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 APPLE, ONCE AGAIN, HAS A BAD CASE OF THE iPHONE JITTERS 06

CANCER FROM CELLPHONES? NEW STUDIES SAY NO NEED TO HANG UP 14

LOS ANGELES TIMES SOLD TO LOCAL BILLIONAIRE FOR $500 MILLION 24

GOOGLE’S AI PUSH COMES WITH PLENTY OF PEOPLE PROBLEMS 32

SPACEX: FALCON HEAVY BLASTS OFF WITH SPORTS CAR ON TOP 40

FIREFIGHTERS LEARN WAYS TO USE TECHNOLOGY TO BATTLE BLAZES 56

iWORK: ALL OF THE APPS YOU NEED TO EXCEL AT SCHOOL OR WORK 58

APPLE MULLS REFUNDS FOR BATTERY REPLACEMENT ON OLD iPHONES 78

OLYMPIC VIDEO AND VR: GUIDE TO WATCHING WITHOUT A TV 80

WOMAN AT TOP OF HER GAME SEEKS GIRLS WITH A CYBER-APTITUDE 90

TWITTER TURNS FIRST PROFIT EVER, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN 96

PARTNERSHIP BRINGS INTERNET TO HOMES OF SCHOOLCHILDREN 106

FOXCONN PUTTING US HEADQUARTERS IN MILWAUKEE 114

KALE TO GO: AMAZON TO ROLL OUT DELIVERY AT WHOLE FOODS 116

RAIL INDUSTRY SAYS KEY SAFETY TECHNOLOGY NOT DUE UNTIL 2020 120

MARS ON EARTH: SIMULATION TESTS IN REMOTE DESERT OF OMAN 130

iTUNES REVIEW 140

JUMANJI’ REBOOT REIGNS AGAIN AT THE BOX OFFICE 156

WITH NEW TRAILER, ‘SOLO’ HOPES TO OUTRUN PRODUCTION TROUBLES 166

WILL DISNEY’S STREAMING SERVICE ROAR - OR SQUEAK? 170

JIM CARREY SAYS USERS SHOULD YANK THEIR FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS 176

‘FANCY BEAR’ HACKERS TOOK AIM AT US DEFENSE CONTRACTORS 178

36 INDICTED IN GLOBAL CYBERCRIME RING THAT STOLE $530M 194

CHINA SOLAR SUPPLIER GROWS IN INDIA TO AVOID TRADE CONTROLS 198

SWISS MOBILE DATA OF 800,000 CUSTOMERS IS STOLEN 204

AMAZON TO PAY FRANCE $250 MILLION IN BACK TAXES 206

‘TEAR DOWN THIS FIREWALL’ - US LOOKS TO EXPAND CUBA INTERNET 208

ROBOT MAKES COFFEE AT NEW CAFE IN JAPAN’S CAPITAL 214

6
APPLE, ONCE AGAIN, HAS A BAD
CASE OF THE iPHONE JITTERS

Apple is making more money than ever, but

it still doesn’t seem to be enough to keep
everyone happy. Not with conspiracy theories
swirling around Apple’s secret slowdown of
older iPhones while a cloud of uncertainty
looms over its high-priced iPhone X.

It’s a reality check for a company accustomed

to an unflinchingly loyal customer base. Apple
expected buyers to embrace the iPhone X as a
revolutionary device worth its $1,000 price, but
it’s still not clear how many people are willing to
ante up, especially with other recently released
models selling for $200 to $300 less.

7
The first clues about consumers’ interest in the
iPhone X emerged last week with the release of
Apple’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report. That
period covered the final three months of last
year, including the early November debut of
the iPhone X.

Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the quarter,

about 1 million fewer than at the same time in
the previous year, which included an additional
week because of quirk in the calendar. Despite
the smaller window of time, analysts had
predicted Apple would sell 80 million iPhones in
the past quarter, according to FactSet.

What’s more, consumers disillusioned with the

slowdown of their devices may be even less
inclined to upgrade in the months ahead.

Apple attributed the slowdown to its effort to

prevent unexpected crashes caused by aging
batteries, and it’s now offering to replace those
batteries for just $29. That $50 discount is
available as part of Apple’s apology for not being
more forthcoming about what it did.

“Once you get past all the enthusiasts who want

the iPhone X, you get down to a lot of people
who think $1,000 is a lot of money for a phone,”
said analyst Bob O’Donnell of the research firm
Technalysis. “We may be getting near the peak
of the smartphone market, and that impacts
everyone, including Apple.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook told a different story,

describing it as its top-selling model in every
week since its release in early November.

“We feel fantastic about the results,” Cook said

in a conference call with analysts. “The most
important thing for us isn’t really the numbers.

8
Image: Justin Sullivan

9
10
Image: Frederic J. Brown

It’s customer satisfaction and customer

satisfaction is literally off the charts on iPhone X.”

But Apple’s revenue forecast for the current

quarter fell below analysts’ already diminished
expectations, fueling fears that early appetite for
the iPhone X has quickly faded.

Those concerns are the primary reason Apple’s

stock had fallen about 7 percent since hitting
an all-time high two weeks ago. The shares
recovered some of those recent losses after the
quarterly numbers came out, gaining $5.62 to
$173.40 in after-market trading.

11
12
The iPhone X is unlike any other iPhone in the
decade-long history of Apple’s best-selling
product line. It features a brighter screen that
spans the device from edge to edge, and boasts
facial recognition technology for unlocking the
device and other features.

Although those changes appear to be winning

over consumers who flock to the latest in
technology, facial recognition technology
may be turning off potential buyers more
comfortable with the familiar home button on
all other iPhones, O’Donnell said.

Apple doesn’t break down iPhone sales by

model, instead reporting only the total number
all phones sold. That practice forces analysts
to do a bit of guesswork based on the limited
information that Apple provides.

One inescapable conclusion is that the higher

prices of the iPhone X and the other two other
new models, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, are
propelling Apple’s earnings and sales to record
levels. Apple sold its iPhones for an average of
$796 during the past quarter, a roughly $100
increase from the previous year.

That helped lift Apple’s profit 12 percent from

the previous year to $20.1 billion while revenue
surged 13 percent to $88.3 billion.

More telling than any of the quarterly numbers

may be the lack of a wait to get an iPhone X
now. Most analysts thought intense demand
and a shortage of components meant Apple
wouldn’t be able to fill all orders until this spring.
But the iPhone X is currently available, meaning
that either Apple solved the production issues
earlier than anticipated — or consumer demand
is waning.

13
14
 CANCER FROM
CELLPHONES?
NEW STUDIES
SAY NO NEED
TO HANG UP

Two government studies that bombarded rats

and mice with cellphone radiation found a weak
link to some heart tumors, but federal regulators
and some scientists say don’t worry — it is safe
to use your device. They still do.

Previous studies of cellphone users had found

little reason for concern, but the newest research
took a closer look at the effects of super-high
doses in animals to address some lingering
questions that could not be tested on humans.

15
The rat study released last week found a small
increase in an unusual type of heart tumor
in male rats, but there were no significant
problems in female rats or in a separate study of
mice. In particular, scientists could not find hard
evidence for concern about brain tumors.

The lead author of the research, John Bucher of

the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences, is not changing his cellphone use or
advising his family to.

“I am actually holding my cellphone up to my

ear,” Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer
Society’s chief medical officer, said in an
interview after reading the studies.

The rodent studies do not reflect real-life

cellphone use, he cautioned.

“These draft reports are bound to create a lot

of concern, but in fact they won’t change what
I tell people. The evidence for an association
between cellphones and cancer is weak. And
so far, we have not seen a higher cancer risk
in people. But if you’re concerned about this
animal data, wear an earpiece.”

The findings about the rare nerve-tissue tumor

discovered in the hearts of male rats do not
translate directly into a concern for humans,
Bucher stressed.

Bucher’s agency conducted the $25 million

study at the behest of the Food and Drug
Administration, which quickly said cellphones
are safe.

“The current safety limits for cellphones are

acceptable for protecting the public health,”
FDA radiation health chief Dr. Jeffrey Shuren
said in a statement.

16
17
18
Bucher said typical cellphone use is “very, very,
very much lower than what we studied.”

Rats and mice were bombarded for nine hours

a day for up to two years with a radiation level
so high that humans would only experience it
briefly, such as when a phone with a weak signal
expends more energy searching for a stronger
one, Bucher said at a news conference.

“At best it might be a weak carcinogen. ... if in

fact it is a carcinogen,” he said.

Confusingly, the radiated rats somehow lived

longer than comparison rats that were not
exposed to cellphone radiation. Bucher said
that could be just chance, or it could be that
the radiation reduced inflammation in the rats,
which in turn decreased the risk of a rat disease.

The toxicology program released preliminary

results two years ago and finalized last week.
The earlier report showed a hint of increased
brain tumors in male rats, but the final results
did not bear that out.

The new rat study found what it called

“equivocal evidence” for increases in DNA
damage, brain tumors and a few other
cancers, but it was not clear that it was
related to the cellphones.

“Evidence of DNA damage was seen in some

tissues of some animals, but we don’t feel we
have evidence to comment on the biological
significance,” Bucher said.

Still, it was surprising that the rodents did

experience a variety of other effects, even if they
were not at high enough levels to be considered
significant and possibly linked, said Leeka
Kheifets, an epidemiology professor at the

19
20
University of California, Los Angeles, and a
former head of radiation studies for the World
Health Organization.

“There is some concern that there is so much

activity going on,” she said, also speaking from
a cellphone. But “it’s not like the sky is falling, a
huge effect. Definitely not.”

The findings failed to reassure longtime critics

of cellphone radiation, such as David Carpenter,
head of environmental health at the State
University of New York in Albany. Carpenter
said the studies were not large enough to
uncover some rare problems and that the claim
of “equivocal” findings about brain tumors
“cannot be dismissed.”

“It’s not anywhere near as dangerous as

cigarettes, but is there a real hazard from
excessive use? Yes,” Carpenter said from a landline.

In 2011, a working group of the International

Agency for Research on Cancer said cellphones
are possibly carcinogenic. But numerous studies
over the years, before and after that listing, have
found little evidence of a problem.

Among the largest studies, a 2010 analysis in 13

countries found little or no risk of brain tumors,
with a possible link in the heaviest users that the
study’s authors found inconclusive. And a large
Danish study that linked phone bills to a cancer
registry found no risk even from more than 13
years of cellphone use, according to the latest
update in 2007.

In December, the state of California put out a

guide on how people could reduce exposure to
radiofrequency from cellphones if they’re worried,
such as using earphones or texting instead.

21
24
 LOS ANGELES
TIMES SOLD TO
LOCAL BILLIONAIRE
FOR $500 MILLION

A biotech billionaire struck a $500 million deal

Wednesday to buy the Los Angeles Times,
ending the paper’s quarrelsome relationship
with its Chicago-based corporate overseers and
bringing it under local ownership for the first
time in 18 years.

The agreement between Los Angeles medical

entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and Tronc
Inc. represents the latest instance of a rich, civic-
minded individual purchasing a newspaper from
a big corporation.

Soon-Shiong, 65, amassed his fortune in part

by developing a cancer drug in 1991. He was
already a major shareholder in Tronc, one of
the richest men in Los Angeles and the nation’s
wealthiest doctor by Forbes’ estimate, with a net
worth put at $7.8 billion.

The deal includes the purchase of The San Diego

Union-Tribune and some other publications
and the assumption of $90 million in
pension liabilities.

25
 Image: Brad Graverson
26
Soon-Shiong takes over at a time of turmoil at
the paper. The Times just replaced its top editor,
the third such switch in six months, and publisher
Ross Levinsohn had been on unpaid leave after
it was learned he was a defendant in two sexual
harassment lawsuits elsewhere. Tronc said
Wednesday he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Also, journalists voted last month to unionize for

the first time in the paper’s 136-year history.

Tronc, formerly known as the Tribune Co., owns

the Chicago Tribune and several other U.S.
newspapers, including the Baltimore Sun and
New York Daily News.

Clashes between the Times and its Chicago-

based owner erupted not long after it acquired
the West Coast paper in 2000. Staff at the Times
bristled over what it considered a string of bad
decisions made from hundreds of miles away
in Chicago, and the paper went through a
succession of top editors and publishers.

27
 Image: Mario Anzuoni
28
Among them was editor John Carroll, who led
the paper to 13 Pulitzer Prizes but resigned
under heavy pressure to cut staff. His successor,
Dean Baquet, left after 15 months and is now
executive editor at The New York Times.

Reporters at the Times were also alarmed by

the recent hiring of several news executives
who reported to business executives, and not
to news editors. Traditionally, the editorial and
business sides of a paper are kept separate to
maintain journalistic credibility.

As news spread of a potential sale Tuesday,

cheering erupted in the Times newsroom.
After the deal was announced, the union
representing the paper’s journalists said it “looks
forward to working with a local owner who
can help us preserve The Times as a guardian
of our community and as the voice of the
American West.”

Maya Lau, a Times law enforcement reporter,

tweeted: “Congratulations to Patrick Soon-
Shiong and hooray for a return to local
ownership of the Los Angeles Times & San Diego
Union Tribune.”

With the newspaper industry thrown into deep

turmoil by the internet, Amazon founder Jeff
Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013 for
$250 million. The same year, Boston Red Sox
owner John Henry purchased The Boston Globe
for $70 million.

“We find ourselves returning to where we were a

century ago when a handful of wealthy owners
controlled big, influential newspapers,” said
Al Tompkins, a senior faculty member at the
Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St.
Petersburg, Florida.

29
“Here’s the difference: The ownership today
does not promise lucrative returns. You take
it over knowing it isn’t nearly as profitable
as it might have been 20 or 50 years ago.
Today it’s a thinner margin, and it gets thinner
every day.”

Soon-Shiong, who also holds a minority

interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, said in an
interview with the Times last year that as a major
stockholder in the paper, he was unhappy with
the way it was being run.

“I am concerned there are other agendas,

independent of the newspaper’s needs or
the fiduciary obligations to the viability of
the organization,” he said. “My goal is to try
and preserve the integrity and the viability of
the newspaper.”

Tronc said the sale will allow the Chicago

company to follow a more aggressive growth
strategy focused on news and digital media.
It said it is buying a majority stake in online
product review company BestReviews for an
undisclosed amount.

Veteran media business analyst Ken Doctor said

a return to local ownership will restore pride at
the Times.

The question is whether a new owner will do

more than halt cutbacks by reinvesting, as Bezos
and Henry did at their newspapers, and set the
Times on a new path.

“Given the huge challenges still faced by news

publishing in the age of Google/Facebook ad
duopoly and still-onrushing digital disruption,
even a billionaire has his work cut out for him,”
Doctor said.

30
Image: Evan Vucci
31
 Image: Ramin Talaie
32
GOOGLE’S AI PUSH COMES WITH
PLENTY OF PEOPLE PROBLEMS

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently declared

that artificial intelligence fueled by powerful
computers was more important to humanity
than fire or electricity. And yet the search giant
increasingly faces a variety of messy people
problems as well.

The company has vowed to employ thousands

of human checkers just to catch rogue YouTube
posters, Russian bots and other purveyors of
unsavory content. It’s also on a buying spree to
find office space for its burgeoning workforce in
pricey Silicon Valley.

33
For a company that built its success on using
faceless algorithms to automate many human
tasks, this focus on people presents something
of a conundrum. Yet it’s also a necessary one
as lawmakers ramp up the pressure on Google
to deter foreign powers from abusing its
platforms and its YouTube unit draws fire for
offensive videos , particularly ones aimed at
younger audiences.

In the latest quarter alone, Google parent

Alphabet Inc. added 2,009 workers, for a total
of 80,110. Over the last three years, it hired a
net 2,245 people per quarter on average. That’s
nearly 173 per week, or 25 people per day.

Some of the extra workers this year will be

part of Google’s pledge to have 10,000 people
across the company snooping out videos and
other material that violate the company’s
policies — but which computers can’t catch
on their own. That program will lead to what
Google calls “significant growth ” in personnel.

Google will take on even more workers in the

current quarter now that it has closed its $1.1
billion purchase of part of hardware maker
HTC, bringing onboard the 2,000-plus
engineers who worked on the Pixel
smartphone line.

Last week, Pichai spoke bullishly about content-

checkers hiring, saying the investments now set
the company up to capture growth in the future
— in the same call with investors that he touted
self-driving vehicles developed by Alphabet’s
Waymo unit, which aim to do away with human
drivers entirely.

For instance, Pichai said he sees consumers

increasingly watching YouTube videos on

34
35
36
connected TVs in the living room, a lucrative
segment of growth for the digital video
advertising that helps power Google’s growth.

After controversies over YouTube stars who

made anti-Semitic comments or showed video
of someone who had apparently died by
suicide, Google has tightened its standards . It
has limited which YouTube channels can serve
up ads; vowed to manually review every video
in its most popular channels for 18-to-34-year-
olds; and will pay outside companies to ensure
that brands don’t have their ads turn up next to
unsuitable videos.

“While there have been some concerns, we’re

working really hard to address them and
respond strongly,” Pichai said.

Some analysts aren’t so sure. Collin Colburn,

an analyst with market researcher Forrester,
wonders how much of the recent changes are
just window dressing at a company for whom
hiring thousands of people amounts to little
more than pocket change.

“I wonder if it’s more of a move of optics rather

than practicality,” Colburn said, noting Google’s
“massive” double-digit revenue growth and cash
hoard of $102 billion.

Revenue at Google parent Alphabet rose 24

percent from a year ago to $32.32 billion. After
subtracting advertising commissions, revenue
was $25.87 billion, exceeding Street forecasts
of $25.65 billion. But the company swung to a
$3 billion loss from a $5.33 billion profit a year
earlier, reflecting the recent federal tax overhaul.

Alphabet shares were down 2.3 percent at

$1,141.42 in after-hours trading.

37
Google’s growing workforce has the company
on a real-estate tear.

It recently opened up offices in Austin, Texas;

Ann Arbor, Michigan; Boulder, Colorado; and
is planning to open offices in Detroit. It broke
ground in November on a huge office building
in the heart of London, home to its DeepMind
artificial intelligence unit, that will come
complete with a rooftop running track.

Near its current headquarters, construction is

underway on two futuristic dome-like structures
infused with natural light, brimming with solar
panels and set to open in late 2019. Google is
negotiating with the city of Mountain View to add
10,000 housing units, many of which will likely be
home to employees known as “Googlers.”

Pichai said the company intends to hire

“thousands of people across the U.S.” this year,
build or open five new data centers, and make
“significant investments” in nine states.

38
39
SPACEX: FALCON HEAVY
BLASTS OFF WITH
SPORTS CAR ON TOP

SpaceX’s big new rocket blasted off Tuesday on

its first test flight, carrying a red electric sports
car aiming for an endless road trip past Mars.

The Falcon Heavy rose from the same launch

pad used by NASA nearly 50 years ago to send
men to the moon. With liftoff, the Heavy became
the most powerful rocket in use today, doubling
the liftoff punch of its closest competitor.

For SpaceX, the private rocket company run

by Elon Musk, it was a mostly triumphant
test of a new, larger rocket designed to hoist
supersize satellites as well as equipment to the
moon, Mars or other far-flung points. For the
test flight, a red sports car made by another of
Musk’s companies, Tesla, was the unusual cargo,
enclosed in protective covering for the launch.

40
41
The three boosters and 27 engines roared to
life at Kennedy Space Center, as thousands
watched from surrounding beaches, bridges
and roads, jamming the highways in scenes
unmatched since NASA’s last space shuttle
flight. At SpaceX Mission Control in Southern
California, employees screamed, whistled and
raised pumped fists into the air as the launch
commentators called off each milestone.
Millions more watched online, making it the
second biggest livestream in YouTube history.

Viewers were left with video images beamed

from space of Musk’s red Roadster circling the
blue planet after the protective covering had
dropped away and exposed the car. A space-
suited mannequin was at the wheel, named
“Starman” after the David Bowie song.

“It’s kind of silly and fun, but I think that silly and
fun things are important,” said the SpaceX chief
who also runs Tesla and is keen to colonize Mars.
“The imagery of it is something that’s going to
get people excited around the world.”

Two of the boosters— both recycled from

previous launches — returned minutes after
liftoff for on-the-mark touchdowns at Cape
Canaveral. Sonic booms rumbled across the
region with the vertical landings.

Musk later revealed the third booster, brand

new, slammed into the Atlantic at 300 mph
and missed the floating landing platform,
scattering shrapnel all over the deck and
knocking out two engines.

He was unfazed by the lost booster and said

watching the other two land upright probably
was the most exciting thing he’s ever seen.

42
Image: Trevor Mahlmann

43
Before liftoff, “I had this image of just a giant
explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the
road, the Tesla logo landing somewhere,” he said.
“But fortunately, that’s not what happened.”

Musk’s rocketing Roadster is shooting for a solar

orbit that will reach all the way to Mars.

Ballast for a rocket debut is usually concrete

— “so boring,” Musk said in a post-launch
news conference.

The Roadster was anything but. Cameras mounted

on the car fed stunning video of “Starman” tooling
around Earth, looking something like a NASCAR
racer out for a Sunday drive, with its right hand on
the wheel and the left arm resting on the car’s door.

A sign on the dashboard read: “Don’t panic!”

Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” played in the background at
one point. A Hot Wheels roadster was also on the
dash with a tiny spaceman on board.

The Falcon Heavy is a combination of three Falcon

9s, the rocket that the company uses to ship
supplies to the International Space Station and lift
satellites. SpaceX is reusing first-stage boosters to
save on launch costs. Most other rocket makers
discard their spent boosters in the ocean.

Unlike most rockets out there, the Falcon Heavy

receives no government funding. The hulking
rocket is intended for massive satellites, like those
used by the U.S. military and communication
companies. Even before the successful test flight,
customers were signed up.

“It was awesome like a science fiction movie

coming to reality,” said former NASA deputy
administrator Dava Newman, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s Apollo professor of
astronautics. “They nailed it. Good for them.”

44
45
46
47
Given the high stakes and high drama,
Tuesday’s launch attracted huge crowds not
seen since NASA’s final space shuttle flight
seven years ago. While the shuttles had more
liftoff muscle than the Heavy, the all-time
leaders in both size and might were NASA’s
Saturn V rockets, which first flew astronauts to
the moon in 1968.

On the eve of the flight, Musk said the

company had done all it could to maximize
success. Musk has plenty of experience with
rocket accidents, from his original Falcon 1
test flights to his follow-up Falcon 9s, one of
which exploded on a nearby pad during a 2016
ignition test.

“I’ve seen rockets blow up so many different

ways, so, yeah, it’s a great relief when it actually
works,” Musk said after liftoff.

Not counting Apollo moon buggies, the

Roadster is the first automobile to speed right
off the planet.

The car faces considerable speed bumps before

settling into its intended orbit around the sun,
an oval circle stretching from the orbit of Earth
on one end to the orbit of Mars on the other. It
has to endure a cosmic bombardment during
several hours of cruising through the highly
charged Van Allen radiation belts encircling
Earth. Finally, a thruster has to fire to put the car
on the right orbital course. The car battery was
expected to last for about 12 hours after liftoff.

If it weathers all this, the Roadster will reach the

vicinity of Mars in six months, Musk said. The
car could be traveling between Earth and Mars’
neighborhoods for a billion years, according to
the high-tech billionaire.

48
Falcon Heavy Animation

49
 SpaceX’s big new rocket has blasted off on its
first test flight, carrying a red sports car on an
endless road trip past Mars.

50
“Maybe discovered by some future alien race,
thinking what were you guys doing? Did they
worship this car? Why did they have a little car?
That will really confuse them,” Musk said.

Musk acknowledged the Roadster could

come “quite close” to Mars during its epic
cruise, with only a remote chance of crashing
into the red planet.

Also on board in a protected storage unit is Isaac

Asimov’s science fiction series, “Foundation.” A
plaque contains the names of the more than
6,000 SpaceX employees.

The Heavy already is rattling the launch market.

Its sticker price is $90 million, less than one-
tenth the estimated cost of NASA’s Space
Launch System megarocket in development for
moon and Mars expeditions.

SpaceX has decided against flying passengers

on the Heavy, Musk said, and instead will
accelerate development of an even bigger
rocket to accommodate deep-space crews. His
ultimate goal is to establish a city on Mars.

“If people think we’re in a race with the Chinese,

this is our secret weapon: the entrepreneurship
of people like Elon and others like Jeff Bezos,”
said Stanford University’s G. Scott Hubbard,
NASA’s first Mars czar.

Amazon’s Bezos heads Blue Origin, which is

developing a big, reusable orbital-class rocket
and already is making suborbital flights in Texas.

“Woohoo!” Bezos said in a congratulatory tweet.

THE ROCKET
The Falcon Heavy has three first-stage boosters,
strapped together with 27 engines in all.

51
Stretching 40 feet (12 meters) at the base and
standing 230 feet (70 meters) tall, the Heavy
is a triple dose of the Falcon 9, the company’s
frequent flyer with just a single booster. At
liftoff, the Heavy packs about 5 million pounds
of thrust. That’s more liftoff punch than any
other rocket currently operating in the world
— by a factor of two — but less than NASA’s
old space shuttles and Saturn V moon rockets.
Two of the boosters— recycled from previous
Falcon 9 launches — returned minutes later
for simultaneous, side-by-side touchdowns at
Cape Canaveral. There was no immediate word
on whether the third booster made it onto the
ocean platform.

THE CARGO
SpaceX’s Elon Musk also runs the electric
carmaker Tesla. So in a bit of cross-marketing,
he put his own cherry-red Tesla Roadster on
the Heavy’s inaugural flight with a space-
suited dummy at the wheel. No car has ever
rocketed into space before, if you don’t count
NASA’s Apollo-era moon buggies, still parked
on the lunar surface. The Federal Aviation
Administration had to sign off on the Heavy-
Tesla combo. Usually, there are steel or concrete
slabs or mundane experiments on test flights.
The convertible was at the top of the rocket,
enclosed for liftoff. The protective cover dropped
away, allowing the car to travel on its way. Three
cameras were mounted on the Roadster.

THE DESTINATION
SpaceX is targeting a long, oval orbit around the
sun for the Roadster that will take the car as far out
as Mars, and have it making laps for a billion years.

52
Falcon Heavy Test Flight

53
First up, hours of deep-space coasting through
the high-energy Van Allen radiation belts
encircling Earth. If it weathers all this, the
Roadster will reach the vicinity of Mars in six
months. Musk said that the car could come fairly
close to Mars and that there’s an “extremely tiny”
chance it could crash into the planet. Musk is
intent on establishing a city on the red planet,
with hordes of Earthlings and building materials
flying there on a super-extra-mega SpaceX
rocket that is still in development.

THE LAUNCH PAD

The Falcon Heavy lifted off from the same
launch pad used by NASA to send astronauts to
the moon. SpaceX leases Launch Complex 39A
from NASA. Not only did LC-39A, as it’s known,
serve as the departure point for all the Apollo
moonshots from 1968 to 1972, it was the scene
for most of the space shuttle liftoffs. Its location
at Kennedy Space Center keeps people at least
three miles away, a distance determined by
NASA in the 1960s to be safe just in case the
Saturn V exploded on the pad.

THE FUTURE
SpaceX already has customers lined up for the
Falcon Heavy. The rocket is designed to hoist
supersize satellites as well as equipment to the
moon, Mars or other far-flung points. The private
company’s online flight manifest shows the U.S.
Air Force as already signed up. Other aerospace
companies are developing rockets and NASA
is sinking billions of dollars into a massive new
rocket called the Space Launch System, or SLS,
that’s meant to return astronauts to the moon
and also get them one day to Mars.

54
 SpaceX: www.spacex.com

Live Views of Starman

55
56
 FIREFIGHTERS
LEARN WAYS
TO USE
TECHNOLOGY
TO BATTLE BLAZES

Firefighters who are used to knocking down

doors with heavy equipment and battling
suffocating fire now are learning about new
ways technology can help them more efficiently
battle big blazes.

The Spectrum reports trainees at the Utah Fire

and Rescue Academy Winter Fire School in St.
George spent a lot of time last month operating
touch screens, analyzing data and learning ways
to implement technology.

Firefighters are learning to use three-

dimensional map projections that pop up from
the floor like holograms and show computerized
simulation of how a fire would spread, or how
traffic might impede their access, or how an
unsuspected gas leak might complicate matters.

Wildfires over the past year across the western

U.S. have raised the profile of firefighting
expertise and citizens’ expectations of their
local departments.

Information from: The Spectrum

57
58
59
iWORK OUTRANKS ITS COMPETITION
Apple, Microsoft, and Google all compete to
deliver the best possible document apps to
their users. The question is, do Pages, Numbers,
Keynote, collectively known as iWork, compete
on the same level as Microsoft and Google’s own
versions which users are perhaps more familiar
with and rely on more? Apple has made some
big developments, and some argue that they are
now a step ahead of their competition.

60
61
iWORK APPS ARE YEARS AHEAD OF
MICROSOFT OFFICE
Immediately, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all
appear very user friendly, and have easy to use
navigation. Pages is smooth and glitch-free,
and Apple insists the final documents “look
beautiful and read beautifully.” Pages makes
it very easy to create unique and innovate work
that incorporates custom fonts, text styles, and
graphics. They offer 60 templates to choose
from, which can be personalized and edited
until they are your own unique document.

62
 Pages 101 for Mac - Full Tutorial!

Numbers, used to create spreadsheets,

charts, tables, and images, also allows you to
organize your document in a format that suits
you. You have endless opportunity to formal
tables and charts in ways that suit your data.
Finally, Keynote is a powerful way to design
unique presentations that showcase your
work. Users can choose from over 30 themes,
add charts, edit photos and finalize the whole
presentation with cinematic effects and
engaging transitions or animations.

63
You can even use touch-ID to access password
protected documents, and all three allow
users to save the files in Microsoft formats,
ensuring they can be accessed by Word, Excel
and PowerPoint users. More features are now
supported, “including commenting, formatting
and bubble charts…it’s never been easier
to take a Microsoft Office document from
your Mac or PC and import it into Pages,
Numbers, and Keynote. So you can keep the
workflow flowing.”

Apple’s high level of quality and precision shines

through, and their iWork apps are professional,
elegant and reliable. They are easy to use
and really will boost your productivity. These
powerful apps are years ahead of Microsoft
Office and are transforming the way students
and workers are creating and using documents.
If you haven’t yet made the switch to iWork,
what is stopping you?

64
65
NEW FEATURES FOR iWORK
Apple recently introduced updated versions of
all the iWork apps and introduced a whole host
of new features, including Drag and Drop
support. This radical new feature allows users
to drag and drop text, as well as images, links
and more, between apps. The new update also
allows iWork documents to be accessed from
within the new Files app when users are on an
iPhone or iPad. Multitasking has never been
easier thanks to the new iPad Doc that allows
for spilt view.
66
The performance and stability of all three apps
has been significantly improved. Apple has
also introduced features that make creating
shapes in any of the iWork apps even
easier. The new Unite, Intersect, Subtract and
Exclude commands help users create shapes,
and a number of other commands make
arranging these shapes just as efficient. This
feature, in particular, allows Apple to remain a
step ahead of the competition and offer users
something more.
67
68
GREATER CONNECTIVITY AND
SHARING WITH iWORK
iOS 11 now allows iWork users to easily share
their documents using iCloud. You might
recognize this feature as it is somewhat similar
to Google Docs and Microsoft One Drive,
however, again Apple are a step ahead of their
competition. Using iCloud, users can collaborate
with whole teams and they can create and edit
documents together in real time, even from the
other side of the world. You can view changes on
Pages, Numbers, and Keynote as they are made,
whether you are using a Mac, iPad, iPhone or
web browser. Using iCloud, you can organize
your documents using folders and tags.

69
iCLOUD FOR iWORK VS GOOGLE DOCS
VS MICROSOFT OFFICE ONLINE
There has been much debate over whether
iCloud for iWork, Google Docs or Microsoft Office
Online takes the top spot. All three are designed
to enhance user experience and productivity and
they are easy to use yet give maximum results.
With all three available to users, it has never been
easier to be productive and successful at school,
university or work, but which is considered the
best? With new updates to iCloud for iWork, we
might just have a winner.

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are all available

as part of Google Drive and have been since
2006. These reliable apps are fast, slick and
user-friendly. Loading time is fast, and you
can even create, view and edit files without
an internet connection. The apps work with
Microsoft Office file formats, and they allow
several users to edit the same document at the
same time. Users are able to track every edit
made and seamlessly work together to create
a final product. Like Apple and Microsoft’s
versions, everything is free, and the documents
created and saved on your drive do not count
towards your 15BG storage allowance.

Google Docs and Sheets Tutorial 2017

70
71
Microsoft offers a rival service, which is also
free, and while it didn’t release the system
as early as Google Docs, it created one that
rivals both iWork and Google Docs. Their
online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
have even been considered slightly better
than their rivals’ versions, however, they are
not as responsive and intuitive. The apps are
often slow and can freeze. They offer a range
of useful templates and the transition from
computer to online is seamless. They are a
good choice for anyone already familiar with
Microsoft Office Programs.
72
Finally, iWork, while only introduced in 2013,
perhaps outdoes both its competitors. The
apps are again free, they just required an Apple
ID and web browser. The overall appearance
of the apps is more elegant and they are far
more intuitive to use. They are straightforward
enough that anyone can use them easily,
however, they also allow users to make
advanced documents if they so wish. iCloud is
the obvious choice for anyone already using
a range of Apple devices.
73
MICROSOFT ONEDRIVE APP NOW
SUPPORTS THE FILES APP
On January 30, Microsoft released an update
to its OneDrive app, announcing that it now
supports the Files app in iOS 11. Microsoft
announced a number of updates to their
app, including ensuring they make better use
of screen space. Files are now easier to use,
thumbnails are larger and the app has generally
been redesigned to enhance user experience.
Similarly, to iWork, OneDrive also now supports
drag and drop. The most important update for
Apple users, however, is that OneDrive now
supports the Files app.

74
75
 Image: iMore
76
THE FUTURE FOR iWORK
Overall, iWork is an essential tool for anyone
looking to excel at school, college or work. The
new updates only improve the experience of
these apps further. We can only speculate what
the future will bring for iWork, but we know it
will be innovate, exciting and ultimately unlike
anything we have seen before.

by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

77
APPLE MULLS REFUNDS FOR
BATTERY REPLACEMENT
ON OLD iPHONES

Apple is mulling refunds to customers who

paid full price for battery replacements on
older iPhones.

Apple now offers a $50 discount as part of its

apology for secretly slowing down the devices.
Apple isn’t providing details on a potential
rebate yet. The possibility was mentioned in
Apple’s five-page letter to Sen. John Thune, a
South Dakota Republican who demanded more
details about the iPhone slowdown.

Thune released Apple’s Feb. 2 response on

Tuesday. Thune says Apple will follow up with
additional information at a future date.

Apple has been replacing batteries on older

iPhones for $29 since late December, down from
the usual $79. The offer is good through this
year. A new battery is supposed to prevent older
iPhones from bogging down.

78
79
80
OLYMPIC VIDEO AND VR:
GUIDE TO WATCHING
WITHOUT A TV

Every Olympic event will be streamed live. But

to watch online, you’ll still need to be a paying
cable or satellite subscriber.

As with past Olympics, NBC is requiring proof

of a subscription. If you’ve already given up on
traditional cable or satellite TV, you can sign up
for an online TV service such as PlayStation Vue
or YouTube TV. Otherwise, your video will cut
out after a half-hour grace period.

The subscription requirement also applies to

coverage on virtual-reality headsets.

More than 1,800 hours of online coverage

in the U.S. with preliminary curling matches.
Friday’s opening ceremony will be shown
live online starting at 6 a.m. ET, and on NBC’s
prime-time broadcast on a delayed basis at
8 p.m. NBC also plans live streaming of the
closing ceremony on Feb. 25.

Here’s a guide to watching the Olympics online.

81
TRADITIONAL COVERAGE
NBC’s over-the-air network will cover popular
sports such as figure skating and skiing, some
of it live. For those who can’t get to a TV, NBC
will stream the broadcast at NBCOlympics.com
and the NBC Sports app. But there you’ll need
your paid-TV credentials to sign in — even
though you can watch the network over the
air for free.

The sports network NBCSN will be the main

overflow channel, carrying events such as
biathlon, bobsled and luge. Coverage on CNBC
and USA Network will be limited to curling
and ice hockey. The Olympic Channel will have
medal ceremonies, news and highlights, but
not event coverage. All four of these cable
channels will also be streamed online.

Much of the online coverage will come

from the International Olympic Committee’s
Olympic Broadcasting Services. That means
the spotlight will be on all athletes, not
just Americans. In addition to live events,
you can get streams of some training and
practice runs. NBC also plans digital-only
shows, including a daily two-hour wrap-up
starting at noon ET (2 a.m. the next morning
in Pyeongchang).

Some cable companies plan special features.

NBC owner Comcast will include online
coverage on its TV set-top boxes and TV
coverage on its mobile apps to offer viewers
one-stop access to the Olympics. Comcast
and other cable providers will also offer the
opening ceremony and other events in sharper
“4K” resolution, though with a day’s delay.

82
Image: Rafa Aparicio
83
84
VIRTUAL REALITY
Intel is working with the Olympic Broadcasting
Services to produce virtual-reality coverage of 30
events. Eighteen events, or 55 hours, will be live.

During the Rio Olympics in 2016, VR coverage

typically wasn’t live and required Samsung’s
Gear VR headsets with a Samsung phone.
This time, VR is available on Google Daydream
and Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets as well.
Those without a headset can still watch on web
browsers or Apple and Android mobile devices.
In the U.S., you’ll need the NBC Sports VR app.

VR isn’t meant to replace television. While

Intel’s VR productions of baseball and other
sports had their own announcers, the Olympic
coverage will rely on regular television coverage
embedded in the VR experience. And most of
the VR video will be in 180 degrees — you’ll
see the action in front of you and a little bit to
the sides, but not what’s behind you. Videos in
360 degrees will be limited to non-competition
features such as a demo run down the bobsled.

But VR will offer more leaderboards and

stats than television, along with the ability
to choose camera positions. For downhill
skiing, for instance, you might prefer watching
from a particular location on the mountain,
the way a spectator would, rather than have
the camera shift the skier goes down. For
figure skating, one camera will be near the
judges so you can get their vantage point.
There will be no cameras on the rink or on
any athletes, however.

85
86
IF YOU LACK CABLE OR SATELLITE TV
For the most part, access to an online TV
service — one that streams many of the
channels you’d get from a cable subscription
— will also let you use the NBC apps for
streaming and VR.

Google’s YouTube TV has the lowest price for

all five Olympic TV channels, at $35 a month.
Google says the service is available in more
than 80 U.S. markets, covering more than 80
percent of households, though the NBC
station isn’t available everywhere.

In excluded markets, you could check out

a rival. What works best will depend on
your needs:

— DirecTV Now also has a $35-a-month

offering. But the Olympic Channel is part of a
higher tier, at $60 a month, and DirecTV Now
generally won’t let you record programs for
viewing later (a DVR feature is still being tested
among some subscribers).

— Hulu with Live TV is $40 a month for all five

channels and DVR.

— PlayStation Vue, Sling TV and FuboTV are

all $45 for comparable packages. But you
can bring Sling TV’s bill down to $30 for
just the two main Olympic channels and
DVR. PlayStation is $40 without the
Olympic Channel.

Free trials are available, and you can cancel

after the Olympics. Most services let you
enter your ZIP code to check whether the
NBC station is available. Streaming might be
restricted where the station isn’t available.

87
88
BEYOND VIDEO
The NBC Sports app and the NBCOlympics
website offer highlights, interviews and features
on athletes without needing a subscription.
You’ll also have full access to scores, schedules
and guides to understanding obscure events.

Samsung, an Olympic sponsor, developed the

official Apple and Android app for the games,
called PyeongChang 2018. It has schedules,
news and 3-D and drone views of the venues.

The games’ official website,

pyeongchang2018.com, also has live video
of the Olympic torch relay.

Traditional media organizations will also cover

the event, even though extensive video from
the official venues are restricted to the rights-
holding broadcasters. The Associated Press,
for instance, has a Winter Games hub with
traditional text, photo and video coverage
alongside graphics breaking down complicated
moves in figure skating and snowboarding and
daily illustrations from sketch artist Dan Archer.
The AP will also have 360-degree video and
drone views of the venues.

89
90
 WOMAN AT TOP
OF HER GAME
SEEKS GIRLS WITH
A CYBER-APTITUDE

Dora Schriro, Connecticut’s public safety

commissioner, knows what it’s like to be a
woman in the male-dominated world of criminal
justice, so she jumped at the chance to work
with organizers of a national competition being
held this month to find and attract young
women to the field of cybersecurity.

The program, “Girls Go Cyberstart,” is being

run by the SANS Institute, a security education
organization. The online problem and puzzle-
solving competition is open to high school-age
girls in 18 states and American Samoa.

The game, which starts Feb. 20, has participants

protecting an imaginary headquarters and
moon base by cracking codes, plugging security
gaps and creating software tools. It is designed
to test aptitude in areas such as cryptography
and digital forensics.

91
92
Only about 20 percent men or women have
brains wired in a way that allows them to be
good at this type of work and to enjoy it, said
Alan Paller, the director of research at SANS. The
game, he said, will help the organization find
those people.

Winners get prizes that include a trip to a

cybersecurity conference in Chicago, as well as
computers and tablets.

But more than that, girls who show aptitude

will continue to receive mentorship and
opportunities, including scholarships, to
continue along a career path, Paller said.

SANS decided to do a girls-only event after

holding a similar competition in August. About
3,500 students signed up. Only 7 percent were
female, Paller said.

“There are big barriers to women getting into

this field, and we want to give them an on-ramp
that is their own,” he said

Most girls will spend between 10 and 20 hours

over several days trying to complete the game,
Paller said. Contestants don’t need any previous
computer knowledge.

Schriro heard about the contest through the

National Governor’s Association and decided
to get involved. Her own decision to enter the
field of criminal justice came from a 45-minute
presentation in high school, she said.

“Sometimes all it takes,” she said, “is a

couple minutes.”

In addition to promoting the contest from

her bully pulpit, Schriro also contacted
the Girl Scouts of America and got the
organization involved.

93
94
The Girl Scouts, which offer a badge in
cybersecurity, are forming and sponsoring
teams for the contest.

“It’s really a way for these girls to get a taste

of something, because maybe they don’t
know they like it,” said Mary Barneby, the
chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts
of Connecticut.

The state will get receive names of the girls

who do well in the contest, said Schriro, who
plans to make sure those who are interested are
given resources and opportunities to continue
their education.

“I have been selected by three different

governors in three different states to be the first
woman to take on a variety of criminal justice or
law enforcement responsibilities,” said Schriro,
who previously ran the New York City jail system
and was the first woman to head corrections
departments in Arizona and Missouri. “How
much more exciting it might be to be the 50th
or the 500th to be working in this field when it’s
normalized and expected?”

95
 Image: Eric Risberg
96
 TWITTER TURNS
FIRST PROFIT EVER,
BUT PROBLEMS
REMAIN

Twitter beat Wall Street’s cautious expectations

with its first quarterly profit in history, but that
isn’t going to solve the company’s broader
problems any time soon.

The company isn’t alone in dealing with abuse,

fake accounts and attempts by Russian agents
to spread misinformation. But with its troubles
compounded by a revolving door of executives
and stagnant user growth, Twitter has been
facing questions about just who is minding the
store. Every time Twitter tries to respond to a
problem, it’s either not good enough, or some
other problem emerges.

“They are playing whack-a-mole with these

problems,” said Michael Connor, whose Open
Mic group helps investors push tech companies
to address privacy, abuse and other issues. “They
say they have the problem under control, but
they don’t know what the problem is exactly.”

97
98
User growth has stagnated at Twitter, even
as President Donald Trump’s no-holds barred
tweets have attracted plenty of attention to
it from around the world. Twitter faces stiff
competition for people’s attention from much
bigger and more established rivals like Facebook
along with younger services such as Snapchat
and Instagram.

On Thursday, the company said it had an

average of 330 million monthly active users in
the final three months of last year, unchanged
from the previous quarter and below Wall
Street’s estimate of 333 million.

In some good news for the company, Thursday’s

results were stronger than expected. The
company grew revenue by 2 percent to $732
million, above the $687 million that analysts
polled by FactSet were expecting.

99
Its net income — a first in the company’s nearly
12-year history — was $91 million, or 12 cents
per share. Adjusted earnings were 19 cents,
above analysts’ expectations of 14 cents. The
company’s stock jumped 21 percent in pre-
market trading.

Nonetheless, Twitter has big challenges ahead.

Connor said that while investors don’t want
to micromanage Twitter, they at least want
the company “to show that there is a level of
management and governance on the senior
level in place willing to address these issues.”

Like Google and Facebook, Twitter sent

executives to exhaustive congressional hearings
last fall to talk about how Russia used social
media services to meddle with the presidential
elections. And in a separate hearing, terrorism
expert Clint Watts said Google and Facebook
are ahead of Twitter in weeding out extremist
content. He said that’s because Twitter relies too
much on technology and not enough on threat
intelligence and coordination with outside
experts and officials.

Twitter has also been dealing with white

supremacists and others abusing users on its
service and spreading hateful content. The
company has enacted a slew of new policies
around abuse, but enforcing them will be a
bigger hurdle.

Connor’s group recently helped two large

Twitter and Facebook shareholders file
resolutions asking the companies to take
more responsibility for fake news, abuse and
hate speech. The shareholders also want
more information about how widespread the
problems are and how the companies deal

100
Image: Andrew Burton
101
with them. The companies have not formally
responded, though Twitter has introduced a
slew of new measures to weed out abusive
account and has said that it “cares deeply”
about misinformation and its harmful effect
on civic discourse.

Then there’s the issue of automated accounts

made to look like real people. In the days after a
New York Times report on the “shadowy global
marketplace” of brands and celebrities buying
fake retweets and followers, prominent Twitter
users collectively lost more than a million
followers, suggesting that Twitter either didn’t
know or didn’t act until the expose.

Fake accounts aren’t a new problem for Twitter.

Last June, Twitter said it has been “doubling
down” on its efforts to weed out such accounts
by “expanding our team and resources, and
building new tools and processes.” It estimates
that less than 5 percent of monthly active users
are fake. But the Times referenced a report
saying it could be as high as 15 percent.

One chief problem: more fake accounts keep

popping up, and those behind them are getting
smarter, so Twitter’s countermeasures haven’t
made much of a dent.

Forrester Research analyst Erna Alfred Liousas

said that while rival social networks such as
Facebook deal with fake accounts, too, it may
be “more elevated for Twitter” because there
has been so much focus on its monthly user
numbers. Anything that could jeopardize
advertisers’ ability to see how many people they
will reach, she said, “is going to cause concern.”

Twitter’s problem is exasperated by the fact that

it is much smaller than Facebook and Google.

102
Image: Justin Sullivan
103
 Image: Richard Drew
104
Plus, Twitter is not doing as well financially,
which can cause investors to give it less leeway
on other problems.

Last month, Chief Operating Officer Anthony

Noto announced his resignation from the
company following Thursday’s earnings report.
Noto, who was also finance chief until last
July, has served an influential and important
role at the company and had led its venture
into live video. Twitter hasn’t replaced Noto,
saying only that it would split his duties
between “executives.”

“Now (that) he’s gone, who’s running

the company?” said Wedbush analyst
Michael Pachter.

You might say CEO Jack Dorsey, and you’d be

correct. But Dorsey also serves as the head of
payments company Square, taking advantage of
the companies’ close geographical locations to
split his time between the two.

Thus Twitter, has “less than Jack’s undivided

attention,” Pachter said, adding that
nonetheless he runs the company with a
“benevolent autocracy” that leaves little room
for innovation.

By contrast, Pachter said Facebook CEO Mark

Zuckerberg “is not afraid if they alter his baby, his
invention, to make it better,” even if in the end
Zuckerberg may be the final arbiter.

Twitter declined to comment. But Dorsey

said at a conference late last year that it’s “not
about the amount of time I spend at one thing
but how I spend the time and what we’re
focused on.”

105
 Image: Lev Dolgachov
106
 PARTNERSHIP
BRINGS INTERNET
TO HOMES OF
SCHOOLCHILDREN

A Bedford County-based partnership is working

with two state school divisions to help test
technology that uses television white space
— channels not in use on the broadcasting
spectrum — to deliver internet service in
underserved rural areas.

The SOVA Innovation Center in Forest is rolling

out the technology with the Halifax County and
Charlotte County school divisions in partnership
with Microsoft and a Halifax County nonprofit.

107
The pilot project involves providing free
equipment, installation and access to selected
educational content on the internet; more than
200 homes with school-age children in the two
counties currently have internet access as part of
the project, said Bob Bailey, executive director of
the SOVA Innovation Center.

TV white space originally acted as a buffer

in the days of analog broadcasting to
prevent interference. In 2009, the Federal
Communications Commission moved to a
digital broadcasting format, eliminating the
function for which those white space channels
were designed.

Instead of running underground wires for

internet access, the technology relies on a
multidimensional radio antenna and a router at
home to provide internet over TV white space
from a nearby tower.

“In areas that have low population density, how

can you justify putting in infrastructure?” Bailey
said. “TV white space, for a variety of reasons, is
cost efficient.”

The SOVA Innovation Center is a subsidiary

of Adaptrum, a California-based technology
company, and is funded jointly by Adaptrum
and Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities
Corporation, a nonprofit based in South Boston
that works toward expanding internet access to
promote economic development in southern
Virginia, Bailey said. That partnership was
announced in June 2017.

The center joined with an initiative announced

by Microsoft and Mild-Atlantic Broadband
in May 2017 called the “Southern Virginia
Homework Network,” aimed at delivering free

108
109
110
 broadband internet access at home to students
in Charlotte and Halifax counties. The Tobacco
Region Revitalization Commission awarded the
project a $500,000 grant in June, according to a
commission news release.

About 50 percent of students in Charlotte and

Halifax counties have broadband access at
home, according to a Microsoft news release.
Charlotte County Public Schools had 1,881
students enrolled in the division during the
fall for the 2017-18 school year, while Halifax
County Public Schools had 5,101 students
enrolled during the fall, according to the Virginia
Department of Education.

The Homework Network pilot program reached

about 100 homes by June. As of January, the
pilot program has provided internet access to
educational material to 209 homes in Halifax
and Charlotte counties with school-age children,
Bailey said.

Bailey said the center has heard from about

1,200 households in Halifax and Charlotte
counties with school-age children who
expressed an interest in participating.

Of those who have expressed interest, the

pilot program currently is working with about
500 households in Halifax and Charlotte
counties to identify where the center can
install infrastructure to provide the new
technology to them, Bailey said, adding
another 250 households in the same area
are close to an existing tower but are
experiencing broadcast issues.

The Homework Network program provides an

opportunity for the innovation center to test its
white space router technology and equipment,
Image: Martin Phelps
111
Bailey said. While the technology has long-range
and non-line-of-sight capabilities, the center
still is finding out specifically its limitations and
capabilities. “Long term, when we’ve put that
infrastructure in place, people can buy (internet
access),” Bailey said.

The SOVA Innovation Center is a tenant in

the Center for Energy Research and Education
off U.S. 460, which previously was known as
the Center for Advanced Engineering and
Research and is owned by Liberty University.
Bailey said the innovation center has set up
the new technology at towers surrounding
CERE to help research and development
of the project.

Bailey said the center works with the two

county school systems’ leaders to decide what
educational content to allow the students to
access online.

“Schools are updating the list,” Bailey said. “It’s a

filter we change all the time.”

Nancy Leonard, superintendent for Charlotte

County Public Schools, said the school division
has sent home flyers with students to make
parents and guardians aware of the program.
They plan on sending out more flyers soon.

The school division also has allowed the center

to put towers on school property, Leonard
said. Currently, the center has 15 towers for the
program, Bailey said.

“We’re hoping this pilot program (with) this very

unique piece of equipment can unlock some
capabilities for other rural localities that may
be experiencing difficulty accessing internet
services,” Leonard said.

112
113
114
 FOXCONN
PUTTING US
HEADQUARTERS
IN MILWAUKEE

Foxconn Technology Group says it will establish

a U.S. headquarters in Milwaukee as part of a
massive investment it is making in an electronics
manufacturing plant in southeast Wisconsin.

The Taiwan-based company said this week it

will purchase an existing seven-story office
building downtown that now has a capacity of
650 people. The building will be called Foxconn
Place. It will house business incubators and start-
up initiatives in addition to Foxconn staff.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker says Foxconn’s

decision to put its headquarters in Milwaukee is
a sign of the company’s “ever-growing footprint”
in the state.

The electronics giant is building a manufacturing

plant in Racine County to make liquid crystal
display panels for commercial and consumer
uses, including televisions. The plant is expected
to be a $10 billion, 13,000-employee complex.

115
 Image: Bloomberg
116
 KALE TO GO:
AMAZON TO ROLL
OUT DELIVERY AT
WHOLE FOODS

Amazon is bringing its speedy delivery to

Whole Foods.

The online retail giant plans to roll out two-

hour delivery at the organic grocer this year to
those who pay for Amazon’s $99-a-year Prime
membership. It is the company’s biggest — and
most expected — move since it bought the
organic grocer last year.

Right after taking over Whole Foods, Amazon

made a splash by cutting prices on bananas,
yogurt and other items. It also began selling
Kindle e-readers in some of its 470 stores, and
started selling Whole Foods-branded food
on its site.

But rivals have been preparing for the day

Amazon — with the Prime program that’s been
very successful in cementing customer loyalty —
would expand grocery delivery at Whole Foods.

Walmart, the country’s largest grocer, is making

it easier for customers to order groceries online
and pick them up at the store. Target bought
grocery-delivery company Shipt late last year.

117
 Image: Rogelio V. Solis
118
Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain,
has been promoting store pickup for online
orders and doing trials of home delivery.

One of the biggest hurdles for the growth of

grocery delivery is that many people want to
pick out their own eggs or fruit, said Darren
Seifer, a food and beverage industry analyst at
NPD Group.

“There are always going to be people who want

their bananas a little green,” he said.

Amazon.com Inc. said deliveries started

Thursday in Austin, Texas; Cincinnati; Dallas; and
Virginia Beach, Virginia. The service will expand
nationwide this year. The company declined
where it would grow, but its Prime Now service
is in more than 30 cities, including Chicago,
Milwaukee and San Diego.

Shoppers will be able to order meat, seafood and

other grocery items through Amazon’s Prime
Now app and website. Items will be pulled from
Whole Foods stores, bagged and then delivered
by Amazon drivers. Amazon, based in Seattle, said
there’s no extra fee for two-hour deliveries above
$35, but one-hour delivery will cost $8.

The announcement gives Amazon yet another

way to get groceries to customer’s doorsteps.

It already does so through AmazonFresh, but

that requires a $15-a-month fee. And Prime Now
delivers groceries from its facilities, but it has
also offered grocery delivery from other physical
stores, including Whole Foods rival Sprouts
Farmers Market.

Whole Foods also already offers delivery in some

cities through a partnership with delivery service
Instacart, which will continue.

119
120
 RAIL INDUSTRY
SAYS KEY SAFETY
TECHNOLOGY
NOT DUE
UNTIL 2020

The railroad industry is playing down

expectations that a safety technology that could
have prevented recent deadly train crashes will
be in operation across the United States by the
end of the year.

Indeed, freight and commuter rail officials speak

as if there never was any plan to complete their
work on the technology known as positive train
control, or PTC, by Dec. 31.

121
Congress required in 2008 that railroads adopt
PTC and gave them seven years to do the job.
When it became clear that wasn’t enough,
Congress gave them another three years. The
discussion then was that a few railroads might
need even more than three extra years, and
provisions were added to the legislation to allow
railroads that showed substantial progress, but
couldn’t meet the new deadline, the ability to
obtain extensions of up to two additional years.

Officials for the trade associations representing

the seven major freight railroads in the U.S. and
the nation’s commuter railroads now say they
view Dec. 31 as the date by which railroads must
meet several PTC milestones to qualify for an
extension, rather than the ultimate deadline.

The Transportation Department has little choice

but to grant the extensions as long as railroads
meet the milestones, said Kathryn Kirmayer,
the Association of American Railroads’ general
counsel. One milestone is that freight railroads
have PTC in operation on half their route miles
where it’s required.

“By the end of 2020 is the absolute deadline

everybody has to have it installed and
implemented, which means operating
everywhere they are required to have it
operating,” she said.

Members of Congress expressed frustration with

railroads backing off this year’s deadline.

Congress never intended the extensions be used

“to allow railroads that have dragged their feet
to just blow off the mandate,” said Rep. Peter
DeFazio of Oregon, the House transportation
committee’s senior Democrat. Sen. Bill Nelson
of Florida, the Senate commerce committee’s

122
Image: Randall Hill
123
 Full Remarks: NTSB Sunday briefing on Amtrak
collision in Cayce, South Carolina

124
 The chairman of the National Transportation Safety
Board says an Amtrak train that crashed in South
Carolina on Sunday killing two people veered into a
parked freight train after the tracks were ‘padlocked’
in the wrong direction.

Authorities investigate the scene of a fatal Amtrak

train crash in Cayce, South Carolina.
Image: Randall Hill
125
senior Democrat, said, “Every railroad should
be taking the recent deadly train accidents
seriously and doing everything they can to meet
the 2018 deadline.”

Reports filed with the Federal Railroad

Administration show some railroads have nearly
completed their work, while others have made
little progress.

Randy Clarke, the American Public

Transportation Association’s vice president for
operations, said three or four of the nation’s
27 commuter railroads have already received
extensions past Dec. 31 and more extensions
are expected.

“We are actively working as an industry to

get everyone to the milestones necessary for
extension or to completion,” he said. “We know
not every agency is in the same place and some
have more complications than others.”

The National Transportation Safety Board has

said the technology could have prevented a
collision between an Amtrak train and an out-of-
service CSX freight train on Sunday near Cayce,
South Carolina, and the derailment of an Amtrak
train in December near Olympia, Washington.
Five people were killed and dozens more injured
in the two crashes.

Amtrak has said it will complete its work on PTC

by Dec. 31, but its trains often operate on tracks
owned by other railroads.

Sarah Feinberg, who led the railroad

administration under President Barack Obama,
drew a distinction between large freight
railroads and smaller commuter railroads that
often struggle for funds.

126
Image: Jeff Blake
127
128
“The freight industry should be embarrassed
by the way they’ve approached the PTC
mandate and deadline, and the Congress
should be embarrassed for letting them get
away with it,” she said.

But industry officials said the obstacles to

developing PTC systems are underappreciated.
It took many years just for the railroad
administration to develop standards and then
to approve systems that meet those standards,
Clarke said.

Despite some federal aid, commuter railroads

have had a hard time scraping up the money
for the technology.

“We’re public transit agencies. It’s not like

we have a surplus of money lying around,”
he said.

Mike Rush, vice president of freight rail group,

estimated that freight railroads will ultimately
spend $10 billion implementing PTC, and
commuter railroads about $3 billion.

Other challenges have included acquiring

wireless spectrum, taking locomotives out
of service to install hardware and software,
installing communications towers along
tracks, and competing with other railroads
for the services of the handful of specialized
contractors able to install the systems,
Clarke said.

“You don’t have a lot of available (contractors),

and everyone is trying to hit the deadline
at the same time,” he said. “We don’t have a
surplus of money and the technical challenges
are immense, especially on the larger, more
complicated railroads.”

129
 Image: Sam McNeil

130
 MARS ON EARTH:
SIMULATION TESTS
IN REMOTE DESERT
OF OMAN

Two scientists in spacesuits, stark white against

the auburn terrain of desolate plains and dunes,
test a geo-radar built to map Mars by dragging
the flat box across the rocky sand.

When the geo-radar stops working, the two

walk back to their all-terrain vehicles and radio
colleagues at their nearby base camp for guidance.
They can’t turn to their mission command, far off in
the Alps, because communications from there are
delayed 10 minutes.

But this isn’t the Red Planet — it’s the

Arabian Peninsula.

The desolate desert in southern Oman, near the

borders of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, resembles
Mars so much that more than 200 scientists
from 25 nations chose it as their location for the
next four weeks, to field-test technology for a
manned mission to Mars.

Public and private ventures are racing toward

Mars — both former President Barack Obama

131
and SpaceX founder Elon Musk declared humans
would walk on the Red Planet in a few decades.

New challengers like China are joining the

United States and Russia in space with an
ambitious, if vague, Mars program. Aerospace
corporations like BlueOrigin have published
schematics of future bases, ships and suits.

The successful launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy

rocket this week “puts us in a completely
different realm of what we can put into deep
space, what we can send to Mars,” said analog
astronaut Kartik Kumar.

The next step to Mars, he says, is to tackle non-

engineering problems like medical emergency
responses and isolation.

“These are things I think can’t be

underestimated.” Kumar said.

While cosmonauts and astronauts are learning

valuable spacefaring skills on the International
Space Station — and the U.S. is using virtual
reality to train scientists — the majority of work
to prepare for interplanetary expeditions is
being done on Earth.

And where best to field-test equipment and

people for the journey to Mars but on some of
the planet’s most forbidding spots?

Seen from space, the Dhofar Desert is a flat,

brown expanse. Few animals or plants survive
in the desert expanses of the Arabian Peninsula,
where temperatures can top 125 degrees
Fahrenheit, or 51 degrees Celsius.

On the eastern edge of a seemingly endless

dune is the Oman Mars Base: a giant 2.4-
ton inflated habitat surrounded by shipping
containers turned into labs and crew quarters.

132
Image: Sam McNeil
133
There are no airlocks.

The desert’s surface resembles Mars so much,

it’s hard to tell the difference, Kumar said, his
spacesuit caked in dust. “But it goes deeper
than that: the types of geomorphology, all the
structures, the salt domes, the riverbeds, the
wadis, it parallels a lot of what we see on Mars.”

The Omani government offered to host the

Austrian Space Forum’s next Mars simulation
during a meeting of the United Nation’s
Committee On the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Gernot Groemer, commander of the Oman Mars

simulation and a veteran of 11 science missions
on Earth, said the forum quickly accepted.

Scientists from across the world sent ideas

for experiments and the mission, named
AMADEE-18, quickly grew to 16 scientific

Image: Sam McNeil

134
experiments, such as testing a “tumbleweed”
whip-fast robot rover and a new space suit
called Aouda.

The cutting-edge spacesuit, weighing about

50 kilograms, is called a “personal spaceship”
because one can breathe, eat and do hard
science inside it. The suit’s visor displays maps,
communications and sensor data. A blue piece
of foam in front of the chin can be used to wipe
your nose and mouth.

“No matter who is going to this grandest voyage

of our society yet to come, I think a few things
we learn here will be actually implemented in
those missions,” Groemer said.

The Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of Sputnik

ignited a space race between Moscow and
Washington to land a crew on the Moon.

135
But before the U.S. got there first, astronauts like
Neil Armstrong trained suspended on pulleys to
simulate one-sixth of Earth’s gravity.

Hostile environments from Arizona to Siberia

were used to fine-tune capsules, landers, rovers
and suits — simulating otherworldly dangers
to be found beyond Earth. Space agencies
call them “analogues” because they resemble
extraterrestrial extremes of cold and remoteness.

“You can test systems on those locations and see

where the breaking points are, and you can see
where things start to fail and which design option
you need to take in order to assure that it does not
fail on Mars,” said João Lousada, one of the Oman
simulation’s deputy field commanders who is a
flight controller for the International Space Station.

Faux space stations have been built underwater

off the coast of Florida, on frigid dark deserts
of Antarctica, and in volcanic craters in Hawaii,
according to “Packing For Mars,” a favorite
book among many Mars scientists, written
by Mary Roach.

“Terrestrial analogs are a tool in the toolkit of

space exploration, but they are not a panacea,”
said Scott Hubbard, known as “Mars Czar”
back when he lead the U.S. space agency’s
Mars program. Some simulations have helped
developed cameras, rovers, suits and closed-
loop life-support systems, he said.

NASA used the Mojave Desert to test rovers

destined for the Red Planet but they also
discovered much about how humans can adapt.

“Human’s adaptability in an unstructured

environment is still far, far better than any robot
we can send to space,” Hubbard said, adding

136
Image: Sam McNeil
137
 Image: Xxxxx
138
that people, not just robots, are the key to
exploring Mars.
The European Space Agency’s list of “planetary
analogues” includes projects in Chile, Peru,
South Africa, Namibia, Morocco, Italy, Spain,
Canada, Antarctica, Russia, China, Australia,
India, Germany, Norway, Iceland, and nine U.S.
states. Next Thursday, Israeli scientists are to
run a shorter simulation in a nature preserve
called D Mars.
However, there remain so many unknowns that
simulations “are not in any way a replacement
for being there,” Hubbard said.
The Oman team’s optimism is unflinching.
“The first person to walk on Mars has in
fact already been born, and might be
going to elementary school now in Oman,
or back in Europe, in the U.S. or China,”
Lousada said.
139
 Trailer

Movies
&
140
TV Shows
 Wonder

Based on the New York Times bestseller,

Wonder follows the story of an inspirational
boy born with facial differences who is
entering mainstream elementary school
for the first time. When he enters the fifth
grade, Auggie becomes the most unlikely
of heroes.

FIVE FACTS:
1. Jacob Tremblay, the actor who plays
Auggie, went with his family to the
Children’s Craniofacial Association retreat
to meet children with Treacher Collins
syndrome, the syndrome Auggie has.
2. Jacob Tremblay’s sister and father also
by Stephen Chbosky
Genre: Drama feature in the movie.
Released: 2017
Price: $19.99 3. The author of the novel also wrote The
Perks of Being a Wallflower, the film of which
was also directed by Stephen Chbosky.
247 Ratings
4. Jacob Tremblay also starred in Room,
which is also narrated from the perspective
of the child he is playing.
5. The film was originally going to be
directed by Paul King, before he dropped
out to work on Paddington 2.

Rotten Tomatoes

85 %
141
142
Why Are We Whispering?

143
Dunkirk

This is far from a romantic war film but

portrays the events of Dunkirk as hundreds
of thousands of British and Allied troops
were surrounded by enemy forces. This
undeniably tense film draws on the harsh
realities of war and provides no context or
background at all. It is an utterly immersive
experience that is a celebration of heroism
in the face of utter terror.

FIVE FACTS:
1. Around 30 Dunkirk survivors attended
the premiere in London. They agreed that it
accurately captured the event.
2. 12 of the original civilian ships that took
by Christopher Nolan
part in the Dunkirk evacuation featured in Genre: Action & Adventure
the film. Released: 2017
Price: $19.99
3. The film was shot on the actual beach at
Dunkirk where the evacuation took place
and 1000 extras were used. 573 Ratings

4. Director Christopher Nolan made the

crossing to Dunkirk on a boat with his wife,
the way the civilians would have, and it took
19 hours due to adverse conditions.
5. Nolan also rode in the Spitfire shown in
the movie to allow him to accurately portray
the experience of the dogfights in the film.

Rotten Tomatoes

92 %
144
Trailer

145
 Breath :15

146
147
 “Man of the Woods”

148
Music
 Man of the Woods
Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake’s latest album is a return

to his roots and is not, as many thought the
title suggested, a country album. This album
does not reply on one genre in particular, and
in some tracks returns to the soul and funk
style pop that he started his career creating.
Timberlake challenges himself and redefines
his music through this new album.

Genre: Pop FIVE FACTS:

Released: Feb 2, 2018
16 Songs 1. Justin Timberlake performed Filthy from
Price: $12.99 his new Man of the Woods album at Super
Bowl 2018 Halftime Show.
2.9k Ratings 2. The intimate video he released to
announce the album, demonstrated just
how personal this new album would be.
3. The album artwork is very different from
his previous releases and surprised many.
4. The title of the album, Man of the Woods,
is the meaning behind his son’s name, Silas.
5. This is the first time Timberland has
released a track with Pharrell Williams since
his 2002 debut solo album, Justified.

149
150
“Say Something”

151
Here come the Runts
AWOLNATION

This album echoes all the artists Aaron

Bruno grew up idolizing, Bruce Springsteen,
The Cars, Dire Straits and more. In the past,
the band has blended genres and styles to
create entirely unique albums like nothing
we’ve heard before and their latest does
not disappoint. The album evokes nostalgic
memories of a better time.

FIVE FACTS: Genre: Alternative

Released: Feb 2, 2018
1. Singer Aaron Bruno had been 14 Songs
with a number of other bands before Price: $9.99
forming AWOLNATION.
2. The album was recorded at Bruno’s home 118 Ratings
studio near Los Angeles.
3. The band’s headline tour starts on
February 11 in Toronto, with support from
Nothing But Thieves.
4. AWOLNATION were so pleased with
their success in 2011, that they gave their
Christmas EP to fans for free.
5. Although known for being a hard rock
band, Aaron Bruno still listens to other genres
including country, pop and even hip-hop.

152
“Here Come The Runts”

153
154
“Handyman”

155
156
 ‘JUMANJI’ REBOOT
REIGNS AGAIN AT
THE BOX OFFICE

On a typically sluggish Super Bowl weekend,

Sony Pictures’“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”
topped the North American box office for the
fourth time in seven weeks.

The runaway hit, a reboot starring Dwayne

Johnson and Kevin Hart, sold $10.9 million
in tickets in its seventh weekend of release,
according to final figures Monday.

Sliding to second was last week’s No. 1 film,

“Maze Runner: The Death Cure.” The third
installment in the young adult sci-fi trilogy
earned $10.5 million in its second week. The
film’s modest domestic performance has been
partly alleviated by stronger sales abroad, where
it has grossed $142.9 million.

The lone new wide release to compete with

the Super Bowl was the Lionsgate-CBS Films
supernatural thriller “Winchester,” starring Helen
Mirren. It debuted in third, with $9.3 million.

157
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters
Friday through Monday, followed by distribution
studio, gross, number of theater locations,
average receipts per location, total gross and
number of weeks in release, as compiled
Monday by comScore:

1. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” Sony,

$10,930,222, 3,352 locations,
$3,261 average, $352,572,974, 7 weeks.

2. “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” 20th

Century Fox, $10,474,895,
3,793 locations, $2,762 average,
$40,035,094, 2 weeks.

3. “Winchester,” Lionsgate, $9,307,626,

2,480 locations, $3,753 average,
$9,307,626, 1 week.

4. “The Greatest Showman,” 20th Century

Fox, $7,695,644, 2,588 locations,
$2,974 average, $137,370,816, 7 weeks.

5. “The Post,” 20th Century Fox,

$5,218,122, 2,462 locations,
$2,119 average, $67,202,632, 7 weeks.

158
159
160
6. “Hostiles,” Entertainment Studios Motion
Pictures, $5,108,228, 2,934 locations,
$1,741 average, $20,822,641, 7 weeks.

7. “12 Strong,” Warner Bros., $4,706,481,

2,918 locations, $1,613 average,
$37,300,034, 3 weeks.

8. “Den of Thieves,” STX Entertainment,

$4,551,163, 2,112 locations,
$2,155 average, $36,152,095, 3 weeks.

9. “The Shape of Water,” Fox Searchlight,

$4,448,520, 2,341 locations,
$1,900 average, $44,728,570, 10 weeks.

10. “Paddington 2,” Warner Bros.,

$3,277,453, 2,388 locations,
$1,372 average, $36,481,132, 4 weeks.

161
162
11. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing
Missouri,” Fox Searchlight,
$3,013,022, 1,726 locations, $1,746 average,
$41,777,073, 13 weeks.

12. “I, Tonya,” Neon Rated, $2,469,724,

1,450 locations, $1,703 average,
$22,553,612, 9 weeks.

13. “Padmaavat,” Viva Entertainment,

$2,438,930, 345 locations,
$7,069 average, $8,900,499, 2 weeks.

14. “Darkest Hour,” Focus Features,

$2,362,975, 1,486 locations,
$1,590 average, $48,786,132, 11 weeks.

15. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Disney,

$2,338,242, 1,467 locations,
$1,594 average, $614,455,022, 8 weeks.

163
16. “Forever My Girl,” Roadside
Attractions, $2,290,138,
1,427 locations, $1,605 average,
$12,551,792, 3 weeks.

17. “Phantom Thread,” Focus Features,

$2,129,155, 1,186 locations,
$1,795 average, $14,163,264, 6 weeks.

18. “Coco,” Disney, $1,729,708,

1,636 locations, $1,057 average,
$204,789,437, 11 weeks.

19. “The Commuter,” Lionsgate,

$1,666,757, 1,494 locations,
$1,116 average, $34,266,504, 4 weeks.

20. “Insidious: The Last Key,” Universal,

$1,462,810, 1,253 locations,
$1,167 average, $65,753,770, 5 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.

164
165
 WITH NEW TRAILER,
‘SOLO’ HOPES
TO OUTRUN
PRODUCTION
TROUBLES

The first trailer of “Solo: A Star Wars Story”

has finally arrived, offering the first glimpse
of the much-anticipated spinoff plagued by
production troubles.

After a 45-second ad for the latest “Star Wars”

film played during Sunday’s Super Bowl, a
90-second teaser trailer premiered Monday
on “Good Morning America.” The footage
showcased a gritty prequel featuring the snazzy
interior of a then-new Millennium Falcon, the
familiar growl of Chewbacca and a plethora of
handsome fur coats.

Though punctuated by the brashness of Alden

Ehrenreich’s young Han Solo, the vibe of the trailer
is a little chiller than was once forecast for “Solo.”

166
167
 Solo: A Star Wars Story Official Teaser

168
The initial directors, Phil Lord and Christopher
Miller (“The Lego Movie,”“21 Jump Street”)
are known for their irreverent sense of humor,
something that first excited many “Star Wars”
fans when the pair was enlisted for the stand-
alone installment.

But Lord and Miller were removed from the film

six months into production over what Lucasfilm
said were “different creative visions” on the film.
Ron Howard was brought in as a replacement in
July, and shooting concluded in October.

The trailer for the film, to be released May 25,

seemed intent on assuring fans that “Solo”
will be a more typically somber chapter in the
science-fiction franchise. Young Solo is shown as
an ambitious flyboy who drops out of the fight
academy and enlists with a rogue band led by
Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett.

“I’ve been running scams on the street since I

was 10,” Solo says in voice-over. “I was kicked out
of the fly academy for having a mind of my own.
I’m going to be a pilot — best in the galaxy.”

Concerns have also been focused on

Ehrenreich, who has the unenviably position
of following in Harrison Ford’s footsteps in
one of the most iconic roles in movies. Before
booking the role, Ehrenreich starred in Joel
and Ethan Coen’s “Hail, Caesar!” and Warren
Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply,” but The Hollywood
Reporter earlier reported that an acting coach
was brought in late in the production to aid the
actor’s performance.

Instead of focusing solely on Solo, Monday’s

trailer promoted the film’s larger ensemble,
including Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian,
Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton.

169
170
 WILL DISNEY’S
STREAMING
SERVICE ROAR -
OR SQUEAK?

Will Disney’s upcoming streaming services be

the mouse that roared ... or squeaked?

Disney already owns enviable entertainment

properties including Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.
Now, it’s looking to add Fox’s TV and movie
studios as it prepares to launch two streaming
services, one for sports and another focused
on entertainment.

In announcing first-quarter earnings this week,

CEO Bob Iger said he was “excited about what
lies ahead” including the sports streaming
service and the pending deal for Fox. Adjusted
income of $1.89 per share beat analyst
expectations, as did revenue of $15.35 billion, a
4 percent increase.

171
But the same financial report hints at trouble with
the lucrative ESPN cable channel. Revenue in the
cable networks business fell 1 percent to $4.5
billion, hurt by an ESPN revenue decline. The ESPN
decline resulted from lower ad revenue, though
that was partly offset by growth in fees from cable
distributors and lower programing costs.

Disney announced a $5-a-month price for the

ESPN Plus streaming service, which is coming
this spring.

The services represent Disney’s big bet on

what the next generation of entertainment will
look like: more streaming and more choices. A
streaming business is critical for Disney because
the ESPN channel has been losing subscribers
as more people ditch cable and satellite TV
services and stream video on Netflix, Amazon
and Hulu instead.

While Disney is trying to brace for the future

with the streaming services, questions remain
about they will offer enough to take on well-
established services such as Netflix.

Rich Greenfield of BTIG Research said the ESPN

streaming service seems more like a niche
offering because it won’t have any content from
the ESPN channel.

And while the entertainment service could be

a hit, with classic and upcoming movies from
the studio, shows from Disney Channel, and the
“Star Wars,” Marvel and Pixar movies, that service
isn’t launching until late 2019.

“Our fear is that they’re just not all in on

streaming,” Greenfield said. “If they want to be
successful, they have to bring all their content
to streaming.”

172
173
Instead, he said, Disney is dipping its toes in
streaming while trying to preserve its traditional
business models.

To boost revenue from theatrical screenings,

studios such as Disney typically wait months to
sell or rent movies on DVDs and a year to make
them available through subscription services
such as HBO. But such a timeline is quickly
becoming a relic of the past. People now expect
things immediately, like being to watch a Disney
movie on an Xbox right after it is released in
the theater.

“That’s very hard to balance and be successful,”

Greenfield said.

The Fox content could help in giving viewers

more reason to subscribe to yet another
streaming service. Disney has offered $52.4
billion to buy the bulk of 21st Century Fox in
a deal expected to close in the next 12 to 18
months. When that happens, Disney will own
the Fox movie and television studios, cable TV
networks such as FX and National Geographic
and 22 regional sports networks. But many
of movies and shows from those businesses
are already licensed out in the short term; for
example, HBO gets Fox movies until 2022.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Steven Cahall is

more positive about how the deal with Fox
might help Disney’s streaming offerings.
Notably, Disney gets Fox’s share in Hulu, giving
it a controlling stake. Cahall said the Fox video
will help both Hulu and the upcoming Disney-
branded streaming service.

“Disney is likely to be a global player in

streaming in the coming years given the breadth
and depth of its content,” he said.

174
Image: Bloomberg
175
 Image: Domenico Stinellis
176
 JIM CARREY SAYS USERS
SHOULD YANK THEIR
FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS

Delete your account.

That’s what Jim Carrey says Facebook users

should do, as the actor looks to pull the mask off
fake news.

The star of “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and

“The Mask” said on Twitter this week that he’s
dumping his Facebook stock and deleting his
page because the social media giant profited
from Russian interference in the U.S. presidential
election via spreading false news with Russian
origins, and says the company is still not doing
enough to stop it.

The 56-year-old Carrey encouraged other

investors and users to do the same. He ended his
tweet with the hashtag “unfriendfacebook.”

Facebook has not responded to Carrey’s tweet,

but founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said
stemming the flow of misinformation is among
the company’s foremost goals.

177
178
 ‘FANCY BEAR’
HACKERS
TOOK AIM AT
US DEFENSE
CONTRACTORS

Russian cyberspies pursuing the secrets of

military drones and other sensitive U.S. defense
technology tricked key contract workers into
exposing their email to theft, an Associated
Press investigation has found.

What ultimately may have been stolen is

uncertain, but the hackers clearly exploited
a national vulnerability in cybersecurity:
poorly protected email and barely any direct
notification to victims.

The hackers known as Fancy Bear, who also

intruded in the U.S. election, went after
at least 87 people working on militarized
drones, missiles, rockets, stealth fighter jets,
cloud-computing platforms or other sensitive
activities, the AP found.

Employees at both small companies and

defense giants like Lockheed Martin Corp.,
Raytheon Co., Boeing Co., Airbus Group and
General Atomics were targeted by the hackers.
A handful of people in Fancy Bear’s sights also
worked for trade groups, contractors in U.S.-
allied countries or on corporate boards.

179
“The programs that they appear to target and
the people who work on those programs are
some of the most forward-leaning, advanced
technologies,” said Charles Sowell, a former
senior adviser to the U.S. Office of the
Director of National Intelligence, who
reviewed the list of names for the AP. “And
if those programs are compromised in any
way, then our competitive advantage and our
defense is compromised.”

“That’s what’s really scary,” added Sowell,

who was one of the hacking targets.

The AP identified the defense and security

targets from about 19,000 lines of email
phishing data created by hackers and collected
by the U.S.-based cybersecurity company
Secureworks, which calls the hackers Iron
Twilight. The data is partial and extends only
from March 2015 to May 2016. Of 87 scientists,
engineers, managers and others, 31 agreed to
be interviewed by the AP.

Most of the targets’ work was classified. Yet

as many as 40 percent of them clicked on
the hackers’ phishing links, the AP analysis
indicates. That was the first step in potentially
opening their personal email accounts or
computer files to data theft by the digital spies.

James Poss, who ran a partnership doing

drone research for the Federal Aviation
Administration, was about to catch a taxi to the
2015 Paris Air Show when what appeared to
be a Google security alert materialized in his
inbox. Distracted, he moved his cursor to the
blue prompt on his laptop.

“I clicked on it and instantly knew that I had been

had,” the retired Air Force major general said.

180
181
Poss says he realized his mistake before
entering his credentials, which would have
exposed his email to the hackers.

Hackers predominantly targeted personal

Gmail, with a few corporate accounts mixed in.

Personal accounts can convey snippets of

classified information, whether through
carelessness or expediency. They also can
lead to other more valuable targets or carry
embarrassing personal details that can be used
for blackmail or to recruit spies.

Drone consultant Keven Gambold, a hacking

target himself, said the espionage could help
Russia catch up with the Americans. “This
would allow them to leapfrog years of hard-
won experience,” he said.

He said his own company is so worried about

hacking that “we’ve almost gone back in time
to use stand-alone systems if we’re processing
client proprietary data — we’re FedEx’ing hard
drives around.”

The AP has previously reported on Fancy Bear’s

attempts to break into the Gmail accounts
of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign,
American national security officials, journalists,
and Kremlin critics and adversaries around
the world. U.S. intelligence agencies have
concluded the hackers worked for the Kremlin
and stole U.S. campaign email to tilt the 2016
election toward Donald Trump — all of which
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has denied.

But the hackers clearly had broader aims.

Fifteen of the targets identified by the AP
worked on drones — the single largest group
of weapons specialists.

182
183
184
Countries like Russia are racing to make better
drones as the remote-control aircraft have moved
to the forefront of modern warfare. They can
fire missiles, hunt down adversaries, or secretly
monitor targets for days — all while keeping
human pilots safely behind computer controls.

The U.S. Air Force now needs more pilots for

drones than for any other single type of aircraft,
a training official said last year. Drones will lead
growth in the aerospace industry over the next
decade, with military uses driving the boom, the
Teal Group predicted in November. Production
was expected to balloon from $4.2 billion to
$10.3 billion.

So far, though, Russia has nothing that compares

with the new-generation U.S. Reaper, which has
been called “the most feared” U.S. drone. General
Atomics’ 5,000-pound mega-drone can fly more
than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to deliver
Hellfire missiles and smart bombs. It has seen
action in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The hackers went after General Atomics,

targeting a drone sensor specialist. He did not
respond to requests for comment.

They also made a run at the Gmail account of

Michael Buet, an electronics engineer who has
worked on ultra-durable batteries and high-
altitude drones for SunCondor, a small South
Carolina company owned by Star Technology
and Research. Such machines could be a useful
surveillance tool for a country like Russia, with its
global military engagements and vast domestic
border frontier.

“This bird is quite unique,” said Buet. “It can fly at

62,000 feet (18,600 meters) and doesn’t land for
five years.”

185
The Russians also appeared eager to catch up in
space, once an arena for Cold War competition
in the race for the moon. They seemed to
be carefully eyeing the X-37B, an American
unmanned space plane that looks like a
miniature shuttle but is shrouded in secrecy.

In a reference to an X-37B flight in May 2015,

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
invoked the vehicle as evidence that his
country’s space program was faltering. “The
United States is pushing ahead,” he warned
Russian lawmakers.

Less than two weeks later, Fancy Bear tried

to penetrate the Gmail account of a senior
engineer on the X-37B project at Boeing.

Fancy Bear has also tried to hack into the

emails of several members of the Arlington,
Virginia-based Aerospace Industries Association,
including its president, former Army Secretary
Eric Fanning. It went after Lt. Gen. Mark
Shackelford, who has served in the military
and aerospace industry as a corporate board
member. He has been involved with major
weapons and space programs like SpaceX, the
reusable orbital rocket company founded by
billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Along another path, the hackers chased people

who work on cloud-based services, the off-site
computer networks that enable collaborators to
easily access and juggle data.

In 2013, the CIA signed a $600 million deal

with web giant Amazon to build a system
to share secure data across the U.S. intelligence
community. Other spy services followed,
and the government cleared them last year
to move classified data to the cloud at the

186
187
188
“secret” level — a step below the nation’s
most sensitive information.

Fancy Bear’s target list suggests the Russians

have noticed these developments.

The hackers tried to get into the Gmail accounts

of a cloud compliance officer at Palantir and a
manager of cloud platform operations at SAP
National Security Services, two companies that
do extensive government work. Another target
was at Mellanox Federal Systems, which helps the
government with high-speed storage networks,
data analysis and cloud computing. Its clients
include the FBI and other intelligence agencies.

Yet of the 31 targets reached by the AP, just one

got any warning from U.S. officials.

“They said we have a Fancy Bear issue we need

to talk about,” said security consultant Bill
Davidson. He said an Air Force cybersecurity
investigator inspected his computer shortly after
the 2015 phishing attempt but found no sign
that it succeeded. He believes he was contacted
because his name was recognized at the Air
Force Office of Special Investigations, where he
used to work.

The FBI declined to give on-the-record details of

its response to this Russian operation. Agency
spokeswoman Jillian Stickels said the FBI does
sometimes notify individual targets. “The FBI
takes ... all potential threats to public and private
sector systems very seriously,” she said in an email.

However, three people familiar with the matter

— including a current and a former government
official — previously told the AP that the FBI
knew the details of Fancy Bear’s phishing
campaign for more than a year.

189
Pressed about notification in that case, a
senior FBI official, who was not authorized
to publicly discuss the hacking operation
because of its sensitivity, said the bureau
was overwhelmed by the sheer number of
attempted hacks. “It’s a matter of triaging to
the best of our ability the volume of the
targets who are out there,” he said.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Heather Babb, said

she could release no details about any Defense
Department response, citing “operational
security reasons.” But she said the department
recognizes the evolving cyber threat and
continues to update training and technology.
“This extends to all of our workforce — military,
civilian and contractor,” she added.

The Defense Security Service, which protects

classified U.S. technology and trains industry
in computer security, focuses on safeguarding
corporate computer networks. “We simply
have no insight into or oversight of anyone’s
personal email accounts or how they are
protected or notified when something is
amiss,” spokeswoman Cynthia McGovern
said in an email.

Contacted by the AP, Lockheed Martin,

Raytheon, Boeing, Airbus and General Atomics
did not respond to requests for comment.

Jerome Pearson, a space system and drone

developer, acknowledged that he has not
focused on security training at his company,
Star Technology, where Buet has consulted.
“No, we really haven’t done that,” he said with
a nervous laugh. “We may be a little bit remiss
in that area.” He said they may do training for
future contracts.

190
A Media investigation finds that Russian cyber spies
exploiting a national vulnerability in cybersecurity
are trying to break into the emails of scores of
people working on military drone technology.

191
192
Cybersecurity experts say it’s no surprise
that spies go after less secure personal email
as an opening to more protected systems.
“For a good operator, it’s like hammering a
wedge,” said Richard Ford, chief scientist at the
Forcepoint cybersecurity company. “Private
email is the soft target.”

Some officials were particularly upset by the

failure to notify employees of cloud computing
companies that handle data for intelligence
agencies. The cloud is a “huge target for foreign
intelligence services in general — they love to
get into that shared environment,” said Sowell,
the former adviser to the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence.

“At some point, wouldn’t someone who’s

responsible for the defense contractor base be
aware of this and try to reach out?” he asked.

Even successful hacks might not translate

into new weapons for Russia, where the
economy is weighed down by corruption and
international sanctions.

However, experts say Russia, while still behind

the U.S., has been making more advanced
drones in recent years. Russian officials have
recently been bragging as their increasingly
sophisticated drones are spotted over war zones
in Ukraine and Syria.

At a 2017 air show outside Moscow, plans were

announced for a new generation of Russian
combat drones.

Rogozin, the deputy prime minister, boasted

that the technological gap between Russia and
the United States “has been sharply reduced and
will be completely eliminated in the near future.”

193
194
 36 INDICTED
IN GLOBAL
CYBERCRIME
RING THAT STOLE
$530M

Thirty-six people were indicted in connection

with an international identity theft ring known
as a “one-stop shop for cybercriminals” that sold
stolen credit card information on the dark web,
leading to losses of more than $530 million, U.S.
prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Infraud Organization — founded in 2010

and operated under the slogan “In Fraud We
Trust” — used an online forum to buy and sell
stolen credit card and bank account numbers,
Social Security numbers and other personal
information, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Investigators believe the group’s nearly 11,000

members targeted more than 4.3 million
credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts

195
worldwide, Deputy Assistant Attorney General
David Rybicki said.

Most of the members of Infraud never

met in person and only knew one another
through their online usernames, he said.
The organization’s goal was to become the
premier site to purchase retail items with
stolen or counterfeit credit card information,
prosecutors said.

The group’s hierarchy included administrators

who managed the operation and membership,
forum moderators and vendors who sold illicit
products and services to members. Members of
the group would then use the forum on the dark
web — part of the internet often used for illegal
activity — to gather information and facilitate
the sale of the stolen data, officials said.

The indictment unsealed Wednesday in Nevada

marks the first time the Justice Department
has arrested anyone in connection with
Infraud, which Rybecki called one of the largest
international cybercrime rings.

“This case reflects the alarming and increasing

threat posed by cybercrime,” Rybicki said.
“The Department of Justice refuses to allow
cybercriminals to hide behind the anonymity
of the web while stealing personally identifying
information, emptying bank accounts,
and wreaking havoc on our nation’s digital
infrastructure and financial system.”

Thirteen people were taken into custody across

the globe, including in California, New York and
Alabama. Suspects arrested in France, the United
Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Kosovo and Serbia
were awaiting extradition.

196
197
198
 CHINA SOLAR
SUPPLIER GROWS
IN INDIA TO AVOID
TRADE CONTROLS

One of China’s biggest makers of solar panels

said this week it will invest $309 million to
expand manufacturing in India in a move to
guard against what it complained is a rising
threat of import controls in the United States
and other markets.

Longi Solar Technology Ltd.’s announcement

follows the Trump administration’s Jan. 24
decision to impose an extra 30 percent duty on
imported solar modules. An Indian regulator says
it is considering a “safeguard tariff” of 70 percent
on solar panels from China and Malaysia.
Image: Carlos Barria
199
Chinese manufacturers dominate global solar
panel production. Their explosive growth has
helped to propel adoption of renewable energy
by driving down costs. But the United States,
Europe, India and others complain unfairly low-
priced exports hurt their manufacturers and
threaten thousands of jobs.

The United States, Europe and other non-

Chinese markets account for only 10 percent of
Longi’s sales, according to its strategy director,
Max Xia. But he said Longi wants to promote
global sales of its latest technology this year.

“We think sooner or later anti-dumping and

trade protection will be happening in several
countries,” said Xia at a news conference.
“This is why we choose to do the investment
in Malaysia and also in India, because we
don’t know when and where it will happen,
this kind of anti-dumping. So we prepare to
counter it.”

Xia’s comment represented an unusually

explicit statement by the Chinese industry that
it is moving production to avoid trade controls.
Other Chinese producers have set up factories
in India and Southeast Asia but usually say
they are getting closer to customers or taking
advantage of local talent and supply chains.

That migration has complicated efforts by the

United States, the European Union and other
governments to control imports from China.

Some Chinese solar manufacturers responded

to earlier U.S. and European trade measures by
supplying those markets from factories outside
China, avoiding higher tariffs and quotas on
Chinese-made products.

200
201
202
Longi already has a solar module factory in
the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The latest
investment will double production there, the
company said.

Xia repeated warnings by Chinese

manufacturers that import controls are
hampering efforts to encourage adoption of
renewable energy.

“That possibly could start a ’green energy trade

war,’” he said. “That is, with the whole world
concerned about climate change, what people
who want to solve energy problems and realize
green development aren’t willing to see.”

Longi, headquartered in the western city of

Xi’an, ranked No. 7 among global solar panel
producers by 2017 output, according to PV Tech,
an industry journal. The South Korean-German
supplier Hanhwa-Q Cells was the only non-
Chinese competitor in the Top 10.

India is regarded by the solar industry as one

of the most promising markets but low-cost
Chinese imports have undercut the New Delhi
government’s ambitions to develop its own
solar technology suppliers. Government data
show imports, mostly from China, account
for 90 percent of last year’s sales, up from 86
percent in 2014.

India’s Finance Ministry said Jan. 5 it was

considering adding a temporary 70 percent
“safeguard tariff” on solar equipment from China
and Malaysia to prevent “further serious injury”
to the Indian industry. The ministry said Chinese
exporters shifted their focus to India in early
2017 after the United States and Europe stepped
up import controls.

203
SWISS MOBILE
DATA OF 800,000
CUSTOMERS
IS STOLEN

A Swiss mobile phone operator says its data

systems were breached late last year and the
contact details of about 800,000 customers
were compromised.

Swisscom said this week that the names,

addresses, telephone numbers and date of birth
of the customers was accessed by an unknown
party, which got the data through a sales
partner of Swisscom.

It said that passwords, conversations and

payment data were not affected and that it has
not received any reports of customers suffering
as a result.

Swisscom said it discovered the incident

through a routine check of its activities and is
carrying out an in-depth investigation.

The 800,000 customers represent almost 10

percent of Switzerland’s overall population.

204
205
206
 AMAZON TO
PAY FRANCE
$250 MILLION IN
BACK TAXES

Online retailer Amazon has reached a deal with

French authorities to pay about $250 million in
back taxes.

Amazon was asked in 2012 to pay the amount

over earnings made in 2006-2010 and has since
been involved in a dispute with tax authorities.

Details of the deal have not been revealed.

The company said Monday it has reached an

“overall settlement agreement with the French
tax authorities on past issues, and our main
objective remains to provide the best possible
buying experience for our customers in France,
where we have invested more than 2 billion
euros since 2010, and created more than 5,500
permanent jobs.”

Amazon last year reached a similar deal with

Italian authorities to end a 100-million-euro
($118 million) dispute over its tax payments
from 2011-15.

207
208
 ‘TEAR DOWN
THIS FIREWALL’ -
US LOOKS
TO EXPAND
CUBA INTERNET

A new U.S. task force ordered by President

Donald Trump warned Wednesday that Cuba’s
government uses internet restrictions to stifle
dissent and vowed to find ways the United
States could expand access and freedom for
Cubans online.

The Cuba Internet Task Force held its first public

meeting over the objections of Cuban President
Raul Castro’s government, which has dismissed
it as an exercise in attempted subversion by
Washington. The task force forms part of Trump’s
tougher approach to Cuba and partial rollback
of former President Barack Obama’s diplomatic
opening with the island.

“Mr. Castro, tear down this firewall,” declared

Andre Mendes, acting director of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors’ Office of Cuba
Broadcasting, in a high-tech twist on former
President Ronald Reagan’s famed admonition to
former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

209
210
Although the task force’s narrow mandate is to
develop recommendations for how the U.S. could
expand internet access in Cuba, the meeting
quickly took on clear political undertones, ever-
present in America’s long and emotional debate
about its policy toward the communist-run island
90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Florida.
Under fluorescent lighting in a sparse, basement
conference room at the State Department,
several Cuban dissidents used a public comment
period to lambast Cuba’s government, drawing
comparisons to World War II and to the
governments of Syria and Iran. Yet most of the
public comments centered on a critique of a
decades-old economic embargo and Trump’s
policy toward Cuba. Some argued that any
U.S. efforts would backfire, by undermining
the perceived independence and credibility of
burgeoning independent media in Cuba.
Created under a directive from Trump last June,
the task force includes senior officials from the
State Department, the Commerce Department,
the Federal Communications Commission
and the U.S. Agency for International
Development. It has no budget, but set a goal
to deliver its report on recommendations to
Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by
February 2019.
John Creamer, the deputy assistant secretary of
state, said estimates show internet penetration
in Cuba is between 5 percent and 40 percent,
with the higher figure including those who only
can access government-run internet. He said the
$1 per hour cost for wi-fi is onerous considering
the average salary of roughly $30 per month. For
internet access at home, Cubans must pay $17
to $80 per month, depending on speed, for only
30 hours of connectivity, Creamer said.
He said Cuba’s government “filters and blocks
websites” in a bid to impede the Cuban people’s
ability to criticize government institutions
and policies.
211
“Such acts of aggression have a chilling effect
on the exercise of the fundamental freedom of
expression,” Creamer said.

Internet access in Cuba, once rare and

prohibitively expensive, has spread dramatically
and dropped in price since Obama and Castro’s
2014 deal to normalize relations. There are 508
public WiFi access points across the country and
Cuba has begun providing home internet access
in cities across the country. The government also
says it will begin offering mobile internet access
this year.

The Cuban internet is mostly uncensored.

The state does block some sites, particularly
those that receive U.S. funding such as the
Office of Cuba Broadcasting’s Marti television
network, but those sites’ channels can be freely
accessed through third parties like Facebook
and YouTube.

Some of the likely recommendations for

expanding access are technical. Tom Sullivan,
chief of the FCC’s international bureau, said
there are no direct, undersea cables between
the U.S. and Cuba, though he said there appear
to be some U.S. satellites providing service
in the island.

There was no immediate reaction to the

meeting from the Cuban Embassy. But ahead
of the meeting, Cuba protested the task force’s
creation through diplomatic notes rejecting
“the goal of manipulating the internet to bring
about illegal programs with subversive political
ends.” Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said it “reiterated
the Cuban government’s determination to
not tolerate any type of subversive activity or
interference in its internal affairs.”

212
213
214
 ROBOT MAKES
COFFEE AT NEW
CAFE IN JAPAN’S
CAPITAL

Japan has a new cafe where customers

can enjoy coffee brewed and served by a
robot barista.

The robot named Sawyer debuted this week at

Henna Cafe in Tokyo’s downtown business and
shopping district of Shibuya. The shop’s name in
Japanese means “strange cafe.”

The single-armed robot scans a ticket

purchased from a vending machine and
greets the customer.

“Would you care for a delicious coffee?” the

barista, with a screen showing a pair of cartoon

215
eyes, asks in a flat tone. “I can make one better
than human beings around here.”

It grinds the coffee beans, fills a filter and pours

hot water over a paper cup for up to five people
at once. A cup of brewed coffee costs 320 yen
($3) and takes a few minutes.

Sawyer can also operate an automated machine

for six other hot drinks including cappuccino,
hot chocolate and green tea latte.

Customers, many of them young men, took

photos with their smartphones while they
waited in line.

The cafe operator, travel agency H.I.S. Co., says

robots can increase productivity while also
entertaining customers.

“An essential point is to increase productivity,”

said Masataka Tamaki, general manager of
corporate planning at H.I.S. He said only
one person needs to oversee the robot cafe,
compared to several people needed at a regular
coffee shop, so it can serve better quality coffee
at a reasonable price.

Tamaki says it’s not just about efficiency. “We

want the robot to entertain customers so it’s not
like buying coffee at a vending machine,” he said.

Takeshi Yamamoto, a 68-year-old restaurant

employee who works in the neighborhood,
said his first experience with the robot cafe
was very enjoyable, and his robot-made coffee
was delicious.

“It’s quite rich, and tastes very good,” Yamamoto

said, as he took a sip. “You can get machine-
made coffee at convenience stores, too, and it’s
actually good. But here, I had great fun.”

216
Image: Koji Sasahara
217
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