GOOGLE EMPLOYEES WALK OUT TO PROTEST TREATMENT OF WOMEN 06

GOP SENATORS SEEK PAUSE IN USSAUDI NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY TALKS 14

FLORIDA MAN SUES TESLA OVER AUTOPILOT FEATURE, CRASH 22

HAWAII SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS PERMIT FOR GIANT TELESCOPE 28

‘THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS’ FALLS FLAT 38

FOR JEWISH JOURNALISTS, ONLINE HARASSMENT GOES WITH THE JOB 46

NETFLIX TO GIVE 3 FILMS AN EXCLUSIVE RUN IN THEATERS 54

ANOTHER NASA SPACECRAFT RUNS OUT OF STEAM, 2ND THIS WEEK 56

HOW USERS AND CRITICS ARE RESPONDING TO THE iPHONE XR 60

VIRGIN ORBIT MATES ROCKET TO JET FOR AIRBORNE LAUNCH SYSTEM 78

CAN A HOLOGRAPHIC SCREEN HELP A NEW PHONE BREAK OUT? 80

GOOGLE TO GIVE AWAY $25 MILLION TO FUND HUMANE AI PROJECTS 88

iPAD PRO AND ALL NEWS FROM NEW YORK EVENT 92

GOOGLE SPINOFF TO TEST TRULY DRIVERLESS CARS IN CALIFORNIA 118

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO TEXT 911? 124

BEATLES RELEASE NEW VIDEO FOR ‘GLASS ONION’ ON APPLE MUSIC 132

‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’ WON’T ROCK YOU, BUT MALEK WILL 134

WALL STREET SOURS ON SILICON VALLEY, BATTERING TECH STOCKS 142

IBM’S $34B RED HAT DEAL IS RISKY BID TO BOOST CLOUD BUSINESS 150

NASA SPACECRAFT SETS RECORD FOR CLOSEST APPROACH TO SUN 154

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE WORKING AGAIN AFTER 3WEEK SHUTDOWN 156

US ELECTION INTEGRITY DEPENDS ON SECURITYCHALLENGED FIRMS 158

COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE? FACEBOOK POSTS MIXED 3Q RESULTS 174

JUSTICES WEIGH $8.5M SETTLEMENT WITH $0 TO 129M GOOGLE USERS 182

US LIMITS TECH EXPORTS TO CHINESE FIRM ON SECURITY GROUNDS 188

EUROPEAN TECH LEADERS WARN AGAINST EU DIGITAL SERVICES TAX 194

UKCANADIAN ‘GRAND COMMITTEE’ SEEKS TO QUESTION ZUCKERBERG 200

TURKEY’S LEADER OPENS NEW ISTANBUL AIRPORT AS GLOBAL HUB 204

6
 GOOGLE
EMPLOYEES WALK
OUT TO PROTEST
TREATMENT OF
WOMEN

Carrying signs with messages such as “Don’t

be evil,” Google employees around the world
walked off the job Thursday in a protest
against what they said is the tech company’s
mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations
against executives.
Employees staged walkouts at offices from
Tokyo to Singapore to London. Hundreds
protested outside Google’s office in New York,
and others were expected to do so in California
later in the day.

In Dublin, organizers used megaphones to

address the crowd of men and women to
express their support for victims of sexual

7
harassment. Other workers shied away from
the media spotlight, with people gathering
instead indoors, in packed conference rooms
or lobbies, to show their solidarity with
abuse victims.
Protesters in New York carried signs with such
messages as “Not OK Google” and the company’s
one-time motto, “Don’t Be Evil.” Many employees
outside Google’s New York offices cited job
security in refusing to talk.

In an unsigned statement from organizers, sent

from a company account, protesters called for an
end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment
and discrimination. They also want Google to
commit to ending pay inequity and to create a
publicly disclosed sexual harassment report and
a clearer process for reporting complaints.

The organizers said Google has publicly

championed diversity and inclusion but hasn’t
take enough action.

The protests are the latest backlash against

men’s exploitation of female subordinates
in business, entertainment, technology and
politics. In Silicon Valley, women also are
becoming fed up with the male-dominated
composition of the technology industry’s
workforce — an imbalance that critics say fosters
frat-house behavior by men.

The Google protest unfolded a week after a

New York Times story detailed allegations of
sexual misconduct about the creator of Google’s
Android software, Andy Rubin. The report
said Rubin received a $90 million severance
package in 2014 after Google concluded the
sexual misconduct allegations against him
were credible.

8
9
10
Rubin denied the allegations in a tweet .
The same story also disclosed allegations of
sexual misconduct against other executives,
including Richard DeVaul, a director at the
Google-affiliated lab that created such projects
as self-driving cars and internet-beaming
balloons. DeVaul had remained at the “X”
lab after allegations of sexual misconduct
surfaced about him a few years ago, but
he resigned Tuesday without severance,
Google said.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai apologized for the

company’s “past actions” in an email sent to
employees Tuesday.
“I understand the anger and disappointment
that many of you feel,” Pichai wrote. “I feel it
as well, and I am fully committed to making
progress on an issue that has persisted for
far too long in our society ... and, yes, here at
Google, too.”

The email didn’t mention the reported incidents

involving Rubin, DeVaul or anyone else at
Google, but Pichai didn’t dispute anything in the
Times story.
In an email last week, Pichai and Eileen
Naughton, Google’s executive in charge of
personnel issues, sought to reassure workers
that the company had cracked down on sexual
misconduct since Rubin’s departure four
years ago.

Among other things, Pichai and Naughton

said Google had fired 48 employees , including
13 senior managers, for sexual harassment
in recent years without giving any of them
severance packages.

11
But Thursday’s walkout could signal that a
significant number of the 94,000 employees
working for Google and its corporate parent
Alphabet Inc. remained unconvinced that
the company is doing enough to adhere
to Alphabet’s own advice to employees
in its corporate code of conduct: “Do the
right thing.”

The latest complaints from employees are

part of a wider discontent at Google and other
Silicon Valley companies, though much of
the complaints so far have been aired not at
public protests but at company town halls,
internal message boards and petitions that
got leaked.
In August, more than 1,000 Google employees
signed a letter protesting the company’s plan to
build a search engine that would comply with
Chinese censorship rules.

Earlier, thousands signed a petition asking

Pichai to cancel Project Maven, which provides
the Pentagon with the company’s artificially
intelligent algorithms to interpret video images
and improve the targeting of drone strikes.
Google later said it won’t renew the contract,
according to published reports.

A Silicon Valley congresswoman tweeted

her support of the Google walkout using the
#MeToo hashtag that has become a battle cry for
women fighting sexual misconduct.
“Why do they think it’s OK to reward
perpetrators & further violate victims?” asked
Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, who represents
a well-to-do district where many of Google’s
employees live.

12
Image: Bryan R. Smith
13
14
GOP SENATORS SEEK PAUSE
IN US-SAUDI NUCLEAR
TECHNOLOGY TALKS

A group of Republican senators urged President

Donald Trump on Wednesday to suspend
negotiations with Saudi Arabia on a potentially
lucrative atomic energy agreement following
the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Lawmakers led by Marco Rubio of Florida
said in a letter to the president that they had
reservations about the transfer of nuclear
power technology even before the Oct. 2
slaying of Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in
Istanbul. They warned they would work to block
an agreement from securing congressional
approval if the administration pushes ahead.
They noted their concern over Saudi Arabia’s
refusal to consider a nuclear energy agreement
that would prohibit the kingdom from pursuing
uranium enrichment and plutonium processing
“that can bring a nation within weeks of
producing a nuclear weapon.” The United Arab
Emirates accepted the standard in a 2009 civil
nuclear pact with the U.S.

15
16
The letter also was critical of the leadership of
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
although the senators don’t mention him by
name. Saudi Arabia has changed its narrative
about Khashoggi’s killing several times,
eventually admitting after repeated denials that
Khashoggi died inside the consulate and only
recently acknowledging that Turkish evidence
shows his killing was premeditated.
“The ongoing revelations about the murder
of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well
as certain Saudi actions related to Yemen and
Lebanon, have raised further serious concerns
about the transparency, accountability, and
judgment of current decisionmakers in Saudi
Arabia,” according to the letter.
In addition to Rubio, the letter was signed by
Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Rand Paul of
Kentucky, Todd Young of Indiana and Dean
Heller of Nevada.

A National Security Council spokesman did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sharon Squassoni, a research professor at

George Washington University’s Elliott School
of International Affairs, called the letter a
“pretty minor request” given the seriousness
of the allegations surrounding the death of
the Khashoggi, a 59-year-old columnist for The
Washington Post.
“Everything around Khashoggi’s murder
calls into question how closely we should
be aligning ourselves with Saudi Arabia,”
she said.
He vanished after entering the consulate to pick
up paperwork for his upcoming marriage. He
had been living in self-imposed exiled in the

17
 Image: Manuel Balce Ceneta

18
U.S. and published columns that criticized the
government of Prince Mohammed.

A top Turkish prosecutor said Wednesday that

Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered
the building as part of a premeditated killing,
and his body was dismembered.

The Trump administration has opened talks

with Saudi Arabia on what’s known as a “123
agreement.” The name comes from the section
of the Atomic Energy Act that establishes the
parameters for major nuclear cooperation
between the United States and other countries.
Without one, U.S. nuclear energy companies
such as Westinghouse would lose out on
business opportunities with the Saudis.

With little new reactor construction in the U.S.,

American companies are looking overseas for
business. But there’s competition from France,
South Korea and, to a lesser extent, China and
Russia. The Saudis have begun selecting the
contractors to build the first of as many as 16
nuclear power plants at a cost of more than
$80 billion.

Westinghouse Electric Co., which filed for

bankruptcy last year, declined to comment on
the financial impact to the company if it were to
be shut out of a Saudi nuclear power project or
relegated to a minor role.

The nuclear power industry has struggled both

because of the tremendous cost of building

19
massive reactors and the accelerating shift to
other forms of energy such as natural gas and
alternative energy, including solar.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July
approved a nonbinding resolution saying that
any U.S.-Saudi nuclear agreement must make
clear that it would prevent a civilian nuclear
energy program from becoming a gateway to
nuclear weapons development.
Robert Powers, senior director for legislative
affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade
group that lobbies for the nuclear power
industry, warned in an email before the vote
that the resolution would undercut U.S. foreign
policy, national security and economic interests.
“China, France, the Republic of Korea, and Russia
are competing with the United States to perform
engineering, procurement, and construction
work on an initial purchase of two nuclear
reactors,” Powers wrote. “The winner of this
competition will have an advantage with regard
to the further construction.”
He said there are other ways to prevent the
spread of sensitive technologies.

20
21
22
 FLORIDA MAN
SUES TESLA
OVER AUTOPILOT
FEATURE, CRASH

A Florida man says the autopilot feature of his

Tesla vehicle failed to detect a disabled car on a
highway, leading to a collision that left him with
permanent injuries, according to a negligence
lawsuit filed this week.
Shawn Hudson said in the lawsuit filed in state
court in Orlando, Florida, that Tesla made false
statements about the autopilot safety on his
Tesla Model S. It’s the second such lawsuit in
as many months. A Utah driver filed a similar
complaint last month.
Hudson and his attorney said at a news
conference that Tesla lulls drivers into a false-
sense of security that the cars can drive

23
24
themselves when the autopilot function is used.
But when there is a danger on the road, drivers
have no time to react, they said.
The company says, ”‘We told you, we’re going
to drive you ... Don’t worry about the road,
watch it, but we’re also going to put this giant
20-inch screen right here with Web-browsing
capabilities so you can be distracted the entire
time ... but if you crash, that’s your fault,’” said
attorney Mike Morgan.

Hudson said he suffers pain from fractured

vertebrae and has some cognitive problems
since the accident two weeks ago on the
Florida Turnpike.

Hudson, who lives in Orlando but has a two-

hour commute to Fort Pierce for his job as the
general manager of a Nissan dealership, said the
autopilot feature appealed to him because he
could get some work done during his commute.
Hudson had his hands on the wheel as the car
traveled 80 miles per hour (125 kph) but he also
was looking at his phone in the moments before
his Model S slammed into the unoccupied Ford
Fiesta, he said.

“I was looking up, looking down, looking

up, looking down, and I look up and the
car is disabled in the passing lane,” Hudson
said. “When you’re traveling that fast, it’s like
hitting a wall.”
A Tesla spokeswoman said in an email there’s
no reason to believe the autopilot feature
malfunctioned and that drivers should always
maintain control of the vehicle when using the
autopilot function. The spokeswoman, who
didn’t want her name used, said the car was
incapable of transmitting log data to Tesla,

25
26
which prevented the company from reviewing
what happened in the accident.

“Tesla has always been clear that Autopilot

doesn’t make the car impervious to all accidents,
and Tesla goes to great lengths to provide clear
instructions about what Autopilot is and is not,”
the spokeswoman said.
Hudson’s attorneys said there is a disconnect
between the official company policy and what
salespeople tell customers in showrooms.
“What they say to federal regulators is very
different from what you hear on the Tesla lot,”
Morgan said. “It’s very different from what Mr.
Hudson was told when he was buying his car.”

27
28
 HAWAII SUPREME
COURT UPHOLDS
PERMIT FOR
GIANT TELESCOPE

After years of delay, including lengthy court

battles and passionate protests from those
willing to be arrested for blocking construction
crews, builders of a giant telescope plan to
move forward with constructing the $1.4
billion instrument on a Hawaii mountain that is
considered sacred.

The state Supreme Court’s 4-1 ruling upholding

the project’s construction permit Tuesday
is a victory for the contentious Thirty Meter
Telescope planned for Hawaii’s tallest mountain,
Mauna Kea. Opponents say the telescope
will desecrate sacred land on the Big Island.
Supporters say it will bring educational and
economic opportunities to the state.

Astronomy and Native Hawaiian “uses on Mauna

Kea have co-existed for many years and the TMT
Project will not curtail or restrict Native Hawaiian
uses,” the ruling said. The advanced telescope
will answer some of the most fundamental
questions of the universe, and Native Hawaiians
will also benefit from it, the ruling added.

29
Associate Justice Michael Wilson dissented but
didn’t immediately release his opinion.

Further legal action is still possible, state

Attorney General Russell Suzuki said. There can
be a motion for reconsideration filed within
10 days and following that, a request can be
made to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the
decision, he said.

Kealoha Pisciotta, one of the main leaders

against the telescope, said she’s doesn’t know
what their next steps will be, but she’s not
hopeful that more legal wrangling will help.

“The court is the last bastion in democracy,” she

said. “The only other option is to take to the
streets. If we lose the integrity of the court, then
you’re losing normal law and order, and the only
other option is people have to rise up.”

Opponents and supporters have been

awaiting the ruling because it was expected
to help determine whether the project is built
in Hawaii or moves to a backup location in
Spain’s Canary Islands that is less desirable to
scientists hoping to use the instrument for
groundbreaking discoveries.
Henry Yang, chair of the TMT International
Observatory Board of Governors, said in a
statement they are grateful the ruling will allow
the telescope to be built on Mauna Kea.

Gov. David Ige, who said he is pleased with the

ruling, vowed to protect rights of protesters and
telescope builders. “The court’s decision will
allow Hawaii to continue to lead the world in
astronomy,” Ige said.
State Department of Land and Natural
Resources Chairwoman Suzanne Case said the

30
Image: Audrey McAvoy
31
next steps involve telescope builders submitting
construction plans. The department will review
the plans before issuing permission to proceed.
Plans for the project date to 2009, when
scientists selected Mauna Kea after a five-
year, around-the-world campaign to find the
ideal site.
The project won a series of approvals from
Hawaii, including a permit to build on
conservation land in 2011.

Protests disrupted a groundbreaking and

Hawaiian blessing ceremony at the site in 2014.
After that, the protests intensified.
Construction stopped in April 2015 after 31
protesters were arrested for blocking the work.
A second attempt to restart construction a
few months later ended with more arrests and
crews retreating when they encountered large
boulders in the road.

Scientists revere the mountain for its summit

above the clouds that provides a clear view of
the sky with very little air and light pollution.

The telescope will allow astronomers to reach

back 13 billion years to answer fundamental
questions about the advent of the universe,
touts a website for the project.

In December 2015, the state Supreme Court

revoked the permit, ruling the land board’s
approval process was flawed. That meant the
application process needed to be redone,
requiring a new hearing.
After oftentimes emotional testimony for the
hearing that spanned 44 days, the retired judge
presiding over the proceeding recommended
granting the permit.

32
33
34
Opponents appealed again after the land
board approved the permit. They complained
about various due process issues, including that
the hearings officer had a conflict of interest
because she was a member of a Big Island
astronomy center.

The connection was “too attenuated,” and

membership doesn’t lead to supporting
the telescope, Tuesday’s Supreme Court
ruling said.

A group of universities in California and Canada

make up the telescope company, with partners
from China, India and Japan. The instrument’s
primary mirror would measure 98 feet (30
meters) in diameter. Compared with the largest
existing visible-light telescope in the world, it
would be three times as wide, with nine times
more area.

Telescope parts have been built in California and

partner countries while construction on Mauna
Kea was halted.

Reactions to the ruling from two Native

Hawaiians showed how the issue has divided
the community.
Telescope opponent Kahookahi Kanuha, who
was arrested twice for blocking construction,
said Hawaiians need to be ready to resist
construction with non-violent protests. He
had a message for them: “Hoomakaukau,”
get ready.
Richard Ha, a Native Hawaiian farmer who
supports the telescope, said the long process
that led to the ruling was “pono,” or righteous. He
said he wants to sit down with opponents, “talk
story” and find common ground.

35
38
 ‘THE NUTCRACKER
AND THE FOUR
REALMS’ FALLS FLAT

So Disney has gone ahead and made a

Christmas movie from “The Nutcracker.” Is
this what we’re doing now? We’re making big
Hollywood movies from 19th century ballets?
Anyone have any fresh ideas at all? Talk about
low-hanging fruit: It’s a sugar plum.

“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ” is visually

marvelous, inconsistently acted and rather
incoherent in that fantasy genre way. There’s not
even that much dancing, to tell the truth. Little
kids might end up too scared and adults may
need several shots of insulin.

There’s a lot of stuff going on here so hold

onto your popcorn. The story is based on E.T.A.
Hoffmann’s original 1816 tale, “The Nutcracker
and the Mouse King,” which went on to become
a celebrated ballet with stirring music by
Tchaikovsky. (One likely selling point for Disney
is the soundtrack to the film is royalty-free.)

39
Screenwriter Ashleigh Powell has spun a tale
of a spunky and brainy 14-year-old Clara who
adores elaborate gear mechanisms and quotes
Newton’s Third Law. One morose Christmas,
she gets a present from her late mother that
sends her on a quest to the Land of Snowflakes,
the Land of Flowers, the Land of Sweets and
the Land of Hokum — sorry, that last one is
the ominous Fourth Realm, which is overrun
by rodents and fog and demented Cirque du
Soleil performers.
Clara must unite all these divisive parallel worlds
in time to return to her sad family and celebrate,
well, being together. There are elements of Lara
Croft, “The King and I” and “The Chronicles of
Narnia” here, and it’s safe to say the whole film
would fall apart if not for a brilliant performance
from Mackenzie Foy (“The Twilight Saga:
Breaking Dawn”) as Clara. Soft, angry, tender,
pained and regal — Foy is absolutely luminous,
both a tomboy and a princess. She speaks
through her eyes and really digs into lines like
“The real world doesn’t make sense anymore.”

The rest of the cast is uneven, to put it politely

this Christmas period. Keira Knightley as the
Sugar Plum Fairy seems to have modeled
her character on Elizabeth Banks’ role in “The
Hunger Games” but thought the other actress
was underplaying it and so has brought twice
as much irritating energy, including saying
things in squeaky voice like “Isn’t it magnificent?”
“banish’d,”“tres chic” and “oh, poo.”
At the other end of the spectrum is Jayden
Fowora-Knight — he’s awfully wooden and
just because he plays a former nutcracker is no
excuse. There’s also Helen Mirren, who portrays
the leader of the Fourth Realm with such a

40
41
swashbuckling style that she’s missed when
not on screen. Plus, poor Morgan Freeman
tries to bring dignity to Clara’s eccentric
godfather, but he’s had better lines in Mountain
Dew commercials.
Directors Joe Johnston and Lasse Hallstrom
also called on Misty Copeland, principal dancer
for American Ballet Theatre, to play the main
doll in a ballet within the movie, which was a
wise move. But other poor decisions mar the
film, including dressing Eugenio Derbez and
Richard E. Grant in over-the-top costumes and
telling them to act as if they just snorted a case
of Snickers bars. And there’s a moment late in
the film when you realize that some of the best

42
acting has been delivered... by a digital mouse.
(Hey, this is Disney, remember? The Mouse
always rules.)
The real stars of this film are the hundreds and
hundreds — sit through the credits and marvel
at the number — of visual effects folk who have
let us swoop over these snowy cities and forests
on the wings of a bird, who use thousands of
wriggling mice to come together to make one
big Mouse King, and who make a legion of tin
soldiers marching look positively frightening.
And the lush orchestrations of Tchaikovsky, with
sections repeated in different styles, show off
this classic work well.

43
 Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Final Trailer

44
Disney has potentially opened the door with a
sequel if this one succeeds. But, to be frank, it
rather limps to the goal line: Clara’s relationship
with the nutcracker soldier ends chastely
and she offers a vague promise to return —
hopefully with an acting coach — to the land of
sweets, flowers and snowflakes. But take your
time, Clara. Don’t rush on our behalf.

“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” a Walt

Disney Pictures release, is rated PG for “some
mild peril.” Running time: 99 minutes. One and a
half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material

may not be suitable for children.

Online: https://movies.disney.com/the-
nutcracker-and-the-four-realms

45
46
 FOR JEWISH
JOURNALISTS,
ONLINE
HARASSMENT
GOES WITH
THE JOB

For many Jewish journalists in the U.S., persistent

online anti-Semitic harassment has become part
of the job.
The phenomenon became pervasive during the
2016 presidential campaign, and there’s been
a resurgence in recent months ahead of next
week’s midterm election, according to the Anti-
Defamation League.

Targeted journalists have found different

ways of responding. CNN commentator
Sally Kohn reaches out kindly to some of her
online harassers. Michael Duke, an editor at
the Houston-based Jewish Herald-Voice, has
reduced his use of social media. Yair Rosenberg,
a writer with Tablet Magazine, developed a
method of tracking down and disrupting anti-
Semitic accounts on Twitter.

47
Rosenberg has written in detail about the vitriol
directed at him, including a doctored photo
showing him a gas chamber. When the ADL
reported that he received the second-most
abuse of any Jewish journalist on Twitter during
the 2016 campaign, Rosenberg wrote, “My
parents didn’t raise me to be No. 2; fortunately,
there’s always 2020.”

Twitter, over the past two years, has become

more effective at removing certain types of
virulent anti-Semitism from its feeds, according
to Rosenberg. But he said the company is less
effective at blocking the spread of anti-Jewish
conspiracy theories in tweets that avoid certain
phrases and hashtags that would catch the eye
of Twitter monitors.

Rosenberg said he has grown hardened to the

constant flow of anti-Semitic material.

“I don’t feel like a victim,” he said by telephone

from Pittsburgh, where and he and his
Tablet colleagues are covering the aftermath
of the synagogue shooting Saturday that
killed 11 Jews.

“What some people deal with in real life is worse

than what I deal with online,” he said. “There’s
life-and-death stuff, and there’s me getting
mean tweets.”

A few spots below Rosenberg on the ADL’s

2016 “Top 10” list was Kohn, a liberal political
commentator who appears regularly on CNN.
For a book she published earlier this year, “The
Opposite of Hate,” she reached out to several
of her own Twitter trolls, conversing with them
about the reasons for their vitriol and in some
cases receiving apologies.

48
49
In an interview Tuesday, Kohn said she is now
less tempted to engage with her harassers.

“It’s all just so negative,” she said. “I’ve stopped

paying as much attention to my trolls.”

Also on the 2016 Top 10 list was Jonah

Goldberg, a senior editor of the conservative
National Review. He began receiving a torrent
of online anti-Semitic invective in the second
half of 2015, after Donald Trump declared
his presidential candidacy and Goldberg was
among the conservative commentators who
expressed misgivings.

“You had endless photoshopped images —

Trump in an SS outfit putting me in a gas
chamber,” he said. “You don’t see that stuff very
much anymore.”

50
However, he said there was a new surge of anti-
Semitic material — much of it generated by bots
— after the Pittsburgh massacre.
“They flood the zone in the wake of these kind
of controversies ... sowing discord and distrust,”
he said.
Like Rosenberg and Kohn, Goldberg tries to take
the harassment in stride, though he took notice
when photos of his dog became vehicles for
further anti-Semitic abuse.

One specific episode still stands out: Goldberg

said that at one point he made public reference
to the death of his brother, and was “pelted
with jokes asking if he’d been turned into soap
or a lampshade.”

51
“I have a pretty thick skin,” he said. “The sheer
inhumanity of it — that’s stuck with me.”

At The Forward, a New York-based Jewish

magazine, editor-in-chief Jane Eisner said
anti-Semitic harassment directed at her staff
surged in 2016, prompting new procedures
for reporting particularly menacing threats
to the police.

“There’s no doubt we’ve gotten used to this,

which in some ways is a tragedy, but we have
to do our job,” Eisner said. “Just because you
accept it and move on doesn’t mean it doesn’t
affect you.”
At the ADL, one of the experts tracking anti-
Semitic harassment is Daniel Kelley, associate
director of the ADL’s Center for Technology
and Society. Even if some prominent Jewish
journalists are able persevere in the face of such
harassment, he worries that some Jews might
be deterred from pursing a journalism career for
fear of becoming a target.

In Houston, Duke, a Jewish Herald-Voice

associate editor, was targeted with anti-Semitic
abuse after the paper reported on a 2016 visit by
white nationalist leader Richard Spencer to Texas
A&M University. Duke was called a “Zionist Nazi”
and was emailed a photo of Auschwitz with the
tag, “We’re on the march.”
But there’s been an upside to Duke’s subsequent
decision to reduce his engagement on
social media.
“It’s made me a little better as a journalist,” he
said. “With social media, you can be a little lazy.
This puts me back in touch with people we
write about.”

52
53
54
 NETFLIX TO GIVE
3 FILMS AN
EXCLUSIVE RUN IN
THEATERS

Netflix will give three films an exclusive run in

theaters before making them available on its
streaming service.
Up until now, Netflix has steadfastly insisted on
releasing films in theaters only simultaneously
with their streaming premiere. Netflix’s major
pivot will give a handful of its most anticipated
movies a stand-alone run in a relatively small
number of theaters. Major chains still refuse to
screen films that don’t adhere to an exclusive 90-
day window.
Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” the Coen brothers’
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and the Sandra
Bullock-starring thriller “Bird Box” will play
in theaters for one to three weeks before
premiering on Netflix.

The move could aid the Oscar aspirations of

“Buster Scruggs” and, in particular, “Roma,” which
critics have hailed as one of the year’s best.

55
56
 ANOTHER NASA
SPACECRAFT RUNS
OUT OF STEAM,
2ND THIS WEEK

NASA has lost a second spacecraft this week,

ending a fruitful mission in the asteroid belt.
Running low on fuel for some time, the Dawn
spacecraft this week stopped communicating
with flight controllers. Its prolonged silence
prompted NASA to declare it dead Thursday,
two days after delivering eulogies to the planet-
hunting Kepler Space Telescope. The 9 ½-year-
old Kepler also ran out of fuel, needed for
pointing the spacecraft.
They both kept working longer than anticipated
and their demise had been expected.
Propelled by three ion engines, the 11-year-old
Dawn was the first spacecraft to orbit an object
in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter,
and also the first to orbit two places beyond
Earth. After circling the asteroid Vesta, Dawn
went into orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres.

57
Mission director and chief engineer Marc
Rayman insisted he wasn’t sad. Rather, he said
in an email, “I’m thrilled it was so fantastically
exciting and productive. Dawn was a spectacular
success by any measure. It carried humankind
on a truly amazing deep space adventure with
stunning discoveries.”
Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid
belt, followed by Vesta. The “astounding”
images collected by Dawn are shedding light
on the history and evolution of our solar
system, said NASA’s science mission chief,
Thomas Zurbuchen.
Dawn should remain in orbit around Ceres for
decades, according to NASA.
“To me, that is a fitting end to an extraordinary
extraterrestrial expedition,” Rayman said.

58
59
60
61
THE ‘ENTRY-LEVEL’ DEVICE IS ALREADY
PROVING A HIT
On Friday, October 26, the iPhone XR was
released to a largely rapturous response.
Indeed, in the run-up to the handset’s retail
release, Apple went as far as sharing a round-
up of positive reactions from critics.
Digital Trends, for instance, has hailed the
“stunning” colors, “great” battery life and
“industry-leading” Face ID technology – and with
all of this being available from just $749, the
iPhone XR has also been deemed great value
for money. Daring Fireball called the XR, in this
respect, “almost certainly the best iPhone Apple
has ever made.”

62
63
A ‘CHEAPER’ iPHONE WITH
A DIFFERENCE
Nonetheless, what such efusive comments
as the above perhaps fail to highlight is that
the iPhone XR is, at its heart, a curious beast
compared to what we have come to expect
from a new iPhone. It has much in common
with the lagship iPhone XS and XS Max,
including slim bezels and the TrueDepth
camera system enabling the sophisticated Face
ID and Animoji features. Like those models, the
XR also houses the A12 Bionic chip with two
performance cores, making it 15% speedier
than the A11.

However, there remain quite a few key ways in

which the XR departs from the XS series. The
price is perhaps the most noticeable, given that
pricing starts respectively from $999 and $1099
for the XS and XS Max. With the XR, Apple has
made a few compromises to help justify its
lower pricing – with, to list two examples, OLED
screen technology and 3D Touch being omitted.
However, the XR is available in a higher number
of color inishes, six: white, black, blue, coral,
yellow and PRODUCT(RED).

When all of the included features – and for that

matter, those left out – are taken into account,
it does raise quite a few questions. Is the iPhone
XR worth buying over the XS or XS Max, for
example, and do the XR’s omissions really make
a noticeable diference to the user experience?
Fortunately, the Internet is awash with reviews
and reactions from not only press outlets and
tech journalists, but also regular users – and
what we have gleaned from the early sales
igures tells an interesting story, too.

64
65
 “The iPhone XR is, at its
heart, a curious beast.”

66
Image: Apple Inc.
67
68
PRESS REVIEWS PUT THE XR
UNDER SCRUTINY
Although Apple has already cherry-picked
opinions from more than a few press reviews of
the iPhone XR, we obviously can’t rely on those
remarks to provide a wholly objective view of
the handset. It’s reassuring, then, that various
reviews quoted by the respected Apple news
site MacRumors have also shown optimism, if
slightly more cautiously on a few aspects.

The Verge’s Nilay Patel, for instance, has

described the XR’s display, which measures
6.1 inches rather than the respective 5.8 and
6.5 inches of the XS and XS Max screens, as
“ine”. He noted that despite the use of aging,
albeit enhanced ‘Liquid Retina’ LCD technology,
people “coming to this phone from any iPhone
save the iPhone X will not notice a huge
discrepancy in resolution.”

Apple has replaced the usual 3D Touch

pressure-sensitive technology with the more
rudimentary Haptic Touch, which is somewhat
akin to the functionality of the MacBook
Trackpad. However, you might not notice the
absence of 3D Touch unless you have habitually
and widely used it on another iPhone. iMore’s
Rene Ritchie has commented that, where the
XR does allow the use of Haptic Touch, “it feels
enough like 3D Touch that I sometimes ind
myself forgetting it’s not 3D Touch.”
Then, there’s the battery life. Apple has already
hailed this as 90 minutes longer than that of the 8
Plus, but according to TechRadar’s Gareth Beavis,
the situation is even better than this. He declares
that the XR “inally achieves the holy grail of all-
day battery life in an iPhone”. Even the Pixel 3 XL

69
is left trailing in the distance; rigorous battery-
testing by Tom’s Guide saw the XR enduring for 11
hours and 26 minutes, while the Pixel 3 XL could
only muster nine and a half hours.

DON’T JUST PHONE IT IN – READ

REGULAR USERS’ REACTIONS, TOO
Naturally, every new iPhone model attracts a
number of “early adopters” who are willing to
quickly put the phone through its paces and
report back with their indings. The iPhone XR
has been no exception, with many of its users
having already taken to the MacRumors forums.
If you were tempted to buy the XR due to the
middle ground its screen size appears to strike
between the display measurements of the XS
and XS Max, MacRumors reader Kendo has
sounded a note of caution. Kendo remarked
that, with the bezels each a millimeter thicker
than those of the Max, the XR is actually very
similar to the Max in the overall size of its
enclosure – meaning that someone seeking
an “in-between” size is “better of just getting a
Max” if their budget allows.

On the lipside, watch out if you prefer your

phones on the relatively small side. MacRumors
reader tks900 has called the XR “quite big” and
“heavy”, adding: “Coming from the 6S, this is a
really diferent animal.” Even with his large hands,
he found one-handed use of the XR “impossible”.

70
71
COLORING HOOK: EARLY IMPRESSIONS
OF THE VARYING FINISHES
If you are eager to buy an iPhone in a color that
has long been neglected in the smartphone
range, your preference might be sated with
the XR. However, if you feel especially drawn
towards one of its colors, you should consider
judging it with your own eyes at a retail store.

An especially large number of question marks

might linger over the coral inish. Is it somewhat
close to orange, as online images of the coral XR
might have led you to believe? ZDNet scribe
Matthew Miller begs to difer, describing
the back panel as “salmon color and more of a
pink than orange in most lighting conditions”,
although it “appears orange-ish in some
environmental conditions”.

72
The aluminum sides, however, difer from the
rear panel’s shade, as they “look more orange
or copper in color”. There is more uniformity
with the color of the PRODUCT(RED) model.
In a hands-on video of this particular XR,
AppleInsider commented that the red of both
the back and sides “matches up very well” and
even called the “gorgeous” shade “the best red
color you could possibly get on an iPhone”. Red
has previously been an available inish on both
the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8.

73
74
(PRODUCT) RED iPhone XR Hands-on

75
HOW WELL THE iPHONE XR APPEARS TO
HAVE SOLD SO FAR
Although precise sales igures for the iPhone
XR are – unsurprisingly at this early stage – hard
to come by, there has been a suicient array of
positive indicators to keep optimism brewing.
Just days after the XR went on sale, Rosenblatt
Securities analyst Jun Zhang cited “weak
pre-orders” and “slowing demand”, but still
estimated that the irst weekend sales globally
totaled roughly nine million units.
There had earlier been good news in a research
note quoted by MacRumors. TF International
Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that,
in the initial three days of the XR’s pre-order
availability, this particular version of the iPhone
attracted more pre-orders than the iPhone 8
series during the equivalent period of 2017.

Whether you are still on the fence about whether

to pick up an iPhone XR or have already acted
on the urge to buy one, 9to5Mac has ilmed
a video of what it deems the XR’s 20 best
features that you might be intrigued to watch.

All in all, the picture being painted of the iPhone

XR so far has been a strongly positive one,
despite a few caveats here and there. As for
whether all of this will be enough to motivate
you to place your own order… naturally, that
decision will be down to you.

by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

76
iPhone XR: top 20 features

77
 Image: Greg Robinson
78
 VIRGIN ORBIT
MATES ROCKET TO
JET FOR AIRBORNE
LAUNCH SYSTEM

Southern California-based Virgin Orbit has

reached a milestone in developing its airborne
orbital launch system.

The company says this week it mated a

LauncherOne rocket to a special Boeing 747 at
Long Beach Airport and will soon begin a series
of flights that will culminate with a drop test in
which the booster will be released from beneath
the jet’s left wing.
The system is intended to carry small satellites
into orbit.
Virgin Orbit is a sister company of Virgin Galactic,
which is developing an air-launched rocket
plane for carrying tourists on suborbital flights
into space.
Virgin Orbit said it already has hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of launches on contract
for a wide range of customers including NASA
and the U.S. Defense Department.

79
80
 CAN A
HOLOGRAPHIC
SCREEN HELP A
NEW PHONE
BREAK OUT?

Most leading phones offer the same basics: Big

screens, decent battery life and good cameras.
So when a newcomer brings something
innovative to the party, why is it difficult to break
through a phone market dominated by Apple
and Samsung?
One such smartphone comes out this week from
Red, a company with roots in digital cameras for
movie productions. The new Hydrogen One has
a holographic screen that produces 3-D visuals
without needing special glasses. It is launching
with two major movies converted to this format
and allows users to create and share their own
videos shot with the phone.

81
Red’s goals are modest — about 16 million
units a year, based on Red’s stated target of 0.5
percent of Samsung’s sales. But Red will need
customers beyond the tech elite and camera
buffs; it’ll need their friends and friends of their
friends. It doesn’t help that the Hydrogen One
carries a hefty $1,295 price tag.
“The Red Hydrogen One stands little chance
of upsetting the smartphone status quo,” said
Geoff Blaber, a research analyst at CCS Insight.

Chipping away at Apple’s and Samsung’s

dominance is much harder than it used to be
because phone innovation isn’t so much about
hardware any more, Creative Strategies analyst
Carolina Milanesi said. What matters more, she said,
is the software and artificial intelligence behind it.

Consider Apple’s new iPhones. Sure, the new

XR and XS models all have decent screens,
battery life and cameras. But Apple has also
been emphasizing such software-based features
as augmented reality, artificial intelligence
and automation using the Siri digital assistant.
Or take Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9. Signature
features include the use of AI to automatically
fine-tune images.

While the Hydrogen One’s screen is different,

Milanesi said, it’s not necessarily something the
mass market will gravitate to.
Red founder Jim Jannard said his phone is about
making waves in a sea of smartphone sameness.
“We don’t buy the same make, model or color of
car that our next-door neighbor has,” he said. “It’s
important to keep this industry pushing along ...
and give people some new choice. What we’ve
done is pretty nuts.”

82
83
The phone starts selling this week through AT&T
and Verizon in the U.S.

Red calls the screen technology 4V, for four view,

which is another way of saying it’s doubling
what twin-lens 3-D cameras produce by adding
depth data to each image. There’s a special
material under the screen that lets 4V photos
and video appear to the viewer in 3-D. Images
that aren’t shot or converted to this format will
look the same as they do on any other screen.
Attempts to photograph a 4V screen will also
produce images that don’t look any different.

Yet the 3-D wizardry indeed works, though

it’s more pronounced in some scenes than
others. Images of a soccer goalie blocking a
shot feels realistic, but a waterfall at Yosemite
National Park looks like video taken with a
regular camera (though leaves in the foreground
looked 3-D). The Red phone might remind you
of holographic stickers in which the view shifts
slightly as you tilt them.

The Warner Bros. studio is giving customers of

parent company AT&T two free 4V movies: the
first “Harry Potter” prequel, “Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them,” and Steven Spielberg’s
“Ready Player One,” which is set in a virtual
world. The studio plans to convert about a half-
dozen other movies initially. Red will have tools
for producers to convert existing 3-D video into
the 4V format.
The Hydrogen One also has twin lenses in the
back to capture 4V photos and video. Trouble is,
people you share them with will get a normal
image unless they also have a Hydrogen One.
The phone also has a handful of 4V games.

84
85
86
Red’s 4V could run into the same problems that
virtual reality has faced. People haven’t been
rushing out for headsets, while video creators
haven’t been rushing out to make VR experiences.
There’s a chicken-and-egg problem at play.

Beyond the fancy screen, the phone is thick at a

time Apple and Samsung make thinner phones.
That’s done to fit in a bigger battery, with 12
percent more capacity than the super-charged
Note 9. The sides have ridges to improve the
grip. The phone has pins for expansion modules,
such as an adapter for any standard SLR lens.
(Incidentally, a major manufacturer that tried
this modularization approach, LG, backed away
from it after a year.)

Jannard has a history of disrupting other

industries, too. He previously founded Oakley,
which became a force in sunglasses using many
of the word-of-mouth techniques he is hoping
to replicate with the new phone.

“We’re not trying to win over the whole world,”

he said. “We’re trying to provide a phone that we
hope enough people like. Otherwise, I’m going
to own the single most expensive cellphone in
the world, and I’m happy with that.”

87
 Image: Fabian Bimmer

88
 GOOGLE
TO GIVE AWAY
$25 MILLION TO
FUND HUMANE
AI PROJECTS

Google will give away $25 million to projects

that propose ways to use the artificial
intelligence of computers to help create a more
humane society.

The grant program announced Monday is part

of a broader Google initiative called “AI for Social
Good” that aims to ease concerns that advances
in artificial intelligence will eliminate jobs and
perhaps even be autonomously deployed by
militaries to kill people.
Other technology companies have taken similar
steps to address ethical issues in AI. For instance,
Microsoft has committed $115 million to an
“AI for Good” initiative that provides grants to
organizations harnessing AI for humanitarian,
accessibility and environmental projects.

89
 Image: Patrick Semansky
90
During a presentation in Sunnyvale, California,
Google demonstrated how its AI technology is
already being used to diagnose diseases, help
people with disabilities, predict areas likely to
flood and protect endangered species.
Despite commitments like those being made by
Google and Microsoft, the specter of AI going
horribly awry lingers.

Even as it pledges to do good things with AI,

Microsoft is pursuing a massive U.S. military
contract that prompted an open letter earlier
this month from a purported group of Microsoft
employees worried the company might
be betraying its own artificial-intelligence
principles. Microsoft reaffirmed its resolve to
win the military contract in its own blog post
last week, promising to address any ethical
concerns that may arise if it ends up working
on the project.

Google decided not to bid for the same military

contract that Microsoft wants after some its own
employees protested. The company concluded
the contract, potentially worth $10 billion, didn’t
comply with its AI principles , which preclude
the technology from being used to “cause or
directly facilitate injury to people.”

The company’s AI For Social Good program was

already in the works before Google employees
raised objections about the military contract,
said Jeff Dean, a senior fellow overseeing AI.

Google’s nonprofit arm will announce the

winners of its AI grants next spring at an annual
company conference.

91
 Image: Justin Lane
92
93
MORE IN THE MAKING
Spirits were high at Apple’s ‘There’s more in the
making’ event, which was held at the Howard
Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, New York on
October 30. Hot of the heels of the launch of
the new iPhone XS, XS Max and XR, Tim Cook
and Co were ready to show of next-generation
models of two of the company’s most beloved
products: the Mac, and the iPad. Introducing a
whole host of new editions, this was an Apple
event to remember, and professionals’ hunger
for new high-end tablets and notebooks was
inally fed. In this week’s issue, we uncover the
all-new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini,
and see what technology critics and the public
had to say.

94
95
96
A BRAND NEW MACBOOK AIR
After the launch of the 12-inch MacBook in 2015,
many thought the MacBook Air was dead.
Today’s Pro models are almost as thin as the Air,
and MacBooks are as afordable as the Air but
come packed with high-end processors, a touch
bar and more. However, much to the surprise
of Apple analysts, the MacBook Air, which
this year celebrated its tenth birthday, was
given a new breath of life, with the Cupertino
irm introducing an all-new version. “The Mac
was the irst computer that was designed for
creativity,” teased Cook at the keynote speech,
adding that “it’s become one of the world’s most
essential creative tools,” before unveiling the
new Retina display MacBook Air. With its iconic
wedge-shaped design and two USB-C ports,
the refreshed MacBook Air has waved goodbye
to its aluminum bezel, and features a stunning
13.3-inch display, with narrower black glass and
borders to allow for more screen estate. The
updated model ofers four times the resolution
as previous editions, and for the irst time, a
Touch ID button which allows for Apple Pay and
ingerprint recognition - without the inclusion
of the controversial touch bar.

With a new T2 system controller, users will be

able to summon Siri using the famous ‘Hey Siri’,
whilst a larger trackpad and keyboard will
make everyday tasks more enjoyable. The
new Air has speakers that are louder than ever
before, and the device is packaged with an 8th-
generation Intel Dual-Core i5 and up to 16GB
2133MHz memory and a 1.5TB SSD, which is said
to be 60% faster than previous models. Battery
life also holds up well, with the Air ofering up
to 12 hours of web browsing and 13 hours of

97
 Mac mini — The Arrival — Apple

98
iTunes movie playback. What’s more, the model
is a quarter-pound lighter than the previous Air,
and is made from 100% recycled aluminum.
The new Air starts at $1199, which is the “most
afordable retina Mac” Apple has ever ofered
and ships in the gold, silver, and space gray
colors we have come to know and love.

MAC MINI GIVEN SOME LOVE

The Mac mini has struggled in recent years,
with the last version of the device launched
back in October 2014. According to the popular
Apple news website MacRumors, the average
cycle between Mac mini releases is more than
438 days - but the latest gap is more than
1,475 days. After years of complaints from
power-users who want the Mac experience
with the freedom of using their own screen
and peripherals, Apple caved in and designed
an all-new Mac mini, with a stunning
introduction video of a Mini lying through
the air as if it was a spaceship. The mini has
four cores, can be upgraded to six and uses
eighth-generation CPUs which ofer 60% faster
graphics performance. The device can be
conigured to include up to 64GB of memory
and an SSD drive of up to two terabytes. The
mini now supports Gigabit Ethernet, comes
with four Thunderbolt 3/USB C ports, as well
as HDMI and two USB-A ports to allow users
to connect as many devices as they would
like. Also new is the ability to ‘string together’
Mac minis for video editing, or a server farm,
ofering more performance. Made from 60%
post-consumer recycled plastic, the new Mac
mini starts at $799 and is available November 7
on Apple.com.

99
100
THE iPAD PRO, TAKEN UP A GEAR
After a brief presentation about the new
Sessions coming to Apple Stores around the
world, Tim Cook returned to the stage to ofer
a peek into the new iPad. Leaks of the long-
awaited Pro model made their way onto the
internet months before its oicial unveiling,
but that didn’t stop the audience from raising
the roof when the lid was oicially lifted. With
no home button, Face ID, a thinner bezel and a
magnetic Apple Pencil, the new iPad Pro is more
advanced than ever before, and “the iPad we’ve
dreamed of making from the very beginning,”
according to designers. Apple will continue to
ofer two versions of the Pro, one with an 11-
inch display, and the second featuring a 12.9-
inch display and a smaller, more portable frame
compared to its predecessor, making it great for
working on the go. Both new iPads measure in
at 5.9mm thick, and in typical Apple style, are
15% thinner than previous Pros.

But it’s not just the screen that’s impressive - the

real magic happens under the hood. The new
iPad Pro comes with Face ID for the irst time,
allowing users to unlock their devices, pay for
goods and more. And unlike previous iPads,
there is no “right side up” - iPad Pro automatically
adjusts to your position. The models are powered
by an all-new A12X Bionic processor, which is
more advanced than the latest iPad XS with
more than 10 billion transistors. The device has
an 8-core CPU and a 7-core GPU and is claimed
to be 92% faster than all portable PCs sold in
the past year. Apple really is marketing the
new iPad Pro as an alternative to a computer,
making references and comparisons to laptop
and desktop devices from Dell, HP, and Google.

101
 The new Neural Engine on the iPad Pro allows
for 5 trillion operations per second, which makes
it “not just faster than your last computer, but
smarter and more capable.” Designed to target the
professional market, the iPad Pro, for the irst time,
will be available with a one terabyte storage
capacity and is powered by USB-C, allowing
users to connect accessories, collect data, add
high-resolution 5k displays, and even to charge
an iPhone. The 11-inch model starts at $799, while
the larger 12.9-inch model starts at $999.

102
SUPERPOWERED ACCESSORIES
The iPad Pro takes personal computing to
the next level, and the second-generation
Apple Pencil only adds to its performance
and capabilities. The new stylus, which is now
magnetic, automatically pairs and charges
from the iPad’s sides, meaning you’ll no longer
have to plug it in to charge. When combined
with the brand new Smart keyboard folio, which
protects the front and back of the iPad and
ofers comfortable typing whether you’re on
the couch or in the oice, the iPad Pro has never
been a more viable alternative to a computer
- and we’ll no doubt see more consumers
make the switch and jump aboard the Apple
ecosystem whilst they’re in the oice.

103
 Mac Mini: Up close with the all-new tiny desktop

AN ELECTRIC RECEPTION
When Tim Cook walked onto the stage at the
keynote speech, attendees were quick to show
their admiration with electric applause, despite
the event’s early start. All of the new products
were met with praise, particularly the magnetic
charging pencil and Mac mini, two products
that professional users were hoping for. Initial
hands-on reviews were positive for the Mac
mini, with CNET saying that, though the Mac
mini looks the same as its predecessor, they
“ought to call it the Mac mini Pro, because
it’s clearly been redesigned from the ground
up and performs great” and complimented
the design’s new space gray inish, while
Apple Insider was impressed with the number
of ports, and said that “one of the coolest
features” was that multiple Mac minis can
work together as part of a cluster.

104
Hands On with the New Updated 2018 Mac Mini!

105
The new MacBook Air was also given some
love; Dieter Bohn from The Verge loved the
new butterly keyboard and Touch ID sensor
that was “way more convenient than typing in
your passcode” and pointed out that the Air
looked “quite a bit like the new generation
of MacBook Pros we’ve seen recently,” while
popular YouTuber Austin Evans said the old
MacBook Air was an “endurance champ” but
that the new model lived up to the hype, and
added that “the new Air is noticeably lighter,
which is impressive considering that the old
MacBook Air was deinitely light already”.

106
Apple Macbook Air 2018 hands-on

107
108
 The 2018 MacBook Air is FINALLY Updated

Image: Stephanie Keith

109
110
However, it was the iPad Pro that stole the
show at this year’s event, with Nilay Patel from
The Verge saying “Face ID works like a charm,
just like the XS and XR iPhones” and that the
iPad “looks pretty cool” but that he’d “have to
get over the lack of headphone jack,” whilst
Marques Brownlee added that the new iPad
was “very striking to look at and to hold, and
just feels like you’re holding a display” but was
critical of the camera bump, which “kinda ruins
the possibility of it being a completely lat tablet
on a lat surface,” and questioned why Apple
decided to keep the rear-facing camera at
all. Engadget praised the iPad Pro’s “cleaner,
sleeker look,” and added that “this is a machine
that’s kinda premium… it’s meant to get things

111
 iPad Pro 2018 hands-on:
Apple’s new all-screen tablet

112
2019 iPad Pro Impressions: Incredibly Thin!

113
 Apple iPad Pro (2018) Hands-On:
Even closer to a computer

114
done… and for the irst time, its design really
relects professional users.” GadgetMatch, on
the other hand, said “the change I’m happiest
to see is the USB port, allowing you to connect
it to even more devices, like DLSR cameras,”
and added that the Apple Pencil was “always
ready” and ofered “extreme functionality
and performance.”

Of course, until the products are oicially

released later this month and consumers, critics,
and professional users get their hands on them,
it’s hard to know for sure just how revolutionary
the new iPads and Macs will be. But one thing is
clear: Apple continues to push the boundaries
with its hardware, and this latest batch shows
why the company is at the cutting-edge of both
design and innovation. We’re still holding out
hope for a new iMac, Mac Pro and long-awaited
AirPower, which was announced more than
a year ago, but until those products come to
fruition, we’ve got plenty of new gadgets to
keep us busy and increase our productivity. Time
for a shopping spree!

115
116
 iPad Pro (2018) Hands-On:
Can this replace your laptop?

117
118
 GOOGLE SPINOFF
TO TEST TRULY
DRIVERLESS CARS
IN CALIFORNIA

The robotic car company created by Google

is poised to attempt a major technological
leap in California, where its vehicles will hit the
roads without a human on hand to take control
in emergencies.
The regulatory approval announced this week
allows Waymo’s driverless cars to cruise through
California at speeds up to 65 miles per hour.

The self-driving cars have traveled millions

of miles on the state’s roads since Waymo
began as a secretive project within Google
nearly a decade ago. But a backup driver had
been required to be behind the wheel until
new regulations in April set the stage for the
transition to true autonomy.

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Waymo is the first among dozens of companies
testing self-driving cars in California to persuade
state regulators its technology is safe enough to
permit them on the roads without a safety driver
in them. An engineer still must monitor the fully
autonomous cars from a remote location and be
able to steer and stop the vehicles if something
goes wrong.

California, however, won’t be the first state to

have Waymo’s fully autonomous cars on its
streets. Waymo has been giving rides to a group
of volunteer passengers in Arizona in driverless
cars since last year. It has pledged to deploy its
fleet of fully autonomous vans in Arizona in a
ride-hailing service open to all comers in the
Phoenix area by the end of this year.

But California has a much larger population and

far more congestion than Arizona, making it
even more challenging place for robotic cars to
get around.

Waymo is moving into its next phase in

California cautiously. To start, the fully
autonomous cars will only give rides to Waymo’s
employees and confine their routes to roads
in its home town of Mountain View, California,
and four neighboring Silicon Valley cities
— Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and
Palo Alto.

If all goes well, Waymo will then seek volunteers

who want to be transported in fully autonomous
vehicles, similar to its early rider program
in Arizona . That then could lead to a ride-
hailing service like the one Waymo envisions
in Arizona.
But Waymo’s critics are not convinced there is
enough evidence that the fully autonomous

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121
cars can be trusted to be driving through
neighborhoods without humans behind
the wheel.
“This will allow Waymo to test its robotic cars
using people as human guinea pigs,” said John
Simpson, privacy and technology project
director for Consumer Watchdog, a group that
has repeatedly raised doubts about the safety of
self-driving cars.
Those concerns escalated in March after fatal
collision involving a self-driving car being tested
by the leading ride-hailing service, Uber. In that
incident, an Uber self-driving car with a human
safety driver struck and killed a pedestrian
crossing a darkened street in a Phoenix suburb.
Waymo’s cars with safety drivers have been
involved in dozens of accidents in California, but
those have mostly been minor fender benders at
low speeds.

All told, Waymo says its self-driving cars have

collectively logged more than 10 million
miles in 25 cities in a handful of states while in
autonomous mode, although most of those trips
have occurred with safety drivers.
Waymo contends its robotic vehicles will save
lives because so many crashes are caused by
human motorists who are intoxicated, distracted
or just bad drivers.
“If a Waymo vehicle comes across a situation
it doesn’t understand, it does what any good
driver would do: comes to a safe stop until it does
understand how to proceed,” the company said.

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124
 WHY IS IT SO
HARD TO
TEXT 911?

People can livestream their every move on

Facebook and chatter endlessly in group chats.
But in most parts of the U.S., they still can’t
reach 911 by texting — an especially important
service during mass shootings and other
catastrophes when a phone call could place
someone in danger.
Although text-to-911 service is slowly expanding,
the emphasis there is on “slow.” Limited funds,
piecemeal adoption and outdated call-center
technology have all helped stymie growth.
Emergency 911 centers stress that a phone call
is still the best way to reach them, since calls
provide them with location data and other
needed details. But in some cases — for instance,
if a person has a hearing disability, or when a call
might attract the attention of assailants — texting
is a far better way to call for help.
The 911 emergency system was developed for
landlines. But now about 80 percent of U.S. 911
calls come from cellphones, according to the
federal government’s National 911 Program.

125
There is no legal requirement for call centers to
offer text-to-911 services.

If a center requests the service from mobile

companies like Verizon or Sprint, however, the
companies are required to provide it within
six months.

More money would speed implementation.

“We need a significant federal grant program
to modernize 911 systems across the country,”
said Jeff Cohen, chief counsel at advocacy
group the Association of Public-Safety
Communications Officials.

Congressional legislation could speed adoption

of text-to-911, and while there are two bills
currently making their way through Congress
related to the issue, they need more bipartisan
support, Cohen said. Traditionally 911 call
centers have been funded by a combination of
state and local funding, rather than relying on
federal grants. For that reason technology and
adoption varies widely between states, cities
and counties.

While some areas may have plenty of money

to implement text-to-911 service, “others are
cash strapped cities or communities that would
rather spend money on a police car rather than
text-to-911,” said Brian Fontes, chief executive
officer of the National Emergency Number
Association. “When you don’t have the money
you have to prioritize what you do with the
money you have.”

126
127
 Image: Lisa Marie Pane
128
The first text-to-911 was sent in 2009 in Iowa.
Now, according to data collected by the Federal
Communications Commission, more than 1,600
emergency call centers across the nation have
configured systems to receive text message
requests for 911 services, up from about 650
two years ago . But that’s barely a quarter of the
roughly 6,000 overall in the country. Figures
are a bit murky since they are self-reported
to the FCC.

Implementing text-to-911 service usually starts

with a state law requiring emergency centers to
support it.
Indiana, for example, has state 911 requirements
set by the Indiana General Assembly and a
state 911 board that oversees the operation
of the statewide 911 network, which routes
and delivers 911 voice and text messages from
people to their local 911 authority. It pays for
911 from monthly end user surcharges, $1 for
landline, wireless and other types of phones,
which are collected by phone service providers.

Four years after Indiana dispatch centers began

adopting text-to-911 technology, residents
in all 92 of the state’s counties can send texts
during emergencies if they’re unable to speak to
dispatchers, the state said in June . Minnesota,
Connecticut, Maine and Vermont also offer
statewide coverage.

Without state legislation, adopting text-to-911

can be more piecemeal. In California, a plan
to raise taxes to pay for modernizing the 911
emergency dispatch system statewide fell
one vote short in September in the Senate
when Republicans refused to sign onto a
tax increase.

129
But cities and municipalities can decide to
support text-to-911 on their own. Los Angeles
County, which includes cities like Los Angeles,
Burbank and Glendale, has supported text-
to-911 since late last year, for example.
Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, where the
synagogue shooting took place, does offer
text-to-911 service. But high school students
hiding from a gunman in Parkland, Florida, last
February, had to make whispered 911 calls to
authorities. Broward County, which includes
Parkland, plans to have text-to-911 in place by
the end of this year.
“We will never know where the next active
shooter is going to be, whether it’s a rural school,
synagogue, church or any public place,” said
Fontes. “Certainly we want people to be able to
text 911 for safety purposes.”

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131
132
 BEATLES RELEASE
NEW VIDEO FOR
‘GLASS ONION’
ON APPLE MUSIC

The Beatles have released a new music video on

Apple Music for their 1968 song, “Glass Onion.”

The video was released Tuesday and features

rare photos and performance footage. The
song appeared on their self-titled ninth album,
often referred to as the “White Album,” which
celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The Beatles will re-release the “White Album” on
Nov. 9, featuring 30 tracks newly mixed by Giles
Martin, the son of longtime Beatles producer
George Martin.
The repackaging also includes 27 acoustic
demos of material the Beatles made at George
Harrison’s house before recording sessions
began, as well as 50 studio outtakes.

133
134
‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’
WON’T ROCK YOU,
BUT MALEK WILL

Where does a preening, pansexual rock god

get his powers? The Freddie Mercury biopic
“Bohemian Rhapsody” traces his sonorous
majesty to an unlikely place: his back teeth.

Mercury, nee Farrokh Bulsara, was born with

four extra incisors, giving him a bigger mouth.
Introducing himself to his future Queen
bandmates Mercury, as played by Rami Malek,
explains that the added chompers have benefits
beyond a provocative, pronounced overbite. It
endows him with enhanced vocal range.
Teeth-assisted or not, Mercury’s voice was so
expansive that it prompted genuine scientific
inquiry. But range is one thing sorely lacking in
Bryan Singer’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a slavishly
conventional rock biopic that at every turn
opts for the stereotypical despite a subject who
devoted himself to the unconventional. It’s a
remarkably bland movie about a deliciously
vibrant performer.

135
 Image: Alex Bailey
136
Yet while “Bohemian Rhapsody” is so hollowly,
even comically formulaic that even Dewey Cox
of “Walk Hard” might snicker, it’s filled, often
fantastically, by Malek’s sinuous, fully inhabited
performance as the Queen frontman. It’s as if
he didn’t get the note about the half-hearted
filmmaking going on around him, or if he did,
he’s hell-bent on ignoring it.

Malek, the “Mr. Robot” actor, throws himself

into every strutting second of screen time as
Mercury. He lacks both Mercury’s voice (it was
overdubbed for singing and performance
scenes) and Mercury’s teeth (Malek was outfitted
with fake ones). But Malek’s performance,
especially on stage, is so full-bodied that he
transcends both his own differences with
Mercury and the tepid surrounding melodrama.
That “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a bit of a mess isn’t
altogether a surprise. Singer was fired toward
the end of shooting for not showing up on set
(Singer said it was to visit an ill parent) and was
replaced by Dexter Fletcher. Singer remains the
credited director; Fletcher is listed as a producer.

The script, too, underwent several passes before

one by Anthony McCarten (“Darkest Hour, “The
Theory of Everything”) ultimately prevailed. The
film opens moments before Queen’s Live Aid
performance at Wembley Stadium in 1985, and
— as if by rock biopic decree — shifts back in
time to young Freddie, in his mid-20s and living
with his parents in the London suburbs.
Mercury was born to a Parsi family from Zanzibar
(he attended boarding school in India), but
we get only the slightest of hints of his family
heritage or what made Mercury run from it. By
the time we meet him, he hasn’t yet adopted his

137
Roman god moniker (more than a stage name,
he made “Mercury” legal), but he might as well
have. Young Freddie is already a larger-than-
life figure clearly destined to a life of skin-tight
jumpsuits and glam-rock anthems. In a flash he
goes from slinging luggage on the Heathrow
tarmac to convincing guitarist Brian May
(Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben
Hardy) that he’s their new lead singer.
Everything in “Bohemian Rhapsody” happens
less with the thrust of life than the rapid-fire
recounting of a biographical history, sometimes
rigorously in step with Wikipedia, sometimes
taking shortcuts to avoid anything that strays
outside a neatly contrived narrative. In the span
of minutes, Queen is a sensation with a record
contract (Mike Meyers joins for a tongue-in-
cheek cameo as EMI executive Ray Foster) and
aspirations for much more: a world tour, a far-
out concept album and beyond. Our sense is
that Mercury has swiftly — and with curiously
little trouble — realized his true self, in all his
peacocking glory.

The conflict, hinted at in passing glances in

between recording sessions, is that Mercury,
who died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991
at 45, isn’t quite so free off stage as he is on,
despite all his radical flamboyance. Much time
is spent with his longtime partner Mary Austin
(Lucy Boyton) and, later, with a diabolical
personal manager-boyfriend, Paul Prenter (Allen
Leech), who gets most of the blame for anything
bad Mercury ever did.
But the film mostly sticks to the familiar
trajectory of rock stardom: studio magic,
backstage excess, band infighting, misguided

138
Image: Alex Bailey

139
solo efforts, drug problems and — that most
heinous of menaces in the music biopic — the
temptation of disco.

The only time “Bohemian Rhapsody” works is

when it finally retreats from not just the standard
biopic narrative but from storytelling altogether.
It concludes with a nearly song-by-song
recreation of the band’s reunion show at Live Aid
which, despite the movie’s fudged timeline, took
place two years before Mercury’s AIDS diagnosis.
Still, the power comes mainly from the tunes
and from Mercury/Malek’s magnificent stage
presence. “Bohemian Rhapsody” might be easy
come, easy go, but Malek makes for a show-
stopping silhouetto of a man.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” a 20th Century Fox
release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture
Association of America for thematic elements,
suggestive material, drug content and language.
Running time: 134 minutes. Two stars out of four.

140
141
 Image: Brendan Mcdermid
142
 WALL STREET
SOURS ON
SILICON VALLEY,
BATTERING
TECH STOCKS

Investors for years have seemingly adored

technology stocks as much as most people love
their smartphones.

But Wall Street has suddenly soured on Silicon

Valley and the rest of tech, triggering a stomach-
churning downturn in a turbulent October.
Some of the hardest hit stocks belong to five
companies — Facebook, Apple, Amazon,
Netflix and Google. They have collectively
attracted billions to their products, carving
out lucrative markets they each dominate in
an increasingly digital world. Investors latched
on to their success and gave them their own
acronym, “FAANG.” (It’s still in use even though
Google now trades under the stock of its parent
Alphabet Inc.)

143
What a difference a month makes. Since the end
of September, individual FAANG stocks have
plunged between 4 percent and 20 percent,
collectively wiping out nearly $400 billion in
paper shareholder wealth.
The downturn may seem puzzling, given that
Apple’s iPhone sales are booming, the online
shopping traffic keeps sending more consumers
to Amazon, people are constantly asking Google
to enlighten and direct them, people keep
posting on Facebook and Netflix has never been
a more popular entertainment destination.

But these companies are facing rising

challenges. President Donald Trump has
escalated a trade war with China, for instance,
and governments are starting to consider
tougher regulation that could curb tech’s
influence. Employees at some large tech
concerns are increasingly restive about their
companies’ contributions to military and
immigration-related projects.

Much of that contributes to concerns that the

tech companies won’t be growing as much and
as quickly as investors had expected. “We are
starting to see ‘fork-in-the-road’ situation for
technology,” said Wedbush Securities analysts
Daniel Ives.

Investors currently are betting it will be a bumpy

road. The tech-driven Nasdaq index is 12 percent
below the high it reached in August.
The big-name tech stocks have been faring so well
for so long that investors have been betting on
even bigger things to come from the companies.
Those wagers might take longer to pay off, or
worse, fizzle completely if a slowing economy
or a recession undermines their future growth.

144
145
146
Facebook and Google, for instance, might
not be able to entice as many new users to
their free digital services, and the advertising
that generates most of their revenue might
shrivel away.
For Amazon, it might mean consumers curtail
their spending on merchandise in its e-commerce
site or decide they really don’t need an internet-
connected speaker like the Echo after all. Netflix
might have more difficulty attracting subscribers,
and could even start seeing more cancellations if
households feel squeezed.

Rising interest rates are also weighing on stock

prices, analysts say. Higher rates reduce the
present value of future corporate earnings,
which in turn undermines the justification for
the lofty valuations — and high share prices —
of tech companies.

These valuations are commonly measured by

price-to-earnings ratios — the amount investors
are willing to pay for each dollar of anticipated
earnings. Consider Netflix, a company that
began renting DVDs through the mail during
the late 1990s, and which not long ago was
considered to be worth more than Walt Disney
Co. and its Magic Kingdom.

Even after the recent sell-off, Netflix’s price-

to-earnings ratio stands at $107 for every $1
in earnings. By comparison, Disney’s is a more
reasonable $14 for every $1 in earnings —
and it’s also now worth about $37 billion more
than Netflix.
The long tech rally boosted two members of the
FAANG club — Apple and Amazon — to trillion-
dollar market valuations, making them the first
U.S. companies to reach that milestone.

147
148
But Amazon’s market value now stands below
$800 billion. Apple could also be knocked out
of the $1 trillion club if its earnings for the latest
quarter disappoint investors the same way
Amazon and Alphabet reports did this past week.

“There are a lot of white knuckles out there right

now, so all eyes are on Apple to emerge as the
knight in shining armor,” Ives said.
Apple’s report for its fiscal fourth quarter is
scheduled to be released Nov. 1. Analysts expect
Apple to have earned $13.5 billion for the July-
September quarter, or about $6 million every hour.

149
150
 IBM’S $34B RED
HAT DEAL IS RISKY
BID TO BOOST
CLOUD BUSINESS

IBM’s plan to buy Red Hat is both the biggest

acquisition in IBM’s century-long history and a
risky effort to position itself as a major player in
cloud computing.
The $34 billion stock deal translates to $190
per Red Hat share — a 63 percent premium to
the closing price Friday for the Raleigh, North
Carolina, company. Red Hat Inc.’s stock soared
about 45 percent in trading Monday.

The path for revitalization for IBM may be found

in cloud technology, a driving force behind the
blockbuster deal for Red Hat over the weekend.
“It’s a big bet but ultimately they’re in a situation
where they needed to make a significant
acquisition to move them potentially forward,”
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said.

Cloud computing, in which services are

delivered over the internet from remote
computers, accounted for nearly a quarter
of IBM’s total revenue over the past year.

151
But the company has been overshadowed
by top cloud rivals Amazon, Microsoft and
Google in competing to sell its internet-based
computing services to businesses.

“This is about resetting the cloud landscape,”

IBM Chairman and CEO Virginia Rometty said
Monday in a conference call.
The hybrid cloud — when companies use a mix
of on-site, private and third-party public services
— is an emerging $1 trillion opportunity that the
companies want to be prepared for, Rometty said.

Ives said there’s still plenty of room for growth

as financial services, retailers and industrial
firms increasingly migrate their workloads into
the cloud.

IBM’s Red Hat acquisition follows Microsoft’s

recently completed $7.5 billion purchase of
computer coding hangout GitHub. Both deals will
allow the larger companies to tap into a broader
community of open-source software developers.

Red Hat, founded in 1993, has built a software

platform using the open-source Linux operating
system that’s become “one of the key paths for
enterprises in their moves to the cloud,” Ives said.

The deal requires the approval of Red Hat

shareholders as well as U.S. regulators. It is
targeted to close in the second half of 2019,
but Stifel’s Brad Reback said others may wish to
make a counterbid given Red Hat’s strengths in
data centers.
That prospect sent shares up $52.88 to $169.56,
close to an all-time high. The stock of IBM, which
is headquartered in Armonk, New York, slipped
nearly 5 percent.

152
153
154
NASA SPACECRAFT SETS
RECORD FOR CLOSEST
APPROACH TO SUN

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is now closer to the

sun than any spacecraft has ever gotten.

Parker surpassed the record of 26.6 million miles

(43 million kilometers) set by Helios-2 back
in 1976. And it will keep getting closer to the
sun until it flies through the corona, or outer
atmosphere, for the first time next week, passing
within 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) of
the solar surface.

Parker will make 24 close approaches to the sun

over the next seven years, ultimately coming
within just 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers).
Launched in August, Parker is on track to set
another record late Monday night. It will surpass
Helios-2’s speed record of 153,454 miles per hour
(247,000 kilometers per hour), relative to the sun.

155
156
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
WORKING AGAIN AFTER
3-WEEK SHUTDOWN

The Hubble Space Telescope is studying the

cosmos once again after a three-week shutdown.

NASA says the orbiting observatory resumed

scientific observations over the weekend.

Hubble’s pointing system was compromised

earlier this month when an old gyroscope finally
failed. The backup did not kick in properly,
forcing flight controllers to come up with a
fix. Controllers managed to coax the backup
gyroscope into operation through a variety of
maneuvers and switches. Three gyroscopes
need to be working for optimal performance.

Launched in 1990, Hubble has made more than

1.3 million observations of stars, galaxies, black
holes and other celestial targets. Some are more
than 13 billion light-years away.
The telescope resumed operations Saturday
by staring down a distant star-forming galaxy
in the infrared.

157
158
 US ELECTION
INTEGRITY DEPENDS
ON SECURITY-
CHALLENGED FIRMS

It was the kind of security lapse that gives

election officials nightmares. In 2017, a private
contractor left data on Chicago’s 1.8 million
registered voters — including addresses, birth
dates and partial Social Security numbers —
publicly exposed for months on an Amazon
cloud server.
Later, at a tense hearing , Chicago’s Board
of Elections dressed down the top three
executives of Election Systems & Software,
the nation’s dominant supplier of election
equipment and services.

The three shifted uneasily on folding chairs as

board members grilled them about what went
wrong. ES&S CEO Tom Burt apologized and
repeatedly stressed that there was no evidence
hackers downloaded the data.

The Chicago lapse provided a rare moment

of public accountability for the closely held
businesses that have come to serve as front-line
guardians of U.S. election security.

159
 Image: Mel Evans

A trio of companies — ES&S of Omaha,

Nebraska; Dominion Voting Systems of Denver
and Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas — sell and
service more than 90 percent of the machinery
on which votes are cast and results tabulated.
Experts say they have long skimped on security
in favor of convenience, making it more difficult
to detect intrusions such as occurred in Russia’s
2016 election meddling.
The businesses also face no significant federal
oversight and operate under a shroud of
financial and operational secrecy despite their
pivotal role underpinning American democracy.
In much of the nation, especially where tech
expertise and budgets are thin, the companies
effectively run elections either directly or
through subcontractors.

“They cobble things together as well as they can,”

University of Connecticut election-technology
expert Alexander Schwartzman said of the
industry leaders. Building truly secure systems
would likely make them unprofitable, he said.

The costs of inadequate security can be high.

Left unmentioned at the Chicago hearing: The
exposed data cache included roughly a dozen
encrypted passwords for ES&S employee accounts
. In a worst-case scenario, a sophisticated attacker
could have used them to infiltrate company
systems, said Chris Vickery of the security firm
Upgard, which discovered the data lapse.
“This is the type of stuff that leads to a complete
compromise,” he said. ES&S said the passwords
were only used to access the company’s
Amazon cloud account and that “there was no
unauthorized access to any data or systems at
any time.”

160
161
162
All three of the top vendors declined to discuss
their finances and insist that security concerns
are overblown. ES&S, for instance, said in an
email that “any assertions about resistance
to input on security are simply untrue” and
argued that for decades the company has “been
successful in protecting the voting process.”

STONEWALLING ON SECURITY
Many voting systems in use today across the
more than 10,000 U.S. election jurisdictions are
prone to security problems. Academic computer
scientists began hacking them with ease more
than a decade ago, and not much has changed.

Hackers could theoretically wreak havoc at

multiple stages of the election process. They
could alter or erase lists of registered voters to
sow confusion, secretly introduce software to
flip votes, scramble tabulation systems or knock
results-reporting sites offline.
There’s no evidence any of this has happened, at
least not yet.
The vendors say there’s no indication hackers
have penetrated any of their systems. But
authorities acknowledge that some election
mischief or malware booby traps may have
gone unnoticed.

On July 13, U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller

indicted 12 Russian military intelligence
operatives for, among other things, infiltrating
state and local election systems. Senior U.S.
intelligence officials say the Kremlin is well-
positioned to rattle confidence in the integrity of
elections during this year’s midterms, should it
choose to.

163
Election vendors have long resisted open-
ended vulnerability testing by independent,
ethical hackers — a process that aims to identify
weaknesses an adversary could exploit. Such
testing is now standard for the Pentagon and
major banks.

While the top vendors claim to have stepped up

their cybersecurity game, experts are skeptical.

“The industry continues to stonewall the

problem,” said Bruce McConnell, a Department
of Homeland cybersecurity czar during the
Obama administration. Election-vendor
executives routinely issue assurances, he said,
but don’t encourage outsiders to inspect their
code or offer “bug bounties” to researchers to
seek out flaws in their software.

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has long

criticized what he calls the industry’s “severe
underinvestment in cybersecurity.” At a July
hearing, he accused the companies of “ducking,
bobbing and weaving” on a series of basic
security questions he’d asked them.
ES&S told The Associated Press that it allows
independent, open-ended testing of its
corporate systems as well as its products. But
the company would not name the testers and
declined to provide documentation of the
testing or its results.

Dominion’s vice president of government affairs,

Kay Stimson, said her company has also had
independent third parties probe its systems
but would not name them or share details. Hart
InterCivic, the No. 3 vendor, said it has done the
same using the Canadian cybersecurity firm
Bulletproof, but would not discuss the results.

164
Image: Susan Walsh

165
ES&S hired its first chief information security
officer in April. None of the big three vendors
would say how many cybersecurity experts
they employ. Stimson said that “employee
confidentiality and security protections
outweigh any potential disclosure.”

SLOPPY SOFTWARE
AND VULNERABILITY
Experts say they might take the industry’s
security assurances more seriously if not for
the abundant evidence of sloppy software
development, a major source of vulnerabilities.
During this year’s primary elections, ES&S
technology stumbled on several fronts.
In Los Angeles County, more than 118,000
names were left off printed voter rolls. A
subsequent outside audit blamed sloppy
system integration by an ES&S subsidiary
during a database merge.

No such audit was done in Kansas’ most

populous county after a different sort of error
in newly installed ES&S systems delayed the
vote count by 13 hours as data uploading from
thumb drives crawled.

University of Iowa computer scientist Douglas

Jones said both incidents reveal mediocre
programming and insufficient pre-election
testing. And voting equipment vendors have
never seemed security conscious “in any phase
of their design,” he said.
For instance, industry leader ES&S sells vote-
tabulation systems equipped with cellular
modems, a feature that experts say sophisticated
hackers could exploit to tamper with vote counts.

166
167
A few states ban such wireless connections; in
Alabama, the state had to force ES&S to remove
them from machines in January.
“It seemed like there was a lot more emphasis
about how cool the machines could be than
there was actual evidence that they were
secure,” said John Bennett, the Alabama
secretary of state’s deputy chief of staff.

California conducts some of the most rigorous

scrutiny of voting systems in the U.S. and
has repeatedly found chronic problems with
the most popular voting systems. Last year,
a state security contractor found multiple
vulnerabilities in ES&S’s Electionware system
that could, for instance, allow an intruder to
erase all recorded votes at the close of voting.

In 2014, the same contractor, Jacob Stauffer

of the security firm Coherent Cyber, found
“multiple critical vulnerabilities” in Dominion’s
Democracy Suite that could allow skilled
hackers to compromise an election’s outcome.

“These systems are Frankenstein’s monster,

essentially,” Stauffer said.

The federal Department of Homeland Security

began offering confidential vulnerability
testing to vendors over the summer. But only
one vendor has submitted to such testing, said
an agency official who spoke on condition
of anonymity because the official was not
authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

STALLED INNOVATION
More competition might help, but industry
barriers to smaller vendors are “absolutely
enormous,” said Larry Moore, president of

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upstart Clear Ballot. Its auditable voting
system took two and a half years to win
federal certification at a cost of $1 million.
Startups are hard-pressed to disrupt an
industry whose main players rely heavily
on proprietary technologies. ES&S and
other vendors have jealously guarded
them in court — and also unleash lawyers
against election officials who purchase
competitors’ products.

In October, ES&S sued Cook County,

Illinois, seeking to void its $30 million,
10-year contract with a competitor. It also
recently threatened Louisiana and Douglas
County, Kansas, with lawsuits for choosing
other suppliers.

Cook County elections director Noah

Praetz said litigious behavior only chills
modernization. Competition and innovation
are already hampered in an industry with “really
low” margins, especially considering limited
government funding for election equipment.
“The market isn’t functioning real well,” he said.

LIMITED OVERSIGHT
Elections are run by the states, whose oversight
of suppliers varies. California, New York and
Colorado are among states that keep a close
eye on the vendors, but many others have
cozier relationships with them.
And the vendors can be recalcitrant. In 2017,
for instance, Hart InterCivic refused to provide
Virginia with a paperless e-Slate touchscreen
voting machine for testing, said Edgardo
Cortes, then the state election commissioner.

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In this year’s midterms — as in the 2016
election — roughly 1 in 5 voters will use such
electronic machines. Their tallies cannot be
verified because they produce no paper record.
Cortes decided to decertify all such systems.
If anyone tried to break in and alter votes, he
concluded, “there was really no way for us to
tell if that had happened.” Hart InterCivic’s vice
president of operations, Peter Lichtenheld,
did not dispute Cortes’ account in July Senate
testimony, but said its Virginia customers were
already moving to newer machines.

At the federal level, no authority accredits

election vendors or vets them or their
subcontractors. No federal law requires
them to report security breaches or to
perform background checks on employees
or subcontractors.

Election vendors don’t even have to be U.S.

companies. Dominion was Canadian-owned
until July, when a New York private equity firm
bought a controlling interest.
Federal oversight is limited to the little-
known Election Assistance Commission, a
30-employee agency that certifies voting
equipment but whose recommendations are
strictly voluntary. It has no oversight power
and cannot sanction manufacturers for
any shortcomings.

“We can’t regulate,” EAC chairman Thomas

Hicks said during a July 11 congressional
hearing when the question came up. Neither
can DHS, even though it designated the
nation’s election systems “critical infrastructure”
in early 2017.

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174
 COULD HAVE
BEEN WORSE?
FACEBOOK POSTS
MIXED 3Q RESULTS

Facebook didn’t hit it out of the ballpark with

its latest quarterly report, but the bar isn’t so
high these days for the image-battered social
networking giant.

The company reported a slight revenue miss

but stronger than expected profit for the July-
September period. Coming three months after
its stock suffered its worst one-day drop in
history, wiping out $119 billion of its market
value, the mixed results were perhaps not the
redemption Facebook hoped for.
Shares were volatile in after-hours trading —
dropping the most, briefly, when executives
discussed a decline in expected revenue growth
and increasing expenses during the conference
call. Still, the stock generally vacillated in the
low single-digit percentages, suggesting, at
least, that the social media giant didn’t spook
investors too badly.
With the myriad problems Facebook is facing,
that passes for good news these days.

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“Overall, given all the challenges Facebook has
faced this year, this is a decent earnings report,”
said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.
Facebook had 2.27 billion monthly users at
the end of the quarter, below the 2.29 billion
analysts were expecting. Facebook says it
changed the way it calculates users, which
reduced the total slightly. The company’s user
base was still up 10 percent from 2.07 billion
monthly users a year ago.

The company earned $5.14 billion, or $1.76 per

share, up 9 percent from $4.71 billion, or $1.59
per share, a year earlier. Revenue was $13.73
billion, an increase of 33 percent, for the July-
September period.
Analysts had expected earnings of $1.46 per
share on revenue of $13.77 billion, according
to FactSet.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg called 2019 “another year
of significant investment” during the earnings
call. After that, he said “I know that we need
to make sure our costs and revenue are better
matched over time.”

The company had already warned last

quarter that its revenue growth will slow
down significantly for at least the rest of
this year and that expenses will continue to
balloon as it spends on security, hiring more
content moderators around the world and on
developing its products, be they messaging
apps, video or virtual reality headsets.
The following day the stock plunged 19
percent. Shares not only haven’t recovered,
they’ve since fallen further amid a broader
decline in tech stocks.

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 Image: Justin Sullivan

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Facebook’s investors, users, employees and
executives have been grappling not just with
questions over how much money the company
makes and how many people use it, but its
effects on users’ mental health and worries
over what it’s doing to political discourse and
elections around the world. Is Facebook killing
us? Is it killing democracy?

The problems have been relentless for the past

two years. Facebook can hardly crawl its way
out of one before another comes up. It began
with “fake news” and its effects on the 2016
presidential election (a notion Zuckerberg initially
dismissed) and continued with claims of bias
among conservatives that still haven’t relented.
Then there’s hate speech, hacks and a massive
privacy scandal in which Facebook exposed
the data of up to 87 million users to a data
mining firm, along with resulting moves toward
government regulation of social media. Amid
all this, there have been sophisticated attempts
from Russia and Iran to interfere with elections
and stir up political discord in the U.S.

All this would be more than enough to deal

with. But the business challenges are also
piling up. There are stricter privacy regulations
in Europe that can impede how much data
it collects on users. Facebook and other tech
companies face a new “digital tax” in the UK.

On Tuesday, Arjuna Capital and the New York State

Common Retirement Fund filed a shareholder
proposal asking Facebook to publish a report on
its policies for governing what is posted on its
platform and explain what it is doing to “address
content that threatens democracy, human
rights, and freedom of expression.”

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“Young users are deleting the app and all users
are taking breaks from Facebook,” said Natasha
Lamb, managing partner at Arjuna Capital.
“When you start to see users turn away from the
platform, that’s when investors get concerned.”

A recent Pew Research Center survey found

that more than a quarter of U.S. Facebook users
have deleted the app from their phones and
42 percent have taken a break for at least a few
weeks. Younger users were much more likely to
delete the app than their older counterparts.

Nonetheless, Facebook is still enjoying healthy

user growth outside the U.S.

Facebook’s stock climbed $4.07, or 2.8 percent,

to $150.29 in after-hours trading. The stock had
closed at $146.22, down 17 percent year-to-date.

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 JUSTICES
WEIGH $8.5M
SETTLEMENT WITH
$0 TO 129M
GOOGLE USERS

The Supreme Court struggled this week over

what to do about an $8.5 million class-action
settlement involving Google and privacy
concerns in which all the money went to lawyers
and nonprofit groups but nothing was paid to
129 million people who used Google to perform
internet searches.
The justices considered objections to the
settlement in a case involving Google searches
people do about themselves. The lawsuit argues
that Google sends website operators potentially
identifying information when someone clicks
on a link produced by a search. The suit says the
practice violates users’ privacy under federal law.

The issue at the court concerns the rare

instances in which courts approve a “cy pres”
settlement, roughly translated as near as
possible, and find it’s impractical to send money
to the very large class of affected people.

183
Google agreed to settle the class action for
users of its search function between 2006 and
2014. Of the $8.5 million, $2.1 million eventually
went to lawyers, $1 million paid administrative
costs and $5.3 million was set aside for six
organizations that deal with internet privacy
issues. Four of the groups are affiliated with
universities, while the other two are the World
Privacy Forum and AARP.
The three individuals who initially sued received
$5,000 each, but the millions of Google users
they represented received nothing. If all 129
million people had been paid, they would have
gotten 4 cents each.

Settlements in which class members get no

money at all are rare, class action expert and
Harvard law professor William Rubenstein wrote
in a court filing. Rubsenstein counted 18 such
settlements stretching back to 1995.

Theodore Frank, representing himself and other

objecting Google users, said that if the court were
to uphold the settlement, it would create “perverse
incentives for class counsel to divert money
away from their clients and to third parties.”
The justices seemed to approach the case from
several different angles, making it hard to see
how it would be resolved.
Chief Justice John Roberts, among the justices
who appeared most critical of the settlement,
tended to sarcasm in asking whether AARP was
an appropriate recipient of some of the money.
“As if this is only a problem for elderly people?”
Roberts asked.
The chief justice also raised questions about
Google’s involvement in the process of picking

184
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the recipients of the money, including a group
it had previously contributed to. “Well, don’t
you think it’s just a little bit fishy?” Roberts asked
lawyer Jeffrey Lamken, who supported the
settlement on behalf of the individual plaintiffs
and the class.

Less than a month removed from his

tumultuous confirmation with its allegations of
sexual misconduct, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said
he understood why people would object to the
information about their searches being provided
to websites. “I don’t think anyone would want
the disclosure of everything they searched for
disclosed to other people. That seems a harm,”
Kavanaugh said.
The justices’ understanding of the technology
at issue in their cases can be imperfect. On
Wednesday, Andrew Pincus, the lawyer
representing Google, had to explain several
times that the initial lawsuit was over referrer
headers, information that is sent to a website
when someone clicks on a link suggested by a
Google search.

Justice Samuel Alito complained that following a

search for men’s shoes, he is bombarded by ads
for shoes. Different issue, Pincus said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wasn’t persuaded. “And

given that I went into a store not long ago, and
without giving them anything except my credit
card, they came back with my website, I -- it
seems,” Sotomayor said, not explaining what she
meant by her website.
Pincus replied: “Well, there are lots of ways that
information is disclosed that don’t have to do
with the referrer header. Again, we’re talking
about the referrer header here.”

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US LIMITS TECH
EXPORTS TO
CHINESE FIRM
ON SECURITY
GROUNDS

The Trump administration has imposed

restrictions on technology exports to a state-
supported Chinese semiconductor maker,
citing national security grounds amid a
mounting tariff battle.
The controls imposed Monday on Fujian Jinhua
Integrated Circuit Co. reflect concern Chinese
competition could drive American technology
suppliers out of business, leaving the military
without secure sources of components.

Beijing has spent heavily to build up Jinhua and

other chip makers as part of efforts to transform
China into a global leader in robotics, artificial
intelligence and other technology industries.

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The United States, Europe and other trading
partners say Beijing’s tactics violate its market-
opening obligations. American officials worry
they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs

of up to 25 percent on $250 billion of Chinese
goods in an effort to pressure Beijing to roll
back those plans.

Jinhua is completing “substantial production

capacity” for integrated circuits, possibly
using U.S. technology, which “threatens
the long-term economic viability of U.S.
suppliers of these essential components of
U.S. military systems,” said a Commerce
Department statement.
The company was added to the department’s
“Entity List,” which will require it to obtain an
export license for all software, technology and
commodities, the Commerce Department said.
It said such applications “will be reviewed with
a presumption of denial.”

That “will limit its ability to threaten the supply

chain for essential components in our military
systems,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said
in the statement.

China’s foreign ministry said it hoped foreign

governments would treat Chinese companies
“reasonably and fairly.”
“We hope the United States will do something
that serves the two sides’ interest and helps
improve mutual trust, instead of the other way
around,” said a ministry spokesman, Lu Kang.
Calls to Fujian Jinhua’s offices rang unanswered
Tuesday and there was no immediate response
to an inquiry made through their website.

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191
The order marks the second U.S. action this
year blocking technology exports to a
Chinese buyer.
ZTE Corp., China’s second-biggest maker of
telecoms equipment, faced possible bankruptcy
this year after Washington imposed a seven-year
ban on sales of U.S. technology to the company
over its exports to Iran and North Korea.

American authorities lifted the ban in July after

ZTE paid a $1 billion fine, agreed to replace
its executive team and hired U.S.-selected
compliance officers.

Meanwhile, Jinhua is embroiled in a court battle

with U.S. chip maker Micron Technology Inc.,
which accuses the Chinese company of stealing
its technology.
Micron sued Jinhua in December in federal
court in California. Jinhua sued the U.S.
company the following month in a Chinese
court and obtained an order blocking sales of
some Micron products.

192
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 EUROPEAN TECH
LEADERS WARN
AGAINST
EU DIGITAL
SERVICES TAX

Technology company chiefs have warned that

a digital services tax proposed by the European
Union would hinder innovation and hurt
economic growth.
In a letter to finance ministers of the 28-nation
European Union, leaders of 16 tech companies
including Spotify, Booking.com and Zalando
say the proposed tax would undermine the
EU’s goal of a digital single market and “harm
the very businesses that are the catalysts for
economic growth and employment in the
European economy.”

195
Johannes Bahrke, spokesman at the EU’s
executive Commission, defended the proposal
Tuesday, saying it aims to create a “level playing
field” for companies whether they are based in
or outside the EU.
“Our proposal remains fully grounded on the
most basic principle of corporate taxation which
is that profits should be taxed where the value is
created,” he said.
However, Bahrke added that the commission
would prefer an international agreement to a
new EU law.
The European Commission unveiled its
plan in March, insisting that EU member
countries should be able to tax firms that
make profits on their territory even if they
aren’t physically present.

The proposal was seen as a way of making tech

giants like Google and Facebook pay more taxes.

Brussels argues that corporate tax rules haven’t

kept up with the emergence of the borderless
digital marketplace that allows some
companies to make huge profits in Europe yet
pay very little tax.

In the EU, foreign companies like Amazon,

Google and Facebook pay what tax they owe in
the country where they have their regional base
— usually a low tax haven like Ireland.

Britain, which is scheduled to leave the EU on

March 29, announced its own tech tax this week.
Treasury chief Philip Hammond said the
proposed tax would target U.K.-generated
revenues of specific digital platform business
models. Hammond, like the EU, said he would
prefer an international solution.

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198
In their letter, tech CEOs warned that the
EU proposal “will have a disproportionate
impact on European companies, resulting in
unfair treatment.”

They also said the tax will be difficult to

implement, could result in double taxation for
some businesses and might trigger retaliatory
measures from other countries.
Addressing EU finance ministers ahead of a Nov.
6 meeting, the letter urged them “not to adopt
a measure which would cause material harm to
economic growth and to innovation, investment
and employment across Europe.”

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 UK-CANADIAN ‘GRAND
COMMITTEE’ SEEKS TO
QUESTION ZUCKERBERG

Parliamentary committees in Britain and Canada

on Wednesday urged Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg to testify before a joint hearing of
international lawmakers examining fake news
and the internet.

Damian Collins, the head of the U.K. parliament’s

media committee, is joining forces with
his Canadian counter part, Bob Zimmer, to
pressure Zuckerberg to personally take part
in hearings, as he did before the U.S Congress
and the European Parliament. The so-called
“international grand committee” session would
be held Nov. 27 and could include lawmakers
from other countries.
Image: Chris McAndrewIm
201
“We understand that it is not possible to
make yourself available to all parliaments.
However, we believe that your users in other
countries need a line of accountability to your
organization_directly, via yourself,” the pair
said in a letter to Zuckerberg. “We would have
thought that this responsibility is something
that you would want to take up.”

Social media companies have been under

scrutiny in Britain following allegations that
political consultancy Cambridge Analytica used
data from tens of millions of Facebook accounts
to profile voters and help U.S. President Donald
Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The committee
is also investigating the impact of fake news
distributed via social media sites globally.

Collins has been irate with Facebook for sending

Zuckerberg’s underlings to his committee’s
hearings while the leader of the Silicon Valley
company declined invitations to attend. Joining
forces with Canada — and perhaps other
countries — seems designed to prod Zuckerberg
and persuade him to change his mind.

“No such joint hearing has ever been held,” the

pair wrote. “Given your self-declared objective
to ‘fix’ Facebook, and to prevent the platform’s
malign use in world affairs and democratic
process, we would like to give you the chance to
appear at this hearing.”

Image: Saul Loeb

202
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TURKEY’S LEADER
OPENS NEW
ISTANBUL AIRPORT
AS GLOBAL HUB

Turkey’s president inaugurated a gleaming

new aviation hub in Istanbul this week, a
megaproject that he has pushed to fulfill his
dream of making Turkey a global player.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced
that Istanbul Airport was open for operations
on a special day — the 95th anniversary of
Turkey’s establishment as a republic following
its war of independence.
Image: Emrah Gurel
204
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With the sprawling new airport on shores of
the Black Sea, Erdogan declared that Turkey has
become the “most important transit location on
the north-south, east-west axes, connecting 60
countries and $20 trillion economies.”
“With this airport, we are furthering our
country’s key role in the integration of global
economies,” he said.

It was a symbolic opening, with only a few

flights scheduled this week. But by the end
of the year, the massive airport will replace
Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport, named
after Turkey’s founder.
Istanbul Airport is expected to host 90 million
passengers per year in its first phase, and in
10 years handle 200 million travelers on six
runways. That’s almost double the traffic at
the world’s current busiest airport, Atlanta’s
Hartsfield-Jackson.

In a reversal, Erdogan said the old airport

would remain open for non-commercial flights,
aviation fairs and other activities. Some of its
grounds will be turned into a park.

Turkish Airlines will launch its first flights out

of the new airport to three local destinations:
Ankara, Antalya and Izmir. It will also fly to Baku
and Ercan in northern Cyprus.

Erdogan slammed critics who doubted that

the megaproject could be completed safely on
time. The 5-company consortium Istanbul Grand
Airport, which built the airport and will run it for
25 years, said 36,000 workers completed the first
phase of the project in 42 months.
But labor issues have also tarnished the
airport’s image.

206
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208
Image: Emrah Gurel

“The prestige project has been marred by

reports of accidents and arrests of protesting
workers,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human
Rights Watch, which cited at least 38 workplace
deaths over the past three years.
Hundreds of workers were detained in
September after a strike against poor working
conditions, including unpaid salaries, bedbugs,
unsafe food and inadequate transport to the
site. Human Rights Watch said some protesters
were fired and at least 31 people, including a
union leader, were arrested.

Posters of Erdogan in the shiny terminal read

“This is not just an airport. This is a monument
to victory.”

209