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 MICHIGAN STUDENTS DEVELOP MULTIPLE SKILLS FROM ROBOTICS 06

RANSOMWARE SLOWS NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY GOVERNMENT TO A CRAWL 14

HAVE YOU BEEN ‘PWNED’ IN A DATA BREACH? TROY HUNT CAN TELL 24

CHOOSING A STREAMING DEVICE WITHOUT OVERPAYING 34

GOOGLE BLOCKS YOUTUBE ON AMAZON DEVICES IN ESCALATING FEUD 46

COMIC-BOOK HEROES FLOCK TO TV, BUT WHY ARE THEY SO POPULAR? 54

DELIVERY ROBOTS WILL NEED PERMITS TO ROAM SAN FRANCISCO 64

APPLE PAY CASH: REVOLUTIONIZING MONEY 68

CLINICAL TRIAL PUTS APPLE WATCH’S HEART MONITORING PROWESS TO THE TEST 82

CALIFORNIA REGULATORS NIX RULES LIMITING CARMAKER LIABILITY 92

FACEBOOK LAUNCHES PARENT-CONTROLLED MESSENGER APP FOR KIDS 94

Q&A: HOW IS A BITCOIN MINED? A LOOK AT THE VIRTUAL CURRENCY 102

FEDERAL REGULATOR GIVES OK FOR BITCOIN FUTURES TO TRADE 106

iTUNES REVIEW 110

BOX OFFICE TOP 20: ‘COCO,’ ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE’ STAY ON TOP 126

‘THE LAST JEDI’ AIMS TO CAPTURE THAT OLD STAR WARS FEELING 136

JAMES PATTERSON AND EINSTEIN ARCHIVISTS CREATING NEW SERIES 144

JAMES RODAY AND DULE HILL RETEAM FOR ‘PSYCH: THE MOVIE’ 148

TECH IS TAKING OVER OUR LIVES, AND OUR 401(K) ACCOUNTS 154

NASA NAILS TEST ON VOYAGER SPACECRAFT, 13 BILLION MILES AWAY 162

SUPER BIG BLACK HOLE FROM EARLY UNIVERSE FARTHEST EVER FOUND 166

NUCLEAR FUSION PROJECT HAILS HALFWAY CONSTRUCTION MILESTONE 170

DOCUMENTS: UK LAWMAKERS FLOUT EXPLICIT PASSWORD-SHARING BAN 176

APPLE, GOOGLE AT CHINESE INTERNET FEST SHOWS LURE OF MARKET 182

IRELAND TO START COLLECTING $15 BILLION IN TAX FROM APPLE 190

FORD COLLABORATES WITH ALIBABA AS IT EXPANDS INTO CHINA 194

RUSSIAN BITCOIN SUSPECT FIGHTS US EXTRADITION IN GREECE 196

TESLA BUILDS WORLD’ BIGGEST BATTERY IN AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK 200

6
 MICHIGAN
STUDENTS
DEVELOP MULTIPLE
SKILLS FROM
ROBOTICS

Local schools are becoming more involved

with robotics programs. Being in robotics helps
students in their classes, helps them create
leadership roles and helps build a student’s
work ethic.

STEM education — science, technology,

engineering and mathematics — is a new
movement in A merican education that helps
prepare students for the workforce. Being involved
in STEM education classes helps a student prepare
for the job openings that will be available.

7
“There are so many job openings right now,
especially in Michigan,” teacher Melissa Doubek
said. “There are job openings in stem-related
careers and there are possibilities for jobs here
in Alpena.”

One benefit of STEM education is that what

students learn in their classes helps them in
robotics and they can apply what they learn in
class to the robots they are working on.

“We have our math and science classes and

together with our work ethic, we can put those
together to build the robots,” AHS sophomore
Aaron West said.

Along with applying their school work

to robotics, students learn about time
management because they learn how to
balance their time outside of the classroom.
West said being in robotics helps students focus
in their classes.

“We make sure that our classes are in top order

because if our grades drop, we are not allowed
on the team,” he said.

When Alpena goes to tournaments, West said

students make sure that their homework is
done before the tournament by using their time
efficiently so they are able to compete.

“Robotics makes you realize how important

hard work is and also realizing the value of
cooperating with other people,” sophomore
Emeline Hanna said. “Even if something goes
wrong, you should still be determined to keep
going because there are things that will go
wrong in robotics.”

Robotics gives students experience in the

science field and also gets the students

8
9
10
interested and excited about learning new
things. Doubek said some students never
know that they are interested in engineering
before joining robotics, but once they join, they
get excited.

“They realize that what they are learning

in math, physics, business and advertising,
and public relations during the school day is
important in robotics,” she said.

Students realize they like certain fields of science

and there are different fields that students can
pursue careers in. Doubek said there are some
students who aren’t interested in engineering,
but are instead interested in medicine. She
said some students realize they want to learn
leadership skills when in robotics.

“That is just as important as the students

realizing that they want to go into engineering,”
Doubek said. “We put a lot of students in
leadership roles because we are trying to grow
the leaders of tomorrow.”

When students are a part of a robotics program,

they learn more than just building the robots
with their teammates. Mentor Gary Stevens
said robotics teaches students how to work in a
group and as a team.

“You’re going to watch certain kids elevate as

leaders and you’re going to watch other kids
find things that they like to do,” he said.

Every student contributes in some way when

they are a member of robotics. Stevens said
there is a role for every student and if a student
is concerned they’re not actively involved,
there’s a way to help them and get them
to contribute.

11
Mentor Kevin West said that outside of
robotics, students learn how to develop and
how to further themselves. He said that at the
competitions, the students interact with the
other teams and make friends with those on
other teams.

“The teams learn from one another,” he said. “In

an alliance, they have to align with two other
teams during every qualifying match so they
have to interact with people they don’t know.
They have to work together to decide how each
team functions and decide what their strongest
points are.”

Alpena’s robotics program has multiple teams,

which gives students the opportunity to share
their knowledge in a smaller group.

“Robotics is a hands-on team experience. It’s like

a varsity sport for the mind,” Stevens said.

Alpena High School hosted an offseason

tournament the first weekend of November
where the teams played last year’s game, the
Alpena News reported . West said the offseason
tournament is a good eye-opener for what the
competitions are going to be like in the winter.

The tournament also gave teams more practice

working with robots and exposed the new kids
to what FIRST Robotics is all about. Most of the
teams that participated had inexperienced
drivers driving the robots to prepare themselves
for the season.

“They got to see what a tournament looks like

and got their interest sparked,” Doubek said.
“When build season begins in January, they will
already know what the end goal is.”

12
13
 Image: Diedra Laird
14
 RANSOMWARE
SLOWS NORTH
CAROLINA
COUNTY
GOVERNMENT
TO A CRAWL

A cyberattack slowed county government to

a crawl Wednesday in North Carolina’s most
populous metro area as deputies processed
jail inmates by hand, the tax office turned
away electronic payments and building code
inspectors switched to paper records.

Data was frozen on dozens of Mecklenburg

County servers after one of its employees
opened an email attachment carrying malicious
software earlier this week.

County manager Dena Diorio said late

Wednesday that the county will not pay the
$23,000 demanded by the hacker believed to
be in Ukraine or Iran. Diorio said it would have
taken days to restore the county’s computer
system even if officials paid off the person
controlling the ransomware, so the decision
won’t significantly lengthen the timeframe.

“I am confident that our backup data is secure

and we have the resources to fix this situation
ourselves,” said Diorio.

15
In the meantime, county departments were
scrambling to conduct business without access
to digital records.

“We are slower, but we are up and running,”

Diorio said.

The county of more than 1 million residents

includes Charlotte, but the city government
appears not to have been compromised by
the attack. The state’s largest city issued a
statement that its separate computer systems
have not been affected and that it severed direct
connections to county computers.

The computer problems haven’t affected the

processing of emergency calls because they
are handled by the city, said Mecklenburg
County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Anjanette
Flowers Grube.

But it’s caused delays for the county jail and

disrupted other county services ranging from
domestic violence counseling to tax collection.
Sheriff Irwin Carmichael said it’s taking longer to
manually process arrestees, as well as inmates
due to be released.

Calls to a county domestic violence hotline

are rolling straight to voicemail, so counselors
are checking messages every 15 minutes,
officials told reporters. And the social services
department is working to recreate its daily
itinerary of 1,600 rides for elderly patients with
medical appointments. Recurring appointments
that account for most of the rides are less of a
problem than those for patients who make one-
time reservations.

Patty Eagan, director of Mecklenburg County

Social Services, said there are “300 trips that are
medical demand, and that’s when someone

16
Image: Bounce
17
 Image: Diedra Laird
18
has scheduled a trip a week ago, two weeks
ago. We are not able to see what trips have
been scheduled.”

Meanwhile, payments to the tax office must

be made with a check, cash or money order,
and code inspectors are slowed down by
using paper records, according to a list of
affected services.

Diorio said county computers began to suffer

Monday from the attack, which was publicly
revealed the next day. A forensic examination
shows 48 of the county’s 500 servers were
affected, Diorio said, adding that county
government officials believe that the hacker
wasn’t able to gain access to individuals’ health,
credit card or social security information.

The compromised servers have been

quarantined, and even potentially healthy
parts of the system were shut down to avoid
spreading the malicious program, said Keith
Gregg, the county’s chief information officer.
But without getting the compromised servers
unlocked, the county will have to rebuild
significant parts of the system.

Diorio said county technology officials will use

backup data from before the ransomware attack
to restore the system, but the rebuild will take
“patience and hard work.”

A security expert said cyberattacks on local

governments aren’t unusual. For example, a
hacking attack in late 2016 on San Francisco’s
mass transit system led its operators to allow
free rides over part of a weekend because of
data problems.

Ross Rustici, senior director of intelligence

services at the firm Cybereason, said

19
ransomware schemes against local governments
make the news every couple of months, but that
they often tend to be smaller, rural areas. He said
local governments are “easy targets” because of
their older equipment and software.

He said businesses and local governments

often pay the ransom because other means of
recovering the data can be even more expensive.

“Once you’re in that situation, you really have no

good option, so a lot of people and companies
end up paying,” he said.

20
Image: Diedra Laird

21
24
 HAVE YOU BEEN
‘PWNED’ IN A DATA
BREACH? TROY
HUNT CAN TELL

Troy Hunt has collected a trove of 4.8 billion

stolen identity records pulled from the darkest
corners of the internet — but he isn’t a hacker.

Instead, he uses that repository to help ordinary

people navigate the growing scourge of
the corporate data breach. All that personal
information was originally taken from brand-
name services such as LinkedIn, Kickstarter,
Dropbox, MySpace and the cheating website
Ashley Madison, and later assembled by Hunt.
Image: Carolyn Kaster
25
26
Working barefoot and in beachwear from
his home office on Australia’s Gold Coast,
the amiable security researcher set up his
irreverent website, “Have I Been Pwned?”
(POHND), in 2013. Millions of people have since
used the free service to see if hackers have
liberated their personal details from unwary
companies and posted them online.

Along the way, Hunt has become a close

student of data breaches and the slipshod
security that makes many companies easy prey
for attackers. He’s exposed several such thefts
himself, in some cases identifying them before
the companies themselves did.

AN EPIDEMIC OF PWNAGE
“Pwned” — a deliberate misspelling of
“owned” — is slang used by gamers to mean
“utterly defeated.” It’s an apt description of
what it’s like to have criminals use your Social
Security number, birthdate and other personal
details to commit fraud in your name.

Hunt was invited to appear before Congress

in late November to help lawmakers wrestle
with this growing crisis of consumer data
theft. In just the past two years, attackers have
stolen sensitive information about hundreds
of millions of people from the credit bureau
Equifax, popular online services such as Uber
and too many other companies to count.

Much of that stolen data flows directly into

the black market. “Data breaches are another
commodity, like heroin,” Hunt testified
Thursday before the House Energy and
Commerce Committee.

27
UNLIKELY MESSENGER
Hunt’s unlikely path from Queensland’s Surfers
Paradise Beach to what he describes as “fancy
government things” on Capitol Hill has been a
running joke since his invitation to testify was
announced. Virginia Republican Rep. Morgan
Griffith, introducing Hunt to lawmakers, noted
that he “put on a suit and tie for us when he
normally wears jeans and a black T-shirt.”

Hunt said he splurged on the brand-new Hugo

Boss suit and Australian outback-style boots
because he didn’t have anything else to wear. He
also downloaded an app that instructed him on
how to tie his necktie.

“Doing my best ‘no really, I’m a professional’

impersonation,” he tweeted from the U.S. Capitol
steps shortly before the hearing. “Did it work?”

28
29
30
ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH
Of course, this “new normal” of massive data
breaches is no joke. So much personal data
has been publicly exposed through both theft
and voluntary sharing on social media that
it’s eroded traditional methods for verifying
identity, such as usernames, passwords or
knowledge-based questions about birthdays or
family history.

In late November, Hunt helped discover a 2014

breach of the photo-sharing website Imgur
after analyzing data from the hack passed along
by one of his sources. Unlike Uber, which hid
a recently-disclosed breach of more than 57
million stolen passenger and driver records for a
year, Imgur took just 25 hours to go public after
Hunt emailed the San Francisco company on
Thanksgiving Day.

“Troy Hunt was extremely helpful in bringing

the data breach to our attention and ensuring
the sensitive data was passed to us in a secure
manner,” Roy Sehgal, Imgur’s chief operating
officer, said in an email.

PWN ALL THE THINGS

Hunt originally launched his site “as a bit of a
curiosity,” he said. At the time, he was a software
architect at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer; a few
years later, he quit to work as an independent
information security consultant and instructor.

The researcher was analyzing data breaches

floating around the web and noticed that
many people were turning up in multiple data
breaches. “It struck me that this was something
they probably didn’t know,” Hunt said in a
phone interview.

31
32
People using his site can search on their email
address to see whether and where their records
have been exposed. Roughly 1.7 million people
also subscribe to alerts that sound when their
details pop up in newly discovered breaches.
The website’s user base has grown rapidly as
bigger data breaches — some many years old —
get attention.

WEARING THE WHITE HAT

Hunt “has credibility and integrity,” said U.K.-
based security researcher Ian Thornton-Trump,
who has used Hunt’s site to build a system that
keeps customer credentials safe from attacks
that re-use previously disclosed passwords. “He’s
resisted urges, and probably significant financial
value, to sell out.”

Thornton-Trump and other supporters say

Hunt’s usefulness has grown as more people
confidentially share publicly exposed data
with him, drawn by his reputation as an ethical
gatekeeper of sensitive information.

“I hope they get a bit of a sense of doing the

right thing,” Hunt said. “I hope there’s a sense of
social good. They certainly don’t get any money
out of it.”

Hunt warned Congress on Thursday that

there’s now a “perfect storm of data exposure”
thanks to the growth in online services that
are collecting more information than they
really need. He also slipped in a suggestion
that that the U.S. government, like some of its
counterparts elsewhere, should do more to
penalize companies that don’t disclose their
breaches properly.

33
34
 CHOOSING
A STREAMING
DEVICE WITHOUT
OVERPAYING

Why watch video on a phone or a tablet when

you can get a device for as little as $30 to stream
shows on a big-screen TV?

Apple, Google, Amazon and Roku are all

competing to be your gateway to online video.
Which device you need will largely depend on
what services you watch and what kind of TV
you have.

Of course, the device alone won’t be enough.

You’ll probably want at least one subscription
to a video service such as Netflix or Hulu,
which charge monthly fees. Others, such as
WatchESPN, require a cable TV subscription.
Plenty of others — YouTube, for instance —
offer video for free with ads, although their
selections can be limited.

35
Here’s a holiday buying guide for the
TV-streamers in your life.

STREAMING BUILT-IN
Smart TVs, game consoles and the TiVo digital
video recorder all have streaming capabilities
built in. If all you watch is Netflix and Hulu,
you’ll be fine with those. But apps for individual
channels such as The CW and FX won’t work
with every device.

The exceptions are TVs that run Roku or Amazon

software or that have Google’s Chromecast
technology built in. They tend to have wider app
selections, so you might not need a streaming
device at all.

36
37
AMAZON FIRE TV
Although Amazon has gotten better about
promoting rival services, its Fire TV device is
best seen as a companion to the company’s
$99-a-year Prime loyalty program. Video
available through Prime is prominent. The
device has Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant built-
in, giving you weather, sports scores, stock
quotes and playback controls with selected apps
— ask Alexa to forward 30 seconds, for instance.

Amazon’s $40 Fire TV Stick is good for regular,

high-definition TV sets.

If you have a higher-resolution 4K TV, you’ll want

the regular Fire TV for $70. There isn’t a lot of
4K video yet, but the price difference is small
compared with what 4K TVs cost. The regular
Fire TV also offers high-dynamic range, which
has better contrast and produces brighter
whites and darker blacks. Again, HDR video is
slowly coming.

Fire TV doesn’t offer apps for iTunes or Google

Play video. Fire TV’s remote also lacks volume
controls, something that’s becoming standard
on streaming devices.

38
39
40
ROKU
Roku has one of the most complete channel
libraries — more than 5,000, many you’ve never
heard of. But there’s no iTunes.

Roku’s Express sells for just $30. The $50

Streaming Stick gets you a remote with volume
buttons and voice search — though we’re
talking basic queries related to shows and apps,
not playback controls or information such as
weather. The $70 Streaming Stick Plus adds 4K
and HDR. Bells and whistles in the $100 Ultra
include a remote that will emit a sound to help
you find it in your couch cushion.

The Ultra’s remote has a headphone jack, so you

can watch TV without waking up roommates.
For cheaper models, you can get that through
Roku’s smartphone app. (With Fire TV and Apple
TV, you can pair wireless headphones.)

41
GOOGLE
Google’s Chromecast is cheap but trickier to use,
as you have to start video on your phone and
then switch the stream to the TV. An entry-level
streaming device from Amazon or Roku might
be a better choice now that those prices have
come down.

Separately, Google offers its Android TV software

for other makers of streaming devices. Google’s
YouTube and Play services often get prominent
billing in search results. Again, no iTunes.

Nvidia’s Shield device is one notable example of

an Android TV device, though it’s pricey, starting
at $179. It comes with 4K and HDR. You get voice
searches through Google Assistant — playback
controls with some apps, weather and data you
might never think to ask a TV, such as flight status.

Shield is powerful and designed with gamers

in mind; one feature allows screen sharing of
game play. A package that includes a game
controller costs $20 more. The controller gives
you a headphone jack for private listening and
hands-free queries with Google Assistant. Even if
you’re not a gamer, it’s nice not to have to press
a microphone button on a remote to ask Google
to pause or start video from the beginning.

42
image: Mark Madeo
43
APPLE TV
Though an iPhone isn’t required, Apple TV will
be most useful with one. The basic device is
$149; a version with 4K and HDR costs $30 more.
You’re paying for the experience — in particular,
integration and syncing with other Apple
gadgets. For instance, you can type passwords
on an iPhone instead of navigating a keyboard
on the TV character by character.

Siri offers similar playback controls and

information queries as Alexa and Google
Assistant. The touchpad on the remote offers
faster forwarding and rewinding than rivals.

And while all streaming devices offer more

than just video, Apple TV goes much further
in offering an iPhone-like experience on a big
screen. You can browse Ikea’s catalog or order
food from Grubhub, for instance. Apple TV is
the only device to support iTunes, but there’s no
Google Play. Amazon is expected by the end of
the year.

44
45
GOOGLE BLOCKS
YOUTUBE ON
AMAZON
DEVICES IN
ESCALATING FEUD

Google is pulling its popular YouTube video

service from Amazon’s Fire TV and Echo Show
devices in an escalating feud that has caught
consumers in the crossfire.

The decision to block YouTube is retaliation

for Amazon’s refusal to sell some Google
products that compete with Amazon gadgets.
That includes Google’s Chromecast streaming
device, an alternative to Fire TV, and an internet-
connected speaker called Home, which is trying
to catch up to Amazon’s market-leading Echo.
Amazon’s high-end Echo Show has a screen that
can display video.

“Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer

supporting YouTube on Echo Show and Fire TV,”
Google said in a Tuesday statement.

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a

request for comment.

46
47
The battle highlights the power that the world’s
major technology companies are gaining as they
dominate important corners of commerce and
communications. As the world’s largest online
retailer, Amazon has tremendous sway over
what people buy, while the results delivered by
Google’s ubiquitous search engine often help
determine what people do on and off the web.

Google is hoping to pressure Amazon into

selling Google’s products by taking away access
to the world’s most widely watched video
service. Unless a truce is reached, YouTube will
stop working on Fire TV on Jan. 1. YouTube was
supposed to disappear from the Echo Show
Tuesday, although Amazon has previously found
ways to make unauthorized versions of YouTube
available on that device.

The dispute between Amazon and Google

mirrors the face-offs that occasionally crop up
between pay-TV providers and TV networks
when it comes time to re-negotiate their deals.

But in this instance, the two tech heavyweights

aren’t fighting over licensing fees. Instead, they
are jockeying to position their gadgets and,
by extension, their digital services into homes
as internet-connected appliances and devices
become more deeply ingrained in people’s lives.

The bickering between Google and Amazon

has been going on several years as they have
ratcheted up the competition with each other.
One of the first signs that the companies were at
odds came when Amazon redesigned Google’s
Android mobile software for its Kindle tablets.
Two years ago, Amazon ousted Chromecast from
its store, even though that device had previously
been its top-selling electronics gadget.

48
49
The latest standoff between Google and
Amazon was ridiculed by a trade association
of high-speed internet providers. The group,
USTelecom, has been trying to persuade
skeptics that internet providers will preserve
equal access to all digital services, even if
the Federal Communications Commission
adopts a proposal to rescind current “net
neutrality” regulations .

Internet providers are committed to “protections

like no content blocking or throttling,” said
USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter. “Seems like
some of the biggest internet companies can’t
say the same. Ironic, isn’t it?”

50
51
Besides withholding Chromecast and the
Home speaker from its store, Amazon has also
rankled Google by declining to sell an internet-
connected thermostat made by Nest, which is
owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc. Amazon
also doesn’t allow its Prime video streaming
service on Chromecast, an omission that Google
wants to change.

Amazon also doesn’t sell Apple’s video

streaming player. But that could change
if Amazon’s video streaming service starts
working on Apple TV, something Apple has
said would happen by the end of this year.
But that announcement was made in June
and Prime video still isn’t available on
Apple TV.

Roku’s market-leading streaming players

are sold through Amazon. Roku’s players
feature channels for watching both Prime
video and YouTube.

52
53
54
 COMIC-BOOK
HEROES FLOCK
TO TV, BUT WHY
ARE THEY SO
POPULAR?

When “Marvel’s The Punisher” debuted on Netflix

last month, it was greeted with great interest
and high anticipation.

But it arrived as just one of many comic-book

adaptations. “The Punisher” is only the latest in
a flood now comprising some 28 shows across
nine broadcast, cable and streaming platforms,
with no end in sight.

Granted, all comic-book shows aren’t

created equal.

AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” beset by zombies,

differs markedly from the teen adventures of
Archie Andrews on the CW’s “Riverdale” and
from Amazon’s superhero spoof “The Tick.”

55
But the majority exists within either of two
expansive brands, not dissimilar to Pepsi
and Coke.

One is DC, which (with the midseason arrival of

“Black Lightning” on the CW) will be represented
by nine shows on three networks. The other is
Marvel with 13 shows arrayed on six outlets,
chiefly Netflix, which currently hosts a half-
dozen of its own.

That all adds up to more spandex get-ups

than you’d find in an aerobics class. But before
concluding that superheroes have taken over
the small screen, it’s worth noting a few things.

First, TV has always chased trends. Think: cop

shows, doctor shows, lawyer shows. Way back in
Fall 1959, more than two dozen Westerns were
airing on just three broadcast networks. That
would dwarf the current slate of comic book
shows as a percentage of the 500-odd scripted
original prime-time series airing in 2017.

“Comics-related television series have always

been a mainstay of television,” says Paul Levinson,
professor of communications and media studies
at Fordham University. “Now it may seem like
they’re all over the place. But that’s because
there’s television all over the place.”

Even so, an upsurge of comic-based shows the

past few years is unmistakable. Consider the CW,
where, without “Smallville” after a decade’s run,
no such shows were in its lineup in Fall 2011. But
after a subsequent year-by-year buildup, it will
boast seven this season.

Along the way, comics-related movies

proliferated, while in October 2010, “The Walking
Dead” made clear from its explosive arrival that a
comic-book property could be a TV smash.

56
57
By then, the CGI (computer graphics imagery)
that any superhero show requires had become
more sophisticated yet sufficiently affordable for
weekly TV productions. Conversely, superhero
series were a perfect TV showcase for those
ever-more-eye-popping special effects in a way
that more realistic cop dramas or sitcoms could
never be.

Meanwhile, the launch of more and more

channels, especially streaming platforms
with their limitless capacity, signaled an ever-
escalating need to create content.

“With this extraordinary appetite for source

material, decades of comic books offered
material just waiting to be plucked,” says Robert
Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s
Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture.

Even better, they’re perfectly formatted for

turning into TV.

“A comic book is like a TV storyboard: visual

dialogue in frames,” Thompson says. “It’s so
perfectly transferable! Comic books make the
life of a network development executive really,
really easy.”

But none of this accounts for the apparently

insatiable hunger for these shows with which
the audience receives them.

“All of it, one some level, is escapism,” explains

Brett Rogers, classics professor at the University
of Puget Sound. “If I’m watching ‘Jessica Jones’
for an hour, I’m not dealing with some real
thing in my life. But the flip side is that comic-
book-inspired shows can be spaces for thinking
through some serious questions: ‘Jessica Jones’
is an opportunity to explore sexual violence and
post-traumatic stress disorder.

58
Image: Myles Aronowitz
59
60
“The comic book industry famously has had to
fight the stigma of being for just for children and
idiots,” he says. But as gifted “kids and idiots” like
Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith came of age and
made waves by nurturing a comics ethos across
multiple media including TV, comics gained new
gravitas, respect and urgency.

“It’s now being normalized as shared myth of

mainstream culture,” Rogers said. “It’s a common
myth shared between readers and viewers,
adolescents and adults, comics and film buffs
alike — NOT just kids’ culture.”

Such shows, like the comics that spawned them,

can offer welcome moral clarity in an ever-more-
confounding world.

“It’s much easier to identify the heroes and

villains, the good guys vs. the bad guys, than it is

61
 Image: Jessica Miglio
62
on other television shows,” says Levinson. “And,
by and large, the good characters and heroes
endure and triumph over adversity.”

“These characters were created as morality tales.

They have a primal appeal, a simple appeal,” says
Glen Weldon, a panelist on NPR’s “Pop Culture
Happy Hour” podcast and author of “Superman:
The Unauthorized Biography.”

“They represent our best selves. We are meant to

look at them and strive to be more like them.”

And thanks to the internet, the appreciation of

these comic-book heroes, whether they exist on
the page or the screen, can now be enjoyed as a
communal experience.

“In the past, if you grew up a nerd, you thought

you were alone,” says Weldon. “Now you can go
online and find people just like you who share
your passion.”

How long will this craze last? For more than a

half-century, TV’s trends have burst on the scene,
then flared out and been given up for dead.
(How many current TV Westerns can you count?)

But comics-inspired TV may not follow

that cycle.

“It may ebb as well as flow,” says Thompson,

“but I don’t think there’s any reason to believe
that this genre will exhaust itself as others have
done, or that viewers will get tired of it. It’s such
a versatile genre.”

Versatile, and with room to grow, he adds, unlike

other genres that may have reached their peak.
While the police procedural may well have
plateaued creatively, “the comic-book genre is still
maturing,” he says. “We’re still seeing it evolve.”

63
64
 DELIVERY ROBOTS
WILL NEED
PERMITS TO ROAM
SAN FRANCISCO

Delivery robots in San Francisco will need

permits before they can roam city sidewalks
under legislation approved by city supervisors.

San Francisco has struggled to regulate

hometown startups that grew too popular,
including short-term vacation rental platform
Airbnb and ride-hailing service Uber.

Supervisor Norman Yee proposed an outright

ban on delivery robots but settled on a
permitting system. The supervisors approved it
this week.

65
66
A maximum of nine “autonomous delivery
devices” may be allowed at any time in the city.

The robots can’t go more than 3 miles per

hour (4.8 kilometers per hour) and human
operators must be nearby. The robots must
yield to pedestrians.

Chief executives for autonomous delivery

companies Starship Technologies, Marble
and Postmates submitted a letter saying they
welcomed government regulations.

Other cities have taken similar steps.

67
68
69
 Image: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images

A BRIEF HISTORY OF APPLE PAY

iPhone and Apple Watch users have had access
to Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments service,
since October 2014. The feature allows users to
buy lunch in a café or buy Christmas presents
in a retail store and you can even make one-tap
purchases within apps. The Cupertino firm’s
latest venture, however, is Apple Pay Cash,
which allows users to send and receive money
from peers through the Messages app, making
the process of transferring money even easier.

“Send money for books to your son in

college. Split a bill. Pay a babysitter. Send
and receive from across the table — or
across the country. Instantly.”

No longer are iPhone users just able to pay

businesses; with Apple Pay Cash, you can now
send and receive money from friends. You can
do so using the Messages app, or simply by
asking Siri; it really is that simple. The best part
is, you are not required to download an app, and
instead can use the cards you already have set
up in your Wallet. With this new technology, it’s
never been easier to send money, so your most
unreliable friend no longer has the excuse of
leaving their wallet at home!

iOS 11.2 BRINGS APPLE PAY CASH

To access Apple Pay Cash, you’ll need to be over
the age of 18, live in the United States and update
your iPhone to the latest version of iOS, 11.2.
Two-factor authentication will need to be set up
for your Apple ID, and you’ll need to be signed
in to iCloud. Once you’ve completed these steps,
you just need to ensure you have a card added to
your Apple Wallet and you’re ready to go.

70
Inside iOS 11: Messages app gains
Person-to-Person Payments

71
When using Apple Pay Cash on an iPhone, the
process is simple. First, open the Messages app
and start a conversation with the person you’d
like to send money to. Then, simply tap the small
Apple Store icon, followed by the Apple Pay
icon. You will be prompted to enter the account
you want to send, and once you have verified
the transfer with Touch ID or Face ID, the money
will be on its way to your friend. It really is as
simple as that.

You can also request a payment from a friend

or family member using the same process,
however, instead of tapping ‘pay’ after you
have entered the amount, you instead click the
‘request’ button. It is important to remember
that you can only send to another Apple device
user and you can only cancel a payment if the
recipient hasn’t yet accepted it.

INSTANT MONEY WITH A VIRTUAL

BANK CARD
When you receive payment from a friend or
family member, the money will not go into your
bank account, but instead will be transferred
to your Apple Pay Cash Card. This card can be
found in your Apple Wallet app and is created
automatically. Think of it as a virtual bank
account, where you’ll be able to access your
new money instantly. No longer do you have to
wait for the transfer to go through before you
can buy an outfit for tonight’s party; as soon as
the payment has been sent, you have access to
the money straight away. You’ll be able to make
payments via Apple Pay, or through the App
Store. You can also transfer the funds to your
bank account, should you wish to do so.

72
73
74
 You can add money to your Apple Pay Cash
Card using the cards you already have set up in
the Apple Pay wallet. Apple has a very useful
guide on how to add money when using both
an iPhone and an Apple Watch.

A SECURE PAYMENT TRANSFER SERVICE

Apple Pay Cash has led to some security
concerns, however, rest assured that before
sending the first payments you have to agree
to the terms and conditions and confirm your
identity, and you can only send payments using
Touch ID or Face ID.

There are also no fees when you use a debit card

through the service, but you will have to pay the
standard 3% fee when using a credit card. The
service does not affect your credit, but there are
limits in place on the amount you can transfer.
Per message, you can receive a minimum of $1
and a maximum of $3,000, and you the maximum
you can receive over a 7-day period is $10,000.

You also don’t have to worry about your account

if your phone is stolen or lost as the payments
for the Apple Pay Cash Card are saved-off device
and not stored solely in the Apple Wallet.

THE FUTURE FOR APPLE PAY

CASH ABROAD
The question on everyone’s lips is when Apple
Pay Cash will be available outside the United
States. At present, Apple is giving no clues,
although Apple Pay’s original rollout suggests
that the UK will be next to receive the new Cash
feature, especially when you take into account
Facebook Messenger’s rival, which launched in
the United Kingdom.

Image: Jason Cipriani/CNET

75
76
 Apple Pay Cash

Image: Justin Sullivan

77
78
THE END OF PAYPAL COULD BE CLOSE
Although Apple Pay Cash may seem a
revolutionary feature for your smartphone, it
is not the first service of its kind. Venmo first
introduced peer-to-peer payments, bringing
them to PayPal in 2013 during its acquisition.
Square also added the feature to its Square Cash
application, while Google Wallet also allows
users to send cash to one another. However,
Apple Pay Cash now poses a real threat to these
services that are also available in the United
States, as it is a baked-in feature.

The real main competition Apple Pay Cash

faces is with PayPal. PayPal not only offers P2P
payments through Venmo but ahead of the
launch of Apple Pay Cash, PayPal teamed up
with Facebook to offer a similar peer-to-peer
payment service. This allows users to send or
request money using their PayPal account.

ANDROID AND APPLE PAY CASH

Perhaps one of biggest drawbacks of Apple Pay
Cash is that it can only be accessed from iOS
devices – if one user has an iPhone and the other
an Android, it won’t work. For the immediate
future, Android users won’t have access to Apple
Pay Cash, however, just like it did with its Apple
Music service in 2015, Apple could introduce a
standalone Apple Pay Cash application to the
Google Play Store in due course.

APPLE REVOLUTIONIZES OUR

RELATIONSHIP WITH MONEY
The way money changes hands has been
evolving for hundreds of years. In recent years,
new payment currencies such as Bitcoin have

79
revolutionized our relationship with money; and
the introduction of Apple Pay Cash is another
step up the ladder.

According to Virgin, Sweden could be

the first completely cashless society, as it
continued to crack down on organized crime.
In Sweden, digital payments are accepted
almost everywhere, including on buses and to
buy magazines on the streets. This is a result
of collaboration between major Swedish and
Danish banks to create a direct payment app.

Cashless societies could entirely change the

way our children learn about money, with
Forbes suggesting that e-currency, such as the
potential e-Korona in Sweden, could be sensitive
to shocks and could make society vulnerable.

At the moment, we can only speculate about

the future of Apple Pay Cash. However, there is
a potential that the US will follow in Sweden’s
footsteps, as users begin to see the benefits of
becoming a cashless society.

by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

80
81
CLINICAL TRIAL
PUTS APPLE
WATCH’S HEART
MONITORING
PROWESS TO
THE TEST

ALONG WITH TRACKING A WEARER’S

WORKOUT, COMPANY HOPES TO SHOW
ITS WATCH CAN EFFECTIVELY DETECT
ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
Apple Inc. has a long reputation for disrupting
the markets with new innovations, and the
Silicon Valley tech giant is now skirting the
edges of one very traditional field: cardiology.

Heart doctors and traditional medical

technology companies appear to be keeping
an open mind so far as Apple launches a
massive 500,000-person research study to see
whether the Apple Watch can detect signs of
the potentially serious medical condition called
atrial fibrillation.

82
83
“AFib” is a chaotic, out-of-sync heartbeat that can
damage the heart and allow blood clots to form
that travel to the brain, where they can lead to
strokes. Although many people do not know
they are affected, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention says the condition contributes
to more than 130,000 deaths per year and costs
about $6 billion annually in the U.S.

Apple said last week that it’s launching the

Apple Heart Study in collaboration with the Bay
Area’s Stanford University School of Medicine.
Researchers will examine how well the four
green LED heart-rate sensors embedded
in the Apple Watch can screen wearers for
signs of AFib, compared to a traditional
electrocardiogram (ECG).

A person at Apple who is familiar with the

project said Monday that if the study goes as
planned, Apple plans to submit the study data
to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
get marketing clearance for the software portion
of the system. There are also plans to publish the
final study data, but the company declined to
provide details about its early work to validate
the system.

The system gathers real-time optical

observations of blood flow through the skin, and
runs the data through an algorithm designed to
isolate a fibrillating heartbeat from other signals
and “noise” that the sensor picks up. If the user
has downloaded the Apple Heart Study app and
joined the study, they will get an alert if their
heart rhythm appears abnormal. Alerted users
can receive a free telemedicine screening with a
study doctor, plus a device that will take an ECG
reading of the heart’s electrical activity.

84
85
Unlike a traditional clinical trial, which requires
meeting with a doctor, participants in the Apple
Heart Study can enroll just by downloading
an app in the U.S. and having internet access
on their phone. The study is approved by an
institutional review board.

The study listing in clinicaltrials.gov, which was

added over the weekend, said the effort aims
to enroll as many as 500,000 users over the age
of 22 to collect data through January 2019.
Participants must have access to an iPhone 5s or
later with at least iOS 11.0 and an Apple Watch
Series 1 or later. Participants will be excluded if
they have a self-reported diagnosis of AFib or
heart palpitations known as “atrial flutter” or are
currently taking anti-coagulation drugs.

Although the Apple Watch is advertised as

being able to measure a user’s heart rate, it is
not a medical device — a point emphasized by
companies that make certified medical devices,
such as longtime Minnesota cardiology device
maker Medtronic.

“While the eventual impact of new atrial

fibrillation detection screening technologies is yet
to be determined, Medtronic supports proactive
screening for AFib that allows people to seek
medical care and early diagnosis,” Medtronic said
in a statement. “Notably, consumer wearable
technologies provide a generalized screening
approach, but ultimately require additional
monitoring to obtain actionable diagnoses to
guide clinical care.”

86
87
Medtronic sells an implantable heart monitor
called the Reveal Linq that is cleared by the
FDA to monitor for irregular heart beats such as
atrial fibrillation with a high degree of accuracy.
If the company was concerned about losing
any Linq sales to Apple Watches, it didn’t say so
when asked.

Last week the FDA also cleared its first medical

device accessory for the Apple Watch — a device
called the Kardia Band, made by California’s
AliveCor. The device uses what AliveCor calls
artificial intelligence and cloud computing to
detect when a person’s heartbeat is out of sync
with their current physical activity, and then
notifies the user to take an ECG reading on the
single-electrode ECG reader mounted in the
$199 Kardia Band.

88
The ECG data are then displayed on the Apple
Watch and captured for later analysis by a
physician. AliveCor also makes a $99 FDA-
cleared portable ECG reader called the Kardia
Mobile, which is compatible with Android and
iOS systems and can be attached to the back of
a smartphone.

Stanford also runs its own app-based cardiac

study called MyHeart Counts, which is among
many different medical and fitness-related
applications listed in Apple’s App Store.
Apple has encouraged the development of
medical-research apps by releasing an open-
source software framework called ResearchKit,
which has been used to design apps related
to everything from autism to melanoma to
postpartum depression.

89
 Regulators have urged consumers to approach
medical apps with some skepticism. The
Federal Trade Commission settled a lawsuit last
December with California-based Aura Labs,
which has claimed that its $4.99 Instant Blood
Pressure app could give blood pressure readings
as accurate as an armband cuff, even though
clinical testing later found the app was much
less accurate.

Still, doctors said that legitimate health-related

smartphone apps can have value, by flagging
potential cases that need professional care.

90
Dr. JoEllyn Moore, an electrophysiologist with
the Minneapolis Heart Institute, said that in
general, patients who go to the doctor when
their Apple Watches send alerts about possible
atrial fibrillation would most likely be given
a routine heart screening with an onsite ECG
machine. They may also get a small device
to take ECG readings at home when they are
having an AFib episode.
“It would be a similar screen for anyone who
comes in complaining of an irregular heart
rhythm,” Moore said.
The risk in technologies such as the Apple
Watch’s heart-rate sensor test is that they may
create false positives, inducing unnecessary
anxiety in users and driving up overall health
care costs without improving anyone’s health.
Physicians and the tech industry will be
watching closely to see whether the Apple
Watch can keep false positives down while
flagging previously unknown cases of AFib.
“It has the potential to be very exciting. I think
time will tell how accurate this tool is going to
be,” she said.
91
CALIFORNIA
REGULATORS NIX
RULES LIMITING
CARMAKER LIABILITY

California regulators have nixed a plan to let

self-driving car manufacturers evade liability for
crashes if the vehicle hasn’t been maintained
according to manufacturer specifications.

The new rules released this week delete a

provision suggested by General Motors.
California Department of Motor Vehicles
spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez said the change
came after a review of comments on the plan.

John Simpson of the nonprofit advocacy group

Consumer Watchdog called the change a “major
victory for consumers.”

The rules could have absolved car makers of

accident responsibility if a car owner hadn’t
cleaned his sensors appropriately, said Simpson,
the group’s privacy and technology director.

GM spokeswoman Laura Toole said the

automaker appreciated the department’s
transparency and added that the company is
“pleased be part of the process.”

The department is taking comments on the

latest changes until Dec. 15. The final regulations
are expected to be enacted early next year.

92
93
94
 FACEBOOK LAUNCHES
PARENT-CONTROLLED
MESSENGER APP FOR KIDS

Facebook is coming for your kids.

The social media giant is launching a messaging

app for children to chat with their parents and
with friends approved by their parents.

The free app is aimed at kids under 13, who can’t

yet have their own accounts under Facebook’s
rules, though they often do.

Messenger Kids comes with a sle w of controls

for parents. The service won’t let children add
their own friends or delete messages — only
parents can do that. Kids don’t get a separate
Facebook or Messenger account; rather, it’s an
extension of a parent’s account. Messenger
Kids came out this week in the U.S. as an app
for Apple devices — the iPhone, iPad and iPod
Touch. Versions for Android and Amazon’s
tablets are coming later.

95
A KIDS-FOCUSED EXPERIENCE
While children do use messaging and social
media apps designed for teenagers and adults,
those services aren’t built for them, said Kristelle
Lavallee, a children’s psychology expert who
advised Facebook on designing the service.

“The risk of exposure to things they were not

developmentally prepared for is huge,” she said.

Messenger Kids, meanwhile, “is a result of seeing

what kids like,” which is images, emoji and
the like. Face filters and playful masks can be
distracting for adults, Lavallee said, but for kids
who are just learning how to form relationships
and stay in touch with parents digitally, they are
ways to express themselves.

Lavallee, who is content strategist at the

Center on Media and Child Health at Boston
Children’s Hospital and Harvard University,
called Messenger Kids a “useful tool” that “makes
parents the gatekeepers.” But she said that
while Facebook made the app “with the best of
intentions,” it’s not yet known how people will
actually use it.

As with other tools Facebook has released

in the past, intentions and real-world use do
not always match up. Facebook’s live video
streaming feature, for example, has been used
for plenty of innocuous and useful things, but
also to stream crimes and suicides.

96
97
98
HOOKED ON FACEBOOK
Is Messenger Kids simply a way for Facebook to
rope in the young ones?

Stephen Balkam, CEO of the nonprofit Family

Online Safety Institute, said “that train has left
the station.”

Federal law prohibits internet companies from

collecting personal information on kids under 13
without their parents’ permission and imposes
restrictions on advertising to them. This is
why Facebook and many other social media
companies prohibit younger kids from joining.
Even so, Balkam said millions of kids under 13
are already on Facebook, with or without their
parents’ approval.

He said Facebook is trying to deal with the

situation pragmatically by steering young
Facebook users to a service designed for them.

99
MARKETING MATTERS
Facebook said Messenger Kids won’t show ads
or collect data for marketing, though it will
collect some data it says are necessary to run the
service. Facebook also said it won’t automatically
move users to the regular Messenger or
Facebook when they get old enough, though
the company might give them the option to
move contacts to Messenger down the line.

James Steyer, CEO of the kids-focused non-

profit group Common Sense, said that while he
liked the idea of a messaging app that requires
parental sign-ups, many questions remain.
Among them: Will it always remain ad-free, and
will parents get ads based on the service?

“Why should parents simply trust that Facebook

is acting in the best interest of kids?” Steyer said
in a statement. “We encourage Facebook to
clarify their policies from the start so that it is
perfectly clear what parents are signing up for.”

100
101
102
 Q&A: HOW IS A
BITCOIN MINED?
A LOOK AT THE
VIRTUAL CURRENCY

A company in Slovenia that mines bitcoin says

it has been hacked, for a potential loss of tens of
millions of dollars.

The company, NiceHash, gives customers the

ability to mine for bitcoins. As the price of the
world’s most popular virtual currency keeps
surging — to a record $15,000 on Thursday —
here’s a look at what it is and how it is “mined.”

WHAT IS A BITCOIN?
Bitcoin is a digital currency that’s not tied to
any bank or government. Like cash, it lets users
spend or receive money anonymously, or mostly
so; like other online payment services, it also lets
them do so over the internet. There are several
other virtual currencies, such as ethereum, but
bitcoin is the most popular.

Bitcoins are basically lines of computer code

that are digitally signed each time they travel

103
from one owner to the next. Transactions can
be made anonymously, making the currency
popular with libertarians as well as tech
enthusiasts, speculators — and criminals.

HOW IS A BITCOIN MINED?

Tech-savvy users called “miners” use their
computers to make complex calculations that
verify transactions in bitcoins. This so-called
blockchain is a global running tally of every
bitcoin transaction. The miners receive bitcoins
in exchange according to a set of established
rules. In this way, the bitcoin network harnesses
individuals’ greed for the collective good.

NiceHash, the company that got hacked,

made a business from matching people with
spare computing power to those wanting to
mine bitcoin.

HOW ARE BITCOINS KEPT SECURE?

Because the tally of bitcoin transactions, or
blockchain, is verified constantly by a network of
miners, rogues cannot spend the same bitcoin
twice. As long as miners keep the blockchain
secure, counterfeiting shouldn’t be an issue.

HOW DID BITCOIN COME TO BE?

It’s a mystery. Bitcoin was launched in 2009 by
a person or group of people operating under
the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin was
then adopted by a small clutch of enthusiasts.
Nakamoto dropped off the map as bitcoin
began to attract widespread attention. But
proponents say that doesn’t matter: The
currency obeys its own internal logic.

104
Image: Dan Kitwood
105
 Image: Bloomberg
106
 FEDERAL
REGULATOR GIVES
OK FOR BITCOIN
FUTURES TO TRADE

A federal regulator gave the go ahead on

Friday to the CME Group to start trading bitcoin
futures later this month, the first time the
digital currency will be traded on a Wall Street
exchange and subject to federal oversight.

The CME Group, which owns the Chicago

Mercantile Exchange, will start trading bitcoin
futures Dec. 18, the company said. The
Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the
primary regulator for exchanges like the CME,
gave approval for the exchange to create bitcoin
futures after six weeks of discussions.

107
 Image: Thomas Trutschel

108
The CME Group is using a process known as
“self-certification,” which is when an exchange
pledges that the new instruments will not break
any federal securities laws.

The price of bitcoin futures will be based on the

price the digital currency is going for on four
major bitcoin exchanges — Bitstamp, GDAX,
itBit and Kraken. Due to its volatility, bitcoin
futures will be subject higher margin levels and
intraday price limits, the CME said.

The move will subject some of the bitcoin

market to federal regulation for the first time.
It will also open up bitcoin trading to a larger
group of investors and traders, who have been
reluctant to purchase the virtual currency on the
private exchanges.

Bitcoin has gained more mainstream attention

lately as its price has soared on the private
exchanges. It was trading Friday at around
$10,500, after being worth roughly $1,000 at the
beginning of the year.

109
 Trailer

Movies
&
110
TV Shows
 Almost Friends

Once a promising young chef, Charlie

(Freddie Highmore) is a twenty-something
who now lives at home with his mom and
stepfather while working at a movie theatre
and living vicariously through his friend
Ben(Haley Joe Osment). His life takes a turn
when he falls for local barista Amber (Odeya
Rush) who unfortunately has her own plans
that involve her boyfriend and a move to
New York.

FIVE FACTS:
1. This is the second time Freddie Highmore
plays a character named Charlie. The first was
in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
by Jake Goldberger
Genre: Comedy 2. Odeya Rush appeared in an episode
Released: 2017 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in
Price: $12.99 2010 where Christopher Meloni was the
lead actor.
16 Ratings 3. The tagline for this movie is ‘Timing
is everything’.
4. Freddie Highmore’s performance in
Finding Neverland (2004) was what brought
him worldwide attention.
5. Haley Joe Osment is best known for his
role starring alongside Bruce Willis in The
Sixth Sense (1999).

Rotten Tomatoes

29 %
111
112
DinoTrailers

113
Valerian and the City
of a Thousand Planets

In the 28th century, Valerian (Dane

DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne)
are special operatives that must maintain
order throughout human territories. Under
assignment from the Minister of Defense,
the two must embark on a mission to the
city of Alpha where a dark force threatens
the peaceful existence of not only the City of
a Thousand Planets but the entire future of
the universe.

FIVE FACTS:
1. There are 200 different alien species in the
movie, and director Luc Besson created a by Luc Besson
600-page book that described all the details Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Released: 2017
of the species that the actors had to read Price: $19.99
before they began filming.
2. The film is based on a French science
363 Ratings
fiction comic series Valérian and Laureline by
Pierre Christin and was released on the year
of the comic’s 50th anniversary.
3. Before the Big Market mission, Laureline
tells the commanding operative “nice hat”
which is a nod to The Fifth Element (1997).
4. Luc Besson chose not to shoot the film in
3D because 3D cameras are too heavy for his
usual style of filming.
5. The first two trailers use the song
“Because” by The Beatles. This is the first time
a director could obtain the rights for using
a Beatles song in a movie advertisement.
Permission was granted by Paul McCartney.
Rotten Tomatoes

49 %
114
Trailer

115
 Teaser

116
117
 “Highway Tune”

118
Music
 From the Fires
Greta Van Fleet

At last, this four-piece from Michigan have

released the type of rock music that makes
you want to rev your engine. Their breakout hit
“Highway Tune” features high-pitched howls
over ripping electronic guitars and hammering
drums that would make Led Zeppelin proud.
This is a must-listen for fans of classic 70’s rock.

FIVE FACTS:
Genre: Rock
Released: Nov 10, 2017
1. The band was formed in Frankenmuth,
8 Songs Michigan in 2012 by brothers Joshua “Josh”
Price: $6.99 Kiszka, Samuel “Sam” Kiszka, Jacob “Jake”
Kiszka and Kyle Hauck.
331 Ratings 2. In October 2017, the band won Best New
Artist at the Loudwire Music Awards.
3. The band name was created when one of
its members heard a relative mention Gretna
Van Fleet, a resident of Frankenmuth.
4. In 2014, their song “Standing
On” was featured in 2014 Chevy
Equinox advertisements.
5. Their debut single, “Highway Tune”, topped
the Billboard US Mainstream Rock and Active
Rock Rock stations in September 2017.

119
120
Highway Tune (Audio)

121
Lambs & Lions
Chase Rice

Chase Rice’s fourth album delves deeper into

personal topics like broken hearts and the
power of God. Tracks like “Three Chords &
The Truth” expose him more than ever and
his cover of Chris LeDoux’s “This Cowboy’s
Hat” recorded with LeDoux’s son Ned is one
not to miss.

FIVE FACTS:
Genre: Country
1. Chase cites his father as the inspiration Released: Nov 17, 2017
for his career, recalling his father saying “boy 10 Songs
anyone can play guitar, but no one is gonna Price: $9.99
really listen to you until you start singing.”
2. He was a contestant on Survivor: 163 Ratings
Nicaragua, where he was the runner-up to
Jud “Fabio” Birza.
3. He was a co-writer of Florida Georgia
Line’s “Cruise”, which topped Billboard Hot
Country Songs.
4. After graduating from UNC, Rice joined
the Hendrick Motorsports pit crew and also
worked on Jimmie Johnson’s Spring Cup
Series car and won two championships with
the Lowe’s team.
5. One of his hobbies is woodworking,
something he picked up while recovering
from vocal surgery.

122
“Three Chords & The Truth”

123
124
“Everybody We Know Does”

125
126
 BOX OFFICE
TOP 20: ‘COCO,’
‘JUSTICE LEAGUE’
STAY ON TOP

With no major new releases hitting theaters,

Pixar’s acclaimed “Coco” again topped the
North American box office with $27.5 million
in its second week of release, according to final
figures Monday.

Strong family films such as “Coco” and

Lionsgate’s “Wonder,” along with an expanding
list of Oscar contenders like “Three Billboards
Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “Lady Bird,”
helped drive the box office to its best post-
Thanksgiving weekend in five years.

127
128
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters
Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution
studio, gross, number of theater locations,
average receipts per location, total gross and
number of weeks in release, as compiled
Monday by comScore:

1. “Coco,” Disney, $27,533,304, 3,987

locations, $6,906 average,
$110,108,708, 2 Weeks.

2. “Justice League,” Warner Bros.,

$16,651,104, 3,820 locations,
$4,359 average, $197,407,025, 3 Weeks.

3. “Wonder,” Lionsgate, $12,147,182,

3,449 locations, $3,522 average,
$87,679,805, 3 Weeks.

4. “Thor: Ragnarok,” Disney, $9,885,936,

3,148 locations, $3,140 average,
$291,633,535, 5 Weeks.

5. “Daddy’s Home 2,” Paramount,

$7,572,390, 3,403 locations,
$2,225 average, $82,886,836, 4 Weeks.

129
6. “Murder on the Orient Express,”
20th Century Fox, $6,767,002,
3,201 locations, $2,114 average,
$84,839,515, 4 Weeks.

7. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing

Missouri,” Fox Searchlight, $4,396,537,
1,430 locations, $3,075 average,
$13,537,057, 4 Weeks.

8. “Lady Bird,” A24, $4,291,590,

1,194 locations, $3,594 average,
$16,837,041, 5 Weeks.

9. “The Star,” Sony, $4,078,423,

2,822 locations, $1,445 average,
$27,358,076, 3 Weeks.

10. “A Bad Moms Christmas,” STX

Entertainment, $3,385,484,
2,251 locations, $1,504 average,
$64,737,307, 5 Weeks.

130
131
132
11. “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” Sony,
$1,958,702, 1,669 locations,
$1,174 average, $9,526,792, 3 Weeks.

12. “The Disaster Artist,” A24,

$1,211,345, 19 locations, $63,755
average, $1,211,345, 1 Week.

13. “The Man Who Invented Christmas,”

Bleecker Street, $882,836,
673 locations, $1,312 average,
$3,170,258, 2 Weeks.

14. “Titanic 20th Anniversary,”

Paramount, $438,602, 87 locations,
$5,041 average, $438,602, 1 Week.

15. “Blade Runner 2049,” Warner Bros.,

$401,403, 515 locations,
$779 average, $90,785,165, 9 Weeks.

133
134
16. “Junior Majeur,” Entertainment One
Films, $345,710, 87 locations,
$3,974 average, $1,198,440, 2 Weeks.

17. “Call Me By Your Name,” Sony

Pictures Classics, $295,561,
4 locations, $73,890 average,
$922,456, 2 Weeks.

18. “Marshall,” Open Road, $247,772,

651 locations, $381 average,
$9,150,000, 8 Weeks.

19. “Jigsaw,” Lionsgate, $222,803,

301 locations, $740 average,
$37,603,791, 6 Weeks.

20. “Loving Vincent,” Good Deed

Entertainment, $213,066,
162 locations, $1,315 average,
$5,503,561, 11 Weeks.

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast

Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics
are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney,
Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned
by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are
owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units
of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors
including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn;
Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by
AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

135
136
 ‘THE LAST JEDI’
AIMS TO CAPTURE
THAT OLD
STAR WARS
FEELING

Han Solo is dead. Luke Skywalker is back, but

changed. And Leia Organa’s story will soon be
coming to an end.

The Star Wars that inspired four decades of

passionate fandom appears to be slowly
but surely fading as “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
prepares to descend on Dec. 15, giving way to
a newer generation of intergalactic rebels and
their foes, like Rey and Kylo Ren, and a fresh
voice behind the endeavor in writer-director
Rian Johnson (“Looper”).

J.J. Abrams’“The Force Awakens” set the stage

for this new era of the franchise, but “The Last
Jedi” has to move it forward and keep audiences
interested for the next one too.

After all these years and billions of dollars, Star

Wars isn’t exactly a scrappy underdog anymore,
but the franchise is in somewhat uncharted

137
138
territory. The prequels did their own damage,
but at least no one had to say goodbye to their
original heroes.

And then there’s the seemingly impossible

standard set by that other Star Wars sequel, “The
Empire Strikes Back.”

Besides the main cast, filmmakers and some

Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Co. brass, no one
will see “The Last Jedi” until the Los Angeles
premiere on Dec. 9. And determining what exactly
audiences should expect is a bit like trying to
assemble a puzzle with no picture and most of the
pieces missing. The cast has left some adjective
breadcrumbs (“intense,”“emotional,”“intimate,”
“cinematic”) but for the most part, it’s a mystery.

“For me, ‘The Last Jedi’ is not a particularly happy

story to tell, but it’s just my part,” Mark Hamill
says cryptically. Hamill, 66, returns to play Luke
Skywalker after being seen in only a few frames
of “The Force Awakens,” which ends on a wind-
swept cliff as the young protege Rey (Daisy
Ridley) approaches him looking for training from
the missing Jedi. Luke and Rey are just one of
the new pairings promised for the film, which
finds every character out of their comfort zone
and facing new challenges as the Resistance
organizes to go up against the First Order.

“It’s got so much going on,” Hamill adds. “You

can cut from the more somber scenes I have to
the action/adventure, the suspense, the humor
... I’ve only seen it once but I thought, ‘This is too
much information to process.’”

The marketing campaign, no doubt playing

into the tone set by “Empire,” has focused on
the darkness and intensity of “The Last Jedi,”
but Johnson says that’s only one element.

139
He stresses that it is, first and foremost, a Star
Wars movie. To him, that means capturing
that thing that makes you want to “run out of
the theater and into your backyard” to play
with your spaceship toys — even without the
curmudgeonly wit of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo.

“That’s what everyone was concerned about

going in: How do you do it without him?”
Johnson, 43, says. “I saw so much potential
for humor in it. I was looking at every single
character and trying to find opportunities to
break the tension. I think people are going to be
surprised by how fun and light on its feet it is.”

In addition to Luke and Rey, the film brings

back Carrie Fisher as Leia in her last film role
(Fisher died after filming had wrapped), Adam
Driver’s Kylo Ren, fresh off murdering his father
Han Solo, the mysterious Supreme Leader
Snoke (Andy Serkis), Domnhall Gleeson’s
General Hux, the ace pilot Poe (Oscar Isaac),
the ex-Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and
his old boss Captain Phasma (Gwendoline
Christie), Chewbacca, the droids and a host of
newcomers, like Laura Dern’s purple-haired Vice
Admiral Holdo, a maintenance tech, Rose (Kelly
Marie Tran), a hacker (Benicio Del Toro) and
some cute little creatures called Porgs.

His script, which he was able to write while “The

Force Awakens” was being made, took some of
the cast aback at first.

“I was going, ‘Uh, I’m not sure about this,’” Ridley

says. “It just took us all a second to be like, ‘Ok
this is where the story is heading.’”

Johnson jokes that he’s like the new boyfriend

at Thanksgiving dinner who everyone has to get
used to.

140
Image: Jonathan Olley
141
“(Rian) had a different challenge which was to
expand the Star Wars universe further with more
inventive ideas, taking more risks,” Boyega says.
“He was a real fan. I feel like he ticked off his
Star Wars fanboy theories just one by one with
this film.”

That fandom has also helped Johnson, who

Hamill refers to as his Obi-Wan, reach a sort of
zen-like state with the film. It also doesn’t hurt
that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who
has not been afraid to make tough decisions
and fire or bench directors if something isn’t
working, was so pleased with their collaboration
and the resulting film that she has already
enlisted Johnson to develop a new Star Wars
trilogy separate from the Skywalker saga (he’ll
write and direct the first).

Now it’s just a matter of putting “The Last

Jedi” out in the world. Financially, there’s not
much to worry about — it’s tracking to open
somewhere in the $200 million range (far below
“The Force Awakens’” $248 million debut, but
stunning nonetheless). Also box office and
the expectations and hopes of a loyal fanbase,
who have been burned before, are two very
different things.

“Having been a Star Wars fan myself for the

past 40 years, I know intimately how passionate
they are about it and how everyone has stuff
they love and hate in every single movie. That
takes the pressure off a little bit just thinking,
‘Ok, there’s going to be stuff that everyone likes,
there’s going to be stuff that people don’t like
and it’s going to be a mixture,’” Johnson says.

And with a smile and a shrug, he adds: “That’s

what being a Star Wars fan is.”

142
143
144
 JAMES PATTERSON
AND EINSTEIN
ARCHIVISTS
CREATING
NEW SERIES

Already co-writing a political thriller with former

President Bill Clinton, James Patterson is now set
for a collaboration with the managers of Albert
Einstein’s archives.

The best-selling and prolific novelist is

developing a series for middle schoolers inspired
by Einstein’s scientific discoveries. In a licensing
deal with the Einstein archive, Little Brown
will publish the first of three planned books,
currently untitled, next fall. The release will come
through the author’s own JIMMY Patterson
children’s imprint.

“I love the idea of introducing Einstein and the

ideas of science to millions of kids around the
world,” says Patterson, sounding childlike himself
as he speaks of “taking this so freaking seriously.”

Patterson, admittedly still learning when it

comes to science, has worked in an innovation
of his own. The series’ young protagonist, Max
Einstein, is a girl.

145
“Women are definitely underrated in science and
I wanted to address that,” he told The Associated
Press during a recent telephone interview. Little,
Brown describes Max as “inventive, irreverent,
highly imaginative,” one who “loves to solve
problems in fun, unconventional ways, much
like Einstein himself.”

“The high-stakes adventure series follows Max

and the world’s brightest kids as they travel the
globe to solve humanity’s biggest problems with
the power of science,” the publisher announced.

Financial terms for the books were not disclosed.

According to Little Brown, Einstein archivists
will assist Patterson with research and also have
input in the manuscripts and artwork. Proceeds
will be divided among the archive, the publisher
and Patterson.

Einstein has inspired fiction before, such as

Alan Lightman’s critically praised “Einstein’s
Dreams.” He also was the subject of a best-selling
biography by Walter Isaacson and of numerous
biographies for children.

Officials for the Einstein archives, which are

based at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, cite
Patterson’s enormous popularity and see the
new series as an ideal way to expand Einstein’s
appeal among young people. Dr. Roni Grosz,
curator of the archives, praised Patterson’s ability
to keep readers interested.

“You don’t want readers just putting the books

down because they’re not interesting enough,”
he told the AP. “There’s tremendous interest in
Einstein, but it’s not easy to convey his lessons
and his knowledge. These books are one way to
package this rather complex information and
present it to young readers.”

146
Image: Taylor Jewell
147
148
 JAMES RODAY
AND DULE HILL
RETEAM FOR
‘PSYCH:
THE MOVIE’

Dule Hill was searching for the right word to sum

up how it felt that some original crew members
from his series “Psych” turned down other jobs to
work on “Psych: The Movie.”

“I think that is a...” he began.

“Testament,” interrupted his co-star, James

Roday. “I knew where you were at.”

And that pretty much sums up the rapport

between the two actors who played best friends
and screwball crime solvers for eight years on
their USA series.

149
150
Their shorthand and chemistry was a large part
of the show’s appeal, plus running gags like how
a pineapple was strategically placed in each
episode like a “Where’s Waldo?” game to keep
fans invested. The series went off the air in 2014
but they’re back on Thursday for a two-hour
TV movie.

“We didn’t want to come back so soon that we

hadn’t been missed but we also didn’t want to
wait too long so that we had been forgotten,”
said Roday of finding the sweet spot to return.

“This was the year that seemed the most right

and the planets aligned and everybody’s
scheduled worked out.”

In an interview with media, the actors recall how

they first met, inside jokes and whether there
will be more “Psych.”

Q: Do you recall how you first met?

Dule Hill: I went in for a meeting... You and I read

there. We read the scene together. It’s actually
funny because he was hired for the job, we had
the chemistry read, it was nice. Good vibe.

James Roday: So we thought it would be a

good idea to get together and because I had
already been cast I thought it would be a nice
gesture to go to Dule, to his home. We could
rehearse there. I thought that was a standup,
solid guy who already has the job, thing to do. I
expected him to live somewhere in the general
area (of Los Angeles) but he lived way the hell
out (laughs.)

Dule Hill: You’d think since he already had the

job it would be like, ‘Oh, let me come to you.’
There was none of that. I was like, ‘Thank you for
coming by, I appreciate it.’ (Laughter.)

151
Q: Did you have that quick banter right away?

Hill: I had just come from doing ‘The West Wing’

and Aaron Sorkin is: What is written is what you
say. I get into the read with this dude and he’s
just all over the place.

Roday: To watch this guy come in and to think

about (where he came from) and see some of
the stuff that he was doing at the end of our
show, talk about a journey. I watched this guy
bloom into a comedic powerhouse.

Q: Did anything come from you guys just joking

around that made it into the show?

Hill: Oh, man. What hasn’t?

Roday: We decided that we were huge fans of

Ed Lover’s ‘C’mon, Son!’ viral videos and worked
that in.

Hill: That only happened because I was in my

trailer watching the video and I showed it to
Roday and he was crying (laughing) and then
we had to go do a scene and he goes, ‘C’mon,
son.’ And I go, ‘Don’t do Ed Lover on me.’

Q: Will there be more reunions like this? Another

movie, perhaps?

Hill: If I had 10 pineapples to bet, I’d probably

bet all 10.

Roday: If we can keep it to two-hour specials

every year or two then I feel pretty confident
we’ll always be able to give fans the level of
‘Psych’ they are entitled to.

Online: http://www.usanetwork.com/Psych?

152
153
TECH IS TAKING
OVER OUR LIVES,
AND OUR 401(K)
ACCOUNTS

As technology takes over more of people’s daily

lives, it’s also taking over ever-bigger chunks of
their retirement accounts.

Surging prices for technology stocks around the

world mean the industry is making up a larger
proportion of global markets. In the United
States, Apple, Google’s parent company and
other tech companies account for nearly 24
percent of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. A
decade ago, they made up less than 17 percent
of S&P 500 index funds. The makeover is even
more dramatic overseas, where ascendant
companies like China’s Tencent and Alibaba
have quickly stormed into the ranks of the
world’s largest.

As a result, investing in many stock funds has

increasingly become a bet on technology
companies. That could be reassuring for
investors given how tech companies have
been able to deliver big profit growth for years,

154
155
156
even when global economic growth was only
middling. But it’s also a concern for skeptics who
see tech stocks as overly pricey and primed for
a pullback. The worries came into starker relief
in recent weeks, after tech stocks tumbled more
than the rest of the market.

To see how the tech takeover is changing

investing, consider mutual funds and
exchange-traded funds that focus on stocks
from emerging markets. These kinds of funds
offer access to growth in China and other
developing economies.

A decade ago, these funds were dominated

by hulking telecoms, energy companies and
the commodity producers that feasted on fast
growth in construction and factory activity.
They included China Mobile, the Brazilian
oil giant Petrobras and Russia’s Gazprom
natural-gas company.

In late 2007, technology companies made up

less than 11 percent of Vanguard’s Emerging
Markets Stock Index fund. But in the ensuing
years, tech companies like Tencent and Alibaba
grew to serve hundreds of millions of users
buying things with their mobile phones,
chatting online and listening to music.

Now the Vanguard fund, which is the largest

emerging-market stock fund by assets,
has almost twice as much of its portfolio
apportioned to technology stocks. Its biggest
single holding is Tencent, which is behind
the popular WeChat messaging app and
other products.

“It’s a sign of the times,” said Patricia Ribeiro,

senior portfolio manager at the American
Century Emerging Markets fund and the

157
158
American Century Emerging Markets Small Cap
fund. “In the emerging space, it’s a story about
the consumer.”

The shift toward technology stocks and away

from old-economy companies is a result of
the rise of emerging markets’ middle classes,
which are increasingly going online and also
benefiting from the world’s voracious demand
for technology, she said.

Ribeiro has 33 percent of her Emerging Markets

fund invested in technology stocks, more than
any other sector. Some of her recent acquisitions
include Momo, a Chinese dating app, and AAC
Technologies, a Chinese supplier for Apple. A
decade ago, the fund invested more money in
financials, raw-material production and other
areas of the market. The portion devoted to tech
was just 12 percent. The fund has ranked in the
top 8 percent of its category for returns over the
last five years, according to Morningstar.

In the United States, tech stocks in the S&P 500

doubled the gain of the index through the year’s
first 11 months. A slump in the sector in recent
weeks reminded investors that tech stocks are
historically prone to price swings and expensive
of late, based on several measures of value.

Analysts attribute the drop in tech stocks —

nearly 4 percent in a little more than a week —
to investors looking for reasons to sell and take
profits. Washington’s push to overhaul the tax
system served as a trigger. Tech stocks stand
to gain less from lower tax rates than other
industries, so some investors moved money
out of tech and into those sectors expected
to be tax-overhaul winners, such as financial
companies and retailers.

159
But technology companies are in the midst
of reshaping several industries, from retail to
media, and proponents see even more growth
ahead. Ken Allen, portfolio manager at the T.
Rowe Price Science & Technology fund, calls
it “being on the right side of change.” Plus,
the pace of adoption is accelerating. It took
Microsoft’s Windows nearly 26 years to get to
1 billion users. For Google’s Android operating
system, it took less than six years.

Many mutual-fund managers seem to agree.

After looking at 495 mutual funds that invest
$1.9 trillion, strategists at Goldman Sachs found
that actively managed funds generally have
even more invested in the technology sector
than index funds do.

The margin has been shrinking a bit recently,

but the preference nevertheless remains.

A big difference between tech stocks of today

and the last time the industry was such a
dominant force in the market during the late
1990s is how much profit they’re making.

Tech companies are not only making money,

they’re delivering some of the strongest gains
as customers continue to snap up iPhones and
click on ads in Facebook. Tech stocks in the S&P
500 reported 21 percent growth in earnings
per share last quarter, triple the rate of the
overall index.

That’s a far cry from 2000, when tech stocks

made up nearly 35 percent of the S&P 500 at
the height of the dot-com bubble and investors
were more interested in capturing “eyeballs” and
web traffic than in something as mundane as
sales or even earnings.

160
161
162
 NASA NAILS TEST ON
VOYAGER SPACECRAFT,
13 BILLION MILES AWAY

NASA has nailed an engine test on a spacecraft

13 billion miles away.

Last week, ground controllers sent commands

to fire backup thrusters on Voyager 1, our most
distant spacecraft. The thrusters had been idle
for 37 years, since Voyager 1 flew past Saturn.

To NASA’s delight, the four dormant thrusters

came alive. It took more than 19 hours — the
one-way travel time for signals — for controllers
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California, to get the good news.

Engineers wanted to see if these alternate

thrusters could point Voyager 1’s antenna
toward Earth, a job normally handled by a
different set that’s now degrading. The thrusters
will take over pointing operations next month.
The switch could extend Voyager 1’s life by two
to three years.

163
164
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is the only
spacecraft traveling through interstellar space,
the region beyond our solar system. Voyager
2 is close on its heels — nearly 11 billion miles
from Earth. The thruster test worked so well that
NASA expects to try it on Voyager 2. That won’t
happen anytime soon, though, because Voyager
2’s original thrusters are still working fine.

The Voyager flight team dug up old records and

studied the original software before tackling the
test. As each milestone in the test was achieved,
the excitement level grew, said propulsion
engineer Todd Barber.

“The mood was one of relief, joy and incredulity

after witnessing these well-rested thrusters pick
up the baton as if no time had passed at all,” he
said in a statement.

The twin Voyagers provided stunning close-

up views of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also
offered shots of Uranus and Neptune.

165
166
 SUPER BIG BLACK
HOLE FROM
EARLY UNIVERSE
FARTHEST
EVER FOUND

Astronomers have discovered a super-size

black hole harkening back to almost the dawn
of creation.

It’s the farthest black hole ever found.

A team led by the Carnegie Observatories’

Eduardo Banados reported in the journal Nature
on Wednesday that the black hole lies in a quasar
dating to 690 million years of the Big Bang.
That means the light from this quasar has been
traveling our way for more than 13 billion years.

Banados said the quasar provides a unique

baby picture of the universe, when it was just 5
percent of its current age.

It would be like seeing photos of a 50-year-old

man when he was 2 1/2 years old, according
to Banados.

167
“This discovery opens up an exciting new
window to understand the early universe,” he
said in an email from Pasadena, California.

Quasars are incredibly bright objects deep in

the cosmos, powered by black holes devouring
everything around them. That makes them
perfect candidates for unraveling the mysteries
of the earliest cosmic times.

The black hole in this newest, most distant

quasar is 800 million times the mass of our sun.

Much bigger black holes are out there, but none

so far away — at least among those found so far.
These larger black holes have had more time to
grow in the hearts of galaxies since the Big Bang,
compared with the young one just observed.

“The new quasar is itself one of the first galaxies,

and yet it already harbors a behemoth black
hole as massive as others in the present-
day universe,” co-author Xiaohui Fan of the
University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory said
in a statement.

Around the time of this newest quasar, the

universe was emerging from a so-called Dark

168
Ages. Stars and galaxies were first appearing
and their radiation ionizing the surrounding
hydrogen gas to illuminate the cosmos.

Banados suspects there are more examples like

this out there, between 20 and 100.

“The newfound quasar is so luminous and

evolved that I would be surprised if this was the
first quasar ever formed,” Banados said. “The
universe is enormous and searching for these
very rare objects is like looking for the needle in
the haystack.”

Only one other quasar has been found in

this ultra-distant category, despite extensive
scanning. This newest quasar beats that previous
record-holder by about 60 million years.

Still on the lookout, astronomers are uncertain

how close they’ll get to the actual beginning of
time, 13.8 billion years ago.

Banados and his team used the Carnegie’s

Magellan telescopes in Chile, supported
by observatories in Hawaii, the American
Southwest and the French Alps.

169
170
 NUCLEAR
FUSION PROJECT
HAILS HALFWAY
CONSTRUCTION
MILESTONE

A vast international experiment designed to

demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable
source of energy is halfway toward completion, the
organization behind the project said Wednesday.

Construction of the International Thermonuclear

Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in southern
France has been dogged by delays and a surge
in costs to about 20 billion euros ($23.7 billion).

ITER’s director-general, Bernard Bigot, said

the project is on track to begin superheating
hydrogen atoms in 2025, a milestone known as
“first plasma.”

“We have no contingency plan,” he told media

from Paris.

Scientists have long sought to mimic the process

of nuclear fusion that occurs inside the sun,
arguing that it could provide an almost limitless
source of cheap, safe and clean electricity.
Unlike in existing fission reactors, which split
plutonium or uranium atoms, there’s no risk of
an uncontrolled chain reaction with fusion and it
doesn’t produce long-lived radioactive waste.

171
A joint project to explore the technology was first
proposed at a summit between U.S. President
Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev in 1985, with the aim of “utilizing
controlled thermonuclear fusion for peaceful
purposes ... for the benefit for all mankind.”

It took more than two decades for work to begin

at the site in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, about 50
kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Marseille.
The project’s members — China, the European
Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the
United States — settled on a design that uses a
doughnut-shaped device called a tokamak to
trap hydrogen that’s been heated to 150 million
degrees Celsius (270 million Fahrenheit) for long
enough to allow atoms to fuse together.

The process results in the release of large

amounts of heat. While ITER won’t generate
electricity, scientists hope it will demonstrate
that such a fusion reactor can produce more
energy than it consumes.

There are other fusion experiments, but ITER’s

design is widely considered the most advanced
and practical. Scientists won’t know until 2035,
following a decade of testing and upgrades,
whether the device actually works as intended.

Still, fusion experts said Wednesday’s milestone

was noteworthy.

“The glass is half full, rather than half empty,”

said Tony Donne of EUROfusion, a consortium of
European research organizations and universities
that provide scientific advice for ITER.

Donne said the appointment of Bigot had

helped the project overcome what he called
a “very difficult period” during which political

172
173
174
considerations had hampered construction
of what some consider the most complicated
machine ever built.

Cost remains an issue, though, and Bigot was

visiting Washington on Wednesday to drum
up support from the United States, which
contributes about 9 percent of the budget. Much
of the funding goes to suppliers in the member
states — in the case of the U.S. that includes
General Atomics, which is building the central
solenoid, an 18-meter (59-foot) electromagnet
that’s powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier.

Bigot said most other members, including the

European Union which pays 45 percent of the
budget, had pledged their financial support for
years to come and he was hopeful the Trump
administration would see the benefits of staying
on board.

“All countries including the United States know

that their energy supply is not sustainable
beyond this century,” said Bigot, who was
previously France’s nuclear energy chief.

Should Washington cut its funding, the project

won’t collapse, he said. “It’s too important for the
other members. But there would be some delay.”

Gerald Navratil, a professor of applied physics

at Columbia University, said fusion could help
solve the problem of how to reliably produce
large amounts of electricity without emitting
greenhouse gases, noting ITER’s current cost
is comparable to that of developing a large
passenger aircraft.

“Energy is such an important part of our

technological society that expenditure of 20
billion to develop a new energy source is really
not out of line,” he said.

175
176
 DOCUMENTS:
UK LAWMAKERS
FLOUT EXPLICIT
PASSWORD-
SHARING BAN

British lawmakers are flouting explicit

instructions to lock their computers and not
to share their passwords, documents obtained
by The Associated Press show, a revelation that
raises questions about the security of Britain’s
parliamentary network only months after a
well-publicized email break-in.

Conservative Member of Parliament Nadine

Dorries first drew attention to the practice on
Saturday when she said in a message posted to
Twitter that her staff and even interns had access
to her log-in details. Dorries defended herself
by suggesting that the practice was widespread
and that colleagues had no choice but to
outsource email management to employees.
Image: Antonio Gaudencio
177
“All staff send emails in our name,” she said , a
statement echoed by fellow Tory lawmakers
Will Quince, who said he left his office computer
unlocked, and Nick Boles, who revealed that he
often forgot his own password “and have to ask
my staff what it is.”

Documents recently obtained through a British

public records request show that lawmakers are
explicitly warned by parliament’s information
technology division to keep their computers
locked and not to tell anyone their passwords.

“Make sure that you never share them,” reads

a slideshow shown to incoming lawmakers,
with the words “never share” in bold. Another
document — a digital services guide addressed
to members of the House of Commons — warns
that lawmakers have been targeted by hackers.

“Never share your password or write it down

where others could find it” is among the
“minimum” practices the guide advises them
to follow. It goes on to suggest that there is no
need for lawmakers to share their passwords
with employees.

“We can arrange for your staff to access your

mailbox, calendar and documents through their
own accounts,” the guide states. It also reminds
lawmakers to keep their computers locked and
that: “Cyber security is everyone’s responsibility.”

The House of Commons press office, which

handles inquiries for the lower house of
Parliament, confirmed that the ban on
password-sharing applied to lawmakers.

“We will generally aim to engage constructively

with people found to have been breaching policy
inadvertently,” the press office said in a statement.

178
Image: Chris McAndrew
179
An email sent to Dorries’ office wasn’t
immediately answered. In a Twitter message
posted Sunday, Dorries seemed to shrug off
the concern over digital safety, suggesting
there weren’t any government documents on
her machine.

“On my computer, there is a shared email

account,” she said . “That’s it. Nothing else. Sorry
to disappoint!”

British security researcher Kevin Beaumont

said lawmakers routinely handled sensitive
messages from their constituents and that by
flouting IT staff’s instructions “they are failing
to provide any protection to those people,
their voters.”

“Members also sit on the internal Parliamentary

network,” Beaumont said in an email. “They
might not think their PCs can access sensitive
information, but rogue actors would absolutely
test this theory.”

The digital security of Britain’s Parliament was

thrust into the spotlight in June following an
aggressive attempt to break into lawmakers’
emails. The hack, which was closely covered
in the United Kingdom, came about a year
after the dramatic leak of Democratic Party
operatives’ emails in the heat of the U.S.
presidential contest.

Those leaks were blamed by some for

derailing the candidacy of former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton and their fallout has
overshadowed the presidency of Donald Trump.

Online: Documents relating to

Parliament’s cybersecurity

180
Image: Chris McAndrew
181
APPLE, GOOGLE
AT CHINESE
INTERNET FEST
SHOWS LURE
OF MARKET

The high-profile attendance of the leaders of

Apple and Google at a Chinese conference
promoting Beijing’s vision of a censored internet
highlights the dilemma for Western tech
companies trying to expand in an increasingly
lucrative but restricted market.

The event in Wuzhen, a historic canal town

outside Shanghai, marked the first time chiefs
of two of the world’s biggest tech companies
have attended the annual state-run World
Internet Conference.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told the gathering as the

conference opened Sunday that his company
was proud to work with Chinese partners to
build a “common future in cyberspace.”

His and Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s presence

along with other business leaders, diplomats
and other experts, some analysts say, helped
bestow credibility on Beijing’s preferred version
of an internet sharply at odds with Silicon
Valley’s dedication to unfettered access.

182
183
Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed, in remarks
to the conference conveyed by an official, that
“China’s door to the world will never close, but
will only open wider.”

As in previous years, organizers allowed

attendees unrestricted access to the internet,
contrary to official policy under which internet
users face extensive monitoring and censorship
and are blocked from accessing many overseas
sites by the so-called Great Firewall of China.

Since Xi came to power in late 2012, he has

tightened controls and further stifled free
expression, activists say.

Beijing’s restraints also extend to Western

companies such as Google, Twitter and
Facebook, which have largely been shut out
from the market, leaving it to homegrown
internet giants like Tencent.

184
185
186
Apple has a large production base in China,
which is one of its biggest markets, though
domestic smartphone makers are catching up.

It has been criticized by some app developers for

complying with Chinese censorship demands. In
July, companies that let people get around the
government’s internet filters — known as virtual
private network providers — said their programs
had been removed from Apple’s app store in
China. One such company, ExpressVPN, said
Apple was “aiding China’s censorship effort.”

Apple said that China began requiring this year

that developers of virtual private networks have
a government license. The California-based tech
giant said it had removed apps “in China that
do not meet the new regulations.” Two Apple
spokeswomen couldn’t be reached by phone
for comment.

“The problem is that these companies are

between a rock and a hard place,” said Rogier
Creemers, a China researcher at Leiden
University who attended the conference.
They covet China’s huge market but if they do
make it in, as in Apple’s case, local law “requires
things that Western observers generally are
uncomfortable with,” he said.

Cook’s speech drew a big crowd. He said the

company supports more than 5 million jobs in
China, including 1.8 million software developers
who have earned more than 112 billion yuan
($17 billion) building apps available through
Apple’s App Store.

It’s Apple’s responsibility to ensure that

“technology is infused with humanity,” he said.
He avoided direct mention of any sensitive
topics, though he hinted at them by stressing

187
the need for “safeguards to keep everyone
protected: Privacy. Security. Decency,” according
to a transcript.

Google shut the Chinese version of its search

engine in 2010 over censorship concerns. Pichai
has talked about wanting to re-enter China, and
he told a panel discussion in Wuzhen that small
and mid-sized Chinese businesses use Google
services to get their products to other countries,
according to a report in the South China
Morning Post.

Spokespeople for Apple and Google declined

to comment.

The tech giants may have chosen to appear at

the conference because the current political
climate in the United States encourages a
pragmatic approach in pursuing business
regardless of other concerns, said Jonathan
Sullivan, director of the University of
Nottingham’s China Policy Institute.

“There has never been a time when an American

company is less likely to be called out by the
White House for pursuing a business-first
approach,” said Sullivan.

188
189
190
 IRELAND TO START
COLLECTING
$15 BILLION IN
TAX FROM APPLE

Ireland has struck a deal with Apple to collect

up to 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in back taxes
and hold it in an escrow account pending
an appeal before the Court of Justice of the
European Union.

The government said in a statement this week

that an agreement had been reached “in relation
to the framework of the principles that will
govern the escrow arrangements.”

The European Commission had ordered Ireland

to collect the money after concluding that two
Irish tax rulings allowed Apple to pay less tax
than other businesses — thus giving them an

191
unfair advantage. The Commission ordered
Ireland to collect back taxes for the years 2003-
2014, which it estimated to be as much 13
billion euros plus interest.

Ireland disagreed with the Commission’s analysis

and appealed the decision.

Apple said in a statement that it remains

confident the court will overturn the
commission’s decision once it has reviewed
the evidence.

“The Commission’s case against Ireland has

never been about how much Apple pays in
taxes, it’s about which government gets the
money,” Apple said in a statement. “The United
States government and the Irish government
both agree we’ve paid our taxes according to
the law.”

192
Image: Bloomberg
193
194
 FORD
COLLABORATES
WITH ALIBABA
AS IT EXPANDS
INTO CHINA

Ford is joining with Chinese e-commerce giant

Alibaba Group to explore new ways for people
to buy and own vehicles in the world’s largest
auto market.

The carmaker said Thursday that it’s signed a

three-year agreement to test marketing sales
and marketing as well as collaborate on cloud
computing and distribution strategies.

Initially the companies will study methods for

people to buy vehicles from pre-sale research,
to test drives and leasing options. They’ll study
areas to cooperate “that are reshaping the
automotive industry in China and around the
world,” Ford said in a prepared statement.

Ford also hopes to better incorporate digital

technologies and platforms into its vehicles.

Ford is a relatively small player in China and has

been focusing on expanding into the market to
better compete globally. It recently promised
to roll out more than 50 new vehicles in China
over the next eight years including 15 powered
by electricity.

195
 Image: Alexandros Avramidis
196
 RUSSIAN BITCOIN
SUSPECT FIGHTS
US EXTRADITION
IN GREECE

Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik,

who is wanted in the United States on charges
of laundering billions of dollars’ worth of the
virtual currency bitcoin, appeared Wednesday
before Greece’s Supreme Court for a hearing into
his extradition to the U.S.

Vinnik is the subject of a judicial tug-of-war

between the U.S. and Russia, which is also
seeking his extradition on lesser charges.

The U.S. is accusing Vinnik of laundering $4

billion worth of bitcoins through BTC-e, one of
the world’s largest digital currency exchanges,
which he allegedly operated.

Russia, meanwhile, wants him back to

face charges related to a 667,000-ruble
($11,500) fraud.

197
Lower courts in Greece have approved both
extradition requests. The Supreme Court is
expected to issue a decision in coming days.
If it decides in favor of extradition to the U.S.,
Greece’s justice minister will have the final word
on where the suspect will be sent.

Vinnik, who denies any involvement in bitcoin

fraud, is fighting his extradition to the United
States, but not to Russia.

The 37-year-old was arrested on a U.S. request

in July while on holiday with his family in the
Halkidiki area of northern Greece, which is
popular with Russian tourists.

The U.S. Justice Department says Vinnik has

been indicted by a grand jury in the Northern
District of California on charges including money
laundering, conspiracy to commit money
laundering, and engaging in unlawful monetary
transactions. The charges carry maximum
sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

198
199
TESLA BUILDS
WORLD’ BIGGEST
BATTERY IN
AUSTRALIAN
OUTBACK

The world’s biggest lithium-ion battery has

plugged into an Australian state grid, an official
said last week, easily delivering on Tesla Inc.
chief executive Elon Musk’s 100-day guarantee.

Musk promised to build the 100-megawatt

battery within 100 days of the contracts being
signed at the end of September or hand it over
to the South Australia state government for free.

South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill

announced the battery began dispatching
power into the state grid, providing 70
megawatts as temperatures rose above 30
degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

200
201
“South Australia is now leading the world in
dispatchable renewable energy, delivered to
homes and businesses 24/7,” Weatherill said.

The official launch came a little over 60 days

after the deal was signed. But crucially, it came
on the first day of the Australian summer —
the season when power usage soars due to air
conditioning use.

Tesla says the battery has the capacity to power

30,000 homes for up to an hour in the event
of a severe blackout, but is more likely to be
called into action to boost supply during peak
demand periods.

The battery power packs are installed near

the Outback town of Jamestown, about 200
kilometers (120 miles) north of the state capital
Adelaide. They store energy generated by the
neighboring Hornsdale Wind Farm, owned by
French renewable energy company Neoen, to
bring added reliability and stability to the
state grid.

202
203
204
Tesla partnered with Neoen to build the
battery, which is more than three times
larger than the previous record-holder at
Mira Loma, California.

South Australia, which relies heavily on solar and

wind-generated energy, has been scrambling
to find a way to bolster its fragile power grid
since the entire state suffered a blackout during
a storm last year. Further blackouts plagued the
state over the next few months.

The battery farm is part of a 550 million

Australian dollar ($420 million) plan announced
in March by Weatherill to make the state
independent of the nation’s power grid. The cost
of the battery has not been made public.

The Australian grid operator has warned of

potential shortages of gas-fired electricity
across southeast Australia by late next year. The
shortage is looming as Australia is expected
to soon overtake Qatar as the world’s biggest
exporter of liquid natural gas. Australia is also a
major exporter of coal, which fires much of its
electricity generation and makes the country
one of the world’s worst greenhouse gas
polluters on a per capita basis.

205
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