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SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING SPARKS
MAJOR PRIVACY BATTLE
AU
FOOD PRINTERS ; - HOTTEST PHONES
AND EYE WRITING: \
YOU'VE NEVER
TECH SHOW'S
N HEARD OF SAME
QUIRKIEST GADGETS _ BANG, LESS BUCK
YAHOO BOARD HIRES INVESTMENT BANKS
TO MULL POSSIBLE SALE
MUSIC VIDEO SERVICE VEVO AIMS TO LAUNCH PAID SERVICE 08
SAMSUNG MOBILE-PAY SERVICE WILL EXPAND, STARTING WITH CHINA 28
EBOOK’S ZUCKERBERG AT CROSSROADS IN CONNECTING THE GLOBE 30
ELLS EMPLOYEES WHY IT WON’T HELP HACK SHOOTER’S PHONE 54
JAN BERNARDINO FAMILIES BACK FBI STAND ON CELLPHONE 62
D TO DRIVE DEFENSIVELY, AGAIN, AFTER MASS SHOOTING 72
TECH TOYS ABOUND AT NEW YORK TOY FAIR 80
=RA BOOST, VIRTUAL REALITY IN NEW SAMSUNG, LG GADGETS 106
BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘DEADPOOL’ STAYS ON TOP WITH $56.5M 136
FACEBOOK UPDATES MESSENGER APP TO HANDLE SEVERAL ACCOUNTS 150
SCIENCE: RECORD NUMBER OF ASTRONAUT WANNABES APPLY TO NASA 18,300 154
HEALTH: REPORT: HAWAII LEADS NATION IN GETTING TOO LITTLE SLEEP 162
UN PANEL AGREES TO BAN BATTERY SHIPMENTS ON AIRLINERS 168
CHINA REQUIRES APPROVAL FOR FOREIGN FIRMS TO PUBLISH ONLINE 176
FORD CEO LOOKS TO AUTONOMOUS CARS, SHARING ECONOMY 192
APPLE PAY LAUNCHES IN CHINA WHERE E-PAYMENTS WIDELY USED 198
TOP 10APPS 116
iTUNES REVIEW 120
TOP 10SONGS 182
TOP 10 ALBUMS 184
TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 186
TOP 10TVSHOWS 188
TOP 10BOOKS 190
Hinata
ALPE i
MUSIC VIDEO SERVICE
VEVO AIMS TO LAUNCH
PAID SERVICE
10
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Vevo, the music video service owned by major
labels Sony and Universal, is working on
launching an ad-free subscription service with
original content later this year.
Erik Huggers, who took over the CEO job in
April, announced the plan at the Code/Media
conference on Wednesday.
Vevo videos, which are racking up 17 billion
views a month worldwide, would continue
to be available for free on YouTube and other
platforms, Huggers said. He didn’t discuss how
much the subscription plan would cost or how it
would differ from YouTube Red, a $10-a-month
subscription service that also enables ad-free
viewing, access to a music-focused app and
original videos.
Vevo is also aiming to popularize its stand-alone
app. It opened an office in San Francisco this
month with plans to add around 50 employees
to its 300-member staff this year.
On the sidelines of the conference, hosted by
the technology news site Re/code, Huggers said
it’s important to coordinate with Warner Music
Group, the other major music label that accounts
for a quarter of industry sales. Currently, videos by
Warner-signed artists are on a channel separate
from Vevo's YouTube channel, and the company is
not an equity partner in Vevo.
Huggers said future cooperation is possible,
noting that Warner agreed to allow its artists’ live
performances at The Brit Awards next week to
be played on the Vevo channel.
“We absolutely get along like a house on fire,’ he
said. “There is no animosity at all-”
11
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HOTTEST PHONES YOU'VE
NEVER HEARD OF
SAME BANG, LESS BUCK "a
Move over, Apple and Samsung. The next big
smartphone might be from little-known Chinese
brands such as TCL and OPPO.
Along with other Chinese phone makers
such as Huawei and Xiaomi, Chinese brands
have surpassed Samsung in China and are
encroaching on Apple's turf. In the coming
years, analysts forecast that these cheap
Android phones with not-so-cheap features
will likely attract more budget-conscious
customers in Europe and even in Samsung's
and Apple's home markets, South Korea and
the United States.
Chinese phone makers made their global
ambitions known at this week’s Mobile World
Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain.
Huawei and TCL vied to steal the spotlight from
Samsung and LG, both of which announced new
high-end phones at the show. Xiaomi, which
typically launches phones in China, will preview
the Mi 5 phone in Barcelona on Wednesday.
14
16
“The Chinese smartphone vendors have a
very unique feature - it is the price,’ said Shu
On Kwok, editor of AndroidPIT, a website that
tracks Android developments.”You get the same
features as an LG or a Samsung smartphone has
hardware-wise, but for a lower price.’
Samsung saw its market share decline in 2015,
while Apple forecast its first revenue decline
in over 13 years. Both will have to do more
to prove the value of the extra dollars their
customers pay.
Along with premium hardware, Apple has
tried to position its products as unique by
offering software, services and apps that
work only on Apple devices - although in
many cases comparable services are available
for Android devices.
At Samsung's product event Sunday, mobile
chief DJ. Koh said “we have other ideas”
beyond core smartphone features. Samsung,
for instance, is promoting its Galaxy phones’
compatibility with a Samsung virtual-reality
headset and an upcoming 360-degree camera.
But VR is still in its early days, of interest largely
to gamers and tech pioneers.
17
The Chinese brands have already taken their
toll on Samsung. Although it’s still the largest
smartphone maker in the world, Samsung is
no longer among the top five phone makers
in China, according to market research firms
IDC and Counterpoint Technology. Profits from
the mobile business have plunged to less than
half of what it was in its heyday. Apple’s sales in
China rose in the fourth quarter, but its growth
was outshined by Huawei.
But bad news for manufacturers is good news
for consumers.
Many of these Chinese companies sell decent
phones for less than $200, compared with about
$650 for an iPhone or high-end Samsung Galaxy
phone. In other words, for the same price,
customers can buy three or four smartphones
with decent cameras and screens.
Chinese makers can keep prices low by reducing
the profit margin and turning to cheaper
components that are a year or two old. That
means high-end phones still take better pictures
and have sleeker, thinner designs. But phone
innovation has slowed, and the advances appear
marginal to many consumers. A Huawei photo
taken in good light often looks just as good as
an iPhone or Samsung shot when displayed on a
small phone screen.
Melissa Chau, senior research manager at IDC,
said Chinese companies are catching up on
phone design and quality even more quickly
than Samsung did a few years ago.
“Samsung was a fast follower in terms of
innovation,’ Chau said. “These Chinese players,
they are even faster.’
18
Choose an
album
Settings
And while these phone companies are pushing
cheap phones, they are starting to succeed in
getting customers to pay more - though still
not as much as an iPhone or a high-end Galaxy.
For instance, the average price for Huawei
smartphones in China was $213 last year, up 21
percent from 2014, according to IDC.
Having succeeded in China, these phone makers
are looking elsewhere to grow. OPPO, China's
fourth-largest smartphone maker according
to IDC, is marketing aggressively in southeast
Asia. Xiaomi already sells phones in Indonesia,
Singapore and Malaysia.
At the Barcelona show, Huawei executive Adam
Joshua said that while the company’s focus has
been on emerging markets, it also has eyes on
“the European market, Australia, and obviously
the last big one, the U.S”
Analysts said Huawei and Xiaomi will likely
steal customers from Apple and Samsung in
their strongholds as some budget-conscious
consumers seek to upgrade their phones
without financial pressure.
When South Koreans were just starting to buy
smartphones, many upgraded frequently to get
longer-lasting batteries, sharper cameras and
larger screens.
20
21
22
Swipe t
unlock
Now fewer consumers care whether they have
the latest technologies, said Oh Bong Yeon, a
38-year-old South Korean. They may even wait
several months until the price drops. Although
Oh has the iPhone 6, he said he would buy
Huawei’s flagship smartphone if the company
starts selling it in South Korea.
Raphael Rashid, 28, a British citizen living in
Seoul, loves his Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, which his
friend bought for him in China for about $120.
Before Xiaomi, Rashid used a $150 Huawei
smartphone for about a year.
“For a thousand dollars, | can get five new
phones in the space of two years,’ he said. “I'll
always have the latest phone.’
Much of the growth comes from consumers
who feel comfortable buying phones directly
from manufacturers online, rather than from
the wireless carrier. In the U.S., consumers are
just starting to warm up to direct online sales,
especially as carriers stop offering discounts in
exchange for two-year contracts.
Huawei is now the third-largest smartphone
maker in the world. Its market share exceeded
7 percent last year, compared with less than 6
percent in 2014, according to IDC. That's still far
behind Samsung's 23 percent and Apple's 16
percent, but success doesn’t necessarily mean
being No. 1 everywhere.
23
In fact, ZTE mobile chief Adam Zeng said the
Chinese phone maker wants to be in the top
three in selected markets - read that as No. 3 -
and not necessarily worldwide.
And Xiaomi might have trouble expanding
to established markets - particularly the
U.S. - because of accusations it has copied or
closely imitated designs from Apple and other
companies. Phone manufacturers routinely sue
each other in these markets, and Xiaomi will
need to build up a portfolio of its own patents to
defend itself.
Even if gaps remain in market share, IDC’s Chau
said Chinese companies can at least close the
gap in brand reputation in about three years.
That's partly because Apple and Samsung are
struggling to stay cool.
She said that while Apple is still the premium
brand in China, “it’s been around for a while and
people are familiar with it. It lost the extra shine
of being the new.’
24
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SAMSUNG MOBILE-PAY
SERVICE VVILL EXPAND,
STARTING VVITH CHINA
Samsung's mobile-payment service will expand
beyond the U.S. and South Korea this year.
The South Korean company said Friday that
Samsung Pay is coming to China in March - a
month after rival Apple Pay. It will hit Australia,
Brazil, Singapore, Spain and the U.K. later in the
year. Samsung also plans to expand to Canada,
though no timeframe was given.
Samsung Pay works with certain Samsung
phones. As with Apple Pay on iPhones and
Google's Android Pay on a broader range of
Android phones, users add their credit or
debit cards and make payments at stores
by tapping on a machine with a wireless
technology called NFC.
Many merchants don't have NFC, though.
Samsung Pay can work at additional stores by
mimicking the magnetic swipes produced by
plastic cards.
28
29
Image: Robert Galbraith
FACEBOOK’S
ZUCKERBERG AT
CROSSROADS IN
CONNECTING
THE GLOBE
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg likes to boast
that his 3-year-old effort to bring the developing
world online has reached millions of people in
some of the world’s poorest nations.
But a central element of his Internet.org
campaign was controversial even before it
was shut down in a key market this month.
Indian regulators banned one of the pillars of
the campaign, a service known as Free Basics,
because it provided access only to certain pre-
approved services - including Facebook - rather
than the full Internet.
That leaves the social media mogul at a
crossroads. Though he has vowed not to give
up, Zuckerberg hasn't said whether he'll alter
his approach. Facebook declined to make
executives available for comment. Zuckerberg
could shed light on his plans when he speaks
Monday at Mobile World Congress, an annual
industry event in Barcelona, Spain, where he has
touted Internet.org in previous years.
31
“Everyone in the world should have access to
the Internet,’ Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook
this month, arguing that online connections can
improve lives and fuel economic development.
To achieve that goal, Zuckerberg has high-
flying dreams for someday providing Internet
connections through a network of drones,
satellites and lasers. But his near-term plan is
simpler: Facebook works with wireless carriers
in poorer nations to let people use streamlined
versions of Facebook and certain other online
services, without paying data charges.
While the drones may someday connect people
in areas too remote for cables or cell towers, Free
Basics is intended for people who live in areas
with Internet service but still can’t afford it.
A low-income resident of urban Manila, for
example, can use Free Basics to view the
Philippines’ GMA News site. “He can be informed.
He can research. He can read the news,’ Ederic
Eder of GMA News said.
The program varies by country, in offerings
and effectiveness.
In South Africa, for instance, Facebook partnered
with the third-largest wireless carrier, Cell C. But
Johannesburg resident Priscilla de Klerk said she
couldn't get Free Basics to work on her phone.
“Cell C is much cheaper as far as everything else
is concerned, but their free Facebook is not a
reality,’ she said.
Last fall, Facebook announced a major
expansion in Africa, where another regional
carrier, Bharti Airtel, said it will offer Free Basics
in 17 countries.
32
“They're getting a lot of traction in Africa,’ said
Danson Njue, a Kenya-based telecom analyst
with the Ovum research firm. Tech rivals Google
and Microsoft also have programs to expand
Internet access, he noted, but their approaches
are content neutral and involve extending
networks to underserved areas.
Facebook doesn't pay wireless companies for
the cost of Free Basics. Carriers make money
if new users eventually move to a paid data
plan. Facebook also says it makes no money,
as it doesn’t show ads, though Zuckerberg has
conceded it benefits from gaining users in the
long run.
While the company hasn't released detailed
usage figures, Facebook says Free Basics has
brought more than 19 million people online
for the first time. That counts any user who
didn't have Internet access before, regardless of
whether they're currently active.
On the Internet.org website, mixed in with
videos about impoverished students using
Free Basics to study and laborers starting small
businesses, Facebook boasts more than 1 billion
people “have access” to the service. That’s the
combined population of regions where it’s
available, not the number of users.
Free Basics is now in 36 countries. It was
suspended last year in Egypt, on the
anniversary of anti-government protests that
were organized partly on Facebook. An earlier
version of Free Basics, known as Facebook Zero,
was shuttered three years ago in Chile, after
authorities said Internet providers couldn't
offer discounts for accessing some content but
not others.
35
Similar concerns turned India into the program's
biggest battleground.
Free Basics enrolled more than 1 million Indians
in its first year, according to Facebook’s wireless
partner, Reliance Communications. But critics,
including many in the country’s growing tech
community, complained it was a predatory
scheme: If low-income users couldn't afford
anything besides Free Basics, opponents said,
that meant Facebook was deciding which online
services the nation’s poor could use.
“The government should not allow big players
to monopolize the Internet,’ said Manu Sharma,
who runs a software development company in
New Delhi.
Facebook responded last fall by announcing
it would open Free Basics to any app that met
its technical requirements for systems with
limited capacity. Zuckerberg also changed
the program's name to Free Basics, after critics
complained “Internet.org” sounded like a
nonprofit, when it's part of a for-profit company
(the overall campaign is still called Internet.org).
But opponents still worry that Facebook
could change requirements at any time, force
competitors to pay higher rates to get into the
program, or even block services that run afoul of
powerful politicians.
“The fact that it could decide what apps could
be hosted ... was a huge problem for me,’ said
Basit Zaidi, a New Delhi attorney.
37
As Indian regulators began studying the issue,
Facebook drew more resentment with a public-
relations blitz that critics called heavy-handed
and patronizing. The regulators effectively
banned Free Basics after concluding Internet
providers shouldn't be allowed to charge
different rates for certain services, because that
discriminates against other content.
U.S. regulators have endorsed the concept of
“net neutrality,’ which says all websites and
apps should be treated equally by Internet
providers. They‘re now studying whether “zero
rating” programs, which offer some content
for free, should be allowed. Net neutrality
supporters are hoping India’s decision will
influence other nations.
Facebook has also launched a program that
helps Internet providers offer reliable Wi-Fi
service in underserved areas at affordable rates
and without limits on content. The program's
been limited to tests in a few countries.
The giant tech company could use its resources
and clout with carriers to offer a similar wireless
service, perhaps at limited speeds or volume,
but without any restrictions on content,
said Josh Levy of Access Now, a nonprofit
that supports net neutrality. Zuckerberg has
suggested in the past that such a service would
be too expensive and difficult to offer.
Some Indians, meanwhile, say their country
could have benefited from Free Basics.
“Ultimately, something is better than nothing,
even if that something is flawed,’ said Uday
Singh Tomar, a software engineer in New Delhi.
“If a person is hungry and getting nothing, a free
meal is good enough.’
39
RNARDINO
SA OOTING
SPARKS
M AOR nc x
PRIVAC Yar
BATTLE
WHY PRIVACY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
ISSUE OF OUR TIME
Many of us may now be used to the new age
of intense privacy debates in the wake of the
Edward Snowden fiasco, but it seems that
this intensity has just stepped up yet another
notch with the tussle that has broken out
in recent days between Apple and the FBI.
Whichever side of the debate you are on - if
you take a definite stance at all - the latest
debate surrounding our attitudes to encrypted
technology in the wake of the San Bernardino
shooting has implications for us all.
It is a debate that has its roots in the most
terrible tragedy, of the deaths of 14 people
and serious injuries to a further 22 in a terrorist
attack at the Inland Regional Centre in the
Californian city of San Bernardino on December
2 last year. The perpetrators of the latest mass
shooting to shock America were a married
Redlands couple - Syed Rizwan Farook and
Tashfeen Malik - who were later killed by police
in a shootout.
This is where the difficulty truly begins for
Apple - Farook owned an iPhone 5c that
authorities want to unlock as they continue
their urgent investigations into the appalling
events at a training event at the San
Bernardino County Department of Public
Health. The FBI turned to Apple for help to
access the device's data - only to be rebuffed
in the kind of spectacularly public manner that
has prompted frenzied debate across America.
43
COOK MAKES HIS STAND
In an open letter to Apple customers that was
published on February 16 and can still be
viewed online, Apple CEO Tim Cook outlined
his version of events of what the United States
government had asked his company to do -
“build a backdoor to the iPhone”.
He added that the FBI had requested that Apple
“make a new version of the iPhone operating
system, circumventing several important
security features, and install it on an iPhone
recovered during the investigation. In the wrong
hands, this software - which does not exist today
- would have the potential to unlock any iPhone
in someone's physical possession.”
Cook also criticised the FBI’s “unprecedented”
attempted use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to
justify expanding its authority and effectively
force Apple to remove security features and
make it easier for an iPhone to be unlocked by
“brute force”. He continued: “The implications
of the government's demands are chilling...
ultimately, we fear that this demand would
undermine the very freedoms and liberty our
government is meant to protect.’
44
STRONG OPINIONS ON BOTH SIDES
OF THE DEBATE
As one might imagine, those taking either or
even no stance to Apple's approach had strong
words to add to the ensuing public discussion.
A highly understandable critic of the
Cupertino firm's stand against a federal
judge's order was Ryan Reyes, the boyfriend
of one of the 14 victims, Daniel Kaufman.
Describing himself as “extremely pissed-off”
over an announcement that had also caused
him to reconsider his ownership of Apple
products, he opined: “It’s infuriating to me,
because | feel like all companies - especially
US companies - should do what they have to
do to protect our country”.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald
Trump was another to weigh in against
Apple, declaring:“| agree 100% with the
courts... who do they think they are? They
have to open it up.” However, Cook also found
plenty of support, including from transgender
woman and activist Evan Greer, who said she
had seen “the deeply chilling effect of overly
broad government surveillance’, adding in
reference to her now 5-year old son: “What type
of world is he going to grow up in? Will it be
one in which he’s constantly being monitored
... where he feels that he has no privacy?”
Cook also received plenty of backing
from the tech community, Silicon Valley
entrepreneur Alex Lindsay even stating: “Any
communications/tech CEO that isn’t standing
with Apple against the FBI is basically admitting
that they've already been compromised.’
46
Image: Joe Raedle
Image: David Paul Morris
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOGLE’S ROLE
Sure enough, even Google - the developer of
the open-source Android software - voiced
its qualified support, CEO Sundar Pichai
tweeting: “We [Google] build secure products
to keep your information safe and we give law
enforcement access to data based on valid
legal orders, but that’s wholly different than
requiring companies to enable hacking of
customer services and data.”
Pichai added that the case could set “a
troubling precedent”, but - as if to emphasise
a rather softer attitude than Apple's to such a
critical issue - concluded that he was “looking
forward to a thoughtful and open discussion”
on the matter.
Indeed, this case represents a potential public
banana skin for Google, given its famously lax
attitude to security compared to Apple - the
search giant's entire business model, after
all, is based on the collection of data from its
users. Furthermore, Android is not only open
source, but also much more fragmented and
less tightly controlled than iOS, with only 1.3%
of Android devices even running the most
recent, Marshmallow version of the software.
It may also be noted that Pichai only made his
public intervention after calls for him to do
so by the likes of WhiteHat Security founder
Jeremiah Grossman and Snowden, who
surmised that “this is the most important tech
case in a decade. Silence means Google picked
a side, but it’s not the public’s.”
Quite frankly, we would struggle to disagree
with Snowden’s take on this crucial matter. In
today's age where it is becoming increasingly
49
apparent that privacy is under greater threat
than ever before, Google's slack attitude
would seem to represent a trap for users, who
are coming to view companies that know
absolutely everything about them with ever-
greater suspicion.
WHAT COULD - AND IS LIKELY TO -
HAPPEN NEXT
Whatever way this hugely controversial and
momentous case ultimately plays out, there's
no question of where the wider public stands.
Ina 9to5Mac poll entitled “Should Apple
break into the San Bernardino iPhone?”,
16,594 or almost 85% of respondents
expressed the view that it should not do so.
11.37% - more than 2,000 votes at the time this
article was being written - were in favour of
Apple complying with the FBI, while 2.69%, or
just over 500 people said they were indifferent.
No less interesting was an accompanying
poll on the site that asked the question, “How
important is privacy to you?’, to which a
whopping 70.91% of people responded that
“Privacy is one of the most important features
for me’, and more than a quarter said that while
they cared more about other features, privacy
was nonetheless important to them. That left
a mere 1.49% of respondents who described
themselves as indifferent about privacy in
general, and 1.2% who felt privacy didn’t affect
them at all.
With petitions having been started to urge
the White House to relent in its efforts to
make device makers create a“backdoor” for
the government to access citizens’ data, even
while the Senate Intelligence Committee
51
Chairman Richard Burr reportedly plans a
new bill that would criminally penalize firms
failing to comply with such orders, it's clear
that this issue will run and run and run.
Our own stance is a very strong one - that
this case is quite simply one of the most
important of our generation, and that Apple
must be supported in spearheading this battle
to protect your privacy rights. For as long as
we all believe in the personal privacy of all
good and ordinary citizens, even as we stand
resolutely against terrorists, this is a battle
that simply has to be won.
by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan
52
Image: David Paul Morris
54
APPLE TELLS EMPLOYEES WHY IT WON'T
HELP HACK SHOOTER’S PHONE
Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook acknowledged to
employees this week that “it does not feel right”
to refuse to help the FBI hack a locked iPhone
used by a gunman in the San Bernardino
mass shootings. But he said that to do so
would threaten data security for millions and
“everyone's civil liberties.”
“We have no tolerance or sympathy for
terrorists,’ Cook wrote in an early morning
email addressed to the Apple “Team.””When
4 they commit unspeakable acts like the tragic
attacks in San Bernardino, we work to help the
authorities pursue justice for the victims.”
55
But he reiterated the company’s position that to
hack the San Bernardino gunman’s phone would
ultimately risk “security of hundreds of millions
of law-abiding people.’
Cook's email came just hours after FBI director
James Comey said in an online post that
Apple owes it to the San Bernardino victims to
cooperate and said the dispute wasn't about
creating legal precedent.
The FBI “can't look the survivors in the eye, or
ourselves in the mirror, if we don't follow this
lead,” Comey said.
The iPhone used by Syed Farook, who along
with his wife killed 14 people in the Dec. 2
rampage, was locked. At the government's
request, a Federal magistrate judge has ordered
Apple to help the FBI hack into the password-
protected phone.
56
/ é
Ld
% -
Image: Robert Galbraith
The case has sparked nationwide debate over
digital privacy and national security. Apple, in its
message to employees, appeared to be sensitive
to criticism that the company is simply trying to
protect its proprietary business.
“Apple is a uniquely American company,’
Cook wrote. “It does not feel right to be on
the opposite side of the government in a case
centering on the freedoms and liberties that
government is meant to protect.’ But he said,
“this case is about much more than a single
phone ora single investigation, so when we
received the government's order we knew we
had to speak out.’
Comey, in a statement posted on the Lawfare
blog, sought to defend the FBI demand for
access to the iPhone as well as counter Apple's
arguments that the request risks threatening
the digital privacy of Apple customers all over
the world.
57
“We simply want the chance, with a search
warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode
without the phone essentially self-destructing
and without it taking a decade to guess
correctly. That's it’ Comey wrote in a four-
paragraph statement. “We don't want to break
anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on
the land.”
Cook's message to employees had “Thank you
for your support,’ in the subject line. He told
employees that the company believes abiding
by the judge's order would set a dangerous
precedent that would essentially create a
backdoor to the encrypted iPhone. That would
set “a dangerous precedent that threatens
everyone's civil liberties,’ he said.
An accompanying question-and-answer posting
for customers acknowledges that while it is
technically possible for Apple to do what the
judge ordered, that it’s “something we believe is
too dangerous to do.’
Apple also points to the difficulty of keeping
such a “master key” safe once it has been
created. The government has said that Apple
could keep the specialized technology it
would create to help officials hack the phone -
bypassing a security time delay and feature that
erases all data after 10 consecutive, unsuccessful
attempts to guess the unlocking passcode. This
would allow the FBI to use technology to rapidly
and repeatedly test numbers.
Cook said that if the company’s engineers
were to do as ordered, Apple would do its
best to protect the technology, but that the
company “would be relentlessly attacked by
hackers and cybercriminals.”
58
“The only way to guarantee such a powerful
tool isn't abused and doesn't fall into the wrong
hands is to never create it,’ Apple said. The
company has until Friday to formally protest the
ruling in court.
The case would not have existed if the county
government that owned the iPhone had
installed a feature on it that would have allowed
the FBI to easily and immediately unlock the
phone. San Bernardino County had bought
the technology, known as mobile device
management from Mobilelron Inc., but never
installed it on any of the inspectors’ phones,
including Farook’s, said county spokesman
David Wert said.
There is no countywide policy on the matter and
departments make their own decisions, he said.
The service costs $4 per month per phone.
60
1 _ Image: Kimihiro Hoshino
A
a
61
Image: Robyn Beck
SOME SAN
BERNARDINO
FAMILIES BACK
FBI STAND
ON CELLPHONE
Some family members of victims and survivors
of the San Bernardino attack will file court
papers in support of a judge's order that Apple
Inc. help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone as
part of its investigation, a lawyer and others say.
A Los Angeles attorney, Stephen Larson, said
he represents at least several families of victims
and other employees affected by the attack. He
said the U.S. Attorney in the case, Eileen Decker,
sought his help.
Larson said he will file a brief supporting the
Justice Department before March 3.
The victims “have questions that go simply
beyond the criminal investigation ... in terms of
why this happened, how this happened, why
they were targeted, is there anything about
them on the iPhone - things that are more of a
personal victim” view, Larson said.
63
Robert Velasco, whose 27-year-old daughter
Yvette Velasco was killed in the shooting, told
The Associated Press that he didn’t have to think
long before agreeing to have his name added to
the legal filing in support of the FBI.
“It is important to me to have my name in there,’
Velasco said. “I lost my daughter in this and |
want the court to see that | am seeking justice
for my daughter.’
Velasco said the phone could reveal other
extremist plots or that other people were
involved in planning the San Bernardino attack.
“The only way to find out is to open up that
phone and get in there,” he said.“A lot of the
families of the victims, we're kind of angry and
confused as to why Apple is refusing to do this.”
The appeal from victims’ family members gives
the Justice Department additional support in
a case that has sparked a national debate over
digital privacy rights and national security
interests. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered
Apple last week to assist investigators by
creating specialized software that would let the
FBI rapidly test random passcode combinations
to try to unlock the iPhone and view data
stored on it.
The county-issued iPhone 5C was used by Syed
Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed
14 people at an office holiday party in December
before they died in a gun battle with police. The
government said they had been at least partly
inspired by the Islamic State.
The couple physically destroyed two personal
phones so completely that the FBI has been
unable to recover information from them.
65
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said
Monday that the FBI's request is “quite limited
in scope” and called it “an effective way for the
FBI to follow their regular procedure as they
conduct this independent investigation, but
also stay true to the kinds of principles that the
president has discussed publicly about the need
for robust encryption methods.”
Earnest said the sides needed to hash things out
in court and questioned whether Congress - as
Apple and others have suggested - would be an
effective medium for solving issues evoked by
the court order.
Farook had worked as a county health inspector.
Larson said the government has a strong case
because of Farook’s diminished privacy interests
as a“dead, murderous terrorist” and because the
phone was owned by his employer, the county
government. “You're weighing that against the
interest of enforcement in an investigation and
the victims and their interest in obtaining this
knowledge; he said.
66
67
Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook has said that creating
such software is a dangerous precedent that
would threaten data security for millions by
making essentially a master key that could later
be duplicated and used against other phones.
On Tuesday, former Solicitor General Ted Olson,
who is representing Apple, said the company
has invested heavily to design a secure phone
and that if Apple submits to the government
pressure in this instance, “it will happen again
and again and again.’ Olson served as the
government's top lawyer before the Supreme
Court during the administration of President
George W. Bush.
“We have a constitution and we have civil
liberties in this country. Terrorists want to take
that away from us,’ he said in an appearance on
“CBS This Morning.’ Gregory Clayborn, whose
27-year-old daughter, Sierra, died in the attack,
said he hasn't been asked to join the case but
believes Apple is obligated to unlock the phone.
“This makes me a little bit angry with Apple,’
Clayborn said. “It makes me question their
interest in the safety of this country.’
Clayborn said he understands Apple's concerns,
but unlocking one phone for the FBI, he said, is
“as simple as it gets.’
68
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday
expressed his support for Apple while in
Barcelona, Spain, to speak at the Mobile World
Congress, saying he believes in helping the
government in its fight against terrorism but
that encryption is important.
“| don't think that back doors into encryption is
going to increase security or is in the direction
the world is going,’ he said.
Apple's supporters planned to protest the FBI's
demands on Tuesday evening outside Apple's
stories in about 50 cities in the U.S., the U.K,,
Germany and Hong Kong.
A Pew Research Center survey found that 51
percent of Americans said Apple should unlock
the iPhone, while 38 percent said Apple should
not - and that it should ensure the security
of user information. The remainder gave no
opinion. The telephone survey was conducted
Feb. 18 through Feb. 21 among 1,002 adults.
70
Image: Paul Sakuma
N
UBER FORCED TO
DRIVE DEFENSIVELY,
AGAIN, AFTER
MASS SHOOTING
As authorities look for the reasons why a
Michigan man allegedly embarked on a mass
shooting spree over the weekend, the ride-
hailing service Uber is addressing his record as a
driver with the company.
Critics say the episode could bring more
attention to concerns about the fast-
growing service, which has been dogged by
controversy on the road to becoming one of
the most valuable privately funded companies
in the world.
73
Jason Dalton, the man arrested in connection
with the Kalamazoo rampage that left six
people dead, is a former insurance adjuster who
had been working as a driver for Uber’s ride-
hailing service. Authorities were investigating
unconfirmed reports he may have picked up
passengers in the hours before and after the
rampage on Saturday.
San Francisco-based Uber has been one of the
most successful tech industry startups in recent
years, as millions of customers have flocked to
use its smartphone app for hailing rides in 380
cities around the globe. The company says its
drivers are independent contractors who use the
app to help find customers and schedule trips.
Private backers have poured more than $10
billion into the company, under terms that value
the business at more than $50 billion - making
it the biggest in a recent wave of tech firms that
have grown to enormous size without taking the
traditional step of selling stock to the public.
But since its launch in 2009, Uber has faced
criticism for a pricing formula that can send
rates skyrocketing at times of high demand,
and for side-stepping regulators and licensing
requirements in some cities where it’s opened
for business. And after several reported assaults
by drivers, critics have also complained the
company should do more to screen drivers and
guard passengers safety.
Some of that criticism has been raised by
competitors and regulators who argue that
Uber’s success has come as the company
has expanded while seeking to avoid the
strict licensing and permit requirements that
traditional tax companies face.
74
Image: Benjamin Chasteen
“| do think this is an outrageous incident that’s
going to draw more attention to this issue,’ said
Dave Sutton, spokesman for “Who's Driving You,’
an organization backed by Uber’s competitors
in the taxi and limousine industry, which has
fought the company’s expansion.
Authorities identified Dalton as a 45-year-old
from Kalamazoo Township who police said
had no criminal record. They said victims of
the shootings in and around the city of
Kalamazoo had no apparent connection to him
or to each other.
Uber spokeswoman Nairi Hourdajian confirmed
Dalton had driven for Uber. Hourdajian wouldn't
say whether he was picking up fares for the ride- =
sharing service Saturday night.
Authorities, however, were investigating a * «
Facebook post which indicated the suspect >
was driving erratically around the time of the
w
shootings and may have picked up at least j
one Uber fare while authorities were looking
for him, according to Kalamazoo County
Prosecutor Jeff Getting.
Uber said Sunday that it has offered to assist
authorities in their investigation. In a statement,
Uber chief security officer Joe Sullivan said the
company is “horrified and heartbroken at the
senseless violence.”
While Uber says it screens drivers and conducts
background checks, critics say the ride-hailing
company uses private screening services that
don't have access to as much information
as local police can obtain when they check
fingerprint records.
Image: Mark Bugnaski
76
77
The company said earlier this month that it will
pay $28.5 million to settle two lawsuits that
alleged Uber misled customers about safety
procedures and fees. It’s also facing a separate
a lawsuit by district attorneys in San Francisco
and Los Angeles, who alleged that Uber’s checks
failed to prevent the company from hiring
several felons.
If Dalton had no criminal record, it’s not clear
that Uber would have had any reason to keep
him from driving. Uber, meanwhile, instituted
a policy last year that prohibits driver and
passengers from possessing firearms. Anyone
found to be in violation of the policy may be
prohibited from using or driving for the service.
While there have been several cases in which
Uber drivers have been charged with assaulting
passengers, there have also been incidents in
which the company’s drivers have been attacked
by passengers.
Uber has also faced complaints that one of
its executives in New York used information
collected by the Uber app to track a
passenger's movements. The company has
since said that it has taken steps to protect
passenger's privacy, including strict limits on
access to the identities of riders.
79
TECH TOYS
ABOUND AT NEVV
YORK TOY FAIR
From a preschool toy designed to teach pre-
coding skills to a hands-on molecule-building
set for older kids that works with an app,
technology abounded at this year’s Toy Fair.
The annual showcase of upcoming toys held
recently in New York included a slew of tech-
related products from the titans of the toy
industry and tiny startups, all looking to attract
increasingly tech-savvy kids.
Here are the highlights. Some of the toys are
educational, while others are just kind of cool.
All of them are set to go on sale this fall unless
otherwise specified.
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|?
CODE-A-PILLAR (FISHER-PRICE, $50)
Even preschoolers can learn the basics of coding.
That's the idea behind this toy, which is aimed at
kids ages 3 to 6.
The Code-a-Pillar is made up of different
colored sections connected by USB plugs.
The sections perform different commands
such as go straight, turn right or make various
sound effects.
Kids “program” the toy by connecting the various
sections in a particular order. While the toy
doesn't teach an actual coding language, it does
try to impart some of the same critical thinking
and problem solving skills that coding does.
A starter kit includes eight sections, but
expansion packs featuring additional commands
will be sold separately.
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THINGMAKER 3D PRINTER
(MATTEL, $300)
Created through a partnership with Autodesk
Inc.,a 3D design software company, kids use
an app to design items such as action figures
and jewelry.
They can choose the colors and shapes they
want, then send their design to the ThingMaker
to print. The app shows them what their
finished product will look like and also gives an
estimated print time.
The ThingMaker hits stores this fall, but can
be preordered through Amazon. Pricing
for the spools of plastic used in the printer
has yet to be determined.
HAPPY ATOMS AND CODEGAMER
SCIENCE KITS (THAMES & KOSMOS,
$150 FOR CODEGAMER)
These kits teach science by combining hands-on
and app-based activities.
Happy Atoms, for kids ages 8 and up, involves zo 20 20 20 20
19 19 19:19 :19
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connect with magnets. The atoms become ere TT
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“happy” when they pick up the appropriate S13 18:13:13 We
building molecules with wooden atoms that
number of electrons through the formation of
molecules. The molecules can then be scanned
into the app, which gives the kids information
about the substance they just made.
Pricing for Happy Atoms has yet to
be determined.
Meanwhile, CodeGamer, ages 10 and up,
connects physical and digital play to teach
coding skills. Kids solve video game puzzles
by both programing the game on a tablet
and by physically modifying a Bluetooth-
connected controller.
86
7
‘
4
Pa
»
mes & Kosmos’
ie
MAKERBLOKS ($200)
These circuit builder sets are specifically
designed for young children. The blocks, which
look a lot like dominos, connect with magnets
and are easy for little hands to manipulate.
The company offers three sets of 26 blocks, each
with a separate theme: music, circuitry and spy.
There's a tablet app to go with each set, which
tells a story, prompting the kids to build certain
kinds of circuits.
MakerBloks, designed for kids 6 and up,
launches this summer and will be sold through
the company’s website, though talks with
retailers are under way.
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AIR HOGS CONNECT: MISSION DRONE
(SPIN MASTER, $150)
This toy, designed for kids ages 10 and up,
combines a handful of the hottest trends,
including drones, app-based gaming and
augmented reality.
Players place the quad-copter drone on a mat
that“sees” it and places a digital version of it
within an augmented reality video game played
ona smartphone or tablet. The player flies the
physical drone as part of the game and the
digital drone on the smartphone or tablet screen
mirrors its movements.
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CHIP (WOWWEE, $200)
CHIP is was one of several products at Toy Fair
controlled by a wristband worn by the user. The
connection allows the little robot dog to follow
his owner around, play soccer and do other
tricks. The more it’s played with, the more tricks
are unlocked.
Sensors allow CHiP, designed for kids ages
8 and up, to zoom around while avoiding
obstacles. And when he gets tired, the little
pup will automatically retire to his charging
bed for more juice.
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SELFIEMIC (MOOSE TOYS, $25)
This toy lets kids create and share their own
pop music videos. It's basically a selfie stick with
a microphone on one end. It comes with an
earpiece and works with a smartphone app.
Kids sing into the microphone, while the
smartphone app plays the music and the
smartphone's camera films them singing and
places them into the music video.
There are optional sound and video effects and
the videos, which don't need to be stored on the
phone and take up space, can be shared.
93
94
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FOOD PRINTERS
AND EYE WRITING:
TECH SHOVV'S
QUIRKIEST GADGETS
While tens of thousands flock to the Mobile
World Congress to check out the latest
smartphones, the show also offers glimpses of
some of the coolest off-beat - and downright
strange - innovations.
Many of these newfangled prototypes found a
niche at the trade show’s special corner for start-
ups, which gathered here to find business deals
for their inventions.
Here is a look at the quirkiest of the gadgets and
apps on display this week in Barcelona.
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MAGIC DRAWINGS
Remember pop-up books?
Chromville takes the idea to another dimension
with its augmented reality educational app.
Here is how it works: Kids download and
print pages with designs that they color in as
they wish.
Next, they hold a tablet over the page and, via
the Chromville app, the drawing turns into a 3-D
image they can interact with through the screen.
The one on the solar system, for example, lets
kids explore the planets, zoom in and out, and
learn facts. Other modules teach about the
human body, the metamorphosis of a frog,
simple geography, or how to build a machine.
“It is something like magic. We have to play and
enjoy education,’ said Hector Perez, CEO of the
company from Zaragoza, Spain.
As of December, a one-time fee of 3.99 euros
($4.39) gives customers the app and access
to drawings.
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FOOD PRINTER
Natural Machines co-founder Lynette Kucsma
insists her company hasn't replicated Star Trek's
“food synthesizer” that made munchies appear
at Captain Kirk's mere command.
But they sure have come close with their 3-D
food printer.
The Foodini lays down layer after layer of
food from nozzles, ultimately creating treats
like ravioli, crackers, or chicken nuggets.
The company says you can even make more
complex items like hamburgers, though it's
not clear what they would look like coming
through nozzles.
“You become the food manufacturer,’ Kucsma
said, adding that the Foodini would allow
cooks to use more natural ingredients to make
healthier food instead of buying prepared
foodstuffs with added preservatives.
The Foodini can also link up with other
connected devices. “You can print recipes from
a chef who is halfway around the world,’
Kucsma said.
The Barcelona-based company is launching the
Foodini with the target of professional chefs to
meet the $1,500-2,000 price tag. They plan to
later expand to regular customers.
“In 10 to 15 years we think 3-D food printers
will be as common in kitchens as microwaves,”
Kucsma said.
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HUNT
tian *
Be
99
100
EYE WRITING
We can write with our touch. We can write with
our voice. lrisbond is making it easier to write
with our sight.
Their eye-tracking app, which can work with
standard smartphone cameras, allows you to
type on a computer.
Co-founder and CEO Eduardo Jauregui said the
app is designed for disabled users.
“They can send emails or write books with
their eyes. It changes their lives completely,’
Jauregui said.
But it could also be helpful for professionals, like
surgeons, who may have limited use of their
hands during work.
lrisbond allows users to control a mouse pointer
ona virtual keyboard of a smartphone or tablet.
Stare for one second over a letter to “push” the
button and type.
Jauregui said his company based in San
Sebastian, Spain, is in talks with smartphone
makers, including Samsung, to be acquired.
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PAPER PROGRAMMING
Take paper art, a little round robot, throw in
some low-level coding, and, voila! You have the
Kamibot, an interactive toy that helps children
have fun while learning computer programming.
Aimed at kids as young as eight, the Kamibot
robot can be covered with paper-made “skins”
to turn it into a variety of characters, including
Dracula, Frankenstein, and several popular
figures in Korea.
An app controls the robot’s movement, and
teaches users how to program routes for the
robot to follow.
Head of design Asaph Kim said “the idea was
making programming fun through characters
(children) have seen on TV’
Still at the kick-starter phase, the Korean
company 3.14 is hoping to ship its first Kamibots
in June. Pre-orders go for $89.
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PACK ROBOTS
One gadget that caused a big stir as it moseyed
through the aisles of the trade show was
Starship’s delivery robot.
Don't let the company’s name fool you.
The tub-sized robot on rollers won't blast you
away, but it just might make home delivery
more convenient as it creeps its way down
the sidewalk.
Co-founder Janus Friis, one of the creators of
Skype, had the idea to create a fleet of wheeled
robots that would work with stores making
deliveries from hubs that cover neighborhoods.
Keith Cornell, Starship’s senior advisor, said
customers would gain from being able to decide
exactly when they receive their packages, while
stores will reduce costs.
To ensure the robot doesn’t cause mayhem on
the street, its max speed is a slow 4 mph and
it includes sensors that force it to stop when
facing an obstacle. If stuck, it can be taken over
remotely by an operator.
Customers will use an app to program the drop-
offs and unlock the robot once it arrives to
retrieve their goods. It can carry up to 20 pounds
of stuff.
Still in testing phase, these modern-day pack
mules are expected to be deployed in 2017.
105
CAMERA BOOST,
VIRTUAL REALITY IN
NEV SAMSUNG,
LG GADGETS
To revive interest in smartphones, Samsung and
LG are improving their cameras and embracing
the nascent world of virtual reality.
And Samsung is being backed by Facebook's
Mark Zuckerberg, who said Sunday the
companies are teaming up to push VR in mobile
phones and social networking.
“Together this is by far the best mobile VR
experience you can offer,’ Zuckerberg said
at Samsung's unveiling of their new flagship
phones in Barcelona.
106
Image: Bebeto Matthews
108
es Seopa
Samsung's new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge promise
better photos under low-light conditions, in part
with sensors that capture more light. The main
camera on LG's upcoming G5 smartphone will
have two lenses - one for standard shots and
another with a wider angle so you can capture
more of what's in front of you without having to
step back.
Both companies will also release several camera-
related accessories. Samsung, which unveiled a
virtual-reality device for consumers last fall, will
now make a 360-degree camera for everyday
folks to capture and share VR images. The
company will also make smartphone cases with
a hole to screw in special lenses, such as wide
angle and fisheye views.
LG will have its own VR headset - a lighter
version of Samsung's Gear VR - as well as a
smartphone attachment that functions as a
camera grip with physical buttons to take shots
and control video recording. The attachment is
part of LG’s new modular approach to design;
you'll be able to pop out the phone's bottom
and swap in new hardware features.
The announcements at the Mobile World
Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain,
come as worldwide smartphone growth has
slowed, particularly for high-end devices such as
Samsung's S and LG's G series. Many consumers
have turned to lower-cost Android devices that
sport features considered top of the line just a
few years ago.
“Today we stand at that beginning of new
era,’said Samsung president of mobile
communications business, DJ Koh. “Here
at the beginning of 2016 who doesn't take
109
smartphones for granted? Having seen
everything the smartphone can deliver, at
Samsung we have other ideas.”
To underscore Samsung's emphasis on VR,
Zuckerberg made an appearance at the
Samsung event to announce a partnership
between the two companies to push their
VR products.
“(VR) is now mainly used for gaming, but that is
quickly changing,’ Zuckerberg said. “That is why
Facebook is investing so much in VR, so we can
deliver these social experiences. And that is why
we are working with Samsung.”
Analysts said VR was critical for the industry to
get customers to part with old phones that they
are still happy with and buy new ones.
110
“All the smartphone makers are now competing
with themselves from two-to-three years
ago, their problem is that phones from two-
to-three years ago are still in use,’ lan Fogg,
head of mobile analysis at IHS Technology,
told The Associated Press. “VR is essential. It
is a smartphone industry initiative to drive
consumers to upgrade.’
Phone makers used to guarantee upgrades by
making phones bigger and bigger - but phones
can't get much bigger for one-handed use. In
fact, the new LG phone is shrinking to 5.3 inches,
from 5.5 inches last year. Samsung's Edge is
getting bigger, at 5.5 inches, but because the
sides curve, the phone won't be much wider. The
main S7 model is staying constant at 5.1 inches.
With size out of the equation, phone makers
have to innovate elsewhere.
That's been crucial for Samsung, in particular, as
its chief rival, Apple, largely matched Samsung on
size, while boosting the iPhone camera's resolution
to 12 megapixels from 8. The iPhone has also
gotten better at low-light shots, even surpassing
some stand-alone, point-and-shoot cameras.
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_ Image: Manu Fernandez
Realizing that the megapixel count alone doesn't
necessarily translate to quality images, Samsung
is reducing resolution in the new phones to
12 megapixels from 18. That allows individual
pixels on the sensors to be larger, thus capturing
more light. The new cameras also allow the
camera's aperture to open wider, letting in more
light. Together, the shutter needs to stay open
for a shorter time, reducing the blurring that
sometimes mars indoor and night shots.
Samsung also says its new phones will have
a faster focus, which it says will improve
performance at low light.
And for the selfie camera, Samsung is turning
the screen into a flash, similar to what Apple
introduced last fall.
Samsung is restoring the ability to add storage,
but the battery won't be replaceable by users.
Instead, Samsung is increasing the battery
capacity in both models, though the Edge’s
larger screen and other new features in both
models, including an always-on mode, will sip
away power.
The new phones will start shipping March 11,
with advance orders to begin this week. In
some markets, including the U.S., Samsung is
including a Gear VR headset for free to those
who order ahead of time.
Prices will vary by carrier and region. In the
U.S., AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are offering the
regular version for $650 to $695 and the Edge
version for about $100 more. Verizon hasn't
announced prices yet.
In afew months, Samsung will start selling its
Gear 360 camera, a device with front and back
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lenses to stitch together 360-degree videos
for VR devices and apps. Samsung phones will
come with apps for viewing those videos on the
Gear VR and sharing them with friends.
VR is still in its early days, with much of the
interest coming from hard-core gamers and tech
pioneers. Samsung wants to make it easier for
everyday people to create VR videos - so that
their friends will buy VR headsets to view them.
LG, meanwhile, designed the LG 360 VR
headset to work with an LG smartphone that’s
attached by a cable. With Samsung's VR device,
the smartphone is inserted at eye level and
becomes the headset’s display, increasing the
weight on the head. LG’s version has built-in,
lighter displays in the headset’s eyepieces. LG
is also making a 360-degree camera similar
to Samsung's.
Prices and release dates for the LG phone and
accessories from both companies have yet to be
announced, though the LG phone is expected in
the US. in April.
Neither VR system will be as powerful as full-
fledged VR devices coming this year. HTC said
Sunday that a consumer version of the Vive
will start selling in early April for $799, with
ordering to begin Feb. 29. A personal computer
is required and sold separately.
VR isn't limited to high-end devices: On Saturday,
Alcatel announced a mid-range Idol 4S - with
packaging that can be folded into VR headset.
115
|
#01 - TIDAL
By TIDAL Music AS
Category: Music
Requires iOS 8.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#02 - Color Switch
By Samuel Ratumaitavuki
Category: Games
Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#03 - Snapchat
By Snapchat, Inc.
Category: Photo & Video
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#04 - Messenger
By Facebook, Inc.
Category: Social Networking
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#05 — Facebook
By Facebook, Inc.
Category: Social Networking
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#06 — Instagram
ram, Inc.
Category: Photo & Video
i 7.0 or later. Compatible with
Category: Music =
Requires i0S 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, ind iPod touch.
Netflix, Inc.
Category: Entertainment
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#01 — OS X El Capitan
By Apple
Category: Utilities
X 10.68 or later
9.0 or later, 64-bit processor
— App for Facebook
By Xiaomeng Lu
Category: Business
Compatibility: OS X 10,7 or later, 64-bit processor
#01 — Face Swap Live
By Mojang
Category: Games / Price: $6.99
Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#02 - Minecraft — Pocket Edition
By Mojang
Category: Games / Price: $6.99
Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#03 - Heads Up!
By Warner Bros.
Category: Games / Price: $0.99
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#04 —- NBA 2K16
By 2K
Category: Games / Price: $7.99
”
a Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
a ** nat
ah .
. .* .* ee “g 5 .
Bik Far #05 — Akinator the Genie
wR % % sv 8 -: . Aa BA. By Elokence
Pie oR her ea $ ae ‘ Category: Entertainment / Price: $1.99
a 4 NA .
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#07 — Facetune
By Lightricks Ltd.
Category: Photo & Video / Price: $3.99
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with i
#08 - KIMOJI
By Whalerock Digital Media, LLC
Category: Entertainment / Price: $1.99
Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
wed
#09 - Bloons TD 5
By Ninja Kiwi
Category: Games / Price: $2.99
Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
#10 - THE GAME OF LIFE Classic Edition
By Electronic Arts
Category: Games / Price: $0.99
Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
ee
Se
COLLECTION
©
&
#01 - GarageBand
By Apple
Category: Music / Price: $4.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later
#02 — Day One 2 Journal + Notes
By Bloom Built, LLC
Category: Lifestyle / Price: $19.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor
#03 — Logic Pro X
By Apple
Category: Music / Price: $199.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.84 or later, 64-bit processor
#04 - Airmail 2.6
ByBloop SRL.
Category: Utilities / Price: $9.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.8 or later, 64-bit processor
#05 - The Sims™ 2: Super Collection
By Aspyr Media, Inc.
Category: Games / Price: $29.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.9.2 or later
#06 — Polarr Photo Editor
By Polar, Inc.
Category: Photography / Price: $9.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor
#07 - Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro
By Systweak Software
Category: Photography / Price: $0.99
Compatibility: OS X 10,7 or later
#08 — Disk Doctor
By FIPLAB Ltd
Category: Utilities / Price: $2.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.7.3 or later, 64-bit processor
#09 — Document Writer
By xiong feng
Category: Business / Price: $9.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later
#10 - AntiVirus Sentinel Pro
By Calin Popescu
Category: Utilities / Price: $9.99
ompatibility: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor
Pan
A prequel to one of the world’s most-loved
fairy tales sees how the boy that never grew
up met his soon-to-be-nemesis Captain
Hook. The story may surprise you...
FIVE FACTS:
1. Levi Miller won a drama award when he
was 5 years old for playing Peter Pan. He
loves the film Peter Pan (2003).
2. The soundtrack to Pan is quite unusual for
a movie of its kind, and features songs from
artists such as The Ramones and Nirvana.
3. The movie sparked allegations of racism
after white actress Rooney Mara was cast as
by Joe Wright Native American character Tiger Lily.
Genre: Kids & Family J .
Released: 2015 4. The movie has been nominated for
aS wi - several awards, including an award for‘Worst
error ~~ Supporting Actress’
5. Director Joe Wright has also worked on
Hanna, Anna Karenina, and Atonement.
See more in
iTunes
Cast Interview
122
123 |
Dark Places
After witnessing the brutal massacre of her
entire family at just eight years old, Libby
(Charlize Theron) agrees to revisit the crime,
and discover who was behind it once and
forall...
FIVE FACTS:
1. Based on a the novel by Gillian Flynn of
the same name.
2. The novel has been given several awards
and accolades, including a place on the New
York Times Best Selller List back in 2009.
3. This will be Nicholas Hoult and Charlize
Theron’s second movie together. They
previously worked on recent blockbuster
Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Executive producer Tobin Armbrust has
also worked on The Woman In Black, Snitch,
and Let Me In.
5. Gillian Flynn also assisted with writing the
screenplay for Gone Girl.
124
>
D
IBLACES
[iTunes Preview |
any
by Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Genre: Thriller
Released: 2015
Price: $14.99
kk kkk
129 Ratings
Rotten Tomatoes
Trailer
| 126
127
Cast Interview
ifunes
Review
Leading Single ‘Doing the right thing’
128
Genre: Alternative
Released: Jan 15, 2016
10 Songs
Price: $7.99
Kat Kk
151 Ratings
Not To Disappear
Daughter
The second album from British/Swiss/French
indie rock band Daughter is just as charming
as their first, which spawned popular single
‘Youth’ Not To Disappear is a must-buy for any
of their fans.
FIVE FACTS:
1. Daughter’s songs have been used in
popular culture a number of times, including
episodes of Greys Anatomy and The Vampire
Diaries, and for an advertisement for the
Tour de France.
2. Daughter is signed to the 4AD record label,
which is also home/has been home to artists
such as Bon Iver, Pixies, and The National.
3. The band is signed to Glassnote in
America, who also have artists such as
Mumford and Sons, Phoenix, and The
Temper Trap on their roster.
4. The band appeared on The David
Letterman Show prior to the release of their
debut album.
5. Daughter's first single ‘Smother’ was
awarded ‘Single of the Week’ by BBC Radio 6
when it was released.
See more in
iTunes a
| 130
Second Single ‘Numbers’
131
Macklem
Ryan Lewis
The second album from the hip-hop duo,
known for their infamous song ‘Thrift
Shop; is just as entertaining as their award-
winning debut.
FIVE FACTS:
1. The duo was nominated for 7 Grammy
Awards for first album The Heist, going on
to win 4 of them.
2. Single ‘White Privelege’has already come
under fire, with many accusing it as being a
case of ‘white saviour syndrome’.
3. The duo's single ‘Thrift Shop’ reportedly
saw an increase in custom for thrift shops
around the world after its release.
4. This Unruly Mess I’ve Made features
other notable artists including Ed Sheeran,
Leon Bridges, and Chance the Rapper.
5. The pair were criticised after their win
for ‘Best Rap Album’ at the Grammys for
The Heist. They even agreed themselves
that the award deserved to go to fellow
nominee Kendrick Lamar.
132
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Expected Release: F
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13 Songs
Price: $11.99
Video for Single ‘Downtown’
134
Video for ‘White Privilege’
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135
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BOX OFFICE TOP 20:
‘DEADPOOI STAYS
ON TOP WITH
$56.5M
The R-rated comic book adaption “Deadpool”
remained on top at the box office, earning $56.5
million in its second weekend and bringing its
two-week total to $236.9 million.
The 20th Century Fox release, starring Ryan
Reynolds, is on course to become one of the
most lucrative R-rated films of all time. It easily
trumped three smaller new wide releases.
The faith-based tale “Risen” opened with $11.8
million. The 1600s Puritan horror thriller “The
Witch” opened with $8.8 million, the best
weekend yet for the indie distributor A24.
And Focus Features’ Jesse Owens biopic “Race”
debuted with a disappointing $7.4 million.
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:
137
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| 138
7 “Deadpool,” 20th Century Fox,
1 $56,470,167, 3,722 locations, $15,172
average, $236,865,054, 2 weeks.
“Kung Fu Panda 3,” 20th Century Fox,
« $12,516,601, 3,448 locations, $3,630
average, $117,121, 185, 4 weeks.
3 “Risen,” Sony, $11,801,271, 2,915
« locations, $4,048 average, $11,801,271,
1 week.
4 “The Witch,” A24 Films, $8,800,230,
« 2,046 locations, $4,301 average,
$8,800,230, 1 week.
“How To Be Single,” Warner Bros.,
# $8,202,430, 3,357 locations, $2,443
average, $31,746,063, 2 weeks.
6 “Race,” Focus Features, $7,353,922,
# 2,369 locations, $3,104 average,
$7,353,922, 1 week.
“Zoolander 2,” Paramount, $5,455,344,
s 3,418 locations, $1,596 average,
$23,673,355, 2 weeks.
139
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Disney,
s $83,907,295, 1,618 locations, $2,415
average, $921,713,590, 10 weeks.
“The Revenant,” 20th Century Fox,
s $3,866,741, 1,939 locations, $1,994
average, $165, 183,291, 9 weeks.
| O “Hail, Caesar!” Universal, $2,745, 705,
s 1,726 locations, $1,591 average,
$26,258,850, 3 weeks.
7 7 “Ride Along 2,” Universal,
s $2,229,825, 1,210 locations, $1,843
average, $86,515,305, 6 weeks.
1 a “The Choice,” Lionsgate, $1,802,224,
« 1,817 locations, $992 average,
$16,619,702, 3 weeks.
7 3 “The Lady In The Van,” Sony Pictures
« Classics, $1,504,739, 540 locations,
$2,787 average, $3,817,926, 6 weeks.
7 4 “The Boy,” STX Entertainment,
1 $1,436,592, 977 locations, $1,470
average, $33,360,570, 5 weeks.
140
&
-
141
7 5 “The 5th Wave,” Sony, $1,312,378,
« 850 locations, $1,544 average,
$31,956,244, 5 weeks.
7 6 “The Finest Hours,” Disney,
s $1,010,546, 946 locations, $1,068
average, $25,473,815, 4 weeks.
| / “Mei Ren Yu (The Mermaid),” Sony,
1 $985,052, 35 locations, $28, 144
average, £985,052, 1 week.
7 8 “Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer,”
« Lionsgate, $902,457, 357 locations,
$2,528 average, $902,457, 1 week.
7 9 “The Big Short,” Paramount,
« $887,975, 432 locations, $2,055
average, $67,135,716, 11 week.
2 O “Brooklyn,” Fox Searchlight,
1 $766,626, 443 locations, $1,731
average, $35,364,727, 16 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.
142
143
YAHOO BOARD HIRES INVESTMENT
BANKS TO MULL POSSIBLE SALE
Yahoo's board has hired three investment
banking firms to evaluate potential bids for its
Internet operations in the clearest sign yet that
CEO Marissa Mayer may not have much more
time to turn around the struggling company.
The move announced Friday comes 2 1/2 weeks
after Yahoo disclosed it would consider “strategic
alternatives” while Mayer cuts costs through
mass layoffs, office closures and a purge of
unprofitable products.
Mayer believes the overhaul will boost profits
and sharpen Yahoo's focus on mobile apps and
other services most likely to revive the company’s
revenue growth after years of decline.
144
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Some Yahoo shareholders frustrated with
a steep drop in the company’s stock price
have been pushing for a sale of the Internet
operations instead.
The board has now responded to that pressure
by hiring investment bankers Goldman Sachs,
J.P. Morgan and PJT Partners to set up a process
for meeting with companies interested in
buying all or parts of Yahoo's business. A special
committee of Yahoo's directors will discuss the
options with the bankers and the company’s
legal advisers, Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
While the board mulls those alternatives,
Mayer will continue to pursue a turnaround
plan that includes jettisoning 15 percent of
Yahoo's workforce.
“We believe that pursuing these complementary
paths is in the best interests of our shareholders
and will maximize value,” Yahoo Chairman
Maynard Webb said in a statement.
Mayer also is trying to spin off Yahoo's Internet
operations into a newly created company while
leaving behind prized stakes in Alibaba Group, a
rapidly growing Internet company in China, and
Yahoo Japan. The proposed spinoff might not
be completed until next year, if Yahoo's Internet
business isn’t sold before then.
146
Image: Didier Baverel
nN
t+
=
Yahoo Inc. didn't identify any of the
potential bidders that it might meet. Verizon
Communications has publicly said it might be
interested in buying parts of the company after
paying $4.4 billion last year to snap up another
fading Internet company, AOL Inc.
Analysts believe Yahoo's other likely suitors
may include AT&T, Comcast and various private
equity firms that specialize in snapping up
troubled companies with well-known brands
such as Yahoo.
Virtually all of Yahoo's current market value of
$28 billion is tied to its stakes in Alibaba and
Yahoo Japan. The holdings in Alibaba alone are
valued at $26 billion.
Analysts still believe Yahoo's line-up of
still-popular services such as email, sports
and finance could fetch several billion dollars
ina sale.
Yahoo's stock gained 62 cents, or 2 percent,
to close last Friday at $30.04. The shares have
plunged by 40 percent since the end of 2014.
148
Image: Jason Alden
FACEBOOK UPDATES MESSENGER APP
TO HANDLE SEVERAL ACCOUNTS
Image: David Paul Morris
151
Image: Bloomberg
152
Facebook has redesigned its popular Messenger
app so several people can use it on the same
smartphone or tablet without relinquishing
their privacy.
The update announced Friday initially will only
be available on devices running on Android, the
world’s most popular mobile operating system.
Facebook didn’t set a timetable for making
similar changes to its Messenger app for Apple
Inc’s iPhone and iPad.
The new feature will accommodate multiple
accounts without allowing people sharing
the more versatile app to get into each other’s
queue of messages.
Facebook added the ability to switch accounts
within the Messenger app after getting requests
from people who share their smartphones and
tablets with family and friends.
More than 800 million people currently
use Messenger.
153
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RECORD
NUMBER OF
ASTRONAUT
WANNABES
APPLY TO
NASA18,300
155
Space travel never looked so good.
NASA announced it received a record number of
applicants - some 18,300 - for its next astronaut
class. That's more than double the previous
record of 8,000 for the first space shuttle
astronaut class in 1978. This time, NASA hit social
media hard to promote the openings.
The odds of getting picked are small; only
eight to 14 Americans will be chosen. NASA
expects it will take 1/2 years to whittle down
the list. Candidates need to be U.S. citizens
with a bachelor’s degree in science, math
or engineering.
156
157
“It’s not at all surprising to me that so many
Americans from diverse backgrounds want to
personally contribute to blazing the trail on our
journey to Mars,’ NASA Administrator Charles
Bolden, a former space shuttle commander, said
in a statement.
Like the eight-member Class of 2013, the future
astronauts will train to fly to the International
Space Station on capsules under development
by SpaceX and Boeing, as well as on NASA's
Orion spacecraft intended for deep-space
exploration. NASA aims to send astronauts to
Mars in the 2030s.
The two-month application period closed last
week. The first astronaut class was the Mercury 7
chosen in 1959.
Online:
NASA: http://astronauts.nasa.gov/
SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS GIVE
HUGE TRASH CAN THE BOOT
The International Space Station just got a whole
lot tidier.
A pair of NASA astronauts released a capsule
loaded with 1.5 tons of trash as the space station
soared over Bolivia. The capsule should re-enter
the atmosphere and burn up harmlessly over
the Pacific on Saturday.
NASA supplier Orbital ATK launched the
capsule to the space station in December,
full of food, clothes and other goods. The
astronauts removed the precious contents,
then filled it with garbage and old equipment
for incineration.
Commander Scott Kelly and Timothy Kopra, the
Americans on board, sent computer commands
to set the Cygnus free. The stunning 250-mile-
high view showed the capsule slowly backing
away, its two circular solar wings looking like
open umbrellas.
Kelly, who’s less than two weeks from wrapping
up an unprecedented yearlong mission for
NASA, thanked everyone who worked on the
Cygnus -“this great vehicle”
“It's been a pleasure,’ he noted.
“A beautiful release,’ replied Mission Control.
Virginia-based Orbital ATK plans to launch
another Cygnus with more supplies from
Cape Canaveral, Florida, late next month. The
flight was delayed a few weeks after black
mold contaminated some of the cargo bags.
Technicians had to disinfect everything.
SpaceX, meanwhile, another commercial cargo
carrier for NASA, is aiming to make a delivery in
the next few months. The company is working
to get back on track following a launch accident
last summer.
NASA has handed off space station shipments
to private business so it can focus on getting
astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, namely to
Mars. It hopes to do the same with space station
crews next year. For now, U.S. astronauts are
hitching rides with the Russians.
REPORT:
HAWAIT LEADS
NATION IN
GETTING TOO
Et. iL OLEEP
Tired of hearing that more than a third of U.S.
adults don’t get enough sleep? Here's something
new: a government report about which states
get the most sack time.
It says South Dakota has the largest proportion
of residents who get at least seven hours of
sleep each night.
Hawaii - often thought of as a peaceful vacation
spot - has the lowest proportion.
Here's the lowdown:
THE PROBLEM
For adults, the recommended amount of sleep
is seven to nine hours each night. Past studies
have found that more than one-third of U.S.
adults get less. The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention on Thursday released a new
round of national survey data that found the
same thing.
Some of those people - nearly 10 percent of
Americans, by some estimates - suffer chronic
insomnia and may seek a physician's help.
Inadequate sleep has been tied to the start and
worsening of a range of diseases and conditions,
including diabetes, heart disease, obesity
and depression.
THE STATES
The latest CDC report, based on surveys of more
444,000 adults in 2014, for the first time offers
a look at findings in all 50 states. The Great
Plains states led the nation in healthy sleep,
buoyed by South Dakota, where 72 percent of
those surveyed said they averaged at least 7
hours nightly.
165
The South and Appalachian states got the
least sleep as a region. But Hawaii was the
worst individual state, where 56 percent of
respondents got the recommended amount
of sleep. The report also found that while two-
thirds of white people nationally got enough
sleep, only about half of blacks, Native Hawaiians
and Pacific Islanders did.
THE RECOMMENDATION
The report didn’t dig into why certain states or
racial groups got less sleep than others. Experts
believe several factors could be involved. For
example, people with steady jobs and normal
work hours tend to get more sleep than others.
Smoking and health problems also can rob
people of sleep, said the CDC's Anne Wheaton,
one of the report's authors.
Doctors offer tips for good sleeping that include
sticking to a regular bedtime schedule, getting
exercise each day and avoiding caffeine and
nicotine at night.
Online:
CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
167
LLL
UN PANEL
AGREES TO
BAN BATTERY
SHIPMENTS
ON AIRLINERS
A U.N. panel on Monday approved a temporary
ban on cargo shipments of rechargeable
lithium batteries on passenger planes because
they can create intense fires capable of
destroying an aircraft.
The decision by the Montreal-based
International Civil Aviation Organization's top-
level governing council isn’t binding, but most
countries follow the agency's standards. The ban
is effective on April 1.
“This interim prohibition will continue to be
in force as separate work continues through
ICAO on a new lithium battery packaging
performance standard, currently expected by
2018; said Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, the ICAO
council’s president.
169
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Namrata Kolachalam, a U.S. Transportation
Department spokeswoman, called the ban
“a necessary action to protect passengers,
crews, and aircraft from the current risk to
aviation safety.’
Lithium-ion batteries are used in a vast array
of products from cellphones and laptops to
some electric cars. About 5.4 billion lithium-ion
cells were manufactured worldwide in 2014.
A battery is made up of two or more cells. A
majority of batteries are transported on cargo
ships, but about 30 percent are shipped by air.
Airlines flying to and from the U.S. that accept
lithium battery shipments carry 26 million
passengers a year, the Federal Aviation
Administration estimates. The ban doesn’t apply
to batteries packaged inside equipment like a
laptop with a battery inside, for example.
PRBA - The Rechargeable Battery Association,
which opposed the ban, said in a statement that
the industry is preparing to comply with the
ban, but there may be “significant disruption
in the logistics supply chain,’ especially for
batteries used in medical devices.
Aviation authorities have long known that
the batteries can self-ignite, creating fires that
are hotter than 1,100 degrees. That's near the
melting point of aluminum, which is used in
aircraft construction.
Safety concerns increased after FAA tests
showed gases emitted by overheated batteries
can build up in cargo containers, leading to
explosions capable of disabling aircraft fire
suppression systems and allowing fires to
rage unchecked. As a result of the tests, an
organization representing aircraft manufacturers
171
- including the world’s two largest, Boeing
and Airbus - said last year that airliners aren't
designed to withstand lithium battery fires and
that continuing to accept battery shipments is
“an unacceptable risk.’
More than other types of batteries, lithium-
ion batteries are susceptible to short-circuit
if they are damaged, exposed to extreme
temperatures, overcharged, packed too close
together or contain manufacturing defects.
When they short-circuit, the batteries can
experience uncontrolled temperature increases
known as “thermal runaway. That, in turn, can
spread short-circuiting to nearby batteries until
an entire shipment is overheating and emitting
explosive gases.
It's not unusual for tens of thousands of batteries
to be shipped in a single cargo container.
Since 2006, three cargo jets have been
destroyed and four pilots killed by in-flight
fires that accident investigators say were either
started by batteries or made more severe by
their proximity. The International Federation of
Air Line Pilots Associations lobbied the ICAO
council unsuccessfully to extend the ban to
cargo carriers.
“This has been a long time coming, and is
justified by the risk these batteries pose in
transportation,’ said Mark Rogers of the Air Line
Pilots Association in North America. “We now
call on ICAO to recognize that the same risk
is present on cargo aircraft and to extend the
prohibition to all aircraft, until safe methods of
transport can be implemented.’
172
Image: Toby Melville
Besides the ban on shipments on passenger
planes, the ICAO also approved a requirement
that batteries shipped on cargo planes be no
more than 30 percent charged, and imposed
new limits on small packages of batteries.
Dozens of airlines have already voluntarily
stopped accepting battery shipments, but
others oppose a ban. KLM, the royal Dutch
airline, made a presentation to a lower-level
ICAO panel arguing against a ban, according to
an aviation official familiar with the presentation.
KLM and Air France are owned by a Franco-
Dutch holding company. Representatives from
the Netherlands and France on the dangerous
goods panel voted last fall against a ban.
The official wasn't authorized to speak
publicly and spoke on the condition that he
not be named.
KLM officials didn’t respond to requests
for comment.
ICAO's decision frees the Transportation
Department to begin work on regulations
to impose a ban. A law passed by Congress
in 2012 at the behest of industry prohibits
the department from issuing any regulations
regarding air shipments of lithium batteries
that are more stringent than ICAO standards
unless there is a crash that can be shown to have
been started by batteries. Since most evidence
in crashes is destroyed by fire, that’s virtually
impossible to do, critics of the provision say.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who authored the
provision, has said that since batteries are an
international industry there should be a single,
international standard because it would be too
confusing for shippers to follow multiple rules.
175
CHINA REQUIRES
APPROVAL FOR
FOREIGN FIRMS TO
PUBLISH ONUNE
Anew Chinese regulation announced this week
will require foreign companies and foreign-
Chinese joint ventures to acquire approval before
publishing content online, in the government's
latest move to tighten control of the digital realm.
In an apparent countervailing trend born of the
need to shore up slowing growth and flagging
foreign investment, the government on Friday
also announced plans to make it easier for
foreigners to live and work in the country under
new rules for obtaining permanent residency.
177
Under the new regulations going into effect
March 10, firms with at least part-foreign
ownership will be banned from publishing on the
mainland text, pictures, maps, games, animation
and sound “of informational or thoughtful nature”
without approval from the State Administration
of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
Chinese law has long required Internet service
providers to hold an operating license that can
only be obtained in partnership with a Chinese
firm, and the new regulations do not represent a
wholesale revision of existing rules or practices,
experts say.
But the new policies underscore the increasingly
restrictive political climate in China, where the
leadership has sought to rein in public speech
and thought, with an emphatic focus on the
country’s fast-growing Internet industry.
The explosive rise of new media, ranging from
social media messaging services to streaming
TV shows, for instance, has prompted Chinese
censors to introduce a slate of new regulations so
it could police digital and social media as closely
as it did traditional publications. The country’s
top Internet regulator has repeatedly warned
that an untamed cyberspace would pose a risk
to domestic security and the government should
decide who to allow into “its house.’
“China is still focused more on maintaining
the social stability and national security
interests when it comes to making policies
on the Internet industry, while caring
less about the commercial and individual
interests,’ said Zhang Zhian, the director of the
school of communication and design at Sun
Yat-sen University.
178
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As part of the new regulations, online
publishers must store their content on servers
in the mainland, a stipulation that gives the
government expanded legal powers regarding
data access and control. Beijing has made similar
data storage requirements for technology
firms as part of new cybersecurity and national
security laws passed in the past year.
Paul Gillis, a visiting professor at Peking
University’s Guanghua School of Management
who studies Chinese-foreign joint ventures,
said China has introduced regulations in
recent months that explicitly give authorities
censorship powers under the law that they have
long had in practice.
“From a practical standpoint it’s not much
different,” he said. “There was tough
regulation of anything online before and they
shut down anything they thought disrupts
social order. But a lot of what might have been
common practices before are being put into
legislation so China can argue it’s operating
under the rule of law.”
Meanwhile, the new guidelines issued by
China's Cabinet aim to expand the categories of
foreigners in China eligible to obtain the Chinese
equivalent of a U.S. green card. Procedures will
be simplified and restrictions relaxed on foreign
students seeking jobs in the country.
China's economy posted its slowest growth
in a quarter century last year, expanding 6.9
percent. Officials expect growth this year
of between 6.5 and 7 percent, while once-
robust interest among foreign investors
is falling amid complaints over excessive
government interference.
180
TAB SRY
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183
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TRAVELLER
CHRIS STAPLETON
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MUSICVIDEOS
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ALLIWANTIS YOU
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189
THE NEXT ALWAYS
Nora Roserrs
ROOMHATE
Penetope Warb
JANUARY
Aubrey CARLAN
GETTING DIRTY - COMPLETE SERIES
Lucia JORDAN
FEBRUARY
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MARCH
Aubrey CARLAN
THE WIDOW
Fiona BARTON
COMETH THE HOUR
JeéFFREY ARCHER
ME BEFORE YOU
Jojo Moves
APRIL
Auprey CARLAN
191
FORD CEO
LOOKS TO
AUTONOMOUS
CARS, SHARING
ECONOMY
Ford CEO Mark Fields says the 112-year-old
company is tripling its investment in new
technologies that will ultimately lead to self-
driving vehicles - but will keep making cars
for drivers who want to keep their hands on
the wheel.
Fields said it was no coincidence that Ford
chose the Mobile World Congress, a massive
technology trade show in Barcelona, to unveil
its new Kuga SUV, which features its latest
connectivity and driver-assisted technology.
“We are really emphasizing our transition from
an auto company to an auto and mobility
company, Fields told The Associated Press in an
interview Monday at Ford's stand, which stood
out in a sea of smartphone and gadget makers.
“This is a really good audience to reach some
new folks.”
192
The Kuga includes the latest version of Ford's
connectivity technology, SYNC 3, which
the company says includes improved voice
commands and makes it easier to access
applications on a driver's smartphone.
It has a new 1.5-liter diesel engine, among
other features.
Fields said that over the next five years
investment will increase threefold in
autonomous driving technologies, such as one-
button parking assistance and guidance to keep
a car in its lane and help braking in heavy traffic,
with the ultimate goal of a fully autonomous car.
He declined to provide financial figures.
Don Butler, Ford's executive director of
connected vehicle and services, told the AP “we
like to think about it as the transition from just a
hardware company to a software and mobility
services company as well.’
“Mobility” is a buzzword at the wireless show.
For Ford customers, it means a wide range of
innovations from further integration of the
Internet in cars, to ride-sharing and even the use
of other modes of transport in conjunction with
cars, like bicycles.
Fields said Ford is aware it will have to be careful
to keep a hold on the traditional car driver, by
protecting - especially in the United States - the
aura of personal freedom that automakers have
always cast over their products.
Ford is taking a“dual path” in developing the
connected car, said Fields. One for those who
want to be assisted by the car or eventually have
the vehicle take over, and another for drivers
who want to keep control of the wheel.
With ride-sharing platforms like Uber reshaping
driving for many young would-be consumers,
Ford is also looking to get a piece of the so-
called sharing economy.
“Across the world when you see growth of these
megacities, with 10 million or more folks, people
want mobility solutions, they want options,’
Fields said. That can include car-sharing,
ride-sharing or the use of multiple modes of
transportation linked into one service - such as
the use of a train and bike.
He said Ford is testing some programs in this field,
which he sees as “a big revenue opportunity.’
Those projects include car-sharing in London
and across Germany. Ford is also working on an
experimental e-bikes program that Butler said it
could one day mesh with car-sharing.
196
| 198
APPLE PAY
LAUNCHES IN
CHINA VVHERE
E-PAYMENTS
WIDELY USED
Apple Inc. on Thursday (18) launched its
smartphone-based payment system in China,
where the electronic payments market is already
dominated by an arm of e-commerce giant
Alibaba.
Apple said Apple Pay could be used with cards
from 19 banks and “numerous merchants.’ The
merchants include supermarket Carrefour,
fast food outlets McDonald's and KFC, and
convenience store 7-Eleven, according to a news
release Wednesday from China UnionPay, the
country's state-owned credit card processor
with which Apple is working.
Apple's electronic payment system started in
the United States in October 2014 and has since
spread to Britain, Canada and Australia. Hong
Kong, Singapore and Spain are coming this year.
199
Apple Pay is a late arrival in a Chinese electronic
payments market that offers smartphone users
not just online shopping but also the option to
order taxis, send money to friends, pay bills and
invest in wealth management funds.
The market is dominated by Alipay, an arm
of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
WeChat Payment, operated by social
networking and gaming company Tencent
Holdings Ltd, is also popular.
Apple's system will allow UnionPay cardholders
to make payments at retail stores via Apple
iPhones and Apple Watches. The service also
enables in-app payments on iPhones and iPads.
Apple has declined to say how the company and
UnionPay would divide the costs and revenues
of their venture.
201
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