Ap ple ma gazine issue 274 april 7 2017

SAMSUNG WOWS TECH CROWDS WITH GALAXY S8 HANDSETS

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CYBORGS AT WORK: EMPLOYEES GETTING IMPLANTED WITH MICROCHIPS

TRUMP SIGNS BILL BLOCKING ONLINE PRIVACY REGULATION

40 NASA SPACECRAFT HALFWAY BETWEEN PLUTO AND NEXT SMALLER STOP

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YOUTUBE TV HAS SOME NIFTY FEATURES - AND SOME BIG DRAWBACKS 08 NATIONAL ARCHIVES TO WHITE HOUSE: SAVE ALL TRUMP TWEETS 26 HACKED NEW YORK POST APP SENDS OUT ‘HEIL PRESIDENT’ ALERT 32 PRIVACY CONCERN RAISED OVER SEARCH SERVICE ON VERIZON PHONES 34 SHARES IN UK CHIPMAKER DIVE 60 PCT AFTER APPLE ENDS CONTRACT 46 INVENTOR OF WORLD WIDE WEB WINS COMPUTING’S ‘NOBEL PRIZE’ 66 VERIZON TO TAKE ‘OATH’ AS NEW COMPANY TO RUN YAHOO, AOL 74 FACEBOOK LOSES SEARCH WARRANT CHALLENGE IN NEW YORK COURT 78 LANES AT NEWARK AIRPORT AUTOMATICALLY RETRIEVE LUGGAGE BINS 80 BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘BOSS BABY’ TAKES DOWN DISNEY’S ‘BEAUTY’ 104 FIRST ON THE MARTIAN MENU: SPUDS 114 A ‘SCI-FI’ CANCER THERAPY FIGHTS BRAIN TUMORS, STUDY FINDS 124 BRAIN AND ARM IMPLANTS HELP PARALYZED US MAN FEED HIMSELF 132 THEN AND NOW: HOW GLACIERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE MELTING 148 MONTANA JOINS OTHERS IN EFFORT TO BOLSTER INTERNET PRIVACY 162 CANADIAN ACCUSED IN YAHOO HACK HAS BAIL HEARING 166

TOP 10 APPS 84 iTUNES REVIEW 88 TOP 10 SONGS 138 TOP 10 ALBUMS 140 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 142 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 144 TOP 10 BOOKS 146

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YOUTUBE TV HAS SOME NIFTY FEATURES - AND SOME BIG DRAWBACKS

YouTube TV, Google’s new streaming package of about 40 television channels, is the tech industry’s latest bid to get cable-shunning millennials to pay for live TV over the internet.

It offers intriguing advantages over rivals, but it remains hobbled by a limited channel selection.

Don’t confuse the YouTube service, which debuts Wednesday, with Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming offerings. Like similar efforts from Sony, Dish and AT&T’s DirecTV , YouTube TV primarily aims to let you channel surf over the internet, not to stream from an online library of shows and movies.

So these internet-cable services can offer live programming, especially sports.

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But they also come with some serious drawbacks. While these services are typically cheaper than traditional cable or satellite services, people haven’t been signing up in droves. Google is targeting viewers who have never subscribed to cable or satellite TV and are just as happy to get all their video from the internet; getting them to cough up $35 a month could be a hard sell.

Google aims to lure subscribers with more sophisticated program search, personalized recommendations and a more fully featured online DVR than rival services offer. But it faces many of the limitations its rivals have.

YouTube TV, for instance, features staples such as ESPN and major broadcast networks, but lacks key networks such as PBS, CNN and Comedy Central. And it will initially be only available in a handful of major U.S. cities because media rights are still stuck in the 20th century .

WHAT YOU GET ... AND WHAT YOU DON’T YouTube TV offers plenty of live sports, one of the chief reasons people stick with cable. Pick a team, and the service automatically records all the televised games it can find. Available channels include ESPN, Big Ten and sports networks from Comcast, Fox and CBS - but not Turner networks such as TBS and others that aired the bulk of March Madness. New York Mets fans won’t get baseball games on SNY. YouTube also has the youth-oriented Freeform and CW networks; its rivals lack The CW. AMC is coming in a few weeks, so you’ll have to wait to catch up on the just-ended season of “The Walking Dead.”

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Image: Gian Ehrenzeller

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Since most channel numbers and names are meaningless in a digital world, YouTube TV arranges live channels by topic, starting with broadcast networks, sports, youth-oriented channels, then everything else. Subscriptions are initially limited to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area - all locations where YouTube could get rights to local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC stations.

SEARCH PARTY As you’d expect from Google, search is one of YouTube’s big selling points. Its rivals already offer search by shows and sometimes by actors; YouTube adds topical searches, such as “aliens” or “road trips.”

Unfortunately, it’s still a work in progress. A search for “nerd comedy” brings up “The Big Bang Theory,” but “comedy about nerds” does not. And a search for “Modern Family episode on basketball” doesn’t bring up the episode titled “Basketball.”

YouTube could also stand to take a cue from TiVo recorders and let you automatically record all programs featuring, say, Jennifer Lawrence, including her talk-show appearances. You can search for Jennifer Lawrence, but you need to go through the results and choose shows to record individually - too much work for a service that promises simplicity.

One big plus: YouTube’s unlimited DVR will store recordings for nine months, long enough for entire seasons of network shows. Sony’s PlayStation Vue - the only similar service offering an unlimited online DVR - offers only 28 days of storage, nowhere near enough for binge-watching.

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YouTube TV works on phones, tablets and laptop browsers. Watching on an actual TV requires Google’s Chromecast, an inexpensive streaming stick you control with your phone. (Early subscribers get one for free.)

ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY This being Google, your viewing and search histories might be mined for targeted advertising. You can suspend tracking in the settings, though that will hinder personalized recommendations. (It’s too early to tell if that’s a loss or not, though some of the early recommendations have been spot on.)

You can share your subscription with five friends or relatives in your household, with three simultaneous streams allowed. No need to share passwords; they sign in with their own Google accounts. Recordings and recommendations are kept separate, so your roommates can’t make fun of you for bingeing “The Real Housewives.”

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Image: Nigel Treblin

CYBORGS AT WORK: EMPLOYEES GETTING IMPLANTED WITH MICROCHIPS

The syringe slides in between the thumb and index finger. Then, with a click, a microchip is injected in the employee’s hand. Another “cyborg” is created.

What could pass for a dystopian vision of the workplace is almost routine at the Swedish startup hub Epicenter. The company offers to implant its workers and startup members with microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards: to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand.

The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.

“The biggest benefit I think is convenience,” said Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter. As a demonstration, he unlocks a door 17

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by merely waving near it. “It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys.”

The technology in itself is not new. Such chips are used as virtual collar plates for pets.

Companies use them to track deliveries. It’s just never been used to tag employees on a broad scale before. Epicenter and a handful of other companies are the first to make chip implants broadly available.

And as with most new technologies, it raises security and privacy issues. While biologically safe, the data generated by the chips can show how often an employee comes to work or what they buy. Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, a person cannot easily separate themselves from the chip.

“Of course, putting things into your body is quite a big step to do and it was even for me at first,” said Mesterton, remembering how he initially had had doubts.

“But then on the other hand, I mean, people have been implanting things into their body, like pacemakers and stuff to control your heart,” he said. “That’s a way, way more serious thing than having a small chip that can actually communicate with devices.”

Epicenter, which is home to more than 100 companies and some 2,000 workers, began implanting workers in January 2015. Now, about 150 workers have them. A company based in Belgium also offers its employees such implants, and there are isolated cases around the world where tech enthusiasts have tried this out in recent years.

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The small implants use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, the same as in contactless credit cards or mobile payments.

When activated by a reader a few centimeters (inches) away, a small amount of data flows between the two devices via electromagnetic waves. The implants are “passive,” meaning they contain information that other devices can read, but cannot read information themselves.

Ben Libberton, a microbiologist at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, says hackers could conceivably gain huge swathes of information from embedded microchips. The ethical dilemmas will become bigger the more sophisticated the microchips become.

“The data that you could possibly get from a chip that is embedded in your body is a lot different from the data that you can get from a smartphone,” he says. “Conceptually you could get data about your health, you could get data about your whereabouts, how often you’re working, how long you’re working, if you’re taking toilet breaks and things like that.”

Libberton said that if such data is collected, the big question remains of what happens to it, who uses it, and for what purpose.

So far, Epicenter’s group of cyborgs doesn’t seem too concerned.

“People ask me; ‘Are you chipped?’ and I say; ‘Yes, why not,’” said Fredric Kaijser, the 47-year-old chief experience officer at Epicenter. “And they all get excited about privacy issues and what that means and so forth. And for me it’s just a matter of I like to try new things and just see it as more of an enabler and what that would bring into the future.”

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The implants have become so popular that Epicenter workers stage monthly events where attendees have the option of being “chipped” for free.

That means visits from self-described “body hacker” Jowan Osterlund from Biohax Sweden who performs the “operation.”

He injects the implants - using pre-loaded syringes - into the fleshy area of the hand, just next to the thumb. The process lasts a few seconds, and more often than not there are no screams and barely a drop of blood. “The next step for electronics is to move into the body,” he says.

Sandra Haglof, 25, who works for Eventomatic, an events company that works with Epicenter, has had three piercings before, and her left hand barely shakes as Osterlund injects the small chip.

“I want to be part of the future,” she laughs.

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES TO WHITE HOUSE: SAVE ALL TRUMP TWEETS

The National Archives and Records Administration has told the White House to keep each of President Donald Trump’s tweets, even those he deletes or corrects, and the White House has agreed.

The head of the archives, David S. Ferriero, told two Democratic senators in a letter last week that the White House has assured him it’s saving all Trump’s Twitter blasts.

The archives contacted the White House about the matter because the Presidential Records Act requires such correspondence to be preserved for history. Ferriero did not say when the agency contacted White House officials to remind them about the records requirement, but officials briefed the White House counsel’s office about the law on Feb. 2, according to the archivist’s letter to Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Tom Carper of Delaware.

The archivist’s letter, dated March 30, doesn’t describe precisely how the White House is saving Trump’s tweets. The Obama Image: J. David Ake

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administration used an automated system to keep copies of President Barack Obama’s tweets.

McCaskill and Carper raised the issue of Trump’s tweets in early March following a spate of instances in which Trump had deleted or altered earlier tweets. The two senators had previously raised concerns about Trump’s tweets in a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn.

The two senators also pressed the archives for information about reports that some White House staffers had been ordered to avoid emails or use smartphone apps that do not preserve emails because of Trump administration concerns about leaks to the media. Ferriero told them he was aware of those press reports but said that White House guidance “to all employees expressly forbids the use of such apps.” Ferriero also said he was not aware of government officials who have been instructed to avoid using email as a method of workrelated communication.

Trump’s almost-daily use of his official White House Twitter account and his separate private Twitter account has been heavily scrutinized by the media and by political friends and foes since his November election and even more so since his inauguration.

Three minutes before he took the oath of office in January, Trump tweeted from his private account that he was “honered to serve you, the great American people, as your 45th President of the United States.” The misspelled word in the tweet was later altered to “honored” and then the tweet was deleted entirely.

Unlike the archives’ clear guidance on saving Trump’s tweets, the agency has not provided 28

Image: Carlo Allegri

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any guidance to government agencies about preserving communications to and from Trump’s smartphones and agencies have not requested guidance, Ferriero said.

The two senators raised concerns with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about whether communications from Trump’s old smartphone were being preserved. Trump reportedly replaced his old unsecured Android smartphone with a secured iPhone but continued using the unsecured phone for tweeting through late March.

The senators had also written to McGahn in February, asking about reports that at least four senior Trump White House officials “maintained active email accounts on a private email system.”

Newsweek had reported in January that senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, chief strategist Steve Bannon, counselor Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sean Spicer all were using private email accounts on a Republican National Committee system.

Trump repeatedly criticized Democratic president opponent Hillary Clinton for her extensive use of private emails when she was secretary of state in the Obama administration.

According to an agenda of the Feb. 2 briefing with White House officials, archives general counsel Gary M. Stern and John Laster, director of the agency’s presidential materials division, explained that the president and White House counsel were “solely responsible for managing presidential records.”

The role of the archives, they added, is mostly advisory, but presidential records can only be disposed of after the White House consults the archivist in writing.

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HACKED NEW YORK POST APP SENDS OUT ‘HEIL PRESIDENT’ ALERT

The New York Post app has been hacked on April Fools’ Day, sending out push alert notifications that included “Heil President Donald Trump.”

The Post apologized Saturday night, shortly after its app sent out a series of alerts. The Post said in a follow-up alert: “Our push alert notification system was compromised this evening. We are working to resolve the issue. Please accept our apologies.”

The messages appeared directed at Trump. One message said, “Open your heart to those you do not understand and listen to all those you fear and look down upon.”

The alerts even included lyrics from Nirvana’s song “Come As You Are”: “Take your time, hurry up, the choice is yours, but dont be late...”

The Post is owned by Trump-friendly media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Image: Scott Olson

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PRIVACY CONCERN RAISED OVER SEARCH SERVICE ON VERIZON PHONES

Is Verizon planning to spy on its customers?

You might conclude that it is after reading Verizon’s privacy policy on an upcoming AppFlash service, which promises easier access to search and apps on Android phones. The policy says Verizon may share data on features and services you use, along with the list of apps you have installed on your phone, with other Verizon businesses to target ads.

The privacy watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation described AppFlash as “spyware.”

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Not so fast, Verizon says. In a statement to clarify its intentions, Verizon says users must explicitly grant permission before using AppFlash. Verizon says customers will be able to easily disable the service, and no one will be required to use it.

The statement, however, doesn’t say exactly what permission Verizon is seeking. The privacy policy says users can control AppFlash’s access to your location and contact information, but says nothing about giving control over broader usage data. At most, users can turn off ad tracking on the phone by digging through the settings.

The EFF has since retracted Thursday’s blog post, pending further investigation. The group had said AppFlash represents Verizon’s intention “to start monetizing its customers’ private data as soon as possible.” The post came just days after Congress voted to block Obama-era restrictions on what internet-access companies like Verizon could do with information about you.

Verizon has gotten heat over user privacy before.

Last year, Verizon agreed to pay a $1.35 million fineover a “supercookie” that federal regulators said followed phone customers on the internet without their permission.

The complaints come as Verizon evolves into an advertising business, with the purchase of AOL in 2015 and the upcoming acquisition of Yahoo’s internet businesses. Verizon, in knowing what web sites and apps you use, could charge companies more for ads that are targeted to your personal habits.

Android phones and iPhones already come with search services similar to AppFlash. The main difference is when people use AppFlash, Verizon 36

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gets more data on your interactions and can target ads accordingly.

AppFlash is a Verizon-branded version of Evie Launcher, which people can already get through the Android app store. After installation, one swipe from a phone edge brings up a search bar; one search pulls content from the web and installed apps at once. For instance, after searching for the movie “Beauty and the Beast,” Evie offers one-tap access to buy tickets through Fandango or to read reviews through IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes.

Verizon says AppFlash will be tested initially on a single phone, LG’s K20 V. Verizon has offered no details on its plans beyond that, though the app is for Android only and Apple forbids carriers from shipping iPhones with their own apps already installed.

While Verizon promises to seek permission, it’s not yet known how Verizon will do that and how clear it will be in explaining what’s being collected and how it will be used.

Evie Launcher does ask permission to access location and contact information, and you can say no. It also asks for permission to replace the regular home screen experience for launching individual apps. However, Evie says nothing about privacy during the setup; its privacy policy online says personal information such as usage activity and search queries will be collected, but not shared with third parties.

For those who use AppFlash, Verizon says data collected may be shared with other Verizon businesses for ad targeting. AOL, which Verizon owns, can place ads tailored web users on many other sites, too.

Image: Vadym Drobot

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TRUMP SIGNS BILL BLOCKING ONLINE PRIVACY REGULATION

After his press secretary blasted it as an example of rampant government overreach, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Monday that could eventually allow internet providers to sell information about their customers’ browsing habits.

The bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information. Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies.

The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books.

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With a Republican president in the White House, the GOP-controlled Congress has turned to the 20-year-old law to scrap numerous regulations that Republicans say are costly, burdensome or excessive, many of which were finalized in the closing months of Democrat Barack Obama’s presidency.

Internet companies like Google don’t have to ask their users for permission before tracking what sites they visit, a discrepancy that Republicans and industry group have blasted as both unfair to companies and confusing to consumers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the president’s support for the bill was part of a larger effort “to fight Washington red tape that stifles American innovation, job creation and economic growth.”

“The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others,” picking the winners and losers, he said.

Supporters of the privacy measure argued that the company that sells an internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with, information that would be particularly useful for advertisers and marketers.

Undoing the regulation leaves people’s online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers to protect customer information - but it doesn’t spell out how or what companies must do, which is what the online privacy rule aimed to do.

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Image: Alex Wong

The absence of clear privacy rules means companies that supply internet service, and who can monitor how consumers use it, can continue to mine that information for use in their own advertising businesses. Consumer advocates also worry that the companies will be a rich target for hackers.

Ajit Pai, the agency chairman appointed

by Trump, has said he wanted to roll back the broadband privacy rules. Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like AT&T and internet companies like Google.

Broadband providers don’t fall under the trade commission’s jurisdiction, and advocates say that agency historically has been weaker than the communications commission.

Trump signed three other bills, including one that eliminates a rule that prohibited the use of tactics like baiting and shooting bears from the air on the National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.

The bills are S.J. Res 34 and H.J. Res 69

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SHARES IN UK CHIPMAKER DIVE 60 PCT AFTER APPLE ENDS CONTRACT

Shares in chipmaker Imagination Technologies plunged over 60 percent last Monday after the British company announced that Apple plans to stop using its products.

The development highlights how, through its sheer size, Apple’s decisions can make or break the fortune of entire companies that work with it.

Imagination, a multimedia, processor and communications technology company, said Apple Inc. “will no longer use the group’s intellectual property in its new products” within two years. That would mean the company wouldn’t be eligible for royalty payments under existing agreements.

Imagination says Apple has for years used the company’s technology in the graphics processor units of its phones, tablets and watches but has asserted that it is working on a “separate, independent” design to control its products.

Imagination said “it would be extremely challenging” for Apple to design a new product 47

without infringing Imagination’s intellectual property rights.

“Accordingly Imagination does not accept Apple’s assertions,” the company said.

There are longer-term issues than the loss of royalties and license fees, which amounted to 60.7 million pounds last year.

Nick Kounoupias, a London-based intellectual property expert, pointed to Imagination’s assertion that Apple has not provided any evidence to back its assertion that it can do without Imagination’s technology without violating its intellectual property rights, patents and confidential information. To defend its rights, Imagination may ultimately have to sue the world’s biggest publicly traded company.

Kounoupias described Apple’s behavior as “sinister.”

“The reason it’s sinister is because big companies have a habit of doing what they like and then hiding behind deeper pockets than their opponents,” he said.

Shares in Imagination Technologies closed down 62 percent at 103 pence in London. That cut its market value from 759 million pounds to just 290 million pounds ($950 million to $360 million).

That will hurt its main investors, including London-based asset managers Baillie Gifford, which bought about 34 million shares three years ago and currently owns an 11.6 percent stake.

Apple itself owns 8 percent of the company, which would have resulted in a book loss of almost $50 million - a sum easily absorbed by the tech giant, itself worth $750 billion.

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HOW THE iPHONE 8 COULD BUILD UPON AND LEAPFROG THE S8 It’s always exciting when Samsung unveils new flagship phones. The South Korean electronics giant is, after all, considered Apple’s only major rival in the smartphone game. However, with the recently announced Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, Samsung has positioned itself as a likely frontrunner in what could be another paradigm shift in smartphone design and technology - and, so rumor and speculation suggest, Apple should soon be joining that revolution with the iPhone 8.

IMPRESSIVE SMARTPHONES, BUT ARE SOME CRACKS SHOWING? For those smartphone users entrenched in the Samsung and Android ecosystems, there is a lot to like about the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The display, in particular, will make a big impression. The display sizes - 5.8-inch and 6.2inch, respectively - have been bumped up from the 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch panel sizes of last year’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. However, the handsets overall aren’t significantly larger, with significantly shrunken bezels leaving the screen taking up 83% of the face.

What has similarly helped is that the Galaxy S range has now completely done away with flat displays. The S8 and S8+ both integrate screens that curve at the sides, allowing all owners to take advantage of the software features designed for use with those curves but previously reserved for Samsung’s Edge and Note phones. Samsung has also given the S8 a Samsung-specific virtual assistant, Bixby, plus facial recognition technology and a relocated fingerprint sensor.

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Image: Drew Angerer

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However, all three features come with caveats that have prevented Samsung earning entirely universal acclaim from critics despite their clearly favorable early impressions. Bixby Samsung’s rival to Apple’s Siri - has particularly glaring shortcomings. In a “hands-on” article for CNET, Jessica Dolcourt calls Bixby “a mishmash of voice assistant, Google Now cards and Google Goggles optical recognition” that is “confusing, limited and, at this admittedly embryonic stage, very incomplete.”

THE S8’S CRACKS START LOOKING BIGGER Dolcourt has also taken issue with the fingerprint reader’s placing, which has been moved to the phone’s back. While this shift has apparently been necessitated by Samsung’s pursuit of much thinner front bezels, the precise positioning looks sloppy; Dolcourt has remarked that it “sits so close to the rear camera that I fear you’ll smudge the lens when you’re just trying to unlock the phone”. This has actually occurred during tests of a pre-final unit, she added.

Meanwhile, despite introducing facial recognition into its phones for the first time, Samsung is taking only tentative steps with technology that, the company has admitted, can’t entirely replace fingerprint recognition just yet. It can currently only be used to unlock the phone; the ability to make Samsung Pay payments in this way has been omitted. This is understandable given that one YouTube user has already managed to fool the technology with an image of his face, AppleInsider notes.

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Image: Drew Angerer

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ANOTHER ROUND IN APPLE’S YEARSLONG FIGHT WITH SAMSUNG Dolcourt phrases it well as she concludes: “For now, I’m cautiously optimistic about the S8 as an all-rounder that helps Samsung recover from its charred reputation.” The scandal, which unfolded just last year, of exploding Galaxy Note 7 devices has likely induced caution in Samsung itself. However, the S8’s obvious drawbacks have left it looking like something of an unfinished revolution that Apple could more fully realize with the “iPhone 8” expected to arrive later this year.

Apple and Samsung have a long history of fierce competition, and not just in endeavoring to outperform the other in smartphone technology, innovation, and sales. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Court reopened the legal dispute in which Apple has, for years, accused Samsung of copying the iPhone’s design for the Galaxy S phones.

While, by now, it has been ruled that Samsung did infringe Apple patents, there remains disagreement over how much in damages the South Korean giant should pay its Americanheadquartered rival.

Digital Trends recently chronicled the history of the spat - the genesis of which was sown in 2010, when Apple warned Samsung that its smartphones and tablets were infringing Apple patents. The next year, Apple launched its lawsuit against Samsung - and, while a U.S.based trial court jury awarded the Cupertino firm damages of $1 billion in 2012, this amount has been repeatedly revised by subsequent trials. In 2015, Samsung agreed to hand over 59

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$548 million; however, it has challenged its requirement to pay $399 million of this, deeming that figure excessive.

HOW THE iPHONE 8’S QUALITY COULD SURPASS THE GALAXY S8’S Over a hundred designers and educators back Apple in this legal tussle, while numerous Silicon Valley companies, intellectual property professors, and non-profits support Samsung.

Thus, it’s not obvious when this case should finally come to a close. However, it could be in the smartphone market that Apple will get to enjoy a crucial triumph over Samsung much sooner.

This is because, with the iPhone 8, Apple looks capable of filling many of the holes that Samsung left gaping in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

Like the S8, the iPhone 8 is expected to considerably trim the bezels. As 9to5Mac notes, the iPhone 8 should have a stainless steel frame holding together a glass casing, resulting in a design much like that of the iPhone 4. In pursuing Jony Ive’s goal for an iPhone resembling a “single slab of glass”, Apple should embed the Home button into the display. However, this wouldn’t have to mean relocating the Touch ID sensor to the back, S8style. A patent recently awarded to Apple and reported by 9to5Mac shows how ultrasonic imaging could help keep the sensor front-facing.

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The iPhone 8 could also better the S8 in respect of camera features. Despite the dual-lens rear camera having proved one of the biggest selling points of the iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung has chosen to stick with a single-lens rear camera for both S8 models. Furthermore, following recent reports that the iPhone 8 will integrate 3D-sensing camera technology, Apple could use this to implement facial recognition that, compared to the S8’s, is less likely to be tricked by mere images of faces. It could instead scan the depth of field and so discern when a face seems peculiarly flat...

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AUGMENTED REALITY: THE iPHONE 8’S BIGGEST SECRET WEAPON? That’s before we even move onto what could be the most obvious reason for Apple to give the iPhone 3D-sensing cameras: augmented reality.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has not been shy about his company’s enthusiasm for this emerging technology, which allows images and graphics to be laid over a view of the real world that, in an iPhone, could obviously be camera-captured.

In an interview with The Independent, Cook called AR “a big idea like the smartphone,” clarifying that the two are not “about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market”, but instead “for everyone”.

It’s still not obvious that Apple is indeed planning to start rolling out AR features with the iPhone 8. Cook has cautioned that “there are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream”. However, Samsung has continued its trend of copying Apple - with such moves as the “plus” in the larger S8 model’s name and introducing a blue color like that previously rumored for the iPhone. A strikingly-designed iPhone 8 with AR features at the forefront could help Apple to, with its innovation drive, leap past Samsung and once again leave it in the dust.

by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin

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INVENTOR OF WORLD WIDE WEB WINS COMPUTING’S ‘NOBEL PRIZE’

Most people who search on Google, share on Facebook and shop on Amazon have never heard of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. But they might not be doing any of those things had he not invented the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee, 61, is this year’s recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing’s version of the Nobel Prize.

The award, announced Tuesday by the Association for Computing Machinery, marks another pinnacle for the British native, who has already been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and named as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th Century by Time magazine.

Image: Philippe Desmazes

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“It’s a crowning achievement,” Berners-Lee said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But I think the award is for the Web as a project, and the massive international collaborative spirit of all that have joined me to help.”

The honor comes with a $1 million prize funded by Google, one of many companies that made a fortune as a result of Berners-Lee’s efforts to make the internet more accessible. He managed that largely by figuring out a simple way to post documents, pictures and video - everything, really, beyond plain text - online.

SPINNING THE WEB Starting in 1989, Berners-Lee began working on ways digital object could be identified and retrieved through browser software capable of rendering graphics and other images. In August 1991, he launched the world’s first website, http://info.cern.ch.

Besides coming up with the web’s technical specifications, Berners-Lee “offered a coherent vision of how each of these elements would work together as part of an integrated whole,” said Vicki Hanson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery.

In an even more significant move, Berners-Lee decided against patenting his technology and instead offered it as royalty-free software. That allowed other programmers to build upon the foundation he’d laid, spawning more than a billion websites today that have helped lure more than 3 billion people online.

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Image: Charles Krupa

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CAUGHT IN THE WEB The web’s widespread appeal gratifies Berners-Lee, who now splits his time shuttling between the U.S. and Britain as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford.

But he fears parts of the web will become less accessible in the U.S. if the Federal Communication Commission dismantles regulations protecting “net neutrality.”

That’s the principle that internet service providers should treat all websites equally instead of favoring some destinations that might be willing to pay for special treatment.

If the Trump administration tries to dump net neutrality, “it’s going to have a fight on its hands because I think the American people realize it’s important,” Berners-Lee said. “It allowed America to benefit from a thriving internet market for connectivity and content.

It has become part of the spirit of America.”

Berners-Lee also worries about governments around the world using the internet as a surveillance tool, calling it a “recurrent threat.” He admits that preserving personal privacy as technology advances remains a thorny problem, one that he doesn’t have a ready solution for. But figuring that out is “really important to the future of society,” he says.

“As an individual, I should be able to keep my own notes, keep my own journal and not share it with anybody. That is just part of being a person.”

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BEYOND THE WEB Like several other prominent figures in technology, Berners-Lee isn’t sure if humanity will be better or worse off as computers grow better at thinking like people via artificial intelligence.

“Computing has grown exponentially more powerful, so It’s only logical that it will get to the point when computers will become smarter than us,” Berners-Lee said. “So, yes, we should logically think about those consequences.”

This is the 50th anniversary of the A.M. Turing award, named after English computer scientist Alan Turing, whose revolutionary work with early computers and artificial intelligence helped crack Nazi Germany’s codes during World War II. Previous award winners include Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn, who did some of the pioneering work on the internet that Berners-Lee spun into the World Wide Web.

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VERIZON TO TAKE ‘OATH’ AS NEW COMPANY TO RUN YAHOO, AOL

Verizon Communications will create a new company called Oath after it completes its $4.5 billion acquisition of Yahoo and melds the troubled internet company with its AOL operations.

Oath will oversee Yahoo and AOL after the deal is completed. The Yahoo and AOL brands are expected to survive, although Verizon says it won’t provide any details about its plans for Oath until this summer.

“You can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital,” AOL said in a Monday statement.

Tim Armstrong, AOL’s top executive, posted a tweet indicating Oath will manage more than 20 different brands.

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Verizon is counting on the combination of Yahoo and AOL to help it sell more digital ads, even though the two internet pioneers had been struggling on their own.

Yahoo originally agreed to sell its online operations to Verizon for $4.8 billion after years of unsuccessful attempts to boosts its revenue.

It had to slash the price after discovering that two separate hacking attacks had stolen personal information from more than 1 billion user accounts.

The security breakdown marked the two biggest breaches in internet history, raising concerns that people might start using Yahoo less frequently and reduce the opportunities to show ads.

Verizon plans to take over Yahoo’s email and other online operations sometime between now and June 30. After the deal closes, Yahoo’s cash and lucrative stakes in Asian internet companies Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan will be controlled by another new company called Altaba.

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FACEBOOK LOSES SEARCH WARRANT CHALLENGE IN NEW YORK COURT

Facebook has lost a legal fight against a New York City prosecutor who sought search warrants for hundreds of user accounts.

The New York state Court of Appeals sided with lower courts by ruling that the social media giant didn’t have the right to challenge the warrants.

Prosecutors in Manhattan sought search warrants in 2013 for the accounts of 381 people in connection with a disability benefits fraud case against New York City police and fire retirees.

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook challenged the warrants, but the courts sided with prosecutors, citing legal procedure that says it is up to individual users to challenge warrants seeking their information.

The case has been closely watched by social media companies, civil libertarians and prosecutors.

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LANES AT NEWARK AIRPORT AUTOMATICALLY RETRIEVE LUGGAGE BINS

It’s every traveler’s nightmare: You’re running late for a flight and the person in front of you in the security line has taken the only two available luggage bins and is slowly putting items in, one by one.

A new system officially unveiled Monday at Newark Liberty International Airport aims to address the occasionally confusing, often frustrating experience of getting your personal items through security and out the other side.

The Transportation Security Administration held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to debut the 19lane checkpoint in United Airlines’ Terminal C. Seventeen of the lanes feature the new system. Bins are automatically retrieved after each use and sent back to the front of the line to reduce bottlenecks.

Travelers pull the bins from underneath the conveyor belt and pack their items in a partitioned section of the belt, reducing the need to move around in search of bins.

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“If you’ve been through a checkpoint before, you may have noticed you’re waiting for a bin or you don’t get a bin, and it causes congestion,” said Jon Roitman, United’s senior vice president of airport operations. “Now, the bin return system is absolutely automated. That’s the biggest feature.”

The other two lanes at the checkpoint still operate standard screening, for oversize items such as baby carriers and strollers.

The Newark airport is the first in the New York City region to have the high-tech lanes in operation. United also uses them at its hubs in Chicago and Los Angeles.

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#01 – MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2017

By Glu Games Inc Category: Games / Free Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#02 – Ballz

By Ketchapp Category: Games / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#03 – Bitmoji - Your Personal Emoji

By Bitstrips Category: Sports / Free Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#04– YouTube

By Google, Inc. Category: Photo & Video / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#05 – Snapchat

By Snap, Inc. Category: Photo & Video / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#06 – Instagram

By Instagram, Inc. Category: Photo & Video / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#07 – Messenger

By Facebook, Inc. Category: Social Networking / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#08 – Gangstar New Orleans: Online Open World Game

By Gameloft Category: Games / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#09 – KAMI 2

By State of Play Games Category: Games / Free Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#10 – Google Maps

By Google, Inc. Category: Navigation / Free Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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#01 – WhatsApp Desktop

By WhatsApp Inc. Category: Social Networking / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.9.0 or later, 64-bit processor

#02 – Microsoft Remote Desktop

By Microsoft Corporation Category: Business / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor

#03– 1Doc: Word Processor for Writer

By Chengyu Huang Category: Business / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.10.0 or later, 64-bit processor

#04 – Fotor Photo Editor

By Chengdu Everimaging Science and Technology Co., Ltd Category: Photography / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor

#05 – Slack

By Slack Technologies, Inc. Category: Business / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor

#06 – File Viewer and Investigator

By Amelia Dybala Category: Utilities / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor

#07 – Microsoft OneNote

By Microsoft Corporation Category: Productivity / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#08 – Xcode

By Apple Category: Developer Tools / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.11.5 or later

#09 – The Unarchiver

By Dag Agren Category: Utilities / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.6.0 or later, 64-bit processor

#10 – OneDrive

By Microsoft Corporation Category: Productivity / Free Compatibility: OS X 10.9.0 or later, 64-bit processor

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#01 – Minecraft: Pocket Edition

By Mojang Category: Games / Price: $6.99 Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#02 – Heads Up!

By Warner Bros.

Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#03 – Bloons TD 5

By Ninja Kiwi Category: Games / Price: $2.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#04 – Plague Inc

By Ndemic Creations Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#05 – Weather Radio by WDT

By Weather Decision Technologies, Inc. Category: Weather / Price: $4.99 Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#06 – NOAA Radar Pro

By Apalon Apps Category: Weather / Price: $3.99 Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#07 – HotSchedules

By HotSchedules Category: Business / Price: $2.99 Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#08 – Facetune

By Lightricks Ltd. Category: Photo & Video / Price: $3.99 Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#09 – 7 Minute Workout Challenge

By Fitness Guide Inc Category: Health & Fitness / Price: $2.99 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#10 – The Escapists

By Team17 Software Ltd Category: Games / Price: $3.99 Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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#01 – GarageBand

By Apple Category: Music / Price: $6.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later

#02 – Magnet

By CrowdCafé Category: Productivity / Price: $1.39 Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor

#03 – Final Cut Pro

By Apple Category: Video / Price: $399.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.11.4 or later, 64-bit processor

#04 – Logic Pro X

By Apple Category: Music / Price: $279.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#05 – Snapheal - Fix your photos.

By MacPhun LLC Category: Photography / Price: $6.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor

#06 – Office Essentials | Docs for Microsoft Office 365

By Office Essentials for Microsoft Office and Google Docs Category: Business / Price: $39.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor

#07 – Screen Capture Movavi: Record Screen Activity

By Movavi Category: Video / Price: $2.79 Compatibility: OS X 10.6.0 or later

#08 – Airmail 3

By Bloop S.R.L. Category: Utilities / Price: $13.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#09 – Adware Doctor

By YONGMING ZHANG Category: Utilities / Price: $13.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#10 – Home Design 3D

By Anuman Category: Graphics & Design / Price: $9.99 Compatibility: OS X 10.8 or later, 64-bit processor

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by Justin Kurzel Genre: Action & Adventure Released: 2016 Price: $14.99 Trailer 308 Ratings

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TV Shows

Rotten Tomatoes

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Assassin’s Creed Based on the video game franchise of the same name, this action adventure follows the story of Cal Lynch (Michael Fassbender) who must travel back in time to 15-th century Spain through revolutionary technology that unlocks the genetic memories contained in his DNA. There he is his distant relative Aguilar de Nerha, a member of the secret society of Assassins who fight to protect free will from the Templar Order.

FIVE FACTS: 1. 80% of the film, including stunts, extras, and location were shot on camera without any CGI. 2. Ubisoft gave the prop makers a detailed list of every weapon ever made for the games that they could use as a guide when creating the props.

3. While playing Aguilar de Nerha, Fassbender wore brown contact lenses to give a subtle difference between Cal Lynch and Nerha.

4. The film features the highest drop by a stunt man in almost 35 years. Damien Walters free fell 125 feet which lasted 3 seconds and had a 61mph impact speed.

5. All of the scenes set in 15th Century Spain were filmed in the Spanish language although in the games they are in English.

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Assassin’s Creed Movie CLIP Leap of Faith (2016) - Michael Fassbender Movie

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Silence

By Director Martin Scorsese, Silence tells the story of two 17th century Portuguese missionaries (Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield) who embark on a perilous journey to Japan to find their missing mentor (Liam Neeson). The two men minister to the Christian villagers who worship in secret, fearing a prolonged and agonizing death if they’re caught by the ruling samurai.

FIVE FACTS: 1. The film’s premiere was held at the Vatican and screened to four hundred Jesuit Priests.

2. This is Martin Scorsese’s third religiousbased film after The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Kundun (1997).

3. Adam Driver lost fifty pounds for the role; thirty before filming and twenty during.

4. This is the second film based on the novel of the same name written by Japanese author Shusaku Endo.

5. Scorsese appears briefly in the film at the end. In the scene where Ferreira and Rodrigues are in Nagasaki filtering through material from the trade ship, Scorsese is seated at the far left of the table in the courtyard.

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by Martin Scorsese Genre: Drama Released: 2016 Price: $14.99

74 Ratings

Trailer

Rotten Tomatoes

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Silence - Exclusive Clip ‘Pray With Your Eyes Open’

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“Show Yourself”

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Music

Emperor of Sand Mastodon Emperor of Sand is the seventh studio album

by American metal band Mastodon and is their most mainstream effort to date. The narrative-driven album last seen on Crack the Skye follows a darker tone than the last couple of albums but still features a versatility of sound with some of their most accessible lyrics to date.

Genre: Metal/Rock Released: Mar 31, 2017 11 Songs Price: $9.99

242 Ratings

FIVE FACTS: 1. The lyrics include themes of death and survival, inspired by experiences that members of the band had when family and friends were recently diagnosed with cancer.

2. Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth appear as guest vocalists on “Scorpion Breath” and “Andromeda,” respectively.

3. Guitarist Brent Hinds learned to play music by playing the banjo, and his style of fast hybrid picking and banjo emulating can be heard on many of the songs.

4. The members of Mastodon met at a High on Fire show in Atlanta, Georgia.

5. Drummer Brann Dailor is a huge fan of Genesis and Peter Gabriel and is usually the person who comes up with concepts of each album.

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The Making of ‘Emperor of Sand’

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Automaton Jamiroquai The eighth studio band by funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai features an undeniable UK house influence in tracks such as “Shake It On” and “Hot Property” while still maintaining their distinctive sound in the title track “Automaton.”

After two years, this is the return that fans have been waiting for.

FIVE FACTS: 1. The band’s new songs are still inspired by science-fiction.

2. “Buffalo Man” is the name of the silhouette character featured on most of the covers of Jamiroquai’s releases.

3. Jamiroquai is influenced by artists such as NAS, the O’Jays, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gay and Miles Davis.

4. Jay Kay’s mother is jazz singer Karen Kay. 5. Jay Kay said the hats that he is well known for have spiritual significance.

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Genre: Pop/Rock/R&B/Soul Released: Mar 31, 2017 12 Songs Price: $9.99

140 Ratings

“Automaton”

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“Cloud 9”

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BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘BOSS BABY’ TAKES DOWN DISNEY’S ‘BEAUTY’

It took Alec Baldwin in diapers to bring down “Beauty and the Beast.”

The 20th Century Fox release and DreamWorks Animation production “The Boss Baby,” featuring the voice of Baldwin as the film’s pipsqueak protagonist, was the weekend’s no. 1 film. It opened with $50.2 million, according to final box-office figures Monday from comScore.

The gap between it and “Beauty and the Beast” (the box-office leader the last two weeks) was a little greater than expected, too. “Beauty and the Beast” trailed in second with $45.4 million in its third weekend.

Paramount Pictures’ controversy-plagued “Ghost in the Shell,” made for $110 million, flopped in its debut. It sold $18.7 million in tickets.

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The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

1.

“The Boss Baby,” 20th Century Fox, $50,198,902, 3,773 locations, $13,305 average, $50,198,902, 1 Week.

2.

“Beauty and the Beast,” Disney, $45,420,743, 4,210 locations, $10,789 average, $393,337,585, 3 Weeks.

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“Ghost in the Shell,” Paramount, $18,676,033, 3,440 locations, $5,429 average, $18,676,033, 1 Week.

4.

“Power Rangers,” Lionsgate, $14,200,307, 3,693 locations, $3,845 average, $64,762,477, 2 Weeks.

5.

“Kong: Skull Island,” Warner Bros., $8,587,454, 3,141 locations, $2,734 average, $147,635,658, 4 Weeks.

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6.

“Logan,” 20th Century Fox, $6,108,084, 2,323 locations, $2,629 average, $211,775,721, 5 Weeks.

7.

“Get Out,” Universal, $5,660,210, 1,844 locations, $3,070 average, $156,734,170, 6 Weeks.

8.

“Life,” Sony, $5,551,767, 3,146 locations, $1,765 average, $22,296,006, 2 Weeks.

9.

“Chips,” W arner Bros., $3,958,188, 2,464 locations, $1,606 average, $14,270,554, 2 Weeks.

10.

“The Zookeeper’s Wife,” Focus Features, $3,288,835, 541 locations, $6,079 average, $3,288,835, 1 Week.

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“The Shack,” Lionsgate, $2,042,041, 1,430 locations, $1,428 average, $52,957,048, 5 Weeks.

12.

“The Lego Batman Movie,” Warner Bros., $750,139, 812 locations, $924 average, $172,676,702, 8 Weeks.

13.

“The Belko Experiment,” OTL Releasing, $528,165, 453 locations, $1,166 average, $8,990,355, 3 Weeks.

14.

“Hidden Figures,” 20th Century Fox, $414,389, 352 locations, $1,177 average, $167,805,062, 15 Weeks.

15.

“T2: Trainspotting,” Sony, $377,618, 140 locations, $2,697 average, $1,155,125, 3 Weeks.

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16.

“The Devotion Of Suspect X,” China Lion Entertainment, $323,207, 43 locations, $7,516 average, $323,207, 1 Week.

17.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Disney, $249,074, 224 locations, $1,112 average, $531,721,570, 16 Weeks.

18.

“John Wick: Chapter Two,” Lionsgate, $217,548, 210 locations, $1,036 average, $91,283,469, 8 Weeks.

19.

“The Last Word,” Bleecker Street, $210,817, 289 locations, $729 average, $1,482,994, 5 Weeks.

20.

“Lion,” The Weinstein Company, $198,831, 175 locations, $1,136 average, $51,117,883, 19 Weeks.

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned

by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Image: Martin Mejia

FIRST ON THE MARTIAN MENU: SPUDS

If human beings finally reach Mars, they may find themselves depending on the humble, if hardy potato.

Scientists in Peru have used a simulator that mimics the harsh conditions on the Red Planet to successfully grow a small potato plant.

It’s an experiment straight out of the 2015 Hollywood movie “The Martian” that scientists say may also benefit arid regions already feeling the impact of climate change.

“It’s not only about bringing potatoes to Mars, but also finding a potato that can resist noncultivable areas on Earth,” said Julio Valdivia, an astrobiologist with Peru’s University of Engineering and Technology who is working with NASA on the project.

The experiment began in 2016 - a year after the Hollywood film “The Martian” showed a stranded astronaut surviving by figuring out how to grow potatoes on the red planet.

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Peruvian scientists built a simulator akin to a Mars-in-a-box: Frosty below-zero temperatures, high carbon monoxide concentrations, the air pressure found at 6,000 meters (19,700 feet) altitude and a system of lights imitating the Martian day and night.

Though thousands of miles away from colleagues at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California providing designs and advice, Peru was in many ways an apt location to experiment with growing potatoes on Mars.

The birthplace of the domesticated potato lies high in the Andes near Lake Titicaca, where it was first grown about 7,000 years ago. More than 4,000 varieties are grown in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, where potatoes have sprouted even in cold, barren lands.

The Peruvian scientists didn’t have to go far to find high-salinity soil similar to that found on Mars, though with some of the organic material Mars lacks: Pampas de la Joya along the country’s southern coast receives less than a millimeter of rain a year, making its terrain somewhat comparable to the Red Planet’s parched ground.

International Potato Center researchers transported 700 kilos (1,540 pounds) of the soil to Lima, planted 65 varieties and waited. In the end, just four sprouted from the soil.

In a second stage, scientists planted one of the most robust varieties in the even more extreme conditions of the simulator, with the soil - Mars has no organic soil - replaced by crushed rock and a nutrient solution.

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Image: Martin Mejia

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Live-streaming cameras caught every tiny movement as a bud sprouted and grew several leaves while sensors provided around-the-clock monitoring of simulator conditions.

The winning potato: A variety called “Unique.”

“It’s a ‘super potato’ that resists very high carbon dioxide conditions and temperatures that get to freezing,” Valdivia said.

NASA itself also has been doing experiments on extraterrestrial agriculture, both for use on spacecraft and perhaps on Mars.

Ray Wheeler, the lead for advanced life support research activities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, said plant survival in the open on Mars would be impossible given the planet’s low-pressure, cold temperature and lack of oxygen, but showing plants could survive in a greenhouse-type environment with reduced pressure and high carbon-dioxide levels could potentially reduce operating costs. Most research on growing plants in space has focused on optimizing environments to get high outputs of oxygen and food.

“But understanding the lower limits of survival is also important, especially if you consider predeploying some sort of plant growth systems before humans arrive,” he said.

In the next stage of the experiment, scientists will build three more simulators to grow potato plants under extreme conditions with the hope of gaining a broader range of results. They will also need to increase the carbon dioxide concentrations to more closely imitate the Martian atmosphere.

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NASA SPACECRAFT HALFWAY BETWEEN PLUTO AND NEXT SMALLER STOP

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NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is now halfway between Pluto and its next much, much smaller stop.

New Horizons - which reached the milestone this week - is bound for an even more remote object called 2014 MU69. Like Pluto, the object orbits in our solar system’s twilight zone known as the Kuiper Belt, but is barely 1 percent its size. MU69 is nearly 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto.

The spacecraft will swoop past MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019.

“That flyby will set the record for the most distant world ever explored in the history of civilization,” chief investigator Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said in a statement.

With another 466 million miles (750 million kilometers) remaining, New Horizons will go into a five-month hibernation later this week.

Although still zooming along, the spacecraft is slowing down slightly as it gets farther from the sun. Besides aiming for MU69, New Horizons will study a couple dozen other Kuiper Belt objects from afar.

New Horizons arrived at Pluto in July 2015, becoming its first visitor from Earth. It launched from Cape Canaveral in 2006.

The spacecraft is currently 3.5 billion miles (5.7 billion kilometers) from home. It takes radio signals five hours and 20 minutes to reach the spacecraft from the control center at Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland.

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A ‘SCI-FI’ CANCER THERAPY FIGHTS BRAIN TUMORS, STUDY FINDS

It sounds like science fiction, but a cap-like device that makes electric fields to fight cancer improved survival for the first time in more than a decade for people with deadly brain tumors, final results of a large study suggest.

Many doctors are skeptical of the therapy, called tumor treating fields, and it’s not a cure. It’s also ultra-expensive - $21,000 a month.

But in the study, more than twice as many patients were alive five years after getting it, plus the usual chemotherapy, than those given just the chemo - 13 percent versus 5 percent.

“It’s out of the box” in terms of how cancer is usually treated, and many doctors don’t understand it or think it can help, said Dr. Roger Stupp, a brain tumor expert at Northwestern University in Chicago.

He led the company-sponsored study while previously at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, and gave results Sunday at an 125

American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington.

“You cannot argue with them - they’re great results,” and unlikely to be due to a placebo effect, said one independent expert, Dr. Antonio Chiocca, neurosurgery chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. George Demetri of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and a board member of the association hosting the conference, agreed but called the benefit modest, because most patients still die within five years. “It is such a horrible disease” that any progress is important, he added.

ABOUT THE TREATMENT The device, called Optune, is made by Novocure, based in Jersey, an island near England. It’s sold in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland and Japan for adults with an aggressive cancer called glioblastoma multiforme, and is used with chemo after surgery and radiation to try to keep these tumors from recurring, as most do.

Patients cover their shaved scalp with strips of electrodes connected by wires to a small generator kept in a bag. They can wear a hat, go about their usual lives, and are supposed to use the device at least 18 hours a day. It’s not an electric current or radiation, and they feel only mild heat.

It supposedly works by creating low intensity, alternating electric fields that disrupt cell division - confusing the way chromosomes line up - which makes the cells die. Because cancer cells divide often, and normal cells in the adult brain do not, this in theory mostly harms the disease and not the patient.

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Image: Carrie Antlfinger

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WHAT STUDIES SHOW In a 2011 study, the device didn’t improve survival but caused fewer symptoms than chemo did for people whose tumors had worsened or recurred after standard treatments.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for that situation.

A second study, in newly diagnosed patients, was stopped in 2014 after about half of the 695 participants had been tracked for at least 18 months, because those using the device were living several months longer on average than the rest.

Bill Doyle: Treating Cancer with Electric Fields

The FDA expanded approval but some doctors were leery because the device wasn’t compared with a sham treatment - everyone knew who was getting what. Study leaders say a sham was impractical, because patients feel heat when they get the real thing, and many would refuse to shave their heads every few days and use an inconvenient device for years if the treatment might be fake.

Some doctors said they would withhold judgment until there were long-term results on the whole group.

THE NEW RESULTS Now they’re in: Median survival was 21 months for those given Optune plus chemo versus 16 months for those on chemo alone. Survival rates were 43 percent versus 31 percent at two years; 26 percent versus 16 percent at three years, and 13 percent versus 5 percent at five years.

Side effects were minimal but included bloodcount problems, weakness, fatigue and skin irritation from the electrodes.

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“The device is now impossible to ignore ... it absolutely is an advance,” said Dr. Andrew Lassman, brain tumor chief at the Columbia University Medical Center/New YorkPresbyterian Hospital. He consults for Novocure, as do some doctors running the study.

The latest National Comprehensive Cancer Center guidelines include Optune as an appropriate treatment for brain tumors. It’s also is being tested for pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers; electrodes are worn on the belly or chest for those.

THE PRICE A big issue is cost - roughly $700 a day. Most U.S. insurers cover it but Medicare does not and “we are paying,” said Novocure’s chief executive, Bill Doyle. “We’ve never refused a patient regardless of insurance status.”

The price reflects “an extremely sophisticated medical device, made in very low quantities,” with disposable parts changed several times a week and a support person for each patient, he said.

Plus 17 years of lab, animal and human testing.

That cost? “The round number is half a billion dollars,” Doyle said.

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ONE PATIENT’S EXPERIENCE Joyce Endresen’s insurance covers all but about $1,000 a year for her device. “It’s a great plan, and that’s why I still work,” said Endresen, 52, employed by a direct mail company in suburban Chicago.

She has scans every two months to check for cancer and “they’ve all been good,” she said. “We celebrated two years of no tumor in December and went to South Africa.”

NOVOCURE pt1

Doctors say many patients won’t try the device because of the trouble involved or because they don’t want a visible reminder of their cancer.

Not Endresen.

“I wear it and wear it proudly,” she said.

“It’s an incredible machine and I’m fine not having hair.”

Online: Info on the device Treatment options for brain cancer American Cancer Society info

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BRAIN AND ARM IMPLANTS HELP PARALYZED US MAN FEED HIMSELF

A paralyzed man was able to feed himself for the first time in eight years, after doctors implanted sensors in his brain that sent signals to his arm.

Bill Kochevar was paralyzed from the shoulders down after a cycling accident in Cleveland in 2006.

To help him move again, in 2014, doctors surgically placed two tiny implants into his brain to pick up signals from neurons from the area that controls hand movement. The signals are 133

relayed through external cables to a computer, which sends commands to electrodes in his arm and hand muscles.

After first practicing with virtual reality, Kochevar was then able to drink coffee through a straw and eatforkfuls of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese on his own.

“It was amazing,” the 56-year-old Kochevar said.

“I couldn’t believe I could do it just by thinking about it.”

But after years of being paralyzed, Kochevar’s shoulder wasn’t strong enough to lift his arm, so doctors also provided Kochevar with a robotic arm support for extra assistance. Kochevar’s case is detailed by his doctors in a paperpublished Tuesday in the journal Lancet.

“We know that (in paralyzed people) the spinal cord is damaged and the signals from the brain do not make it down to the muscles. And so in our system, we have effectively bridged that,” said researcher Bob Kirsch of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, the study’s senior author.

Similar technology has previously been used to help a few paralyzed people in experimental studies do things like grasp a bottle, hold a toothbrush and move their legs, but the brain and muscle implants haven’t been used beyond the laboratory and are not a cure for paralysis.

Kirsch said he hopes patients like Kochevar might be able to use such technology outside of the lab within a few years, but that would require several engineering upgrades. He estimates the technology would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

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Image: Russell Lee

Chad Bouton of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, who has worked on similar projects but didn’t participate in the new project, said the technology may be useful beyond paralysis.

“If we can reroute signals around a spinal cord injury, that means we’ve opened the door to rerouting signals around injured areas of the brain,” Boutons said. “So if someone has a stroke and there’s a damaged part of the brain, this technology could allow us to work around it.”

Other experts said more research is needed on how to improve and possibly expand the range of movements that might be possible from such brain implant technology. Scientists have mostly focused on decoding brain signals to move robotic limbs; translating brain messages to move the body’s own limbs is much more challenging and often results in movement that is a bit jerky and awkward.

“Maybe if we stimulate the spinal cord, it’s possible that we can have movement that is more natural,” said Gregoire Courtine, who studies paralysis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Geneva.

Kochevar, who worked in information technology, said he would love to be able to use the brain implant system at home one day.

“I’d like to be able to turn it on when I need to do something, do what I need to do and then shut it off,” he said. “I’d be so excited every day to be trying new things.”

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TIN MAN

MIRANDA LAMBERT

THE FIGHTER (FEAT. CARRIE UNDERWOOD)

KEITH URBAN

BODY LIKE A BACK ROAD

SAM HUNT

THAT’S WHAT I LIKE

BRUNO MARS

SPEAK TO A GIRL

TIM MCGRAW & FAITH HILL

YOU LOOK GOOD

LADY ANTEBELLUM

SHAPE OF YOU

ED SHEERAN

CRAVING YOU (FEAT. MAREN MORRIS)

THOMAS RHETT

SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS

THE CHAINSMOKERS

ROCKABYE (FEAT. SEAN PAUL & ANNE-MARIE)

CLEAN BANDIT

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THE WEIGHT OF THESE WINGS

MIRANDA LAMBERT

รท (DELUXE)

ED SHEERAN

RIPCORD

KEITH URBAN

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

24K MAGIC

BRUNO MARS

HERO

MAREN MORRIS

LIFER

MERCYME

TRAVELLER

CHRIS STAPLETON

MOANA (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) [DELUXE EDITION]

VARIOUS ARTISTS

PAWN SHOP

BROTHERS OSBORNE

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FOREVER COUNTRY

ARTISTS OF THEN, NOW & FOREVER

THE FIGHTER (FEAT. CARRIE UNDERWOOD)

KEITH URBAN

THAT’S WHAT I LIKE

BRUNO MARS

SHAPE OF YOU

ED SHEERAN

CAN’T STOP THE FEELING! (ORIGINAL SONG FROM DREAMWORKS ANIMATION’S “TROLLS”)

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

GOD, YOUR MAMA, AND ME (FEAT. BACKSTREET BOYS)

FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

BLUE AIN’T YOUR COLOR

KEITH URBAN

24K MAGIC

BRUNO MARS

BACK TO GOD

REBA MCENTIRE

CHAINED TO THE RHYTHM (FEAT. SKIP MARLEY)

KATY PERRY

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THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

THE WALKING DEAD, SEASON 7

KIM’S LAST DITCH EFFORT

KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS, SEASON 13

SHE DONE ALREADY DONE BROUGHT IT ON

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, SEASON 9

SOMETHING THEY NEED

THE WALKING DEAD, SEASON 7

AND THE WINNER IS ...

(THE OSCARS OF 1963)

FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN, SEASON 1

SIDE DISHES AND SIDE PIECES

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA, SEASON 9

TEMPTATION

THE ARRANGEMENT, SEASON 1

BE STILL, MY SOUL

GREY’S ANATOMY, SEASON 13

RED SUN, SILVER MOON

INTO THE BADLANDS, SEASON 2

A STOMACH FOR BLOOD

SCANDAL, SEASON 6

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ALL BY MYSELF, ALONE

MARY HIGGINS CLARK

THE LOST ORDER

STEVE BERRY

THE CHOSEN

J.R. WARD

CHESAPEAKE

JAMES A. MICHENER & STEVE BERRY

BIG LITTLE LIES

LIANE MORIARTY

THE BLACK BOOK

JAMES PATTERSON & DAVID ELLIS

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY

JAY ASHER

THE CASTLE

SKYE WARREN

FULL MOUNTIE

AINSLEY BOOTH & SADIE HALLER

RAY OF TIME (RAY #4)

E. L. TODD

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THEN AND NOW: HOW GLACIERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE MELTING

Over the past decade, scientists and photographers keep returning to the world’s glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit.

Now they want others to see how a warming planet is melting masses of ice in a series of before-and-after photos.

In the Geological Society of America’s GSA Today journal , a group of ice researchers and a photographer-filmmaker published pictures showing how much five of the world’s glaciers have thinned.

“There is something fundamentally compelling about the approach they take. For all our emphasis on models and math, seeing is still believing,” said University of Colorado ice scientist Ted Scambos, who wasn’t part of the team.

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Under natural conditions, glaciers at times melt and retreat while others grow and advance.

But measurements from Earth’s 5,200 glaciers show warming temperatures have increased the number of melting glaciers and the speed of glacial retreat, according to the study. Scientists primarily blame man-made global warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

“There is something that touches the heart more profoundly when you see it in pictures than when you see it in maps or reports or graphs,” said photographer James Balog, who founded the nonprofit Earth Vision Institute . “It certainly brings it alive.”

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ICELAND The Solheimajokull glacier has shriveled by about 2,050 feet (625 meters) between 2007 and 2015.

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ALASKA The forward edge of the Mendenhall glacier outside of Juneau has receded about 1,800 feet (550 meters) between 2007 and 2015.

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SWITZERLAND The Stein glacier has shrunk about 1,800 feet (550 meters) between 2006 and 2015.

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SWITZERLAND The Trift glacier has retreated nearly three quarters of a mile (1.17 kilometers) between 2006 and 2015.

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PERU Ohio State ice scientist Lonnie Thompson has visited the Qori Kalis glacier since 1974. Between 1978 and 2016, it has shriveled 3,740 feet (1.14 kilometers). Thompson described his regular expeditions to the Peruvian glacier “like visiting a terminally ill family member.�

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MONTANA JOINS OTHERS IN EFFORT TO BOLSTER INTERNET PRIVACY

States have started writing their own legislation to protect broadband privacy after Congress voted to repeal regulations that would have required internet providers to obtain their customers’ consent before collecting their personal information.

The Montana Senate approved a budget provision that would bar internet providers like Charter and Comcast from being awarded state contracts if they collect data from their customers without consent. That legislation is similar to a measure that is moving through the Minnesota Legislature.

Montana Sen. Ryan Osmundson, R-Buffalo, said he introduced the measure as a response to Congress’ vote to repeal the Obama-era Federal Communications Commission rules, which have not yet taken effect.

“It has become apparent to us that they have the ability to use your information in ways to market to you, and, quite frankly, sell that information,” Osmundson said of internet 163

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providers. “We’re basically saying they cannot do business with the state if they’re collecting personal information without the consent of the individual.”

Montana, Minnesota and Illinois are among the states considering legislation to protect their residents’ information, such as their browsing history.

Illinois is considering two bills, one that would allow people to find out what information internet companies have collected on them and with whom they share that information.

Another would require mobile applications to get permission before tracking user locations.

Maryland lawmakers tried but failed to introduce a similar bill late in the legislative session.

The Obama-era regulation, which was to have taken effect later this year, would have required internet providers to receive consent before sharing customers’ personal information.

Congress’ vote means companies will be able to continue using customers’ data until a customer tells them to stop.

Dallas Harris, a policy fellow at Public Knowledge, a group that advocates for open internet, said states are largely free to put in stricter regulations than what Congress requires.

Harris said to look for more states to pass laws because they feel they have to step up and protect their residents when Congress wouldn’t do so.

“Internet service providers have put themselves in a bit of a conundrum here,” Harris said.

“They’ve bucked the federal rule, and they’re going to get what they hate the most - a bunch of state laws.”

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CANADIAN ACCUSED IN YAHOO HACK HAS BAIL HEARING

A Canadian man accused in a massive hack of Yahoo emails said Wednesday he’ll live with his parents and forgo access to phones and any electronic equipment if he’s allowed out on bail.

Officials allege that Karim Baratov poses an “extremely high flight risk” because of his alleged ties to Russian agents.

But his lawyer Amedeo DiCarlo said that Baratov has never been to Russia and he will not flee if freed on bail. Baratov arrived in court for his bail wearing a black shirt and sweat pants with his legs shackled. His parents provided him with a dress jacket.

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“Flight risk is the issue,” DiCarlo told reporters after arriving at the courthouse in a chauffeured Rolls Royce. “We are going to have measures put in place so that is not going to happen.”

Baratov’s parents have agreed to act as their son’s sureties. His father, Akhmet Tokbergenov, has agreed to turn off the internet in the family home if that’s what the court requests.

Baratov, 22, said he registered an internet business in 2014 that made about $81,000 ($110,000 Canadian) that year registering websites, renting web spaces and preventing web servers from hack attempts. He said he made less in in 2015 and 2016. He was not asked directly about the allegations against him.

U.S. law enforcement officials call Baratov a “hacker-for-hire” paid by Russian Federal Security Service members. He has Kazakh origins, arriving in Canada in 2007 and becoming a citizen in 2011.

Baratov was arrested last month and faces extradition to the U.S. The breach at Yahoo affected at least a half billion user accounts.

He was indicted in the United States for computer hacking along with three other people, including two alleged Russian intelligence agents.

Officials have said Baratov has the money to leave Canada and the ability to destroy evidence related to his alleged activities while on the run.

Prosecutor Heather Graham said police seized about $22,000 ($30,000 Canadian) cash from his home and another $670 ($900 Canadian) from his wallet when he was arrested.

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Baratov said he had virtually nothing in his bank accounts and testified that he largely financed a string of luxury cars that included a Lamborghini Diablo, an Austin Martin and a Mercedes Benz.

He said half of the money he paid for the cars came from his parents. He also said half the $95,000 ($128,000 Canadian) down payment on a three-bedroom house came from his parents.

Social media pictures of Baratov show him as an exotic car buff. His Facebook and Instagram profiles were peppered with photos of cars.

Graham noted that Baratov posted online that he travels to Russia often but Baratov testified he has never been to Russia and only posted that on behalf of a friend to get advice.

In a scheme that prosecutors say blended intelligence gathering with old-fashioned financial greed, the four men targeted the email accounts of Russian and U.S. government officials, Russian journalists and employees of financial services and other private businesses, American officials said.

In some cases using a technique known as “spear-phishing� to dupe Yahoo users into thinking they were receiving legitimate emails, the hackers broke into at least 500 million accounts in search of personal information and financial data such as gift card and credit card numbers, prosecutors said.

The case, announced amid continued U.S. intelligence agency skepticism of their Russian counterparts, comes as American authorities investigate Russian interference through hacking in the 2016 presidential election.

Officials said those investigations are separate.

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Alexsey Belan, one of the others accused, is on the list of the FBI’s most wanted cyber criminals and has been indicted multiple times in the United States. It’s not clear whether he or the other two defendants, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, will ever step foot in an American courtroom because there’s no extradition treaty with Russia.

The indictment identifies Dokuchaev and Sushchin as officers of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB. Belan and Baratov were paid hackers directed by the FSB to break into the accounts, prosecutors said.

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