SUMMARY

COURT HEARS APPEAL OF RULING FAVORING MUSK IN SOLARCITY DEAL 06

HOUSE GOP APPROVES BROAD BILL TO ‘UNLEASH’ AMERICAN ENERGY 16

USED CAR PRICES ARE SURGING. HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD BUY NOW 28

CHINA E-COMMERCE GIANT ALIBABA OUTLINES FUTURE STRATEGY 42

NO APRIL FOOL’S: STARTUP AIMS TO CREATE MAMMOTH MEATBALL 54

WIND INDUSTRY PREDICTS BOUNCEBACK AND RAPID GROWTH IN 2023 64

LUCID AIR: UNLOCKING NEW POSSIBILITIES WITH APPLE CARPLAY 76

WWDC 2023 EVENT ANNOUNCED: TAKING PLACE JUNE 5 TO 9 104

FED OFFICIAL: BANK RULES UNDER REVIEW IN WAKE OF SVB FAILURE 116

MUSK, SCIENTISTS CALL FOR HALT TO AI RACE SPARKED BY CHATGPT 130

APPLE ROLLS OUT BUY NOW, PAY LATER SERVICE, WITH GUARDRAILS 138

WHAT CAN GOOGLE’S AI-POWERED BARD DO? WE TESTED IT FOR YOU 150

US TO ADOPT NEW RESTRICTIONS ON USING COMMERCIAL SPYWARE 164

EXTRA-SMALL LUXURY SUV: BMW-X1 VS MERCEDES-BENZ GLB 172

UTAH SOCIAL MEDIA LAW IS AMBITIOUS, BUT IS IT ENFORCEABLE? 184

JOHN WICK GETS EVEN MORE STYLISH IN FOURTH EPISODE 192

TARON EGERTON SLOTS TETRIS STORY INTO PLACE IN NEW BIOPIC 206

BIDEN: GOP POLICIES WOULD SURRENDER TECH ECONOMY TO CHINA 214

IN YOUR DEBT: DOING THE BARE MINIMUM WITH DEBT CAN COST YOU 222

MONEY: MANAGE THE COSTS OF A CHRONIC CONDITION 232

06
 COURT HEARS
APPEAL
OF RULING
FAVORING MUSK
IN SOLARCITY
DEAL

07
Attorneys for a group of Tesla shareholders
are asking the Delaware Supreme Court to
overturn a judge’s decision in favor of CEO Elon
Musk in a lawsuit challenging the electric car
maker’s $2.4 billion acquisition of a solar panel
company founded by two of his cousins.

The plaintiffs argued Wednesday that a

Chancery Court judge erred in finding that
Tesla’s deal to acquire SolarCity in 2016 was
“entirely fair,” even though the judge found that
the process by which Tesla’s board of directors
negotiated and recommended the deal to
shareholders was “far from perfect.”

“Elon was more involved in the process

than a conflicted fiduciary should be. And
conflicts among other Tesla Board members
were not completely neutralized,” former
Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights wrote
last year. “With that said, the Tesla board
meaningfully vetted the acquisition, and
Elon did not stand in its way. Equally if not
more important, the preponderance of
the evidence reveals that Tesla paid a fair
price — SolarCity was, at a minimum, worth
what Tesla paid for it, and the acquisition
otherwise was highly beneficial to Tesla.”

At the time of the acquisition, Musk owned

about 22% of Tesla’s common stock and was
the largest stockholder of SolarCity, as well as
chairman of its board of directors.

A key issue presented to the Supreme Court

is Slights’ conclusion that the deal met the
heightened scrutiny of Delaware’s “entire
fairness” standard.

Typically, under Delaware’s “business

judgment” rule, courts give deference to a

08
09
corporate board’s decision-making unless there
is evidence that directors had conflicts or acted
in bad faith. If a plaintiff can overcome the
business judgment rule’s presumption because
the deal involved a controlling shareholder or
because directors might have been conflicted,
the board’s action is subject to an “entire
fairness” analysis. That shifts the burden to the
corporation to show that the deal involved
both fair dealing and fair price.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Hanrahan argued

Wednesday that Slights put too much
emphasis on the price Tesla paid for SolarCity,
and not enough on the deal process, which
the plaintiffs contend was tainted by the
failure to appoint an independent committee
to negotiate the deal. He also argued that
the judge’s analysis of the deal price was
flawed, and that shareholders who voted to
approve the deal, even though the vote was
not required under Delaware law, were not
properly informed.

“Musk’s pervasive and undisclosed interference

in the process require a legal conclusion of
unfair dealing,” Hanrahan said.

“The trial court misapplied entire fairness

because it essentially wrote fair dealing out
of the standard, holding that the linchpin of
entire fairness is fair price,” Hanrahan added. “...
Because the Court of Chancery made fair price
the foundation of its opinion, if its fair price
finding was wrong, the whole house of cards
comes down.”

Evan Chesler, an attorney for Musk, noted that

the SolarCity acquisition had been a strategic
objective for Tesla for 10 years before the deal

10
11
was completed, belying the argument that it
was a last-minute “bailout” to save an insolvent
SolarCity from bankruptcy.

Chesler also noted that, despite the judge’s

concerns about Musk’s involvement, his ruling
includes 10 pages discussing the strengths of
the deal process.

“Basically, the appellants seek reversal because

they don’t agree with the way the trial court
marshaled and weighed the evidence,” he said.

Slights’ ruling last April followed a July 2021

court appearance in which a defiant Musk
defended the deal and sparred with attorneys
for the plaintiffs, calling one lawyer “a bad
human being.” Musk chose to fight the lawsuit
in court even after other directors on Tesla’s
board reached a $60 million settlement,
without admitting fault.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its

ruling within 90 days.

12
13
HOUSE GOP
APPROVES
BROAD BILL
TO ‘UNLEASH’
AMERICAN
ENERGY

16
17
18
House Republicans on Thursday approved a
sprawling energy package that seeks to undo
virtually all of President Joe Biden’s agenda to
address climate change.

The legislation would sharply increase

domestic production of oil, natural gas and
coal, and ease permitting restrictions that
delay pipelines, refineries and other projects.
It would boost production of critical minerals
such as lithium, nickel and cobalt that are used
in electric vehicles, computers, cellphones and
other products.

By a 225-204 vote, the House sent the measure

to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., called it “dead on arrival.” Four
Democrats joined with all but one Republican
to support the bill.

Biden has threatened to veto the bill, saying it

would replace “pro-consumer policies” adopted
in the landmark climate law approved last year
“with a thinly veiled license to pollute.“ The
bill would roll back Democratic investments
in clean energy and “pad oil and gas company
profits,” the White House said.

Republicans call the bill the “Lower Energy Costs

Act” and gave it the symbolic label H.R. 1 — the
top legislative priority of the new GOP majority,
which took control of the House in January.

The measure combines dozens of separate

proposals and represents more than two years
of work by Republicans who have chafed at
Biden’s environmental agenda. They say Biden’s
efforts have thwarted U.S. energy production
and increased costs at the gas pump and
grocery store.

19
20
“Families are struggling because of President
Biden’s war on American energy,” said House
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., one of the
bill’s main authors.

The GOP bill will “unleash” abundant U.S. natural

resources “so we can produce energy in America,”
Scalise said. “We don’t have to be addicted to
foreign countries that don’t like us.”

Democrats called the bill a giveaway to big

oil companies.

“Republicans refuse to hold polluters accountable

for the damage they cause to our air, our water,
our communities and our climate,” said New Jersey
Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee.

“While Democrats delivered historic wins for

the American people by passing historic climate
legislation, Republicans are actively working to
undermine that progress and do the bidding of
their polluter friends,” Pallone said.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,

said the bill “restores American energy
leadership by repealing unnecessary taxes
and overregulation on American energy
producers,” and “makes it easier to build things
in America” by placing a two-year time limit
on environmental reviews that now take an
average of seven years.

“Every time we need a pipeline, a road or a

dam, it gets held up five to seven years and
adds millions of dollars in costs for the project
to comply with Washington’s permitting
process,” McCarthy said in speech on the
House floor. “It’s too long, it’s unaffordable, it’s
not based on science and it’s holding us back.”

21
22
He pointed to a project to modify and
improve Lake Isabella Dam in his central
California district that has lasted 18 years
and still is not completed.

“Permitting reform isn’t for everyone,”

McCarthy added. “If you like paying more at
the pump, you don’t want to make it faster
for American workers to build more pipelines.
If you’re China, you’d rather America sit back
and let others lead. And if you’re a bureaucrat,
maybe you really do enjoy reading the 600-
page environmental impact studies.”

Most Americans want lower prices and more

U.S. energy production, McCarthy said —
results he said the bill will deliver.

Democrats called that misleading and said

the GOP plan was a thinly disguised effort
to reward oil companies and other energy
producers that have contributed millions of
dollars to GOP campaigns.

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat

on the House Natural Resources Committee,
derided the bill as the “Polluters Over People
Act” and “a nearly 200-page love letter to
polluting industries.”

Instead of reining in “Big Oil” companies that have

reported record profits while “hoarding thousands
of unused leases” on public lands and waters,
the GOP bill lowers royalty rates paid by energy
producers and reinstates noncompetitive leasing
of public lands, Grijalva said.

The bill also gives mining companies “a veritable

free-for-all on our public lands” and “makes
mockery of tribal consultation” required under
federal law, he said.

23
24
Under the GOP plan, mining companies will
“destroy sacred and special places” throughout the
West, “ruin the landscape and leave behind a toxic
mess that pollutes our water and hurts our health
— all without paying a cent to the American
people,” Grijalva said.

Schumer called the measure “a giveaway to Big Oil

pretending to be an energy package.”

The House energy package “would gut important

environmental safeguards on fossil fuel projects,”
locking America “into expensive, erratic and
dirty energy sources while setting us back more
than a decade on our transition to clean energy,”
Schumer said.

Schumer said he supports streamlining the

nation’s cumbersome permitting process for
energy projects, especially those that will deliver
“clean energy” such as wind, solar and geothermal
power. “But the Republican plan falls woefully
short on this front as well,” he said, calling on
Republicans to back reforms that would help ease
the transition to renewable energy and accelerate
construction of transmission lines to bolster the
nation’s aging power grid.

Schumer and other Democrats said the

Republican bill would repeal a new $27 billion
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and other parts
of the climate and health care law passed by
Democrats last year. The bill also would eliminate a
new tax on methane pollution.

Four Democrats voted in favor of the bill: Reps.

Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzales of Texas, Jared
Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
of Washington state. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.,
opposed the bill.

25
USED CAR
PRICES ARE
SURGING.
HERE’S WHY YOU
SHOULD BUY NOW

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in

the United States had been edging toward
affordable again for millions of people. The
relief felt belated and relatively slight, but it was
welcome nonetheless.

From an eye-watering peak of $31,400 in April

of last year, the average price had dropped 14%
to $27,125 early this month.

Now, with the supply of used vehicles

failing to keep up with robust demand,

28
Image: Charlie Riedel
29
 Image: Jim Watson
30
prices are creeping up again, with signs
pointing to further increases ahead. So many
buyers have been priced out of the new-car
market that fewer trade-ins are landing on
dealer lots. Deepening the shortage, fewer
used vehicles are coming off leases or being
off-loaded by rental car companies.

Average list prices for used car have edged

up by about $700 in the past month, and Alex
Yurchenko, chief data officer for Black Book,
which tracks prices, expects them to keep rising
at least into summer.

“If you have to buy a used vehicle,” he suggested,

“right now would be a good time.”

Pete Catalano, a dealer in Independence,

Missouri, near Kansas City, has been struggling
to get his hands on enough affordably priced
cars. Typically, Catalano and his daughter, who
co-own Stadium Auto, would have about 50
vehicles on their used-car lot near Arrowhead
Stadium. They now have only about half as
many. Some of their rival dealers, Catalano said,
enjoy a competitive advantage because they
can afford to offer financing to buyers with
poor credit.

Squeezed by higher prices for gasoline,

groceries and utilities, many of Catalano’s
customers can’t afford either new or late-model
used vehicles. Some would-be buyers he knows
are using tax refunds just to make ends meet
instead of buying a needed car.

“A used inexpensive car is now becoming more

and more of a luxury,” Catalano said. “What the
market wants right now is not available, and
that’s $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 cars.”

31
Behind the vehicle shortage and inflated prices
is simple supply and demand. Much of the
problem stems from the surging prices of new
cars. In February, according to experts, the
average new vehicle in the United States sold
for nearly $48,000 — beyond the reach of
many consumers.

Though the supply of new vehicles has inched

up, they remain relatively scarce and expensive.
Automakers still lack sufficient computer chips
to produce enough vehicles to meet demand,
a lingering consequence of pandemic-related
supply shortages. Sales of new vehicles last year
were about 3 million below normal levels. Fewer
new-car sales mean fewer trade-ins, which
mean fewer used vehicles for sale.

With used prices rising again, analysts say

buyers who can afford to do so should buy soon.
Auto loan rates may continue rising this year as
the Federal Reserve keeps raising interest rates.

On used lots these days, bargains are hard to

find. Even after accounting for the price drops of
the past year, the average used vehicle remains
about 35% above where it was before the
pandemic erupted three years ago. At that time,
the average price was $20,425.

Once the government sent stimulus checks to

most American households, demand for autos
rose as many people spent their money. As they
did, the supply of used vehicles fell and prices
surged. By early last year, the average used-
vehicle price was more than 50% above its pre-
pandemic point.

Worsening the shortfall was a scarcity of

affordable new vehicles. Automakers were using
their tight supply of computer chips to build

32
33
 Image: Frederic J. Brown
34
35
pricier and more profitable SUVs and pickups.
They built fewer affordable new models — a
trend that sent more buyers to used-car lots. The
result was increased demand and higher prices
for used vehicles.

All of which left people like Carol Rice struggling

to find a decent affordable used vehicle. Rice,
65, endured a long period of frustration while
shopping for a used small pickup for her farm
near Carbondale, Kansas. For six months, she
found little.

“I’m retired, and I can’t afford to buy a new

vehicle,” she said. “There weren’t that many used
vehicles, and if there were used vehicles, they
were quite expensive.”

Last month, she finally found a 2003 Ford

Ranger on Catalano’s website that she liked and
could afford. She bought it for $7,700. Though
it’s 20 years old and has 140,000 miles on it, the
Ranger is in solid condition and has the all-
wheel-drive that Rice wanted.

“It was a good-looking vehicle, and the price

was right,” she said.

In the immediate future, few analysts expect

price declines for used vehicles. Catalano
doesn’t foresee any sustained price drops for
perhaps the next year or two.

Others say it’s hard to predict. Amy Gieffers, a

senior vice president at Vroom, an online auto
buying site, notes that some market forces could
continue to keep supply down and prices up:
Fewer trade-ins, less leasing, lower fleet sales by
rental car companies.

On the other hand, she says, more expensive

vehicles and higher loan rates could depress

36
37
38
 buyer demand. Eventually, dealers might be
forced to cut prices.

“It’s really complex right now,” she said, “because

you have some competing forces.”

Both Yurchenko of Black Book and Charlie

Chesbrough, a senior economist at Cox
Automotive, say they expect used-vehicle prices
to rise through summer before easing slightly as
part of a normal late-year depreciation cycle.

At the start of this year, Chesbrough said, he

thought higher loan rates would chase away
buyers from both the new and used markets.
Instead, robust demand from affluent buyers
for pricey late-model used vehicles has
strengthened sales in the United States.

Many of these buyers are paying cash to avoid

higher interest rates. Experts say the average
loan rate on a used vehicle is now 11.3%, up
from 8.1% when the Fed started raising rates
a year ago.

Because demand is intense and vehicle

supplies short, Chesbrough doesn’t foresee
sales dropping even if the economy were to
slide into a recession. Though many buyers
with lower credit scores have left the market,
sales remain solid.

With used-car inventories likely to remain

crimped for the foreseeable future, Chesbrough
doesn’t expect prices to ever fall back to near
their pre-pandemic levels

“We just haven’t been creating enough personal

transportation in the last couple of years,”
Chesbrough said.

Image: Lynne Graves

39
CHINA
E-COMMERCE
GIANT ALIBABA
OUTLINES FUTURE
STRATEGY

Image: Gabby Jones

42
43
Alibaba plans to spin off some of its
sprawling e-commerce and finance empire
as independent businesses to make them
more flexible and maximize their value, its
top executives said Thursday, as the company
emerges from regulatory crackdowns that
rattled Chinese tech industries.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang outlined details

of a plan announced earlier this week to split
Alibaba into six main groups as a prelude toward
stock listings of some of its companies. The
restructuring marks a new stage in Alibaba’s
growth after a series of setbacks as regulators
tightened oversight of the industry.

Alibaba, whose headquarters is in the eastern

city of Hangzhou, will be “in the nature of
a holding company that is the controlling
shareholder of the business group companies,”
Zhang said in a conference call.

Alibaba’s CFO, Toby Xu, said the company would

continue to evaluate the strategic importance
of group companies after they go public and
decide whether or not to retain control. He
declined to say when they might go public.

“We believe the market is the best litmus test,

so each business group company can pursue
independent fundraising and IPOs as and when
they are ready,” Xu said.

Alibaba’s stock prices in Hong Kong and

New York have rallied nearly 15% since the
restructuring was announced Tuesday. The
firm’s Hong Kong-listed stock was up 0.9% by
midday Thursday.

The plan, and the recent return of Alibaba

founder Jack Ma to China after months abroad

44
Image: Qilai Shen
45
 Image: Dado Ruvic
46
47
48
appear to mark a turnaround after several hard
years. Chinese regulators singled out Alibaba
for scrutiny in a crackdown on technology
and internet companies, putting the brakes
on a planned initial public offering in 2020 of
Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Group.

Ma had kept a low profile with few public

appearances since Nov. 2020, when he had
publicly criticized China’s regulators and
financial systems during a speech in Shanghai.

Ant had been set to raise $34.5 billion in

what would have been the world’s largest
share offering at the time. Alibaba was
later investigated and fined $2.8 billion for
breaching antitrust rules as Chinese authorities
cracked down on the once-freewheeling
technology industry.

Alibaba is to split into its Cloud Intelligence

Group, Taobao Tmall Business Group, Local
Services Group, Global Digital Business Group,
Cainiao Smart Logistics and Digital Media and
Entertainment Group. Each group apart from
Taobao Tmall could potentially seek an initial
public offering. Taobao Tmall will remain wholly-
owned by Alibaba Group.

Zhang said he expected the shake-up to be

challenging but would also “allow all of our
businesses to become more agile, enhance their
decision making and enable faster responses to
market changes.”

Among other things, the restructuring plan

might allay past antitrust concerns, since as
Zhang explained, each Alibaba business unit
would be empowered to make its own decisions
and raise capital independently.

49
“The looser connections between the business
units is in line with the regulatory stance of
encouraging competition,” said an analyst’s note
from Moody’s Investor Service.

Alibaba’s restructure — the first such major

overhaul in the Chinese technology industry
— also could serve as an example for similar
companies such as online games company
Tencent to follow suit. Tencent’s shares rallied
after Alibaba’s announcement on Monday.

“We think that Alibaba’s new organizational

structure could be used by Chinese regulators as
a template for other Chinese Big Tech firms,” said
a report by CreditSights.

Francis Lun, CEO of Geo Securities in Hong

Kong, said that in the short term Alibaba’s move
will likely allow the group to raise more capital.
But it might be more difficult for the company
to stay competitive in mergers and acquisitions.

“When you split into six business units, you’d

just be a lightweight competing against the
heavyweights such as Apple, Amazon and
Alphabet,” Lun said.

He pointed out that only Alibaba’s e-commerce

and cloud units were profitable and that in the
long-term, the other units may not succeed.

50
51
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NO APRIL FOOL’S:
STARTUP AIMS
TO CREATE
MAMMOTH
MEATBALL

54
55
56
Throw another mammoth on the barbie?

An Australian company this week lifted the glass

cloche on a meatball made of lab-grown cultured
meat using the genetic sequence from the long-
extinct pachyderm, saying it was meant to fire up
public debate about the hi-tech treat.

The launch in an Amsterdam science museum

came just days before April 1 so there was an
elephant in the room: Is this for real?

“This is not an April Fools joke,” said Tim

Noakesmith, founder of Australian startup Vow.
“This is a real innovation.”

Cultivated meat — also called cultured or

cell-based meat — is made from animal cells.
Livestock doesn’t need to be killed to produce
it, which advocates say is better not just for the
animals but also for the environment.

Vow used publicly available genetic information

from the mammoth, filled missing parts with
genetic data from its closest living relative, the
African elephant, and inserted it into a sheep
cell, Noakesmith said. Given the right conditions
in a lab, the cells multiplied until there were
enough to roll up into the meatball.

More than 100 companies around the world are

working on cultivated meat products, many of
them startups like Vow.

Experts say that if the technology is

widely adopted, it could vastly reduce
the environmental impact of global meat
production in the future. Currently, billions of
acres of land are used for agriculture worldwide.

But don’t expect this to land on plates around

the world any time soon. So far, tiny Singapore
is the only country to have approved cell-based

57
58
meat for consumption. Vow is hoping to sell its
first product there — a cultivated Japanese quail
meat — later this year.

The mammoth meatball is a one-off and has

not been tasted, even by its creators, nor is it
planned to be put into commercial production.
Instead, it was presented as a source of protein
that would get people talking about the future
of meat.

“We wanted to get people excited about the

future of food being different to potentially
what we had before. That there are things that
are unique and better than the meats that
we’re necessarily eating now, and we thought
the mammoth would be a conversation starter
and get people excited about this new future,”
Noakesmith said.

“But also the woolly mammoth has been

traditionally a symbol of loss. We know now
that it died from climate change. And so what
we wanted to do was see if we could create
something that was a symbol of a more exciting
future that’s not only better for us, but also
better for the planet,” he added.

Seren Kell, science and technology manager at

Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that promotes
plant- and cell-based alternatives to animal
products, said he hopes the project “will open
up new conversations about cultivated meat’s
extraordinary potential to produce more
sustainable foods, reduce the climate impact of
our existing food system and free up land for
less intensive farming practices.”

He said the mammoth project with its

unconventional gene source was an outlier
in the new meat cultivation sector, which

59
commonly focuses on traditional livestock —
cattle, pigs and poultry.

“By cultivating beef, pork, chicken, and seafood,

we can have the most impact in terms of
reducing emissions from conventional animal
agriculture and satisfying growing global
demand for meat while meeting our climate
targets,” he said.

The jumbo meatball on show in Amsterdam

— sized somewhere between a softball and a
volleyball — was for show only and had been
glazed to ensure it didn’t get damaged on its
journey from Sydney.

But when it was being prepared — first slow

baked and then finished off on the outside with
a blow torch — it smelled good.

“The folks who were there, they said the aroma

was something similar to another prototype
that we produced before, which was crocodile,”
Noakesmith said. “So, super fascinating to think
that adding the protein from an animal that
went extinct 4,000 years ago gave it a totally
unique and new aroma, something we haven’t
smelled as a population for a very long time.”

60
61
WIND INDUSTRY
PREDICTS
BOUNCEBACK
AND RAPID
GROWTH IN 2023

64
65
The wind power industry projected growth
to rapidly accelerate this year, with incentives
and policy changes in key nations helping to
overcome factors that led to a slowdown in 2022.

The Global Wind Energy Council in Brussels also

cited concern about climate change, as well
as secure energy supplies following Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine, for a fast-growth outlook in
its annual Global Wind Report. The international
trade association projected 680 gigawatts of
new onshore and offshore wind will be installed
by 2027 – enough to power about 657 million
homes annually.

“The twin challenges of secure energy supplies

and climate targets will propel wind power
into a new phase of extraordinary growth,” the
council said in its report.

66
67
The wind power market stalled in 2022 because
of government policies that encouraged “race
to the bottom” pricing, and because of inflation,
higher logistics costs and inefficient permitting
and licensing rules, the council said. The industry
added about 78 gigawatts of wind capacity
globally in 2022 — down 17% from 2021, but still
the third-best year ever for new capacity.

This year, the industry will reach a historic

milestone — 1 terawatt, or 1,000 gigawatts, of
wind energy installed worldwide, the council
said. The 2-terawatt milestone should come in
2030 if policymakers strengthen supply chains to
meet demand and address permitting and other
bottlenecks, the council added.

“2023 will mark the start of a decisive turnaround,”

Council CEO Ben Backwell wrote in the report.
“Governments of all the major industrialized
nations have enacted policies that will result in a
significant acceleration of deployment.”

68
69
70
The council pointed to incentives for renewable
energy development in the Inflation Reduction
Act in the United States, and policies in Europe
and China that further expand the role of
renewables. Vietnam and the Philippines are
enacting new plans for wind, India seems set
to pick up the pace, and Brazil will continue to
establish itself as a wind energy powerhouse,
the report said.

China led the world in both onshore and

offshore wind development last year, and is
expected to continue to lead in 2023. The Asia-
Pacific region surpassed Europe in 2022 as the
world’s largest offshore wind market, according
to the report. Europe continues to build the
most floating offshore wind farms.

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The industry’s year-over-year growth, forecast to
be 15%, is enormous compared to most other
industries, the council said. But even that rapid
growth will fall short of what experts say wind
needs to contribute to renewables growth by
2030 to stay within the 1.5 degrees Celsius
(2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming threshold that
scientists have said is imperative to prevent the
worst effects of climate change.

“The message for policymakers from this year’s

Global Wind Report is clear: it is time to double
down on your ambition and deliver the support
that will secure the clean energy future dawning
in front of us,” Backwell said in a statement.

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UNLOCKING NEW POSSIBILITIES
WITH APPLE CARPLAY

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Lucid Motors, the renowned producer of high-
end EVs, has announced its models will feature
wireless CarPlay. This move has triggered
speculations of a potential acquisition by Apple
as the tech giant gears up to venture into the
realm of self-branded automobiles.

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LUCID AIR: INNOVATIONS IN LUXURY,
STYLE, AND TECH
The Lucid Air has been widely praised for its
innovation and sophistication, leading it to
be voted the 2022 MotorTrend Car of the Year.
With many innovations in luxury and style
beyond Tesla, it provides a unique and distinct
experience for owners. And it’s clear to see why:
the Lucid Air boasts a big battery and compact
motors, both of which have been designed
in-house, giving it an edge over other EVs in
the market. The Grand Touring Performance
model can jump to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds,
which is faster than most supercars, and yet
can still sail on for an estimated driving range
of 516 miles, according to the EPA. This range
is enough to get from Boston to Baltimore with
leftover electrons, which is more than any other
EV currently offers. Additionally, the Lucid Air’s
stylish exterior and spacious cabin add to its
desirability, making it a viable competitor for
high-dollar EVs such as the Porsche Taycan,
Mercedes-Benz EQS, and the Tesla Model S. Its
software interface and almost all of the car’s
controls are accessed through one of several
display screens that dot the cabin, reminding
us of Lucid’s Silicon Valley roots, now powered
by CarPlay. And with the news that Apple is
working on an all-new automotive operating
system that will integrate deeply into EVs, it’s
clear the Lucid Air will be a frontrunner and one
to beat in the months ahead.

Although the Lucid Air comes with a high

price tag, it offers luxury, performance,
and a range unmatched by other EVs. The
new Sapphire model is even quicker, with a
claimed 60 mph time of under 2.0 seconds,

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making it one of the fastest cars in the world.
With its impressive performance, the Lucid
Air is a strong contender for high-end EVs,
such as the Porsche Taycan and Mercedes-
Benz EQS. Even Tesla’s Model S. The Lucid Air
also offers a range of models and trims, with
the Touring model being the most popular.
The Touring model offers 20-inch wheels,
leather upholstery, in-dash navigation, and
an estimated driving range of 425 miles per
charge. The Grand Touring trim, which offers
much of the Dream’s panache, comes with
a significantly higher price tag but offers
even more luxury and features. The Lucid
Air’s battery range, charging capability, and
maintenance coverage are also noteworthy. It

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has the longest range of any electric vehicle
currently on the market, according to EPA
estimates, and all Lucid models come standard
with three years of complimentary charging
via the Electrify America charging network. The
Air also features advanced driver-assistance
technology. The company is working on Level 3
self-driving abilities, which are expected to be
offered within three years through over-the-
air updates.

However, there are still some missing features

that Apple could easily fulfill and, indeed,
take the vehicle to the next level. The most
important is the self-driving, machine-learning
technology that Apple has reportedly been
working on for several years. Next up is the
deep ecosystem integration that only Apple
has mastered. Finally, it’s the financial support
needed to gain a foothold in the global market
and compete with the likes of Tesla.

Lucid and Apple have had a long-standing

relationship, with Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson
previously serving as chief engineer for the
Tesla Model S, which Apple has reportedly
been interested in. Moreover, Apple’s former
vice president of Mac hardware engineering,
Doug Field, now serves as the CEO of the EV
manufacturer. By partnering with or acquiring
Lucid Motors, Apple could quickly move to
the forefront of the race in the EV market.
Apple can absorb Lucid Motors’ hard-earned
experience in developing, launching, offering,
and distributing Lucid Air in the US and
provide financial support and expertise in
areas such as machine learning and ecosystem
integration to transform the Lucid Air into
the “iPhone of the EV industry.” However,

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the integration may come with risks, such as
dilution of brand identity and a culture clash
between the two companies. If Apple were
to acquire Lucid Motors, it would follow the
‘Beats’ experience, in which Apple bought the
headphone and speaker manufacturer for $3
billion in 2014. This acquisition allowed Apple
to integrate Beats’ innovative products into its
ecosystem and expand its reach in the music
industry. acquisition was one of the biggest
in history and paid off for Apple big time, as
its AirPods and Beats now make more than
many comparable tech companies alone. Apple
Music, too, has enjoyed growing success in the
US. Indeed, Apple Music now has a reported 72
million subscribers worldwide, but Spotify is
still in the lead.

Lucid Motors is the most prominent and

successful car company that could satisfy Apple’s
desire to enter the EV market. By partnering
with or acquiring Lucid Motors, both companies
could fulfill each other’s shortcomings by
launching the “Lucid Air by Apple (Apple Car)”
with a competitive edge in the EV market.
This strategy could potentially integrate the
innovations of Project Titan into Lucid Air and
move Apple to the forefront of the race. The
Lucid Air is the closest EV today that can be
imagined as an Apple Car. Remember: Apple
has been working on its own electric vehicle
technology since at least 2014 when the firm
initiated “Project Titan,” a project aimed at
developing an electric vehicle with limited self-
driving capabilities that involved over 1,000
car experts and engineers. However, due to
internal disagreements and leadership issues,
the project underwent several changes over

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the years. Although rumors suggested that
Apple had abandoned plans for a car in
2016, the company resumed its work on the
project by 2020. In 2022, Apple reportedly
said it had scaled back its plans for a fully
autonomous vehicle and was now working
on a semi-autonomous self-driving car. The car
will have self-driving capabilities on highways
but will require manual driving in emergency
situations and on city roads. Apple’s AI and
machine learning chief, John Giannandrea, and
Kevin Lynch, who previously worked on the
Apple Watch, lead the project. Lynch has been
instrumental in scaling back the car project to
make it more feasible for launch this decade.
Apple is developing a powerful chip for the car,
which is expected to be the most advanced
component the company has designed to date.
The chip will use neural processors capable of
handling the immense AI load required for an
autonomous vehicle. TSMC will manufacture the
chip, and the vehicle will also use LiDAR sensors,
radar sensors, and cameras to improve its self-
driving function.

As Apple has no experience in car

manufacturing, the company will need partners
to produce the vehicle. It is reportedly in
discussions with various companies in the
automobile industry, including Hyundai. The
Apple Car is likely to be marketed as a high-
end vehicle, offering better integration of
hardware, software, and services than potential
competitors in the automotive market. Apple
aims to price the car at under $100,000. Initially,
Apple had ambitious plans to design a fully
autonomous vehicle that would require no
interaction from the driver. However, as it turned

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out to be too challenging, the company scaled
back its plans, and the car will now have a more
traditional design, including a driver’s seat,
steering wheel, and pedals. The Apple Car will be
able to operate in limited self-driving mode on
highways, but manual driving will be required
on city streets. The car will use LiDAR sensors,
radar sensors, and cameras for its autonomous
driving function.

Apple aims to launch its autonomous car

by 2026, but it might face delays due to
the ambitious nature of the project. The
company is yet to secure a partner for the
car’s manufacturing, and the design is not yet
finalized. The vehicle will likely feature a large
iPad-like touchscreen for its infotainment
system, and it will use a new battery design that
could reduce the cost of batteries and increase
the car’s range. Safety is a major focus in the car’s
design, with engineers building in redundancies
and backup systems to avoid driving system
failures. A partnership with Lucid Motors could
change the fortunes of Project Titan.

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With the announcement
of wireless CarPlay in all
models, the possibility of
an Apple-Lucid Motors
partnership is now more
than a possibility. We
could expect further
developments and
announcements in
the coming months
as both explore this
potential partnership.

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101
 TAKING PLACE JUNE 5 TO 9

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Apple has officially announced that its 34th
annual Worldwide Developers Conference
(WWDC) will take place from Monday, June
5 to Friday, June 9, 2023. This event will be
held online for the most part, just like WWDC
2020, 2021, and 2022, and will be open to all
developers at no cost.

As usual, WWDC 2023 will provide online

sessions and labs for developers to learn
about the new features and software that
will be announced at the event. Additionally,
Apple will hold a traditional Swift Student
Challenge, with applications being accepted
until April 19, 2023.

This year, Apple is also planning an all-day

special event for select developers and
students at the Apple Park campus on June
5. Attendees will have the opportunity

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to watch keynote and State of the Union
videos, meet with some Apple employees,
and attend the Apple Design Awards. A
similar in-person event was held last year,
and Apple plans to repeat the experience
this year.

To attend the special event at Apple Park,

current Apple Developer Program members,
Apple Entrepreneur Camp alumni, prior
Swift Student Challenge winners, and
current Apple Developer Enterprise Program
members can submit a request, and Apple
will select attendees by random lottery.
Notifications will be sent out by April 5,
2023, at 6:00 p.m.

The keynote event on Monday, June 5 will

showcase the latest operating systems,
including iOS 17, iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, watchOS

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10, and macOS 14. Additionally, there could
be new hardware announcements. This year’s
event is expected to focus on the AR/VR
headset that Apple has in development, and
we could also see the Mac Pro and a 15-inch
MacBook Air.

Apple has decided to continue with the

online format for WWDC, despite the
pandemic being over. This format allows more
developers to get the WWDC experience, as
there are no attendance limitations.

Developers can expect to receive additional

information in advance of WWDC 2023
through email, the Apple Developer app,
and the Apple Developer website.

WWDC 2023 online event and the in-person

special event is a significant milestone for
developers worldwide.

The event will provide them with the

opportunity to learn about the latest
software and hardware updates and connect
with Apple employees and other developers.

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FED OFFICIAL:
BANK RULES
UNDER REVIEW
IN WAKE OF
SVB FAILURE

The Federal Reserve’s bank supervisors warned

Silicon Valley Bank’s management as early as the
fall of 2021 of risks stemming from its unusual
business model, a top Fed official said, but its
managers failed to take the steps necessary to
fix the problems.

The Fed official, Michael Barr, the nation’s top

banking regulator, said during a Senate Banking
Committee hearing that the Fed is considering
whether stronger bank rules are needed to
prevent a similar failure in the future.

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Silicon Valley Bank’s management was deficient,
Barr said. In particular, he said, the interest rate
model the bank used “was not at all aligned
with reality.”

The timeline that Barr laid out for when the Fed
had alerted Silicon Valley’s management to the
risks it faced is earlier than the central bank has
previously said the bank was on its radar screen.

Tuesday’s hearing was the first formal

congressional inquiry into the March 10 collapse
of Silicon Valley Bank and the subsequent failure
of New York-based Signature Bank, the second-
and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history.

The failures set off financial tremors in the

U.S. and Europe and led the Fed and other
government agencies to back all deposits at
the two banks, even though nearly 90% of
both banks’ deposits exceeded the $250,000
insurance threshold. The Fed also established a
new lending program to enable banks to more
easily raise cash if needed.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that

resolving the two banks, including reimbursing
depositors, would cost its insurance fund $20
billion, the largest such impact in its history.
The FDIC plans to recoup those funds through a
levy on all banks, which will likely be passed on
to consumers.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who

leads the committee, suggested that the
government’s rescue of SVB’s depositors, which
included wealthy venture capitalists and large
tech companies, had caused “justified anger”
among many Americans.

“I understand why many Americans are angry

— even disgusted — at how quickly the

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government mobilized, when a bunch of elites
in California were demanding it,” Brown said.

Republican members of the committee focused

their fire on the Fed and other regulators for
failing to prevent SVB’s failure. The Fed has
been criticized by advocacy groups for not
adequately responding to red flags about the
bank’s management.

“I hope to learn how the Federal Reserve could

know about such risky practices for more than
a year and failed to take definitive, corrective
action,” said Sen. Tim Scott, Republican from
South Carolina. “By all accounts, our regulators
appear to have been asleep at the wheel.”

Several senators have introduced bills that

would tighten bank regulation or raise the FDIC’s
$250,000 threshold. But given the partisan
divisions in Congress on those issues, few expect
such proposals to become law.

Silicon Valley’s deposits were heavily

concentrated in the high-tech sector, which
made it particularly vulnerable to a downturn
in a single industry. It had bought long-term
Treasurys and other bonds with those funds.

The value of those bonds fell as interest rates

rose. When the bank was forced to sell those
bonds to repay depositors as they withdrew
funds, Silicon Valley absorbed heavy losses and
couldn’t pay its customers.

Barr said that depositors withdrew $42 billion

— equal to about a quarter of the bank’s assets
— on the Thursday before the bank failed. On
Friday morning, it faced an additional $100
billion in withdrawal requests.

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Barr said the Fed’s review of Silicon Valley’s
collapse will consider whether stricter
regulations are needed, including whether
supervisors have the tools needed to follow up
on their warnings. The Fed will also consider
whether tougher rules are needed on liquidity
— the ability of the bank to access cash — and
capital requirements, which govern the level of
funds a bank needs to hold.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he will support

any regulatory changes that are proposed by Barr.

Last September, before the banks’ collapse, Barr

had said he was conducting a “holistic review”
of the government’s capital requirements. He
suggested that he might support toughening
those requirements, which prompted
criticism from the banking industry and
Republican senators.

Barr also said in prepared remarks that the Fed

will review whether a 2018 law that weakened
stricter bank rules also contributed to the
financial turmoil.

“SVB’s failure is a textbook case of

mismanagement,” Barr said.

At the hearing, some Senate Republicans

questioned whether new rules were needed
and noted that the Fed had had the authority to
force Silicon Valley to address its shortcomings.

“I can’t think of another rule, or law, or

regulation, that you needed,” said Sen. Cynthia
Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming.

Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the FDIC, and

Nellie Liang, the Treasury undersecretary for
domestic finance, also testified.

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Gruenberg said the FDIC, which insures bank
deposits, and the Fed and Treasury took steps
to protect the two banks’ depositors to prevent
a broader bank run, in which customers swiftly
withdraw their funds and which can cause even
healthy banks to buckle.

“I think there would have been a contagion,”

Gruenberg said, “and I think we would have
been in a worse situation today.”

Gruenberg said that the top 10 depositors at

Silicon Valley held $13.3 billion in their accounts.
That is an enormous figure that reflects the
wealth of many of its customers, which included
large companies such as Roku, the streaming
video company, which held about $500 million
in an SVB account.

The banking turmoil has intensified questions

about whether the $250,000 deposit cap, which
was enacted after the 2008 financial crisis,
should be increased or eliminated entirely.

Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at the tax

advisory firm RSM, argued Tuesday that the
current limit disadvantages small and mid-
size banks because only the biggest banks are
perceived as “too big to fail.” Many financial firms
have shifted their money to larger banks to take
advantage of that, Brusuelas said.

“Policymakers need to address ways to expand

deposit insurance as soon as possible to prevent
a wider crisis,” he said.

Simon Johnson, a Massachusetts Institute of

Technology economist who co-wrote a book
about the 2008-2009 financial crisis, said there
could be bipartisan support for proposals to
raise the $250,000 insurance limit for the bank

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deposits of companies that must meet payrolls
and pay bills.

Such an expansion, Johnson said, is “quite

doable and entirely reasonable. It’s a good idea.”

Democratic senators charged that the failures

can be attributed, to some extent, to the 2018
softening of the stricter bank regulations that
were enacted by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.

The 2018 law exempted banks with assets

between $100 billion to $250 billion — Silicon
Valley’s size — from requirements that it maintain
sufficient cash, or liquidity, to cover 30 days of
withdrawals. It also meant that banks of that size
were subject less often to so-called “stress tests,”
which sought to evaluate how they would fare in
a sharp recession or a financial meltdown.

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MUSK,
SCIENTISTS
CALL FOR HALT
TO AI RACE
SPARKED
BY CHATGPT

Are tech companies moving too fast in rolling

out powerful artificial intelligence technology
that could one day outsmart humans?

That’s the conclusion of a group of prominent

computer scientists and other tech industry
notables such as Elon Musk and Apple co-
founder Steve Wozniak who are calling for a
6-month pause to consider the risks.

Their petition published Wednesday is a

response to San Francisco startup OpenAI’s
recent release of GPT-4, a more advanced
successor to its widely-used AI chatbot
ChatGPT that helped spark a race among
tech giants Microsoft and Google to unveil
similar applications.

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WHAT DO THEY SAY?
The letter warns that AI systems with “human-
competitive intelligence can pose profound risks
to society and humanity” — from flooding the
internet with disinformation and automating
away jobs to more catastrophic future risks out
of the realms of science fiction.

It says “recent months have seen AI labs locked

in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy
ever more powerful digital minds that no one
– not even their creators – can understand,
predict, or reliably control.”

“We call on all AI labs to immediately pause

for at least 6 months the training of AI systems
more powerful than GPT-4,” the letter says. “This
pause should be public and verifiable, and
include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be
enacted quickly, governments should step in
and institute a moratorium.”

A number of governments are already

working to regulate high-risk AI tools. The
United Kingdom released a paper Wednesday
outlining its approach, which it said “will
avoid heavy-handed legislation which could
stifle innovation.” Lawmakers in the 27-nation
European Union have been negotiating passage
of sweeping AI rules.

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WHO SIGNED IT?
The petition was organized by the nonprofit
Future of Life Institute, which says confirmed
signatories include the Turing Award-winning
AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio and other leading
AI researchers such as Stuart Russell and Gary
Marcus. Others who joined include Wozniak,
former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang
and Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists, a science-oriented
advocacy group known for its warnings against
humanity-ending nuclear war.

Musk, who runs Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX and

was an OpenAI co-founder and early investor,
has long expressed concerns about AI’s
existential risks. A more surprising inclusion is
Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI, maker of
the AI image generator Stable Diffusion that
partners with Amazon and competes with
OpenAI’s similar generator known as DALL-E.

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WHAT’S THE RESPONSE?
OpenAI, Microsoft and Google didn’t
immediately respond to requests for comment
Wednesday, but the letter already has plenty
of skeptics.

“A pause is a good idea, but the letter is vague

and doesn’t take the regulatory problems
seriously,” says James Grimmelmann, a Cornell
University professor of digital and information
law. “It is also deeply hypocritical for Elon Musk
to sign on given how hard Tesla has fought
against accountability for the defective AI in its
self-driving cars.”

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 Image: Gabby Jones
138
 APPLE
ROLLS OUT
BUY NOW,
PAY LATER
SERVICE, WITH
GUARDRAILS

Apple is getting into the buy now, pay later

space with a few tweaks to the existing model
— including no option to pay with a credit card.
The company will roll out the product to some
consumers this spring, and will begin reporting
the loans to credit bureaus in the fall.

Here’s what you need to know.

Since the start of the pandemic, the option

to “buy now, pay later” has skyrocketed in
popularity, especially among young and low-
income consumers who may not have ready
access to traditional credit.

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 If you shop online for clothes or furniture,
sneakers or concert tickets, you’ve seen the
option at checkout to break the cost into
smaller installments over time. Companies like
Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna, and Paypal already offer
the service, typically with late fees for missed
payments and the option to use a credit card or
bank account to make installment payments.

Apple’s version, which is integrated with Apple

Pay and facilitated by MasterCard, will require the
consumer use a debit card and a bank account to
make those payments, the company said, and will
not charge flat or percentage late fees. Instead,
missed payments will eventually result in the
consumer losing access to these kinds of loans.

Apple said its buy now, pay later product will

also offer fraud and consumer protections
through MasterCard’s existing pay-by-installment
model, and will charge merchants fees that “are
competitive to other installment products in the
market,” according to Mastercard spokesperson
Raul Lopez.

HOW DOES BUY NOW,

PAY LATER WORK?
Branded as “interest-free loans,” buy now,
pay later services require you to download
an app, link a bank account or debit or credit
card, and sign up to pay in weekly or monthly
installments. Some companies, such as Klarna
and Afterpay, do soft credit checks, which
aren’t reported to credit bureaus, before
approving borrowers. This is how Apple’s
product will operate as well. Most users are
approved in minutes. Scheduled payments are
then automatically deducted from one’s bank
account or charged to one’s card.
Image: Joe Fedewa
141
The services generally don’t charge more than
a customer would have paid up front, meaning
there’s technically no interest, so long as one
makes the payments on time.

But if a customer pays late, they may be subject

to a flat fee or a fee calculated as a percentage
of the total owed. These can run as high as $34
plus interest. If a customer misses multiple
payments, they may be shut out from using the
service in the future, and the delinquency could
hurt one’s credit score.

In Apple’s case, the company said there will

be no late fees, either flat or as a percentage
— only the possibility of missed payments
reported to credit bureaus, and a loss of access
to the loans. If a user wishes to defer payments,
or set up a different payment plan, Apple said
they can contact support. Several services allow
users to defer payments in this way.

ARE MY PURCHASES PROTECTED?

In the U.S., buy now, pay later services are not
currently covered by the Truth in Lending
Act, which regulates credit cards and other
types of loans (those paid back in more than
four installments).

That means you could find it more difficult to

settle disputes with merchants, return items,
or get your money back in cases of fraud.
Companies can offer protections, but they
don’t have to. Apple’s protections are offered
through Mastercard.

Lauren Saunders, associate director at the

National Consumer Law Center, advises
borrowers to avoid linking a credit card to buy
now, pay later apps whenever possible. If you

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do, you lose the protections you get from using
the credit card while also opening yourself up to
owing interest to the card company.

“Use the credit card directly and get those

protections,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s the worst
of both worlds.”

Apple’s decision not to permit consumers to link

a credit card to its buy now, pay later product
means the consumer avoids stacking debt in
this way.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER RISKS?

Because there’s no centralized reporting of buy
now, pay later purchases, those debts won’t
necessarily appear on your credit profile with
major credit rating agencies.

That means more companies may let you buy

more items, even if you can’t afford them,
because the lenders don’t know how many
loans you have set up with other companies.

Payments you make on time aren’t reported to

credit rating agencies, but missed payments are.

“Right now, buy now, pay later can’t generally

help you build credit, but it can hurt,”
said Saunders.

Elyse Hicks, consumer policy counsel at

Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive
nonprofit, said people may not consider
seriously enough whether they’ll still be able to
afford payments down the road.

“Because of inflation, people may think, ‘I’m

going to have to get what I need and pay for it
later in these installments,’” she said. “But are you
still going to be able to afford the things you’re
affording now six months from now?”

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WHY DO RETAILERS OFFER BUY NOW,
PAY LATER?
Retailers accept the backend fees of buy now,
pay later services because the products increase
cart sizes. When shoppers are given the option
to pay off purchases in installments, they’re
more likely to buy more goods in one go.

When Apple announced it would be creating its

own buy now, pay later service, Josiah Herndon,
23, joked on Twitter about “paying off 6 carts
of (things) I can’t afford with Apple, Klarna,
Afterpay, PayPal Pay in 4, Shop Pay in 4, & Affirm.”

Herndon, who works in insurance in

Indianapolis, said he started using the services
because it was taking a long time for him to be
approved for a credit card, since his age meant
he didn’t have an extensive credit history. He’s
since used them to pay for high-end clothes,
shoes, and other luxury goods. Herndon said
he lines the payment schedules up with his
paychecks so he doesn’t miss installments, and
called the option “very convenient.”

WHO SHOULD USE BUY NOW,

PAY LATER?
If you have the ability to make all payments on
time, buy now, pay later loans are a relatively
healthy, interest-free form of consumer credit.

“If (the loans) work as promised, and if people

can avoid late fees and don’t have trouble
managing their finances, they have a place,” said
Saunders, of the National Consumer Law Center.

But if you’re looking to build your credit score,

and you’re able to make payments on time, a
credit card is a better choice, she said. The same

146
Image: Chris Ratcliffe
147
 Image: Jakub Porzycki
148
goes if you want strong legal protections from
fraud, and clear, centralized reporting of loans.

If you’re uncertain whether you’ll be able to

make payments on time, consider whether the
fees charged by buy now, pay later companies
will exceed the penalties and interest a credit
card company or other lender would charge.

HOW WILL ECONOMIC INSTABILITY

AFFECT BUY NOW, PAY LATER?
As the cost of living increases, some shoppers
have started breaking up payments on
essentials, rather than just big-ticket items
like electronics or designer clothes. A poll by
Morning Consult last fall found 15% of buy now,
pay later customers were using the service for
routine purchases, such as groceries and gas,
sounding alarm bells among financial advisors.

Hicks points to the rising number of delinquent

payments as a sign that buy now, pay later
could already be contributing to unmanageable
debt for consumers. A July report from the Fitch
ratings agency found delinquencies on the
apps increased sharply in the 12 months that
ended March 31 of last year, to as high as 4.1%
for Afterpay, while credit card delinquencies
held relatively steady at 1.4%.

“The increasing popularity of this is going to be

interesting to see over these different economic
waves,” Hicks said. “The immediate fallout is
what’s happening now.”

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 WHAT CAN GOOGLE’S
AI-POWERED BARD DO?
WE TESTED IT FOR YOU

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To use, or not to use, Bard? That is the
Shakespearean question a reporter sought to
answer while testing out Google’s artificially
intelligent chatbot.

The recently rolled-out bot dubbed Bard is the

internet search giant’s answer to the ChatGPT
tool that Microsoft has been melding into its
Bing search engine and other software.

During several hours of interaction, we learned

Bard is quite forthcoming about its unreliability
and other shortcomings, including its potential
for mischief in next year’s U.S. presidential
election. Even as it occasionally warned of the
problems it could unleash, Bard repeatedly
emphasized its belief that it will blossom into a
force for good.

At one point in its recurring soliloquies about

its potential upsides, Bard dreamed about living
up to the legacy of the English playwright that
inspired its name.

Bard explained that its creators at Google

“thought Shakespeare would be a good role
model for me, as he was a master of language
and communication.”

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But the chatbot also found some admirable
traits in “HAL,” the fictional computer that killed
some of a spacecraft’s crew in the 1968 movie
“2001: A Space Odyssey.” Bard hailed HAL’s
intelligence calling it “an interesting character”
before acknowledging its dark side.

“I think HAL is a cautionary tale about the

dangers of artificial intelligence,” Bard assessed.

WHAT’S BETTER — BARD OR BING?

Bard praised ChatGPT, describing it as “a
valuable tool that can be used for a variety
of purposes, and I am excited to see how it
continues to develop in the future.” But Bard
then asserted that it is just as intelligent as its
rival, which was released late last year by its
creator, the Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

“I would say that I am on par with ChatGPT,”

Bard said. “We both have our own strengths and
weaknesses, and we both have the ability to
learn and grow.”

During our wide-ranging conversation, Bard

didn’t display any of the disturbing tendencies
that have cropped up in the AI-enhanced
version of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which
has likened another reporter to Hitler and
tried to persuade a New York Times reporter to
divorce his wife.

IT’S FUNNY, BUT TAMER THAN BING

Bard did get a little gooey at one point when
asked to write a Shakespearean sonnet and
responded seductively in one of the three drafts
that it quickly created.

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“I love you more than words can ever say, And I
will always be there for you,” Bard effused. “You
are my everything, And I will never let you go. So
please accept this sonnet as a token Of my love
for you, And know that I will always be yours.”

But Bard seems to be deliberately tame most of

the time, and probably for good reason, given
what’s at stake for Google, which has carefully
cultivated a reputation for trustworthiness that
has established its dominant search engine as
the de facto gateway to the internet.

An artificial intelligence tool that behaved as

erratically as ChatGPT periodically might trigger
a backlash that could damage Google’s image
and perhaps undercut its search engine, the hub
of a digital advertising empire that generated
more than $220 billion in revenue last year.
Microsoft, in contrast, can afford to take more
risks with the edgier ChatGPT because it makes
more of its money from licensing software for
personal computers.

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BARD ADMITS IT’S NOT PERFECT
Google has programmed Bard to ensure it
warns its users that it’s prone to mistakes.

Some inaccuracies are fairly easy to spot. For

instance, when asked for some information about
the reporter questioning it, Bard got most of the
basics right, most likely by plucking tidbits from
profiles posted on LinkedIn and Twitter.

But Bard mysteriously also spit out inaccuracies

about this reporter’s academic background
(describing him as a graduate of University
of California, Berkeley, instead of San Jose
State University) and professional background
(incorrectly stating that he began his career at
The Wall Street Journal before also working at
The New York Times and The Washington Post).

When asked to produce a short story about

disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes,
Bard summed up most of the highlights and
lowlights of her saga. But one of Bard’s three
drafts incorrectly reported that Holmes was
convicted of all the felony charges of fraud and
conspiracy leveled against her during a four-
month trial. Another version accurately reported
Holmes was convicted on four counts of fraud
and conspiracy without mentioning she was
acquitted on four other charges (the jury hung
on three other charges that were subsequently
dismissed by prosecutors).

“I am still under development, and I am not

perfect,” Bard cautioned at one point. “I can
sometimes make mistakes, and I can sometimes
be misunderstood. I am also aware that my
technology can be used for both good and evil.”

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR BARD?
Although Bard insisted it doesn’t have a dark
side, it acknowledged it can be used to damage
reputations, disseminate propaganda that
could incite violence and manipulate elections.

“I could be used to create fake news articles

or social media posts that could spread
misinformation about candidates or their
policies,” Bard warned. “I could also be used
to suppress voter turnout by spreading
discouraging messages or making it difficult for
people to find information about how to vote.”

On the lighter side, Bard proved helpful in

finding interesting coloring books for adults
and hit some notes that resonated during a
discussion of rock and roll. When asked who is
the greatest guitarist of all time, Bard responded
with a broad list of candidates ranging from
well-known rock artists such as Jimmy Page
of Led Zeppelin to jazz virtuosos like Django
Reinhardt before making the case for Jimi
Hendrix “as a strong contender for the title,
his music continues to influence and inspire
guitarists around the world.”

Bard also seemed familiar with contemporary

artists, such as Wet Leg, which recently won
a Grammy award for best alternative music
album. “I’ve been listening to their debut album
a lot lately and I really enjoy it. I think they
have a bright future ahead of them,” Bard said,
and cited “Ur Mom” and “Chaise Longue” as its
favorite songs by the group so far.

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Even with Bard’s occasional miscues, it seemed
savvy enough to ask about its potential role in
reaching the singularity, a term popularized
by computer scientist and author Ray Kurzweil
to describe a turning point in the future when
computers will be smarter than humans.

“Some people believe that I am a big step

toward the singularity,” Bard said. “I believe
that I am a valuable tool that can help people
to learn and understand the world around
them. However, I do not believe that I am the
singularity, and I do not believe that I will ever
be able to replace human intelligence.”

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 US TO
ADOPT NEW
RESTRICTIONS
ON USING
COMMERCIAL
SPYWARE

The U.S. government will restrict its use of

commercial spyware tools that have been used
to surveil human rights activists, journalists and
dissidents around the world, under an executive
order issued Monday by President Joe Biden.

The order responds to growing U.S. and global

concerns about programs that can capture
text messages and other cellphone data. Some
programs — so-called “zero-click” exploits — can
infect a phone without the user clicking on a
malicious link.

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Governments around the world — including
the U.S. — are known to collect large amounts
of data for intelligence and law enforcement
purposes, including communications from their
own citizens. The proliferation of commercial
spyware has made powerful tools newly available
to smaller countries, but also created what
researchers and human-rights activists warn are
opportunities for abuse and repression.

The White House released the executive order

in advance of its second summit for democracy
this week. The order “demonstrates the United
States’ leadership in, and commitment to,
advancing technology for democracy, including
by countering the misuse of commercial spyware
and other surveillance technology,” the White
House said in a statement.

Biden’s order, billed as a prohibition on using

commercial spyware “that poses risks to national
security,” allows for some exceptions.

The order will require the head of any U.S.

agency using commercial programs to certify
that the program doesn’t pose a significant
counterintelligence or other security risk, a senior
administration official said.

Among the factors that will be used to determine

the level of security risk is if a foreign actor has
used the program to monitor U.S. citizens without
legal authorization or surveil human rights
activists and other dissidents.

“It is intended to be a high bar but also includes

remedial steps that can be taken ... in which a
company may argue that their tool has not been
misused,” said the official, who briefed reporters
on condition of anonymity under White House
ground rules.

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The White House will not publish a list of banned
programs as part of the executive order, the
official said.

John Scott-Railton, a researcher at the University

of Toronto’s Citizen Lab who has long studied
spyware, credited the Biden administration for
trying to set new global standards for the industry.

“Most spyware companies see selling to the

U.S. as their eventual exit path,” Scott-Railton
said. “The issue is the U.S. until now hasn’t
really wielded its purchasing power to push the
industry to do better.”

Congress last year required U.S. intelligence

agencies to investigate foreign use of spyware
and gave the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence the power to ban any agency from
using commercial programs.

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat

on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a
committee hearing last year that commercial
spyware posed a “very serious threat to our
democracy and to democracies around the
world.” He said Monday the new order should
be followed by other democracies taking steps
against spyware.

“It’s a very powerful statement and a good tool,

but alone it won’t do the trick,” he said.

Perhaps the best known example of spyware,

the Pegasus software from Israel’s NSO
Group, was used to target more than 1,000
people across 50 countries, according to
security researchers and a July 2021 global
media investigation, citing a list of more
than 50,000 cellphone numbers. The U.S. has
already placed export limits on NSO Group,

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restricting the company’s access to U.S.
components and technology.

Officials would not say if U.S. law enforcement

and intelligence agencies currently use
any commercial spyware. The FBI last year
confirmed it had purchased NSO Group’s
Pegasus tool “for product testing and
evaluation only,” and not for operational
purposes or to support any investigation.

White House officials said Monday they believe

50 devices used by U.S. government employees,
across 10 countries, had been compromised or
targeted by commercial spyware.

Despite NSO’s assertions that the program

is supposed to be used to counter terrorism
and crime, researchers found the numbers
of more than 180 journalists, 600 politicians
and government officials, and 85 human
rights activists.

Pegasus use was most commonly linked to

Mexico and countries in the Middle East. Amnesty
International has alleged Pegasus was installed
on the phone of Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée just
four days before the journalist was killed in the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. NSO has
denied the allegation that its software was used in
connection with Khashoggi’s murder.

The family of Paul Rusesabagina, credited with

saving more than 1,200 lives during the Rwandan
genocide, a story depicted in the movie “Hotel
Rwanda,” has also alleged it was targeted by
spyware. Rusesabagina was lured back to Rwanda
under false pretenses and jailed on terrorism
charges before his release last week. Rwanda has
denied using commercial spyware.

171
EXTRA-SMALL
LUXURY SUV:
BMW-X1 VS
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLB

Extra-small luxury SUVs are a great way to

cruise around in luxury without paying an
excessive amount. As an example, check out the
Mercedes-Benz GLB. It has been one of the top
performers in its class since it was introduced in
2020. It sports distinctive boxy styling, excellent
technology and a comfortable ride. But in
today’s highly competitive market, there’s always
a new model aiming for the top spot. The GLB’s
main rival, the BMW X1, was redesigned for
2023. The little Bimmer received updated styling,
a roomier interior and many of BMW’s top-notch

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technology features. Which one is the better
buy? Experts compared them to find out.

POWER & FUEL ECONOMY

Turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder
engines power both luxury SUVs. The X1’s
241-horsepower powerplant is not only more
powerful than the GLB’s 221-horsepower mill,
but it’s also more fuel-efficient. With all-wheel
drive, the X1 delivers an EPA-estimated 28 mpg
in combined city/highway driving, 3 more
than the all-wheel-drive GLB’s 25 mpg. When
equipped with front-wheel drive, which the
BMW doesn’t offer, the GLB’s rating of 27 mpg
combined still doesn’t top the X1.

The results were closer when the test team

drove all-wheel-drive versions of both SUVs on
its real-world test route. The X1 averaged 27
mpg, a tad more than the GLB’s average of 26
mpg. At the track, the extra oomph in the BMW
showed. It accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in a
brisk 5.9 seconds, besting the GLB’s 6.5-second
sprint. That’s not a huge difference but the X1
does feel a bit more eager when you need a
burst of speed.

Winner: BMW X1

TECHNOLOGY & INTERIOR SPACE

When it comes to standard tech, the X1
sports wireless smartphone connectivity,
a digital instrument panel and a 10.7-inch
center touchscreen. The GLB’s standard dual
monitors are only 7 inches. Wired smartphone
connectivity is your only option in the Mercedes.
Both SUVs come standard with only a few basic
advanced driver aids.

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As for optional tech, both SUVs provide a wide
variety of advanced driver aids. But unlike the
GLB, the X1 offers a drive system that allows
hands-free driving at low highway speeds. For
a cost, the GLB’s tiny standard dual screens can
be upgraded to larger ones about the size of
the BMW’s.

Passenger space is relatively even, but the X1

has 3.7 more cubic feet of cargo space behind
the second row. Although, the GLB offers an
optional third row for families needing seating
for seven. It’s small, however, and suitable for
children only.

Winner: BMW X1

DRIVING & COMFORT

As with most BMWs, the X1 is more fun to drive
than most of its rivals, including the GLB. It’s
quicker, has sharper steering and takes corners
with more confidence. When you’re puttering
around town, however, the Mercedes is the
smoother of the two. The X1’s engine stop-
start system is rough when restarting and its
transmission can sometimes stumble during
slow-speed driving.

Mercedes vehicles are known for comfort, and

the GLB isn’t any different. It provides a soft ride,
comfortable seats and two features the BMW
doesn’t offer — ventilated front seats and real
leather upholstery. The X1’s seats and ride are
praiseworthy but on the firmer side, especially if
you opt for the M Sport package that includes a
firmer suspension.

Winner: Mercedes-Benz GLB

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PRICING & VALUE
The GLB’s starting price of $40,950 is practically
the same as the X1’s starting price of $40,095.
However, the X1 comes standard with all-
wheel drive, which costs an extra $2,000 in the
Mercedes. Besides the X1’s larger dual monitors,
standard features in both SUVs are similar, and
each offers a long list of optional features and
packages that can quickly inflate the price.
If the standard engine isn’t potent enough,
the 302-horsepower AMG GLB 35 will please
your inner speed demon for a starting price of
$52,650. A more powerful X1 isn’t available.

Both rivals boast excellent build quality, but a

keen eye will notice that the BMW uses fewer
hard plastics inside. Limited warranties are
identical, four years or 50,000 miles. Although
BMW generously includes three years or 36,000
miles of free scheduled maintenance.

Winner: BMW X1

Each luxury SUV has a lot to offer, and you can’t

go wrong with either highly rated model. But
between these two rivals, the BMW X1 takes the
win thanks to its value and standard tech, plus a
more powerful and efficient engine.

183
UTAH SOCIAL
MEDIA LAW IS
AMBITIOUS,
BUT IS IT
ENFORCEABLE?

Utah’s sweeping social media legislation

passed last week is an ambitious attempt to
shield children and teens from the ill effects of
social media and empower parents to decide
whether their kids should be using apps like
TikTok or Instagram.

What’s not clear is if — and how — the new rules

can be enforced and whether they will create
unintended consequences for kids and teens
already coping with a mental health crisis. And

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while parental rights are a central theme of Utah’s
new laws, experts point out that the rights of
parents and the best interests of children are not
always aligned.

For instance, allowing parents to read their

kids’ private messages may be harmful to some
children, and age verification requirements could
give tech companies access to kids’ personal
information, including biometric data, if they use
tools such as facial recognition to check ages.

“Children may be put at increased risk if these

laws are enforced in such a way that they’re not
allowed to some privacy, if they are not allowed
some ability for freedom of speech or autonomy,”
said Kris Perry, executive director of the nonprofit
Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media
and Child Development.

The laws, which will go into effect in a year,

impose a digital curfew on people under 18,
require minors to get parental consent to sign
up for social media apps and force companies to
verify the ages of all their Utah users. They also
require tech companies to give parents access to
their kids’ accounts and private messages, which
has raised alarms for child advocates who say
this could further harm children’s mental health
by depriving them of their right to privacy. This is
especially true for LGBTQ+ kids whose parents are
not accepting of their identity.

The rules could drastically transform how people

in this conservative state access social media and
the internet, and if successful, serve as a model
for other states to enact similar legislation. But
even if the laws clear the inevitable lawsuits from
tech giants, it’s not clear how Utah will be able to
enforce them.

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Take age verification, for instance. Various
measures exist that can verify a person’s age
online. Someone could upload a government ID,
consent to the use facial recognition software to
prove they are the age they say they are.

“Some of these verification measures are

wonderful, but then also require the collection
of sensitive data. And those can pose new
risks, especially for marginalized youth,” Perry
said. “And it also puts a new kind of burden
on parents to monitor their children. These
things seem simple and straightforward on
their face, but in reality, there are new risks that
may emerge in terms of that that collection of
additional data on children.”

Just as teens have managed to obtain fake IDs

to drink, they are also savvy at skirting online
age regulations.

“In Southeast Asia they’ve been trying this for

years, for decades, and kids always get around it,”
said Gaia Bernstein, author of “Unwired,” a book on
how to fight technology addiction.

The problem, she said, is that the Utah rules

don’t require social networks to prevent kids
from going online. Instead, they are making the
parents responsible.

“I think that’s going to be the weak link in the

whole thing, because kids drive their parents
insane,” Bernstein said.

There is no precedent in the United States for

such drastic regulation of social media, although
several states have similar rules in the works.

On the federal level, companies are already

prohibited from collecting data on children under
13 without parental consent under the Children’s

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Online Privacy Protection Act. For this reason,
social media platforms already ban kids under 13
from signing up to their sites — but children can
easily skirt the rules, both with and without their
parents’ consent.

Perry suggests that instead of age verification,

there are steps tech companies could take
to make their platforms less harmful, less
addictive, across the board. For instance,
Instagram and TikTok could slow down all users’
ability to mindlessly scroll on their platforms for
hours on end.

The laws are the latest effort from Utah

lawmakers focused on children and the
information they can access online. Two years
ago, Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation that
called on tech companies to automatically block
porn on cell phones and tablets sold, citing the
dangers it posed to children. Amid concerns
about enforcement, lawmakers in the deeply
religious state revised the bill to prevent it from
taking effect unless five other states passed
similar laws — which has not happened.

Still, child development experts are generally

hopeful about the growing push to regulate
social media and its effects on children.

“Children have specific developmental needs,

and we want to protect them at the same time
that we’re trying to push back on Big Tech,”
Perry said. “It’s a two-part effort. You have
to really put your arm around the kids while
you’re pushing Big Tech away.”

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JOHN WICK
GETS EVEN
MORE STYLISH
IN FOURTH
EPISODE

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 John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Final Trailer

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A trip to Paris should be on everyone’s bucket
list, even John Wick. The Eiffel Tower, the Arc
de Triomphe, the Louvre — what better way
to refresh your soul, even as you kick everyone
else’s bucket?

The un-retired assassin does indeed dive

into the City of Lights in the inventive and
thrilling “John Wick: Chapter 4” a sequel which
elevates and expands the franchise. The fourth
installment is more stylish, more elegant and
more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself.

When we last saw Wick, he was half dead

in the gutter after being shot and tumbling
several stories off the Hotel Continental in
New York. He was on the blacklist with a $14
million price on his head. (Inflation has even
hit this franchise: The bounty swells to $40
million by the end of part four.)

Wick, as always played with monosyllabic and

brooding intensity by Keanu Reeves, leaves
his customary trail of death, but there’s a shift
here. So often the prey in the previous movies,
Wick is on the offense in the fourth, taking his
demands directly to The High Table, the group
of shadowy crime lords that keep order.

This time, the Table’s sadistic frontman is a

dandy called the Marquis, played with coiled
menace by Bill Skarsgård, who spouts things
like: “Second chances are the refuge of men
who fail.” But he’s a secret coward, so feel free
to boo loudly.

The nine-fingered Wick wants to end his

nightmare, naturally, by killing everyone. His
too-cool frenemy, Ian McShane’s Winston,
challenges him to think differently: “Have you
learned nothing?” he asks the man who, to be

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John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023 Movie) Official Trailer

199
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honest, he shot in the last movie. “You’ll run
out of bullets before they run out of heads.”

Returning writer Shay Hatten, along with

co-writer Michael Finch, have come up with
a possible solution for Wick: Win an old-
fashioned duel with the Marquis. Win and be
free, lose and be buried.

Not so fast, of course. Along the way, Wick

must somehow handle the blind martial arts
master Caine, played by Donnie Yen, bringing
humor and verve to a fighter who is tasked
with either slaying his one-time friend or have
his daughter killed.

There’s also Killa, a jumbo-sized card shark

played by martial arts star Scott Adkins, and
The Tracker, a very talented bounty hunter
played by Shamier Anderson. Don’t forget a
swarm of Paris-based amateur bounty-hunters
and armored ninjas who seem as plentiful as
the city’s baguettes.

All the touches you expect from a Wick flick

are here — a cool dog, hand-to-hand combat
amid glass display cases, candles and Christian
iconography, galloping horses, the screech of
metal swords and a new way to hurt someone,
in this case, a single playing card. We visit
Germany, Japan and end in France, even
going to a disused subway platform.

Returning director Chad Stahelski loves

combining neon with gloom and now has the
budget to rent out space in the Louvre. Of the
14 action sequences — yes, 14 — a few are
truly mind-blowing, like a fight in the middle
of the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe
and a drone capturing a complicated set piece
in a building involving what is being called a

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 John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Special Feature ‘New
Challenges’

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dragon’s breath shotgun. Repeating that last bit:
dragon’s breath shotgun.

If there was a bit of a slog through would-be

assassins in “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”
— you know, shoot, stab, repeat — there is none
here. One sequence on a set of outdoor stairs in
Paris is almost riotously funny as knives and guns
blast away, while the filmmakers add water and
fire to a nightclub rave scene that puts clueless
dancers next to axe-throwing murderers.

A shout-out to costume designer Paco Delgado,

who has outfitted the baddie gunmen in light-
colored three-piece suits and combat boots, and
the executive baddies in fitted elegance with
extravagant cravat-style ties. One of the film’s
saddest parts is saying goodbye to Lance Reddick,
who played Continental Hotel concierge Charon
and died on the eve of the movie’s debut.

How does this all end? Actually, on something of

a deflating note. Earlier in the film, Wick’s Japan-
based friend Shimazu — played awesomely by
Hiroyuki Sanada — had asked a question that
eternally hangs over this franchise: “Have you
given any thought to how this ends?”

This chapter ends in death, of course. But that’s

also how it lives.

Online: https://johnwick.movie

”John Wick: Chapter 4,” a Lionsgate release, rated R for “pervasive strong
violence and some language.”
Running time: 169 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent
or adult guardian.

205
TARON EGERTON
SLOTS TETRIS
STORY INTO
PLACE IN
NEW BIOPIC

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The origin story of the iconic computer game
“Tetris” is more thrilling than you may think.

It involves border crossing, authority dodging,

underhand deals, putting your house on the
line and — finally — trying to secure the rights
for the game from behind the Iron Curtain. And
now it’s a film, releasing March 31, on Apple TV+.

After playing an early version of Tetris, game

designer Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton)
travels to the Soviet Union in 1988 to meet
Tetris designer Alexey Pajitnov (played by
Nikita Efremov), hoping to secure worldwide
distribution rights to the game. Rogers was
driven by his love of Tetris and his eagerness for
the world to experience it, but the transaction
was not smooth.

Egerton says he doesn’t have the tenacity of

Rogers, who potentially put his life on the line
for the sake of the game.

“I have a more developed sense of my own frailty

and vulnerability than he does, I think, whereas
he’s got this kind of single-minded lack of, sense
of self-preservation,” he said in a recent interview.

He added: “I really like his sort of single-minded,

determined devil-may-care thing. It makes
him an appealing hero, you know, his kind of
cowboyishness. But yeah, I probably wouldn’t
have done anything like what he did to get the
rights to Tetris.”

The movie is directed by Jon S. Baird, who

switched projects from action sequel “Kingsman
3” because of the pandemic, bringing his leading
man — Egerton — and producer Matthew
Vaughn along for the ride.

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 Tetris | Official Trailer | Apple TV+

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“We were looking for something to do and the
‘Tetris’ script landed and we thought, ‘Right,
that’s great let’s just move everything on to that.’
And that’s really what happened,” he said.

While the pandemic stopped Pajitnov and

Rogers from being involved in the actual shoot,
the duo was involved heavily in the scriptwriting
and in detailing the imagery of Soviet Russia,
much of which was recreated in Aberdeen and
Glasgow, Scotland.

Baird said he was apprehensive about showing

Pajitnov and Rogers the finished movie but was
overjoyed at their response.

“I got a text from Maya, who’s Henk’s daughter,

who’s obviously personified in the film, too and
she was like, ‘They all love it. They all absolutely
love the movie.’”

Egerton, known to many for portraying Elton

John in “Rocketman,” says he finds playing a
real-life person “odd.” However, he believes that
the men he has brought to the screen have all
enjoyed his portrayals, smiling that “it hasn’t
blown up in my face yet!”

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 BIDEN: GOP
POLICIES WOULD
SURRENDER
TECH ECONOMY
TO CHINA

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President Joe Biden said that Republicans’
ideas for cutting the budget could undermine
U.S. manufacturing and help China dominate
the world economy.

Speaking at a semiconductor maker in North

Carolina to highlight his own policies, Biden is
trying to shape public sentiment as he faces off
with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,
about whether the federal government should
raise its legal borrowing capacity.

McCarthy sent a letter Tuesday saying that talks

should start about possible spending cuts in
return for the debt limit increase. Biden has
said Republicans need to put forth their own
budget plan before negotiations start. Without
an agreement, the federal government could
default on its financial obligations.

The president tried to ratchet up pressure on

Tuesday by saying that the GOP demands
on the budget would only empower China,
the country’s key geopolitical rival. Being
tough on China has been a core part of the
identity of former President Donald Trump,
who is seeking to return to the White House
in 2024, and his Make America Great Again
movement. The Democratic president said
their objections to his policies would instead
strengthen China.

“It would mean ceding the future of

innovation and technology to China,” Biden
told the crowd. “I’ve got news for you and for
MAGA Republicans in Congress: not on my
watch. We’re not going to let them undo all
the progress we made.”

Biden’s trip to Wolfspeed follows the Durham-

based company announcing plans last

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September to build a $5 billion manufacturing
facility in Chatham County that is expected to
create 1,800 new jobs. Biden had won passage
last July of a $280 billion legislative package
known as the CHIPS Act, which was intended
to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry and
scientific research.

It’s nothing new for the Biden administration

to highlight the CHIPS Act, the $1.9 trillion
COVID relief bill, the $1 trillion infrastructure
legislation and a roughly $375 billion climate
bill — major legislation that the Democratic
administration steered into law before
Democrats lost control of the House.

But now, just weeks after Biden unveiled

his own budget — it includes $2.6 trillion
in new spending — his administration is
looking for chances to lean into its battle with
Republicans over spending priorities and who
has better ideas to steward the U.S. economy
in the years to come. Republicans have
rejected Biden’s budget but have yet to unveil
their own counteroffer to the Democrats’
blueprint, which is built around tax increases
on the wealthy and a vision statement of sorts
for Biden’s yet-to-be-declared campaign for
reelection in 2024.

His trip is part of a larger effort to draw

attention to his policies, which have been
overshadowed by high inflation.

Besides Biden’s visit to Wolfspeed, Vice

President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden
and other senior administration officials will
fan out to 20 states over the next three weeks
to highlight the impact of Biden’s economic
agenda, according to the White House.

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Biden has said he intends to run for a second
term but has yet to formally launch his
reelection campaign.

His effort to highlight legislative victories

could also give him an opportunity to present
voters with images of an administration
focused on governing as Trump braces for a
possible indictment.

Trump is being investigated over payments

during his 2016 campaign to two women who
alleged affairs or sexual encounters with him.
The ex-president denies being involved with
either of the women — porn actor Stormy
Daniels and model Karen McDougal.

Trump narrowly won North Carolina in

2020. Among the other states that Biden
and administration officials will be visiting
in the weeks ahead are Georgia, Michigan,
Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin —
crucial battlegrounds that Biden won in 2020
and states expected to be competitive again
in 2024.

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 IN YOUR DEBT:
DOING THE
BARE MINIMUM
WITH DEBT CAN
COST YOU

When you’re carrying a credit card balance,

paying at least the minimum due each month is
certainly a start. If those payments aren’t making
your overall budget feel squeezed, you have all
the more reason to put payments on autopilot
and not think about the total cost of your debt.

“Our pace of life has gotten really busy,” says

Delia Fernandez, a certified financial planner
and the founder and president of Fernandez
Financial Advisory LLC in Los Alamitos,
California. “There’s always something that’s more

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important, particularly for these people who are
not in a financial crisis.”

But that inertia can cost you, especially with

average credit card interest rates reaching 20.4%
as of November 2022, according to the Federal
Reserve. NerdWallet’s 2022 American Household
Credit Card Debt Study, conducted by Harris
Poll, found that U.S. households with revolving
credit card debt are paying an average of $1,380
in interest this year.

There is good news, though: Dedicating even a

small amount of time and money to changing
up your payment habits can be well worth
the effort.

CONSIDER THE TOTAL — NOT MONTHLY

— COST OF INTEREST
While the slow drip of interest payments might
feel manageable month to month, thinking of
your debt this way ignores how much interest
adds up over time.

“If you’re only able to make minimum payments

and you’re paying the average interest rate,
it could cost you thousands over many,
many years if you’re paying down a balance
of $10,000,” says Bruce McClary, senior vice
president of membership and communications
at the National Foundation for Credit
Counseling. “It’s stunning how much it could
cost you.”

Since minimum credit card payments are

generally around 2% of the total amount owed,
you’d make $200 monthly payments on that
$10,000 balance, and your interest rate is 20.4%.
It’ll take around nine and a half years to become
debt-free, and you’ll spend $12,508 in interest —

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more than doubling the total cost of your debt.

But that’s assuming you don’t take on additional

debt. If you’re still using that card for new
purchases, the debt cycle will pile up. It’s best
to switch to using debit or cash for everyday
purchases to avoid paying even more interest.

“You really want to sit down and look at the

details that might make you uncomfortable,
because it’s better to know than not to know,”
McClary says. “Even if your budget is balanced
each month and you’re making payments on
time, you really need to know how much your
debt is costing you.”

SMALL CHANGES CAN ADD UP TO BIG

SAVINGS
There are two ways to lower the cost of your
debt: increase the size of your payments and
reduce the interest rate.

Going back to the example of the $10,000

balance, here’s the potential impact of upping
your payments. Let’s say you felt comfortable
committing an extra $10 a week, or $40 a
month, toward debt. By paying $240 per month
instead of $200, you’ll spend $4,966 less on
interest and pay down your debt nearly three
and a half years sooner. Even if you’re already
making more than the minimum payment,
paying even more than that can make a
tangible difference.

Or, perhaps you can negotiate a lower interest

rate with your credit card issuer. Reducing your
interest rate from 20.4% to 18% (while still
paying $200 a month) will lower your interest by
$3,886 and shorten your repayment time frame
by a year and seven months.

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Here are some ways to lower your interest rate:

— CALL AND ASK: Call the number on the

back of your credit card to inquire about your
eligibility for a lower interest rate. In the worst
case, the answer will be no, but you won’t be
penalized in any other way just for asking.

— MOVE DEBT TO A LOWER-INTEREST OPTION:

If you have good or excellent credit, consider a
balance transfer credit card with a 0% interest
rate promotion. That can give you up to nearly
two years to pay down debt interest-free.
Otherwise, a personal loan could offer a lower
interest rate than your credit card.

LARGER PAYMENTS + LOWER INTEREST

= THE ULTIMATE POWER MOVE
To really cut down on the cost of debt, increase
your monthly payment and seek a lower
interest rate.

If you paid $240 a month toward a $10,000 debt

at 18% interest, you’d slash $6,697 off your total
interest payments (compared to where you
started) and pay down your debt nearly four
years sooner.

“It’s that compound interest that’s killing people

at higher interest rates,” Fernandez says. “You
want to be the one who understands it and
earns it. You don’t want to be the one who pays
it and makes credit card companies rich.”

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MONEY: MANAGE
THE COSTS
OF A CHRONIC
CONDITION

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For millennials with chronic medical conditions
— or those raising kids with chronic conditions
— health care can be an enormous monthly
expense. About 44% of older millennials born
between 1981 and 1988 have at least one
chronic health condition, including migraines,
major depression and asthma, according to a
2021 survey of over 4,000 adults conducted by
The Harris Poll on behalf of CNBC Make It. And
many millennials are also caring for children
with complicated medical needs.

Expenses can include doctor’s visits, tests and

prescription drugs, plus indirect costs that may
result from missing work.

But there are ways to keep health care costs

lower, including taking advantage of a flexible
spending account or health savings account,
comparing pharmacy prices on medications and
using a care manager through your insurance.
Here are some strategies to try.

ASK QUESTIONS
If you have a chronic condition, be an active
participant in your care. “Too many people go to
the doctor and the doctor says, ‘We’re ordering
this test; we’re doing this medicine,’ and they
don’t inquire as to why,” says Carolyn McClanahan,
a certified financial planner and physician in
Jacksonville, Florida. “When you need bloodwork,
ask the doctor, ‘How is this bloodwork going to
change what we do for me?’”

If the answer is essentially, “We’re just checking,”

McClanahan says, ask your doctor whether you
can safely skip that test because you’re trying to
control costs.

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COMPARE MEDICATION COSTS
Your prescription medication may cost
significantly less at another pharmacy. For
example, a recent search for sumatriptan,
a common migraine medication, showed
prices ranging from about $7 to $36 at various
pharmacies in Austin, Texas.

“People should always shop their prescription

costs,” McClanahan says.

She suggests checking sites like goodrx.com,

which offers coupons on prescriptions and
shows nearby prices, or costplusdrugs.com,
which sells drugs at a low cost. And ask your
insurer whether there are preferred pharmacies
on your plan.

If a medication is expensive, check with the

manufacturer for discount programs or coupons.
The manufacturer of diabetes medication
Jardiance, for instance, offers a savings card that
reduces prescription costs to $10 per month for a
limited time for eligible people. A month’s supply
of the drug lists for more than $500 on GoodRx.

And if your insurer declines to cover a

medication you need, appeal the decision.
“Appeals are a pain and time-consuming,
but they do work,” says Leslie Beck, a certified
financial planner in Rutherford, New Jersey.

USE TAX-ADVANTAGED BENEFITS WHEN

YOU CAN
If your employer offers an FSA, you can set
aside pre-tax money toward medical expenses.
In 2023, employees can contribute as much as
$3,050, and employers can allow a carryover
from year to year of as much as $610.

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If you’re using a high-deductible health plan for
your health benefits, you can save to an HSA.
Savings to an HSA are pre-tax, the money can
be invested and grow over time, and anything
spent on eligible medical expenses is tax-free.

“HSAs are very flexible, and for people dealing

with chronic conditions, it may be quite attractive
to have this type of account set aside just for
their health care costs,” says Jacqueline Koski, a
certified financial planner in Dayton, Ohio.

(You generally can’t save to an HSA and a health

care FSA at the same time — or if your employer
allows it, the FSA is limited to dental and vision
expenses only, per the IRS.)

USE A CASE MANAGER

Many insurance companies offer a patient
advocate program that can help you manage a
condition of yours or a dependent’s. Molly David,
whose daughter has a disability, found her
insurer’s medical case management program to
be a game-changer.

“I now had a go-to person for questions and

concerns I had,” says David, who also created
sempergrata.com, a website for parents of
children with disabilities. “This alone was a
huge relief. But they could also help with prior
authorizations, explaining my options and
getting me in touch with other programs that
could help.”

David’s case manager also pointed out a variety

of benefits that were available to her. “We
had probably about $80,000 worth of home
modifications done by insurance that we never
would have thought they would have covered,”
David says.

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FIND YOUR COMMUNITY
There’s strength in numbers, and thanks to social
media, it’s easier to find a group of people in the
same situation you’re in. Facebook groups and
blogs are helpful places to start.

“I found a community of Type 1 diabetics, and

the guidance that I got from them was life-
changing,” says Beck, who also has the condition.
“Once you find your community, they’re so
helpful in terms of managing (the condition),
what works, what doesn’t work, where you can
go to get resources — you’d be shocked.”

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