MICRO-LOCATION: SEE WHERE WE’RE HEADED
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AUTOMAKERS IN CHINA GRADUALLY REOPEN AFTER VIRUS SHUTDOWN
TECH-STARVED GOVERNMENT SEEKS INDUSTRY’S BEST, BRIGHTEST
64 WHY WAIT? ‘SONIC THE HEDGEHOG’ WORTH RUSHING TO SEE
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ZUCKERBERG ACCEPTS THAT FACEBOOK MAY HAVE TO PAY MORE TAX 16 Q&A: FACEBOOK VP OF MESSENGER DISCUSSES PRIVACY 20 APPLE WARNS CHINA VIRUS WILL CUT iPHONE PRODUCTION, SALES 26 US JUDGE DISMISSES HUAWEI SUIT OVER GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS BAN 30 FACEBOOK’S INFLUENCERS NOD SHOWS MURKY SIDE OF CAMPAIGN ADS 34 YALE STUDENTS START DRONE DELIVERY SERVICE ON CAMPUS 60 SPACEX AIMS TO LAUNCH UP TO 4 TOURISTS INTO SUPER HIGH ORBIT 74 IN THE SPIRIT OF WHITNEY: HOUSTON HOLOGRAM TOUR SET TO BEGIN 106 CARDINALS SHILDT CALLS ASTROS’ UPHEAVAL ‘HEALTHY PURGE’ 114 2 JAPANESE BUSINESSMEN CHARGED IN TECH HARDWARE PRICE FIXING 118 APPS HELP VOLUNTEERS GET EXCESS FOOD TO THE HUNGRY 122 GERMAN COURT HALTS SITE PREPARATION FOR TESLA FACTORY 140 EU PROPOSES RULES FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO LIMIT RISKS 144 SPAIN LOOKS TO ADOPT DIGITAL TAX THAT HAS ANGERED THE US 150 JEFF BEZOS COMMITS $10 BILLION TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE 154
MOVIES & TV SHOWS 80 MUSIC 88 TOP 10 SONGS 130 TOP 10 ALBUMS 132 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 134 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 136 TOP 10 BOOKS 138
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AUTOMAKERS IN CHINA GRADUALLY REOPEN AFTER VIRUS SHUTDOWN
Automakers are reopening factories in China that were idled by anti-virus controls as they try to reverse a sales slump in their biggest market. Local officials have orders from the ruling Communist Party to get businesses functioning again while still enforcing anti-disease curbs that shut down much of the world’s secondlargest economy. “Local governments are putting their full weight behind helping businesses open,” the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Ker Gibbs, said in a statement. Toyota Motor Co. said two factories reopened Monday with one of the usual two daily shifts working. Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor Co., Mercedes Benz and Chinese brand Geely resumed some operations last week. General Motors Co. said a “staggered start” across its factories began last Saturday. Nissan Motor Co. plans to restart this week. 9
Automakers say they are checking employees for the virus’s telltale fever, barring visitors and telling employees to stay home if they have been in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, or other areas that have imposed travel curbs. The outbreak prompted the government to extend the Lunar New Year holiday to keep factories and offices closed and workers at home. The government has told employees who can work from home to stay there, but China’s vast manufacturing industries that supply the world with smartphones, toys and other goods need workers in factories. Obstacles include a requirement for workers who return from other areas — as millions are doing after the holiday — to make sure they are virus-free by staying at home for its 14-day incubation period. “Most factories have a severe shortage of workers, even after they are allowed to open,” said Gibbs. “This is going to have a severe impact on global supply chains that is only beginning to show up.” Automakers are under pressure to reverse a 2-year-old sales decline in a Chinese market they hope will propel global revenue. Sales of SUVs, minivans and sedans hit an annual peak of 24.7 million in 2017 and have declined since then. Last year’s sales tumbled 9.6% to 21.4 million. The virus “adds to the challenges that the sector is already facing,” said Fitch Ratings in a report. Groupe Renault said one of its factories in the southern city of Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, reopened Monday but the French automaker gave no indication of the status of another factory in Wuhan. 10
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Sales of vehicles are likely to be depressed through April, Fitch said. It said production might fall by the high single digits in the first half of 2020 compared with a year earlier. GM, Toyota and others said the pace of production depends on how fast they can restart the flow of components from thousands of Chinese suppliers that also shut down. That disruption could have global repercussions: UBS estimates China supplies 8% of auto parts exports worldwide.
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ZUCKERBERG ACCEPTS THAT FACEBOOK MAY HAVE TO PAY MORE TAX
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to throw his support behind international reforms that would require Silicon Valley tech giants to pay more tax in Europe. The billionaire social network founder is due to meet members of the European Union’s executive Commission in Brussels and speak at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Zuckerberg told last weekend that he’s backing plans for digital tax reform on a global scale proposed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to an excerpt of his speech provided in advance, Zuckerberg will say, “I understand that there’s frustration about how tech companies are taxed in Europe.” 17
Zuckerberg will tell the conference that he’s glad that that the OECD is looking at tax reform, which Facebook also wants. “And we accept that may mean we have to pay more tax and pay it in different places under a new framework.� The OECD plans would require digital and internet companies, including social media platforms, to pay more tax in countries where they have significant consumer-facing activities and generate profits. The current system for taxing multinationals is based on where they are physically located, which sees internet companies such as Facebook pay the majority of their tax in the United States. The situation is even more complicated in the European Union, where multinationals largely pay taxes on business done across the region in the one country that serves as their EU base, often a low-tax haven. Tech companies have faced criticism for not paying enough tax in come countries. The U.S., meanwhile, has criticized the OECD plans, arguing they discriminate against big Silicon Valley companies.
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Q&A: FACEBOOK VP OF MESSENGER DISCUSSES PRIVACY
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At Facebook, Stan Chudnovsky oversees the Messenger chat app that’s used by well over 1 billion people each month. He’s playing a key role in helping Facebook integrate that app with its other chat tools, WhatsApp and Instagram Direct. The massive project has already gotten pushback from regulators worried about Facebook’s size and power. Government officials also worry about Facebook’s plans to extend end-to-end encryption to Messenger. Once that happens, Facebook wouldn’t be able to respond to law enforcement subpoenas because it wouldn’t have a way to unscramble messages. Chudnovsky, who moved to the U.S. from Russia in 1994, joined Facebook in 2015. He spoke with the press recently about his work and views on privacy. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
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Q: What are the biggest roadblocks in bringing end-to-end encryption?
A: It’s technologically hard to move from the system that is alive and functioning and has billions of messages being sent every day to where it’s done completely differently architecturally. We also need to figure out how to do as much as we can on safety, while being the leaders on privacy. We are trying to go through that process slowly and very responsibly while talking to everyone. Most messages in the U.S., where (Apple’s) iMessage is leading, are already end-to-end encrypted. We want to make sure that we get to the point when we lead very strongly and we do as much on safety as we possibly can given the constraints of end-to-end encryption.
Q: How do you ensure that people are safe when you can’t see bad things people are doing?
A: We are going to continue to work very closely with law enforcement on whatever we can provide. We also have connectivity to social networks. Whoever is a bad player on social networks, we will be able to see if those bad players exist on messaging services. I don’t want to go into details on how we are thinking about approaching that stuff. But we’re just going to invest heavily in identifying threats earlier,
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Q: You can send things in a private message that you can’t post on Facebook, right?
A: Definitely. You should be able to send whatever you want to send in a private message.
Q: What if it’s illegal or hurting someone? A: Generally we believe that conversation between people should be private. We don’t make a difference between the conversations that are happening in the living room or on the phone and conversations that are happening in a private chat.
Q: What if you try to sell a gun, despite Facebook’s ban?
A: If you’re trying to sell a gun, you are probably trying to sell a gun to many people. When someone reports that and someone provides the messages that from the point of that person are illegal, then definitely we will be able to look at that.
Q: What are the biggest things that you have to figure out before interoperability becomes reality?
A: Generally, just a features compatibility in the sense that, if I “like” some message on one app, how does it manifest itself in another? Or will I be able to also call people, not only send messages?
Q: Do you think scrutiny of Facebook will ease any time soon?
A: We have a lot of responsibility. And the criticism, sometimes it’s accurate. Sometimes it’s not accurate. At the end of the day, what it means if everyone’s talking about you positively or negatively or both, is that you’re important. We just need to continue to deliver value to people. And as long as we are building products that people like. I think it’s going to be fine. 25
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APPLE WARNS CHINA VIRUS WILL CUT iPHONE PRODUCTION, SALES
Apple Inc. is warning investors that it won’t meet its second-quarter financial guidance because the viral outbreak in China has cut production of iPhones. The Cupertino, California-based company said Monday that all of its iPhone manufacturing facilities are outside Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, and all have been reopened. But the company said production is ramping up slowly. “The health and well-being of every person who helps make these products possible is our paramount priority, and we are working in close consultation with our suppliers and public health experts as this ramp continues,” Apple said in a statement. 27
The death toll from COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus, was 1,770 as of Monday. Apple says demand for iPhones is also down in China because many of Apple’s 42 retail stores there are closed or operating with reduced hours. China is Apple’s third largest retail market for iPhones, after the U.S. and Europe. Outside China, Apple said iPhone demand has been strong and is in line with the company’s expectations. On Jan. 28, Apple said it expected second quarter revenue between $63 billion and $67 billion. Apple’s second quarter ends March 30. Apple says the situation is evolving and it will provide more information on its next earnings call in April.
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US JUDGE DISMISSES HUAWEI SUIT OVER GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS BAN
A federal judge in Texas has dismissed Chinese tech giant Huawei’s lawsuit challenging a U.S. law that bars the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment because of security concerns. The lawsuit, filed last March, sought to declare the law unconstitutional. Huawei argued the law singled out the company for punishment, denied it due process and amounted to a “death penalty.” But a court ruled Tuesday that the ban isn’t punitive and that the federal government has the right to take its business elsewhere. 31
Huawei, China’s first global tech brand, is at the center of U.S.-Chinese tensions over technology competition and digital spying. The company has spent years trying to put to rest accusations that it facilitates Chinese spying and that is controlled by the ruling Communist Party. The lawsuit was filed in Plano, Texas, the headquarters of Huawei’s U.S. operations. It was dismissed before going to trial. Experts had described Huawei’s challenge as a long shot, but said the company didn’t have many other options to challenge the law. Huawei said it was disappointed and will consider further legal options. The Trump administration has been aggressively lobbying Western allies to avoid Huawei’s equipment for next-generation, 5G cellular networks. Administration officials say Huawei can give the Chinese government backdoor access to data, allegations that the company rejects. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also spoken out against Huawei, including during a talk with reporters in Brussels on Monday, turning U.S. opposition to Huawei into a bipartisan effort.
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FACEBOOK’S INFLUENCERS NOD SHOWS MURKY SIDE OF CAMPAIGN ADS
Facebook’s green light for political campaigns to pay prominent social media users to spread their messages is highlighting the difficulties around setting rules for the fast-changing world of online political campaigning. The company’s rule change comes days after Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg exposed a loophole in Facebook’s political advertising guidelines by promoting his campaign through popular Instagram personalities followed by millions of younger people. 35
The Bloomberg posts weren’t much more than using self-deprecating humor to sell the candidate’s old guy appeal, using a tactic that until now was largely used to sell skin care products or clothing-subscription services on social media. But the lack of oversight and clear rules around influencer marketing, along with their effectiveness in reaching younger audiences, makes them ripe for misuse. Even with the change last week, Facebook’s policies leave plenty of loopholes, which campaigns and candidates will likely find ways to exploit until Election Day, said Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook employee who is currently co-director of Harvard’s digital platforms and democracy project. And if campaigns can do it, he said, so can grifters and foreign governments. “We’re in for quite a lot of turmoil and trouble,” Ghosh said. Bloomberg easily skirted many of the rules that tech companies have imposed over the years to safeguard U.S. elections from interference and misinformation. After Russia used social media ads in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election, Facebook began to require campaigns to verify their identity with a U.S. ID or mailing address and disclose how much they spent running each ad. Before the explosion of social media, it was clearer what’s an ad and what isn’t — and thus what’s subject to disclosures and other rules. With social media, a campaign can pay influential users to spread a message on their behalf, without ever buying an ad and being subject to its rules. 36
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“This is a new kind of activity that simply didn’t exist when the rules for internet political communications were last updated,” said Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub of the Federal Election Commission. Policy change involves what Facebook calls “branded content” — sponsored items posted by ordinary users who are typically paid by companies or organizations. Advertisers pay the influential users directly to post about their brand. Because Facebook doesn’t make money directly, such posts weren’t governed by Facebook’s advertising policies. Facebook tried to deter campaigns from using such branded content by barring them from using a tool designed to help advertisers run such posts on Facebook and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The rule change now allows campaigns in the U.S. to use this tool, provided they’ve been authorized by Facebook to run political ads and disclose who paid for the sponsored posts. Campaigns that avoid using the tool, as Bloomberg had, now risk having their accounts suspended. “After hearing from multiple campaigns, we agree that there’s a place for branded content in political discussion on our platforms,” Facebook said. Politicians still won’t be required to disclose how much they paid the influencers to run the posts. And the posts won’t appear in Facebook’s online catalog of political ads, which lets other campaigns, journalists and watchdog groups view the type of messages politicians are pushing. Facebook’s new rules won’t apply to someone merely creating or sharing a post about a politician without getting paid. 39
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Facebook said it is asking the influencer accounts that posted the Bloomberg memes to retroactively use the tool meant for such posts. After this happens, the posts will be labeled as a “paid partnership” with Bloomberg. Google says it doesn’t allow political messages using its main tools for connecting with influencers, but campaigns can make individual arrangements with YouTube influencers. These videos would be covered under general disclosure rules, but would not be added to Google’s political advertising database. Twitter bans all political ads, but “organic content” such as influencers’ posts aren’t covered. The Bloomberg campaign had taken the unconventional step of paying more than a dozen influencers on Instagram — individuals with huge followings — to post memes of Bloomberg. The memes showed the 78-yearold candidate, in a tongue-in-cheek awkward fashion, asking influencers with names like “Tank Sinatra” to help raise his profile among younger people. “Can you post a meme that lets everyone know I’m the cool candidate?” Bloomberg wrote in one of the exchanges posted by an Instagram account with nearly 15 million followers. The candidate then sent a photo of him wearing baggy chino shorts, an orange polo and a zip-up vest. The reply: “Ooof that will cost like a billion dollars.” The billionaire candidate responded by asking where to send the money. Bloomberg’s campaign said it was reaching those who might not be normally interested in day-to-day politics and make them 41
“feel like they’re not just getting a canned generic statement,” campaign spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. The Bloomberg campaign declined to say how much it paid for the sponsored posts, or if it had more in the works. Ghosh, the Harvard critic, said the sponsored posts should be treated like any other ad, so people can see how much was paid and how wide an audience a post received. Ghosh said voters don’t distinguish between ads, in which campaigns pay Facebook directly, and sponsored posts, in which campaigns pay influencers. “It is incredulous to think that Facebook cannot provide greater transparency,” Ghosh said. “Facebook simply doesn’t want to wade into those waters. Doing so would provide a level of responsibility that this company at every possible turn shirks.”
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Far beyond helping you get from A to B or find your keys, location technology is unlocking unimaginable possibilities for the future of travel, education, entertainment, and business. With the right strategy, the tech in our pockets will make the world smaller than ever before.
MICRO-LOCATION: WHERE WE’RE HEADED Nowadays, it seems like every aspect of our lives has been digitized. When you want to take a shower, you can open an app to set the temperature and wait for it to be ready; when you want some lunch, you open UberEats and see what’s on the menu; when you want to meet up with friends, you open an iMessage and create a calendar date for when everyone’s free. Though our devices are more connected than ever, one area that’s still lagging behind is location. Apple has made leaps and bounds in recent years with new AI technology like Siri Shortcuts, turning on our favorite Podcast and texting the kids when we’re headed home, and with Apple Maps following its controversial launch in September 2012, but embracing micro-location technology will really change the way we live, work, and play in the years ahead, transforming the world we live in. The more our devices talk to one another, the more intelligent they become. Whether we’re at home watching the TV or we’re in the mall grabbing a coffee, micro-location technology can determine which devices are close, our directions, distance, and more, not only creating waypoints for navigation but helping us locate items, become safer, work smarter, and more.
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Get to know the Shortcuts app for iPhone and iPad — Apple Support
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5G CHANGES EVERYTHING Widespread deployment and adoption of 5G mobile networks will accelerate micro-location services and their success. With zero-latency networks just around the corner, corporations and consumers will be able to access live feeds of their homes and offices in real-time, anywhere in the world, whatever they’re doing. In the decades ahead, we’ll barely remember a world before micro-location awareness, developing a “sixth-sense” of location and function for all of our places and devices, with assets, maps and controls delivering features around you, your home, and your office. And that’s without mentioning AR and VR. With the ongoing COVID-19 scare in China, for example, many industries have ground to a halt, unable to power back up until the virus is under control. China’s property developers and realtors, however, aren’t showing signs of slowing down. Rather than shutting up shop, they’re turning to virtual reality salesrooms and live streams to thaw a frozen market as the coronavirus epidemic keeps offices shut and potential buyers afraid to leave their homes. Using technology to bring locations closer to us is already being used, but further refinements are required to create platforms that can deliver mainstream success. Personal navigation and location awareness are also set for innovations. We all trust our GPS to take us from the convenience store to home, but it only tells us with around 50% probability that you are within a defined distance – say 1 meter – from an indicated position. 5G offers larger bandwidths and frequencies, and as a result, 49
Enhanced Mobile Broadband will expand the spectrum dedicated to cellular communication to much higher frequencies that transport data at faster speeds, Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications will drive opportunities such as autonomous vehicle and “vehicleto-everything” applications, and Massive Machine Type Communications will evolve the developments of IoT applications around the world.
CHANGING OUR EVERYDAY LIVES As well as changing the way we work and travel, micro-location technology will also impact our personal services. The first Tinderinspired AR app for dating has already left beta testing, using geolocation to find people close by who meet your designated criteria. Users can move their phone around at a party or bar, and see bubbles with potential love interests’ information. Uber is also embracing micro-location technology, already pushing iPhones to their peak with turn-by-turn tracking for Uber Eats delivery orders, and ensuring the safety of guests on their Uber ride home after a drink. In the years ahead, expect to see the firm introduce even more precise location tracking and associated services, changing the way we travel. We’ve already heard about Uber Air, developing shared air transportation between suburbs and cities. It’s expected to launch by 2023 and will rely heavily on location-based technology to drive efficiencies. Micro-location technology will also change the world of marketing, particularly for bricks 50
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and mortar stores such as retail outlets, tourist attractions, and restaurants. The Cité des télécoms Museum in France, for example, offers guests interactive learning experiences that leverage a signal transmitting and receiving without interference as users move between objects and walls viewing exhibit-related content. In retail, companies are developing apps that give you a map of the store, allowing you to locate products, check stock, and more. One of the biggest use cases for micro-location technology in retail is for developing an improved in-store experience, at a time when some consumers are shopping exclusively online. Customers can turn themselves into walking beacons, alerting staff that they need help by pressing a button or arranging a chat like Genius Bar appointments at the Apple Store. This micro-location technology can let store associates know where visitors are standing, how long they’ve been lingering over a product display, and their previous purchase history.
INCREASING SECURITY Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of these advancements in location technology is security, allowing businesses and consumers to depend on technology to better secure their properties and assets. Though CCTV cameras have come a long way in recent years, with Google and Amazon entering the market with their affordable smart Nest and Blink security products, they are often not enough of a deterrent on their own to “scare off” criminal activity. There are startups, however, 53
entering the race to deliver more innovative technology designed to give homeowners and entrepreneurs added peace of mind without deploying a ground team. Sunflower Labs, for example, has developed an autonomous home security drone, described as “the evolution of home security.” Their unique three-part system learns property routines and alerts homeowners to unusual activity through garden lights, an autonomous drone flight with advanced safety features and real-time video feed, and a weatherproof drone-charging station with AI-powered computing. That’s without mentioning the growing number of security companies such as SimpliSafe, Vivint and Frontpoint, offering 24/7 monitoring with cameras, sirens, video doorbells, lights and smoke and carbon monoxide testers, though most require an initial upfront investment and monthly maintenance fee.
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AIRTAGS: APPLE’S NEXT ADVENTURE When Apple released iOS 13 and macOS Catalina in 2019, the company launched a new Find My application, merging Find My iPhone and Find My Friends to create an all-in-one location tracking platform. Unlike previous iterations of the app, Find My tracking works even when devices are disconnected from WiFi or cellular, sending secure Bluetooth signals to create a mesh network of Apple devices, allowing users to track their devices in realtime. A revolutionary feat, it was the first step towards Apple’s location-focused activities, with the company then rolling out updated Apple Maps across the US with improved road coverage, detailed landcover, and interactive street-level imagery with HD, 3D photography. But what’s next on the cards in Apple’s growing location efforts? Last year, it was revealed that Apple had been working on a new Tile-like tracker device that could integrate with the Find My app, offering similar technology to the way iPhones and iPads are tracked using the new Bluetooth mesh system. As of iOS 13.2, it was revealed that the device would be called AirTag, designed to integrate with iCloud and locate items that commonly go missing, such as keys, wallets, and teddy bears. As exclusively revealed by 9to5Mac, the tracker will operate from a new Items tab in the Find My application, and offer users notifications when their iPhone gets too far away from the tag. For example, your iPhone could send you an alert if you leave the house on a morning without remembering to take your lunchbox (if it had an AirTag connected to it). 57
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Apple’s new AirTags can also be put into Lost Mode, so if that beloved teddy bear or wallet goes missing, the tag can store your contact information. When another Apple user finds the tag, their device will be able to read the information and alert the owner of its whereabouts. With Apple testing AirTags since the iOS 13 beta in June 2019 and leaks revealing its name and appearance, it’s only a matter of time before they’re released to the public. Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested the new product could launch in the first three months of the year, falling in line with rumors of a March Event where Apple can show off a bunch of new hardware. It’s impossible to predict where micro-location technology will take us in the decades ahead, but it’s clear that we’re moving towards a more connected, integrated world, one where we can be even more dependent on our devices to get us from A to B, to experience new things and places, and to improve the way we communicate. Apple will no doubt be at the fore of the changes, but it will be up to developers to create services that we want to embrace…
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YALE STUDENTS START DRONE DELIVERY SERVICE ON CAMPUS
A group of students at Yale University has set up a drone delivery service on campus. Kiki Air promises to deliver candy, snacks and other small items to students who place orders through an app. The service is currently being tested using a small group of student customers before being launched campus wide. Developers told the Yale Daily News that users order items from a menu on their phones and receive them at one of several drop locations around campus in a padded envelope attached to a drone. 61
Kiki Air’s founder, Yale senior Jason Lu, says his company grew from a class project and has won a $150,000 grant from Y Combinator, a California-based investor in startups. “The convenience store business model hasn’t been updated in a hundred years,” Co-founder Cat Orman, a sophomore, told the student newspaper. “Delivery is expensive, inefficient and pays drivers terrible wages. We created Kiki Air because we want to bring that model into the future in the way that creates real jobs and reduces the carbon footprint.” Customers are notified when a drone is nearing the prearranged drop zone to ensure they are in the area to pick up a package. The newspaper reported that a Kiki Air drone fell last week onto a campus walkway, but nobody was injured. Orman described the incident as a “controlled landing” and said the company has increased training and changed drop locations after the incident. Yale officials did not immediately return messages left Monday seeking comment. Company officials say they hope eventually to expand the service to other campuses.
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TECH-STARVED GOVERNMENT SEEKS INDUSTRY’S BEST, BRIGHTEST
In this post-impeachment era of divisiveness and deadlock in the nation’s capital, Uncle Sam has a message for top U.S. technologists: I Still Want You. A Washington-based nerd strike force called the U.S. Digital Service is seeking private-sector coders, programmers and software engineers to make government user-friendly for a tech-savvy U.S. public. Launched after the 2013 crash of the Obama administration’s Healthcare.gov website, the USDS recruits the nation’s top tech talent for Peace Corps-style tours of duty to tackle 65
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the government’s most pressing information management and online security problems. It has an increasingly rare distinction as an initiative supported by both the Obama and Trump administrations, according to current and former USDS staff and White House officials. “We’ve been enthusiastic about USDS since Day One,” said Mathew Lira, a special assistant to Trump in the White House Office of American Innovation. Early USDS projects — fixing the public-facing website of Obama’s Affordable Care Act, helping green card holders apply for renewals electronically — might not be top Trump administration priorities today. But many projects continue: Enabling electronic access to health records for millions of Medicare patients and their doctors; building a robust and navigable Veterans Administration website; securing civilian agency and Defense Department websites. “The government is incredibly short of engineers, designers and product managers,” said USDS Administrator Matt Cutts. “You can apply for a mortgage on your phone, but government services are another matter.” The service also has spawned a growing civic tech movement assisting state and local governments as well as nonprofits. Trump administration funding for USDS has been relatively constant. Operating out of the Office of Management and Budget, the service has grown to 180 people. Its $13 million budget has held since 2019. 67
In his new $4.8 trillion budget plan for the 2021 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, Trump seeks to hold down deficits by cutting domestic programs, and the USDS isn’t spared at a proposed $7 million. But officials say it’s likely that the service, lauded for its work by Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, won’t see any funding cuts as the budget process moves forward. A constant challenge is convincing well-paid private sector technicians to take a two-year sabbatical for the good of the country, despite the political climate. USDS purposely limits its tours to bring in the latest talent and let it go to stay abreast of industry. Cutts — who pioneered Google’s search engine optimization efforts before joining USDS — cites his own conversion. “When I started in the tech industry, I firmly believed that Google’s mission was to organize the information world,” he said. A change of heart and pursuit of purpose led him to civil service. “Now a lot of my friends ask themselves how they can have more impact on the world,” Cutts said. “It’s something we serve in buckets at USDS.” USDS boosters say the political transition from Obama to Trump hasn’t stopped the agency from attracting bright and dedicated tech professionals. Others are skeptical, especially at a time of internal disputes at big companies like Google and Microsoft over corporate collaborations with immigration enforcement and other federal agencies.
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Chris Calabrese, vice president for policy at the Center for Technology & Democracy, said he’s concerned about how facial recognition and other technology is being deployed at the Mexican border. “That might be a turnoff for some candidates,” even if USDS isn’t involved, he suggested. His group backs a proposal by California Democratic U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris to authorize $50 million a year for USDS, and millions more for state and local initiatives, through 2027. The White House hasn’t taken a stand on the bill. USDS leaders insist their mission is to help career IT staff members in government, not supplant them. Once a project is done, a code is rewritten, an application interface is created, USDS teams leave the new technology in place and move on. A “Hack the Pentagon” program invites hackers to find security flaws. A new NATO system allows the coalition to track its efforts to support the Afghan government. New software enables U.S. troops to quickly detect enemy drones. “Our goal is to come in, look at the problem with fresh eyes, deal with people in government who have been banging their heads against the wall, and empower those people,” Cutts said. Meanwhile, an increasing number of U.S. states are adopting the USDS model, including California, Colorado, New Jersey and Georgia. In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis created the Colorado Digital Service, led by USDS vet Kelly Taylor, a onetime artificial intelligence specialist at IBM Watson who developed the Medicare 71
health data system, and Matthew McAllister, an Obama White House technology policy adviser. “We have hired people out of the hottest tech ventures who want to make an impact with their lives, rather than help such-and-such a company make more money and sell more widgets,” said Theresa Szczurek, the state’s chief information officer. The Colorado Digital Service is replacing a 35-year-old payroll and benefits database affecting more than 30,000 state employees. It takes small programming steps and tests them before proceeding. The iterative industry practice, dubbed agile, quickly delivers new software. It saves millions of dollars by forsaking traditional all-in-one government IT contracts that hopefully will work upon delivery. “I got to see the U.S. Digital Service from its inception,” said Polis, who served in Congress before being elected governor and who nowadays dabbles in Bitsbox coding with his son, Caspian. “We have a great state IT workforce, and the digital service allows really elite folks to help us address public sector problems.” Code for Denver, one of dozens of city-based brigades, draws technicians and the simply curious on Monday nights to share ideas and develop apps and websites for the community. “It’s an addicting feeling when you do make a small change that affects a lot of people,” said brigade co-captain Patrick Collins, a 34-year-old digital designer who deployed an app allowing housing inspectors to get Colorado state credentials online. 72
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SPACEX AIMS TO LAUNCH UP TO 4 TOURISTS INTO SUPER HIGH ORBIT
SpaceX aims to launch up to four tourists into a super high orbit, possibly by the end of next year. The private company is working with Space Adventures Inc. for the flight, officials announced this week. Ticket prices are not being divulged but expected to be in the millions. Space Adventures already has helped put tourists into orbit with trips to the International Space Station, working with the Russian space program. For this trip, paying customers will skip the space station and instead orbit two to three times higher, or roughly 500 miles to 750 miles (800 kilometers to 1,200 kilometers) above Earth. It’s a lofty goal that would approach the record 850-mile-high (1,370 kilometers) orbit achieved by Gemini 11’s Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon in 1966. 75
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The tourist flight “will forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement. Elon Musk’s California-based SpaceX already is dabbling in space tourism, signing on a Japanese billionaire to fly to the moon in three or so years. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic also plan tourist trips to space, but these will be brief up-and-downs, not orbital. SpaceX will use the same kind of Dragon capsule that will launch NASA astronauts to the space station, possibly in another few months. The capsule has flown only once in space so far, making its debut last year in a successful test flight without a crew. Space Adventures spokeswoman Stacey Tearne said the tourist flight could occur in the last quarter of 2021. The company is in discussions with “several potential clients.” No professional pilot or astronaut will be required, Tearne said, because the Dragon is fully autonomous. But passengers will be able to control the spacecraft if required, she said in an email. The cost will be in line with previous tourist flights, she said. Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil, paid $35 million for a 1 1/2-week space station flight in 2009. He said from orbit that it was “worth every penny and more.” Like all previous space tourists, he launched on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan. This private Dragon flight from Cape Canaveral will be shorter, lasting up to five days, according to Tearne. 77
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Based in Vienna, Virginia, Space Adventures helped arrange the flight of the world’s first space tourist, Dennis Tito, founder and chairman of Wilshire Associates in California. He flew to the space station on a Russian capsule in 2001, igniting the wrath of top NASA officials who opposed visiting tourists. The company has arranged eight space missions, with one tourist going twice. Space Adventures’ goal is to create “unique and previously impossible opportunities for private citizens to experience space,” Eric Anderson, company chairman, said in a statement. NASA has softened its stance on space tourists, and is opening the station doors to paying customers once commercial crew flights by SpaceX and Boeing have been established.
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by Rian Johnson Genre: Thriller Released: 2019 Price: $19.99
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Knives Out Trailer #1 (2019) | Movieclips Trailers
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Knives Out Wealthy novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) invites relatives to celebrate his 85th birthday with him, only to be found dead the next morning. The debonair private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) investigates and soon sees a long list of murder suspects.
FIVE FACTS: 1. Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was also the sole writer and director – as well as a producer – for Knives Out. 2. Johnson conceived the basic concept for this film shortly after completing his 2005 film Brick. 3. However, it was not until after his press tour for The Last Jedi that he spent seven months completing the Knives Out script. 4. Although the film’s title was taken from English rock band Radiohead’s 2001 song “Knives Out”, Johnson has insisted that the movie is otherwise unconnected to the song. 5. This month, the film’s distributor Lionsgate announced work on a sequel.
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Knives Out: Chris Evans and Ana de Armas Interview
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Plus One Single twenty-something friends Alice (Maya Erskine) and Ben (Jack Quaid) decide to be each other’s “plus one” at the many weddings they are set to attend that summer. However, the pair soon realize the great, romantically promising chemistry they have with each other.
FIVE FACTS: 1. The movie’s world premiere was at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2019. 2. The following August, the film was released on streaming service Hulu, for which Erskine had co-created the hit series PEN15. 3. Plus One has been likened to When Harry Met Sally, which happens to star Quaid’s mother, Meg Ryan. 4. The Hawaiian wedding scene was actually filmed in California, with a Hawaii license plate placed on the cab that drops off the lead characters. 5. The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls Plus One “an entertaining outing elevated by well-matched leads and a story that embraces and transcends genre clichés.”
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by Jeff Chan & Andrew Rhymer Genre: Comedy Released: 2019 Price: $7.99
88 Ratings
PLUS ONE Official Trailer
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Wedding Culture Meets Cancel Culture with the Cast of ‘Plus One’
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La Roux - International Woman Of Leisure (official video)
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Supervision La Roux English singer Eleanor “Elly” Jackson has had a tumultuous few years since the 2014 release of Trouble in Paradise, the second studio album she recorded as synth-pop act La Roux. However, she’s back, now established as a solo act but still under the La Roux name, with a generally well-received new album. Genre: Pop Released: Feb 7, 2020 8 Songs Price: $7.99
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FIVE FACTS: 1. La Roux was originally formed in 2006 as a duo: Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. 2. Their first – and self-titled – album La Roux arrived in 2009 to significant critical and commercial success, and produced the hit singles “In for the Kill” and “Bulletproof”. 3. Langmaid departed the group in 2014, but still contributed to some of the songs on that year’s Trouble in Paradise. 4. In April 2015, Jackson revealed that she was working on a third La Roux album, but completely started over with it after a relationship breakup and breakdown in 2017. 5. Three singles have been released from Supervision – the latest, “Automatic Driver”, on January 24.
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La Roux - Gullible Fool (official video)
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Birds of Prey: The Album Various Artists Conceived as an all-female soundtrack to complement the similarly estrogen-heavy superhero flick Birds of Prey, this album brings together both established and up-and-coming female stars for a largely electronic focus.
FIVE FACTS: 1. Kevin Weaver, who leads Atlantic Records’ West Coast division, came up with the idea of inviting only female artists to record songs for the film’s soundtrack. 2. Weaver told Rolling Stone that, as soundtracks tend to be listened to entirely rather than track-by-track, “it’s very important to me that that body of work has a through-line to it.” 3. Cover versions on the soundtrack include Jurnee Smollette-Bell’s “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World (with Black Canary)” and ADONA’s take on “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”. 4. Smollette-Bell also portrays superheroine Black Canary in the film – very appropriately, given that the character’s voice is her secret weapon. 5. Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie in the film, inspired the video for the soundtrack’s first single, “Diamonds” by Megan Thee Stallion and Normani.
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Genre: Soundtrack Released: Feb 7, 2020 15 Songs Price: $9.99
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Megan Thee Stallion & Normani (Birds of Prey: The Album) - Diamonds [Official Music Video]
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Charlotte Lawrence - Joke’s On You (from Birds of Prey: The Album) [Official Music Video]
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WHY WAIT? ‘SONIC THE HEDGEHOG’ WORTH RUSHING TO SEE
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If the Hollywood mantra for making blockbusters is “faster, faster, faster,” then the creators of “Sonic the Hedgehog” have wisely ignored it. The little blue alien who can sprint quicker than the speed of light has ironically benefited from slowing it down, taking a pit stop to retool and emerge this month as a total crowd-pleaser. Respectful of the rich history of the brand and yet welcoming to newcomers, ” Sonic the Hedgehog ” is a feel-good buddy movie for both adults and their own little aliens. “Nailed it!” screams Sonic at one point and that might be a fitting summary for the film. Director Jeff Fowler has been entrusted on his feature film debut with bringing to life the ball of super CGI energy, whose origins lie in Sega video games. But things didn’t look too good
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Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) - New Official Trailer Paramount Pictures
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when a trailer dropped last April that portrayed Sonic as more rat-like with creepy human teeth. . An outcry led to the film being delayed for a reset, resulting in a Sonic with a sleeker design, larger eyes and fewer chompers. While there’s no way to give a side-by-side comparison, the film that emerges portrays Sonic as a cute, naive teenager, prone to saying very 2020 things like “I am living my best life” and “I can’t with that guy.” He has fled his own planet with a warning to “never stop running” and a twist on the “Spider-Man” proverb: “With great power comes great power-hungry bad guys.” In the script by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, Sonic is naturally attracted to fast things — “Flash” comic books and the movie “Speed” (Keanu Reeves is “a natural treasure,” declares our heroic blue guy, one of many lines that will go over your little ones’ heads.) Reeves isn’t the only celebrity to get a shoutout: Vin Diesel, Will Smith and Obi-Wan Kenobi are all invoked for laughs. Amazon and Olive Garden also get some love. There’s a weird urban-versus-rural tension throughout, with the scriptwriters clearly putting their fingers on the scale against life in the big city. One great sequence ends with everyone agreeing on a common enemy: hipsters. The plot isn’t too far from the classic “ET” or the more modern “Bumblebee” — an alien lands on Earth to hide and soon must team up with a kindly human (James Marsden, in a very Marsden groove) to escape the clutches of evil government scientists who want to dissect it. In this case, Jim Carrey dons a Civil War mustache and a black full-length leather coat to play the baddie Dr. Robotnik as only he can — 99
ultra-arch, absolutely unhinged and dangerously unpredictable. “You know what I love about machines? They do what they’re told,” he snarls. Carrey has his own insane dance sequence that will make you spit out your popcorn. Sonic, voiced by Ben Schwartz, is sweet and funny and self-aware. He does The Floss. He farts. He wears gloves, socks and sneakers but points out “I’m not even wearing pants.” He discovers what a bucket list is and instantly wants to do all kinds of stuff, including start a bar fight. “You
Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) - Becoming Robotnik Paramount Pictures
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Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) - How To Draw Sonic Paramount Pictures
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two are so cute,” a woman tells Marsden and Sonic. They protest: They’re loose cannons. (OK, very cute loose cannons). The non-human one goes fast, to be sure. A radar gun clocks him at 300 mph but later in the film he moves so fast he stops time, zipping around while everyone is as still as a statue. The filmmakers have also added an excellent, propulsive soundtrack, which includes X Ambassadors, Queen and the Wiz Khalifa-led “Speed Me Up.” (Steal it for your workout playlist.) There are references to the video game throughout, including a sequence in which Dr. Robotnik chases Sonic through Paris, up the Egyptian pyramids, and along the Great Wall of China. Green Hill is where the creature ends up on Earth — echoing a key level in the game — and we learn he hates mushrooms, a frequent Sonic touchstone. So much thought has been put into the film that at the very beginning the Paramount logo substitutes its regular stars for Sonic’s golden rings. A potential sequel is set-up during the end credits — as well as the glimpse of a familiar creature that fans are sure to get excited about. The filmmakers might not have rushed making this film, but that’s no reason for you to press the brakes now. “Sonic the Hedgehog,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor and brief mild language. Running time: 99 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four. ___ MPAA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested. ___
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IN THE SPIRIT OF WHITNEY: HOUSTON HOLOGRAM TOUR SET TO BEGIN
Whitney Houston is about to appear on the concert stage again. Eight years after her death, a holographic Houston will embark on a European tour that starts in England on Feb. 25 and runs through early April, with U.S. dates expected to follow. “Now is just the right time,” said Pat Houston, the singer’s sister-in-law, former manager and the executor of her estate, which is producing the show in collaboration with BASE Hologram. “In the spirit of Whitney, I know we’re doing all the right things right now.” Last week, a few dozen members of the media were given a dress-rehearsal preview in Burbank, California of most of “An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour,” which features a Houston projected onto a nearly invisible scrim on a stage with real dancers and a live backing band. 107
The concert set includes most of her biggest hits — “How Will I Know,” “Saving All My Love For You,” “I Will Always Love You,” along with some unexpected rarities, including a cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” that Houston first recorded three decades ago. The show, which was first conceived five years ago, used a body double along with hundreds of hours of Houston performances and extensive CGI synthesizing. “We created the hologram the same way they did Carrie Fisher in the ‘Star Wars’ movie ‘Rogue One,’” said Marty Tudor, CEO of BASE Hologram, which has previously revived performing versions of dead singers including Roy Orbison and Maria Callas. “It’s lengthy, it’s tedious, it’s a big, complicated process, but I think it worked.” The ambitious performance is the modest brainchild of Whitney Houston herself, in at least one respect. While on her final European tour, she had an “unplugged” section of her show, with a stripped down band and minimal fanfare. Houston liked that so much that shortly before her death at age 48 on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards, she expressed a desire to one day do an entire tour that way. That concept became the model for the hologram concert. “This is something that she wanted to do,” Pat Houston said after the media preview of the show. “I get very emotional watching this, because it is so, so close to what she wanted. The only thing missing is her, physically.” 108
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On first appearance it’s clear how far holographic technology has come since previous iterations like Tupac’s holographic stint with Snoop Dogg at Coachella in 2012, with little of the flickering unreality audiences expect. Houston’s appearance in a gold gown looks magically realistic. The limits are more apparent as the concert goes on, with the projection beam visible and Houston’s movements minimal, but those shortcomings are unlikely to bother the hardcore fans the tour is likely to draw. Houston was never one for elaborate choreography or flashy moves anyway, and her small gestures — a quivering jaw on long-held notes, fluttering fingers for vocal flourishes, are all captured here. “Whitney didn’t dance a lot, but when she did do her little moves, they were so perfectly Whitney,” said Fatima Robinson, who choreographed the show. “We did lots of studying her behavior in her videos. We would study her movements, and find the best moments in some of the live videos that just really embody her.” The show still features plenty of dancing, via four backup dancers and two moving backup singers, all of whom occasionally interact with the hologram. But Houston mostly preferred to let her voice do the work, and that part of the show works seamlessly, through a blend of studio takes and live performances. Close listeners may think they’re hearing the album version of a hit before it swerves into seemingly spontaneous moments that give it a live feeling.
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The sound crew also found moments of between-song patter from Houston that were eternal enough to use for the new show. “May God bless you and keep you, and let us pray for peace, and pray for the answer,” she says toward the end of the set. The production may be most effective when it embraces its holographic possibilities — including having Houston swarmed in a shimmering shower of golden sparks during the climactic performance of “I Will Always Love You.” Dressing the Houston hologram provided its own set of problems and possibilities. “The first thing is, you can’t do black,” Timothy Snell, who oversaw the wardrobe for the show, said with a mock gasp. “And black and sparkles are your first go-to. But Whitney also loved color.” Along with the gold gown, her outfits include a shimmering orange jumpsuit and a floor-length pink flowered coat. “She liked to look sophisticated and timeless,” Snell said. “And those timeless looks really show up here.”
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CARDINALS SHILDT CALLS ASTROS’ UPHEAVAL ‘HEALTHY PURGE’
St. Louis manager Mike Shildt described technology’s rapid encroachment on baseball in recent years as ethically murky, expressing his satisfaction in Commissioner Rob Manfred’s intention to cut down the use of in-game video. “I feel like what’s happened recently is a healthy purge,” Shildt said. “The sign stealing stuff has been talked about, alluded to, for several years now.” Shildt and other Grapefruit League managers met with Manfred on Sunday evening in North Port. As expected, the commissioner addressed in-game use of technology, specifically video, to gain an advantage. “There was some murkiness — understandable murkiness, not to make any excuses for anybody, some understandable murkiness — about where the lines were,” Shildt said. 115
“The lines have been drawn on the field for 150 years, so we have that resource of what that competition looks like on the field, but technology is moving fast in every facet of our life, and we’re all affected by it.” Entering his second full season as St. Louis manager, Shildt made his comments as the NL Central champions took to the field for the first full-team workout. “By nature it’s going to be reactive,” Shildt said. “The last several years there’s been pretty clear communication from the commissioner’s office about what and how we expect to play.” Shildt said technological advances over the past seven years are probably greater than the first 140 years of professional baseball. “The line of off-the-field integrity was just a little blurred because there were so many things out there happening in real time, happening fast,” Shildt said. “The commissioner’s been really clear and his office has been really clear about what that looks like and creating a clear line, so now the purge I alluded to, it’s out there.” Manfred last month suspended Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for one season each, fined the Astros $5 million and stripped the team of its firstand second-round draft choices for each of the next season seasons. Houston then fired Hinch and Crane. “It’s not my responsibility to say whether the punishment was just or unjust,” Shildt said. “I thought it was really clear. It’s a purge for now.” 116
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2 JAPANESE BUSINESSMEN CHARGED IN TECH HARDWARE PRICE FIXING
A grand jury charged two Japanese businessmen for their role in an alleged global conspiracy to fix prices for components used in computer hard disk drives, federal officials announced. Hitoshi Hashimoto and Hiroyuki Tamura, both former top sales executives at NHK Spring Co. Ltd., were indicted in federal court in San Francisco, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Japanese manufacturer NHK Spring Co. Ltd. (NHK Spring) last year pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to pay a $28.5 million fine. 119
Federal prosecutors say that from May 2008 and through at least April 2016, Hashimoto and Tamura participated in a conspiracy with their competitors “to stabilize, maintain, and fix the prices of suspension assemblies used in hard disk drives.” It wasn’t immediately known if Hashimoto and Tamura have attorneys who would speak on their behalf. Suspension assemblies are components of hard disk drives, which are used to store information and are incorporated into computers or sold as stand-alone electronic storage devices. Hashimoto and Tamura fixed prices on the components by agreeing to refrain from competing on prices and allocating their respective market shares, prosecutors said. The conspirators also exchanged pricing information including anticipated pricing quotes, which they used to inform their negotiations with U.S. and foreign customers that purchased suspension assemblies and produced hard disk drives for sale in, or delivery to, the United States and elsewhere, the department said. “The individuals indicted tried to cheat the system and unfairly profit at the expense of American consumers,” said Calvin Shivers, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI, with our partners at the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice, disrupted their scheme and now these individuals will face justice.” The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
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APPS HELP VOLUNTEERS GET EXCESS FOOD TO THE HUNGRY
Food waste and hunger are two enormous problems that some non-profit groups say can be addressed together by getting the extra food to the people who need it. New apps are making that easier. The USDA estimates that more than 30% of the food in America is wasted each year. Besides food waste at home, there is also a lot of commercial food waste: restaurants preparing more food than customers buy, and grocery stores ending up with perishables approaching their expiration dates. 123
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To battle commercial food waste, “food rescue” groups use volunteers to pick up donated food and deliver it to nonprofits that feed the hungry. ‘’KFC is preparing chicken continuously, Chipotle is preparing food continuously. We rescue it while it’s still hot and freeze it quickly,” says Bill Reighard, founder and CEO of Food Donation Connection. The nonprofit has been battling food waste since 1992, coordinating donations from companies like Pizza Hut. Another group, Feeding America, has built a nationwide network arranging regular pickups of surplus food from major grocery chains for delivery to more than 200 food banks. Advocates say more and more people are volunteering, due to environmental concerns. Taking food that would be wasted to those in need is a good way to fight the despair and inaction that many people feel in the face of climate change and inequality, says Leah Lizarondo, co-founder of the nonprofit 412 Food Rescue, based in Pittsburgh. “It’s a step that you can take today,” she says, “and it’s very clear what your impact is. It’s as clear as feeding someone that day.” Along with arranging food pickups from supermarkets, Lizarondo’s nonprofit created an app called Food Rescue Hero that works almost like Uber or Lyft: People who are out in their cars can log in and see if any unwanted food is available at a nearby restaurant or store. They can volunteer on the spot to deliver it to a food pantry or soup kitchen. Food Rescue Hero is now available in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Virginia. 125
Last fall, Food Rescue Hero announced a partnership with Reighard’s Food Donation Connection to build a shared online platform. No launch date has been announced yet, but tech teams at both nonprofits are collaborating to make volunteering easier nationwide and even globally. “That whole ‘last mile logistics’ issue” is a challenge throughout the food recovery industry, Reighard says. Traditionally, many charities picked up donated food themselves in fuel-inefficient trucks, he says. Collaborating with drivers who are already on the road is faster and more environmentally friendly. Feeding America’s MealConnect app embraces the same approach. It has used since 2014 for pickups at chains like Walmart and Target. Those scheduled pickups continue, but beginning last summer, volunteers can also sign up to do impromptu, smaller food rescues. Once they’ve registered at MealConnect.org or via the app, volunteers get a brief training session at a food bank and are outfitted with a small toolkit of food safety equipment. Volunteers might be “between classes, or maybe they’re retired, or they’re an Uber or Lyft driver that wants to take a break from driving people around,” says Justin Block, managing director of MealConnect at Feeding America. The group currently has 300 active volunteers, he says. Beth Weinman, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at Fresno State, says reducing food waste isn’t enough; we also need to produce less food. 126
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And William G. Moseley, director of the Food, Agriculture & Society Program at Macalester College, adds: “We need to be careful that app-based volunteerism does not undercut the need to press governments and the public sector to reform policies and address structural problems.� But as more people participate in rescuing commercial food, the hope is they may become more vocal about hunger issues in their community and more conscious of food waste at home too.
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NO TIME TO DIE Billie eilish
DANCE MONKEY Tones and i
INTENTIONS (FEAT. QUAVO) JusTin BieBer
BLIND LIGHTS The Weeknd
EVERYTHING I WANTED Billie eilish
MEMORIES Maroon 5
THE BOX roddy rich
NOBODY BUT YOU (FEAT. GWEN STEFANI) Blake shelTon
CIRCLES PosT Malone
AFTER HOURS The Weeknd
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CHANGES JusTin BieBer
ZOMBIES 2 (ORIGINAL TV MOVIE SOUNDTRACK) Various arTisTs
FROZEN 2 (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) Various arTisTs
1ST ALBUM [DYSTOPIA : THE TREE OF LANGUAGE] dreaMcaTcher
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie eilish
MUSIC TO BE MURDERED BY eMineM
WEATHER huey leWis & The neWs
LOVER Taylor sWifT
THE SLOW RUSH TaMe iMPala
AND IT’S STIL ALRIGHT naThaniel raTeliff
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I WANT CRAZY hunTer hayes
GET READY (FEAT. BLAKE SHELTON) PiTBull
E.T.A. (NATURE VISUAL) JusTin BieBer
REACT The PussycaT dolls
RED MOON kard
DANCE MONKEY Tones and i
DON’T START NOW dua liPa
OLD TOWN ROAD (FEAT. BILLY RAY CYRUS) lil nas X
MY OH MY (FEAT. DABABY) caMila caBello
YOU SHOULD BE SAD halsey
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2408 The Bachelor, season 24
ROS?-FUELED REGRETS BeloW deck sailing yachT, season 1
A VERY SHOUHED PASSOVER shahs of sunseT, season 8
LIONS, AND TIGERS AND SHADE The real houseWiVes of aTlanTa, season 12
FRIENDS LIKE THESE 9-1-1: lone sTar, season 1
FIND YOUR BEACH good girls, season 3
SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME grey’s anaToMy, season 16
PART II The sinner, season 3
TELL ALL PART 1 90 day fiancé, season 7
FLESH AND BLOOD Bull, season 4
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ONE MINUTE OUT Mark greaney
CHASING CASSANDRA lisa kleyPas
CAMINO WINDS John grishaM
PERFECT CHAOS Jodi ellen MalPas
DOMINIK saWyer BenneTT
WINTER GARDEN krisTin hannah
DARK TOWERS daVid enrich
DREYER’S ENGLISH BenJaMin dreyer
DEFIANT QUEEN Meghan March
OPEN BOOK
Jessica siMPson
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GERMAN COURT HALTS SITE PREPARATION FOR TESLA FACTORY
A German court has temporarily halted the site preparation for Tesla Inc.’s first electric car factory in Europe. The Higher Administrative Court for BerlinBrandenburg ordered Tesla to stop clearing trees on the wooded site near Berlin until it considers an environmental group’s appeal. In a statement last weekend, the court said it had to issue the injunction because otherwise Tesla might have completed the work this week. A lower court in Germany ruled last week that Tesla could clear the trees for its factory. But the environmental group Green League Brandenburg appealed, citing the potential for the factory to pollute the area’s drinking water and other issues. In its statement, the higher court said there is no reason to assume that the Green League’s appeal won’t succeed. German officials celebrated in November when Palo Alto, California-based Tesla decided to build its first European factory in the country. Image: Jörg Carstensen
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Tesla said the new plant will build batteries and vehicles, starting with the upcoming Model Y SUV. The company had hoped to complete the factory in the middle of next year. Last month, German officials said 187 pounds of World War II ammunition had been found at the site as Tesla began clearing it. Tesla has two other vehicle factories in the U.S. and China.
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EU PROPOSES RULES FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO LIMIT RISKS
The European Union unveiled proposals to regulate artificial intelligence that call for strict rules and safeguards on risky applications of the rapidly developing technology. The report is part of the bloc’s wider digital strategy aimed at maintaining its position as the global pacesetter on technological standards. Technology companies seeking to tap Europe’s vast and lucrative market, including those from the U.S. and China, would have to play by any new rules that eventually come into force. The EU’s executive Commission said it wants to develop a “framework for trustworthy artificial Image: Stephanie Lecocq
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intelligence.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had ordered her top deputies to come up with a coordinated European approach to artificial intelligence and data strategy 100 days after she took office in December. “We will be particularly careful where essential human rights and interests are at stake,” von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. “Artificial intelligence must serve people, and therefore artificial intelligence must always comply with people’s rights.” Clear rules are needed to address “high-risk AI systems” such as those in health, policing or transport, which should be “transparent, traceable and guarantee human oversight,” the EU report said. Other artificial intelligence systems could come with labels certifying that they are in line with EU standards. The technology can be used to improve healthcare, making farming more efficient or combat climate change. But it also brings risks such as “opaque decision-making, gender-based or other discrimination, privacy intrusion or being used for criminal purposes, the report said. Human-centered guidelines for AI are essential because “none of the positive things will be achieved if we distrust the technology,” said Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice president overseeing the EU’s digital strategy. Under the proposals, which are open for public consultation until May 19, EU authorities want to be able to test and certify the data used by the algorithms that power artificial intelligence in the same way they check cosmetics, cars and toys.
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Image: Francisco Seco
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Image: Francisco Seco
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It’s important to use unbiased data to train highrisk artificial intelligence systems so they can avoid discrimination, the commission said. EU leaders said they also wanted to open a debate on when to allow facial recognition in remote identification systems, which are used to scan crowds to check people’s faces to those on a database. It’s considered the “most intrusive form” of the technology and is prohibited in the EU except in special cases.
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SPAIN LOOKS TO ADOPT DIGITAL TAX THAT HAS ANGERED THE US
Spain’s government approved this week the introduction of new taxes on digital business and stock market transactions, following similar steps by other European countries. The Cabinet agreed at its weekly meeting to adopt the so-called Google tax and Tobin tax. The measures still require parliament’s approval. Finance Minister Mara Jesus Montero said the Google tax, which has angered U.S. authorities and brought a threat of tariffs by the Trump administration, will be levied only from the end of the year. By then, the government hopes an international agreement on digital business taxes will be 151
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in place. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which advises the world’s rich countries on policies, is currently trying to draw up the agreement. Montero said the government wants a “fairer” tax system, adapted to the new economic trends of globalization and digitalization. Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government is following other European countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, in adopting a digital tax. The measure is an attempt to get around tax avoidance measures frequently used by multinationals. Big tech firms such as Google and Facebook pay most of their taxes in the European Union country where they are based and often pay very little in countries where they run large and profitable operations. Spain wants to place a 3% tax on online ads, on deals brokered on digital platforms and on sales of user data by tech companies that have a turnover of more than 750 million euros a year internationally and more than 3 million in Spain. It hopes to raise close to 1 billion euros a year in extra tax revenue. Other EU countries, such as France, Italy and Belgium, have already passed a Tobin tax. In Spain, the government aims to levy a 0.2% tax on share purchases involving companies worth more than 1 billion euros. That should raise more than 800 million euros annually, according to the government. A Socialist government first said it wanted to adopt the new taxes in January of last year, but an April general election foiled its plans.
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JEFF BEZOS COMMITS $10 BILLION TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that he plans to spend $10 billion of his own fortune to help fight climate change. Bezos, the world’s richest person, said in an Instagram post that he’ll start giving grants this summer to scientists, activists and nonprofits working to protect Earth. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change,” Bezos said in the post. 155
Amazon, the company Bezos runs, has an enormous carbon footprint. Last year, Amazon officials said the company would work to have 100% of its energy use come from solar panels and other renewable energy by 2030. The online retailer relies on fossil fuels to power planes, trucks and vans in order to ship billions of items all around the world. Amazon workers in its Seattle headquarters have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices, pushing it to do more to combat climate change. Bezos said in the post this week that he will call his new initiative the Bezos Earth Fund. An Amazon spokesman confirmed that Bezos will be using his own money for the fund. Despite being among the richest people in the world, Bezos only recently became active in donating money to causes as other billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done. In 2018, Bezos started another fund, committing $2 billion of his own money to open preschools in low-income neighborhoods and give money to nonprofits that help homeless families. Bezos, who founded Amazon 25 years ago, has a stake in the company that is worth more than $100 billion.
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