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MAC MINI: PACKED WITH
IMPRESSIVE POWER

48

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THE NEW iPAD PRO: LIMITING SCREEN

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A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE TIME FOR YOUR KID?

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IT’S HARDER THAN

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70
DEMOCRATS GEAR UP FOR MORE
DIGITAL SPENDING IN 2020

08 86
 AS FACEBOOK FACES FIRE, HEAT TURNS UP ON NO. 2 SANDBERG 26

MARS REVISITED: NASA SPACECRAFT DAYS AWAY FROM RISKY LANDING 36

UTILITIES ENCOURAGE ENERGY SAVINGS WITH SMART THERMOSTATS 64

TECHNOLOGY CREDITED WITH AIDING ATLANTIC CITY’S CRIME DROP 84

NASA ACCEPTS DELIVERY OF EUROPEAN POWERHOUSE FOR MOONSHIP 96

FORMER GEORGIA GROCERY STORE TRANSFORMED INTO AIR FORCE LAB 100

GAME NOT OVER IN ‘RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET’ 124

TALES OF REINVENTION ABOUND IN OSCARS RACE 132

MICHAEL B. JORDAN, NOW A HOLLYWOOD HEAVYWEIGHT, PUNCHES UP 142

DISNEY DETAILS NEW ‘STAR WARS: GALAXY’S EDGE’ ATTRACTIONS 152

AMAZON HQ EXPANSION MEANS TOUGH FIGHT FOR TALENT 154

BRING ME THE BLEACH: INVESTORS SEEK STABILITY AS STOCKS FALL 166

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EXPERIMENTAL PLANE FLIES SILENTLY, MAY LEAD TO QUIET DRONES 172
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TRANSIT RIDERS, DRIVERS BRACE FOR INFLUX OF AMAZON EMPLOYEES 178

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FARM ANIMALS MAY SOON GET NEW FEATURES THROUGH GENE EDITING 188
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SPACE STATION GETS 2 CARGO DELIVERIES IN RECORD 15 HOURS 200

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RHODE ISLAND COMPANY GETS GRANT FOR WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY 212

EUROPEAN PRIVACY SEARCH0020ENGINES AIM TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE 214

BIG TECH FIRMS PLEDGE TRAINING FOR WORKERS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 222

BACKLASH AT CHINESE UNIVERSITY SHOWS LIMITS TO SURVEILLANCE 228

TOP 10 APPS 104

iTUNES REVIEW 108
TOP 10 SONGS 202
TOP 10 ALBUMS 204
TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 206
TOP 10 TV SHOWS 208
TOP 10 BOOKS 210
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 Near the close of October, Apple threw the
veil of the new iPad Pro, which it has hailed
as not only the “most advanced, powerful
iPad ever”, but also “the iPad we wanted to
make from the beginning”. However, short
of getting too swept up in the marketing hype
surrounding the new 11-inch and 12.9-inch
devices, many observers – both press critics and
regular users – have held of to see whether the
new iPad Pro really stands up to scrutiny in a
professional context.

AGAIN IN AN iPAD PROCESSOR,

X MARKS THE SPOT
As the new iPad Pro has been made available
irst to the media and then to consumers,
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the Internet has seen a lurry of opinions and
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appraisals of this new productivity-oriented

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slate. However, in an attempt to preserve

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objectivity about the Pro, it’s worth looking

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closer at how its tech specs stack up. Many

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people already know about the headline

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additions such as the Liquid Retina display and

Face ID system – but under the hood, what’s
powering all of these exciting features?

The answer is the new A12X Bionic chip. This

is a modiied form of the A12 processor that
debuted in the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR earlier
this fall, and with Apple not having refreshed
the iPad Pro line since June 2017, the chip
enhancements in the new models were clear.
At the launch presentation, Apple shared reams
of eye-opening statistics about the A12X –
including that compared to the A10X, it delivers
twice the graphics performance and 90% faster
multi-core performance.

11
Apple also enthused that the Pro keeps pace in
GPU power with the Xbox One S games console
while remaining physically much smaller and
not even needing a fan. You might even want to
think twice before purchasing a new portable
PC, as the Pro is said to be 92% faster than any
on the market. For an intriguing insight into how
all of this is realized, you can read this in-depth
Ars Technica interview with Apple’s Anand
Shimpi and Phil Schiller.

THE iPAD PRO MAKES ITS BENCHMARK

Ars Technica came away impressed with the
new chip, remarking that Apple “is leading the
market when it comes to mobile CPU and GPU

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performance - not by a little, but by a lot.” This is a
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by the tech site. A test using GeekBench saw

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the Pro fall just short of the 35% improvement

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in single-core performance that Apple says

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the device achieves over last year’s line, while

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Apple’s claim about multi-core performance

seemed similarly justiied.

Furthermore, Apple has achieved these

performance improvements without inlicting
any discernibly heavy blow to the battery
life. In a review for Mashable, Raymond
Wong called the battery life “as excellent as
on previous iPads”, noting that when he used
the Pro for reading, games playing, video
streaming and some writing, it endured for
“up to 10 hours” as advertised. Even when
tested by pro-level apps, the battery life
reached about seven to eight hours.

Image: Bebeto Matthews

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 “There’s little doubt
that, for various
purposes, the new Pro
indeed triumphs.”

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THE ‘iPAD AS LAPTOP REPLACEMENT’
ARGUMENT RE-EMERGES
Impressive though the benchmarks look on
paper, the real test is how practical the Pro
proves in day-to-day use – especially in the
tasks for which the tablet ought to be used. It
would be fair to say that early impressions have
been positive on the whole. YouTuber Jonathan
Morrison recorded his favorable thoughts on
video after using the 12.9-inch version for just
72 hours – while, as reported by MacRumors,
regular users have commented on that version’s
surprisingly small size.

However, more rigorous reviews of the iPad

Pro have revived a debate that many users
of previous Pro models might recall: that of g
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whether the Pro really constitutes a laptop

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replacement. Given the respective starting

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prices of $799 and $999 for the 11-inch and 12.9-

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inch models, you might anticipate it being able

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to serve as such. However, even when used with

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the new accessories of the second-generation

Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard Folio,
the Pro might still fall short.

WIRED’s Jefrey Van Camp took issue with

iOS, insisting: “Now that Apple has declared the
iPad is a PC, it should take more of the guardrails
of of iOS.” Meanwhile, The Washington Post’s
Geofrey Fowler reported that although he
found writing, photo-editing and publishing
text manageable, “I also never igured out
an eicient way to multitask, sit with decent
posture and work for hours, or keep it balanced
on my lap”, adding that iling expense reports
made him miss using a mouse.

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2018 iPad Pro Day One Review!

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 NEW iPad Pro & Apple Pencil: An Artist’s Review!

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 Still, it’s possible that we are continuing to ask
the wrong questions about the iPad Pro. In an
article for The Week, Navneet Alang suggested
that many of the use cases assessed by reviewers
do not relect how the Pro will be used by many
people who buy it. For example, while some
reviewers were disappointed in their attempts to
use the slate by connecting it to external storage
through the new USB-C port, Alang said that cloud
services had made such storage less necessary.
He continued that this was particularly the
case for many students, writers and academics,
adding: “What users want is a device that’s
portable, has great battery life, and lets you
interact with it in diferent ways: via typing,
touch, even a pen.” All of this indeed describes an
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iPad – and it could be argued that the new Pro
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AMAZING FUNCTIONALITY FOR FANS OF

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THE CREATIVE ARTS

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At the launch event, Apple very much marketed

the new Pro as being primed for creativity. The
company even reportedly tasked 400 diferent
artists with producing the quirky new takes on
the Apple logo that were later seen on the press
invites and during the opening of the keynote.

It’s interesting, then, to see how an artist

reacts when putting the Pro and the second-
generation Apple Pencil through their paces – as
indeed, you can see in this video review by
artist Ian Barnard. He reported positively about
the Pro as an artist’s tool, which particularly
passed his practicality test for lettering.
On the subject of letters, what is the Pro like
as a writer’s device – especially compared to

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a MacBook? 9to5Mac contributor Peter Cao

endeavored to ind out by replacing his 2016
MacBook Pro with this year’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro,
accessorized with the Smart Keyboard Folio and
Apple Pencil. He said that using the Pro as his
main work machine for 48 hours was “a pretty
good experience”.
Over the years, Apple has introduced more and
more pro-friendly functionality to iOS, with
multitasking features particularly coming to the
fore. Cao beneitted from these advances during
his test – reporting how, for example, he would
have Slack chat running on his screen’s left side
and Safari with the 9to5Mac web portal open

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 on the right side. He also said he kept track of
breaking news by leaving Tweetbot open in a
window over Safari.
He cited the hardest part of the Mac-to-iPad
transition as “going from mouse/trackpad and
keyboard to touch and keyboard”, but noted
that several apps supported keyboard shortcuts
akin to those available on a Mac. He also called
Shortcuts or Siri Shortcuts “a potential game-
changer for getting work done on an iPad”. In
all, he acknowledged that “the iPad is starting to
grow on me and I’d highly recommend others
who primarily write for a living to give it a shot.”
If that seems like slightly cautious praise for the
new iPad Pro, it remains reminiscent of much
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really a laptop replacement at long last? Is it the

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future of computing? Perhaps the more itting

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question to ask would be whether it is right for

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your own needs – and there’s little doubt that for

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various purposes, the new Pro indeed triumphs.

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by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

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 AS FACEBOOK
FACES FIRE, HEAT
TURNS UP ON
NO. 2 SANDBERG

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For the past decade, Sheryl Sandberg has been

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the poised, reliable second-in-command to

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, helping steer

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Facebook’s rapid growth around the world,

while also cultivating her brand in ways that hint
at aspirations well beyond the social network.

But with growing criticism over the company’s

practices, or lack of oversight, her carefully
cultivated image as an eloquent feminist leader
is showing cracks. Questions these days aren’t so
much about whether she’ll run for the Senate or
even president, but whether she ought to keep
her job at Facebook.

“Her brand was being manicured with the same

resources and care as the gardens of Tokyo,” said
Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing
professor. “And unfortunately a hurricane has
come through the garden.”

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Facebook has been dealing with hurricanes hold a high-level executive accountable. Though
for the past two years : fake news, elections the chances are slim, the fact that it has even
interference, hate speech, a privacy scandal, the come up shows the extent of Facebook’s — and
list goes on. The company’s response — namely, Sandberg’s — troubles.
Zuckerberg’s and Sandberg’s — has been slow As chief operating officer, Sandberg is in charge
at best, misleading and obfuscating at worst, of Facebook’s business dealings, including the
as The New York Times reported last week. That ads that make up the bulk of the company’s
report, and one from The Wall Street Journal revenue. She steered Facebook from a rising
, underscored Sandberg’s influence at the tech startup into a viable global business
company, even as Zuckerberg has borne much expected to reap $55 billion in revenue this
of the criticism and anger. There have been calls year. The company is second only to Google in
for both to be ousted. digital advertising.
But because of the way Facebook is set up, firing But she’s also gotten the blame when things
Zuckerberg would be all but impossible. He go wrong, including Facebook’s failure to spot
controls the majority of the company’s voting Russian attempts to influence U.S. elections by
stock, serves as its chairman and has — at least
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buying U.S. political ads — in rubles. Though
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publicly — the support of its board of directors.
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Sandberg has denied knowing that Facebook

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Essentially, he’d have to fire himself. Firing

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hired an opposition research firm to discredit

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Sandberg would be the next logical option to

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 activists, she created a permissive environment
through what the Times called an “aggressive
lobbying campaign” against critics. Facebook
fired the firm, Definers, after the Times report
came out.
Facebook declined to comment on Sandberg
or make her available for an interview. A
representative instead pointed to Zuckerberg’s
remarks that overall, “Sheryl is doing great work
for the company. She’s been a very important
partner to me and continues to be, and will
continue to be. She’s leading a lot of the efforts
to improve our systems in these areas.”

Sandberg, 49, who was hired away from Google

in 2008, has been a crucial “heat shield” for
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Zuckerberg, as Galloway put it, as lawmakers
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and the public crank up criticism of the

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34-year-old founder. In September, Facebook

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sent Sandberg to testify before the Senate

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intelligence committee, eliciting a warmer

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response than her boss did three months before.

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Sandberg, former chief of staff for treasury

secretary Larry Summers, appears more
comfortable in Washington meeting rooms than
Zuckerberg, who can seem robotic. Her profile
is high enough that lawmakers don’t feel stilted
when she shows up. She’s written (with help)
two books, including 2013’s “Lean In” about
women and leadership. Her second book, “Plan
B,” is about dealing with loss and grief after her
husband died unexpectedly. She was the lone

31
chief operating officer among a who’s who of
tech CEOs — including Apple’s Tim Cook and
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — to meet with Donald
Trump a month after his election.
“It’s both who she is and how bereft Silicon
Valley is of strong, powerful female voices,” crisis
management expert Richard Levick said. “She
has positioned herself as one of those strong
voices with ‘Lean In.’”

But her high profile also makes her more

susceptible to criticism.

The chorus for Sandberg to leave is getting

louder. CNBC commentator Jim Cramer
predicted that Facebook’s stock would rise if
Sandberg leaves or gets fired. NYU’s Galloway
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believes both Sandberg and Zuckerberg should
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be fired for allowing Facebook to turn into an

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entity that harms democracy around the world.

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“Every day executives are fired for a fraction of

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infractions these two have committed,” he said.

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Besides elections interference, Zuckerberg and

Sandberg have been criticized for their slow
response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal,
in which the data-mining firm accessed millions
of users’ private information without their
permission. The pair were silent for days after
the news came out. According to the Journal,
Zuckerberg told Sandberg this spring that he
blamed her and her teams for the “public fallout”
over Cambridge Analytica. Citing unnamed
sources, the newspaper said Sandberg at one
point wondered if she should be worried about
her job (though that appears to no longer be the
case, based on Zuckerberg’s public support).

32
 Image: Mandel Ngan

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Image: Drew Angerer
 Galloway said it would look bad for Facebook to
fire one of the only top female executives in an
industry where women “face inordinately high
obstacles to get to leadership positions.”
Beyond that, Sandberg has also been a positive
force on Facebook. She was hired to be the
“adult” in the room and has filled that role well.
She moves comfortably outside tech circles and
in public speaking, countering Zuckerberg’s
shortcomings in that area.

If anything, Sandberg’s departure from

Facebook would likely be on her own terms.
While Zuckerberg has spent all of his adult life
at Facebook, Sandberg had a career before
Facebook and even tech, so it is plausible that
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she would have a life after Facebook, perhaps
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back in politics.
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But first, she has Facebook’s own troubles to

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deal with. The task seems daunting because

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its problems might never go away . But Levick

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believes she can begin to restore her image by

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acknowledging her role in causing Facebook’s

problems instead of blaming external forces
beyond her control: “The kneejerk response
‘poor, poor me’ is not the solution.”

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 MARS REVISITED:
NASA SPACECRAFT
DAYS AWAY FROM
RISKY LANDING

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Mars is about to get its first U.S. visitor in years: a

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three-legged, one-armed geologist to dig deep

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and listen for quakes.

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NASA’s InSight makes its grand entrance

through the rose-tinted Martian skies on
Monday, after a six-month, 300 million-mile
(480 million-kilometer) journey. It will be the
first American spacecraft to land since the
Curiosity rover in 2012 and the first dedicated to
exploring underground.
NASA is going with a tried-and-true method
to get this mechanical miner to the surface of
the red planet. Engine firings will slow its final
descent and the spacecraft will plop down on
its rigid legs, mimicking the landings of earlier
successful missions.

That’s where old school ends on this $1 billion

U.S.-European effort.

37
 Mars is about to get its
first U.S. visitor in years: a
three-legged, one-armed
geologist designed to
dig deep and stake out
quakes. NASA’s InSight
makes its grand entrance
after a six-month, 300
million-mile journey.
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ht
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 Once flight controllers in California determine
the coast is clear at the landing site — fairly flat
and rock free — InSight’s 6-foot (1.8-meter) arm
will remove the two main science experiments
from the lander’s deck and place them directly
on the Martian surface.

No spacecraft has attempted anything like

that before.

The firsts don’t stop there.

One experiment will attempt to penetrate 16 feet
(5 meters) into Mars, using a self-hammering nail
with heat sensors to gauge the planet’s internal
temperature. That would shatter the out-of-this-
world depth record of 8 feet (2 ½ meters) drilled
by the Apollo moonwalkers nearly a half-century
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ago for lunar heat measurements.
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The astronauts also left behind instruments to

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measure moonquakes. InSight carries the first

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seismometers to monitor for marsquakes — if

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they exist. Yet another experiment will calculate

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Mars’ wobble, providing clues about the

planet’s core.

It won’t be looking for signs of life, past or

present. No life detectors are on board.

The spacecraft is like a self-sufficient robot,

said lead scientist Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
“It’s got its own brain. It’s got an arm that can
manipulate things around. It can listen with its
seismometer. It can feel things with the pressure
sensors and the temperature sensors. It pulls its
own power out of the sun,” he said.
By scoping out the insides of Mars, scientists
could learn how our neighbor — and other
rocky worlds, including the Earth and moon —

41
formed and transformed over billions of years.
Mars is much less geologically active than Earth,
and so its interior is closer to being in its original
state — a tantalizing time capsule.
InSight stands to “revolutionize the way we
think about the inside of the planet,” said NASA’s
science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen.

But first, the 800-pound (360-kilogram) vehicle

needs to get safely to the Martian surface. This
time, there won’t be a ball bouncing down with
the spacecraft tucked inside, like there were for
the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004. And
there won’t be a sky crane to lower the lander
like there was for the six-wheeled Curiosity
during its dramatic “seven minutes of terror.”
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“That was crazy,” acknowledged InSight’s project
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manager, Tom Hoffman. But he noted, “Any time

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you’re trying to land on Mars, it’s crazy, frankly. I

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don’t think there’s a sane way to do it.”

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No matter how it’s done, getting to Mars and

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landing there is hard — and unforgiving.

Earth’s success rate at Mars is a mere 40 percent.

That includes planetary flybys dating back to the
early 1960s, as well as orbiters and landers.

While it’s had its share of flops, the U.S. has by far
the best track record. No one else has managed
to land and operate a spacecraft on Mars. Two
years ago, a European lander came in so fast, its
descent system askew, that it carved out a crater
on impact.
This time, NASA is borrowing a page from the
1976 twin Vikings and the 2008 Phoenix, which
also were stationary and three-legged.
“But you never know what Mars is going to do,”
Hoffman said. “Just because we’ve done it before

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doesn’t mean we’re not nervous and excited
about doing it again.”

Wind gusts could send the spacecraft into

a dangerous tumble during descent, or the
parachute could get tangled. A dust storm like
the one that enveloped Mars this past summer
could hamper InSight’s ability to generate solar
power. A leg could buckle. The arm could jam.

The tensest time for flight controllers in

Pasadena, California: the six minutes from the
time the spacecraft hits Mars’ atmosphere and
touchdown. They’ll have jars of peanuts on hand
— a good-luck tradition dating back to 1964 s
successful Ranger 7 moon mission.
InSight will enter Mars’ atmosphere at a supersonic
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parachute and a series of engine firings to slow

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down enough for a soft upright landing on Mars’

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Elysium Planitia, a sizable equatorial plain.

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Hoffman hopes it’s “like a Walmart parking lot

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in Kansas.”

The flatter the better so the lander doesn’t tip

over, ending the mission, and so the robotic arm
can set the science instruments down.

InSight — short for Interior Exploration using

Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat
Transport — will rest close to the ground, its top
deck barely a yard, or meter, above the surface.
Once its twin circular solar panels open, the
lander will occupy the space of a large car.

If NASA gets lucky, a pair of briefcase-size

satellites trailing InSight since their joint May
liftoff could provide near-live updates during the
lander’s descent. There’s an eight-minute lag in
communications between Earth and Mars.

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and EVE from the 2008 animated movie, will

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zoom past Mars and remain in perpetual

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orbit around the sun, their technology

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demonstration complete.
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If WALL-E and EVE are mute, landing news

will come from NASA orbiters at Mars, just
not as quickly.

The first pictures of the landing site should start

flowing shortly after touchdown. It will be at
least 10 weeks before the science instruments
are deployed. Add another several weeks for the
heat probe to bury into Mars.
The mission is designed to last one full Martian
year, the equivalent of two Earth years.
With landing day so close to Thanksgiving, many
of the flight controllers will be eating turkey at
their desks on the holiday.
Hoffman expects his team will wait until Monday
to give full and proper thanks.

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Image: Evan Hurd

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Image: Gerald Martineau

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Hot of the heels of its new iPhone XS and XR

launch, Apple invited New York professionals to
its ‘More in the Making’ event in late October,
unveiling a whole host of new hardware, like
the long-awaited MacBook Air refresh and an
iPhone X-inspired iPad redesign. One product
announcement that garnered the most
excitement, however, was the newly-designed
Mac mini, which features blazing-fast storage,
more ports, and the ability to build server farms.
Today, we take a closer look at the mini, and ask
whether size really matters in computing…

51
A TWEAKED DESIGN
The Mac mini has always been an attractive
device, and it has maintained its signature silver
box look since 2005’s model. Whilst the latest
iteration of the mini looks the same on irst
impression, Apple did announce a new color
option, Space Gray, to sit alongside its leet of Mac
computers, which can all now be purchased in
multiple color options, bar the iMac - the $4,999
Pro version of the machine must be purchased
in order to enjoy a Space Gray inish.

But the truth is, very little needed to change

to make the mini a more attractive device - its
casing is as iconic in the Apple fandom as the
iPhone, as outlined in the draw-dropping ‘Arrival’
video, where the new Mac mini is shown to g
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be coming from outer space, only to wind

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up on a home oice desktop. The model has

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always been the smallest and most portable

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desktop device that Apple has released, and the

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latest version of the mini, which measures in at

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7.7 inches by 1.4 inches and weighs a mere 2.9

pounds, continues the legacy set by Steve
Jobs and co back in 2005.

52
Apple iMac Pro: Unboxing & Review

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Mac mini — The Arrival — Apple

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 Macworld San Francisco 2005
The Mac mini Introduction

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 Whilst the design may look similar to the 2014
model, Apple has added some new ports to
the device, giving developers and professional
users more choice over which peripherals they’d
like to use. Of course, the port range doesn’t
compete with the iMac Pro, but for a portable
desktop computer, it packs its punch. As well
as four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports,
which support USB-C accessories and 5K
displays, there’s an HDMI 2.0 port, an Ethernet
port, a headphone jack, two USB-A ports, and a
power port with a power cord.

Being small certainly doesn’t mean the device is

underpowered, as its Thunderbolt 3 ports ofer
data transfer speeds up to an impressive 40
gigabytes per second, and being able to connect
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two 4K displays (a third if you use the HDMI port)
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ofers endless possibilities for editing video,

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recording music, trading on the stock market,

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gaming, and everyday tasks.

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Inside its familiar enclosure, Apple has added

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new thermal architecture, allowing optimal

performance for its eighth-generation chips and
all-lash storage, giving users the ability to work
their Mac without worrying about overheating.
Review: Mac mini (2018)
Apple’s most versatile Mac! With a new internal fan that ofers two times
the airlow as its predecessor and a power
supply that sustains power, this really is a
device for professionals.

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 IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE
As we’ve already outlined, the new Mac mini
comes with either four or six-core Cofee Lake
processors, manufactured by Intel. The entry-
level model, which starts at $799, comes with
a 3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core
i3 processor, whilst the high-end model comes
with a 3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core
i5 processor. More processing power can be
2018 Mac Mini - Unboxing, added as an upgrade option, but it’ll cost you.
First Look and Benchmarks
According to early benchmarks, the high-end
Mac mini ofers similar levels of performance
to a high-end MacBook Pro. Its Geekbench
score comes in at a respectable 5,708, whilst its
multi-core score is 24,340. When you compare
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the score to the mid-2007 mini, which had a
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multi-core score of 2,159, it’s evident how far the

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portable PC has come.

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Unlike the MacBook Pro and iMac ranges, the

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new Mac mini comes with an integrated Intel

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UHD Graphics 630, and you cannot upgrade the

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GPU. The new GPU ofers 60% more speed than

the previous model, according to Apple, so most
users shouldn’t need to take advantage of eGPU
to upgrade their device to increase speed and
performance further.

POWERFUL NEW T2 CHIP

Also inside of the new Mac mini is 8GB of
2666MHz DDR4 RAM, although RAM can be
upgraded to 16, 32, or 64GB when ordering
online. The new Mini also comes with Apple’s
brand new T2 chip, which was designed to
deliver new capabilities, like managing audio,
SSD, Secure Enclave, the system management
controller, and the hardware encryption engine.

57
As always with Mac computers, Apple’s chips
means that everything you need to power
your device is included out of the box, and the
new T2 is no exception, head and shoulders
above the competition when it is compared on
security. When you launch your Mac, the chip
ensures the boot has not been tampered with
and loads only approved operating system
software upon startup.

MORE HARDWARE IMPROVEMENTS

The new machines also feature PCIe-based
storage, ofering four times the read speed
than previous Mac minis at up to 3.4GB per
second. The base models ship with either 128
or 256GB of storage, but Apple ofers up to two
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terabytes of storage for power users. Models
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can be customized online, or ordered from

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Apple Stores.
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Finally, the new Mac mini supports Bluetooth

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5.0, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and comes with

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10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet, although

this can be upgraded to 10GB Ethernet for
users who require more download and upload
capacity for an additional $100.

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THE REVIEWS ARE IN
After a thunderous applause at October’s
keynote, the Mac mini oicially went on sale
in early November, and critics were impressed.
PCMag said that the device “delivers more
core-processing, storage, and memory
potential than ever, in a polished box
brimming with cutting-edge connectivity,”
whilst Six Colors added at the “Mac mini is
about lexibility and illing niches.”
Tom’s Guide scored the new computer 4.5 out of
5 and said that the “2018 Mac mini is a fantastic
choice, boasting great performance, excellent
design and great value,” whilst Canada’s
MobileSyrup added that “the latest version
of the tiny desktop computer is signiicantly g
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more powerful than its predecessor.”

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Marco Arment was disappointed with the Intel

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GPU, however, saying “you’re better of going

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for an iMac or a 15-inch MacBook Pro, or

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considering an eGPU setup,” and TechCrunch

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commented on the increase in price, saying that

“the latest version still represents the lowest
cost path into the world of desktop Macs, but
arguably removes ‘entry’ from the equation.”

THE FUTURE OF
PROFESSIONAL COMPUTING
Whilst the new Mac mini has been met with
universal praise, it’s important to note the device
is more expensive than ever before. If you’d like
the high-end Mac mini with a 3.2GHz 6-core 8th-
generation Intel Core i7 chip, 64GB RAM, 2TB
SSD, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, then you’ll have to
cough up $4,199, which puts the portable PC on
par with an entry-level iMac Pro.

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Deciding whether the new Mac mini is right
for you really depends on your needs, and how
much you’re willing to spend. Of course, you’ll be
able to ind a cheaper machine with comparable
stats and performance, but most users pay for
the macOS operating system and the power,
reliability, and longevity of the Mac. What also
sets Mac mini apart from the competition is in its
portability. Its size and structure mean that you
can take it with you when you’re headed to the
oice or out of the country and have the power
and performance of a professional-level desktop
computer wherever you are, provided you can
ind a screen.

With Apple putting an increased focus on

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the professional user with its new Macs, and a
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the new iPad Pro being positioned as an

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alternative to a computer, it will be interesting

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to see where the Mac mini its in with the rest

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of the lineup. Indeed, the Mac mini has always

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been considered the ‘budget Mac’, but now

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starting at almost $800, the portable computer

is out of reach for many everyday consumers,
leaving them with no choice but to look
elsewhere for lower-cost alternatives.
Apple will no longer report its iPhone, iPad,
or Mac sales igures from December, so we
may never know exactly how many Mac mini
units will ship, but one thing is for sure: Macs
have never been more powerful, beautiful,
and reliable, and the mini and new MacBook
Air complete the puzzle and bring the entire
Macintosh family back to number one.

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 UTILITIES
ENCOURAGE
ENERGY SAVINGS
WITH SMART
THERMOSTATS

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As temperatures drop and winter looms,

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homeowners and property managers are

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sweeping chimneys, insulating pipes and

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swapping screens for storm windows.

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They’re also going beyond traditional

winterizing by installing smart thermostats
and home energy monitors aiming to lower
utility bills.

Smart thermostats — which let consumers

adjust their home temperatures remotely using
any internet-connected device — are among
the most popular smart home technologies,
generating $1.3 billion in sales globally in
2017, according to Navigant Research. Some
models use geofencing technology and
multiple sensors placed throughout the house
to adjust temperatures in individual rooms
when a resident walks in, maximizing comfort
and efficiency.

65
Just how much consumers can save by installing
smart thermostats — which generally range in
price from $150 to $250 — depends on a variety
of factors, but Nest, one of the most popular
smart thermostat companies, estimates users can
save $131 to $145 on their energy bills per year.

Customers can save more if their local utility

offers rebates or discounts for allowing the
utility to occasionally turn their thermostats up
or down, as long as consumers are willing.

Many utilities are offering heavy discounts on

smart thermostats in exchange for enrolling in
so-called “demand response” programs, which
let utilities periodically reduce customers’
electricity usage so they’re not demanding as

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much energy from the grid, said Dan Wroclawski a
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of Consumer Reports.
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“When you join a demand response program,

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you usually get some sort of rebates, and the

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best deals we saw were bill credits that happen

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annually,” Wroclawski said. “When you agree to

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these programs you are ceding some level of

control. But if it’s bothering you — if you’re too
cold or too hot — all you have to do is go up to
the thermostat and turn it up or down and the
demand response program will essentially just
realize, ok, they’re ignoring us.”

Nationwide, nearly 1.4 million customers are

enrolled in programs that allow utilities to
turn their thermostats up or down, and more
than 40 utilities with thermostat programs
took advantage and adjusted customers’
temperatures about 8 times per year, according
to the Smart Electric Power Alliance. But people
sometimes opt out of the programs when, for
example, it’s a very hot day and they don’t want

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 Image: George Frey
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67
their air conditioning turned down; and that’s
the exact time utilities need people to stick with
the program.
Some utilities have similar programs that allow
them to temporarily turn off customers’ electric
water heaters, and they find customers are less
likely to opt out of those scenarios because they
don’t really notice an impact.

Other utilities are offering “time of use” or hourly

rate programs, which encourage customers to
run dishwashers or other appliances at times of
day when electricity rates are cheaper. In Illinois,
where the two main utilities offer hourly rate
programs, customers save about 15 percent off
their utility bills per year, said Sarah Gulezian,
senior manager of dynamic pricing programs at g
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Elevate Energy. With the utility ComEd, 24,000

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customers saved a combined $19 million over the

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past decade, and at Ameren, 12,000 customers

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saved more than $11 million, she said.

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Customers don’t need a smart thermostat for

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the Illinois utilities’ programs, but they do need

a smart meter, which is provided by the utility.
They can adjust their home temperatures
or appliance usage themselves when they
get email or text alerts letting them know
the electricity price is rising or falling. Such
programs benefit low-income households
that don’t necessarily have access to smart
thermostats and whose electricity bills eat into a
larger portion of their household income.
“From our research we’ve found that almost
everyone can benefit from this,” Gulezian said.
“By taking simple actions, you can help save on
your electricity bill and have a positive impact
on the environment as well.”

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 LIMITING SCREEN
TIME FOR YOUR
KID? IT’S HARDER
THAN IT LOOKS

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It is Saturday morning, and 10-year-old Henry

Hailey is up at the crack of dawn. Still in PJs, his
microphone-equipped headphones glowing
blue in the dim basement, he fixates on the
popular online game “Fortnite” on a large screen.
“What?! Right as I was about to finish it, I died,”
he calls out disappointedly to his friend Gus, a
fellow fifth-grader playing the game from his
home just a few blocks away. “Dude, I should
NOT have died.”

The digital battles resume, and Henry’s

enthusiasm never wanes. Would he play all day if
his parents let him? “Probably,” he concedes with
a slight grin.

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Image: Martha Irvine

 But they do not. Like many other parents,
the Haileys are on a reinvigorated mission to
limit screen time for Henry and his 15-year-
old brother, Everett. For some parents, it
feels like an exercise in futility. They are busy,
overwhelmed and tired of the fight against
increasingly omnipresent screens.
Getting Henry off screens has been a constant
battle, his parents say. “Then once he’s off,
there’s a lot of complaining and grumpiness for
a while as we try to coax him to do something
else,” says his mom, Barb Hailey. “He’s upset.
Mom is a crank. What is it all for?”
The goal, experts say, should be to help kids
learn to manage their own time as they
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get older and to stay physically active and
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socially connected as much offline as on.

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But parents in many American households

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are finding the power struggles — tantrums,

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withdrawal and, in some cases, even school

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and discipline problems — difficult, especially

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as more kids get access to screens at younger

and younger ages.

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 A survey of 13- to 17-year-olds released this fall by
the nonprofit Common Sense Media found that
95 percent of U.S. teens have their own mobile
device. Seventy percent of them check social
media several times a day, up from 34 percent in
2012. More than half say that their devices distract
them from homework or the people they’re with.
Some tech companies now at least acknowledge
concerns about over-use and outright abuse of
digital media. Apple instituted a “Screen Time”
function in its latest iPhone software. It monitors
app use and allows users — or their parents
— to establish limits. Google For Families and
Google Play, found on Android phones, and
various independent apps also allow parents to

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monitor and set some restrictions.
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But those features aren’t enabled by default, so

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new limits can come as a shock to those on the

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receiving end.
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That happened late this summer in the Hailey

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household on Chicago’s North Side after dad,

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Allen Hailey, began watching the amount of

time elder son Everett was spending on Wi-Fi.
The teen was clocking more than four hours
a day on sports videos, games and chats with
friends on social media.

“I don’t think he had any idea how much time he

was spending online,” says the father, who decided
to block both boys from Wi-Fi during certain hours.
He tested it out one night without warning.
One minute, Everett was talking to a friend
on social media. “Then it went out,” says the
teen, who immediately complained aloud
about the injustice of it all. Dad held firm and
told him he needed to read a book or go outside
to shoot hoops.

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 “I didn’t do anything wrong to deserve that,”
Everett still insists. “If I get my work done, I
think I should have my own time.”
Researchers who study these trends generally
refrain from using the word “addiction” when
it comes to screens, as it’s not an official
diagnosis in the mental health world. But
this summer, the World Health Organization
added “gaming disorder” to its list of
afflictions. That is gaming that severely
interferes with relationships, school and
work. The diagnosis is still under review by
U.S. health authorities.
Sometimes, experts say, digital immersion
exacerbates an existing condition, such as
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depression, anxiety or issues with body image.
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That’s why teens who attend treatment at

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Newport Academy, a residential rehab and

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mental health program with sites across the

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country, must check their digital devices at the

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door when they arrive.

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“Almost always, one of the symptoms is an

excessive amount of time on smartphones,”
says Heather Senior Monroe, a Newport
Academy administrator and licensed clinical
social worker. “And it’s usually a large symptom.”

A small number of facilities have sprung

up or added programs to specifically
address the abuse of digital media. And in
Washington state, a hub of high tech, there’s
a 12-step group called Internet & Tech
Addiction Anonymous .
From Henry and Everett’s perspective, the
real problem is that their parents seem stricter
than most.

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Like a lot of teens, Everett often uses multiple
screens in the evening. He saved his own money
to buy himself an older-model iPhone — “to
fit in,” he says — and also uses a Chromebook
laptop for homework. At his age, his mom says,
his screen habits may be “a lost cause.”

But she keeps working on limits for Henry. Games

are not allowed on weekdays. And he gets screen
time only if all his homework is done.
Experts say time limits can help but are
sometimes a moot point given how deeply
technology is “embedded in our daily life,”
says Sarah Domoff, a psychologist at Central
Michigan University.
Instead she asks parents: How are your children
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doing in school? Are they active and physically
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healthy? Are they connecting with others in

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positive ways?
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She does have a few basic rules, including

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limiting screen time for younger kids to the

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educational stuff. She also suggests making

bedrooms “screen-free zones,” even for teens.
(Other experts, at the very least, advise keeping
devices out of rooms overnight to avoid late-
night shenanigans or other sleep interruptions.)

The Haileys sheepishly note that Everett

routinely multitasks in his room with one eye
on the Chromebook and often the other on his
phone. “I think we’re kind of wimps,” Barb Hailey
says. Henry doesn’t have a phone — yet.
But phones and other screens are not allowed
during meals — a limit both boys seem to
appreciate. Everett says when they go out to
eat, he happily leaves his phone in the car and
marvels at the number of other families who are

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 at the table with screens. “That just looks bad,”
he says.

Managing all this is no easy task, even for

experts such as Sierra Filucci, executive editor
of parenting content at Common Sense Media,
an organization that helps families navigate the
digital world.
Her own 12-year-old son, like Henry, is a fan of
“Fortnite.” She’s witnessed the “bad attitude”
when he’s asked to get off the game and take
out the garbage or find something to do that
doesn’t involve a screen. But she also sees the
positives — connections he’s made with new
friends at school, for instance. For her, the
question is: “How do we help him self-regulate?”
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Some parents simply put off getting their kid
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a phone. Jacqui Koch, a college professor and

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mother in Wilmette, Illinois, had her sixth-grade

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daughter sign a pledge to wait until eighth

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grade for a smartphone — part of the national

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”Wait Until 8th ” movement. Her daughter didn’t

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put up much fuss, in part because mom has

limited tech use for years.

“We are definitely not the norm of what we’re

surrounded by,” Koch says, noting that she saw a
“huge uptick” of kids with phones in fifth grade.
Now some parents she knows are trying to
backpedal, “and that’s hard,” she says.
The idea is that Wait Until 8th and events such
as the National Day of Unplugging, an annual
event in March, will make screen limits more
socially acceptable and less like an adult-world
imposition on kids.
Another key: Parents setting limits with their
own devices.

81
When Allen Hailey is on his phone while
watching a football game, Everett is quick to tell
him that he’s on his phone too much. “He gets
really mad,” Everett says.
When mom comes home, she says she tries to
put down her phone, though it’s hard not to
check emails for work. “Let me just check in,”
she’ll say — and before long finds herself on
Instagram and Facebook.

“You can go down the rabbit hole so easily,”

Barb Hailey says. “Then you get it thrown back
in your face.”

It’s not an easy balance to strike, but all the

Haileys are trying. “We may not like it,” Everett
says, as his little brother nods. “But we know it’s
g
a
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for the best.”
ok
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e/

Their dad still wants his boys to read 30 minutes

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m.
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a day. After he put the limits on the Wi-Fi, Everett

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went out and bought two books, then texted

t
//

Dad photos of them to prove he’d done it.

s:
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ht

The boys do regularly hang out with friends in

person, and both play soccer. Everett plays the
saxophone. Henry plays trumpet and recently
took up the drums.

Mom laughs: “So when we say, ‘Get off the

screen’ and he goes and plays the snare drum,
we have to live with that decision.”

Online:
Common Sense Media report
WHO gaming disorder
Internet & Tech Addiction Anonymous
Wait Until 8th
National Day of Unplugging

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 TECHNOLOGY
CREDITED
WITH AIDING
ATLANTIC CITY’S
CRIME DROP

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Crime is down in Atlantic City, and police are

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crediting several factors including technology

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that helps them monitor high-crime areas and

identify potential risks.

Violent crimes were down more than 30 percent

last month compared to a year ago, and overall
crimes are down two-thirds from five years ago.
The technology includes Risk Terrain Modeling,
or RTM, which maps high-crime areas but also
identifies factors that can draw crime to an area.

Police also use about 1,400 cameras to virtually

patrol the city. They credit the technology with
helping them apprehend a teen accused of
killing a man in Ventnor last week.

Deputy Police Chief James Sarkos tells The Press

of Atlantic City that jobs created by the openings
of two casinos this year also have helped.

85
DEMOCRATS GEAR
UP FOR MORE
DIGITAL SPENDING
IN 2020

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One of the largest outside Democratic groups

says ramped-up spending on digital advertising
played a key role in midterm battleground
races, offering a lesson for potential presidential
contenders in 2020.

“You’re going to have to have an organization

that speaks directly to voters on their phones
and their computers,” said Guy Cecil, chairman of
Priorities USA, which spearheaded much of the
party’s digital effort during the recent midterm
elections. “If the presidential candidates do not
have that as a central part of their operation,
they will not win.”

86
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87
Democrats are trying to draw in new voters
who are young, diverse and college educated.
But at a time when cord-cutting millennials
and their parents alike are spending more
time online, the party remains
disproportionately committed to TV
advertising, strategists say, a dynamic that
could complicate those efforts.

“Who is watching broadcast television, who is

watching Wheel of Fortune, who is watching
Jeopardy? They are older, white and they tend
to not be Democratic voters,” said Tim Lim, who
worked on the campaigns of former President
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and is now a
fellow at Georgetown’s Institute of Politics. “By

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focusing so much on broadcast TV ads, we are a
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ok

missing crucial audiences to talk to.”

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e/
m

But it’s not just about how much is spent

m.
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online; it’s about how that money is spent.

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//

While Democrats have been wildly successful

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at using online advertising to rake in millions

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in donations and build email contact lists from

their base, they’ve lagged behind Republicans
when it comes to winning over new or on-the-
fence voters in the digital space, operatives in
both parties say.

A spokeswoman for the Democratic National

Committee did not respond to a request for
comment. However, there are signs that the
party is making improvements.
One bright spot for Democrats was Priorities’
$6.3-million digital effort that supported
Senator-elect Kyrsten Sinema’s win over GOP
Rep. Martha McSally in Arizona, a red state that
has shown signs of trending toward Democrats.

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The goal was driving up overall turnout, with an
additional focus on several key demographic
groups, including Latinos and whites without
a college degree. One set of slickly produced
“social pressure” and motivational ads featured a
diverse group of actors making the argument for
why voting matters.
At the same time, a separate prong of the
campaign was aimed at reducing support for
a Green Party candidate who later dropped
out and endorsed Sinema — a late-breaking
development that was highlighted in online ads.

As evidence the campaign helped, Priorities

noted in a memo provided to Media that
turnout was up overall and Sinema performed
better than Democrats in the recent past with g
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the groups that were targeted.

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 ht
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92
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 “We have definitely closed the gap from the
previous cycle, but it doesn’t mean we’re
entirely there yet,” said Cecil, whose group
spent roughly $50 million overall on digital
advertising during the midterms.
Though Democrats are behind when it comes
to online advertising, an aversion to big
spending on digital is not entirely unique to
them when compared to the corporate world.
While hard numbers are difficult to come by,
both parties tend to spend vastly less than
is common among corporate advertising
clients, where digital spending averages
around 40 percent — more than what is
normally spent on TV.
ag
It’s also hard to tell how the parties are
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spending their online advertising dollars

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m

because much of the publicly available data

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does not differentiate between ads geared

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el
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toward fundraising and email list building

//
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versus ads aimed at winning over voters.

tp
ht

Still, there are some broader trends that can

be looked at.

After being outspent by Republicans on

Facebook in 2016, Democratic campaigns
and aligned outside groups had outspent
Republicans by more than a 2-to-1 margin on
the platform as of last month, according to
Facebook data compiled by Democratic digital
advertising firm Bully Pulpit International.
“Facebook is the best platform for lead
generation and digital fundraising, which
explains why Democrats are using it to channel
the outrage of their base into email addresses
and donations,” said Michael Duncan, a partner
and digital strategist at the Republican firm

93
94
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s:
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 Cavalry LLC. “But when it comes to persuasion
(of undecided voters), video overall — and
Google specifically — are better platforms.”
That’s where Republicans have
outspent Democrats.
A late onslaught of digital spending by a
slew of outside progressive groups during
the closing weeks of the midterms narrowed
Republicans’ spending advantage on Google
from 1.65-to-1 down to 1.18, according to data
compiled by Bully Pulpit.
But Democrat’s online spending figures are also
skewed by the candidacy of Beto O’Rourke, a
West Texas congressman who unsuccessfully
challenged Sen. Ted Cruz. O’Rourke shattered
g
a
sm
records, raising more than $70 million. He
ok
bo

spent more than $8 million on Facebook ads

e/
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m.

and $1.8 million on Google, according to

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eg

disclosures by both companies.

el
t
//

Republicans say they used to be where

s:
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Democrats are now. Then, after the GOP

lost the 2012 presidential race, the
Republican National Committee mandated
that the party devote serious resources to
digital advertising.

Now they sit atop a sophisticated, data-driven

digital enterprise that is updated in real
time and can micro-target voters based on
specific issues.

“We’re getting to the point where digital has

the scale of television with the targeting of
direct mail,” said Duncan, the Republican
strategist. “There are all sorts of ways you can
slice and dice a voter file, match it to profiles
online and serve ads.”

95
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 NASA ACCEPTS
DELIVERY OF
EUROPEAN
POWERHOUSE
FOR MOONSHIP

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NASA has accepted delivery of a key European

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part needed to power the world’s next-

generation moonship.

U.S. and European leaders gathered at Kennedy

Space Center on Friday to mark the occasion.

The newly arrived powerhouse, or service

module, will propel NASA’s Orion capsule to the
moon during a test flight without passengers
planned for 2020. A mega rocket under
development by NASA, known as SLS for Space
Launch System, will launch the combo.

The European component “allows us to take

people farther into space than we’ve ever gone
before, so it is a really big event for all of the
Orion program,” said NASA’s Orion program
manager Mark Kirasich.

97
Orion and the attached service module are
meant to fly near the moon, but not land.
Future missions will carry astronauts, with the
goal of building an outpost just beyond the
moon that could enable lunar landings and
Mars expeditions.

The European Space Agency’s director general,

Jan Worner, stressed to the crowd, “We will
not go back to the moon, we will go forward
to the moon.” That’s because it will be in “a
totally different way” involving cooperation
rather than competition, as was the case during
NASA’s Apollo moon-landing program of the
1960s and 1970s.

On its only spaceflight to date, the Orion

capsule soared more than 3,600 miles (5,800 g
a
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ok
bo

kilometers) above Earth in 2014. The second,

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m

considerably more distant demo will come in

m.
ra

2020 with the Orion and service module; that

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will mark the SLS’ launch debut. This mission

//
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has been repeatedly delayed.

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Image: Luke Kitterman

 FORMER GEORGIA
GROCERY STORE
TRANSFORMED
INTO AIR
FORCE LAB

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A former grocery store in Middle Georgia is now

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//

serving high-tech aircraft manufacturing for

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the military.

The inside of the brick building — a former

Publix store in Warner Robins — is full of
gleaming new futuristic machinery.

The Air Force Advanced Technology and Training

Center is reminiscent of the lab James Bond
walks through to pick up his latest spy gadgets.
The facility is a satellite operation of Robins
Air Force Base. It officially opened Oct. 24, the
Macon newspaper reported.

The center now employs about 30 people and

may eventually employ about 100. The lab is
the second like it in the Air Force. The first is
connected with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
in Dayton, Ohio.

101
The Georgia facility involves 3-D printing,
also called additive manufacturing, as a key
to keeping the aging fleet flying. Previously
3-D printing had been thought of primarily
as something to make prototypes, but
now the Air Force is looking at using it to
routinely make parts to be used in planes, the
newspaper reported.

The traditional method of fabricating a part from

scratch involved essentially carving it out of a
piece of metal, or subtractive manufacturing,
Maj. Ben Steffens said. That required special
tooling to make the specific part, so the
setup alone could be time-consuming
and expensive.

g
In additive manufacturing, a machine a
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measures the part, creates a digital model,

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then an additive manufacturing machine

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m.
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slowly builds it layer by layer, the Macon

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newspaper reported. It’s much cheaper

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//

and faster than the traditional method, said

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Steffens, who works in the Air Force Corrosion

Prevention and Control Office at Robins Air
Force Base and is now involved in getting the
Advanced Technology and Training Center in
full operation.

The new center is crucial to keeping old aircraft

flying when parts for it are no longer available,
Steffens said.
“Much of the work that has been done on the
base has been done in the same method for
years and years,” he said. “This equipment, this
technology, this material that we are dealing
with here is cutting edge and will bring us to the
next level as far as keeping our schedule down,
keeping our cost low.”

102
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103
 #01 – Tomb of the Mask
By Playgendary GmbH
Category: Games / Free
Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#02 – Go Fish!
By Kwalee Ltd
Category: Games / Free
Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#03 – Hello Stars

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

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

#05 – Snapchat
ag
By Snap, Inc.
sm
Category: Photo & Video / Free
ok
bo

Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
e/
m
m.
ra
eg

#06 – Messenger
el

By Facebook, Inc.
t
//

Category: Social Networking / Free

s:

Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
tp
ht

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

#08 – Bumper.io
By Voodoo
Category: Games / Free
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#09 – Fortnite
By Chair Entertainment Group
Category: Games / Free
Requires iOS 11.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#10 – Google Maps

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

104
#01 – GarageBand
By Apple
Category: Music / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later

#02– Microsoft Remote Desktop 10

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

#03 – WhatsApp Desktop

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

#04 – Flick for Netflix: Watch Movie

By Cao Minghui
Category: Video / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#05 – AdBlock for Safari

g
a
By BETAFISH INC
sm
Category: Productivity / Free
ok
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Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

e/
m
m.
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#06 – Shazam
el

By Shazam Entertainment Ltd.

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//

Category: Music / Free

s:

Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

tp
ht

#07 – Microsoft OneNote

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

#08 – MKPlayer - Media Player

By Rocky Sand Studio Ltd.
Category: Video / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#09 – Xcode
By Apple
Category: Developer Tools / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.11.5 or later

#10 – DeskApp for YouTube

By Rocky Sand Studio Ltd.
Category: Video / Free
Compatibility: OS X 10.8 or later, 64-bit processor

105
 #01 – Minecraft
By Mojang
Category: Games / Price: $6.99
Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#02 – Heads Up!

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

#03 – PlantSnap Plant Identification

By PlantSnap, Inc.
Category: Education / Price: $3.99
Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#04 – Plague Inc

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

#05 – Human Anatomy Atlas 2019

ag
By Argosy Publishing
sm
Category: Medical / Price: $0.99
ok
bo

Requires iOS 11.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
e/
m
m.
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#06 – Facetune
el

By Lightricks Ltd.
t
//

Category: Photo & Video / Price: $3.99

s:

Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
tp
ht

#07 – Bloons TD 6
By Kaiparasoft Ltd
Category: Games / Price: $4.99
Requires iOS 11.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#08 – Sky Guide

By Fifth Star Labs LLC
Category: Reference / Price: $9.99
Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

#09 – Dark Sky Weather

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

#10 – Pocket City

By Bobby Li
Category: Games / Price: $4.99
Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

106
#01 – Logic Pro X
By Apple
Category: Music / Price: $279.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

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

#03 – Final Cut Pro

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

#04 – Adware Doctor: Malware Remove

By YONGMING ZHANG
Category: Utilities / Price: $6.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.6.6 or later

#05 – iGoOffice - Microsoft Office Edition

g
a
By Time Base Technology Limited
sm
Category: Business / Price: $54.99
ok
bo

Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor

e/
m
m.
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#06 – The Sims™ 2: Super Collection

el

By Aspyr Media, Inc.

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//

Category: Games / Price: $39.99

s:

Compatibility: OS X 10.9.2 or later

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ht

#07 – Affinity Photo

By Serif Labs
Category: Photography / Price: $69.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor

#08 – Dr. Cleaner Pro

By Trend Micro, Incorporated
Category: Utilities / Price: $20.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#09 – Fibbage XL
By Jackbox Games, Inc.
Category: Games / Price: $13.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

#10 – Filezilla Pro - FTP SFTP S3

By Business Follows srl
Category: Utilities / Price: $19.99
Compatibility: OS X 10.11 or later, 64-bit processor

107
108
&
Trailer
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TV Shows
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 Mile 22

This action adventure stars Mark Wahlberg

as James Silva, an operative in the CIA’s
highest unit. With the help of a top-
secret command team, Silva must retrieve
and transport an asset who holds life-
threatening information to Mile 22 for
extraction, prior to the enemy closing in.

FIVE FACTS:
1. The script was written with Mark
Wahlberg in mind.
2. The film’s working title was
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Ground Branch.
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3. Principal photography took place in

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Colombia, as well as in Atlanta, Georgia.

m

by Peter Berg
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Genre: Action & Adventure

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Released: 2018 4. Colombian President Juan Manuel

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Price: $14.99 Santos showed up on-set one day and even

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tried his hand at shooting one of the film’s

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action sequences.
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131 Ratings
5. The film is intended to be a starting point
for a new franchise, encompassing a web
series as well as two movie sequels.

Rotten Tomatoes

23 %

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 ag
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MILE 22 | Supercut
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All Clips and Trailer Compilation

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111
Puzzle

A bored suburban wife and mother

discovers a passion for jigsaw puzzles that
draws her unexpectedly into a new world.

FIVE FACTS:
1. Puzzle stars Kelly Macdonald as Agnes,
Irrfan Khan as her puzzle partner Robert,
and David Denman in the role of Louie,
Agnes’ husband.
2. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance
Film Festival
3. Macdonald is Scottish, so had to feign an
g
a
sm
American accent for the role.
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4. It was filmed on location in Manhattan,

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New York.
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5. The movie won Heartland Film’s Truly

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Moving Picture Award.

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112
 g
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by Marc Turtletaub
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Genre: Drama
eg

Released: 2018
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Price: $14.99
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13 Ratings Trailer

Rotten Tomatoes

83 %

113
114
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 Did You Forget About Us?
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115
 Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Released: Nov 16, 2018
14 Songs
Price: $13.99
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177 Ratings
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“TINTS” (ft. Kendrick Lamar)

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116
Music
 Oxnard
Anderson .Paak

Anderson .Paak’s third studio album follows

2014’s Venice and 2016’s Malibu, completing
the hip-hop star’s “beach series”. It features the
single “Tints” with Kendrick Lamar, while Dr.
Dre serves as executive producer.

FIVE FACTS:
1. Anderson .Paak’s birth name is Brandon
Paak Anderson.
2. He was born in Oxnard, California.

g
3. He co-wrote two songs for Christina
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a
Aguilera’s 2018 album Liberation.
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4. As well as his three albums under the

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m.

Anderson .Paak name, he released an album

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in 2012, O.B.E. Vol. 1, under the pseudonym

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Breezy Lovejoy.
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5. He is also one half of the duo NxWorries.

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118
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“Mansa Musa” (feat. Dr. Dre & Cocoa Sarai)

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Delta
Mumford & Sons

The fourth studio album from the British folk-

rock act incorporates elements of jazz, rap
and electronic and includes the new single
“Guiding Light”, which peaked at number six
on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100
Singles chart.

FIVE FACTS:
1. The album is being promoted with a
Genre: Alternative
60-date tour from this month, continuing Released: Nov 16, 2018
into 2019. 14 Songs
Price: $11.99
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2. It was recorded at The Church Studios in
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London with producer Paul Epworth.

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343 Ratings
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m.

3. More than 25 songs were recorded, with

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14 making the final cut.

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4. The band name originated from Marcus

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Mumford being the most visible member.

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5. So far, two of the band’s albums have

reached number one in the US, with
2009 debut Sigh No More having made
number two.

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“Guiding Light”

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 g
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Behind The Track: Guiding Light With

Mumford & Sons | Sound Bites

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124
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 GAME NOT OVER
IN ‘RALPH BREAKS
THE INTERNET’

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In a battle between the internet and John C.

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Reilly, who among us wouldn’t root for the

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latter? Leave us IMDb.com and a few podcasts,

John, but by all means, go smashy-smashy with
the rest.
Having liberated arcade game characters from
their rigidly ordained roles in 2012’s “Wreck-it
Ralph,” its sequel, “Ralph Breaks the Internet,”
sends our charmingly lopsided duo — the
hulking, big-fisted Ralph (Reilly) and the glitchy
pipsqueak candy-colored racer Vanellope
von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) — into that
expansive netherworld where clickbait lurks and
pop-ups proliferate.

For a pair of pixelated beings whose existence

has heretofore been limited to a handful of video
games, they’re decidedly not in Kansas anymore.

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The web of “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is a
strictly PG-rated, sanitized version; there are no
dark turns down 4chan alleys or face-to-faces
with Infowars conspiracies. But that doesn’t
mean there aren’t cruel truths that Ralph must
confront in cyberspace — none more than when
a crestfallen Ralph sees the responses to his
popular viral video. Never read the comments.

In trading Qbert jokes for eBay ones, “Ralph

Breaks the Internet,” directed by Rich Moore and
Phil Johnston, does more than shift the puns. If
“Wreck-it Ralph” was a nostalgic “Toy Story”-like
trip into ’80s arcade games, “Ralph Breaks the
Internet” is more current. It’s ultimately about
male-controlling impulses run amok.
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Vanellope, who’s tired of winning the same

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old rainbow-colored races in her game, Sugar

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Rush. But while the video-game characters are

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convening in their Grand Central-like terminal, a

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new plug labeled “WiFi” arrives above. “It’s either

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Wiffle ball or an arranged marriage,” says Ralph.

Soon after, the impending unplugging of Sugar
Rush (due to a malfunction) prompts a kind of
migrant crisis. All of the game’s characters flee
before they get trapped in the shutdown and
need new, adoptive homes.

Vanellope crashes with Ralph, but he can see his

friend — and their friendship is indeed endearing
— is feeling lost. Ralph resolves to journey into
the internet to purchase the replacement part
that will save Vanellope’s game. Crawling through
the router, they speed through optical cables
and arrive in an infinite, glittering cityscape
populated by towers of tech (Amazon, Google)
and byzantine byways of zipping digital avatars.

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 Ralph Breaks the Internet
“We Are In The Internet” Clip

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 It’s an idealized vision of the internet. There are no
trolling Russian bots here, just some distracting
ads and a quite charming, bespectacled search
engine (voiced by Alan Tudyk) that will try to
finish every sentence. The pair’s initial plans prove
more complicated once they discover the online
world isn’t just a game, but a place dictated by real
money. To raise the money, Ralph quickly turns
video star, churning out meme-inspired videos
with the help of a Buzztube executive (Taraji P.
Henson). Many, especially those in newsrooms, will
watch with jealousy at just how quickly Ralph is
able to monetize clicks.
There are other adventures, too. Vanellope finds
a far grimier, “Grand Theft Auto”-like racing game

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a stylish driver voiced by Gal Gadot. It’s hardly

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the kind of game that anyone would imagine

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a good fit for a petite ponytailed pixie. But she

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thrills to the more grown-up racing world, eager

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to test her skills. Online, you can find your niche.

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Ralph Breaks the Internet | Official Trailer 2

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 Other cyber doors are less appealing. In one
self-referential diversion, Vanellope walks into
a room of Disney princesses. Jasmine, Moana,
Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, Belle and others
are sitting around, waiting to participate in
an online quiz: “Which Disney princess are
you?” They all speak a little similarly (and
they note, none have mothers) in a segue
of self-deprecation for Disney that’s both a
welcome gag and, for the media behemoth,
false modesty.
There’s much that’s clever in “Ralph Breaks
the Internet,” but it’s the film’s heart — thanks
to Reilly and Silverman’s voice work and easy
rapport — that has made them more than a

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whiz-bang graphical blast. These are fragile and
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sensitive protagonists trying to be themselves

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in a world of pop-culture-prescribed roles. In

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“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” it’s Ralph who has to

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do some soul-searching.
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The movie isn’t always quite up to the task. It

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would be better if it went further and wrestled

more with the online world than used it as
another bits and bytes background. Really, it
doesn’t quite live up to the title. Ralph could
have done more damage.

“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” a Warner Bros.

Pictures release, is rated PG for some action and
rude humor. Running time: 112 minutes. Two
and a half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG: Some material may not be suitable for children

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 TALES OF
REINVENTION
ABOUND IN
OSCARS RACE

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F. Scott Fitzgerald, who said there are no second

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acts in American lives, might have felt differently

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had he seen this year’s Oscar race.

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In mid-November, there is much solidifying,

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scrapping and self-promotion to come (not to

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mention a few potential awards heavyweights).

But most of the expected contenders have by
now been seen and there’s a definite theme:
Reinvention is the season’s most sought-
after attribute.
One after another, potential contenders have
trotted out new iterations of themselves: Lady
Gaga, the actor; Alfonso Cuaron, the re-made
filmmaker; Melissa McCarthy, dramatic actress;
Peter Farrelly, a million miles from “Dumb
and Dumber.”
Metamorphoses, like that of Rami Malek’s
prosthetic-toothed, full-bodied performance
as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody”
(an expected best actor nominee), are always

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 From Lady Gaga to Peter
Farrelly, reinvention is this
season’s most sought-
after attribute in the
competition for an Oscar.
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Image: Neal Preston

 a staple of awards season. But this year,
transformation is more than a costume change.
It’s an abiding ethos.
Coming between the fall festivals and the onset
of critics’ awards, November is when Oscar
campaigns hope to get enough traction to land
on — or ascend — the short lists that proliferate
ahead of the litany of ceremonies to come.

So far, much of the field breaks down between

an old dichotomy: crowd-pleasers and show-
stoppers, and intimate art-house indies. Among
the former are Bradley Cooper’s box-office
smash “A Star Is Born”; Peter Farrelly’s soon-to-
debut charmer “Green Book,” with Mahershala
Ali and Viggo Mortensen; and Ryan Coogler’s
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superhero sensation “Black Panther.”
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All of them are studio films. And each reminds

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Hollywood it can still do something it may

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have thought it no longer could: make an old-

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fashioned romance; craft a poignant, uplifting

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comic drama; create an urgent and meaningful

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comic book film.

Like many of this year’s nominees, Hollywood,
itself, is in flux. The film industry is becoming
more digital (Disney and Warner Bros. are
prepping Netflix-like streaming services) and
it’s shrinking (Disney is acquiring Fox; more
consolidation is expected). Hollywood is
searching for a second act, too.

That pressure is due, in part, to new viewing

habits and deep-pocketed innovators like
Netflix, which this year has its most lauded
Oscar contender yet: Cuaron’s “Roma,” a deeply
personal black-and-white film that the Mexican
director has said made him reinvent himself as
a filmmaker. “Roma” won the Golden Lion at the

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Venice Film Festival, and it’s expected to return
Cuaron (who won best director for his last film,
2013’s “Gravity”) to the category, alongside
Cooper, whose “A Star Is Born” launches the
43-year-old actor as director.
Partly to appease Oscar voters, Netflix has for
the first time granted a theatrical window for a
handful of films (including “Roma” and the Coen
brothers’“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”). The
gesture has an underlying message to Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members:
Netflix and theaters can coexist (at least if an
Oscar is at stake).
There are plenty of contenders predicated not
on reinvention, but on doing what they do best.
There is Spike Lee’s incendiary “BlacKkKlansman,” g
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a prize-winner at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Yorgos Lanthimos’ savage period romp “The

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Favourite” could land noms for all three of

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its leads: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and

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Rachel Weisz. (The latter two are expected to

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go as supporting actresses.) Two years after

“Moonlight” won best picture, Barry Jenkins is
back with an equally lyrical and eloquent film,
the James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street
Could Talk.” And lauded performances by the
likes of Robert Redford (his maybe-swansong in
“The Old Man & the Gun”) and Richard E. Grant
(alongside McCarthy in “Can You Ever Forgive
Me?”) are brilliant because they capture the
performers in their sweet spot.
There are plenty more in the mix, too, like Steve
McQueen’s just-opening “Widows”; Damien
Chazelle’s “First Man,” with Ryan Gosling as
Neil Armstrong; and “Eighth Grade,” the tender
coming-of-age drama from Bo Burnham.

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 The 28-year-old Burnham boasts one of the
year’s most extreme accounts of reinvention.
He was an internet-fueled stand-up comedian
when, two years ago, he gave up the stage and
grew disenchanted with social media. “Eighth
Grade,” starring 15-year-old Elsie Fisher, is
about a shy girl who overcomes Instagram-
amplified anxieties.

Most notable of the still-unseen films is “Vice,”

the Dick Cheney biopic from Adam McKay,
who several films ago charted the path from
comedy to drama that Farrelly (he of the Farrelly
brothers) is now steering. Christian Bale, who
disappears under makeup and a 40 lb. weight
gain as the former vice president, is, sight-

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unseen, believed to be a likely contender,
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so great is his reputation for transformation.

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Another of those “nearly unrecognizable”

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performances may follow suit: Nicole Kidman,

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mean and gaunt in the L.A. noir “Destroyer,”

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if votes don’t instead go her way for the gay

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conversation therapy drama “Boy Erased.”

The academy members voting on those and

other performances (Glenn Close! Timothee
Chalamet! Yalitza Aparicio! Ethan Hawke! Regina
King!) are perhaps the most fluctuating part
of the whole season. Membership has been
greatly expanded in recent years to diversify and
internationalize the academy’s ranks. After last
year’s all-time low ratings, the Oscar ceremony
is being revamped by John Bailey, academy
president. Though the academy withdrew its
“popular film” category, it’s shortening the
broadcast and won’t present all awards live.
At this year’s Academy Awards, everyone’s
getting a makeover.

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MICHAEL B. JORDAN,
NOW A HOLLYWOOD
HEAVYWEIGHT,
PUNCHES UP

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If Michael B. Jordan’s path to this moment

was condensed and edited, it might look,
appropriately, like a training montage.

Images of Jordan cutting his teeth on the

Baltimore streets of “The Wire” and the
Texas football fields of “Friday Night Lights,”
followed by hints of a soaring talent (“Red
Tails,”“Chronicle”), shattering breakthroughs
(“Fruitvale Station”) and setbacks (“Fantastic
Four”) before reaching, with a pair of haymakers
(“Creed,”“Black Panther”), heavyweight status.
Parallel to Jordan’s steady rise has been the
31-year-old’s expanding sway behind the
scenes in Hollywood. His production company,

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 Image: Christopher Polk
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143
Outlier Society Productions, was among the first
to embrace the inclusion rider, adopting the
pledge to seek diverse casts and crews just days
after Frances McDormand referenced it at the
Oscars. Jordan was also influential on a similar
agreement by WarnerMedia, making Warner
Bros. the sole major studio thus far to sign up.
“He’s always been a big-idea guy,” says Ryan
Coogler, who directed Jordan in “Fruitvale
Station,”“Creed” and “Black Panther.”“He’s always
been conscious of his own responsibility.”

“Creed II,” which opens in theaters Wednesday,

finds Jordan’s character, Adonis Creed — like
the actor, himself — adjusting to his newfound
prominence: reaching the pinnacle of his
profession while still having to fight for what he g
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believes in. As Steven Caple Jr.’s boxing drama

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prepared to open in theaters, Jordan went door-

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to-door in Georgia urging people to vote in the

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midterm elections.
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“You’ve been doing one thing for 20 years.

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Constantly working at it, trying to grow and

become successful, or whatever your version
of success is. And then you have a moment in
time where everything seems to be coming
together at the same time. Everything seems to
be happening. But you live in a society, in a world
that’s kind of going to s---,” Jordan said in a recent
interview. “So to be able to use one to help the
other, is something. To try to find your voice.”

It’s an answer with shades of Jordan’s typical

performance: earnest, thoughtful, tinged with
pain. Then he exhales.
“I don’t know, man,” says Jordan. “Honestly, there’s
a lot going on right now and I’m trying to find my
place in all of it, professionally and personally.”

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 A big part of Jordan’s quest was “Black Panther,”
in which he played Erik Killmonger. The part
is ostensibly a villain, but in Jordan’s hands,
Killmonger — a wounded, fatherless warrior bent
on reparations through violence — has a depth
uncommon if not outright alien to comic-book
films. Between Killmonger and the Wakanda
leader T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is a larger
dialogue, one fraught with history, between
African identity and the African diaspora.

“Making a movie, you rarely come out the other

side the same. You either grow or regress. I
came out a different man,” says Coogler. “The
conversation that was had between T’Challa and
Killmonger, what it means to be African — I didn’t

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know I needed that movie as much as I did until
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after I made it. I look back and I say: ‘Man, I really

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needed that. I needed that conversation.’”

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The performance has made Jordan one of this

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year’s leading supporting actor contenders for

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the Academy Awards. Coogler praises his friend’s

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vulnerability in a complicated role.

“He was one of the few African-American

characters and he was carrying the weight of
that cultural representation,” says Coogler. “Mike
brings a lot of the empathy with him, as a person
and as a performer. That’s one of the things that
makes him special. Almost as soon as you see
him, you empathize with him.”

Just as “Creed II” is opening in theaters, “Black

Panther” is returning to them. On Nov. 27, it
screens for free in arthouse theaters nationwide,
a few months after wrapping up its $1.35 billion
run worldwide. “Black Panther,” the year’s biggest
domestic blockbuster and most resonant
cultural event, left a mark on Jordan.

147
“Playing Killmonger, carrying that oppression,
that feeling of being a representation of the
African diaspora, I felt a certain pressure and
responsibility to get it right. That was a very
maturing process for me,” Jordan says. “To be
very unapologetic, I had to play that role.”

A sequel to the acclaimed 2015 spinoff (it grossed

$173.6 million worldwide on a $35 million budget),
“Creed II” was fast-tracked by MGM in part to
capitalize on the success of “Black Panther” and
Jordan’s growing profile. Caple, whose feature
debut was the 2016 indie film “The Land,” had his
first meeting with producers around Thanksgiving
last year. By the first week of January, he was in
Philadelphia getting ready to shoot.
Caple preserved and expanded upon Coogler’s g
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naturalistic approach, and the film’s best

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scenes unlock raw intimacies outside the ring.

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Especially notable is the chemistry between

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Jordan and Tessa Thompson, who plays Adonis’

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girlfriend (“Mike feeds off of Tessa a lot,” says

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Caple), and the surprising pathos of the father-

son relationship between Ivan Drago (Dolph
Lundgren) and Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu).
In an echo of “Rocky IV,” the younger Drago is
Adonis’ foe this time.

Caple credits Jordan for the film’s

emotional authenticity.
“He’s genuine. Then you meet him in person
and you realize he’s the same way in real life.
You can’t act that or fake that. He used that as
a vehicle to get where he is today,” says Caple.
“Right now, he’s expanding on that with his
business, with his production company, with
his brand, and still being for the people in
many ways.”

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Jordan recently finished shooting “Just Mercy,”
in which he stars as civil rights defense attorney
Bryan Stevenson. The Warner Bros. production
was the first Jordan made with the inclusion
policy in place.
“The set, the crew was very diverse, all very
capable. It was a great experience. Hopefully
other studios and other productions will follow
our lead and demand the same thing from their
sets,” says Jordan. “Change takes time. It’s a small
step, but it’s the first step. I’m not expecting
Rome to be built in a day.”

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 DISNEY DETAILS
NEW ‘STAR WARS:
GALAXY’S EDGE’
ATTRACTIONS

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“Star Wars” fans will soon be able to pilot the

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Millennium Falcon and face off against Kylo Ren

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in battle.
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Disney announced some details of the new

“Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” lands, opening in
2019. It also announced that composer John
Williams, creator of the classic “Star Wars”
themes, is writing new music for the “Galaxy’s
Edge” attractions, and shared a sneak preview.
The two signature attractions of the “lands” now
under construction will be “Millennium Falcon:
Smuggler’s Run,” in which guests can take the
controls in three different roles, and “Star Wars:
Rise of the Resistance,” offering an “epic battle”
between the First Order and the Resistance.
The attractions are to open at Disneyland Resort
in summer 2019 and at Walt Disney World Resort
in the fall.

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 AMAZON HQ
EXPANSION
MEANS TOUGH
FIGHT FOR TALENT

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When tech giants like Amazon expand, other

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companies don’t just worry about losing

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business. They also fret about hanging on to

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their employees.
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Some of the industries that have defined New

York City and the Washington, D.C., area will face
increased competition for talent when Amazon
sets up shop in their territory, with plans to
hire 50,000 new workers amid the tightest job
market in decades.

The expansion comes at time of fierce demand

for computer programmers, mobile app
developers, data scientists and cybersecurity
experts. Salaries keep rising as companies
from banks to retailers seek new technology
professionals to expand their online presence and
automate operations. Particularly in demand are
software developers, with many switching jobs
each year. Even some banks have eased up on
their dress codes to project a hipper image.

155
“It’s a very competitive market in New York,”
said William Lynch, president of the New York-
based fitness tech company Peloton. “It really
requires you to be smart about how you are
reaching the new hiring pipeline.”
Tech employment in the U.S. has grown by an
average of 200,000 new jobs each year since
2010, a trend that is expected to continue for at
least the next decade, according to an industry
report from Computing Technology Industry
Association, or CompTIA, which analyzes data
from the Labor Department and other sources.
The figure includes all people employed by
tech companies, as well as tech professionals
in other industries.
In New York, big banks are among the g
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biggest employers of computer technology

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professionals. J.P. Morgan Chase employs

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50,000 people in technology and hired its

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first artificial intelligence research chief in

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May. Goldman Sachs has said one-quarter

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of its employees work in engineering-related

roles. Amazon’s traditional retail rivals are
striving to expand their online business
and develop new technologies to improve
operational efficiency.

But young professionals are flocking to tech

companies, lured by the idea of changing the
way people do everything from buying homes
to exercising.
“In the past, the traditional career path has
been to go into financial services, investment
banking and consulting. What we see now is a
surge of interest in tech companies,” said Dan
Wang, a professor of Business and Sociology at
Columbia University.

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Image: Chris Ratcliffe

Amazon will begin recruiting in a few months

for its two new headquarters in New York’s
Long Island City and the Washington suburb of
Arlington, seeking talent to support an empire
that has expanded to include cloud computing
services, advertising and, video streaming and
TV production. The company expects to hire
about 25,000 people over several years for
each location. The average salary will be about
$150,000 a year.

Amazon’s move is only the most dramatic

example of technology companies expanding
their presence in the East Coast. Instagram
opened a new office in New York over the
summer and plans to hire hundreds of

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engineers. Google is reportedly looking to add
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12,000 more employees in New York City.

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Amazon, now 24 years old, will have to contend

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with New York’s thriving startup scene, where

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companies flush with venture capital offer

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young people big roles and the chance to upend

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new industries.

That’s the kind of pitch prospective employees

hear from Peloton, which announced plans
Monday to move into bigger headquarters in
midtown Manhattan in 2020. The fitness tech
company, which received $550 million in new
investment in August, will be hiring thousands
of people across locations in the next years,
especially in technology, marketing and sales,
said Lynch, the company president. It currently
has nearly 100 positions open in New York City.
“We are aware of Amazon and it’s amazing for
New York City. But Google has been here. We’ve
been recruiting against Google for a long time,”
Lynch said.

159
The scramble for talent goes beyond tech
workers. Technology companies employ
more than 3.7 million people in supporting
roles like marketing and financing, according
to CompTIA.
That panorama is top of mind for people like
Dimple Bansal, a business graduate student
at Columbia University who is focusing her
studies on technology strategy. Last spring,
she took an internship at Airbnb and over the
summer she interned at Google.
“Tech is a growing landscape. I think it’s
exciting to bridge the divide between pure
technology skills, and to bring the business
mindset to these companies that are touching
so many lives,” said Bansal, 27. g
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Financial institutions have stepped up

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their recruiting strategies, trying to present

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their companies as innovation hubs for

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products from mobile apps to AI solutions

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for fraud reduction.

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J.P. Morgan announced plans earlier this year

to open a financial technology campus in
California’s Bay Area. Goldman holds online
coding challenges as part of its recruitment
efforts and launched an in-house incubator to
allow employees to develop ideas.

Wang, the Columbia professor, said startup

fashion brands could benefit from partnerships
if Amazon leverages its New York location to
venture into the luxury market. But Wang said
that could mean a competition for workers
from rivals like Walmart-owned Jet.com,
which currently has job openings for dozens
of engineers in its New Jersey headquarters,
across the Hudson River from New York.

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“If I were working at Jet.com, I would be very Mathew Calkins, a 25-year-old machine
tempted by Amazon,” Wang said. learning engineer who works in Washington,
D.C., for the consulting firm Booz Allen
As technology firms spread out, young
Hamilton, is moving to New York to work
professionals can be choosy about where they
at Google later this year. He saw New
live, another incentive for companies like Amazon
York City as a thriving technical hub with
to set up shop in in trendy urban centers.
more diversity than many of its West
Based on an analysis of the revisions in job Coast counterparts.
listings made on its online professional network,
“I didn’t want to move to San Francisco and
LinkedIn calculated 13 percent of the workers
have everyone I hang out with be other
specializing in software leave their employers for
engineers making six figures,” Calkins said.
another job each year.

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Image: David McNew

Calkins said recruiters who reach out to him

nearly every day on LinkedIn rarely focus on
“what’s important to me and a growing number
of folks in the tech market” — the chance
to make an impact. Instead, employers tout
compensation and perks.

“They all sound the same,” Calkins said.

Even if they can retain their employees, some
of the smaller companies might struggle attract
new talent needed to expand, said Carrie
Duarte, a Partner and Workforce of the Future
Leader at PwC. Their best bet is to tout the
chance to be a big fish in a small pond, she said.

Kestrel Linder, CEO of the Washington, D.C.,

startup GiveCampus, said has learned that he
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can lure prospective employees to his online
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educational fundraiser by offering comparable

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salaries and more autonomy.

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“Working at a startup while it is still growing is a

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perishable opportunity,” Linder said. “The giant

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companies aren’t going anywhere.”

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 BRING ME
THE BLEACH:
INVESTORS SEEK
STABILITY AS
STOCKS FALL

Goodbye iPhones and Facebook feed. Hello

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Since stocks began tumbling two months ago,

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investors haven’t abandoned the market. At

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least, not all of it. In recent weeks, as they’ve

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pulled money out of funds that invest in go-

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go technology companies, they’ve also been

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buying utilities, companies that make everyday

necessities for consumers and other stocks that
tend to have smaller swings in price than the
rest of the market.
It’s part of a big shift in investor behavior as fears
about rising interest rates, a global trade war
and slowing economic growth around the world
have roiled markets. The S&P 500 plunged as
much as 2.2 percent Tuesday, with technology
stocks again suffering particularly sharp losses,
and the index has lost nearly 10 percent since
setting its record on Sept. 20.

Technology stocks’ fall marks a big turnaround

from earlier this year, and from much of the
bull market that began nearly a decade ago.

167
After leading the market higher on the backs
of their strong profit growth, Facebook and
other big-name tech companies have recently
stumbled on concerns that increased government
regulation will dent their profits, on top of all the
other concerns dragging on the rest of the market.

Apple has slumped particularly hard on fears

that its newest crop of iPhones isn’t as popular
as expected after phone-part suppliers gave
discouraging forecasts. Apple has plunged 19.6
percent since the S&P 500 set its record two
months ago, nearly double the loss of the index.
Amazon, the third-most valuable U.S. company
after Apple and Microsoft, has fallen 23.1 percent
over the same time, during which it gave a

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forecast for revenue growth this holiday season a
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that fell short of Wall Street’s high expectations.

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After their years of eye-popping returns, those

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stocks had become some of the most popular

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to own among hedge funds, mutual funds and

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other investors. But just as they bought the

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stocks together on the way up, investors are

now heading for the exits en masse as well.

“There’s no doubt that tech companies are widely

owned, people have made a lot of money on
them and we’re finally seeing for the first time
where the rotation is having some legs,” said Nate
Thooft, senior portfolio manager at Manulife
Asset Management. “They’re selling the winners
and redeploying the money somewhere else.”
For now, at least, that somewhere else has
been areas of the stock market seen as holding
steadier during economic downturns. Last week,
for example, investors plowed $1.47 billion into
exchange-traded funds that focus on utility
stocks. The thinking is that utilities’ customers

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169
will continue to turn on their lights and buy
power regardless of how many tariffs get placed
on Chinese goods.
Utility stocks have not only held up better than
the rest of the market in recent weeks, they’ve
been among the few areas to thrive. Shares of
Duke Energy, Xcel Energy and American Electric
Power have all climbed more than 9 percent since
the S&P 500 began its downturn after Sept. 20.
Besides utilities, investors have also been putting
money into real-estate stocks and companies
that make everyday items for consumers, such as
Church & Dwight. The maker of Arm & Hammer
baking soda and Oxiclean stain fighters has
climbed 8 percent over the last two months.
Clorox, which last month reported stronger profit g
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than analysts expected, is up 5.6 percent.

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All these companies are common fodder

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for “low-volatility” ETFs that have surged in

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popularity in recent weeks as investors seek out

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stocks that have historically had smaller price

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swings than the rest of the market. Last week,

$1.3 billion went into “low-volatility” ETFs.

At the same time, nearly $500 million left

technology stock ETFs. It’s a huge about-face in
interest. As recently as two months ago, these
ETFs had attracted $8 billion in net investment
for 2018. But subsequent waves of selling mean
they’re now down to $525.9 million in net
investment for the year, according to Jefferies.
“These things had outperformed the S&P by a
mile over the last three years,” said Mark Hackett,
chief of investment research at Nationwide
Investment Management. But that’s changed
now. “On good days they’re not the leaders, and
on bad days they’re the laggards.”

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 EXPERIMENTAL
PLANE FLIES
SILENTLY, MAY LEAD
TO QUIET DRONES

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A nearly silent, drone-sized aircraft has shown it

can fly, thanks to a scientist who was inspired by
watching “Star Trek” as a child.

With neither propellers nor jets, the airplane

gets its thrust by applying a strong electric
field to the air. That general idea has been
demonstrated at science fairs, but the new work
shows it can power a free-flying airplane.
So can people look forward to traveling in planes
that are almost silent and emit no air pollution?
“Not anytime soon,” says Steven Barrett of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
who reported the results in a study released
Wednesday by the journal Nature.

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It’s not clear whether the technology could The Nature paper reports the results of 10 test
work at such a large scale, he said in a telephone flights inside an MIT athletic building. With a
interview. And even if it can, it would take a few wingspan of about 16 feet (5 meters), the five-
decades to develop such planes, he said. pound (2.45-kilogram) plane sailed along at
Before that, the approach might be used in about 11 mph (17 kph). Each flight covered
airplane-like drones that perform tasks like about 60 yards (55 meters).
environmental monitoring and surveillance, he Barrett, 35, said he was inspired as a child by
said. As drones become more common in urban watching “Star Trek” television episodes and
skies, the lack of noise would be an advantage in movies, where he was struck by the shuttles that
making them less bothersome to people on the flew with no moving parts in their propulsion
ground, he said. systems. He recalled thinking, “There should be a
way things should fly without having propellers
and (jet) turbines.”

As an adult, he focused on that and came across

a concept called “ionic wind.”
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175
For the MIT airplane, that involves a series
of thin wires at the front of the plane that
generate a powerful electric field. The field
strips electrons from air molecules, turning
the molecules into positively charged particles
called ions. Those ions flow toward negatively
charged parts of plane, colliding with ordinary
air molecules and transferring energy to them.
That produces a wind that provides thrust for
the plane, Barrett explained.

A similar process has long been used in outer

space to propel some spacecraft, he said.

Barrett said he hopes to find a way to eliminate

the “very slight buzz” one can hear.
“I think they’re onto something here,” said Pat
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Anderson, a professor of aerospace engineering
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at the Daytona Beach, Florida, campus of Embry-

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Riddle Aeronautical University. He had no role in

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the research.
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He called the results impressive. But the

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experimental aircraft lacks the range and

endurance to serve as a useful drone, and it’s not
clear whether the technology could be scaled
up to fix that or become useful for propelling a
passenger plane, he said.

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 TRANSIT RIDERS,
DRIVERS BRACE
FOR INFLUX
OF AMAZON
EMPLOYEES

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Commuters beware: New York and Washington’s

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clogged streets and creaky subway systems are

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about to feel more pain as 50,000 more people

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descend on the two metro areas where Amazon

will open new headquarters.

An expansion of that scope in a city such as

New York — where the regional subway, bus
and commuter lines move more than 8 million
people every day — sounds like something a
transit system should be able to absorb.
Not so, some experts say.
“Congestion will get worse. Buses will probably
get a little bit slower. There are going to be more
people traveling at a specific time of day to a
specific place,” said Eric Guerra, assistant professor
of city and regional planning at the University
of Pennsylvania. “But at the same time, they will
create a lot of jobs where people are.”

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Image: Susan Walsh
 Long Island City, the New York City
neighborhood that will be home to one of the
new headquarters, sits across the river from the
busy world of midtown Manhattan. The growing
neighborhood is crisscrossed by subways
and buses and surrounded by residential
neighborhoods. The other headquarters will
be in the Washington suburb of Arlington in
northern Virginia, a part of the country known
for its mind-numbing traffic.

Amazon said hiring at the two headquarters

will start next year, but it could take a decade
or more to build out its offices. Still, the
complaining has already begun.

Among the sticking points — Amazon has

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won the rights to a helipad at its Long Island
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City location, allowing some senior executives

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to get through rush hour in style, though the

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company had to agree to limit landings to 120

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per year.
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“For the city and state to greenlight a helipad

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for the wealthiest man in the world and one of

the richest corporations in the world is a slap in
the face to all New Yorkers, but particularly the
people in Queens who have to fight to get on
the 7 train in the morning,” said City Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer, a Democrat who represents
Long Island City. “And furthermore, if there were
25 to 30,000 Amazon employees in Long Island
City, that fight to get onto the train is going to
get a lot more intense.”

Frustration levels already are high among New

York City subway riders. More than a quarter
of residents spend more than an hour getting
to work, and 57 percent ride public transit to
commute, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

181
A key subway line that runs through Long Island
City has been often criticized for delays, though
long-awaited upgrades to allow trains to run
more frequently are on track to finish as soon
as this month, and a new ferry connection to
Manhattan opened in August. Still, Van Bramer
insisted the area is not sufficiently well served,
and there are complaints about noise pollution
from helicopters and sea planes.
“The entire city is in a mass transit crisis and
nothing that I’ve seen about this deal makes me
think it will help,” New York City Council Speaker
Corey Johnson said at a press conference.
“Western Queens transit infrastructure is already
strained and the 7 train in particular is a mess

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every morning, so this definitely adds to existing a
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transportation concerns.”
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New York City commuters have been clamoring

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for subway improvements for years, and some

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tweeted photos of packed subway stations

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near Amazon’s proposed new office and

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reported having let several overcrowded trains

go by before they were finally able to squeeze
into one.

Some see the dire warnings about New York’s

transit system as premature.

“Even as stressed as our system is right now,

an investment in growth of this magnitude
doesn’t overwhelm the transportation network
because it’s such a robust and large system,” said
Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional
Plan Association, an urban research and
advocacy organization.
Washington, D.C.’s subway system, which will
serve Amazon’s headquarters in Arlington’s
Crystal City, is at capacity on many lines and

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Image: Mark Lennihan

 has serious maintenance problems, said Tom
Rubin, a transportation consultant based in
Oakland, California. Repair work to the subway
station closest to Amazon’s new office resulted
in a disastrous commute last week as people
missed flights and stood in long lines for buses
that never arrived, said Thomas Cooke, professor
of business law at Georgetown University’s
McDonough School of Business.
In fact, fires have broken out so many times in
Washington D.C.’s Metro system that a developer
created a Twitter account to automatically tweet
suspected fires in stations.
“We have an embarrassing metro system here
that I hope will benefit by this relocation,” Cooke
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said, adding that taxpayers will be footing the
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bill for the transit improvements that Virginia

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agreed to in its deal with Amazon.

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Development along major highways in

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Northern Virginia and Washington have led to

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“unreasonable traffic delays on a daily basis” in

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the past few years, with drive times that used to

take 40 minutes ballooning to up to 90 minutes,
Cooke said.

In the nation’s capital, more than a third

of commuters ride public transit and most
commuters spend at least a half-hour getting
to work, according to the Census Bureau.
Commuters in the suburbs surrounding
Washington face even longer commute times.
Elsewhere, companies use van pools and private
buses to entice talented employees who want
to live in hipper neighborhoods away from
their offices. Google and Yahoo began running
private buses from downtown San Francisco and
elsewhere to their headquarters in Silicon Valley

185
more than a decade ago. In the Los Angeles
area, Disney, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. run
shuttle buses to carry employees from public
transit stations to their Burbank studios, said
Keith Millhouse, a transportation consultant and
principal at Millhouse Strategies.

Some hoped Amazon would invest in transit

upgrades as part of the deal. But it’s hard to
imagine Amazon volunteering to chip in for
transit improvements when so many cities — 238
submitted proposals — were competing for the
company’s second headquarters, Guerra said.

“If anything, they’re getting benefits out of it,”

Guerra said. “They’re unlikely to be paying for
new services.”
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 FARM ANIMALS
MAY SOON GET
NEW FEATURES
THROUGH
GENE EDITING

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Cows that can withstand hotter temperatures.

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Cows born without pesky horns. Pigs that never

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reach puberty.
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A company wants to alter farm animals by

adding and subtracting genetic traits in a lab. It
sounds like science fiction, but Recombinetics
sees opportunity for its technology in the
livestock industry.
But first, it needs to convince regulators
that gene-edited animals are no different
than conventionally bred ones. To make the
technology appealing and to ease any fears
that it may be creating Franken-animals,
Recombinetics isn’t starting with productivity.
Instead, it’s introducing gene-edited traits as a
way to ease animal suffering.
“It’s a better story to tell,” said Tammy Lee, CEO of
the St. Paul, Minnesota-based company.

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 For instance, animal welfare advocates have
long criticized the way farmers use caustic paste
or hot irons to dehorn dairy cows so the animals
don’t harm each other. Recombinetics snips out
the gene for growing horns so the procedure
is unnecessary.

Last year, a bull gene-edited by Recombinetics

to have the dominant hornless trait sired
several offspring. All were born hornless as
expected, and are being raised at the University
of California, Davis. Once the female offspring
starts lactating, its milk will be tested for
any abnormalities.
Another Recombinetics project: castration-
free pigs.

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When male piglets go through puberty,
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their meat can take on an unpleasant odor,

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something known as “boar taint.” To combat

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it, farmers castrate pigs, a procedure animal

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welfare advocates say is commonly performed

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without painkillers. Editing genes so that

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pigs never go through puberty would make

castration unnecessary.

Also in development are dairy cows that could

withstand higher temperatures, so the animals
don’t suffer in hotter climates.

Recombinetics and others say gene-editing

techniques do what traditional breeding has
always done, except much faster and with
the precision of “molecular scissors.” They are
waiting for clarity from government officials ,
but say meat and milk from gene-edited animals
shouldn’t be subject to special regulations.
Most U.S. dairy cows already are bred through
artificial insemination from “semen straws,”
which are priced for a bull’s pedigree and traits

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 The altering of food
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and animals by adding

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and subtracting genetic

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traits in a lab sounds like

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science fiction. Different

than GMO’s, gene-
edited food could be the
wave of the future.

193
developed through years of traditional breeding.
Gene-edited traits would just be higher-priced
extras, Recombinetics says. For example, the
hornless trait could add $3 to $5 to the price of a
semen straw that could cost around $15.
Once gene-editing is accepted by the public,
farmers will be more interested in traits that step
up productivity, Lee predicted. As an example,
she cited pigs edited to have bigger litters.

CHICKENS AS BIG AS ELEPHANT?

Before food from gene-edited animals can
land on dinner tables, however, Recombinetics
has to overcome any public unease about
the technology.
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Beyond worries about “playing God,” it may be
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an uncomfortable reminder of how modern

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food production already treats animals, said

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Paul Thompson, a professor of agriculture at

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Michigan State University.

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“There’s an ethical question that’s been debated

for at least the last 20 years, of whether you need
to change the animal or change the system,”
Thompson said.
Support for gene editing will also likely depend
on how the technology is used: whether it’s
for animal welfare, productivity or disease
resistance. In August, a Pew study found 43
percent of Americans supported genetically
engineered animals for more nutritious meat.
The array of possibilities is why the Humane
Society of the United States supports gene-
editing to end pig castrations and cow
dehorning but doesn’t give the technology its
blanket approval.

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Image: Michael Conroy

 “If you edit for your chicken to be the size of an
elephant, that’s not good,” said Josh Balk, the
group’s vice president of farm animal protection.
The image seems preposterous, but it may not
be far off from what the words “gene-edited
animals” conjure for many. In the science-fiction
movie “Rampage” earlier this year, gene-editing
is used to create monsters, including a giant wolf
that shoots porcupine spikes from its tail.
Some may also question the need to risk using
the technology, if it really just speeds up what
could be achieved with conventional breeding.

Advances in traditional breeding have

already stepped up the productivity of cows,
chickens and pigs. Today, milk producers can
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shop for characteristics developed through
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conventional breeding, like body frames and

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how efficiently animals convert feed into meat.

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Semex, a Canadian seller of bull semen, offers

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already offers a ”Robot Ready ” option for cows

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“built for automation,” with teat lengths and

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temperaments bred for milking machines.

The company is working with Recombinetics to
develop the gene-edited hornless trait.
Notably, hornless dairy cows also already exist.
But Recombinetics says there are so few that
breeding them would compromise the valuable
traits that have been carefully bred into modern
dairy cows.

But John Burket, who breeds hornless dairy

cows in Pennsylvania, thinks the hornless trait
could spread quickly if it was prioritized.
Burket isn’t opposed to gene-editing, but he said
he’s waiting to see if the technology delivers.

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 “ROBOT READY” COWS
For now, a more practical challenge for
Recombinetics will be coming up with gene-
edited traits farmers are willing to pay for. Semex
says it will take at least two years of testing
before it can start selling the hornless trait for
dairy cows.
Conventional breeding comes with a lot more
chance, but advances over the years have
nevertheless made dairy farms increasingly
productive. Paradoxically, that has contributed
to a glut of milk, driving down prices and
pressuring farmers.
Recombinetics says improving productivity isn’t
just about producing more milk or meat but
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targeting inefficiencies like dehorning and pig
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castrations. Still, Lorraine Lewandrowski, a dairy

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farmer in upstate New York, is reminded of the

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skepticism she felt with bovine growth hormone

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in the 1990s.
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“Do we want another technology that

will put even more milk on the market?”
she said.

Lewandrowski is also wary of anything that

might give the dairy industry a bad image. But
she noted the gene-edited hornless trait could
save the time spent on dehorning.

Jonathan Lamb, an owner of Oakfield Dairy

in western New York, said he wouldn’t
pay much extra for the hornless trait; he’s
watching costs because of low milk prices.
But he thinks gene-editing could offer
other improvements.
“I see that as a first step to other possibilities,”
he said.

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Image: Alexander Gerst

 SPACE STATION
GETS 2 CARGO
DELIVERIES
IN RECORD
15 HOURS

The International Space Station has received two

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cargo deliveries in a record 15 hours.
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A U.S. commercial shipment arrived Monday,

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two days after blasting off from Virginia. NASA

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Astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor used the

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space station’s robot arm to grab Northrop

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Grumman’s capsule. It’s named after Apollo

16 moonwalker and the first space shuttle
commander John Young, who died in January.

The station’s German commander,

Alexander Gerst, tweeted, “Welcome aboard,
S.S. John Young!”

Ice cream and other fresh food are the first

things coming out.
On Sunday, a Russian supply ship brought a
full load.

NASA says it is the quickest back-to-back

shipments for the space station, which marks
its 20th anniversary Tuesday. The supply ships
will remain there for a few months, before being
filled with trash and cut loose.

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 g
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THANK U, NEXT
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ARIANA GRANDE
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SHALLOW
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LADY GAGA & BRADLEY COOPER

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WITHOUT ME
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HALSEY
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HIGH HOPES
PANIC! AT THE DISCO

HAPPIER
MARSHMELLO & BASTILLE

NATURAL
IMAGINE DRAGONS

SOLO
JENNIE (FROM BLACKPINK)

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
LADY GAGA & BRADLEY COOPER

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW

ZAC BROWN BAND

2! 3!
5BTS

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 ORIGINS DELUXE
IMAGINE DRAGONS

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GREATEST HITS I, II & III

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A STAR IS BORN SOUNDTRACK

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LADY GAGA & BRADLEY COOPER

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EXPERIMENT
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KANE BROWN

GREATEST HITS
QUEEN

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
QUEEN

LOOK UP CHILD
LAUREN DAIGLE

I’LL BE HOME  EP
JESS AND GABRIEL

SIMULATION THEORY DELUXE

MUSE

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
VARIOUS ARTISTS

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 CHANCES
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AIRPLANE PT.2 JAPANESE VERSION

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BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
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QUEEN
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SICKO MODE FEAT. DRAKE

TRAVIS SCOTT

BREATHIN
ARIANA GRANDE

GIRLS LIKE YOU FEAT. CARDI B

MAROON 5

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

QUEEN

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

QUEEN

PERFECT SYMPHONY
WITH ANDREA BOCELLI
ED SHEERAN

WE WILL ROCK YOU

QUEEN

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 g
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THE WALKING DEAD, SEASON 9

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THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA, SEASON 11

HUBERT
THE GOOD DOCTOR, SEASON 2

S.N.A.F.U.
MANIFEST, SEASON 1

THE DEMON
ARROW, SEASON 7

DEMONS OF THE PUNJAB

DOCTOR WHO, SEASON 11

ANYBODY HAVE A MAP?

GREY’S ANATOMY, SEASON 15

BUT FOR THE GRACE

BULL, SEASON 3

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MICHELLE OBAMA
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PAST TENSE
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LIANE MORIARTY

DARK SACRED NIGHT

MICHAEL CONNELLY

THE WOODS
HARLAN COBEN

THIS KISS
MELODY GRACE

FATES AND FURIES

LAUREN GROFF

EVERY BREATH
NICHOLAS SPARKS

BOOK OF THE DEAD

PATRICIA CORNWELL

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 RHODE ISLAND
COMPANY GETS
GRANT FOR
WIND TURBINE
TECHNOLOGY

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A Rhode Island company has been awarded a

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$3.5 million federal grant for its work to improve

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the aerodynamic performance of wind turbines.

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U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat,

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says the U.S. Department of Energy awarded

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funding to East Greenwich-based Aquanis, Inc.

Reed says Aquanis is developing advanced
plasma actuators and controls to reduce
aerodynamic loads on turbine blades. He says
that will encourage the next generation of
larger, smarter turbines.

The grant came from an energy department

program specializing in high-performance energy
technologies that are too early for private-sector
investment. Nationwide, 40 projects received $98
million in this round of funding.

Aquanis Founder and CEO Neal Fine said

his company is committed to helping
improve turbine technology to reduce the
cost of wind energy.

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 EUROPEAN PRIVACY
SEARCH0020ENGINES
AIM TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE

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In the battle for online privacy, Google is a U.S.

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Goliath facing a handful of European Davids.

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The backlash over Big Tech’s collection of

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personal data offers new hope to a number of

little-known search engines that promise to
protect user privacy.

Sites like Britain’s Mojeek , France’s Qwant ,

Unbubble in Germany and Swisscows don’t track
user data, filter results or show “behavioral” ads.
These sites are growing amid the rollout of new
European privacy regulations and numerous
corporate data scandals, which have raised
public awareness about the mountains of
personal information companies stealthily
gather and sell to advertisers.
Widespread suspicion in Europe about Google’s
stranglehold on internet searches has also
helped make the continent a spawning ground

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Image: Kacper Pempel

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 for secure searching. Europe is particularly
sensitive to privacy issues because spying by the
Nazi-era Gestapo and the secret services in the
Soviet Union is still within living memory.

“For us, it’s all about citizens and citizens have

the right to privacy,” said Eric Leandri, chairman
of Paris-based Qwant. He said that view
contrasts with the mindset across the Atlantic,
where internet users are seen as consumers
whose rights are dictated by the terms of their
agreements with tech companies.
Traffic numbers show interest is rising. Qwant’s
queries tripled to 10 billion in 2017. On a
monthly basis, it’s getting 80 million visits
while requests are growing 20 percent. Leandri

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says the site now accounts for 6 percent of
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search engine market share in France, its

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biggest market.
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Qwant is even getting official support. Last

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month the French army and parliament both

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said they would drop Google and use Qwant as

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their default search engine, as part of efforts to

reclaim European “digital sovereignty.”

The site doesn’t use tracking cookies or profile

users, allowing it to give two different users
the exact same result. It has built its own index
of 20 billion pages covering French, German
and Italian and plans to expand it to about
two dozen other languages, for which results
currently come from Microsoft’s Bing.
To be sure, Google’s in no danger of toppling.
The company based in Mountain View,
California, accounts for three-quarters or more
of global market share, depending on whom
you ask, and rules the mobile market with its
Android operating system.

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 Mojeek, based in Brighton, England, operates
on similar principles and has so far cataloged
2 billion webpages. The company says it
gets 200,000 unique visitors a month and
search queries have quintupled over the
past year.

Another British startup, Oscobo, does

anonymous searches for U.K. users with results
licensed from Yahoo/Bing. Netherlands-based
Startpage anonymizes Google search results,
stripping out ads and tracking.
Pat Walshe, a U.K.-based privacy consultant, has
been using Startpage and Qwant for years and
says has never felt their services were inferior
to Google’s.
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“I don’t think people would go back if they
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started using these sites,” Walshe said. They’re

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“allowing you to have greater choice and control

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and should hopefully minimize the tracking,”

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which means you’ll no longer see, for example,

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the same ad for a pair of shoes following you

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around online, he said.

Walshe likes Startpage’s new “anonymous view”
feature, which goes a step further by letting
users browse a copy of a website from its search
results, not the actual site.

Germany’s Unbubble is a “meta-search” site,

sending encrypted queries to more than 30
other search engines. It promises neutral search
results rather than ones filtered by an algorithm
catering to personal biases.
Outside Europe, there’s also U.S. site DuckDuckGo.
Some privacy search operators say it’s equally
important to help users avoid “filter bubbles,”
in which content is pre-selected by the likes

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of Google and Facebook based on previous
searches and other data.

“The main idea is to provide neutral information

and allow people to depend less on machine
learning-based filters,” said Unbubble founder
Tobias Sasse. “If you are using Google today,
perhaps you’ll notice that there is always the
same mainstream information,” preventing
people from seeing the “great diversity” online,
he said.

Some sites rely on donations, others from

“affiliate advertising” — links from shopping
sites that pay a commission but don’t target
or track users. That’s different from Google’s
behavioral, or targeted, ads that come up based
on your search history, which many find creepy g
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and invasive.
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Mojeek has private investors. Founder Marc

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Smith, who began in 2004 with two servers in

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his bedroom, believes advertising is “a necessary

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evil and we’ll look for whatever route we can to

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avoid it,” said marketing chief Finn Brownbill.

In Switzerland, a country whose banking sector
became a byword for secrecy, Swisscows has
thrived, with monthly search queries jumping
by nearly half to 20 million from a year ago, said
founder Andreas Wiebe, who also runs software
company Hulbee.

Even so, Wiebe said he met plenty of skepticism

at the start. “In 2014, I had people talking to
me (saying) ‘you’re crazy’,” and that the project
would be dead within a year. Instead, National
Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s
revelations of U.S. government surveillance in
2015 gave it a kickstart.

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 BIG TECH FIRMS
PLEDGE TRAINING
FOR WORKERS IN
SOUTHEAST ASIA

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Microsoft, Google and other major technology

companies have promised to help provide
training in digital skills for around 20 million
people in Southeast Asia by 2020 to make
sure the region’s burgeoning working-age
population is a fit for the future job market. Up
to 28 million full-time jobs are subject to being
displaced, according to a new estimate.
The World Economic Forum think tank
announced this week its “ASEAN Digital
Skills Vision 2020” initiative to improve the
technological capacity of the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations with
training, funds for scholarships, internships
and shaping the curricula of technology and
computing courses, among other measures.

223
The forum is best known for its annual
meetings in Davos, Switzerland, of top business
and political leaders.
Southeast Asia is seeking to increase the digital
skills of its workers as the shift to greater use
of robots and other automation threatens
to rob those without technological savvy
of opportunities for employment, even in
manufacturing and service industries.
Other companies pledging training include
Cisco, Grab, Lazada, Sea Group and Tokopedia.
Google leads the pack, with a pledge to train
3 million small-to-medium-size enterprise
employees across ASEAN.
Ministers from countries such as Indonesia,
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Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam also pledged
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to join the initiative, Justin Wood, the forum’s

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Asia Pacific head, said at a news conference.

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Wood said there are lots of exciting

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developments in Southeast Asia surrounding the

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digital field — such as emerging e-commerce

markets and rising internet penetration — which
point to a “vibrant economy emerging,” but the
level of skills among workers in the digital field
“is not as good as it needs to be to capture this
digital opportunity.”
Naveen Menon, president for ASEAN of Cisco
Systems, said the company’s research has shown
that the increased adoption of technology
could displace up to 28 million jobs in the
region by 2020, which would potentially require
employees to be reskilled. He said Cisco has
committed to work with the World Economic
Forum’s initiative “in the areas of reskilling,
curriculum, training and development, and
influencing regulatory policy.”

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In September, the World Economic Forum

issued a report, based on a survey of executives
representing 15 million employees in 20
economies, saying that more than half of all
workplace tasks will be carried out by machines
by 2025.

It estimated that by 2022, roughly 75 million jobs

worldwide will be lost, but that could be more
than offset by the creation of 133 million new
jobs. A major challenge will be training and re-
training employees for that new world of work.
Other challenges for employers include enabling
remote work, building safety nets to protect
workers, and providing reskilling for employees,
the forum said.

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 BACKLASH
AT CHINESE
UNIVERSITY
SHOWS LIMITS
TO SURVEILLANCE

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A Chinese university’s plan to conduct a

blanket search of student and staff electronic
devices has come under fire, illustrating
the limits of the population’s tolerance for
surveillance and raising the prospect that
tactics used on Muslim minorities may be
creeping into the rest of the country.
The Guilin University of Electronic Technology is
reconsidering a search of cellphones, computers,
external hard disks and USB drives after a copy
of the order leaked online and triggered such
an intense backlash that it drew rare criticism in
state-run newspapers.

229
Searches of electronics are common in Xinjiang
in China’s far west, a heavily Muslim region
that has been turned into a virtual police
state to tamp down unrest. They are unheard
of in most other areas, including where the
school is located in the southern Guangxi
region, a popular tourist destination known for
spectacular scenery, not violence or terrorism.
That’s why the planned checks worry some.
“Xinjiang has emerged as China’s surveillance
laboratory,” said James Leibold, a scholar of
Chinese ethnic politics and national identity
at La Trobe University in Australia. “It is
unsurprising that some of the methods first
pioneered in China’s west are now being rolled
out in other regions.” g
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Under President Xi Jinping, the government

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has in recent years tried to tighten controls

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over what the public sees and says online and

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stepped up political oversight of universities.

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Sometimes, these measures have run into a

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new generation of Chinese accustomed to

greater freedoms, sparking public outcry and
occasionally government retreat.
The leaked notice in Guilin warned that hostile
domestic groups and foreign powers are
“wantonly spreading illicit and illegal videos”
through the internet. It said the search for
violent, terrorist, reactionary and obscene
content, which was to be conducted this month,
was necessary to resist and combat extremist
recordings that it called mentally harmful.
The order triggered a public uproar last week.
Posts on China’s Twitter-like Weibo site with
hashtags on schools checking electronic devices
were viewed nearly 80 million times.

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Users voiced privacy concerns, comparing the
measure to computer chips inserted in brains
and the George Orwell novel “1984.”
Then came critical editorials in state-run
publications saying the notice could violate
Chinese constitutional protection of the
right to communicate freely and have those
communications remain confidential.

“If colleges and universities check the phones,

computers, and hard disks of teachers and
students, they’re suspected of infringing on
communication freedom and privacy,” said
an editorial in the Beijing Youth Daily. “Those
responsible at the school should be held
accountable, as they had a great negative
impact on the school’s image.” g
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Administrators told another state-owned

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publication, “The Paper,” that the search had

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not yet been carried out, and that they were

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considering reducing its scope. University

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and local education ministry officials referred

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questions to a media office, which did not

answer repeated phone calls.

Weibo, while not a government body, ran into

hot water in April when it said it would censor
content related to gay issues on its microblog.
The company backpedaled under intense
criticism, including from state-run publications.
It’s unclear what prompted the Guilin
university’s planned search. It could have been a
trial run to see how the public would react or an
overzealous local administrator, said Christopher
Colley, a National Defense College of the United
Arab Emirates assistant professor who has
lectured at Chinese universities.

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Either way, he said, the backlash shows that
though online censorship is common in China,
physical searches of phones and laptops is an
extreme measure that many will not accept.
“Most people in China are willing to tolerate
Big Brother as long as it contributes to social
stability, but for many, this is going too far,”
Colley said.

Schools in Xinjiang have been conducting

similar searches since the region’s highest court
in early 2014 issued a notice forbidding audio
and video recordings promoting terrorism,
religious extremism and ethnic division.

Teachers and administrators at Xinjiang

Normal University’s College of Physics and
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Electronics searched electronic devices in every
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dormitory on campus on Nov. 9, 2014. A post

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about the search on the school’s website says,

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“Through investigating violent and terroristic

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videos, religious extremism on campus has

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been weakened.”
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In 2017, China University of Petroleum’s branch

in Karamay, a city in oil country in Xinjiang’s
north, ordered various school departments to
assign inspectors to search the computers of all
teachers on campus.

Xinjiang is home to a large Uighur population,

a Muslim ethnic group that has long harbored
simmering resentment against rule from Beijing.
A series of riots and attacks blamed on separatist
Uighurs has prompted a sweeping crackdown
on Muslims in the region.
China has rolled out one of the world’s most
aggressive surveillance and policing programs
both in Xinjiang and neighboring Tibet.

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Image: Nicolas Asfouri

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Uighurs are regularly singled out and stopped at

checkpoints to have their smartphones scanned
for religious content. As The Associated Press
reported in May, they risk being detained and
sent to internment camps if police find songs
or videos they deem suspicious or apps that
are commonly used to contact people outside
China, such as WhatsApp.
“Xinjiang today appears to be the leading-edge
of a highly intrusive and coercive surveillance
society that the (Communist Party) is intent on
constructing across China,” Leibold said.

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