life - daydreams

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A BATTLE OF 2 EMMAS — WITH KILLER FASHION AS WEAPON

The Met Gala should be so lucky. In a spectacular (though sadly fictional) red carpet moment that easily rivals Lady Gaga’s 2019 Met Gala striptease , a sanitation truck arrives, ready to offload its trash. But then Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil somehow emerges from the detritus, gathering a 40-foot-train around her and looking like a demented Cinderella arriving at the ball — if her fairy godmother were a hybrid of Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. 123

Her nemesis, Emma Thompson as the icy Baroness von Wintour, we mean von Hellman, glares. And there we have the three main elements that make Disney’s “Cruella” a guilty pleasure, at least for the eyes: Emma S, Emma T, and fashion. Killer fashion. Let’s get out of the way what’s sure to be the major complaint about this film, an origin story for the dog-hunting Disney villainess introduced in the 1961 animated classic “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”: It’s long. No really. It’s loooong. At 134 minutes, it definitely could benefit from a pair of shears. But, rather like that 40-foot-train garbage dress — kudos to costume designer Jenny Beavan, the film’s true heroine — why cut when you have Emma Stone in you, giving her all? That was probably the thinking from director Craig Gillespie. It does make some sense. Stone is always compelling, and with an ace nemesis in Thompson, she’s having a blast. Plus, with all those clothes, and a story set in the colorful punk revolution of 1970s London (with soundtrack to match), you need more movie. Thompson wears more than 30 looks, each more “haute” (read haughty) than the next, and Stone around 50. Still, when a movie brazenly celebrates style over substance, part of style is arguably knowing when to stop. Let’s also get the obvious puns out of the way: “The De Vil Wears Prada.” “The Devil Wears Disney.” Etc. Yes, there’s more than a passing reference to that very durable 2006 film, which also pitted an aspiring young woman (Anne Hathaway) against a powerful fashion-world ice queen (Meryl Streep) modeled on Wintour. 124

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with a punishing new wave of cases. And even in places where cases are falling and vaccinations are expanding, deep wounds remain from more than a year of death, illness and isolation. COVID-19 won’t disappear. More infectious variants are circulating. Herd immunity may be elusive. Long-term health effects will linger. There will be no Hollywood ending. But a coming summer and a soaring stock market have lifted optimism and fueled predictions of a new Roaring Twenties. This time, Bill Maher has suggested, we do it without “the Depression at the end of it.” The New Yorker joked that prohibition in “the New Roaring Twenties” should be on “company-mandated virtual happy hours.” Madison Avenue has turned up the heat. Suitsupply, a men’s fashion brand, is running a suggestive ad campaign with writhing models and the tagline: “The New Normal Is Coming.” Summer travel is booming. A summer of love “sexplosion ” is predicted. Even the bob is back in style. Is it fair to connect these twin ’20s, both decades that follow closely on the heels on of worldwide pandemic? Could two ’20s really roar? Do we all need to start buying flapper dresses and brushing up on our F. Scott Fitzgerald? Some of the parallels are legitimate, says Nicholas Christakis, professor of sociology and medicine at Yale University and author of “Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.” After an interim period of “coping with the clinical, psychological and economic shock of the virus,” he says, we’ll see an uplift this summer, with a post-pandemic period taking root by 2023. It will, he says, be “a bit of a party.” 162

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Depression,” the author and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in 1926. It’s not hard to see many of the same threads today: racial injustice, economic inequity, convulsive technological change. The 1921 campaign slogan of Warren G. Harding — “a return to normalcy” — sounds very familiar and even appealing to those who have had it with the “new normal.” Forecasts on Wall Street, of course, vary. The United Nations last month raised its global economic forecast to 5.4% growth in 2021. While many analysts are predicting the pace to quicken in the months and years ahead, Tina Fordham, partner and head of global political strategy for Avonhurst, foresees a postlockdown period that will feel like “The Great Gatsby” only to a few. “For many, it could be more like ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ unless steps are taken to address inequities — which accelerated during the pandemic — and the gaps in the social safety net,” Fordham concluded. Are we even right to connect the 1920s with the 1918 influenza? To John M. Barry, author of the defining history “The Great Influenza,” it’s a false association. The so-called Spanish Flu was far more virulent and deadly. It killed more than 50 million worldwide and some 675,000 Americans — more than ten times the toll of WWI to the U.S. “People seem to think we just leapt into the Roaring Twenties,” says Barry. “But first we went through 1919, which is one of the most chaotic and violent years in American history. Then you had a serious recession in 1920, 1921. The aftermath this time, one would hope, is quite different.” 167

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People also experienced the 1918 influenza differently. Lockdowns then never lasted more than a few weeks. The societal surge that followed in the ’20s? Most historians ascribe that to the postwar period. “The Roaring Twenties, that was the Lost Generation,” says Barry, who is writing a book on the COVID-19 pandemic. “There was a sense of fatalism, ennui, disillusionment with the world that I think was much more closely related to the war.” Lucy Moore, author of “Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties,” connects World War I with the 1918 influenza in that they both were punishing for young Americans. The 1920s, says Moore, were propelled by a disillusioned, emancipated youth. “The young have sacrificed a lot during this pandemic on behalf of the older generation,” Moore says. “There was a sense of that after the war and after the Spanish Flu. The war was very much young people being sent off to die by an older generation they’d been taught to trust but then felt very let down by.” Whether the same response will happen in the aftermath of this pandemic is something to watch for. The crisis is far from over, Christakis cautions. “We don’t want to spike the ball at the 5-yard line,” he says. But throughout history, Christakis sees a pattern common to prolonged calamity. Plagues are followed by boom times. After the Black Death came the erosion of feudalism. “The Roaring Twenties is just a metaphor,” Christakis says. “Grief walks the streets during times of plague, so people will rightly be relieved when this period of loss is behind us.” 169

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crush (played by Michael Provost), ends up in the bathroom instead with Kyle (Mason Cook), a sincere kid into both magic and Jesus — and to Sunny about the most regrettable person in South Dakota to lose her virginity to. The next morning, panic sets in and Sunny needs a morning-after pill. Yet when Lupe (speaking for the too-ashamed Sunny) asks the pharmacist (Jay Chandrasekhar, the comedy director-actor of “Super Troopers”), he declines on the basis of the state’s “conscience clause,” which gives pharmacists a right of refusal due to religious beliefs. Here, “Plan B” doesn’t turn sober, by any means. There are still scenes to come involving a drugdealer’s pierced penis, an accidental dose of speed and a stolen car. But the film’s inherent set up is, like the comic equivalent to “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a poignant commentary on the hurdles to abortion. Sunny and Lupe drive Sunny’s mom’s Honda minivan to a Planned Parenthood in Rapid City, a three-hour trip that turns longer and more surreal than most Dakota drives. Here, “Plan B” sometimes drifts off course, but all of their adventures are a reminder why the typical conquests of the teen comedy are more complicated for young women. But “Plan B” never turns didactic. Pointed as the message of “Plan B” is, nothing supersedes just letting these two characters — traditionally bit players at best in high-school comedies — be themselves. They’re a pair of the most authentic 17-year-olds lately seen at the movies, something owed very definitely to two stars in the making in Verma and Moroles. Verma, is remarkably natural and soulful, while the so, so 137

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NEWER METHODS MAY BOOST GENE THERAPY’S USE FOR MORE DISEASES

Jordan Janz knew his gamble on an experimental gene therapy for his rare disease might be paying off when he returned to work and a friend sniffed him. “He said, ‘you have a normal smell, you smell good,’” Janz recalled. “And I’m like, ‘that’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said.’” The 22-year-old Canadian man’s previous treatment required 40 to 60 pills a day and left him smelling like rotten eggs or stinky cheese. He was born with a flawed gene that left him unable to make a protein needed by virtually every organ in the body. Kids with this disease can throw up a dozen times a day, need eye drops every hour to prevent blindness and often kidney transplants before they’re adults. 141

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But a ban could create problems for government users, since DJI dominates the global market for the small, low-altitude drones used by hobbyists, photographers, and many businesses and governments. There aren’t many affordable and reliable alternatives, said Carrick Detweiler, the CEO of Drone Amplified, which provides fire suppression payloads to drones operated by Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. “Everyone I talk to in the federal government is moving away from DJI whether or not these bills are passed,” said Detweiler, who is also a computer science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Everyone wants a U.S. system to be there and to work, it’s just that the U.S. drone industry was killed off by DJI a decade ago. It’s going to take three or four years before we’re at parity.” The proposed ban was recently folded into the broader American Innovation and Competitiveness Act, which was nearing passage in the Senate before it was abruptly postponed last Friday. While the ban wouldn’t go into effect until 2023, many federal agencies have already imposed temporary restrictions on the use of Chinese drones. Some have begun to phase them out entirely. But the ban could create other headaches. Because it would also ban federal funds from being used to buy or operate Chinese drones, it could hit police departments that rely on federal help to field new equipment. The Department of Homeland Security started halting such grants for Chinese-made drones last year. The Interior Department said it flew more than 11,000 drone flights in 2019 before temporarily 183

grounding its drones over cybersecurity concerns at the end of that year. Its drone program has been largely on hiatus since then, except for some emergency flights that are granted a waiver. In March, it started to make it easier to fly emergency missions for wildland fire response and search-and-rescue operations. Inside the government, the drone ban has met some resistance from officials eager to get their existing drone fleets back in the air for missions that don’t require secrecy. Some trade groups have argued that any drone restrictions should be based on specific security standards, not their country of origin. A summary of a recent Pentagon report obtained by The Associated Press found “no malicious code or intent” in drone software made by DJI and used by the Interior Department. The report assessed software used to operate DJI’s “Government Edition” drones and some fixes that were made to address data leakage vulnerabilities found in earlier audits. That May 6 document also made a big endorsement. “The DJI Government Edition versions that were tested, show no malicious code or intent and are recommended for use by government entities and forces working with US services,” wrote the author, Adam Prater, a technology expert and second chief warrant officer with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Prater declined to comment, saying he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. The Interior Department also declined to comment. In a statement, DJI spokesperson Adam Lisberg called the report summary “the strongest 184

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confirmation to date” of the safety and security of the company’s drones. Outside experts, however, panned the Pentagon conclusions. “It’s clear that this software was not designed for security at all,” said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy. Mike Monnik, an Australian expert, said there’s a “dangerous” risk that outside agents could pull data off the drones given their many unfixed software concerns. Monnik, the chief technology officer at DroneSec, a firm that researches drone cybersecurity vulnerabilities, added that only cutting off the drones entirely from the internet could ensure the security of their data. National security concerns about DJI drones have lingered since at least 2017, when a document from U.S. customs authorities alleged that the drones likely provided China with access to critical infrastructure and law enforcement data. DJI has repeatedly denied the allegations, but political concerns about Chinese technology accelerated amid President Donald Trump’s broader trade war against China. Last year, the Pentagon began promoting American-made — and more expensive — alternatives to DJI. The Defense Department in August gave a seal of approval to California drone-maker Skydio, French tech company Parrot and three other firms to supply U.S.manufactured drones to agencies across the federal government. But since then, the Pentagon has acknowledged that many militarygrade drones still present risks because they rely on components made in China. 186

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In December, the Commerce Department placed DJI on a list of blacklisted Chinese firms subject to export restrictions on national security grounds. DJI has tried to counter such concerns, enabling an internet “kill switch” on more drones so that commercial and government users can halt data transmission on sensitive flying missions. Its products have been favored by many local and regional governments in the U.S. for their price and reliability, but a federal ban could damage its reputation among those buyers. Aftergood said he could see a case for DJI only in situations where security isn’t a top concern. “It depends on other factors like cost, performance, lifetime, ease of use,” Aftergood said. “But to the extent that security is a controlling factor, you’d want to think twice.”

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IN POSTPANDEMIC EUROPE, MIGRANTS WILL FACE DIGITAL FORTRESS

As the world begins to travel again, Europe is sending migrants a loud message: Stay away! Greek border police are firing bursts of deafening noise from an armored truck over the frontier into Turkey. Mounted on the vehicle, the long-range acoustic device, or “sound cannon,” is the size of a small TV set but can match the volume of a jet engine. It’s part of a vast array of physical and experimental new digital barriers being installed and tested during the quiet months of the coronavirus pandemic at the 200-kilometer (125-mile) Greek border with Turkey to stop people entering the European Union illegally. A new steel wall, similar to recent construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, blocks commonly191

SHOPPERS GO BACK TO STORES, BUT RETAILERS FACE CHALLENGES

Americans are going back to one of their favorite pastimes: store shopping. With more people getting vaccinated and dropping their face masks, retailers from Walmart to Macy’s are seeing an eager return to their stores after more than a year of their customers migrating online during the pandemic. Marcia Williams, who lives in a Philadelphia suburb and who stuck to online shopping only during the height of COVID-19, went back to her local mall right after she was fully vaccinated last month. That was her first time in more than a year “I am definitely getting out,” said Williams, a hair and makeup artist who spent nearly $1,000 on clothing for herself and her three children during several buying trips. “I do feel more comfortable. I like the experience of trying on clothes. I love grocery shopping. It’s my outlet.” 153

The return to store shopping, highlighted in many retailers’ earnings reports in recent days, offers a big relief in part because fewer shoppers ask for their money back after making a purchase at the store — 8% compared with 25% for online, according to Forrester Research. And store customers tend to do more impulse buying. For clothing, for instance, 25% of purchases are done on a whim versus 16% online, says market research firm NPD Group Inc. “Retailers want you in the store,“ said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry advisor. “They need you to be in the store so you generate more traffic. Crowds bring more crowds. (Shoppers) buy more product.” Still, retailers — particularly mall-based stores and other specialty stores that were struggling even before the pandemic — face plenty of challenges to keep customers coming back. They face stepped up competition online and from discounters that thrived in the last year. Experts also say that post-pandemic shoppers will be even more demanding: After being forced to stay close to home, they’re looking for better and convenient services and experiences. Many retailers like Macy’s are still recovering from the pandemic, which forced them to temporarily close early last year, driving more traffic to big box stores that were allowed to stay open. And overall store traffic, while rebounding, is still not back to where it was two years ago. Customer counts at overall stores surged 43.2% for the week starting May 10 compared to the year-ago period, but that number was still down 5.6% for that same period in 2019, says mobile-device location data from foot-traffic 154

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analytics firm Placer.ai. In clothing, customer counts soared more than two-fold for the same timeframe, but it was down 11.2% on a two-year basis. For big-box stores like Target, customer counts were up 5.3% for the same period but down 4.9% on a two-year basis. Analysts are carefully watching the battered department store sector’s market share, which shrunk from 3% in 2019 to 2% last year and has remained at that figure for the first four months of the year, according to NPD. In comparison, discounters’ market share held steady at 21% last year from 2019 but ticked up to 22% for the early part of this year. Overall, market share for online retail rose to 26% last year from 23% in 2019. The pandemic pulled forward the pace of online spending by about two years. Online shopping is expected to account for 21% of overall sales, or $794 billion, in 2020 compared to the prior year and should increase to 27%, or $1.1 trillion in 2023, Forrester says. However, online sales growth is slowing down, from 29.5% last year to a projected 15.6% this year and 10% next year. Williams, who has a makeup line called Embellish Beauty and pivoted her consulting business to online during the height of the pandemic, says she will keep about 15% of her overall buying to online purchases like soap and other essentials. Still, physical shopping is still not the same as it was pre-COVID-19. For example, retailers’ beauty counters are not yet allowing shoppers to try on makeup. Target said it will resume product sampling in stores this year where customers can take home individually wrapped items. 157

Williams says she’s used to being served champagne when she shopped at Tiffany’s. But when she was at the upscale jeweler earlier this month, there was no champagne to be had because of COVID-19 restrictions. “Those are the experiences I missed,” she said. Still, store executives are feeling optimistic — for now. Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said last week that transactions in its stores were up for the first time in a year. At Target, sales at stores opened at least a year jumped 18% in the threemonth period that ended May 1. That follows a 6.9% increase in the previous quarter. That trend continued this week. Best Buy, which had earlier said that comparable store sales might fall this year, revised their expectations, saying that those sales, a critical gauge of a retailer’s health, will likely rise between 3% and 6% in 2021. Stores are seeing the return of shoppers “across all age demographics,” said CEO Corie Barry in a conference call with industry analysts. Many retail executives say that they are adding fresh new merchandise to welcome back shoppers. Target is planning to open Ulta Beauty shops in more than 100 Target stores by mid-2021. Kohl’s is getting ready to open Sephora beauty shops in 200 locations this fall. And Macy’s is leaning into such areas as toys, health and wellness, pet care, food and wine. “Clearly, our customer is ready to get on with life,” Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette told analysts last week. “We don’t see this as a short-term pop.” 158

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IN VISIONS OF POST-PANDEMIC LIFE, ROARING ’20S BECKON AGAIN

History repeats itself. But do decades duplicate? As hopes rise that the pandemic is ebbing in the United States and Europe, visions of a second “Roaring Twenties” to match last century’s postpandemic decade have proliferated. Months of lockdown and restrictions on social life have given way to dreams of a new era of frivolity and decadence. For some, it feels like party time. As hopes rise that the pandemic is ebbing in the United States and Europe, visions of a second “Roaring Twenties” to match last century’s postpandemic decade have proliferated. For some, it’s party time. In many parts of the world, such thoughts are unthinkable. India is engulfed in crisis. The virus is raging in South America. Japan is grappling 160

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“Understandably, people will be very relieved when this is all finally over. People have been cooped one way or another for a very long time,” Christakis says. “We’re going to see people relentlessly seeking out social opportunities in nightclubs and restaurants and bars and sporting events and musical concerts and political rallies. We might see some sexual licentiousness, some loosening of sexual mores.” Such prognostications have tantalized many eager for the fabled liberation of a century ago — what Fitzgerald described as “the most expensive orgy in history.” Outside of the 1960s, perhaps, no decade looms larger in the collective imagination than the 1920s, thanks in part to the emerging mass culture that captured the time — the swinging speakeasies, the Harlem Renaissance, the first “talkie” in 1927’s “The Jazz Singer.” Over time, the mythology has only grown glitzier (see Baz Luhrmann, “Gatsby,” 2013). There’s truth in that portrait of the ’20s, but mainly to wealthier white Americans. The decade was punishing to farmers; for the first time, more people lived in cities. Membership surged for the Ku Klux Klan, which targeted African Americans, immigrants, Jews and Catholics — anyone who didn’t meet its definition of a “real American.” In 1921, one of the worst incidents of racial violence occurred — the Tulsa Race Massacre. Three years later, the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe. The 1920s, in short, were not all they were cracked up to be. “We have today in the United States, cheek by jowl, Prosperity and 165

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GOOD 4 U

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ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN

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LEVITATING (FEAT. DABABY)

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Billie eiliSh

LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN

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HOW NUDE

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FIGHT TIME

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UNFINISHED BUSINESS

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GOV’T USE OF CHINESE DRONES IN LIMBO AS CONGRESS WEIGHS BAN

More than a year after the U.S. Interior Department grounded hundreds of Chinesemade drones it was using to track wildfires and monitor dams, volcanoes and wildlife, it’s starting to look like they won’t be flying again any time soon — if ever. A measure moving through Congress would impose a five-year ban on U.S. government purchases of drones manufactured or assembled in China. It reflects bipartisan concerns that devices made by companies such as DJI, which is based in Shenzhen, China, could facilitate Chinese spying on critical infrastructure. 180

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IN POSTPANDEMIC EUROPE, MIGRANTS WILL FACE DIGITAL FORTRESS

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used crossing points along the Evros River that separates the two countries. Nearby observation towers are being fitted with long-range cameras, night vision, and multiple sensors. The data will be sent to control centers to flag suspicious movement using artificial intelligence analysis. “We will have a clear ‘pre-border’ picture of what’s happening,” Police Maj. Dimonsthenis Kamargios, head of the region’s border guard authority, told the Associated Press. The EU has poured 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) into security tech research following the refugee crisis in 2015-16, when more than 1 million people — many escaping wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — fled to Greece and on to other EU countries. The automated surveillance network being built on the Greek-Turkish border is aimed at detecting migrants early and deterring them from crossing, with river and land patrols using searchlights and long-range acoustic devices. Key elements of the network will be launched by the end of the year, Kamargios said. “Our task is to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally. We need modern equipment and tools to do that.” Researchers at universities around Europe, working with private firms, have developed futuristic surveillance and verification technology, and tested more than a dozen projects at Greek borders. AI-powered lie detectors and virtual borderguard interview bots have been piloted, as well as efforts to integrate satellite data with footage 193

from drones on land, air, sea and underwater. Palm scanners record the unique vein pattern in a person’s hand to use as a biometric identifier, and the makers of live camera reconstruction technology promise to erase foliage virtually, exposing people hiding near border areas. Testing has also been conducted in Hungary, Latvia and elsewhere along the eastern EU perimeter. The more aggressive migration strategy has been advanced by European policymakers over the past five years, funding deals with Mediterranean countries outside the bloc to hold migrants back and transforming the EU border protection agency, Frontex, from a coordination mechanism to a full-fledged multinational security force. But regional migration deals have left the EU exposed to political pressure from neighbors. Earlier this month, several thousand migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in a single day, prompting Spain to deploy the army. A similar crisis unfolded on the Greek-Turkish border and lasted three weeks last year. Greece is pressing the EU to let Frontex patrol outside its territorial waters to stop migrants reaching Lesbos and other Greek islands, the most common route in Europe for illegal crossing in recent years. Armed with new tech tools, European law enforcement authorities are leaning further outside borders. Not all the surveillance programs being tested will be included in the new detection system, 194

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but human rights groups say the emerging technology will make it even harder for refugees fleeing wars and extreme hardship to find safety. Patrick Breyer, a European lawmaker from Germany, has taken an EU research authority to court, demanding that details of the AI-powered lie detection program be made public. “What we are seeing at the borders, and in treating foreign nationals generally, is that it’s often a testing field for technologies that are later used on Europeans as well. And that’s why everybody should care, in their own selfinterest,” Breyer of the German Pirates Party told the AP. He urged authorities to allow broad oversight of border surveillance methods to review ethical concerns and prevent the sale of the technology through private partners to authoritarian regimes outside the EU. Ella Jakubowska, of the digital rights group EDRi, argued that EU officials were adopting “technosolutionism” to sideline moral considerations in dealing with the complex issue of migration. “It is deeply troubling that, time and again, EU funds are poured into expensive technologies which are used in ways that criminalize, experiment with and dehumanize people on the move,” she said. The London-based group Privacy International argued the tougher border policing would provide a political reward to European leaders who have adopted a hard line on migration. “If people migrating are viewed only as a security problem to be deterred and challenged, the inevitable result is that governments will 197

throw technology at controlling them,” said Edin Omanovic, an advocacy director at the group. “It’s not hard to see why: across Europe we have autocrats looking for power by targeting foreigners, otherwise progressive leaders who have failed to come up with any alternatives to copying their agendas, and a rampant arms industry with vast access to decision-makers.” Migration flows have slowed in many parts of Europe during the pandemic, interrupting an increase recorded over years. In Greece, for example, the number of arrivals dropped from nearly 75,000 in 2019 to 15,700 in 2020, a 78% decrease. But the pressure is sure to return. Between 2000 and 2020, the world’s migrant population rose by more than 80% to reach 272 million, according to United Nations data, fast outpacing international population growth. At the Greek border village of Poros, the breakfast discussion at a cafe was about the recent crisis on the Spanish-Moroccan border. Many of the houses in the area are abandoned and in a gradual state of collapse, and life is adjusting to that reality. Cows use the steel wall as a barrier for the wind and rest nearby. Panagiotis Kyrgiannis, a Poros resident, says the wall and other preventive measures have brought migrant crossings to a dead stop. “We are used to seeing them cross over and come through the village in groups of 80 or a 100,” he said. “We were not afraid. ... They don’t want to settle here. All of this that’s happening around us is not about us.” 198

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JAPAN’S VACCINE PUSH AHEAD OF OLYMPICS LOOKS TO BE TOO LATE

It may be too little, too late. That’s the realization sinking in as Japan scrambles to catch up on a frustratingly slow vaccination drive less than two months before the Summer Olympics, delayed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, are scheduled to start. The Olympics risk becoming an incubator for “a Tokyo variant,” as 15,000 foreign athletes and tens of thousands officials, sponsors and 201

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journalists from about 200 countries descend on — and potentially mix with — a largely unvaccinated Japanese population, said Dr. Naoto Ueyama, a physician, head of the Japan Doctors Union. With infections in Tokyo and other heavily populated areas currently at high levels and hospitals already under strain treating serious cases despite a state of emergency, experts have warned there is little slack in the system. Even if the country succeeds in meeting its goal of fully vaccinating all 36 million elderly by the end of July — already a week into the Games — about 70% of the population would not be inoculated. And many have dismissed the target as overly optimistic anyway. To meet it, Japan is vowing to soon start administering 1 million doses daily. It currently is only giving 500,000 per day, already a big improvement after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on military doctors and nurses and started making legal exceptions to recruit other vaccinators in order to boost the drive. “Vaccinations under the current pace are not going to help prevent infections during the Olympics,” Tokyo Medical Association Chairman Haruo Ozaki said. “The Olympics can trigger a global spread of different variants of the virus.” The International Olympic Committee says more than 80% of athletes and staff staying in the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay will be vaccinated — and they are expected to remain largely in a bubble at the village and venues. On Tuesday, Japan started vaccinating athletes who will go to the Games, the Japanese Olympic Committee said. 203

But vaccination rates are not clear for others involved in the Games who are coming from abroad, including hard-hit regions, and experts warn that even strict rules won’t prevent all mingling, especially among nonathletes. Spectators from overseas have been barred. Prominent medical journals have questioned the wisdom of pushing ahead with the Tokyo Games and the Asahi Shimbun — the country’s second-largest newspaper — has called for them to be canceled, reflecting widespread opposition to holding the Olympics now among the Japanese population. But the government has said it’s determined to push ahead, with the viability of Suga’s leadership and geopolitical competition with rival Beijing, the next Olympics host, as well as the health of millions, on the line. “By using a new weapon called vaccines and taking firm preventive measures, it is fully possible” to hold the Olympics safely, Suga told a parliamentary session. Officials are now desperately trying to think of ways to increase the shots at a time when medical workers are already under pressure treating COVID-19 patients. Many say they have no extra resources to help with the Olympics, if, for instance, the boiling Japanese summer causes widespread cases of heat stroke. Some local leaders in and around Tokyo have rejected the Olympics organizers’ requests to set aside beds for athletes. Dr. Shigeru Omi, former World Health Organization regional director and a head of a government taskforce, said it is crucial to start 204

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inoculating younger people, who are seen as likely to spread the virus, as soon as possible. More than three months into Japan’s vaccination campaign, only 2.7% of the population has been fully vaccinated. The country started its rollout with health care workers in midFebruary, months behind many other countries because Japan required additional clinical testing here, a step many experts say was medically meaningless. Inoculations for the elderly, who are more likely to suffer serious problems when infected, started in mid-April, but were slowed by initial supply shortages, cumbersome reservation procedures and a lack of medical workers to give shots. But there are signs of improvement. The vaccine supply has increased and despite earlier expectations of a hesitant response to vaccines in general, senior citizens fearful of the virus are rushing to inoculation sites. Since May 24, Japan has deployed 280 military doctors and nurses in Tokyo and the badly hit city of Osaka. More than 33,000 vaccination sites now operate across Japan, and more are coming, said Taro Kono, the minister in charge of vaccinations. In Sumida, a district in downtown Tokyo where boxing events will be held, vaccinations for its 61,000 elderly residents began on May 10, and within two weeks, 31% of them had gotten their first shots, compared to the national average of 3.7%. Sumida is now looking to start inoculating younger people later this month, well ahead of schedule.

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Close coordination among primary care doctors, hospitals and residents, as well as flexibility, have contributed to smooth progress, Sumida district spokesperson Yosuke Yatabe said. “It’s like a factory line,” Yatabe said. Ryuichiro Suzuki, a 21-year-old university student in Tokyo, said he is frustrated with Japan’s lagging vaccination campaign. “I saw that some of my friends overseas have been vaccinated, but my turn won’t come until later this summer,” he said. “The risk-averse government took extra caution even when our primary goal was to get back to normal as soon as possible.” Kono, the vaccine minister, said more largescale inoculation centers are getting underway, including at hundreds of college campuses and offices to start vaccinating younger people from June 21. Beyond the concerns about the Olympics and despite the fact that Japan has seen fewer cases and deaths compared to the United States and other advanced nations, the country’s slow pace of vaccinations and its prolonged, often toothless state of emergency could also delay its economic recovery for months, said Masaya Sasaki, senior economist at the Nomura Research Institute. And despite repeated expressions of official government confidence in the Games being safe, there are fears here of what might happen if vaccinations don’t pick up. “The Olympics, billed as a recovery Games, can trigger a new disaster,” said Ueyama, of the Japan Doctors Union. 209

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CHINESE CARGO SPACECRAFT DOCKS WITH ORBITAL STATION

An automated spacecraft docked with China’s new space station last Sunday carrying fuel and supplies for its future crew, the Chinese space agency announced. Tianzhou-2 spacecraft reached the Tianhe station eight hours after blasting off from Hainan, an island in the South China Sea, China Manned Space said. It carried space suits, living supplies and equipment and fuel for the station. Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, is third and largest orbital station launched by China’s increasingly ambition space program. 211

The station’s core module was launched April 29. The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two more modules for the 70-ton station, supplies and a three-member crew. China was criticized for allowing part of the rocket that launched the Tianhe to fall back to Earth uncontrolled. There was no indication about what would happen to the rocket from Saturday’s launch. Beijing doesn’t participate in the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. objections. Washington is wary of the Chinese program’s secrecy and its military connections.

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